Chailly Conducts Mendelssohn [2005]

Customer Reviews:

Chailly's Inaugural Concert as Conductor of the Gewandhaus.......2006-02-06

It only took four months from the time of this concert on 2 September 2005 for it to find its way onto a DVD distributed worldwide. This is close to a record for a classical music DVD. But the concert does represent a momentous event in its part of the world and for those of us elsewhere who care about such things. Riccardo Chailly had been conductor of the famed Royal Concertbegouw in Amsterdam since 1988, moving to the Gewandhaus only this past fall. The concert itself has profound connections to the orchestra's history containing as it contans three works by Mendelssohn who was the orchestra's first conductor. It is special also for containing a world première by one of Germany's great living composers, Wolfgang Rihm.

The gala audience in the gorgeously refurbished Gewandhaus was in for a treat. The concert opened with the original 1826 version of the precocious Mendelssohn's Overture to 'A Midsummer Night's Dream.' This original version sounds a bit more angular and a good deal more forward looking that the version we are familiar with. It seems to look forward to the sort of thing Berlioz was to do a few years hence. And the orchestra plays it with suavity and zest. One becomes aware of how strong this orchestra is in all its departments. (The only time I saw the orchestra play live was when they were on tour in the US during the latter days of the repressive East German regime -- one could spot their Stasi minders in the hall and backstage -- and the orchestra sounded and looked hangdog. None of that here. This is a brilliant orchestra.)

Next is the Rihm première, a 20-minute piece called 'Verwandlung II' ('Transformation II'; 'Verwandlung I' was premièred in 2002). It is a concerto for orchestra in all but name. A fairly typical late Rihm work, it looks backwards towards the formal constructs of Mahler but with no nostalgic tics. It is truly music of the present with brilliant orchestration, masterful manipulation of themes (cells, really) and clear form. It got a convincing performance from the orchestra and a loud ovation from the audience.

Mendelssohn's 'Psalm 114' ('When Israel came out of Egypt') is a compact, 15-minute powerfully moving expression of the faith of the exiled Jews. No soloists are used. Rather, Mendelssohn writes for a eight-part chorus, which sings the complete text of the psalm. It has six through-composed sections mirroring the Psalm's text and although it may be an example of what George Bernard Shaw sneeringly called 'kid-glove gentility,' it is an effective work for what it is. The excellent Gewandhaus Choir combined with the chorus of the Leipzig Opera make a joyful noise.

Mendelssohn's Second Symphony, 'Lobgesang' ('Song of Praise'), is a curious work in that it has three orchestral movements followed by an extended cantata for its final movement. It has some correspondence to Beethoven's Ninth, of course, but does not have the formal integrity of that work. This performance is of the original version from 1840 first presented at a Festival in Leipzig honoring the 300th birthday of Johann Gutenberg. I'm frankly not familiar enough with the symphony to note any differences between the two versions. The orchestral writing is marvelous. I particularly liked the sound of the unison trombones intoning the main theme of the first movement and the utterly gorgeous Allegretto second movement with its alternating pizzicato and arco strings accompanying meltingly lovely wind solos. The third movement is an Adagio, designated 'religioso,' and features some of the best string playing I've heard in a long time. This is vintage Mendelssohn and frankly I would have been more than happy to have had an instrumental finale. But obviously Mendelssohn knew better than I. The finale uses Bible texts (I cannot identify them more precisely than that) sung by two soprano soloists, a tenor soloist and a full choir. There is more than a little bit of homage paid to Lutheran chorale in the finale ('Nun danket alle Gott' gave me goosebumps), but the high points for me are the soprano solos and the two-soprano duet. The radiant Anne Schwanewilms is the prime soloist, joined in the duet by Petra-Maria Schnitzer. The stalwart tenor soloist is Peter Seiffert. I am less impressed with the sung finale than with what went before, but I have to say that the present performance is beautifully done and satisfying for what it is.

Sound (PCM stereo, Dolby 5.1, DTS 5.1) is demonstration quality. Videography is excellent; the editor clearly was very familiar with the score and the intercutting is expert. The sung texts are available in subtitles in English, German, French and Spanish. There is an eight-minute interview with Chailly and various other Gewandhaus personnel speaking of his accession to the conductorship of the orchestra. TT=121 mins

Customer Reviews:

A very good performance by Thomanerchor, but could have been better .......2007-11-18

This is a very good recording of a live performance at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, in 2000. The famous boys' choir, Thomanerchor (a direct descendent of Bach's own choir), is very good, although occasional loss of perfect intonation is noticeable but inevitable, this performance having been recorded live.

The soprano, Ruth Holton, sings most beautifully without vibrato. However, the role of the female alto is taken by a countertenor. I don't really appreciate the use of a countertenor for this masterpiece of religious music. This is a matter of personal taste. But also, there are historical doubts: did Bach use countertenors? Were such voices ever heard in seventeenth-century Germany? The timbre of a countertenor seems to this reviewer to glare most uncomfortably against the airy coolness of Thomanerchor. The other two male soloists are very good.

The current cantor of the church, Georg Christoph Biller, conducts with precision and sensitivity. The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, using modern instruments - who still performs Bach's works with the boys' choir every weekend - plays most beautifully. The sound recording is very clear. The only drawback of the DVD is that, as usual in filmed concerts, the camera is restless, continually focusing on different musicians, thus distracing the viewer and listener.

