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Johann Strauss's 'Die Fledermaus' is a celebrated operetta known for its enchanting melodies and humorous plot, showcasing the brilliance of 19th-century Viennese culture. This production features exceptional performances and high-quality visuals, making it a must-see for both classical music enthusiasts and newcomers alike.
A**A
Excellent staging, singing, acting, orchestra, conducting make this DVD a joy
Carlos Kleiber (1930-2004) was often considered the most enigmatic conductor of the post World War II era. The son of noted conductor Erich Kleiber (1891-1956), Carlos never leaned on his father's reputation for fame, but made his own way. Carlos Kleiber disliked the recording process and made very few recordings for commerical labels: Beethoven Symphonies 5 and 7 (DG, Vienna Philhamormonic); Brahms Symphony 4 (DG, Vienna Philharmonic); Schubert Symphonies 3 + 8 (DG, Vienna Philharmonic); Verdi: La Traviata, with Placido Domingo and Ileana Cotrubas (DG, Bavarian State opera); Wagner: Tristan und Isolde (DG, Dresden State Opera); Weber: Der Freischutz (DG, Dresden opera); Strauss: Die Fledermaus (DG, 1975 - different singers than this recording, but with the same orchestra). Most of Kleiber's other recordings are from live concerts on CD or DVD format. There may be as many or more Kleiber recordings on DVD, as in CD medium.That said, it is nice to have any new Carlos Kleiber recording, and this one is no exception. You can tell from the first bars Kleiber dearly loved this music, and has orchestra and soloists on their toes every measure. The Overture sizzles and crackles, and sparkles with joy and life. The singers are all excellent, although I must confess a reservation about Eberhard Waechter, who here is an excellent comic actor, yet his voice wobbles in sustained passages, and he sounds frantic and strained at times. Pamela Coburn, Janet Perry, Wolfgang Brendel, Franz Muxeneder, Benno Kusche, and Brigitte Fassbaender are all excellent in every way.I really enjoyed this as a video, especially the Act II Party scene, where the music and flow are very engaging. Brigitte Fassbaender takes a little getting used to as Prince Orlofsky, in this production a trouser role like Cherubino in Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro." But her singng and acting are so fine, I enjoy it thoroughly with repeated view/listenings.From this DVD, it's easy to see why Johann (II) Strauss's "Die Fledermaus" is his most famous and often performed opera. LikeRossini's "The Barber of Seville," Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro" or "Cosi fan tutte" it is an everflowing spring of melody, beauty, comedy, and love in a healthy sense of the word.For audio only "Fledermaus" recordings, I like Carlos Kleiber's 1975 studio recording, with Bernd Weikl, and Hermann Prey (DG, Bavarian State Opera); and Karl Bohm's 1971 Decca recording with Eberhard Wachter in the same role as this DVD, + a stellar cast of Austrian and German singers in the other roles. Bohm may be hard to find in the US, and have to be imported from England, for those interested, but it is 2-for-1 price and well worth the effort.
D**L
Karl Böhm Movie Production of Die Fledermaus is a Winner
I have viewed many other performances over the years. This is by far the funniest, best acted and most understandable.Fledermaus is half dialogue. When a performance is recoded in an opera house, the unmiked dialogue is usually difficult to hear because of echoes. Sound editors may attempt to fix that but the results are usually less than satisfactory.This production was done as a movie with absolute control of dialog audio level and fidelity . The German dialogue is fully audible and the English subtitles are on time and preserve the authenticity of the dialog. The intimate conversations present an atmosphere of intimacy.The lead singers are the cream of the crop of the German operatic world of the 1960s and 1970s. The role of the maid Adele is played by a noted singing stage actress who acts and sings the role brilliantly.The role of Prinz Orlofsky is played by a male instead of a pants role mezzo soprano. Noted Wagnerian tenor, Wolfgang Windgassen sings the role in a lower register and is hilariously brilliant.This Fledermaus is a winner.
