Wagner - Der Ring des Nibelungen / Levine, Metropolitan Opera (Complete Ring Cycle)
by Brian Large
from Deutsche Grammophon
Donizetti - L'Elisir d'Amore
by John Copley
from Deutsche Grammophon
It would be hard to imagine a better performance of Donizetti's comic masterpiece. If there was one role that ideally suited Luciano Pavarotti's voice and stage personality, it was Nemorino, the impoverished and not-very-bright peasant who worships the village's prettiest and richest young woman from a distance, is swindled by a traveling vendor of "miracle" medicines, but wins her hand by dumb luck. The story has comedy, pathos, and a put-down of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde (or at least the Tristan story) written long before Wagner composed it.
Kathleen Battle is not only a wonderful singer and convincing actress; as Adina, she is pretty enough to make Nemorino's infatuation totally credible. Juan Pons struts convincingly as Belcore, Nemorino's self-important rival, and Enzo Dara is properly spectacular as Dr. Dulcamara, who sells Nemorino the magic potion guaranteed to improve his love life, or at least to get him drunk. The melodies in this opera include some of the best ever written, and James Levine, his extraordinary orchestra, and his wonderful chorus know exactly what to do with them. Everything comes together in this production to make it one of the best opera DVDs available. --Joe McLellan
Saariaho - L'Amour de Loin / Dawn Upshaw, Gerald Finley, Monica Groop, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Finnish National Opera, Helsinki
from Philips
Wagner - Siegfried / Levine, Jerusalem, Behrens, Morris, Metropolitan Opera (Levine Ring Cycle Part 3)
by Brian Large
from Deutsche Grammophon
Simon Boccanegra
by Brian Large
from DG
Led by supreme Verdi baritone Sherrill Milnes, Verdi's rarely staged masterpiece in a performance that represents the Metropolitan Opera at its finest.
Richard Strauss - Ariadne auf Naxos / Levine, Norman, Battle, Troyanos, Metropolitan Opera
by Brian Large
from Deutsche Grammophon
Dawn at Dusk - A Late Night Recital by Dawn Upshaw
from Kultur Video
A recital by Dawn Upshaw
Dawn Upshaw is one of the most versatile and talented of a new generation of American singers, equally at home on the concert platform and the musical stage.
In this specially recorded late-night recital from the Royal Albert Hall during the 1996 Promenade Concerts, Dawn Upshaw ranges widely over the gamut of American operatic arias and popular songs from the 1920s to the present day. Ms Upshaw gives a truly wonderful performance, full of expression, harmony and sublime singing.
Bernstein: Lonely Town, I Feel Pretty, Somewhere, Times Square, Village Vortex
Copland: Laurie's Song
Weill: Lonely House, The Saga Of Jenny
Sondheim: What More Do I Need?, There Won't Be Trumpets
Rodgers: Manhattan, It Never Entered My Mind, Why Can't I?, I Could Write A Book, Nobody's Heart / Little Girl Blue, He Was Too Good To Me
Gershwin: Someone To Watch Over Me, Do Do Do
Blitzstein: I Wish It So
Fred Hersch, Piano
London Sinfonietta, Conductor Eric Stern
Leonard Bernstein's New York / Mandy Patinkin, Dawn Upshaw, Donna Murphy
by Hart Perry
from Kultur Video
Leonard Bernstein's New York is a video companion to the 1996 CD of the same name, which collects songs from the three Broadway musicals Bernstein wrote that were set in--and celebrate--New York City: West Side Story, On the Town, and Wonderful Town. In the documentary, the singers--Mandy Patinkin, Judy Blazer, Donna Murphy, Audra McDonald, Richard Muenz, and Dawn Upshaw, the most glorious voices in musical theater at the time--explain their affinity for Bernstein's music and how it captures the heart and soul of the city. Additional comments by Bernstein scholars and director Hal Prince are interspersed with songs performed by the singers in evocative New York locales--Patinkin singing "Some Other Time" at Coney Island, Blazer driving Patinkin in a cab in "Come Up to My Place"--in the recording studio, or alongside pianist Eric Stern (who also conducted the orchestral numbers)--such as Murphy in a slinky yellow gown torching up "Ain't Got No Tears Left" or Upshaw making "Lonely Town" one of the most achingly beautiful things you'll ever hear. The music is so good, the only thing a viewer could wish for would be more of it. --David Horiuchi
A new generation of American musical theater artists come together in a "glorious mosaic of Leonard Bernstein's show tunes" (New York Times). Brilliantly filmed in the very New York locations celebrated by the songs - Coney Island, Central Park, Times Square - this DVD joins today's performers with the ageless music of perhaps New York's greatest musical personality. On the Town, Wonderful Town and West Side Story chronicle the city in all its variety and excitement, and these performances bring a heightened measure of entertainment to Bernstein's singular achievement. "New York, New York! a helluva town!" the company sings - it was never truer than in "Leonard Bernstein's New York" today.
