Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
An exciting DVD despite a questionable production, 17 Nov 2006
Franz Schreker's "Die Gezeichneten" was composed between 1911 and 1915 and enjoyed wide public success following its premiere in 1918. The music of the opera is melodic, romantic, and orchestrated on a grand scale with chromatic harmonies. The result is not dissimilar to the styles of Schreker's Austrian near-contemporaries, Zemlinsky and Korngold.
Like Zemlinsky and Korngold, Schreker had Jewish origins and his career was largely derailed by the rise of antisemitism under the Nazis. His music subsequently sunk into a long period of obscurity, not helped by his early death aged 55 in 1934. However, Schreker's reputation has been gradually improving over the last couple of decades and it is excellent that Euroarts have released this performance of "Die Gezeichneten", recorded at the Salzburg Festival in 2005.
The first thing to say is that the opera receives a sumptuous and evocative performance by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin under Kent Nagano. Incidentally, the same orchestra performed in the Decca recording under Zagrosek in the 1990s, and that recording, like this one, was sponsored by ZDF. (Perhaps there is someone in the German television company who is a Schreker fan.) If anything, Nagano's performance is even more impressive than the Zagrosek one. I also thought the performances of the American tenor Robert Brubaker and the German soprano Anne Schwanewilms were excellent. Their performance of the duet between Alviano and Carlotta at the end of Act 1 is exquisitely beautiful.
What the booklet note neglects to mention is that this staging involves a cut version of the opera. Some 4 minutes is missing from Act 1 and over 20 minutes from the first half of Act 3. This includes the entire subplot involving Alviano's housekeeper Martuccio and the assassin Pietro, and much other fine music besides.
The other main problem is Nikolaus Lehnhoff's production. Alviano is no longer a hunchback but made into a crossdresser, and among other changes the story is moved from 16th century Genoa to some unidentified time and place. There is no reason for this, as Schreker's opera is exotic enough without any intervention. It all looks very interesting, but because of the cuts and the other meddling, the plot (which is somewhat opaque to begin) makes little sense.
Despite the problems with the production, this is likely to be the only DVD of "Die Gezeichneten" for some time and I definitely recommend it for the music and the performances. Incidentally, the picture is 16:9 widescreen and the recording (which has a 5.1 surround option) is good, albeit a little bass heavy.
|
|
|
|
![Schreker: Schatzgraber [IMPORT]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21MYS7Y43GL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
![Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Mozart 22 - Ascanio In Alba [2007]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/519B-wHqRyL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
(1)
£19.99
![Dusapin - Faustus, The Last Night [2006]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41XBUY1US%2BL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
(1)
![Cardillac - Hindemith [2005]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41CUfJiQEFL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
![Henze - Boulevard Solitude [2007]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41r40hffcSL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
![Martinu - the Greek Passion [1981]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41pQe%2B8XWzL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
![Schoenberg - Moses Und Aron [2006]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41tjCNlzrmL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
(1 customer review)
