Friends sometimes ask me how it's possible that I come up with a world-shattering masterpiece in this column every month. The implication is that I'm over-praising what I write about at least some of the time. But what they don't take into account is that these are classic years for DVD, with 40 years of films, videos and laser-disks crowding to be transferred onto the near-ideal new medium. It's not surprising that there's a masterpiece a month. What is surprising is that there aren't more.
And the latest arrivals are sensational indeed. Deutsche Grammophon have recently acquired the back catalogue of Unitel, a recording company whose predecessor, Cosmotel, was co-founded by Herbert von Karajan. Now they have issued the first 10 DVDs from that sumptuous hoard, eight operas, one ballet, and one recital. With them they're issued a sampler entitled Music to Watch. Among the riches are Jon Vickers in both Otello and Carmen, and a outstanding Le Nozze di Figaro ("Figaro's Wedding"), directed by Jean-Pierre Ponelle, dating from 1976.
There are two major advantages to this wonderful Figaro. The first is its cast -- Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as the Count, Kiri Te Kanawa as the Countess, Mirella Freni as Susanna, Herman Prey as Figaro and Maria Ewing as Cherubino, with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by the then doyen of Mozart opera recordings, Karl Bohm. The second plus is that it's a film, not a stage performance.
The advantages of the film approach are countless. Instead of singers always having to have their mouths open, they can now be seen as if in a silent reverie, as the Countess is in both Porgi Amor and Dove Sono. The latter aria is especially moving, with slow-motion sepia film showing her days of courtship with the Count before his innumerable and
on-going infidelities. The overall sense of human beings equally consumed by sexual desire and jealousy, whatever their social rank, reaches a peak with a stunning performance by Herman Prey as Figaro. The setting looks like an authentic Andalusian stately home, and even the weather is realistic.
This marvelous film, which comes on two DVDs, dates from before the fashion arrived of opera directors doing their utmost to subvert the composers' and librettists' intentions. Here, everything is done to highlight the dramatic intelligence and the musical brilliance of the original, considered by many the finest opera ever written. Ironies and dramatic points you've missed in half a dozen stage performances suddenly leap out at you, and a few extra ones are added, invariably to the advantage of the work as a whole.
This Figaro is both beautiful and exceptionally insightful. What is so admirable about it is that its strengths are those of the original opera. If I wanted to give a young person a present that would enhance their life for the next 40 years or so, this pair of DVDs is currently what I would choose. The work itself is one of the summits of Western civilization, and though there are several other versions on DVD, this one could hardly be bettered. Subtitles are available in Italian, English, German, French, Spanish and, thankfully, Chinese.
There's no way that Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore ("The love drug") is a comparable masterpiece. But it's zestful, lyrical and funny, and New York's Metropolitan Opera scored a hit with it when it was first staged in 1992. This recording of that production offers great pleasure in a gorgeously rich, appropriately camp style.
Some people laugh at Luciano Pavarotti but he has both a magnificent voice and a warm on-stage personality. Here he embodies the role of Nemorino with affection plus vocal purity and vigor. Kathleen Battle makes a particularly attractive Adina, proving as good an actress as she is a wonderful singer. Enzo Dara is very funny as the fraudulent peddler of love potions, Dulcamara, and Juan Pons completes the lead line-up as a strong, appropriately military
Belcore.
The name of Brian Large has become synonymous with the finest video direction of opera, and he again is responsible for this production. The sound is exceptionally incisive throughout, and the whole thing would be particularly impressive on a large LCD screen with surround-sound accompaniment.
I wish it was possible to be as enthusiastic about the live Paris concert given by Roberto Alagna in 2001. The heroics, the sobs, the self-conscious waves to the audience -- all these, even given a powerful vocal tone, speak to this reviewer of an attempt at a crowd-pleasing display rather than true artistry. I switched this DVD off with a feeling of having been cheapened in some way. With so much excellence on offer this month, this is not a recording I would like to think my friends are contemplating buying. There are no subtitles.
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
The following three paragraphs are just some of what the local Chinese-language press is reporting on breathlessly and following every twist and turn with the eagerness of a soap opera fan. For many English-language readers, it probably comes across as incomprehensibly opaque, so bear with me briefly dear reader: To the surprise of many, former pop singer and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ex-lawmaker Yu Tien (余天) of the Taiwan Normal Country Promotion Association (TNCPA) at the last minute dropped out of the running for committee chair of the DPP’s New Taipei City chapter, paving the way for DPP legislator Su