Rating: 
Summary: Loose the doll! Where's the braid?
Review: Ever since I was fortunate to see this opera in a Berlin Opera production I have longed to see it again. So when the dvd came out I was thrilled. I read the reviews and purchased it with some reservations, since it is the only production on dvd. I have two very fine recordings on cd one with Renee Kollo and Carol Neblett and with the Royal Swedish Opera, both sumptuous and very satisfying. This production is such a disappointment. It's beautifuly sung and the acting is very fine which unfortunatly can't overcome this garish and sometimes laughable production. It is a perversion of the composers intent. So until a better one comes along listen to a cd and use your imagination. I give the singers 5 stars and the production a 1
Rating: 
Summary: What's with the doll?
Review: First, what's right: excellent ebb & flow by the conductor, terrific orchestral playing, and fine singing, particularly the singer doing Frank. But what the f... is up with this production? The opera is purposely surreal to begin with, so the added elements by the director only serve to make a mess of the plot. The kid coming out of nowhere during the Lute Song, Paul clutching that doll like a perv, etc. Oh yes, there's more, and it's all the more confusing if you're already familiar with the story. Korngold was one of the 20th century's greatest composers, and hearing this work should leave no doubt of that in anyone's mind. Such an individul voice he had! 2 measures is all it takes to identify the composer's hand. This opera should become a rep staple again. Even this misbegotten production should help it on its way toward regaining its place on the stage. The DVD is still worth buying because it's a great work, though this performance is presented with a number of cuts, which seriously disturb the flow of the 1st act. Once you get over the visuals it can even be fun, like watching a terribly garish fashion show.
Rating:
Summary: Were it not for that second act ...
Review: I might have a higher opinion on this Opera du Rhin 2001 production of a work and composer musicologists rather pointlessly still debate whether both are minor or major and which generated hot debate (which as I notice permeated to this website, as can be gathered from browsing through the entries by other fellow reviewers). As the specialised press on both sides of the Rhine did, you'll either hate it or love it. The well known English critic Alan Blyth, writing for Gramophone magazine when the set was issued in Europe, rather dismissed as "bizarre"; I wouldn't go as far as a whole, although the second act actually comes close, its conception being unnecessarily odd, perhaps verging on the grotesque.
Any way, this is the product of a wunderkind of 23 to me still in the process of duly assimilating the various musical influences he was exposed to: Richard Strauss is never far behind, as neither are the Puccini of his last works or even the viennese operetta composers of the time. In fact, most of Marietta's vocal part is characterised by a soaring utterance (which Denoke no doubt relishes and for which she seems very apt and abled) typical of the vocal lines of female parts in works like Der Rosenkavalier, Ariadne auf Naxos or Die Frau ohne Schatten. The work is uneven, reaching heights of perplexing beauty besides segments perilously about to cross the boundaires of the sugary or schmalzy sentimental, viennese style (and that is to say something). References to the successes of Jeritza and Tauber in the protagonical roles, and wielding them as criticism arguments against Denoke's and Kerl's accomplishments have lost any significant relevance to me in 2005, as the 1930's are by now too remote from us and I sincerely doubt anyone's memory to be reliable enough after so much time as to make the comparison viable; or, for that case, as may be evidenced from reconstructed 78's.
So, if you're bent on exploring the unfamiliar or willing to expand your repertoire, Die Tote Stadt may be of interest to you. With superior performances from the four principals (Angela Denoke, Trosten Kerl, Yuri Batukov and Birgitta Svenden), luxurious sounds from the Strasbourg Philharmonic and impeccable conducting from Latham-Koenig, and if you put up with some questionable aspects of an irregular staging concept on the part of stage director Inga Levant and Magali Gerberon's costumes (especially in the second act), you'll enjoy this Arthaus Musik release, which by the way features an informative and helpful booklet that puts composer and work into due perspective and context; I'd wish companies like Kultur and Image, normally furnishing no more than a leaflet with a chapter index, followed this practice. The programme includes no additional material, regretfully, but carries menus in 4 languages and subtitles in 5.
Rating: 
Summary: First Love in the Worst Way
Review: I realize this opera is enjoyed by people I respect. To me, however, its means far too greatly exceeds its content. The deconstructive production contains insights here and there, but is mostly laughable. Contrary to others' opinions of Angela Denoke's singing, I found her voice, while accurate, shrill, grating and unattractive. Kerl's Paul was excellent. The sets were some of the worst I've ever seen: there was so many dark protrubances on the floor, the singers spent most of their time keeping from stubbing their toes and falling down. What physical interactions there were were awkward and unnatural.
