Mozart - Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio) / Bohm, Gruberova, Grist

Starring:Thomas Holtzmann, Francisco Araiza, Edita Gruberova, Reri Grist, Norbert Orth, Martti Talvela
Director: Karlheinz Hundorf
Studio: Deutsche Grammophon
Product Type: DVD

Mozart - Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail / Ruth Ann Swenson, Malin Hartelius, Kurt Rydl, Hans Peter Blochwitz, Manfred Fink, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Schwetzingen Opera

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Yet another reason to love Mozart!
EXCELLENT TRADITIONAL PRODUCTION

Mozart - Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail / Ruth Ann Swenson, Malin Hartelius, Kurt Rydl, Hans Peter Blochwitz, Manfred Fink, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Schwetzingen Opera
Starring: Michael Hampe , Matthias Habich , Ruth Ann Swenson , Malin Hartelius , and Kurt Rydl
Manufacturer: Euroarts
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Rossini - La Cambiale di Matrimonio / John Del Carlo, Janice Hall, David Kuebler, Alberto Rinaldi, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Schwetzingen
Mozart - La Clemenza di Tito / Tatiana Troyanos, Eric Tappy, Carol Neblett, Catherine Malfitano, Kurt Rydl, James Levine
Rossini - L'Occasione fa il Ladro / Monica Bacelli, Alessandro Corbelli, Natale de Carolis, Robert Gambill, Stuart Kale, Susan Patterson, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Schwetzingen Opera
Mozart - Il Re Pastore / Jerry Hadley, Sylvia McNair, Angela Maria Blasi, Iris Vermillion, Neville Marriner, Salzburg
Mozart - Cosi fan Tutte

ASIN: B000EQHRWO
Release Date: 2006-04-18

Customer Reviews:

Yet another reason to love Mozart!.......2007-01-24

There are several great productions of Mozart's "The Abduction from the Seraglio"--we are so fortunate to have many from which to choose.

This one has very good singing, with the bonus of wonderful costuming and imaginative staging and scenery which add to the effect.

OK, here are some specifics to support the above praise:

The famous "Traurigkeit" aria is staged among the palm trees and sand under a setting sun's diminishing glow--very effective touch.

The Pasha seizes and kisses Konstanze as he threatens her with torture. She faints and collapses, remaining lifeless until her famous aria, "Marten alle Arten." During this passionate plea, the Pasha collapses in frustration and cultural shock, and hides his face under his robes throughout her spirited exclamation that she will welcome death, which will set her free. (Her sustained notes toward the end of the aria should make you fall on your knees at the genius of Mozart!)

It seemed to me a nice touch that Osmin (Kurt Rydl) snaps his fingers when he wants Blonde (Malin Hartelius) to feed him another olive. He does this from a relaxed position, lying in a sort of hammock, from which Blonde finally dumps him, trying to teach him that you win love through tenderness and coaxing, rather than by barking orders.

Pedrillo (Manfred Fink) and Osmin (Kurt Rydl) dance to the spirited "Viva Bacchus," and Osmin gathers some laughter from the audience when he holds to his chest the two wine jugs, as he speaks of his beloved Blonde.

This is a very fun production that should remind you of why so many dearly love Mozart.

EXCELLENT TRADITIONAL PRODUCTION.......2006-11-03

I was able to borrow the Mehta DVD with Eva Mei as Constanza. Unfortunately that production while traditional, struck me as having a low budget look at times, typical of a high school play. Second, the voices wandered left to right in a meaningless way which is annoying for us headphone listeners.

This production staged by Hampe is beautiful in every way. Ruth Ann Swenson is a great constanza with more personality than Schafer or Mei. Rydl,as Osmin, is much more focussed in pitch here than he is with Mehta. Hartelius is Blonde on both this DVD and the "regietheater" version from Salzburg. She is a versatile singer who makes the most out of both productions, thus giving some insights into how "regietheater" affects how a singer changes their style. The two tenors are fine. There is some distortion in the sound but it is infrequent enough not to be annoying, putting this DVD almost on the same sonic level as the Salzburg and above the newer one with Mehta.

Gelmetti takes a slower pace than Minkowski did in the Salzburg DVD, which gives the singers more time to form each note. This results in a more poetic but less exciting performance than the Salzburg.

