Oper, Operette, Film

Mozart - Die Zauberflote - Chor und Orchester der Oper Zurich (Nikolaus Harnoncourt) [2DVD Set] (2007) {Deutsche Grammophon}
2xDVD -> 13.3 Gb | All Regions | NTSC 16:9 | Deutsch (LinearPCM, 2 ch / DTS, 5 ch) | ~ 226m | ISO Images
Subs: Deutsch, English, Francais, Espanol, Chinese
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 111 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2007 Deutsche Grammophon / Universal | 00440 073 4367
Classical / Opera

This latest European re-imagining of a classic opera, directed by Martin Kusej and featuring the Chor und Orchester der Oper Zurich conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, is a splendid performance that was taped from a live television broadcast. Director Kusej, in the 45 minute bonus behind the scenes film on disc one, complains of "fuddy-duddy performances of opera, such as directed by Zeffirelli." Ouch! His intention to avoid such old-style productions is successful. The set represents a combination of a labyrinth and a modern building lobby. It rotates on the stage while cleverly designed moveable walls constantly produce new shapes so that no architectural space duplicates any other.

The first film of Willi Forst's legendary Viennese trilogy is essentially a condensed history of the golden age of Viennese operetta mirrored in the fictive love story between director Jauner (Willi Forst) and actress Geistinger (Maria Holst). Famous historical facts and persons are woven into an occasionally melodramatic, occasionally funny love hate relationship where Jauner tries to impress Geistinger artistically and romantically but is mostly rebuked. The cast is filled with lots of great actors from Paul Hörbiger to Siegfried Breuer to Curd Jürgens and this costly superproduction which is always a stylish delight was a smash success.

Art Zoyd is a French band formed in 1969, mixing free jazz, progressive rock and avant-garde electronica. Like other members of the Rock in Opposition movement, Art Zoyd fuses progressive rock and jazz with contemporary classical music. Like fellow RIO member Univers Zero, they are also influenced by French Zeuhl bands such as Magma. Today, Art Zoyd is best described as an electronic music group and works primarily for film and ballet. Gérard Hourbette assures the artistic direction while working occasionally with other composers/performers: Kasper T. Toeplitz, Carl Faia, André Serre-Milan, etc.

Richard Wagner’s early opera “Rienzi” is stylistically closer to Meyerbeer and bel canto than to Wagner’s later masterworks. Yet even this early work – especially as presented in this recording – is “so fantastically beautiful that it takes one’s breath away” (Berliner Zeitung). And in this staging by Philipp Stölzl, who condensed the five-act opera into a little over two hours, “Rienzi” becomes a startlingly powerful and timeless parable of power and abuse. Though the story of the rise and fall of a charismatic leader and his totalitarian regime takes place in 14th-century Rome, Stölzl sets it somewhere in the recent past.