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Rameau on DVD and Blu ray

10K views 31 replies 8 participants last post by  Almaviva 
#1 ·


This arrived in the post this morning, and I couldn't resist taking a peek, even though I was short of time. So I watched the first 40 minutes or so. On this occasion my wife joined me (she's not so obsessed as I am about this sort of stuff), but even her balanced opinion after the 40 minutes was: 'What a privilege to be able to see this. It's like a time machine'. I can only concur. From the moment Christie walks to his place and begins, you know you're in for something special.

The sets are stunningly vivid, the special effects delightful. During the Prologue, we're entertained (and I really mean entertained) by ****, played by the redoubtable Danielle de Niese, whose every facial expression and movement draws us into the action. By the end, I feel as if this were a private performance, into the secrets of which **** has initiated me. Europe having proved tiresome when it comes to love, we're off overseas to see how the others do it, and the sailing away overseas (in the first instance to Turkey) is done with such wit, such style, that I found myself laughing aloud.

This is a winner through and through.

For a glimpse of Big Chief Patricia Petibon, plus a short preview of the astounding finale with dancer Bill Christie, sex kitten ****, and a generally good time for all, see here. It was watching this clip that tipped me over the edge into buying this.
 
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#3 · (Edited)
??? No, no Gaston - it's region-free. See here on Amazon - 'all-region'. (I bought mine from Caiman-USA.) Our player is region 2 only, and I assure you it plays wonderfully well. Grab your credit card and go for it!

Here's a rave review on MusicWeb. ("It is no exaggeration to say that under the spell of Rivenq and Petibon, the final moments are unforgettable.")
 
#6 · (Edited by Moderator)


OK, there's a bit more dancing than I'd like, but that's just me. For the rest, this is indeed unforgettable, as the Gramophone reviewer said. It's true that there are a few dull bits here and there (usually when it tries for comic effect but veers towards panto). But in the main, it sweeps along so fast and with such exhilaration, that I found myself carried from section to section feeling each time that I hadn't really absorbed what had just gone. The highlight, surely, is the last Act, with the can't-take-your-eyes-off-her Patricia Petibon sweeping all before her, in 'Les Sauvages'. The final 20 minutes remind me of a firework display - you know how, after each burst of brilliant activity, there's a short lull - and then more, and more fireworks, each burst more surprising than the last? Well, it's like that. And all the while, Rameau winds up the music, until the relatively gentle, and curiously moving close, where **** brings all the main characters back on stage, one by one. Then, just when you think it's all over, Christie comes on stage and they all do an encore of the big hit Rameau tune, like an on-stage party. And oh, I wish I could have been there.

Here's a bit of Youtube for anyone who missed it further up the thread:
Les Indes Galantes finale
 
#7 ·
Wow!!! This is terrific entertainment, I must say. I enjoyed each act (or entrée) more than the one that preceded it, and I liked the first one just fine. :) Dull moments are few and far between in this long work and there is constant action and movement on that stage. I for one love the dancing and those last 15 minutes or so, well, the're a party - irrestistible.

So, thank you Alan. I was already pretty familiar with Rameau's music (I have a few of his operas on cd) but I seriously doubt if I ever would have bought this DVD without your recommendation. I can't wait to see it again.
 
#10 · (Edited)
I'll be watching this tonight, just started:



Should be fun. I'll report later when I am able to form an opinion.

OK, contrary to the general opinion, I didn't like it that much. There are the usual Rameau beautiful melodies, and some very funny moments (e.g., the toad interfering with the musicians in the orchestra), but overall I found it to be forgetable.
 
#11 ·
I'll be watching this tonight, just started:



Should be fun. I'll report later when I am able to form an opinion.

OK, contrary to the general opinion, I didn't like it that much. There are the usual Rameau beautiful melodies, and some very funny moments (e.g., the toad interfering with the musicians in the orchestra), but overall I found it to be forgetable.
Alma you are not alone in your asessment........
I purchased this several years ago, same time as Christie's Les Indes and Les Palladins perhaps unfairly in direct comparison found it came up well short so I sold it......where those were fun visually exciting performances this was "euro trash" absurdity, much of the action takes place in bleacher seats I recall :lol:

Yes buy a CD of music highlights but skip this DVD...........