If you are not familiar with this opera, The Hampe production with Gelmetti conducting is the best choice of the three. On the otherhand, if you are familiar with the story, and want a very clever updated staging, get the Salzburg with Minkowski conducting. Owning both is a very rewarding experience for anyone who wants to do a serious study of regietheater vs traditon using two excellent DVDs.

Mozart - Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail [Abduction from the Seraglio]

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The Last Serious Mozartian.
Golden age Mozart from a master conductor

Mozart - Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail [Abduction from the Seraglio]
Starring: Edita Gruberova , Francisco Araiza , Martti Talvela , Reri Grist , and Norbert Orth
Director: Karl Böhm , and August Everding
Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
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Mozart - Die Zauberflote / Lucia Popp, Francisco Araiza, Edita Gruberova, Wolfgang Brendel, Kurt Moll, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Munich Opera
Mozart - La Clemenza di Tito / Tatiana Troyanos, Eric Tappy, Carol Neblett, Catherine Malfitano, Kurt Rydl, James Levine
Mozart - Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro)
Mozart - Idomeneo / Luciano Pavarotti, Hildegard Behrens, Frederica von Stade, Ileana Cotrubas, John Alexander, James Levine, Metropolitan Opera
Mozart - Cosi fan Tutte

ASIN: B0009I8PHS
Release Date: 2005-09-13

Customer Reviews:

The Last Serious Mozartian........2007-03-19

Karl Bohm is very old by the time he conducted this performance. During curtain calls, he was virtually escorted up the stage by Gruberova and Grist.
For quite some time after Bohm, there weren't many dedicated conductors for Mozart's operas, the most dedicated one being Leopold Hager followed by Nicolas Harnoncourt of Austria.
Edita Gruberova, who sang a lot under Harnoncourt, was just starting her career as a Mozartian in this production. Her Konstanz is very securely delivered, if not outright outstanding. And she was a real gem to watch - voluptuously beautiful in the lowcut cream satin dress.
Francisco Araiza sang Belmonte with a bright, ardent tone that eclipsed second-rate interpretors like Ernst Haefliger before him. His voice hasn't yet grown harsh in this recording, and it is a real treat for the ears, even if his stagecraft was on the stiff side.
Orth and Grist made a charming secondary pair.
The star of this show, however, goes to Martti Talvela as the ominously difficult to sing Osmin.
Talvela is such a joy to watch and a delight to hear - full of comedy and drama. His duet with Reri Grist when he was bathing is outright hilarious and deathly funny. His later duet with Orth is another high light of the opera. Not to mention his final solo aria that demanded a real virtuoso's skill.
This is a very respectable historical production, showing the singers in their prime, and the conductor's veteran skills as a seasoned Mozartian. Any one who misses Bohm and Talvela must get this DVD.

Golden age Mozart from a master conductor.......2006-04-08

Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail or The Abduction from the Seraglio was composed by Mozart in 1782 during his first heady days in Vienna. He'd recently thrown off the shackles of provincial Salzburg and his odious servitude under the Prince-Archbishop Colloredo. This Singspiel (song-play) was first performed at the Burgtheater in Vienna, and is the wellspring of the famous story about Mozart's postperformance meeting with Emperor Joseph II in which the illustrious Enlightenment ruler uttered his famous critique: "Too beautiful for our ears and monstrous many notes, my dear Mozart". Mozart supposedly replied "Exactly as many as necessary, your majesty".

Joseph II had founded a National Singspiel Company in 1778 which was designed to promote German culture in Vienna where the predominant culture, at least among the aristocracy, was French. The work, Mozart's first imperial operatic commission, combines elements of Italian opera seria, opera buffa and even folklike German song. It is a truly new amalgam of elements with lovely melodies and gentle humor that still manages to entertain. Mozart would perfect this recipe nearly a decade later in his last Singspiel, "The Magic Flute". Die Entfuhrung features a wonderful, fairly complex Act II finale: a dramatic technique Mozart famously utilized with even greater success 4 years later in le Nozze di Figaro. It enables him to heighten the drama while deftly exploring the characters of multiple onstage protagonists simultaneously. This dramatic technique was truly new: a nail into the heart of static opera seria for which the da Ponte operas would be the hammer. It is the source of a new Romantic spirit in music, the full flowering of which was decades away. And the Turkish elements in the opera represented the continuing fascination of the Viennese with those same Turks who had invaded Austria not too many years earlier. This Turkish exoticism is another element in nascent Romanticism. This humble little Singspiel's importance should not be minimized.

