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Rating: 
Summary: a Grand Opera
Review: (sung in German, with subtitles in English, German, and French)Der Rosenkavalier (the Cavalier of the Rose) can entertain you on various levels. There is the heavenly, ethereal music which is almost too beautiful. There's a delightful sense of humor with surprises for nearly all of the main characters. There's plenty of romance, with the scene of "the presentation of the rose" as one of the best examples of capturing the very moment of love-at-first-sight. As if all the great entertainment were not enough, Richard Strauss has given us a moral lesson: While the Field Marshall's wife has justifiable contempt for her cousin, the lecherous Baron, she realizes that she has been little better as she has used her imperial position to take advantage of more than one young officer. She sees herself in the mirror, and decides to start doing the right (loving) thing--she gives up her current lover so that he can be happy. She finally loves him enough (a sort of motherly love?) to let go of him. Der Rosenkavalier is basically a love story, with some "growing up" by several of the characters. The music is so beautiful, it's almost unearthly at times. This performance brings together the great conducter, Herbert von Karajan, the Vienna State Opera, and magnificent singers, such as Kurt Moll, Agnes Baltsa, Anna Tomowa-Sintow, and Janet Perry. For my taste, this production does not have the warmth of Carlos Kleiber's performance. But it is excellently-done, in every aspect, and you may very well prefer it over others. It may be simply a matter that the stage of the Vienna State Opera seems so large that I felt more removed from the action. That's just my impression. If you have enjoyed Rosenkavalier, this performance will not disappoint you. It is the performance of an opera which examines many aspects of what we call love, performed by a great conductor, great orchestra, great singers--a grand opera!
Rating: 
Summary: Not Quite Covent Garden...
Review: ...but a lovely (albeit enormous) production nonetheless. Well directed and designed, this 1984 Salzburg Festival performance doesn't come close to matching the magic of the Kiri Te Kanawa/Georg Solti version, nor, for that matter, of the Vienna Opera DVD (remarkably conducted by Carlos Kleiber). But what this "Der Rosenkavalier" does have is the best Octavian of the three, the brilliant Agnes Baltsa. Superbly sung and acted, this is a performance by turns funny, disarming and poignant. As her Sophie, Janet Perry is movie-star beautiful, but her voice thins out at the top; she's certainly no Barbara Bonney. As the Marschallin, Anna Tomowa-Sintow is more burghermeister's wife than princess, sounding lovely, but holding the same inexpressive face for most of her time on stage. For myself, Kurt Moll, who is also in the Kleiber version, is more frightening and unpleasant than Baron Ochs need be. But don't get me wrong, this is an enjoyable 3 hours, and at this price, you really can't go wrong.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent DVD at a bargain price
Review: Another excellent recording from Sony's Legacy of Herbert von Karajan series. Although Rosenkavalier was nowhere near the top of my list of favorite operas, this recording of it made me appreciate Rosenkavalier far more than I had previously. It is excellent musically, and the very conventional staging is also excellent. At it's bargain price, it is an outstanding value.
Rating:
Summary: Karajan and Strauss
Review: I don't consider Karajan to be a great opera conductor, although he has made a few great recordings (especially with La Scala). When one listens to his Puccini recordings, one is mostly aware of the orchestral qualities, and less so the drama. This performance follows the same lines.
Karajan has a reputation for being a great Strauss conductor; I think this is somewhat unjustified, and stems mostly from misunderstandings about Strauss' music (specifically the over emphasis on the so called 'romantic' qualities). He tends to be high on intense passion, rather low on clarity--normally this wouldn't be a problem, but unlike Beethoven or Sibelius, Strauss' music is very dense and easily can easily get lost.
I do, however, enjoy this series of DVD's, mostly because he is far superior over the many other conductors out there making dvd's (Levine for example). I own several between him and Solti of operas that I don't feel are especially great performances, but better than any other in the DVD market. If there was a Bohm peformance of this opera on DVD, I would certainly not go for Karajan. When it comes to listening to opera, I always prefer Giulini's Falstaff to Karajan. But since opera is first and foremost theater, it's a fair trade off in order to experience it.
So why does Karajan tend to fail in the theater? Every opera performance I've seen by him features exagerrated gestures and obvious jokes that are often quite ineffective and akward. The performances often lack subtlety, and occasionally there seems to be trouble with communication between conductor and singers. He seems to need to fill every moment with action, and sometimes back ground action just becomes absurd. In the second act, for example, Baron Ochs quite amusingly is convinced he has recieved a mortal wound from Octavian. When a doctor is fetched, they mime a performance in which the doctor tests for reflexes and suggest painful, unrelated treatments. The sight gags are ineffective, too exagerrated, and a little desperate. I won't go as far as to say they hurt the performance (although his production of Falstaff definitely was) but they demonstrate an overall akwardness with the theater that is typical of Karajan.
Having said all that, it is certainly worth seeing, and as stated before, better than most of the alternatives. Certainly it does not hold up well to the very famous Kleiber performance (and Baltsa is not as convincing or successful Octavian), but at less than half the price it is a very good way to experience the opera. Moll's performance as Ochs is very masterful. Karajan conducts it well, and passionately; traditionally people have either made him out to be a brilliant sonorous perfectionist or aloof, disinterested and rude. I have heard accounts saying that he was obsessed with the recording process and also that he couldn't care less about it; personally I think, as with all people possessing what we call genius, that we should ignore most of what was said about him, especially in the face of such blatant contradictions. There is no doubt that he cared a great deal about this opera and that he worked very hard to make this performance good; also it is the best of the series in terms of video quality. If you have any interest or respect for Karajan, you will definitely enjoy this dvd.
Rating:
Summary: A melancholic Rosenkavalier, for a change
Review: I suppose this is the Karajan Rosenkavalier that used to be available on LD on Sony. Karajan's view of this comedy always was grand an romantic, with more than a melancholic overtone. In his first video with Schwarzkopf and the delightful Anneliese Rothenberger and Sena Jurinac, maybe because he was younger, the tempi still retained some vivacity and animation. Here, things are quite slower, but the Vienna Philharmonic prevents it to sound heavy or flabby. The production is the traditional Salzburger, but it works really nice still. Every instruction is carefully followed and it has a historic quality of itself anyway. The cast couldn't be starrier and I think that everybody is singing better here than in the DG CDs. Anna Tomowa-Sintow is in heavenly voice - actually, I think that she never sang better in her whole life. The voice is in its creamiest and the pianissimi are unbelievable. But she doesn't quite look as the Marschallin. She's not sophisticated, elegant, womanly or attractive enough. She's not even motherly and warm. She is there and has a somewhat congenial attitude. Agnes Baltsa is one of my favourite Octavians - the voice is incisive and has the necessary guts for a male role and she does look boyish. However, I think that in this video she lacks the ultimate conviction as an actress and I wasn't so impressed as I was with Fassbaender or Ann Howells. Janet Perry looks lovely and has sensational pianissimi, but that's all about her. She lacks charisma and the voice is a bit on the "doll soprano" category. She is no rival to Bonney or Popp. However, I suppose, that the main source of interest is Kurt Moll's sensational Baron Ochs. There may have been funnier and more chcaracterful Ochs, such as Edelmann himself in the older Karajan video, but nobody sings this role as gorgeously as he does. His Ochs is a bit too gentlemanly, but he's at ease and gets everybody's attention. The minor roles are splendidly taken - especially Vinson Cole's Italian Tenor and Helga Müller-Mollinari's Annina.
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