On 2009-08-17 J Scott Morrison, Middlebury VT, USA wrote: There are a number of really fine DVDs of Fidelio available these days. Among those are the Met´s version with Mattila and Heppner Beethoven - Fidelio / Levine, Mattila, Heppner, Pape, Lloyd, Polenzani, Metropolitan Opera and one with Popp and Kollo Beethoven - Fidelio. This 1991 production from Covent Garden has been available before and has had mostly positive reviews. It is a traditional staging with era-appropriate and lifelike mise en scéne and costumes. Further, it has some of the finest voices of the time. I was especially pleased with the Rocco of Robert Lloyd, whose ´Hat man nicht auch Gold beineiben´ is a delight. The first act foursome leads give us a marvelous ´Mir is so wunderbar.´ As the second couple, Marie McLaughlin (Marzelline) and Neill Archer (Jaquino) are excellent. Monte Pedersen makes a suitably evil Don Pizarro. The important choral parts are movingly sung. In the pit is the young Christoph von Dohnyani who has the proceedings firmly in his grasp. The two main leads, sung by Gabriela Benacková and Josef Protschka, are certainly acceptable and in the case of Benacková, outstanding. Benacková´s warm, soaring voice is perfect for the rôle. Her ´Abscheulicher, wo eilst du hin´ is superb. The couple´s acting is somewhat generic.
This would not be my first choice if you are going to have just one DVD of this great opera. I would give the palm to the Met/Levine/Mattila/Heppner/Pape version. But it would not be bad for a second version.
TT: 125mins; Sound: PCM stereo; Subtitles: German, French, English,T Italian, Dutch, Spanish; Format 4:3; Region Code: 0 (worldwide); NTSC.
Scott Morrison
. And summed up by saying A 1991 Covent Garden ´Fidelio´. Currently Fidelio has an overall rating of 8 over 10.
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claimed Beethoven´s lone opera had a troubled gestation, as its no fewer than four overtures suggest. The finished product, while obviously a work of genius, exposes its patchwork qualities even in the best of productions. Luckily, the 1991 staging by the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, is so lucid and intelligent that the opera--a forceful plea for freedom, even in the most severely dictatorial regimes--comes across as both a forceful drama and a thought-provoking message. Stage director Adolf Dresen, together with set designer Margit Bardy and lighting designer Erich Falk, presents the characters (which on paper have a tendency to remain types) as fully human, their interactions made understandable and plausible not only by Beethoven´s humanizing music but also the realistic period settings. Video director Derek Bailey has succeeded admirably at getting this across for the home viewer as well. Musically, this Fidelio is a whirlwind, with conductor Christoph von Dohnányi leading the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House and the Royal Opera Chorus in an energetic but never-too-fast performance (by the way, they perform the fourth overture); and the singers are topnotch vocally and dramatically. Soprano Gabriela Benacková makes an arresting, emotionally complex Leonore, and Josef Protschka as her imprisoned husband, Florestan, brings down the house with his impassioned aria at the beginning of Act II. --Kevin Filipski
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