For those who are interested in this masterpiece performed by similar forces will find a CD version most rewarding. Recorded in 2006, Biller conducts an ensemble including Thomanerchor, five adult soloists (two sopranos, an alto, a baritone and a bass), accompanied by a small baroque orchestra, Leipzig Baroque Orchestra, using "original" instruments. All the soloists - who received musical education in Saxony - and the choir are excellent. The tempi are generally moderate, and the rhythm is light and well-sprung but never jerky. Being a studio recording, there are no blemishes as sometimes happen in live recordings. Highly recommended.

Unfortunately, Amazon.co.uk does not sell this 2-CD set (Rondeau Production ROP 4009/10). You might try an alternative mail order company such as Amazon.de on the Internet (for Messe H-moll).

Average customer rating:

Excellent musically, otherwise awful
A Mostly Good 'Ballo' Nearly Sunk by Silly Costuming

Un Ballo In Maschera - Verdi
Starring: Massimiliano Pisapia , Franco Vassallo , Chiara Taigi , Annamaria Chiuri , and Herman Wallen
Director: Ermanno Olmi
Manufacturer: Euroarts Music International
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000FGGK9O
Release Date: 2006-05-29

Customer Reviews:

Excellent musically, otherwise awful.......2008-03-02

This was in the end a disappointing version of one of my favourite Verdi operas.
The biggest problem was the costumes. Verdi's music tells us very clearly that Ulrica is a figure of awe, even fear. It must be very difficult to convey this when dressed like a Christmas turkey. Worst of all was the final scene, the masked ball itself. You get an idea of the costumes here from the cover of the DVD. The costumes were quite literally laughable, which is not at all what is wanted in an assasination scene!
The scenery was fairly bland and apart from the scene in Ulric's cave failed to create any real atmosphere. The acting was also fairly poor.
All this is very frustrating since Riccardo Chailly and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra were excellent and the 3 principals all had very fine voices.

A Mostly Good 'Ballo' Nearly Sunk by Silly Costuming.......2006-06-23

This film conflated from two live performances of 'Un Ballo in Maschera' comes from the Leipzig Opera and thus the marvelous Gewandhaus Orchestra is in the pit and the conductor is their new music director Riccardo Chailly, conducting his first-ever 'Ballo.' The singers are all unknown to me but I'll wager that we'll be hearing about Massimiliano Pisapia (Riccardo) and possibly also Chiara Taigi (Amelia) in the not too distant future. The rest of the cast is mostly Italian and that lends a certain stylistic unity to the production.

Taigi is a good-looking woman who has the spinto quality to sing Amelia. She has a voice that reminds me of Montserrat Caballé, particularly in her chest register. The voice rides easily over ensembles, but it is in her solos that she truly shines. 'Ma dall'arido stelo divulsa' and the following duet with Riccardo is thrilling and ultimately heartbreaking. Unfortunately as the opera continues on to Act III some signs of fatigue show up in her voice. Massimiliano Pisapia has a baritonal tenor that commands attention and which he controls with skill without losing any of the excitement of raw passion. 'Forse la soglia attinse' is wonderful. Unfortunately he is distractingly overweight. Franco Vassallo, the Renato, looks good but the voice doesn't quite have the heft a good Verdi baritone requires. He looks the part and is a fine actor. 'Eri tu' is moving, though. Ulrica is sung by Anna Maria Chiuri. She is a very good actress and I'll admit that she spooked me out, as a good Ulrica should. Her costume makes her look like a porcupine! The voice is a heavy mezzo rather than a true contralto and handled nicely. Eun Yee You is charming Oscar with a bigger than usual coloratura soprano. 'Saper vorrete' is delicious. The conspirators Samuel and Tom are sung and acted nicely by Tuomas Pursio and Metodie Bujor. The big discovery for me in this cast is the tenor, Pisapia, who has the makings of a world-class opera star. Taigi could also make her mark on the larger opera world, particularly if the fatigability evident here is overcome.

But the mise en scène, while not outré, is troubling. Actually the sets by Arnaldo Pomodoro themselves are inobtrusive, even minimal, for the most part. But the costumes! Most of them are huge, made of bulky material (some of it even looks quilted). The women have what look like breastplates (this is not Wagner, after all!) that made me recall the bullet bras Madonna wore years ago; what is the point of that? Certainly not historical accuracy; this is the colonial Boston version of the opera. The size of the costumes reminded me of the behavior of birds in the wild who, when threatened, puff out their feathers to make them look larger. I guess Pomodoro wanted us to be able to pick the singers out from the scenery, but in such an ugly fashion? In the masked ball scene some of the characters had stylized ruffs, I guess they were, that reminded me of those collars vets put on dogs who have had abdominal surgery, the kind that keep them from being able to lick their surgical incision. Oy! Amelia's costume in the second act is a shiny ball gown mostly hidden by a huge globular cloak made of electric blue tulle that gives her the look, forgive me, of a huge neon amoeba. It was a relief when Riccardo gave her his dun (but very heavy) cloak to disguise her when her husband Renato comes on the scene -- at least the electric blue was hidden.

Stage direction is by film director Ermanno Olmi ('The Tree of Wooden Clogs') and seems neither particularly imaginative nor obtrusive.

With DVDs out there with the likes of Pavarotti or Domingo as Riccardo, Millo or Ricciarelli as Amelia, and Nucci or Cappucilli as Renato, this version would have to be a second or third choice. Sound is good, videography is fine.

Scott Morrison

Average customer rating:

Mozart: The Great Mass [2005] (NTSC)
Starring: Kiyoko Kimura , Leipzig Gewandhausorchester , Balazs Kocsar , Christoph Bohm , and Oksana Kulchytska
Manufacturer: Euroarts Music International
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
Starring: Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig , and Kurt Masur
Manufacturer: Tdk UK Ltd
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005U1YC
Release Date: 2001-12-27

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