Product Description
-------------------
David McVicar's spellbinding production of Le nozze di Figaro is
set in 1830s post-revolution France, where the inexorable
unravelling of an old order has produced acute feelings of loss.
In the relationship between Finley's suave, dashingly
self-absorbed Count and Röschmann's passionately dignified
Countess, which lies at the tragic heart of the opera, the sexy
ease between a feisty Figaro (Erwin Schrott) and a sassy Susanna
(Miah Persson) is starkly absent, the tenacious spark between
Marcellina (Graciela Araya) and Bartolo (Jonathan Veira)
suggesting what might be rekindled. The production is superbly
complemented by the beauty of Paule Constable's lighting and
Tanya McCallin's evocative sets. Antonio Pappano conducts (and
accompanies the recitatives) with invigorating wit and emotional
depth.
Press Reviews
"Here is a Figaro to put with the 1973 Glyndebourne production
placed among the top five operatic DVDs. Figaro and Susanna are
very much the centre here, and we like them not only because they
sing and act well but because they are sympathetic in a modern
way." (Gramophone)
"This sexy, raunchy, romp of an opera is a triumph. Director
David McVicar has searched for the essence of the composer and
found it; fun filled, sensitive, romantic and serious by turns,
all reflected in this production.This is a 'Must See' opera!
...You'll regret it if you don't!" (Musical Opinion)
"…so accomplished a cast, in which Gerald Finley's Count, Miah
Persson's Susanna and Rinat Shaham's Cherubino stand out as
ideal. " (BBC Music Magazine ★★★★)
"Schrott is a lively, resourceful and above all very good-looking
Figaro, but the delightful Susanna (Miah Persson), charmingly
dressed, is his match...The dignified Countess (Dorothea
Roschmann)... is appealingly spirited...The sets are appealing
and the action moves forward with a swing." (The Penguin Guide)
Awards
Gramophone Award: DVD (2008)
Cast
Erwin Schrott (Figaro)
Miah Persson (Susanna)
Gerald Finley (Count Almaviva)
Dorothea Röschmann (Countess Almaviva)
Rinat Shaham (Cherubino)
The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House; Antonio Pappano
Production
Company: The Royal Opera
Stage Director: David McVicar
Disc Information
Catalogue Number: OA0990D
Date of Performance: 2006
Running Time: 202 minutes
Sound: DTS Surround 5.0; LPCM Stereo
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 Anamorphic
Subtitles: EN, FR, DE, ES, IT
Label: Opus Arte
Review
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I watched David McVicar's production of The Marriage of
Figaro on its first night at the Royal Opera House in 2006, and
found it breathtaking, as I find it once again on this DVD. The
entire cast interacts brilliantly: there is, indeed, not one weak
link, the evenly spread, dramatically convincing singing and
acting vigorously illuminating this society's complex power
struggles. Down below, Antonio Pappano conducts a light, bright
and sparkling interpretation of Mozart's transcendental score. --
MusicOMH.com, Dave Paxton, April 2008
Reviewing the DVD version of this performance, Lynn René Bayley
called it "fabulous," and cled that "if not definitive, [it
is] at least a touchstone against which all future performances
can be judged" (32:1). In his companion review in the same issue,
Barry Brenesal was slightly less giddy, pointing to a number of
flaws but nonetheless concluding with high praise: while "not
everything works," he said, "more than enough does to invest this
Le nozze with a distinctive energy and a level of interaction
beyond most DVD versions." I'm more in Brenesal's camp here--this
is an exceptional release, but it doesn't quite erase the very
considerable competition.
Virtues first. While this cast may not quite knock out Böhm's
all-star assemblage (Freni, Te Kanawa, Ewing, Prey, and
Fischer-Dieskau), it's as solid, from top to bottom, as any group
of singers you're realistically likely to assemble today. Miah
Persson, whose radiant Zerlina was a highpoint in Mackerras's Don
Giovanni (33:2), is even more impressive here, where her voice is
equally lustrous and dexterous, and where there's even more
rtunity to demonstrate psychological nuance. As but one
example, try her act III duet with the Count, where she just
manages to hide (from him, although not from us) her palpable
disgust (especially when he kisses her) under a veneer of
flirtation. Until now, my favorite modern Susanna has been Alison
Hagley, but Persson is just as winning.
Finley is a magnificent foil. From the beginning, he seems a more
intellectual Count than most, a man of learning driven less by
animal lust than by a kind of intellectual challenge and love of
life. At first, I wondered: was I listening to this Figaro
through the experience of Finley as Figaro (on the Haitink DVD)
and as Robert Oppenheimer in Adams's Doctor Atomic (33:2)?
Perhaps I was. But the opening of act III--where the Count, in
glasses, studies a mechanical contraption that screams out
Enlightenment and Scientific Progress--shows that stage director
David McVicar, too, was thinking of Almaviva in similar terms.
He's a surprisingly sympathetic character, one who seems truly
transformed (although for how long?) in the final minutes.
Brenesal found Röschmann a bit too uncontrolled as the Countess,
but I rather like the variety of moods she expresses: less
youthful, perhaps, than Annette Dash on Jacobs' DVD, she
nonetheless does remind us (as the regal Te Kanawa, for all her
virtues, does not) that Rosina is not yet the Marschallin, but is
rather an inexperienced post-teen still learning how to become a
great lady. Schrott's Figaro is immensely attractive, and Shaham
is a bundle of nerves as Cherubino; the minor singers are
first-rate, too. Brenesal complained that the old guard folks
were treated as caricatures--I, in contrast, found them less
slapsticky and more vocally attractive than is usually the case.
Figaro depends, of course, more on ensembles than on arias--and
the voices fit together exceptionally well, whether in the blend
of Susanna and the Countess toward the end of act III or in the
balance of the largest scenes.
The staging is generally first-rate. Yes, having two doors into
Susanna and Figaro's bedroom makes hash of the plot complications
in act I; and--like so many other directors--McVicar has to
abandon his impressively detailed realism (down to cracks in the
plaster) in act IV, where, even so, it's just as hard as usual to
figure out why neither Figaro nor the Count can see what's going
on. (Generally speaking, the more abstract the production, the
less silly the final act seems.) The performers are all skilled
actors--and McVicar has drawn the best from them.
So what keeps this Figaro from first place? Well, perhaps I've
been swayed by the period-performance crowd, but Pappano's
conducting--"witty," "spry," and "sensitive to his singers" as
Brenesal rightly cls it is--still seems just a bit too
deliberate to me. It's not really a matter of tempo by the clock
(although Gardiner's DVD is generally quicker); but the
string-dominated sonority, the lack of in the winds, the
slightly burnished articulation, and the sweetness of the
phrasing all serve to suck up energy, particularly in the last
act--where the inclusion of both Marcellina's and Bartolo's arias
only adds to the sense that this Figaro is simply taking too long
to wind up.
So my first choices remain: Jacobs' SACD for an audio Figaro,
Gardiner's DVD (with Terfel, Hagley, and Gilfrey in excellent
form) for a video version, and Böhm's DVD as a supplement. Still,
those who opt for this version will have little to complain
about--especially on Blu-ray, where technical matters are, quite
simply, spectacular. -- Fanfare, Peter J. Rabinowitz, Jan-Feb
2010
