Mozart - Cosi fan Tutte / Erin Wall, Elina Garanca, Barbara Bonney, Stephane Degout, Shawn Mathey, Ruggero Raimondi, Daniel Harding, Aix-en-Provence
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Features
• Classical
• Color
• NTSC
In Theaters : 01 January, 2006
DVD Release : 01 August, 2006 |
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Mozart - Cosi fan Tutte / Erin Wall, Elina Garanca, Barbara Bonney, Stephane Degout, Shawn Mathey, Ruggero Raimondi, Daniel Harding, Aix-en-Provence Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥
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Running Thirds Have Hardly Ever Been More Wonderful
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| Not everything here deserves five stars (more on that later), but the amazing vocal offerings here keep me from rating it any lower. The best elements are Erin Wall and Elina Garanca who sound absolutely marvelous together; also, their respective arias are definite highlights. Erin Wall's soprano is silvery and shimmering--powerful at the top and surprisingly audible below the staff; the middle voice is smooth yet textured. Also, every syllable is colored with emotion. As did most of the cast, she got better dramatically and vocally as the night proceeded, but "Come scoglio" is by no means a disappointment, though her "Per pietA A " is better. I wish I could make it down to the Lyric Opera of Chicago this season to see her Fiordiligi there. Elina Garanca is never any less than fabulous as Dorabella. The voice is large and opulent but high-reaching and agile; she is dramatically captivating at every moment and never drains the tension. Barbara Bonney sounds kind of odd to me below her thrilling high register, but she continuously acts as saucy as Despina should, borrowing (never stealing) the show when necessary. Of all the cast, she ornamented the most, but Mozart is supposed to be ornamented. She made it work. Tenor Shawn Mathey wasn't intensely engaging as Ferrando, but he was no less enjoyable, making "Un aura amorosa" a high point. StA A phane Degout inhabited Guglielmo and managed to make "Donne mie, la fate a tanti" more exciting than boring, though I suspect conductor Daniel Harding had a literal hand in this--he kept Mozart's score vibrant and dynamic as it should be (however, the cast occasionally fought him for tempi, though it can be tough to coordinate orchestra and singers in an outdoor theater; also, some delicious cadences are glossed over). Some people seemed to like him, but I couldn't stand Raimondi's Alfonso here. His physical mannerisms--hands flailing at the sides, wide eyes, spread mouth--grated and too much flatness pitchwise proved obnoxious, though, fortunately, he managed not to mar the transcendent "Soave sia il vento." Plus, most of his music isn't that beautifully written, so no huge loss if his voice isn't as fresh as it used to be--he plays an old character, after all. As for the direction, some of it really worked and allowed for opera to be sexy (and not crude, either), while some of it was hopelessly abstract and / or anachronistic if not saliently so. Also, I get the impression that not all his demands were not the most vocally compatible, yet the cast, as a whole, coped and sounded beautifully. The relatively young age of the four lovers probably helped in this department. One more item: The recorded sound seems pretty true to the voices and orchestra, but the instruments are more closely miked (due to the theatre layout) and occasionally overwhelm the singers. All in all, I highly recommend this DVD for its musical and textual accomplishments. |
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Mozart - Cosi fan Tutte / Erin Wall, Elina Garanca, Barbara Bonney, Stephane Degout, Shawn Mathey, Ruggero Raimondi, Daniel Harding, Aix-en-Provence dvd movie.