J**Y
Spirited performance
Janet KennyA fine spirited stage performance. Although I sometimes wished for a little more elegance, this production realised the cheerful vulgarity of the story.The tattered vocal imperfections of the elderly Eberhard Wächter were compensated for by his humour, experience and energy. The women were the best singers. Both Rosalinde (Pamela Coburn) and Adele (Janet Perry) were exceptionally fine. Coburn's Czardas was as accomplished and spirited a performance of that aria as I have heard. Brigitte Fassbaender was convincing as the dangerously self-indulgent Prince Orlovsky. All the other male roles were well taken although Hofferwieser's Alfred was rather monotonously stentorian. The comic roles were very well realised. Benno Kusche who played the role of the prison-director Frank, was the most accomplished of the male singers and also an outstandingly good comic actor. Wolfgang Brendel was an urbane and amusing Dr Falke. The drunk jailer Frosch was played to the hilt by Franz Muxender who must be a veteran in the role. The cameo role of the lawyer Ivan was nicely performed by Ivan Unger.Of course the great Carlos Kleiber gave a loving and experienced reading of the entire score. The work is infused with greatness. Only fools mistake it for trivia. I find the music is still haunting my brain.
T**S
good version overall
I got this version because I already have the version with Placido Domingo conducting, starring Kiri Te Kanawa and Hermann Prey in Covent Garden, and I wanted to see what another production does with the party entertainment. I found myself to be disappointed initially because Karl Bohm was so grim as a conductor. The show is a comedy and he seems to be having no fun at all. By contrast, Placido Domingo has an absolutely wonderful time, he clowns around with it, and there is a great bit with the drunken jail warden where they sing together. The acting in this version is great, but I really liked Benjamin Luxon better as Dr Falke in the other version. On the other hand, Orlofsky is better in this version and the scheme of revenge is more fully set up.
E**.
DEFINITIVE PRODUCTION OF THE 20th. CENTURY!
The budget for this pre-reunification 1987 Bavarian State Opera production, must have been millions of Deutschemarks & it shows, in the sets, costumes, luxury casting & the incomparable Carlos Klieber conducting.The well-known Overture is possibly the most demanding in the entire repertoire & requires musicianship of the highest standard especially from the string section. Here, Klieber & the magnificent orchestra bring out the exuberance, delicate nuances & impossible changes of tempo through to a thrilling climax!Act I sets all the facets of the complex plot in motion & this popular Johann Strauss operetta really takes off in Act II at the Palace of Prince Orlofsky where Brigitte Fassbaender brings her rich mezzo to this rôle & is ideally cast. Janet Perry as Adele the maid, has the perfect coloratura for 'The Laughing Song' & makes a memorable impression in what can feel like a secondary part. Now we come to where the Rosalinda of Pamela Coburn takes charge of this act. This is a remarkable interpretation. In disguise as a Hungarian Countess, she teases her husband with a watch before giving a masterclass in vocal virtuosity & comic characterisation in the celebrated 'Csárdás' aria. Stunning!The huge stage revolves to reveal a sumptuous ballroom set for dinner & principles & chorus sing wonderfully before a choreographic coup de theatre brings the entire cast together with the Opera Ballet in a rousing version of the Thunder & Lightening Polka!Act III is set in the Prision where everything is sorted out & all ends happily.This is an excellent DVD & worth having if your taste is for authentic & well sung operetta & no expense spared staging.A comprehensive booklet is included & there are bonus features too.HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
G**A
Supremely well-acted Fledermaus
There are many bright stars shining in this filmed performance of Strauss’s Die Fledermaus (it's a studio film, not a filmed theater performance), but perhaps the brightest of them all is Otto Schenk the stage director, who, aside from magisterially playing the spoken part of Frosch the prison guard, magisterially coordinates this charming, charming staging of the operetta (just like he did that same year for the audio recording of the same operetta for conductor Willi Boskovsky and his great ensemble under the EMI label – and it is hard to choose between the greatness of the two casts; vocally at least, one singer in each recording makes each unmissable for me: Gundula Janowitz in this one and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in the Boskovsky).The dialogues in the spoken sections of this performance (seemingly recorded live, while the musical numbers are obviously done in lip-sinc, but very well) play like very very good theater: they are well