Search - Beethoven - Fidelio / Nylund, Kaufmann, Polgar, Muff, Magnuson, Strehl, Groissbock, Harnoncourt, Zurich Opera on DVD

Musically, an amazingly accurate Fidelio, with signs of futu

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 04/13/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Scott Morrison's review says everything I would have, so I'll add only a few comments (plus the extra star he omitted). The rising German tenor, Jonas Kaufmann, now set to become a star thanks to his debut album on Decca, sings Florestan with astonishing accuracy and tonal color. At a young age he sounds ready to join the ranks of Julius Patzak and Jon Vickers in this role. Every note is hit perfectly and with completely solid support -- very impressive. It doesn't hurt that in close up Kaufmann "tortures up pretty," as someone once wrote of Johnny Depp when he suffers on screen.

Overall, the musical values from all concerned are so faithful that you could take the soundtrack of this DVD and use it for a studio recording. (The drawback is that the singers rarely teear their eyes away from the conductor.) Hylund and Kaufmann are both rather slight of build, so it's a bit uncanny how big they sound. I imagine that Mr. Morrison is right in guessing that the lead voices might not fill a large opera house, but they are full-bodied here. Dramatically, both leads are intense and convincing -- if only the director had allowed them to show more joy at their reunion instead of making "O namenlose Freude" a duet for two shell-shock victims who don't embrace until after the final note. Also, having Marzellina hold a six-gun to her head during the finale dampens Beethoven's intended triumphal mood, besides being innately ridiculous.

That said, all praise is due to the Zurich Opra for its high standards. Anyone who loves "Fidelio" should rush to experience this fine performance."

Impressive tenors, convincing Fidelio.

Abel | Hong Kong | 06/20/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Camilla Nylund is undoubtedly visually the best Fidelio on record. She has everything a young girl would fall for - noble and courageous, charming and forthright. Vocally, Nylund is adequate for the role, though at the earlier stages her voice does not appear to have warmed up sufficiently to project the drama in her first big aria.
What strike the audience most in this production is undoubtedly the two tenors - Jaquino and Florestan, portrayed respectively by Christoph Strehl and Jonas Kaufmann.
Strehl is one of today's foremost German lyrical tenors. Casting him as Jaquino is a real luxury:in Die Zauberflote under Claudio Abbado, he has sung an impeccable Tamino.
Kaufmann's Florestan is a real wonder. He has by now fully 'graduated' from the role of Jaquino, a role he used to sing earlier in his career, and now he really owns the role of Florestan. The treacherously difficult solo aria is being pulled off heroically and the later duets and ensemble works done with absolute finesse.
If any thing, the entire tempo of the work is a bit heavy, and the power to move the audience somewhat lessened (as compared with, say, Leonard Bernstein's version with Kollo and Janowitz)."