Search - Strauss: Die Fledermaus / Australian Opera on DVD

Another Joan Sutherland Evening

drkhimxz | Freehold, NJ, USA | 07/18/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"To kultur, we owe this distribution of a 1981 Australian production of the Viennese standby by Johann Strauss. In light of the reviews to other DVD performances by Dame Joan Sutherland, pleasure in this one will be dictated by ones responses to her performance in what were her 50's. In other respects, this is a traditional approach emphasizing the fun and games of life for the wealthy in the last days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The cast fills its assigned role in this story of a practical joke played upon a practical joker. Dame Joan's husband leads the orchestra and the cast in a rousing, effervescent performance while the sets and costumes reinforce the gaiety, so that the now classic score is shown to best advantage. Never having seen Dame Joan's more youthful performances, I cannot compare them with 1981 when she would have been in her mid-fifties, not really old for a well-trained voice carefully managed voice. I enjoyed the evening with her in the role but, for me, a more Patrice Munsel, Roberta Peters, Dorothy Kirsten type would have been suitable; however, that is merely a matter of taste not a qualitative judgment.
All in all, this is quite an acceptable offering among Fledermaus DVD's but I do not find it to be markedly superior. If you are a fan of Dame Joan's you should be quite happy with it( I should think)."