Customer Reviews

Stravinsky - Oedipus Rex

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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After the Lion King, is there any more famous or lauded director today than Julie Taymor, a status confirmed again by her magical production of Magic Flute for the Met this season? Add in Euripides, Stravinsky, Jessye Norman, Seiji Ozawa and a young(er) Bryn Terfel - if this isn't this an all-star lineup made in heaven, what is?

What a sad commentary on the current state of marketing opera and classical music that it's taken over a decade to bring this incredible production to DVD (up to now it's been available only on VHS)

And incredible this production is. The marriage of Euripides, with his implicit violence depicted only in the voice of the chorus, and the neo-classical Stravinsky - far from the death-dance of Le Sacre - would appear a perfect marriage of dramatic reserve, yet, as I once heard Pierre Boulez say in an open rehearsal (and this is a gross paraphrase - I was so stunned to hear such a thing from another so famous an ascetic that I was momentarily disoriented) "Stravinsky was well known for saying music - his music particularly - is capable only of expressing itself, and not any sort of underlying emotional content. We all know better, of course."

As always, Taymor takes big chances. Oedipus is a man overlayed with symbol, a puppet head his crown and huge puppet hands at his sides, enough to send you into fits of giggles if the drama weren't so focused and riveting.

The male chorus is like a tribe of mudmen, attired in the rags of starvation, caked in the dust of drought. The imagery of a soaring vulture superimposed on the stage at the beggining of the opera, the way extras wrap Jocasta in the woven bounds of her hanging, the way the dissolution of Oedipus is evoked by the singer being doubled in a second Oedipus figure whose cast-like armour is dismembered to disgorge the disgraced king, to final scene of the chorus of mudmen, standing beneath the downpour that has broken the plague, as stoic and motionless as the field of terra cotta warriors unearthed in China, until their heads turn, ever-so-slightly, their eyes full of pity as they watch the naked, blinded Oedipus slowly walk between them on his road to exile and oblivion - one unforgettable image follows another.

Under Ozawa's direction, the cast, chorus and Saito Kinen orchestra are firing on all cylinders. In the way she channels the underlying power of both Euripides' text and Stravinky's music, Taymor raises the opera to the level of ritual - not empty ritual as ritual most often becomes, but the raw ritual just hatched from primal experience.

This DVD is a "must-have"

If this is the Oedipus Rex conducted by Ozawa, starring Jessye Norman, other opera greats and the most impressive chorus I have ever heard, then you MUST see and hear this production! It's musically powerful, visually stunning and acted with incredible dignity and life. I have never been so impressed with a video production of any opera... and I've seen and enjoyed many. This is a must have for any opera lover.

- To, Amazon.com, please get this back in stock!

Gifted director/designer Julie Taymor apparently secures one amazing success after another, and this arresting production is surely one of her supreme creations! Adapting the conventions of the seventeenth-century opera-oratorio, Stravinsky's 1927 score marks the beginning of his neoclassical period, with absolute command of both orchestral writing and dramatic intensity. It's interesting that Stravinsky's stated reason for choosing Latin for the score's libretto - '(it) had the great advantage of giving me a medium not dead but turned to stone, and so monumentalised as to have become immune from any risk of vulgarisation' - is precisely that offered by the Roman Church as the reason for her codification of Latin as its liturgical language (before the desacralisation of the Roman liturgy by neo-modernist barbarians). In fact, Cocteau's libretto was translated from French to Latin by the Jesuit (later Cardinal) Jean Danielou. The impersonality of the text/poem itself has the adroit effect of freezing dramatic consequence to the point of white heat, intuitively heightening the entire drama, something Stravinsky no doubt foresaw and is, interestingly, the key facet out of which Taymor vividly draws unerring pathos. The design of this production is like nothing else! That being said, the singing is magnificent - Jessye Norman, Philip Landridge and Bryn Terfel all in rare and perfect form, Norman especially, with her leonine face and voice delivers a riveting Jocasta in the performance of a career, something all the more shocking given the princely Impersonal so deliberately embedded by Stravinsky in the score itself. Norman and Ozawa have often worked together to wonderful effect (their recording of Carmen comes to mind), and the elucidation of detail he draws from the Saito Kinen Orchestra is astonishing at every turn. This is a piece impossible to completely absorb in one read through, but repeated viewings easily yield its greatness, and the DVD bonus extras are a vital part of reaping every ounce of the greatness of this superb production. Highest recommendation.

If this is the live recording from the Japanese Saito Kinen festival 1993, it is the most stunning performance of Oedipus Rex that I know! Norman's stately Jocaste, along with the enourmously powerful Japanese speaker (Kayoko Shiraishi's monologues in Japanese lends much more patos than the original French), as well as the amazing staging production turns this into an amazingly impressive performance!

This is an amazing interpretation of Oedipus Rex. Between Igor Stravinski's powerful use of music and voice and Julie Taymor's infamously amazing use of set and recreation of available space, this video goes far beyond amazing. The symbolism in music and spectacle add to the modern trials of an ancient figure. That..and its a whole lot of fun to watch!

Oedipus Rex is probably my favorite of Stravinsky's works (which is obviously saying a lot), and Julie Taymor's production enriches the opera in every conceivable way. On one hand, it may not be totally true to the distance and austerity Stravinsky originally had in mind, but Taymor strikes a perfect balance with her reserved yet extremely artistic staging. She draws emotion from the work that is obviously present, no matter what Stravinsky may have maintained!

The cast is great, Ozawa and the musicians interpret the music well...I could go on and on. Thank goodness they finally released this on DVD...I'm replacing my bootleg VHS version!

A dear friend of mine rented this one night from Tower Records when I was just staring college. He said it would blow my mind and was he right!! It made me realize that singing opera wasn't just standing still and singing, it can be a beautiful and artistic adventure.

What ever company owns the rights to this video, I wish they would re-release it, I'd love to have a copy on DVD too! If you ever find this, buy it!! You'll have a rare find and a delight of the senses...

What a fantastic production this is. Director Julie Taymor matches Stravinsky's jarring opera note for note, capatalizing on a stunning set design by combining her unique visual asthetic with her deep understanding of the music and characters. She and the late composer make a wonderful pair. As Taymor is to theater today, Stravinksy was to music; bold, innovative, original and unafraid.

Frankly, I have never seen a more riveting opera. It's so wonderful and full of symbolism and imagery that will blow your mind! Julie Taymor's design and ingenuity truly rules the stage.

Also, if the imagery is a bit unclear after you watch it, the part in JULIE TAYMOR: PLAYING WITH FIRE about this opera is a good tool. It will explain everything and make it all the richer.

PS It's also quite short-only about 57 minutes, so anyone over age 12 will be able to enjoy it. (any younger than that, they may not be able to appreciate all the imagery)

I am shocked to note that this amazing gem by one of the theatre world's most visionary directors is out of print. This is a travesty. Please, someone...anyone...beg, plead...whatever it takes. Get this video in stock.