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Strauss: Capriccio (DVD)

 

Composer: Richard Strauss

Conducter: Ulf Schirmer

Performers:

·        Renee Fleming

·        Anne Sofie von Otter

·        Gerald Finley

·        Rainer Trost

·        Dietrich Henschel

·        Franz Hawlata

·        Annamaria Dell'Oste

·        Barry Banks

·        Robert Tear

·        Petri Lindroos

·        Orchestre de l’Opera National de Paris

Number of discs: 2

Label: Tdk DVD Video TDK DVWW-OPCAPR

Release Date: October 18, 2005 (recorded at Paris Opera, 2005)

ASIN: B000B6N6F4

What the critics say

Extracts from Opera News (Eric Myers)

         

…Contemporary stage directors love to update Capriccio from 1775 to more recent times, and Robert Carsen is no exception. He sets the opera within the Paris Opéra’s backstage area during the Nazi occupation. That approach conflicts with much of what is in the libretto, of course. But it does give a chance to showcase Renée Fleming and Anne Sofie von Otter in some smashing 1940s costumes and hairdos, and it also allows for a terrific coup de théâtre at the finale, when the set flies into the wings and Fleming, now just a singer rather than a character in an opera, finds herself surrounded by stagehands. This effect, unfortunately, can only appear somewhat muted on video; those who saw it in the theater claim it was stunning.

Carsen does not overplay the Nazi hand; it is clear enough from the presence of a suave SS officer who serves as Clairon’s chauffeur and remains onstage with her, suggesting that she may have already gotten a bit too friendly with the enemy. Von Otter is clearly having a ball in the role and relishing the chance to portray a glamorous, idolized creature. Fleming, in her role debut as the Countess, seems born to the part and sings the magnificent final scene beautifully. If she still lacks the fullest degree of depth in her characterization, that will undoubtedly come with time.

The drones who buzz around the Countess seem to have been cast more for interpretive ability than for opulence of voice, which is as it should be in this highly conversational opera. Dietrich Henschel makes the Count a somewhat prissy rich boy who is clearly on his best behavior around Clairon. Fortunately, neither he nor Von Otter falls into the easy trap of hamming it up in the spoken-dialogue scene. Franz Hawlata plays La Roche as a bit of a bumbler, rather than the more commanding figure he can be in other hands. As the Countess’s friendly rivals, Rainer Trost and Gerald Finley are appropriately ardent, with Flamand (Trost) particularly besotted whenever he is in the Countess’s presence. Veteran character tenor Robert Tear and the imposing young bass-baritone Petri Lindroos are memorable in their scene together as Monsieur Taupe and the Major-domo. The Italian singers, Barry Banks and Annamaria Dell’Oste, camp it up way too much.

Ulf Schirmer, a last-minute replacement for Christian Thielemann, paces Strauss’s score effectively, particularly the sublime “Moonlight” orchestral interlude that precedes the final scene. Video director François Roussillon’s work included shooting additional material — the singers sitting in the Palais Garnier’s boxes at the climax and watching the opera unfold — which amplifies Carsen’s decidedly Brechtian take…