Purcell: The Fairy Queen (Purcell: The Fairy Queen Glyndebourne Festival 2009) [DVD] [2010] [NTSC]

 

 

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It is hard to categorise Purcell's "The Fairy Queen"; it is sometimes referred to as a "masque" and sometimes as a "semi-opera," if only because of a 1692 staging which was an "entertainment" mixing Purcell's glorious music with an abridged, bowdlerised adaptation of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Productions at the time were, it seems, improbably lavish and, perhaps, "unstageable" today, but Jonathan Kent's 2009 Glyndebourne production does a marvellous job in reconciling the play and the music. An earlier review of this DVD complains that it is all a bit dark and that it is too much simply a record of a stage production which fails to capture the full magic of a live event. This may be true, but hats off to Mr Kent for bringing together so brilliantly the worlds of seventeenth century England (here representing the court of Theseus), the modern day (the scenes involving the rude mechanicals) and the Fairy kingdom at night. The representations of Purcell's masques are very effective and often very beautiful and the actors perform with considerable verve. Sally Dexter and Joseph Millson make a sexy couple as Titania and Oberon, while the four lovers throw themselves into their parts with tremendous energy. Indeed, the play is very much cast from strength, with well-known actors assuming the roles of Theseus, Egeus and the mechanicals. The latter are led by the irrepressible Desmond Barrit, who offers a veritable tour de force as a very Welsh Bottom. He gets to sing the song of the Drunken Poet and while he manages to get his less than luxuriant baritone around the notes, I would have preferred to hear a "proper" singer in the role. A "proper" singer, Rob Burt, acts the part of Flute most amusingly and is brilliantly funny as Mopsa in her scene with Corydon. Although it would be silly to pretend that this is a definitive recording from a purely musical point of view (Christophers is my personal favourite), the singing and playing are generally very fine. William Christie conducted what was something of a benchmark recording of the work some years and he and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment are on splendid form here. Not all of the singers are of the very finest quality, but the cast boasts two very fine sopranos in Lucy Crowe and Carolyn Sampson, who gives a very moving performance of the Plaint. Ed Lyon is a handsome stage presence, but his fine tenor is hard-pressed by some of the higher-lying passages and while Andrew Foster-Williams is undeniably versatile in his various incarnations, his lovely bass is, to my ears at any rate, a little lacking in resonance. The whole thing is extraordinarily enjoyable and it is clear that everyone concerned was having a good time; you only need to watch the final chorus to realise this.

An important measure of good video equipment, be it a television or a projector, is its ability to show accurately blacks and whites. Many, otherwise good monitors, fail on this point and I suspect that this is what has happened in the case of a couple of reviewers who have criticised the video quality of this opera. This version does contain a number of fairly dark night scenes. It is in the nature of a `Midsummers Night Dream' which is the loose basis of the Fairy Queen. However, on proper equipment this Opera looks absolutely fantastic. Rich, rich colours and fabulous inky black blacks! It is a visual joy and all the `necessary' detail is there for all to see. I watched this Opera through a JVC DLA-HDI projector (by no means expensive) and it looked fabulous. Because of the above negativity I checked it out on a Pioneer Kuro plasma television and if anything the picture quality was even better. However, both these pieces of equipment are renowned for their ability to portray realistic blacks and they both stepped up to the job magnificently. I can understand how some LCD sets might struggle in this situation. This is something that many TV sales people don't understand when they rubbish plasma sets as being yesterday's technology!

I digress. Now back to the review. The Fairy Queen is rarely seen in the theatre today. Productions can be very costly as can be seen in this version and there has been an unfortunate history of companies nearly going bankrupt as a result of hosting this opera/play. I first saw the Faerie Queen at the ENO in the 1990's. This version was pure music and dance, omitting the spoken text. Enjoyable as that version was I found it lacking in clarity and most certainly less coherent than this production by Jonathan Kent. This version pulls out all the stops with a wonderful cast, orchestra and conductor. The staging is imaginative and bold and the regular scene changes help to hold the audience's attention through the 5 Acts and 205 minutes of performance. The Opera is a wonderful exuberant mix of acting, dance/ballet and song. There are many glorious moments to savour with such a mix of emotions and at times some bawdy comedic items of pure fun. In particular I am thinking of the `Dance for the Haymakers' in Act 3 when actors dressed as bunny rabbits do what rabbits are best known for - in perfect time to the music. Very, very amusing and all done `in the best possible taste'.

I have already discussed the video quality but what about the sound quality? I have to say that the audio quality is even better than the truly excellent picture quality. Opus Arte have excelled themselves with a brilliant DTS-HD Master 5.1 lossless audio version. The sound is exceptionally clear and I found no need to use the optional sub-titles. Technically, this is one of the finest Glyndebourne productions that I have - and I do possess quite a few! Another reviewer has been critical of the sound and has mentioned distractions from the audience - coughs etc. Perhaps I was too riveted to the production not to notice this. From my perspective I cannot remember a single distraction over the 3+ hours of performance.

There are 2 extras on this disc, both recorded in high definition. The menu system works well and the disc is divided into 52 chapters. There is an interesting booklet to accompany the performance. I will put my neck on the block in predicting that no finer performance will ever be made of this opera - at least not in my lifetime. Very highly recommended!

Live the in the theatre this was a great production. On DVD it's a touch less impressive, perhaps because the images are so dark - OK, night and silence, but in the theatre it was easier to see what was going on; and partly because, recorded in close up, the actors may seem to those who didn't go to the live show to be overacting. Still, I imagine if you're seeing this for the firts time as it is, it will impress.

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5.0 out of 5 stars PERFECT PURCELL
WE TOOK THIS FAIRY QUEEN WITH US ON HOLIDAY TO MADEIRA WHERE SUNSHINE WALKS THROUGH THE DAY WERE PERFECTLY BALANCED BY THIS BRILLIANT DVD SHOWING, SCENE BY SCENE, EVENING BY... Read more

Published 17 days ago by DOC JOHN BERRY

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding
This is a marvellous production and really quite unique in my experience. The combination of considerable amounts of Shakespeare's Midsummer Mights Dream allied to the musical... Read more

Published 3 months ago by I. Giles

2.0 out of 5 stars It must be me I suppose.
I am glad that I did not buy it before seeing it. So highly rated, by gramaphone magazine and others but I found the musical content very tedious; and what was supposed to be... Read more

Published 13 months ago by aristotle

3.0 out of 5 stars BOG STANDARD PRODUCTION VALUES
Previous Glyndebourne on dvd I've watched have usually been based on BBC broadcasts. The standard of this as a visual record of a wonderful production is a lot lower. Read more

Published 19 months ago by Dr. S. J. Wyatt

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