 
#12 ·
I seriously can't wait for Les Indes Galantes to arrive... Seriously. I've been watching a few videos on Youtube over and over, and they are absolutely captivating; their love for this music is so obvious and infectious! I felt so much like joining the applause at the end of the Chaconne and a wide grin spread across my face when the director started dancing in the curtain call.



 
#13 ·
Rameau: Castor et Pollux on DVD

I'm struggling with this one:



I have never seen such ugly choreography in any opera or ballet DVD. You gotta see it to believe it, folks. The dancers seem to be fighting martial arts or giving flight attendant safety instructions. And the costumes don't help either. Ugh!

I don't care for the visuals of this staging either. They are monotonous. I usually like minimalist stagings but this one just doesn't get it right.

I don't know this opera on CD, maybe these are the correct tempi, but they feel too slow to me, at least in comparison to the other Rameau works that I know. Maybe they are slow and it's Rameau's fault, not the conductor's.

The cast members are unattractive. Singing is OK but nothing special.

I've watched acts I and II and almost fell asleep. I'm kind of dreading having to face acts III, IV, and V next.

Again, unclear to me if it's Rameau's fault, or the producers' of this staging, but certainly this one is a lot more boring than the other three from Rameau that I know, Les Indes Galantes, Les Paladins, and Platée.
 
#14 ·


Well that was amazing fun in a Baroque meets hip hop kind of way. I think it is probably a very divisive production in that it is not in the least traditional, but then I don't think of Rameau as rooted in his epoch in the same way as I perceive Lully to be. Rameau's dance music is particularly infectious, and in this production the young energetic dancers perform sublimely. There is not a weak link amongst the singers, and the staging is endlessly inventive. There's a great review by Mike Birman on Amazon which goes into more detail - I'd concur with everything he says.
 
#16 ·
This is an old, short review that I wrote for another site, on the same production discussed above.

------------------------

Les Indes Galantes

Composer: Rameau, Jean-Philippe
Libretto: Fuzelier, Louis
Conductor: Christie, William
Chorus: Les Arts Florissants
Chorus Master: Bazola, Francois

Adario: Rivenq, Nicolas
Ali: Berg, Nathan
Bellone: Fernandes, Joao
Damon: Strehl, Christoph
Don Alvar: Fel, Christophe
Don Carlos: Piolino, Francois
Emilie: Panzarella, Anna Maria
Fatime: Hartelius, Malin
****: Niese, Danielle de
Huascar: Berg, Nathan
L'Amour: Gabail, Valerie
Osman: Cavallier, Nicolas
Phani: Azzaretti, Jael
Tacmas: Croft, Richard
Valere: Agnew, Paul
Zaire: Le Roi, Gaele
Zima: Petibon, Patricia

Stage Director: Serban, Andrei
Date of Production: 25-09-2003
Venue: Palais Garnier, Paris

Starting soon.

Introduction finished. Pleasant enough, nothing extraordinary, except that this staging has very creative props with colorful tableaux.
First Act finished - Le Turc Généreux - beautiful, lyric, fine orchestration. I like it.

Second act (they call it an entrée) finished - Les Incas du Pérou.
It completely blew me away. It won me over entirely.
Very, very beautiful. A++. The ceremony of the Sun and the volcano eruption, wow! Extraordinary.

3rd act - Les Fleurs - fête persane

Some good moments, sure, but not as intense and melodious as the 2nd one - but the last twenty minutes did get a lot better, with beautiful ensembles and chorus, a very meaty and satisfying piece, with a pleasant thickness. And it ends with a very nice soprano aria, Papillon inconstant. " Still, less good than the 2nd one.

On to the final acte, Les sauvages d'Amérique.

Act IV - again less impressive musically so far, but with a very beautiful libretto:

Sur nos bords l'amour vole
et prévient nos désirs.
Dans notre paisible retraite
on n'entend murmurer
que l'onde et les zéphyrs.
Jamais l'écho n'y répète
de regrets ni de soupirs.