Karl Bohm conducts the Chorus and Orchestra of the Bayerischen Staatsoper with the right balance of serious purpose and light lilting lyricism. This production, staged by August Everding with set and costume design by Max Bignens, was filmed from a live television production relayed on the First Programme (Channel 1) of German television on 25 April 1980. Bohm was nearly 86 years of age at the time and had first conducted this work in 1924. He was a true Mozartean who mastered Mozart's youthful, bubbling music while also revealing the ineffably sad, emotionally ambiguous drama that lays just underneath. It is a volatile mixture that can evaporate or combust in a conductor's face if not approached properly. Mozart has been described as too easy for beginners, too difficult for experts. Bohm was an expert who evoked a beginner's Mozart: he made the difficult sound easy. He is the real star of this excellent DVD.

The singers are superb. Thomas Holtzmann is Selim, Belmonte is Francisco Araiza. Konstanze is Edita Gruberova. Blonde is sung by the wonderful Reri Grist. Pedrillo is sung by Norbert Orth and Osmin is Martti Talvela. The production is relatively traditional, extremely colorful and fun to watch. I've enjoyed it immensely every time I've watched it.

This DVD has a picture format of NTSC color shot fullscreen with a 4:3 format. Region code is 0 worldwide. The film is crystal clear with no discernable video artifacts. It appears to be digitally remastered. Sound formats are PCM stereo and DTS 5.1 Digital Surround sound. Both formats sound great with the DTS Surround providing ambiance from the rear speakers and good spatial location of instruments and voices. Menu language is English. Subtitles are in German, English, French, Spanish and Chinese. Total time of the disc is 146 minutes. There are no extras other than DGG promos.

This is an excellent version of Mozart's Abduction. Those familiar with Karl Bohm know what to expect. Those who don't know him will find this disc a nice introduction. Strongly recommended.

Mike Birman

Mozart's Greatest Operas (The Magic Flute / Le Nozze di Figaro / Die Entfuhrung Aus Dem Serail/ La Clemenza di Tito)(4 Disc Set)

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Mozart's Greatest Operas (The Magic Flute / Le Nozze di Figaro / Die Entfuhrung Aus Dem Serail/ La Clemenza di Tito)(4 Disc Set)
Starring: Mozart , and Ostman
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Puccini's Greatest Operas (La Boheme / Madama Butterfly / Manon Lescaut / Turandot)
World's Greatest Operas (Carmen / La Traviata / Aida)
Mozart Opera Glyndebourne Collection: Cosi fan Tutte, Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Entfuhhrung aus dem Serail, Idomeneo, Die Zauberflote (6 DVDs)
Mozart - The Da Ponte Operas / Cosi fan Tutte, Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro - Peter Sellars, Wiener Symphoniker
Mozart - Idomeneo / Luciano Pavarotti, Hildegard Behrens, Frederica von Stade, Ileana Cotrubas, John Alexander, James Levine, Metropolitan Opera

ASIN: B000C20VKU
Release Date: 2006-02-07

Description

One of the greats of classical music, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart astounded audiences with his breathtaking talent since he began to compose music at the age of 5. His most prominent operas were beloved for not only their beautiful music, but also for their humor and highly entertaining plots and characters.

* The Magic Flute: Intertwining music of awesome purity and beauty with the conventions of musical comedy, this delightful fairy tale continues to delight music lover's generation after generation. This production from Sweden's Drottningholm Court Theatre, one of the few surviving 18th century theaters, is conducted by the famed Arnold Ostman and performed on authentic period instruments.

* Le Nozze di Figaro: First performed to resounding success in 1786, this scandalous tale of a humble barber challenging the royal court remains one of the most popular and frequently performed works in operatic repertoire. Under the guidance of Arnold Ostman, the elegant surroundings of the Drottningholm Court Theatre and the intimate size of the stage recreate the atmosphere of opera in Mozart's time.

