Handel - Ariodante / Bolton, Murray, Rodgers, English National Opera

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Ariodante makes extraordinary vocal and acting demands, which the English National Opera brilliantly fulfills in a curious combination of baroque music and postmodern production styles. Handel's intensely emotional arias and the surreal staging combine their energies with powerful impact, aided by some imaginative choreography and a remarkable English singing translation of the Italian text.

The subject is the painfully complex love entanglements of five characters: pure idealism and raging jealousy, nefarious plots and deceptions, unscrupulous exploitation, and opportunism, hopelessness mounting to the brink of insanity. The plot, as often happens in baroque opera, is riddled with improbabilities, exaggerations, and coincidence, but they matter not at all. It is essentially no more than a framework on which Handel mounts music of tender passion, rage, delirious joy, hope, resignation--nearly three hours of unrestrained emotional intensity and vocal brilliance.

Ann Murray and Joan Rodgers are appealing as the young lovers Ariodante and Ginevra, but the show is nearly stolen by countertenor Christopher Robson as the villainous Polinesso, who convinces Ariodante that Ginevra has been unfaithful. Lesley Garrett performs brilliantly as Polinesso's dupe and accomplice, Dalinda, and Ivor Bolton conducts with a fine sense of baroque style. --Joe McLellan

Description

The English National Opera first mounted David Alden's production of Ariodante, one of Handel's greatest masterpieces, in 1993. It met with unanimous critical and popular acclaim, and this 1996 revival features many of the leading singers from the original production. Ariodante is Handel's 1735 setting of an episode from Ariosto, in which the King of Scotland's daughter is treacherously accused of infidelity to her promised husband. The range of feelings provoked as the characters develop is caught in music of quite extraordinary emotional power, even by Handel's own exalted standards. 178 minutes.

Ariodante: Ann Murray
Ginerva: Joan Rodgers
The King of Scotland: Gwynne Howell
Pollnesso: Christopher Robson
Dallnda: Lesley Garrett
Lurcanlo: Paul Nilon
Odoardo: Mark Le Brocq

Conductor: Ivor Bolton
Designer: Ian McNeil
Director: David Alden

Customer Reviews:

Muggles, Beware!.......2006-09-16

This is clearly a production intended for Lucius Malfoy and his social set. Polinesso even bears a close resemblance to Professor Snape. In short, it's very hard to look at. However, I can't second the recommendation of other reviewers to darken the screen and just listen. It's not well sung. How could it be, when the singers are asked to distort their instruments (their bodies) and pervert the affect of every aria in the most far-fetched manner possible. I'm not a conservative about opera productions, by the way. I heartily recommend Handel's "Theodora" and "Rodelinda" - both modernistic, both conducted by William Christie and sung gloriously. This Ariodante is simply a bad piece of work.

Extreme Challenge for Opera Lovers.......2006-08-02

It seems like ENO was short of money and put together some costumes and stages from other operas and ballets of unmatching periods, coming out with this sort of masked ball in a Mad House. Perhaps David Alden's Production of Ariodante is a sort of extreme challenge for opera lovers who so often have to divorce the rational part of their brains from the ridicule and unlikeness of a cast, plot or stage production, in order to enjoy with their spirits the sublime grandeur of the music.
That certainly applies to this DVD. If we watch it with the rational part of our brains we will miss miserably the magnificent beauty of this opera and the brilliant interpretation of most of the singers, trying to understand (unsuccessfully) what David Alden wanted to tell us (by the way I personally think that is more important and easy to get connected with Mr. Haendel than with Mr. Alden). It is a pity that the same ENO that produced the brilliant Semele I had the pleasure to see at the London Coliseum in 1999, has came out with this "Frankestein". By the way, Ann Murray disappointed me as usual. In spite of her best efforts, she is not a coloratura singer at all. I have never liked her voice, even by listening her live in a recital at the Edinburgh International Festival long time ago. If you love opera and, particularly, Haendel's operas, you will enjoy this DVD anyway, but do not try to be rational, let the music alone to guide your soul.

Dreamlike, chilling presentation.......2005-03-19

I borrowed a copy of this gem from a friend. How does Handel keep you engrossed when his characters repeat the same line over and over? You may also ask yourself this question. Very edgy, sensual production that make you also wonder if the same guy wrote "Messiah". Actually, Handel wrote more opera than oratoreo. Getting chills as I write this, though I experienced it about 2 years ago. If you like a variety of types in your collection: add this one to it immediately. Ann Murray shines in this male role, and Robson really does steal the show as the villain, as the editor mentions. Certainly not "Bel Canto", or for everyone.

Ridiculous production.......2005-01-29

My husband and I saw this production when it was revived at the ENO in 2002. We are fervent Handelians, experienced music and opera listeners, and no strangers to postmodern productions of baroque works. Sometimes they work well. For example, the po mo production of Purcell's Faerie Queene done at the ENO in 1998 was delightful. ENO's modernist production of Handel's Semele in 2000 was fabulous. We saw a production of Handel's Radamisto at the St. Louis Opera which, despite some problems with the singers, was one of the most beautiful and meaningful set designs I've ever seen (the designers won a Tony shortly after that for another production). I say all this to let readers know that we are not closed-minded attendees who only respond to period-correct-in-every-way productions.

That said, I have to say that this production of Ariodante, one of Handel's most beautiful operas, was one of the most ridiculous and disappointing experiences we've ever had with an opera, and has made us really wary of crossing the pond to go to anything else at the ENO. The design is preposterous, ugly, has no purpose except to shock the audience and absolutely torture the singers who have to negotiate it. The singers have apparently been instructed to at times act as if their words mean the exact opposite of what they are actually singing, for some reason. It's impossible to watch the production for long without having an impulse to laugh.

Don't waste your money on this DVD unless you're looking for an example of how best to ruin an opera.

Turn off the television set and enjoy.......2003-07-18

This film features marvelous music and gorgeous voices. Everything else about it is awful. The costumes, representing all sorts of periods, are a joke. The lighting is dark and terrible. The staging is designed to make you forget the music and the voices and wonder only if Leslie Garrett will have a climax and if she will avoid Christopher Robson's eager tongue and anxious hands. The dancing, if that's what you want to call it, is simply pointless and pretentious. So, to enjoy this opera, simply listen to it. Turn off the television. By the way, Ann Murray alone is worth the price. What a glory.

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