---

This is followed by a nice ballet.

And it all ends nicely:

Tout ce qui blesse la tendresse
est ignoré dans nos ardeurs.
La nature qui fit nos cœurs
prend soin de les guider sans cesse

Overall score: A+. Another winner, another favorite. This opera-ballet is delicious, refreshing, with both touching and funny moments, some exquisite music, and it is extremely entertaining.

Rameau got another fan! I'm looking forward to seeing more by him, and I suspect that my idea that I don't like baroque is about to be turned upside down.

And Kudos to the Opéra Nationale de Paris. They put together a formidable production. This is an excellent opera company, capable of facing the demands of grandiose operas like Les Troyens and Les Indes Galantes. I tip my hat to the French!!!
 
#18 ·
Les Boreades and les Paladins are great. Zoroastre is serious but beautiful. I have Castor et Pollux but haven't seen it. Never even heard of Inconvertendo.

I'd say you can't go wrong. You could always sell your Indes galantes as an Amazon Seller. Ask DA how to - or I think he's told us, somewhere....
 
#19 · (Edited)
I have Castor et Pollux, Les Indes Galantes, and Les Paladins, so the deal is less good for me. Castor et Pollux, by the way, I don't particularly like. Still, it's tempting (if I ever get to sell the duplicates - but sometimes I find good use to duplicates, such as giving them to my brother and my sister who love opera).

What opera companies and orchestras are performing each of the six operas?
 
#31 · (Edited)
Rameau: Zoroastre on Blu-ray



2006(LI) - Christopher Rousset - Les Talens Lyriques + The Drottningholm Theatre Orchestra and Chorus + Jennie Lindstrom and the Drottningholm Theatre Dancers

Zoroastre - Anders J. Dahlin
Abramane - Evgueniy Alexiev
Amélite - Sine Bundgaard
Erinice - Anna Maria Panzarella
Zopire/La Vengeance - Lars Arvidson
Narbanor - Markus Schwartz
Oromasès/Ariman - Gérard Théruel
Céphie - Ditte Andersen

This is Rameau's The Magic Flute. We encounter the same Sarastro a.k.a. Zarathustra a.k.a. Zorastre, fighting evil and darkness as a Freemason. Instead of a magic flute, we have a magic book, and plenty of black magic, with the inevitable triumph of goodness at the end, through the intervention of a Deus Ex-Machina. There is no Queen of the Night, but rather her male counterpart, Abramane.

The goodies are Zoroastre and his love interest Amélite, who is abused and tortured and emprisoned and threatened with various deadly blades throughout the opera, all resulting in numerous opportunities to display her gorgeous cleavage and beautiful little breasts (no nudity, just the top part above the nipples), just as much as her sidekick Céphie, equally well served in the mammary gland department.

The baddies are Abramane and Erinice (nice boobs too), plus a few minions and a cohort of yummy women who act like zombies.

Yummy dancers intervene at various moments, with a weird choreography that seems to be a mix of martial arts with sign language for the deaf.

Camera work includes a very convenient viewpoint from the roof of the theater, which is very instrumental when looking down the cleavage of the various yummy women.

Alma's Boob-O-Meter was blinking and beeping throughout the evening!:cool:

The plot is silly, very black and white; black being the baddies, and white being the goodies (I mean, literally; they dress like this as well, I guess the producer thought we the naïve public would have trouble telling the goodies from the baddies if they didn't dress like this:rolleyes:). It is rather slow, and various lead changes occur - the baddies have the upper hand, then the goodies, then the baddies, then the goodies, then the baddies, then the goodies. And have I mentioned that it is all very sloooooooow? (Running time, almost three hours).

So, dreadful, right? No, not really. Rather interesting and enticing - not to forget the gorgeous boobs. The music is very beautiful. The singing is exquisite by almost everybody except maybe the title role who sounds less enthusiastic, sort of business as usual, a pity - good voice but he doesn't seem to be as into it as the other singers. The two female leads have the best singing moments.

The period orchestra does very well, and the staging is very interesting. It's done in one of the last few preserved baroque theathers, and apparently the only one that has all the old machinery intact, with amazingly fast and swift scene changes.

