Features:
- Color
- Closed-captioned
- Dolby
Description:
Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, one of the greatest and most popular operas of the 20th century, has been recorded several times, in audio and video formats, with unusual skill and devotion. This production is the first available in DVD. It faces formidable competition from CD and VHS recordings, but it has its own personality and, taken on its own terms, it is a delight--well cast, carefully worked out in the smallest details of music and staging, and technically far ahead of its most notable competitors. The only serious problem is with the orchestra--quite competent after a minute or two warming up at the beginning, but simply not as sumptuous or idiomatic as the Vienna Philharmonic. Der Rosenkavalier's plot is a complex blend of farce and serious drama. Young love, social pretension, greed, and unselfishness are part of its subtly mingled motivations. It requires a carefully integrated interpretation and receives one in this production, thanks to excellent conducting and stage direction. Elizabeth Whitehouse gives a touching characterization of the Marschallin, an aging grande dame who comes to terms with the loss of her youth and her young lover, Octavian (the velvet-voiced Ildiko Komlosi). Daniel Lewis Williams has just the right level of boorish pomposity as the aptly named Baron Ochs (Ox in German). Notable competitors include a 1931 recording of about half the score with many members of the original cast and a 1956 recording, conducted by Herbert von Karajan with a much-admired performance by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf as the Marschallin. The Schwarzkopf-Karajan combination (in a later performance) can be seen in a technically flawed but classic VHS edition. I would not discard those Rosenkavaliers, but this one takes an honorable place on the shelf beside them. --Joe McLellan
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