Mozart - Cosi Fan Tutte / Gardiner, Roocroft, Gilfry, English Baroque Soloists

Rating:
Summary: Eirian James (as Despina) energizes this Cosi
Review: An enjoyable performance on DVD of Mozart's last opera in which he used Lorenzo da Ponte for the libretto.

This is a 2-disc DVD set that stars Amanda Roocroft (Fiordiligi), Rosa Mannion (Dorabella), Rodney Gilfry (Guglielmo), Rainer Trost (Ferrando), Eirian James (Despina) and Claudio Nicolai (Don Alfonso).

John Eliot Gardiner conducts this work that is performed before a live audience at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris.
The sets are simply magnificent with multiple curtains that depict beautifully painted backdrop scenes. The floor is entirely made up on plaques of inlaid stone to resemble an outdoor courtyard: a very realistic touch. The costumes are lovely and are appropriate for the era they represent. Also the cameral angles, switching and film editing are excellent and have resulted in a finished work that is of superior quality.

That main singers are young, vibrant and indeed sexy: someone you could really believe to be in love and they all have great voices. They are competent in their acting skills making good use of hand gestures and facial expressions.

And yet despite all the above positives things that I've mentioned above, I felt, for some difficult to explain reason, the first half of Act I dragged significantly (thus 1/2 star lost). I sensed the audience also had the same opinion, as their applause during this phase was rather subdued. However, this lack of energy changed quickly once Eirian James, as the maid, Despina, came on stage. She had an energetic stage presence that seemed to infect her fellow actors: While the other actors and actresses seem to enjoy their roles, she obviously loved hers and this shone through from beginning to end. From this point on, the entire cast seemed more at ease and appeared to be enjoying themselves on stage. The last part of Act 1 and the remainder of the work was lively, funny and a joy to watch and hear. Certainly the audience was much more responsive and their applause more sincere and prolonged.

Technically, the disc has subtitles in several languages, including English and Italian, BRAVO!. However on the negative side, there is no menu that allows you to go to a particular scene: you have to start at the beginning of an Act and continue to jump forward one scene at a time(another 1/2 star lost). This is annoying and difficult to understand with the advances in todays recording standards.

All in all a wonderful presentation: the negatives that I've mentioned above pale in comparison to the overall positives of this delightful work. A Cosi that I could honestly recommend to be added to anyone's opera collection.

Rating:
Summary: Sound is great, Video is awful
Review: I was delighted to find an opera DVD in widescreen and with Surround Sound. Had modern DVD standards finally get to opera DVDs?

Alas, the video on this is very overcompressed, even for two disks. Visual artifacts make this barely watchable on a large HD screen with a progressive scan player. But, with both DTS and Dolby, it is a delight to listen to.


Rating:
Summary: Excellent production with a bit of a twist
Review: I've seen Cosi fan tutte thrice in live performance. It was the first opera I ever saw and is still my favorite. This version ranks with the best live productions, and humbles my CD version (by Barenboim and the Berlin Philharmonic).

First, the discs are technically very good with excellent sound quality - there are 3 audio tracks, one with PCM stereo, another with Dolby 5.1, and the third with DTS. The DTS is good but the recording level is significantly lower, requiring greater amplification to achieve the same volume. Overall the Dolby 5.1 track seems to be the best. Picture is excellent and sharp with bright colors. Recording equipment chain is all digital - this is not a rehash of an analog tape. Negatives: It would have been nice to have a printed libretto with English translation, but the Italian subtitles are available if you wish. A chapter select option is not available from the menu.

The performers are all quite talented and evenly matched - very important in Cosi because of the symmetric nature of the music, particularly in the first act. (Gardiner emphasizes this symmetry by having each sister sing a few lines in the other's aria in Act I.) Both female leads appear to be in their mid 20s at the time of recording and display great vocal facility with some of the more difficult passages in the score. The male leads are also well matched with Guglielmo able to handle the higher passages well (a weakness in the Barenboim version). Despina and Don Alfonso are also well cast with very believable singers. Production values are high with attractive sets and costumes. The orchestra is tight and focused - the pace is faster than most versions I've seen or heard.