With Dawn Upshaw • Mandy Patinkin • Donna Murphy • Audra McDonald • Judy Blazer • Richard Muenz. Produced and directed by Hart Perry.
On The Town: New York, New York (ensemble) • Ya Got Me (Murphy, Blazer, Patinkin) • Come Up To My Place (Patinkin, Blazer) • Lonely Town (Upshaw) • Some Other Time (Patinkin) • Ain't Got No Tears Left (Murphy)
Wonderful Town: What a Waste (Muenz, Upshaw, Murphy) • A Quiet Girl (Muenz) • Wrong Note Rag (Patinkin) • Story of My Life (Blazer) • A Little Bit in Love (McDonald)
West Side Story: One Hand, One Heart (Upshaw, Muenz) • Balcony Scene (Tonight) (McDonald, Patinkin)
Subtitles: English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish.
Verdi - Simon Boccanegra / James Levine, The Metropolitan Opera
by Brian Large
from Pioneer
"Sherrill Milnes gave a performance of deep feeling and ...grandeur" - The New Yorker. "The set, costumes and lighting are superb." - NY Times. Simon Boccanegra, Doge of Genoa, is one of Verdi's most profound characters, a complex man ruled by love of family and devotion to country. The compelling, richly colored music of Simon Boccanegra vividly embodies the tangled personal passions and political rivalries of Renaissance Italy. Conducter: James Levine. Soloists: Sherrill Milnes, Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Vasile Moldoveanu, Paul Plishka. Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus. Production, Tito Capabianco. Includes optional English Subtitles.
Stravinsky - The Rake's Progress
by Brian Large
from Image Entertainment
Igor Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress occupies two worlds. The story, the ironically moralizing attitudes, and many musical and verbal details are inspired by the 18th century. But it is modern in rhythm and harmony and in its psychology--Freudianism and existentialism in a powdered wig. Each production must find its own balance between these polarities, and this crisp, stylish treatment, taped at the Salzburg Festival in 1996, leans heavily toward modernity. The Faustian story of ne'er-do-well Tom Rakewell is told in symbols from its beginning (when he succumbs instantly to the temptations of the diabolical Nick Shadow) to the final mad scene. The props include a small, earthbound airplane, signifying Tom's flights of fancy, and some supernumeraries wearing ape costumes and capering about, symbolizing perhaps his obsessions. The costumes are modern: Tom in a T-shirt, Anne Trulove (his fiancée) in a dress so simple it looks like a slip, Nick in a mafia-style pinstripe suit. Designer Jorg Immendorff, a prominent German painter, is ingenious and self-indulgent in his staging. He portrays Tom as an artist not unlike himself. But if ever an opera had its visual elements clearly prescribed, it is The Rake's Progress--inspired by a set of engravings by William Hogarth that have no resemblance to Immendorff's staging.
There have been first-class productions that respected Hogarth's vision. One of them is sure to find its way to home video eventually, and those who are upset by visual tampering with an opera's original concept might want to wait. But the Salzburg audience applauds it thoroughly in this production. Stravinsky's music is well handled. Jerry Hadley brings both pathos and humor to the title role, Dawn Upshaw puts a lot of personality into the rather bland, goody-goody role of Anne, and they have an expert supporting cast. --Joe McLellan
Igor Stravinsky was inspired by William Hogarth's sequence of anecdotal pictures The Rake's Progress to compose this three-act opera which charts the rise and fall of Tom Rakewell after inheriting an unexpected legacy. The libretto is by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallmann and follows an eighteenth-century operatic structure, with separate arias, ensembles and choruses linked by recitative. Recorded live from the Salzburg Festival, this striking production is the result of a collaboration between stage director Peter Mussbach and the leading German artist Jorg Immendorff, whose spectacular, self-referential and humorous designs were hailed as a triumph. At the core of an exceptionally fine musical performance is Jerry Hadley, who charts Tom Rakewell's swift disillusion with extreme skill. Soprano Dawn Upshaw is superb as Anne, Tom's faithful model, and Monte Pederson makes a devilish Nick Shadow, an underworld heavy in a pinstripe suit. Sylvain Cambreling conducts the Camerata Academica. 1996. 156 minutes.
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