Strauss: Capriccio (DVD)

“…the gathering shadows of dismay that flicker over Finley’s face when his sonnet acquires new, musical life is a minor masterpiece of acting” Opera

Composer: Richard Strauss
Conducter: Ulf Schirmer

Performers:

Renée Fleming (soprano) – Countess
Dietrich Henschel (baritone) – Count
Rainer Trost (tenor) – A Musician
Gerald Finley (baritone) – Olivier
Franz Hawlata (bass) – La Roche
Anne Sofie von Otter (contralto) – Clairon
Robert Tear (tenor) – Monsieur Taupe
Annamaria Dell’Oste (soprano) – An Italian Singer
Barry Banks (tenor) – An Italian Tenor
Petri Lindroos (bass) – Major-Domo
Orchestre de l’Opéra National de Paris/Ulf Schirmer

Number of discs: 2
Label: Tdk DVD Video TDK DVWW-OPCAPR
ASIN: B000B6N6F4
Release Date: October 18, 2005
Recorded live, Opéra National de Paris, July 2004: Click photo for details

What the critics say

John Phillips, Seen and Heard

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/Mar06/Strauss_Capriccio_DVWWOPCAPR.htm

This, the last opera by Richard Strauss is entitled “A Conversation Piece in Music” rather than an opera, and was written originally in one act, and this is how it is performed on this DVD. Once finished, the composer was encouraged to write further operatic opuses and he replied “One can only leave one testament”. We might be led to think that there is a hidden agenda in this work, but it is more the composer’s farewell to opera more than anything else, containing as it does examples of the most beautiful writing for Strauss’s favourite instrument, the female voice. He also excels in the beauty of sound of the music as if he is trying to get the listener to decide whether in opera, the overriding element is the music or the words. This enigmatic work does not answer this dilemma for us, only leaving us with more uncertainty.

The plot commences with the young countess (here sung superbly by Renee Fleming in her most creamy of tone and stunning accuracy), is listening to a string sextet with her brother the count. The sextet has been written by the composer Flamand. In addition to the Sextet, a play has also been written and this is also being prepared for performance. It is high-jacked by the composer and is set to music, much to the playwright’s disgust. Arguments break out as to whether the work is now by the musician or by the poet. Love and intrigues break out (surprise!! surprise!!) and these with additional arguments and declarations abound in true operatic fashion with Strauss weaving his magic with both voice and orchestra. There are few purple patches, (compare Der Rosenkavalier), but the last 20 minutes or so of the opera, he writes as fluently and as beautifully as he has ever done.

This production is based upon the Opera Nationale de Paris directed by Robert Carsen, and the production is thankfully free of modern quirks, which make so many contemporary productions unwatchable. The sets are traditional and have been prepared with great care, and the playing of the orchestra, admirably conducted by Ulf Schirmer is in the best traditions of the house.

TDK have produced a clean warm sound which complements the autumnal character of the opera and the visual delights are admirably caught.

I have not enjoyed an opera DVD so much for a very long time, and if traditional productions are for you, then try this one – you will not be disappointed.

Chris Mullins, Opera Today, 16 Jan 2006

http://www.operatoday.com/content/2006/01/strauss_capricc.php

It is not uncommon for opera on DVD to have credits for two directors. In the case of this Paris Capriccio, a new production from June 2004, the credits list Robert Carsen as the stage director and Francois Roussillon as directing for TV and video.

Carsen’s work focuses on bringing energy and movement to this static work, a parlor debate about the primacy of music or words, especially in opera. A brother and sister of nobility act as patrons for a new work, and the young composer and librettist not only vie artistically for primacy, but also to be the Countess’ first choice as paramour (while her brother the Count pursues Clairon, an actress). Meanwhile the proposed director frets that his role is bring slighted, and in a long monologue proposes that without his guiding genius, neither music nor words would come to life. Finally all step aside to get to work, and then the Countess reenters to soliloquize on the glorious unresolved nature of the debate.

The set Carsen works with mirrors the great Paris hall the performance takes place in, with its ornate, golden columns. Although the libretto retains its many references to Gluck as a contemporary opera composer of note, the costumes reflect the era in which Strauss wrote the opera. Dark-clad Nazi officers stray through the set at one point, with no particular purpose in mind.

Now, video director Roussillon had the clever idea of directing a sort of preamble in which Renée Fleming glides through the lobby of the theater, so that all DVD viewers can understand the set’s significance, even if the viewers have never attended an opera in that house. Fine enough.

However, at opera’s end, a very distracting filmed sequence has the cast – including Miss Fleming – taking box seats in the theater to enjoy the Countess’ final monologue. The number of “meaningful glances” exchanged here far exceeds the limit that should be placed on any director, and a coy, artificial feeling that has dogged the entire performance finally overcomes the senses, to an unfortunate degree spoiling the effect of that lovely postlude.

