Graun: Montezuma

A fascinating rarity despite the limitations of the historical recording
Released as part of the Deutsche Oper Archive series, this 1982 recording of Carl Heinrich Graun's Montezuma may not be the most authentic representation of a rare work of Baroque opera seria or the best quality in terms of video presentation, but it's a performance that is well worth preserving for a number of reasons. Although there are have been some revivals and discoveries of the operas of J.A. Hasse and J.C. Bach in recent years, there are very few recordings available of any of Graun's work, despite the fact that he was an important figure in German opera composition of the period, working as Kapellmeister to King Friedrich II of Prussia, Frederick the Great. It's his relationship with the latter which is the most notable aspect of this particular work, Montezuma (1755) - aside from the fine musical qualities of the work itself - with the King himself even providing the libretto for the opera, and it's this aspect that is considered in the actual production, recorded in the...

Lovely Music/Inauthentic Edition/Cuts/Lively Performance
The Deutsche Oper in Berlin is one of Europe's liveliest ensembles. Ensemble it is ! Whether it is visiting guest stars or house performers, the conductors and production teams always manage to put together a great show.
This heavily cut, wrong language performance of Graun's MONTEZUMA, from 1982, is a fine example of what they do best, even though they are performing at the Baroque Margrafisches Opern Haus in Bayreuth (Wagner isn't the only operatic presence in that town) and not the modern auditorium they call home. The Bayreuth location is a perfect venue for this traditonal but effective staging by Herbert Wernicke.
Conductor Hans Hilsdorf despite allowing heavy cuts gets fine work from the orchestra.
Alexandra Papadjiakou is a bit rough of voice in the travesti title role, but is technically assured and committed to the character she is playing. The American coloratura Catherine Gayer offers a very amusing and very well sung portrayal as a kind of...

Terrible
I have 275 opera dvds and this is the worst I have ever seen. There is no one that even resembles Montazuma. It looks as if it were staged in a French drawing room. A typical example of Euro trash.

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New Year's Concert 2012 [Blu-ray]

Very nice
This is a blu ray disk of the broadcast 2012 New Year's concert form Teatro La Fenice. It is a very nice performance. The color is very good, the video director does not detract too much from the concert. The sound (DTS master audio on a 5.1 speaker set up) is excellent with reasonable sound stage and excellent clarity. There is considerable focus on opera with a number of vocalists. I was particulary impressed by the soprano Jessica Pratt. Her rendition of "O luce di quest'anima" from Linda di Chamounix was particularly beautiful. This concert is very different from the Weiner Philharmoniker New Year's day concerts which focus on the music of J Strauss.





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Opera Ball

A minor piece of Vienna gold
Pretty much the sole survivor of Heuberger's small operetta output, "Opernball" may not boast one of the great theatre scores, but it's certainly pleasant enough, and it does have the famous waltz "Im Chambre séparée". The plot is like "Die Fledermaus," only more so: here three women run about in disguise to befuddle their menfolk at the Paris ball of the title. (You probably won't need to be told that all ends well.) For reasons best known to the director--perhaps to justify the cheap-looking sets--framing scenes have been added, in which the painter Toulouse-Lautrec and a model discuss the events of the story. (There are also some anachronistic gags in the dialogue, typical with these 1970s tv productions.) As usual, the singing has been pre-recorded--which would be less noticeable if the acoustic were not so different during the spoken passages. However, the performers are all good, especially Uwe Friedrichsen and Christiane Schroeder as the juvenile couple, and there...





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