It's staged the way it must have been done at the time of Rameau, minus the weird martial arts and sign language choreography (which I bet wasn't the way the ballets were done - why do everything "period," but pick such a misplaced choreography???).

Technical quality is perfect with spectacular sound and HD image, excellent extras and multiple features/subtitles.

Overall, highly recommended, but you gotta be in the mood for slow baroque opera. If you like boobs, it helps.;)
 
#32 · (Edited)
Rameau: Les Boréades on DVD



Tragédie en musique in 5 acts, music by Jean-Philippe Rameau, libretto attributed to Louis de Cahusac. This is loosely based on the Greek legend of Abaris the Hyperborian, with Masonic elements. The plot is the usual forbidden love between noble Alphise and commoner Abaris versus powerful rival Boreas (she is supposed to marry within the Boréades clan), but the impossible marriage is suddenly resolved by the Deus-ex-machina appearance of god Apollo who reveals that Abaris is actually his son with a Boréade woman, clearing the way for Alphise's and Abaris' union.

It premiered in 1770, six years after Rameau's death, who therefore never saw it staged. It was forgotten for centuries and first revived in 1963 by Sir Gardiner.

This production was recorded live in April 2003 at Palais Garnier (Opéra National de Paris), with Les Arts Florissants conducted by William Christie. Stage director was Robert Carsen. Choreography was by Édouard lock, featuring modern ballet company La La La Human Steps. Sets and costumes design were by Michael Levine.

Barbara Bonney is Alphise, Paul Agnew is Abaris, Toby Spence is Calisis, Stéphane Degout is Borilée, Laurent Naouri is Borée, Nicolas Rivenq is Adamas, Apollon, anna-Maria Panzarella is Sémire, and Jaël azzaretti is une nymphe.

This DVD is available from OpusArte and Kultur. The OpusArte release (which is the one I own) comes with complete liner notes and full libretto, and costs $10 more ($37). I assume that the Kultur release that costs $27 is bare-bones with just a chapter list as it is often the case for this label.

The OpusArte product in addiction to the complete libretto (unusual for DVD, but welcome) comes with an extra feature, a documentary entitled "The Triumph of Love" featuring interviews with William Christie, Robert Carsen, and singers Barbara Bonney, Paul Agnew, and Laurent Naouri. I suspect that the Kultur product as usual has no bonus features.

Image format-wise, the OpusArte is 16:9 while the Kultur is 1.33:1.
The OpusArte has optional subtitles in original French, English, German, and Spanish. So does the Kultur. Audio formats are LPCM and DD 5.1. for the OpusArte, but just Dolby 2.0 for the Kultur. Running time is 218 minutes (oh, boy!).

--------------

High quality product with excellent image and sound balance, superior singers with no weak link, and superlative orchestral playing and conducting. William Christie and his troupe deliver once more a phenomenal musical performance with striking visuals, imaginative staging, and good choreography. The incredible proficiency of this group of competent stage artists and musicians brings about pure magic, with fascinating results.

Everything is tasteful, beautiful, evocative, and the visual feast is matched by the waves and waves of rich, resonant, vibrant sounds.

Let me put it simply: William Christie is God, and Les Arts Florissants are his angels. Therefore, the music and visuals are angelic, divine. Let's not forget the excellent (and good-looking) dancers.

For the French baroque opera lover, it's pure bliss. It's ecstasy.

Highly recommended. Buy it! Buy it! Buy it!

PS - you won't ever look at umbrellas the same way. Umbrellas = successful baroque opera props. Who would have imagined it? These guys are geniuses.:eek:

PS2 - Outstanding documentary with brilliant interviews that add a lot to the understanding of this production. This is by the way an updated staging that makes sense, that has a clear unifying concept (the seasons, the weather, Les Boréades = the North wind, get it?) and is precise and meaningful all the way. Some Regies need to talk to Robert Carsen to know how to do it right. Hey folks, you don't need to tamper with an opera to be different or original. You do need to respect the music and to be coherent, which is what Carsen does.
 
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