The final stage coup, however, with all the scenery pulling away to reveal the bare interior of the stage, makes for a compensatory climax.

Capriccio is a fragile piece, and without being able to place blame in one exact area, something false about the production hampers and deadens the affair. Perhaps Carsen overdirected, as the performers all work just a bit too hard to have fun. Especially noteworthy here are the cartoonish Italian singers, with some unfunny slapstick. In the huge ensemble section, a compositional miracle from Strauss, the chaotic action distracts from the music’s effect, rather than supporting it.

Carsen certainly has a notable cast to work with. Apart from a couple of tight high notes, Fleming glories in the role, and her dramatic restraint, amidst all the other cavortings, is most welcome. Dietrich Henschel, looking remarkably like the American satirist Harry Shearer, may not be a plausible brother to Fleming but sings well. Rainer Trost and Gerald Finley both appear a little foolish a little too often, which is not their fault, but they have the vocal goods for the roles.

Franz Hawlata makes a huge meal out of his solo, but there is no real character there, in this production. Similarly, Anne Sofie von Otter’s Clarion is all caricature, though she is in good vocal shape and always a charismatic performer. Robert Tear’s little solo scene as the prompter, with the head servant (well played by Petri Lindroos), suffers also from a cartoonish spin. And as mentioned above, Barry Banks and Annamaria Dell’Oste really have to make monkeys of themselves. Yes, they are figures of satire, but as overplayed here, a mean edge creeps in that the creators probably did not intend. Furthermore, as Banks seems to be made up to look a bit like Carlo Bergonzi, those of us who revere the great tenor may find some offense there as well.

Ulf Schirmer and his fine orchestra cannot be faulted at all in this Paris production.

One last cavil – the odd acoustic. On one hand, the voices have perfect placement and any audience present makes not a single cough or rustle. On the other hand, one wonders after a while if the sound picture shouldn’t change a bit when a singer turns his back or moves from stage rear to the front. It does not. Your reviewer almost suspects that this performance was not filmed before a live audience. Although applause greets the end of the performance, no audience is ever shown, and the sense of a performance caught in pristine conditions comes through. The DVD case has no date for the recording, only “June 2004.”

Yes, the cast is great, the music well performed, the sets and costumes imaginative and detailed – but somehow this Capriccio is much, much less than the sum of its considerable parts.

Opera, April 2006

This Robert Carsen production of Strauss’s last opera was staged at the Palais Gamier in the summer of2004. It marked the end of Hugues Gall’s directorship of the Paris Opera; it was also the production that the conductor Christian Thielemann left without explanation. He is ably replaced on this recording by Ulf Schirmer.

François Roussillon’s film makes a stab at a sort of ‘special edition’ of the production. There is a long shot during the sextet of the Countess swanning through the sumptuous lobby of the Garnier as if she owns the place (which, of course, for the purposes of this opera she does), and she achieves the miracle of being in two places at once so that she can watch herself singing the closing scene. The film at this point, by the way, makes it clear that this is the start of the opera devised in honour of her birthday, which fits the play-withina-play scenario but not the action sequence as a whole.

Fans of Renee Fleming, who plays the Countess, will probably think they’ve died and gone to heaven. She looks gorgeous and carries Anthony Powell’s I 940s gowns as to the manner born. The voice is opulent and seamless, although Capriccio’s conversational style is not as far up her street as the long legato lines; even here her pitch occasionally becomes unfocused. The camera caresses her, and, always ready for her close-up, she repays the compliment with delightful and natural acting – although she overdoes her mysterious little smilebut she doesn’t quite get the sense of amused aristocratic detachment that Soderstrom had to spare in this role.

Franz Hawlata is magnificent as La Roche, and more than that in his great hymn to the producer’s (and Strauss’s) art. As Olivier and Flamand, Gerald Finley and Rainer Trost are touching and involving as the words-and-music- and love-rivals- the gathering shadows of dismay that flicker over Finley’s face when his sonnet acquires new, musical life is a minor masterpiece of acting. Anne Sofie von Otter gives her considerable all as Clairon, a truthful and funny send-up of the extremes of actorly attitudes; her silent, leather-coated SS companion places Carsen’s production around the time the opera was written (1942) in Paris during the German occupation, and hints at collaboration.

Dietrich Henschel is a finely sung Count, whose robust attitudes to art are a convincing foil to his sister’s more

See also

http://mostlyopera.blogspot.com/2008/01/capriccio-on-dvd-on-two-available.html

All shine in elegant Paris production

On a scale of 1-5 (3=average):
Renée Fleming: 5
Anne Sofie von Otter: 5
Dietrich Henschel: 5
Gerald Finley: 5
Rainer Trost: 5
Franz Hawlata: 5
Robert Carsen´s staging: 5
Ulf Schirmer: 5
Overall impression: 5

[can’t say fairer than that]