Search - Verdi - Otello / Barenboim, Franz, Alexejev, Magee, Schmidt, Rugamer, Berlin Opera on DVD

Great conducting, very good singing, modern production

C. Harbison | Montague, MA United States | 09/18/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is one of the most thoughtful and electrifying versions of Otello I have ever heard--CD or DVD--the orchestral sound and detail is fabulous. Flimm's post-modern production is striking and sometimes effective, if flashy. The singing is always strong and insightful, especially Magee as Desdemona and Alexejev as Iago. Christian Franz's Otello is not in the heroic mold of Domingo but is effective nonetheless--an interesting alternative. Beautifully filmed."

Good production, disappointing singing

T. Ribchester | Philadelphia, PA USA | 02/19/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I ordered this because I anticipated that Barenboim would conduct the score well. He does, and as the other reviewer points out, the clarity of the sound is very arresting, and the important chorus and orchestra moments are carried off very tightly. The leads are the problem. Magee in particular is extremely limited in her expressive range, nailing everything (including the incomparable Act IV music, where Barenboim's sensitive work is wasted) with full power and brutal attack, no color variation and no trace of a soft dynamic. Franz, on the other hand, rasps in his high register which prevents him from achieving subtlety on technical grounds (he otherwise communicates well enough). This is a notoriously difficult work for the leads, but it especially disappoints me to see a Desdemona who is technically unchallenged but seems not to understand the intimacy of Verdi's music. This kind of voice training, where power and consistency are prized above sensitivity, is sadly all too common in recent years, especially in the US.

It is a pity that these principals do not do justice to a forceful interpretation of the score, a striking and original set (fire and water especially), and a good chorus and supporting cast."

Ah, the pity of it!

Michael Berger | Atlanta, Ga | 08/24/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is an excellent and an unusual production. First, it is updated and staged in a modernistic, several-storied, eerily lit ship. Second, it does not have Placido Domingo as Otello. Rather, it has Christian Franz who sings the lyrical parts of Otello most beautifully and sensitively and does well with the more powerful aspects of the part as well. He is not as powerful as Domingo, and less imposing. But it is a wonderfully intelligent characterization and as well sung as one is going to have.
Jurgen Flimm's modernistic setting doesn't work badly; the initial storm is exciting as it should be, and the relationship between characters is, as is usual with Flimm, beautifully and subtlely done (the one clear wrong touch is Iago's thumbs up as he leaves the stage after the truth has come out. It is too self-serving and showy and jarringly modern.). However, the setting dwarfs the singers and has the unfortunate effect of making them less powerful as characters. Ideally, Otello should be like a force of nature (as del Monaco is in the old RAI film). Franz is made small by the setting: a captain of industry, maybe; a great bureaucrat (Eisenhower in World War II?) but not a force of nature. Plus updating the piece also reduces Otello's outsider status and his paranoid-like fear that, as a Moor,he is not loved and respected. Thus, his jealousy is reduced to a purely romantic one and this is a loss. It's a loss inherent in Verdi and Boito's reduction of the Shakespeare play - Otello is a more purely romantic figure and a less complicated one in the opera - but it's unfortunate that Flimm's setting accentuates this diminution.
Emily Magee, the young American soprano, makes a fine Desdemona, moving, loyal and true. Every once in a long while, her tone is a bit too strong, but her Act IV solos are lovely and she makes of Desdemona a strong character rather than the wimp she can be if played limply. Valeri Alexejev makes a very powerful Iago, singing better than more famous baritones. He lacks only the grace and softer colors of Tito Gobbi or Renato Capecchi (in the del Monaco film) to be superb and totally dominating; he is rarely less than very very good.
Daniel Baremboim's conducting is superb, bringing out the power, brutality, gentleness, and sadness of the piece. This is as well conducted as any Otello on DVD.
In themselves, the sets and lighting are often beautiful and striking; the use of primal images, like fire and water, lovely and evocative.
This DVD will broaden your ideas of what is possible with this piece."