* Die Entfuhrung Aus Dem Serail: Mozart caused a sensation in Vienna with this light-hearted comic opera about two noble ladies sold by pirates to a Turkish pasha. A sensual and resoundingly contemporary experience from the world-famous Salzburg Festival, this inventive interpretation casts new light on a classic musical work.

Customer Reviews:

"Bright and Colorful".......2005-05-14

First, I should mention that this is not the complete opera, "The Abduction from the Seraglio." The program notes call it "one-third documentary and two-thirds filmed opera."

Even that just begins to describe this performance.
It is performed in a palace in Istanbul, where the beauty and color of the location and the costumes are stunningly bright and authentically Turkish.

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra, led by Charles Mackerras, and the singers, especially Paul Groves (Belmonte) and Desiree Rancatore (Blonde) do full justice to Mozart's most popular work during his lifetime.

You'll find all of the most popular scenes of "The Abduction," sung wonderfully and with the most crystal-clear photography you can imagine.

An extra treat is commentary, which helps explain Mozart and his music, AND a seat for you at the dinner table as you watch the singers eat, relax, and playfully sing bits of their favorite songs.

Though not the full opera, this is a delightful and beauty-filled presentation. (It would be a great way to introduce newcomers to the world of opera, or to show those familiar with the work a colorful new perspective.)

Average customer rating:

It Has Its Moments But ...

Mozart - Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail
Starring: Patrizia Ciofi , Eva Mei , Rainer Trost , Kurt Rydl , and Zubin Mehta
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Donizetti - L'Elisir d'Amore / Eschwe, Netrebko, Villazon, Wiener Staatsoper
Donizetti - La Fille du Regiment / Frizza, Florez, Ciofi, Teatro Carlo Felice
Mozart - Die Zauberflote
Rossini - L'Italiana in Algeri
Mozart - Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail

ASIN: B000GLKRFG
Release Date: 2006-11-21

Customer Reviews:

It Has Its Moments But ..........2006-12-11

... the often acidulous shrillness of soprano Eva Mei (as Konstanze) pretty nearly ruins this Entführung for me. The high points are the funny and well-sung Osmin by Kurt Rydl and an excellent Belmonte sung by Rainer Trost. Pedrillo, sung by Mehrzad Montazeri, is attractive and fairly well sung. Patrizia Ciofi's Blonde is pert and fairly well sung, but her acting seems more stock than creative. Mehta's way with the score is to move things right along, inflect the orchestral playing sometimes too emphatically and with not much subtlety.

There are much better DVDs of this opera out there. I would recommend the one from Glyndebourne (although its sonics are somewhat dated), the Böhm-conducted version with Reri Grist, Martti Talvela, Edita Gruberova and Francisco Araiza (also somewhat dated sonically), or the more recent one from the Schwetzingen Festival conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti and starring Ruth Ann Swenson, Malin Hartelius and (again) Kurt Rydl.

Scott Morrison

Mozart - Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio) / Minkowski, Schafer, Groves, Tillawi, Salzburg Festival

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barbed wired abduction
A superb Entfuhrung
Salzburg mangles Mozart
Contemporary setting takes the fun out of Seraglio
The Best Konstanze Ever in a New, Engaging Production

Mozart - Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio) / Minkowski, Schafer, Groves, Tillawi, Salzburg Festival
Starring: Christine Schäfer , Malin Hartelius , Paul Groves , Andreas Conrad , and Franz Hawlata
Director: Alexandre Tarta
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Mozart - Cosi Fan Tutte / Barenboim, Roschmann, Kammerloher, Bruera, Gura, Chausson, Berlin Opera
Mozart - Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail / Ruth Ann Swenson, Malin Hartelius, Kurt Rydl, Hans Peter Blochwitz, Manfred Fink, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Schwetzingen Opera
Rameau - Les Paladins / Piau, Naouri, Lehtipuu, d'Oustrac, Piolino, Schirrer, Gonzalez-Toroi, Christie, Paris Opera
Mozart - The Abduction from the Seraglio / Mehta, Mei, Ciofi, Trost, Rydl, Montazeri, John, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Florence
Mozart - La Clemenza di Tito / Susan Graham, Christophe Pregardien, Catherine Naglestad, Hannah Esther Minutillo, Lorenzo Regazzo, Sylvain Cambreling, Paris Opera

