26 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
More Music but Little Else, October 14, 2007
This review is from: Verdi - Don Carlos (DVD)
I ordered this from England, so I received it before it was released in the USA. I wanted it because it was to be the only video which has all the music that Verdi wrote for the 1867 premiere in Paris (although it wasn't all performed at the premiere). Since I have the Châtelet performance from 1996, I thought that with having this new one, I wouldn't need the earlier one anymore. However, I was badly mistaken.
The Châtelet performance was billed at the time as "uncut", but I don't understand that, as the Opera Rara audio set recently issued was originally broadcast in 1972, and that performance contains not only the ballet music but also the introduction and chorus of foresters at the very beginning and the Act IV duet between Elisabeth and Eboli before "O don fatal," which are omitted in the Châtelet production. It is mainly the PRODUCTION in the Vienna performance, however, that I find objectionable, so much so that I if I ever play it, I will just listen and turn the TV off. The Fontainebleau scene is nicely done, however, with the foresters gathering around a stove and warming themselves in the cold weather. But even with just listening there are sounds in the performance which are not supposed to be there, such as when Carlos calls on the phone to order pizza during the ballet music, the words of the introducer for the autodafe, some sounds of disapproval from the audience during the autodafe, coughs from the audience, and the sound of Eboli screaming in agony in the Act IV crowd scene where she is stabbed in the back by an unknown assassin: a change in the plot which makes no sense to me except to add to the gruesomeness of it all. About the ballet, we are given instead of dancing a pantomime skit called "Eboli's dream," which consists of a comedy routine in which Carlos and Eboli are married and invite the boss and his wife (Philip and Elisabeth) over to dinner in a 1970's apartment. The roast chicken gets burned, so Carlos orders a pizza, which is delivered by Posa (dressed in a t-shirt with Posa's Pizza on the back.) (This is not too hard to take given the fact that it is supposed to be a dream.) The scenery throughout is just the same 3 walls, with low doors in the bottom that people have to stoop to get in and out of. The variation for the different scenes is just done through lighting. For the Châtelet performance reviewers in the past have not liked the sets, but I find them very good by comparison, as they certainly do bear some resemblance to the places they are supposed to represent. The costumes in the Vienna performance are for the most part right for the 16th century, except of course in the autodafe where the people are dressed in suits and evening gowns and holding wine glasses, and a few other places. The idea of having Eboli present during Philip's soliloquy and even when the Grand Inquisitor is there, and even having her hold an end of the Inquisitor's staff, seems to me laughable and to distract from Philip during his scene. As for the singing, Karita Mattila on the Châtelet set as Elisabeth is a wonder and of course much preferable to Iano Tamar; the others are comparable, with the pendulum swinging more to the older set. Bo Skovhus is good as Rodrigue, only the way he is dressed, wearing those modern style glasses, makes him remind me of a mafia type and hinders me from really listening to his singing. The Philip of Alastair Miles is especially good, and he really looks like King Philip judging from pictures I've seen.
I should also mention that both the Vienna set and the Châtelet set use the early version of the Posa-Philip duet, which is not nearly so dramatic as the later version in which Philip tells Posa that the Flemish people are enjoying peace under his rule, to which Posa replies very dramatically: Cette paix! La paix du cimetière! (in the Italian version: Orrenda, orrenda pace; la pace è dei sepulcri = Terrible, terrible peace; the peace is that of the grave). This is something I miss in both of these videos, as well as in the Opera Rara set, and in fact the only place where you can hear this in the French version is in the old DG audio set with Domingo, and Leo Nucci as Rodrigue and Ruggero Raimondi as Philip.
I'm going to try to sell my copy of this new video at the first opportunity.
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13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Verdi with controversy but with depth, February 10, 2008
This review is from: Verdi - Don Carlos (DVD)
A very powerful performance this. It uses every note Verdi originally wrote for the Paris production including the ballet music. It is a very good performance with Skovhus and Miles standing out from a fine cast. There are better performances on the other DVDs but this one can pass the test and it has other virtues going for it.
The controversy lies as it does in the regie production. Konvitchny may be controvesial but I 've found if you hear him out he not only makes sense but offers keen insights into the piece. His direction offers depth of character as few productions do. As to the scenery the Fontainblue act is played fairly realistically and with a real dash of color which disappears when Elisabeth is stripped and fitted with the black which is the only color in the Spanish court. As the act ends a three walled box descends from above obliterating the starry sky. The rest of the opera will be played within this white prison until the final moments offer a way out for Carlos and Elisabeth.
There are touches where you are shocked such as Carlos and Rodrigo crawling around on the floor as they pledge loyalty to one another until you realize they are renewing their childhood friendship. The most controversial events occur in the 3rd act. Konvitchny replaces the ballet by Eboli's dream of life with Carlos - set in a 60s iiving room. It is the only color since the first act - the only escape from the stiffling court. If you decide to do the ballet in a production such as this what are you to do? Tutus just wouldn't do. I think he makes a case for his idea.
Then Konvitchny tranfers the Auto da Fe to the theater itself. A TV announcer gives commentary from the lobby as the royal family and the grand inquisitor take their seats. This audacity elicts both applause and loud boos from the audience. But is it out of place? The first time I heard Don Carlo I wondered what this scene had to do with the rest of the opera. Would Verdi have written it were it not de rigeur for a Grand Opera? Only about 10 minutes concerns the overall plot. The rest is superfluous. Why not make a statement showing how we are still complicitous in murder? Certainly makes sense to this American at this time. Finally there is the matter of the ending. Verdi himself never found a satisfactory solution. Every other production I've seen just sputters out. I won't give away Konvitchny's solution, but it delivers a tremendous wallop. Is this a traditional comfy production? Not on your life. But does it give insight into these suffering people: wondrously human characters caught in a system in which even Philip and the Grand Inquisitor are victims? Indeed it does.
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Stupid Staging of Verdi's Great Opera, April 28, 2008
This review is from: Verdi - Don Carlos (DVD)
The French Don Carlos (rather than the Italian Don Carlo) is one of my favorite operas and one of Verdi's greatest. Unfortunately, although this version is well sung, it is a horror visually. One can see the details of this silly production from the other reviews. In their first scene together Carlos and Elisabeth play pick-up-sticks. In the following scene Carlos and Posa crawl around on all fours and behave like drunken fraternity brothers. But the unsurpassed horror is converting the ballet into a cozy scene where Eboli cooks a chicken and has the folks to dinner. It's called Eboli's dream in this produciton--though nightmare is more like it. (At this point I decided just to listen and not watch. I recommend this to all from the beginning.)
One wonders why opera companies trust so many of their productions not just to staging directors with no talent but to blithering idiots. Surely someone in the company should know better.
Watch the Paris opera version. That's Don Carlos. This is not.
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