Gardiner was both musical director and stage producer for this version, which makes it a particularly good version for those who want to focus on the music. There are a few noticeable brief pauses as the singers wait for the conductor and orchestra, but this does not detract from the overall performance. I've seen stage directors try to add visual jokes and props to Cosi for greater comedic effect, but Gardiner lets the comedy flow from the music and libretto which is quite pleasing. While there are stage noises, they never detract from the music and I believe that the audience adds to the ambience of the performance - singers in a studio or soundstage never seem to sound as good as a live performance. Something about the costumes, audience, and acting seems to add vivacity and veracity.

While following the libretto religiously (including part of the finale which was omitted from the Barenboim version), Gardiner has a slightly different take on the ending. (POSSIBLE SPOILER) Every other version of Cosi I've seen has the original couples reunited at the end, their relationships seemingly none the worse for the somewhat cynical experiment which has been played out. Gardiner gently suggests that Ferrando and Fiordiligi perhaps have become more attached to each other than their original betrotheds, leaving one to wonder at the eventual outcome. Perhaps a Cosi for the modern age... Overall, bravissimo! A must have for fans of Mozart and Cosi fan tutte.

Rating:
Summary: De visión obligada.
Review: Nos encontramos ante una gran version de la gran ópera mozartiana. Jonh Eliot Gardiner dirige con pulso vivaz a unos English Barroque Solist maravillosos como siempre. En el reparto nos encontranmos voces frescas de cantantes jóvenes, que además de cantar bien se lo pasan bien en escena. Amanda Roocroft y Rosa Mannion realizan unas notables creaciones de Fiordiligi y Dorabella respectivamente, mientras que Rodney Gilfry está tambien notable como Guigliermo y Rainer Trost (lo mejor del reparto) sobresaliente como Ferrando. Claudio Niccolai (único veterano del reparto) hace un gran Don Alfonso, y Erian James una Despina más que correcta.
La producción escénica es bellísima, tanto en escenografía como vestuario e iluminación, y muy entretenida visualmente.
Francamente me parece que estamos ante la mejor opción visual disponible para "Cosí fan tutte", que además ofrece un nivel musical altamente notable.

Rating:
Summary: De visión obligada.
Review: Nos encontramos ante una gran version de la gran ópera mozartiana. Jonh Eliot Gardiner dirige con pulso vivaz a unos English Barroque Solist maravillosos como siempre. En el reparto nos encontranmos voces frescas de cantantes jóvenes, que además de cantar bien se lo pasan bien en escena. Amanda Roocroft y Rosa Mannion realizan unas notables creaciones de Fiordiligi y Dorabella respectivamente, mientras que Rodney Gilfry está tambien notable como Guigliermo y Rainer Trost (lo mejor del reparto) sobresaliente como Ferrando. Claudio Niccolai (único veterano del reparto) hace un gran Don Alfonso, y Erian James una Despina más que correcta.
La producción escénica es bellísima, tanto en escenografía como vestuario e iluminación, y muy entretenida visualmente.
Francamente me parece que estamos ante la mejor opción visual disponible para "Cosí fan tutte", que además ofrece un nivel musical altamente notable.

Rating:
Summary: Gosh this is beautiful
Review: So many opera performances on dvd end up being big disappointments -- singers can't act or sing or don't look the part, sound-picture quality is bad, out-of-synch, lousy sets, etc but this gem has it all.

I just can't get over how well the cast members fit their roles and yet are very good singers. Apparently, there is a god.

I was so touched by Roocroft in Act II that i melted into the ground.

I'm taking this one to the grave.

Rating:
Summary: A Gem!
Review: The title, Così fan tutte, meaning "All women are the same", uttered by the men in the play, and the plot with two young women falling into the conspiracy of their fidelity being tested, are misogynistic to some extent, but the real gem is the music. It is a comedy in the face of "tragedy", where love, betrayal, happiness and cynicism are revealed by sublime music - extremely eloquent, plenty of beautiful ensembles.

