It is enormously refreshing, after reviewing Carlos Kleiber's version of Der Rosenkavalier with less than enthusiasm last month, to be able to hail a fine new version, this time from Zurich Opera. This ambitious opera house has not always hit the jackpot -- their recent DVD of Tannhauser, for instance, was almost uniformly dismal. But now they have come up with something really rather wonderful.
Almost everything about this new Rosenkavalier is impressive -- the crisp, vividly recorded orchestral playing, the often astonishing singing, the acting (sometimes incorporating profound insights), and the unusual, stylish staging. For once Hugo von Hofmannsthal's great libretto, one of the finest in all opera, gets its due. When watching these DVDs you really do believe the soloists genuinely feel what they are singing, and in a sharper, more abrasive way than is usual even in good modern opera productions. On two occasions the Marshallin collapses onto the ground, for instance, overcome with emotion. There are no powdered cheeks and demure smiles behind fans in this production.
Rosenkavalier is about an older woman losing her lover to a younger one. This production, following the feelings expressed by the Marschallin in her great Act One monologue, extends this theme to a lament for the inevitability not only of aging but of death as well. This fits less well with the comic scenes, but is strongly moving in the great climaxes with their powerful undercurrents of transience and loss. Even in the Act Two duet where love is born between Octavian and Sophie, an aged retainer is seen behind and between them, trembling and white-faced like an aghast death's-head, horrified perhaps at his own decrepitude, and at the innocence of the two youngsters, seemingly unaware of what the years will do to them. He dies as the curtain falls.
In a generally strong cast, Vesselina Kasarova's Octavian is particularly impressive. Her voice is thrilling from the start and continues to be so. Malin Hartelius's Sophie is also wonderfully clear-voiced, and Alfred Muff's Ochs unusually genial and amusing. Pride of place, though, must go to Nina Stemme, far and away the most psychologically convincing and memorable Marschallin I have ever heard.
Instrumentally, too, this is very fine, beautifully recorded and played with instantly recognizable feeling. Listening to it, you come to think once again that Richard Strauss's opera contains some of the most sublime music for the stage ever written.
With its minimalist sets and eclectic costumes, this is a production that could have been stylish but soulless. That it isn't is almost entirely due to the conviction and committed performances of the principal singers. With all this going for it, the use of the same set for the first and last acts really doesn't matter very much.
All in all, this is a musically fine, visually fresh and everywhere sensitive and intelligent Rosenkavalier. That innovative gimmicks, of which there are quite a few, aren't allowed to detract from the often painful emotions of the principal characters is one of the strongest
reasons for recommending it.
I did not expect to enjoy Vienna Boys' Choir Sings Mozart, a re-issue on DVD (apparently especially for Taiwan) of a video dating back to 1989. It has its moments, however. Almost all the items -- sacred numbers performed in Vienna's Hofburgkapelle -- date from the composer's youth. It's strange to think that the longest piece, the Missa Solemnis KV 139, was written when he was 12, about the same age as the boys who here sing the treble and alto parts, both choral and solo. He actually conducted its first
performance, himself a boy wonder too, entrancing a fashionable audience, and earning a good fee for his delighted and ambitious father.
The small instrumental ensemble and the strange quality of boys' voices make for a pleasing combined effect. The DVD leaves you pondering anew the old question of why it is boys rather than girls who have these evocative vocal tones prior to puberty. Mozarteans in particular will be keen to collect these rarely performed early works.
Andre Rieu is at it again, plugging away at over-familiar old favorites and trying to find ways to make them new. This time in Love Around the World, it's seemingly on board a German ocean liner on a round-the-globe trip. Rieu plays away on his violin, a massed choir soars in the background, and ever-adoring fans purportedly laugh, love and applaud. It's easy listening, sweet music, call it what you will, all colored by Rieu's agreeable personality.
An added zest and high spirits is part of the recipe, and that too predictably arrives. It's hardly classical music. Some sections are virtually indistinguishable from travel publicity (it's always summer with Andre Rieu), while others resemble an old-folks' party. But huge numbers of people enjoy these Europe-centered shows, and that can't be a bad thing. However, Rieu's earlier Romantic Paradise (reviewed in the Taipei Times on Feb. 29, 2004) was far more infectiously exhilarating, as well as being a good deal longer. And it has to be said that one track, any track, of Stephane Grappelli, an infinitely greater popular violinist, is worth any number of Andre Rieu DVDs.
Taiwan’s overtaking of South Korea in GDP per capita is not a temporary anomaly, but the result of deeper structural problems in the South Korean economy says Chang Young-chul, the former CEO of Korea Asset Management Corp. Chang says that while it reflects Taiwan’s own gains, it also highlights weakening growth momentum in South Korea. As design and foundry capabilities become more important in the AI era, Seoul risks losing competitiveness if it relies too heavily on memory chips. IMF forecasts showing Taiwan widening its lead over South Korea have fueled debate in Seoul over memory chip dependence, industrial policy and
“China wants to unify with Taiwan at the lowest possible cost, and it currently believes that unification will become easier and less costly as time passes,” wrote Amanda Hsiao (蕭嫣然) and Bonnie Glaser in Foreign Affairs (“Why China Waits”) this month, describing how the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is playing the long game in its quest to seize Taiwan. This has been a favorite claim of many writers over the years, easy to argue because it is so trite. Very obviously, if the PRC isn’t attacking Taiwan, it is waiting. But for what? Hsiao and Glaser’s main point is trivial,
May 18 to May 24 Gathered on Yangtou Mountain (羊頭山) on Dec. 5, 1972, Taiwan’s hiking enthusiasts formally declared the formation of the “100 Peaks Club” (百岳俱樂部) and unveiled the final list of mountains. Famed mountaineer Lin Wen-an (林文安) led this effort for the Chinese Alpine Association (中華山岳協會). Working with other experienced climbers, he chose 100 peaks above 10,000 feet (3,048m) that featured triangulation points and varied in difficulty and character. The list sparked an alpine hiking craze, inspiring many to take up mountaineering and competing to “conquer” the summits. A common misconception is that the 100 Peaks represent Taiwan’s 100 tallest
In a sudden move last week, opposition lawmakers of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) passed a NT$780 billion special defense budget as a preemptive measure to stop either Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平) or US President Donald Trump from blocking US arms sales to Taiwan at their summit in Beijing, said KMT heavyweight Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康), speaking to the Taipei Foreign Correspondents Club on Wednesday night in Taipei. The 76-year-old Jaw, a political talk show host who ran as the KMT’s vice presidential candidate in 2024, says that he personally brokered the deal to resolve
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