acted, measured and funny: funny but never vulgar, even at their broadest (and there are a few broad moments and situations in the operetta); the pace is masterful. Everyone delivers beautifully under Schenk’s guidance, and the light and graceful Viennese tone is captured dead on by everyone. You may have your favorites among the performers, both theatrically and vocally, but they are all superb. The acting is always engaging, always natural and crisp (granted, the broadness is just slightly less grounded in the climax of the third act, but why quibble?), always born from the characters (the actors/singers never break character). The pace is just right, neither too slow nor too fast; the performing is inherently amusing even when there are no guffaws to be had (there are some, but only where appropriate); there is no desperate need to ingratiate the audience and extort laughs from them. Yet the whole package is ingratiating and charming in its own right.Among the singers, everyone seems comfortable doing what they do, though Erich Kunz as Frank is the most consummate of them, expertly breezing through his beautiful comic performance without apparent effort. Janowitz is very witty as Rosalinde, and her arias in both the first two acts are gracefully hilarious. Weachter is just right, handsome, robust and excitable; Windgassen as old prince Orlofsky gets character laughs that are rarely to be got, barely moving a muscle. You can tell that a lot of intelligent rehearsal went into this production, and that one intelligent person was unequivocally at the helm. Everyone measures up expertly. Each performance is full of little character touches that are both natural, touching and amusingly theatrical; no moment of the action, whether full number or transitional passage, is without its little inventions.The realistic sets and costumes are pure old Vienna, with perfect houses you would expect these characters to live in, lovingly recreated down to the smallest detail (the black upright piano in Eisenstein’s sitting room has an open score on it waiting to be played, and a period painting over it; the dinner trays are appropriately silver; even Orlofsky does not receive his guests in an improbable stagey open space but in a real villa with rooms, with a long dinner table beautifully set, and has real archairs for his guests to sit in after dinner).There are also some nice touches in the direction of the musical numbers, where gestures correspond to bits of music: Otto Schenk loved music, and subsequent to this engagement was to become one of the most celebrated opera directors of the following decades, working in Europe and the US. And his love of music certainly shows here.Vocally, it’s an embarrassment of riches, and I am not going to split hairs; the women especially are heavenly. Physically, there might be a slight flaw in the casting in my view, namely Waldermar Kmentt as Alfred: if Rosalinde had to pick a lover to fool around with when Eisenstein is away, why pick this one? Kmentt is too old and plain to compete with Waechter, who is very sexy as Eisenstein; but love is blind I guess.Lastly, Boehm is a very fine conductor, and graceful, though uncharacteristically his pacing is slightly more leisurely than Boskovsky’s.See this Fledermaus, because I do not think you will ever see a finer one.
M**R
Wow!
A sheer joy. The sets, the acting, the singing and the music are all of tip-top quality. The humour of thepiece is also excellently conveyed. It all proceeds all under the precise and clear direction of the great Carlos Kleiber. This piece really is a visual spectacle as well as a musical experience, so the DVD is a must.The image quality could be a little better, but one quickly forgets this in this brilliant performance. Oh, to have been one of the lucky ones in the audience!
D**N
Bought as a gift - hopefully enjoyed
We bought this as a gift for friends, aleady owning it. It is a studio production, with, I think, dubbed soundtrack from the same singers.The production is delightful, and realistic. The singers are superb. Gundula Janowitz was one of the greatest sopranos of her era, and it is wonderful to see her singing in operetta, with such wit. Renate Holm was also superb as Adele. Some haver questioned Eberard Waechter as Eisenstein, but we though his role well acted and sung. It is fascinating to see Wolfgang Windgassen, one of the great Wagner tenors as Orlovsky (a part often sung by an alto). He conveys a great sense of world-weariness in the part.
D**I
acting and conducting
It is obvious that Karl Boehm is not a Strauss conductor, just look at his serious face at the beginning. And so it dragged with most participants looking like hard work and desperately trying to have fun. An out for date staging does not help which once upon a time might have all there was in opera recording. Do not buy, regretfully Karajan is only available in CD.
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