The music is hyperromantic and magnificent, the sentiment essentially adolescent: one's seeming inability to go beyond first love. The second one will cure you--if you accept it. The rest is irrelevant mumbo-jumbo.
A simple, realistic setting of Act I is mandatory for the opera, thus I would not recommend purchasing this DVD. Buy the Leinsdorf CD and imagine it yourself until a better production comes along.
For something twice as grandiose for a core meaning even less significant, try Korngold's "Das Wunder der Heliane," then go out and buy a Hummer for driving down to the 7-11.
Rating:
Summary: Nobody got the visual joke!!!
Review: I too, hated the production. Using a knife to kill Marietta in his dream, instead of strangling her with his dead wife Marie's long braid of hair (so lovingly kept in a glass case) was truly stupid!
In response to those who wondered about the teenage boy in formal attire in act one during the lute song: he is the personification of Korngold. Find a picture of him about the time he wrote Violanta or Der Ring des Polykrates (age 14) and you'll see the resemblance.
Just another example of this stage director trying to be clever: having a youthful incarnation of the composer come out to "play" the piano and "accompany" the top 10 hit that was/is "Mariettas Lautenlied," although witty, hasn't got "squat" to do with the libretto or the plot.
Good performances: bad production!
Get the 1975 RCA recording (Neblett, Kollo, Leinsdorf) listen to it with the libretto in front of you: you'll conjure up your own clear staging and know exactly what it should look like. This set designer and director had no idea what this opera was about. Makes me wonder if they even read the stage directions in the score.
Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely stunning!
Review: I'd give this more that 5 stars if I could. This DVD definitely makes up for some of the more boring ones I've purchased. If you're adventuresome and want something that is a challenge, GET THIS! It's perverse, it's garish, it's over the top! But remember, Die Tote Stadt translates to The Dead City and it is about a man's overwhelming obsession for his dead wife and his dream, or better put in this director's point of view - nightmare. The first act only hints at what is to come in acts 2 and 3. I found the ending heart wrenching. Does it all work? No. But those things are easily forgotten compared to the rest of the production, singing, and gorgeous music. The two principles sing and act as if their lives depended on it. Torsten Kerl is truly magnificent in the difficult role of Paul and Angela Denoke as Marietta is almost his match. It must have been an electrifying night in the theatre. My only complain is that it has too soft a focus and at times seems slightly blurry, especially during distance shots. A word of caution - if you have a good sound system, be careful. You could use parts of this recording to break your lease! If your tastes run to the standard operas and conventional stagings, this is definitely not for you. But if your at the other end of the spectrum or at least willing to try something new, order this one now!
Rating:
Summary: So beautiful, so moving...but what the heck?!!
Review: In the ongoing battle between great operas and pretentious, self-impressed production designers and stage directors, the operas usually win hands down. After all, they have the advantage of all that great music, all the beautiful poetry, all the genius! And, here too, Korngold and his heart-melting opera "Die Tote Stadt" do emerge the victors, but just barely! There is so much to admire about this release. It's filming is state of the art, and should be a model for future attempts to put staged opera on the screen. The singers are universally fine, and it's Marietta, Angela Denoke, is a revelation. But if there were ever a production which showed utter contempt for the vision of the creators, it's this one. In the place of the braid of his dead wife's hair, Paul cradles a small doll, and strokes it's hair. He apparently has his wife's skeleton hidden under the floorboards, and during "Marietta's Lied" he strokes the skeletal hand. Later, he drags her shrivelled corpse around the stage with him. Marietta appears to be pregnant in act III, and, worst of all, in an opera which inspired hope in the ruins of post-World War I Germany, he inexplicably stabs himself to death as he sings his final lines. Yet, for all the intelligence insulting rubbish in this staging, I had a hard time not giving this release five stars, because when Marietta sang her final aria, tracing her past from the gutter to finding her own faith, I couldn't help but feel my heart leap into my throat, and couldn't stop the tears welling up in my eyes. But all that is to the credit of Mr. Korngold, and Ms. Denoke. They deserve eight or ten stars.
Yet, complaints aside, anyone who loves Korngold, or the splendid intensity of late romantic opera should still see this, because in the end, it IS the opera that triumphs.
