Rating: 
Summary: Perhaps you have to be English...
Review: I must say - I read the predominately hostile reviews here with some surprise.Henry Purcell has long been regarded as England's greatest composer. His range was broad - from music of great majesty and solemnity at one extreme to bawdy drinking songs at the other. The masques, such as THE FAIRY QUEEN, THE INDIAN QUEEN and KING ARTHUR are firmly placed at the lighter end of the scale. Note; I'm not saying that the masques are necessarily trivial or uninspired. There are beautiful things in them all. But they were first and foremost designed as entertainments. It made perfect sense, then, for David Pountney to stage THE FAIRY QUEEN in an essentially playful manner. The set designs, the costumes, the choreography, the cross-casting all conform to this lets-have-fun approach. As I say in the summary, perhaps you have to be English to appreciate it. There is a long tradition in the English theatre of whimsy, of gender confusion and a particular kind of melancholy which matches the English character. But - and it's a big but - this production, while it has all kinds of fun with the staging, treats the music with the respect it deserves. The singing and playing are both fine and the sound remarkably good considering that this is a taping of a live performance. Titania's Plaint is especially fine with the beautiful oboe playing setting off the lyrics to perfection. Please - this is not Grand Opera. It's meant to be enjoyed on a less formal basis than that, and this DVD succeeds in communicating that enjoyment to the viewer. Technically, the sound (LPCM in the UK) on this DVD is fine and the visuals (transferred from 16:9 HDTV) reasonable considering the circumstances under which it was taped.
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps you have to be English...
Review: I must say - I read the predominately hostile reviews here with some surprise. Henry Purcell has long been regarded as England's greatest composer. His range was broad - from music of great majesty and solemnity at one extreme to bawdy drinking songs at the other. The masques, such as THE FAIRY QUEEN, THE INDIAN QUEEN and KING ARTHUR are firmly placed at the lighter end of the scale. Note; I'm not saying that the masques are necessarily trivial or uninspired. There are beautiful things in them all. But they were first and foremost designed as entertainments. It made perfect sense, then, for David Pountney to stage THE FAIRY QUEEN in an essentially playful manner. The set designs, the costumes, the choreography, the cross-casting all conform to this lets-have-fun approach. As I say in the summary, perhaps you have to be English to appreciate it. There is a long tradition in the English theatre of whimsy, of gender confusion and a particular kind of melancholy which matches the English character. But - and it's a big but - this production, while it has all kinds of fun with the staging, treats the music with the respect it deserves. The singing and playing are both fine and the sound remarkably good considering that this is a taping of a live performance. Titania's Plaint is especially fine with the beautiful oboe playing setting off the lyrics to perfection. Please - this is not Grand Opera. It's meant to be enjoyed on a less formal basis than that, and this DVD succeeds in communicating that enjoyment to the viewer. Technically, the sound (LPCM in the UK) on this DVD is fine and the visuals (transferred from 16:9 HDTV) reasonable considering the circumstances under which it was taped.
Rating: 
Summary: Fairies and Queens
Review: I've only listened to excerpts from 'The Fairy Queen' before this so I don't know its original form. I've always understood it to be a masque in which spoken word and music were combined much like German singspiel. This performance is through-sung in the usual operatic manner alternating aria with recitative. I have no objection to this or to the musical performance. The visual part however is a disaster. Whoever was responsible for it took a lame and obvious turn on the word 'fairy' and presented the fairies as the more flamboyant elements of the gay and lesbian sub-culture. The mortals, again obviously, are corporate types in gray suits except for a drunken poet. I suppose there was a plot to follow, but it was too obscure to bother with. The performance is messy, the costumes are messy, and the sets are messy, and they all have little relation to the music's Baroque formality.
Rating:
Summary: Fairies and Queens
Review: Musically the disc is adequate; the production is (however) dreadful. A shame that Purcell's great work is not better served. I cannot imagine why the ENO chose to record this effort. Don't waste your money.
Rating: 
Summary: Dreadful production
Review: Musically the disc is adequate; the production is (however) dreadful. A shame that Purcell's great work is not better served. I cannot imagine why the ENO chose to record this effort. Don't waste your money.
Rating:
Summary: Expand Your Horizons
Review: One of the chief reasons I ordered this was because of Henry Purcell's music. I have listened to excerpts of this piece practically all my life. Sometimes it's best to let sleeping dogs lie, but not in this case. Without having any knowledge of the Fairy Queen, I set the DVD menu to digital Dolby 5.1 and pressed play. After watching the first ten minutes of the bare-propped stage and all the dancing performers, I was beginning to think the Fairy Queen was a modern ballet, and not an opera! It's actually a play, which makes sense in that the story is based on an incident from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. I also initially thought this was going to be like another Peter Sellars contemporary interpretation of a classic work, but was soon proven wrong. This is a "fairy tale" - set to a fusion of fabulous baroque music with arias and chorus, dance and comedy. As quoted from the NY Times . . . "It's exhilarating, funny, romantic, sexy, and enormously invigorating". And, it incorporates superb audio and video! Essential criteria for me! This is presented in a 1:78:1 aspect ratio which works extremely well for the majority of standard screens, and is enhanced for 16:9 TVs. Buy it! You'll love it,...