John Eliot Gardiner's production for Théâtre du Châtelet is brilliant in establishing a realistic, sunny Neapolitan atmosphere to match Mozart's heavenly music, which was brought out with such fineness by Gardiner. Whether a lush visual attraction is indispensable in fully embodying the music is perhaps a matter of taste. I've seen production that also worked out very well - Göran Jarvefelt's production for The Australian Opera in 1990, for example - with much simpler sets and austere designs, where the focus on music was distinctive and the drama was revealed by wonderful singing and acting.

It's a great ensemble piece with each of the six characters sharing their big moments on stage, so a cast of six singers equally strong in singing and acting becomes essential, and for the lovers, their youthful appearance would be as important. The English Baroque Soloists mounted a good cast; everyone did an excellent job in singing and acting. Amanda Roocroft showed great range and agility in her singing as Fiordiligi. Rainer Trost's Ferrando was exquisitely and beautifully sung, demonstrating his graceful Mozartian style, although you'd expect more tension created in scenes like "Fra gli amplessi in pochi istanti", the fervent duet of Fiordiligi/Ferrando. Eirian James' Despina is simply wonderful. Her mezzo voice-type suited the character very well, and her singing was full of life, sometimes surprise - as she changed her voice for Despina-the-notary to a smooth baritone. In this production more emphases were made to the identical side of Fiordiligi and Dorabella, from the details like the exact same garments in Act I to the singers' timbre, the subtleties in their personalities were gradually differentiated by the nuances in their acting. As for their lovers, Ferrando and Guglielmo, I wish their Albanian disguise were given more Albanian touch in the style and more dramatically different from them as soldiers - something that would intensify the drama and the comedy as well.

The quality of the DVD, with clear sound and sharp image, has done full justice to this wonderful production. No doubt, it's a worthy collection for Mozart lovers or Così fans.

Rating:
Summary: A Gem!
Review: The title, Così fan tutte, meaning "All women are the same", uttered by the men in the play, and the plot with two young women falling into the conspiracy of their fidelity being tested, are misogynistic to some extent, but the real gem is the music. It is a comedy in the face of "tragedy", where love, betrayal, happiness and cynicism are revealed by sublime music - extremely eloquent, plenty of beautiful ensembles.

John Eliot Gardiner's production for Théâtre du Châtelet is brilliant in establishing a realistic, sunny Neapolitan atmosphere to match Mozart's heavenly music, which was brought out with such fineness by Gardiner. Whether a lush visual attraction is indispensable in fully embodying the music is perhaps a matter of taste. I've seen production that also worked out very well - Göran Jarvefelt's production for The Australian Opera in 1990, for example - with much simpler sets and austere designs, where the focus on music was distinctive and the drama was revealed by wonderful singing and acting.

It's a great ensemble piece with each of the six characters sharing their big moments on stage, so a cast of six singers equally strong in singing and acting becomes essential, and for the lovers, their youthful appearance would be as important. The English Baroque Soloists mounted a good cast; everyone did an excellent job in singing and acting. Amanda Roocroft showed great range and agility in her singing as Fiordiligi. Rainer Trost's Ferrando was exquisitely and beautifully sung, demonstrating his graceful Mozartian style, although you'd expect more tension created in scenes like "Fra gli amplessi in pochi istanti", the fervent duet of Fiordiligi/Ferrando. Eirian James' Despina is simply wonderful. Her mezzo voice-type suited the character very well, and her singing was full of life, sometimes surprise - as she changed her voice for Despina-the-notary to a smooth baritone. In this production more emphases were made to the identical side of Fiordiligi and Dorabella, from the details like the exact same garments in Act I to the singers' timbre, the subtleties in their personalities were gradually differentiated by the nuances in their acting. As for their lovers, Ferrando and Guglielmo, I wish their Albanian disguise were given more Albanian touch in the style and more dramatically different from them as soldiers - something that would intensify the drama and the comedy as well.

The quality of the DVD, with clear sound and sharp image, has done full justice to this wonderful production. No doubt, it's a worthy collection for Mozart lovers or Così fans.