Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress [DVD]

When this Salzburg Festival production of Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress hit the stage in 1996, the reviews in the British press were red hot. Unfortunately Peter Mussbach's staging, though it has moments of theatrical flair, doesn't translate smoothly to the small screen in this live recording: his grand visual metaphors--an aeroplane that never takes off and stage-hands in anti-Enlightenment monkey costumes--look somewhat pinched. But Sylvain Cambreling's pacy conducting and the central performances come across with 1,000-watt energy. Dawn Upshaw is outstanding as Anne Trulove, bringing as much careful detail to her acting as she does brilliance to her vocal technique; and her performance of the Act I aria and cabaletta, "No word from Tom ... I go, I go to him", must rank among the best ever recorded. Jerry Hadley, dressed as a mullet-haired "yoof" in heavy-metal T-shirt and jeans, doesn't quite have the clarity and vocal agility of, say, Philip Langridge as Tom Rakewell, but the amusing yobbishness of his acting suits his louder redder-blooded performance beautifully. Rich-voiced Jane Henschel is hilarious as Baba the Turk, and uses her large frame with dainty, tippy-toe comic effect.

On the DVD: the production is judiciously directed by Brian Large: there are plenty of carefully placed reaction shots, unobtrusive camera movements and there's an overall sense of a highly charged live performance. The recording levels, though generally excellent, occasionally offer a muffled phrase or two. There are subtitles in English, German, French and Spanish but no other special features. --Warwick Thompson

DVD Special Features:
Sound format: PCM stereo
Picture format: 16:9
Menu languages: GB, D, F, SP
Subtitle languages: GB, D, F, SP
Region code: 2,5

From the Salzburg Festival 1996.

Cast:
Trulove: Jonathan Best
Anne Trulove: Dawn Upshaw
Tom Rakewell: Jerry Hadley
Nick Shadow: Monte Pederson
Mother Goose: Linda Ormiston
Baba the Turk: Jane Henschel
Sellem: Barry Banks
Keeper: Peter Tuff
Camerata Academica
Conductor: Sylvian Cambreling
Harpsichord: Ann Beckman
Vienna State Opera Chorus