Rating:
Summary: Singing 5 stars, Production 2 stars
Review: Korngold is an over the top composer, but this production tries to out do him, and as a result, is confusing. Denoke is wonderful, physically beautiful with a matching voice. Kerl is fine and convincing. They have a hard time competing with the "everything but the kitchen sink" production. The designers seem to feel the focus of the opera should be on the sets and peculiar design decisions rather than on the music and Korngold's conception for the opera.
Rating:
Summary: Die Tote Stadt DVD - four cheers for Arthaus.
Review: Suppressed by the Nazis as "decadent", this wonderfully inspired
score has Straussian ebb and flow, volcanic eruptions, tender, touching moments, unusual, colorful orchestral effects, not to mention unforgettable melodies. Puccini's influence is distinct, but more of the modern, incisive Puccini of La Fanciulla del West
and Turandot, than that of the earlier, sentimental La Boheme.
There are reminescences of Wagner, Richard Strauss and Mahler, but these are influences never copies.
The 23 year old (!) Korngold is already showing his lion's teeth
in the highly original,inventive and tremendously impressive Bell sequence in the second act: Giant bells of different pitch toll incessantly with the pounding of percussion creating an impression of the dead city, Bruges ,in the night, with its gloomy
mediaeval streets, canals and bridges, the famous cathedral looming in the background.
Unfortunately this is not what we see on the stage, however. The director, instead, has other ideas. He gave us too much light, neon lit cafes, nuns in silly looking hats and other cheap effects. This, I think , dilutes the otherwise fine production.
On the positive side: The first act is fine and follows the composer's intentions faithfully. Even the frantic doll-clutching
works well, indicating Paul's fanatical obsession, symbolically.
The mirror effect and other cinematographic devices are interesting and suitable for a modern 20th century work, such as this. The bellowing skirt, al la Marilyn Monroe, is cute.
But apart from presentation,one should concentrate on the music and singing, which are the essence, and here we doubly get our moneys worth! In the tricky dual role of Marie/Marietta, the gorgeous
German soprano Angele Denoke carries the day. A natural redhead, she sings,acts and dances to exaltation.In the gruelling tenor role Tornsten Kerl braves the monstrous difficulties, though signs of strain are noticeable. After all, this is like singing Tristan continuously for an hour and a half.
A great highlight for me is the long love duet at the end of the
second act, with varying moods in succession (anger, doubt,sadness, awakening ardour and unconquerable passion).
At the end of this duet the lovers fall into each other's arms, much like in the wonderful finale of Sigfried. Even the concluding melody has some similarity.
The conducting of Latham-Koenig is excellent in controlling a huge orchestra of a sustained vulcano, bursting at the seams underneath the action. We can still look up to the late, great
Erich Leinsdorf, but Latham-Koenig is a worthy successor.
One can go on and on. I give it 4 stars, though it probably deserves more were it not for those directorial excesses and self indulgences I mentioned.
Very recommendable for all those curious to SEE this opera (since
it is highly unlikely they will see it anywhere else). Three (or four) cheers for Opera de Rhin and, of course, Arthaus.
Rating:
Summary: Not exactly what Korngold had in mind, but still worthwhile
Review: The Opera National du Rhin has staged Die tote Stadt as a depiction of Paul's decline into madness, ending in suicide. This differs from Korngold's conception, and from typical stagings (e.g., New York City Opera's), in which Paul enters a dream about Marie/Marietta, but ultimately breaks free of it. To me, the altered staging adds nothing to the value of the opera. But for those of us who love Korngold's music, it is still wonderful to see and hear this opera on DVD. Angela Denoke and Torsten Kerl are excellent portrayers of Paul and Marietta. Birgitta Svenden is a nice bonus as Brigitte, and Yuri Batukov is more than adequate as Frank, as are all the other supporting singers. It is intererting, however, that Kerl, a light-voiced tenor, seems to be working mightily to sing the role just as Rene Kollo did in the old LP version that is now available on CD. I'd rate this five stars if it weren't for the sometimes distracting antics associated with Opera du Rhin's "innovative" (OK, Eurotrash) staging -- nuns morphing into prostitutes, members of Marietta's troup dressed as drag queens, Paul fondling a skeleton on the stage, Frank as a bishop in the third act, handing Paul a knife or razor with which to kill himself, that sort of thing. Yes, I see what they were driving at, but no, I don't think it was a good idea.
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