ASIN: B00008H2H1
Release Date: 2003-04-08

Amazon.com

Mozart's cute little comedy about the rescue of two kidnapped women from a Turkish harem is brilliantly sung and well acted in this production from the Salzburg Festival, but opinions will be divided on the direction and staging. Costumes and scenic details (blue jeans, barbed wire, feminist demonstrations) move the story up to the present time, and some additions to the original text reinforce its Levantine atmosphere. These additions include quite a bit of dialogue in Arabic, translated in the subtitles, like the German text, and some Middle Eastern dances, with non-Mozartian music supplied by Turkish musicians in the orchestra pit. "Turkish" sounds (mainly metallic percussion) were fashionable in 18th-century Vienna and were included in Mozart's score, so in a sense these additions simply reinforce Mozart's own idea.

All of the principal performers are excellent. Paul Groves (Belmonte) is that rarest of singers, a good Mozart light tenor. Christine Schaefer breezes through Constanze's vocal challenges. Malin Hartelius and Franz Hawlata give vigorous performances with lots of personality. --Joe McLellan

Description

The celebrated three-act opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart comes to life in this dynamic performance at the world-famous Salzburg Festival. Director Francois Abou Salem brings a modern Middle Eastern sensibility to this journey into Arabian and Muslim culture, filtering the comic tale of abduction for today's audiences. Soprano Christine Schafer portrays Constanze, a woman whose heart is torn between her fiance, Belmonte (Paul Groves), and her new master, Pasha Selim (Akram Tillawi). A sensual and resoundingly modern experience, this new interpretation casts new light on a classic musical work and infuses it with aching human emotion.

Customer Reviews:

barbed wired abduction.......2007-05-21

Mozart's singspiel takes a bit of getting used to; one usually doesn't hear that much spoken dialogue in an Opera.
Seraiglo, one of the lesser known operas, does not have but 3 or 4 premium arias, but they are definitely worth listening.

The production, including the barbed wire, is extremely good. The camera follows the characters perfectly. Amazing how good the sound is, considering that this is an open-air performance.

Not to mention the final victory of Selim, who reminds us that still today, forgiveness and love wins over greed and revenge.

A superb Entfuhrung.......2007-03-29

My main reason for purchasing this edition was Christine Schafer. As it turned out it is close to being the best of the three sets that I now have. The first was the Glydebourne set traditionally in a Turkish harem. To a German speaking individual the great weakness could well be that all of the singers are native English speakers and since this is a singspiel with considerable dialogue authentic accents was not a first consideration but Valerie Masterson's Konstanze was superb. Ryland Davies Belmonte is good and he sings "Ich baue ganz" with more flair than I would have though possible. My second was the Drottningholm performance, an international cast of people who most won't have heard of and an orchestra of original instrument. It boasts a superb Belmonte,
Richard Croft who also sings "Ich baue ganz", Hungarian Osmin, and a Polish Konstanze who lacks Masterson's finish but but gives a good performance. The tangy resinous sound of the small orchestra is bracing and the production (also traditional) utilizes the small space adroitly--as does the Glyndebourne.
The Schafer/Minowski edition is something quite different. It is set (I assume) in the period of the performance--1997. It boasts a Franco-Arabic director, Francois Abu Salem, an assumption on my part in view of the name. Ostensibly we are in Turkey, but Turkey is not an Arabic country. Even so we are treated to a variety of "arabic" scenes, music and dialogue. I will be honest in stating that I didn't listen at length to these scenes so I am not sure whether or not the dialogue is Turkish or Arabic. Pasha Seliim is played by an actor Akram Tillwawi who is required to speak both Turkish (?) and German. I did a Google search in order to find anything that would clue me into the actor's background but was not successful. The majority of the cast is either Swedish or German with Paul Groves singing Belmonte. The voice is quite beautiful and one would think that he would be up to "Ich baue" but it is omitted. Schafer is superb. She is a stunning actress and a great singer. The difficulties of the music appear not to faze her in the least, singing three of the most testing arias almost in succession. Franz Hawlata is an excellent Osmin, probably the best of the three editions I own.

