The music, having to share the stage with all this, often struggles to compete. It succeeds better in the later scenes (where it also itself becomes more interesting). But opera is supposed to be about the pleasures of the human voice and musical instruments in dramatic combination. There's not much of that here.
Recording companies should be careful what trailers they include along with their less splendid products. This DVD contains one for the 1999 Salzburg Festival Damnation of Faust, one of the finest opera productions of its era. It puts this very uneven Seraglio to shame.
Arthaus' Il Giardino Armonico features six Baroque instrumentalists playing a collection of works composed in early 17th-century Venice. They're filmed in a range of locations in Sicily, some historical, but most rather nondescript nonetheless. Each item is introduced briefly in English, and then the musicians scrape and puff away with as much zest as they can muster.
The general effect is of high-spirits ineffectually recalled. Music by Vivaldi dominates the latter part of the DVD, but the ambiance of the other composers featured doesn't vary markedly from his simple, rhythmically intense, and generally melodic style.
Lastly, La Ronde des Lutins from Poloarts features China's maverick violinist Li Chuanyun (李傳韻). He shot to fame in 1991 at age 11 and has been astonishing audiences ever since with his virtuosity and lyricism, in the early years on a violin reputedly bought for US$200. Last year he undertook a US tour that proved hugely successful.
The effect at the beginning of this recital is of a gipsy fiddler at a fairground, rasping and carefree. Quickly, though, you know you are in the presence of genius. This DVD shows Li performing on a stage accompanied by the Canadian pianist Robert Koenig. He plays 14 items, and that's it. There appears to be no audience. This DVD can be hard to find. Best is to search the Chinese Web site www.poloarts.com.cn.
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