Rating:
Summary: Expand Your Horizons
Review: One of the chief reasons I ordered this was because of Henry Purcell's music. I have listened to excerpts of this piece practically all my life. Sometimes it's best to let sleeping dogs lie, but not in this case. Without having any knowledge of the Fairy Queen, I set the DVD menu to digital Dolby 5.1 and pressed play. After watching the first ten minutes of the bare-propped stage and all the dancing performers, I was beginning to think the Fairy Queen was a modern ballet, and not an opera! It's actually a play, which makes sense in that the story is based on an incident from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. I also initially thought this was going to be like another Peter Sellars contemporary interpretation of a classic work, but was soon proven wrong. This is a "fairy tale" - set to a fusion of fabulous baroque music with arias and chorus, dance and comedy. As quoted from the NY Times . . . "It's exhilarating, funny, romantic, sexy, and enormously invigorating". And, it incorporates superb audio and video! Essential criteria for me! This is presented in a 1:78:1 aspect ratio which works extremely well for the majority of standard screens, and is enhanced for 16:9 TVs. Buy it! You'll love it,...
Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding
Review: Purcell has for a long time been one of my favorite composers and I have always found it sad that his musical plays are not more frequently staged. However, this production bears out the statement of an opera singer friend that too often contemporary directors ruin good operas. Musically and vocally this production is very good, but the visual production is very distracting. It is perhaps inevitable that, given the fact that the action is largely in the form of the masque, there would be a very large dance component. This in itself is not problematic. However, when one of the principal singing characters (Oberon) seems to have been chosen more for his athletic/dance capabilities than for his vocal ones, one has to question the agenda. Also, sets and business were frequently incomprehensible. And, although as others have said, there does appear to be a particular social agenda being pushed, much of it was just simply silly and rather stupid. After seeing this production, I wish even more strongly for a production that would be fearless enough to do this work in an antiquarian style, so that we might have an idea of what Purcell's original audiences saw. A beautiful example of such a production is one of the 2002 production of Monteverdi's "L'Orfeo" under the direction of Jordi Savall from the BBC. Let's hope that Purcell will eventually get a similar treatment.
Rating: 
Summary: Hard to caracterize
Review: Purcell has for a long time been one of my favorite composers and I have always found it sad that his musical plays are not more frequently staged. However, this production bears out the statement of an opera singer friend that too often contemporary directors ruin good operas. Musically and vocally this production is very good, but the visual production is very distracting. It is perhaps inevitable that, given the fact that the action is largely in the form of the masque, there would be a very large dance component. This in itself is not problematic. However, when one of the principal singing characters (Oberon) seems to have been chosen more for his athletic/dance capabilities than for his vocal ones, one has to question the agenda. Also, sets and business were frequently incomprehensible. And, although as others have said, there does appear to be a particular social agenda being pushed, much of it was just simply silly and rather stupid. After seeing this production, I wish even more strongly for a production that would be fearless enough to do this work in an antiquarian style, so that we might have an idea of what Purcell's original audiences saw. A beautiful example of such a production is one of the 2002 production of Monteverdi's "L'Orfeo" under the direction of Jordi Savall from the BBC. Let's hope that Purcell will eventually get a similar treatment.
Rating:
Summary: Fresh and Sagacious
Review: Something fresh,something sagacious.Whereas Purcell's music was performed in genuine style by Nicholas Kok and his fine musicians,David Pourtney burts routine and obviousness in this charming,clever production.That modern drag queens(Titania's fairies)just rescues ancient traditions on male actors performing female characters.Statesmen,drunk guys,political satire...A whole human being panorama was there.Truly,I can fell all Shakespeare's tale spirit on costumes by Dunya Ramikova.Of course,many listeners will prefer a better singer to Oberon.Nonetheless,we have Titania by Yvonne Kenny,her outstanding "O,Let me Weep",that delicious Yvonne Barclay soprano voice (Caroline),that so funny countertenor duet leading by Michael Chance on Part two,...Jonathan Best!What a triumphal actor and singer(The Drunken Poet)!Listen me,all of you;don't deprive yourselves of this optimistic,cheerful DVD just because some people become impervious to new ideas.
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