Monteverdi - L'Incoronazione di Poppea / Jacobs, Concerto Koln

Average customer rating:

Good music, poor costumes

Unusual and Sensual Performance

Cautions:

Un esplendido Monteverdi pero amputado

Renaissance Sensuality !

Monteverdi - L'Incoronazione di Poppea / Jacobs, Concerto Koln
Starring: Rene Jacobs , Patricia Schumann , and Richard Croft
Manufacturer: Arthaus Musik
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000056PPH
Release Date: 2001-02-20

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Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea (1642) marks one of the very foundations of opera. Revolving around real historical characters, the Roman emperor Nero, his love for Poppea, the betrayal of the empress Octavia, and death of the philosopher Seneca, Monteverdi pits human love, ambition, and intrigue against the fates. The set, a symbolic part-globe, and the costumes, drawn from various ages, suggest--very much in the way of the surreal 1999 film of Shakespeare's Titus--that the concerns of ancient Rome are timeless. With the emphasis on the text (the music alone does not hold the attention for 150 minutes), conductor René Jacobs depends upon an excellent cast to bring the production alive. Patricia Schumann dominates the stage, her Poppea warm, sensual, and likeable, without being entirely trustworthy, an effective counterpart to Richard Croft's Nero. Darla Brooks brings just the right degree of vivacious gullibility to Drusilla, while Curtis Ryam offers eccentric comedy as Arnalta. As Ottone, Jeffrey Gall is a man acutely tormented by love. While this was recorded at the 1993 Schwetzinger Festspiele, there is no sign of an audience, the many close-ups suggesting this performance was specially given for video.

The DVD includes subtitle options for English, French, and German, but no special features. The booklet is well documented but does not contain the libretto. The sound is good PCM stereo while the 4:3 image (not 16:9 as stated on the packaging) is better than VHS but otherwise unremarkable. --Gary S. Dalki

Customer Reviews:

Good music, poor costumes.......2005-08-27

The music is beautiful. Monteverdi at his best. The sets are boring and the costumes are inappropriate.

Unusual and Sensual Performance.......2005-01-29

Once past the quibbles, (omission of the prologue, modern dress)
one has to take this performance seriously. Rene Jacobs leads a musically informed performance that is as dramatic as it is "correct."

Richard Croft, as usual, throws out some dazzling pyrotechnics with his versatile coloratura singing. While many prefer a mezzo or countertenor in this role, Croft makes a strong case for a tenor. That he's a particularly good-looking Nero only adds to the believability factor.

A basically unit set which expands and contracts around itself provides a great acting space adaptable to all of the many scenes. The intriguing costuming, is both futuristic and ancient looking at once contributing to a timeless effect.
Patricia Schuman is a marvelously sexy Poppea. Her singing seems to be more comfortable in the soprano range, while she is capable of the lower notes, they don't have quite the lovely quality of her mid and upper. But again, she looks and acts delicious and feels this music passionately.
Katherine Kuhlman's Ottavia is grim, but ultimately moving, yet she makes this character a little harsher than I've seen portrayed before.

Harry Peter's Seneca is beautifully sung, and with great dignity. Even in his suicide, which requires him to wear little more than a diaper, he retains a majestic and noble bearing. His suicide and the ensuing scene are among the most beautiful in this production. As Seneca dies, images of his life are projected above him which he watches along with us. The screen is replaced by a giant stage filling disc with stunning
zodiac symbols on it as Nero & Lucan sing over his corpse. There is a homoerotic
element that may disturb some, but the duet is simultaneously funny & moving culminating with Nero slipping his arms into some invisible straps, then swinging from the great disc back and forth over Seneca's corpse, as though he were a beautiful giant,
singing bird.
The countertenors are all terrific, particularly Poppea's nurse, It's sung in drag, and this
guy, an enormous, black fullback sized man, (indeed he looks like a linebacker) with a voice that is phenomenal in its range and power, more thickly mezzo sounding than I've ever heard in any countertenor. He is forced, however, to wear a costume at the end that looks like a nightmare mix of Dolly Levi & The Merry Widow, (with a hat that Dolly would kill for), taking camp about as far as possible.
Again, Richard Croft's Nero is the highlight of this beautifully produced DVD.

Cautions:.......2004-01-23

1. This is not the complete opera. The director has omitted the Prologue, which is need to introduce the opera in the context of Monteverdi's era.

2. Characters dress in 20th century costume (so, a modernized performance).

3. The performance practices are not historically accurate.

But, if you are interested in a modern interpretation of one of the more significant early operas, you may enjoy this DVD.

Un esplendido Monteverdi pero amputado.......2002-04-16

La Coronacion de Poppea es quizas la primera verdadera opera en el sentido moderno de la palabra (el propio Monteverdi llama su Orfeo "Favola in Musica" y la Coronacion "drama in musica"). Este drama musical muestra a traves de la musica de Monteverdi y de un extraordinario libretto de Busenello, abogado, poeta, y politico veneciano lo mas profundo de las pasiones humanas. El ideal del hombre barroco es llegar a controlar dichas pasiones tal como lo afirmaron Descartes y Pascal. Contrariamente a lo que piensa mi antecesor comentarista, el hecho que el prologo haya sido suprimido donde la Fortuna, el Amor y la Virtud discuten del comportamiento humano, y la supresion tambien de otras interesantes escenas le quitan mucha intensidad a esta opera filmada ya que no se comprende muy bien que viene a hacer los dioses y el amor en escena. En 1990 pude ver en Montpellier ( Francia), la produccion inicial de Rene Jacobs ( grabada por Harmonia Mundi) que es a mi parecer con la produccion con el Atys de Lully de Chirstie/villegier las producciones que han marcado el verdadero renacimiento del la opera barrocca. En la produccion francesa de la Coronacion Jacobs combino los manuscritos de Napoles y Venecia para realizar una extraodinaria reconstitucion. Esta produccion Alemana con decorados modernos a veces incoherentes es una lectura que se aleja bastante de la problematica expuesta por Monteverdi/Badoraro. El escojer un tenor en vez de un Alto ( que sea femenino o falsetista) es igualmente a mi parecer una mala opcion pero Monteverdi sigue siendo defendido por Jacobs y su equipo y por ello este DVD tiene que estar en la hogar de todo amante de la musica del creador de la Opera.

Renaissance Sensuality !.......2001-10-15

This version L'Incoronazione is abbreviated and omits the tedious prologue, and some scenes that are not relevant to the main plot have been left out. This leaves a plot with good coherence. The music is mainly done with strings and "original" instruments and seems much in the style of the times. The staging is rather minimalist which seems a plus since it focuses attention on the excellent instrumental and vocal performances. The sound is good though not superb. The leads, Poppea (Patricia Schuman) and Nerone (Richard Croft), both sing superbly with excellent intonation and execution of the sometimes ornate vocal lines. The less important Ottone (Jeffrey Galt) and Octavia (Katherine Kuhlman) are also excellent though their character's and roles are less sympathetic. Some of the other characters are not so well sung but their performances are adequate. What is really outstanding is Poppea and her ability to communicate sensuality and yet ambition. I have no hesitation in remommending this as likely the best production of this opera you are likely to see.

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