I am glad I have all three sets, and am not bothered by the newest with its updating. It would be a drag to have all three editions set the same way. If I could only have one set, it would be the 1997 Salzburg for all the reasons above. But DVD's have a narcotic appeal to me and I find myself looking at the 2006 Salzburg edition.

Salzburg mangles Mozart.......2006-12-28

The Salzburger Festspiele, formerly a highlight of Europe's rich cultural scene and tradition, have declined precipitously in recent years. This production of Mozart's fabulous singspiel is a case in point. I hoped for and foolishly expected to hear his glorious music well played and sung, in a production worthy of Salzburg's grandeur and its importance as Mozart's birth place. Instead, it began with a disappointing performance of the overture, played with great speed, high velocity, and exceptional fastness - you get the point. The wonderful melodies barely recognizable. OK, I thought, so the orchestra and conductor showed off their technical prowess instead of their competence in the overture, surely, it will get better once the singspiel gets underway. Wrong. It got worse. Staging and costumes with concertina wire, poorhouse clothing, and warehouse ambience made the conductor's garb - a sweater - look good by comparison. The efforts of the overbearing but underperforming orchestra, of performers who seemed more intent on shouting obscenities than on singing Mozart's glorious arias, and who looked and spoke as if they came from the gutter and belonged in a slum rather than on stage, all combined to a less than uplifting experience. It got worse. When Pasha Selim called for "some music" in a harem scene - and raised my hopes - the sounds that came would scarcely have been recognized by Mozart as music. It was not even Mozartian music - it was a cacaphony of unpleasant sounds that went on not for seconds, not for minutes, but for a seeming eternity. How long? Too long to take - I turned it off. It reminded me of a story, intended to be a funny story, in which a police commando bursts into a concert hall in mid-recital and shouts "is a Mr. Mozart being tortured here?" If this "Entführung aus dem Serail" is typical of modern Salzburg Festspiele productions, the organizers should warn the Austrian police to ignore future distress calls like "Mr. Mozart is being beaten up here..."

Contemporary setting takes the fun out of Seraglio.......2006-06-02

I can't resist Abduction from the Seraglio. I reach for it when I'm blue and a few bars into the overture, I'm smiling. I hear a young Mozart, full of fresh ideas. It was composed as a comic Singspiel. The characters sing and then they spiel (talk), sing and then spiel. Audiences of Mozart's day loved it. They socialized with each other during the "spiel" and stopped to listen when the singing started. A great night out of fun.

So, when I put on this production, I was surprised to see barbed wire, bullhorns, pepper spray, demonstrators. Add to that a Pasha who feels like he's lecturing me every time he speaks, and the fun was gone. It's true that Seraglio contains some serious music (e.g. Constanze's magnificent arias), but it didn't work for me to turn the opera into a contemporary commentary on oppression. Too much of its exuberant joy was lost - that young Mozart bursting with musical ideas.

The three stars are to acknowledge the great performances by Christine Schafer as Constanze and Paul Groves as Belmonte. Schafer has a strong, expressive voice (I also recommend her performance as Gilda in the Rigoletto DVD from Covent Garden, 2001). Groves is a sweet-voiced Mozart tenor (he's equally wonderful as Don Ottavio in the Don Giovanni DVD from The Met, 2000).

I can understand that some will find this contemporary approach inspiring. It just didn't work for me. I recommend the DVD from the Teatro Della Pergola, 2002, Zubin Mehta conducting.

The Best Konstanze Ever in a New, Engaging Production.......2005-10-10

This is not your grandfather's "Entführung," and while there are lots of good productions available on DVD more traditionally produced than this one, this one has something none of the others have: Christine Schäfer as Konstanze, but more about her soon.
Although it's the first of Mozart's big five,"Die Entführung"(also known as the "too many notes, Herr Mozart" opera as Joseph II characterizes it in "Amadeus") contains many of the themes, both musically and dramatically, that Mozart brings to fruition in "Die Zauberflöte," constancy, fidelity to ideals, and most of all, forgiveness and reconciliation. The plot was probably old when the Greeks were just starting out in the amphitheatres: Young lovers are separated, the woman chosen by her captor to be his beloved, and she must choose or suffer unspeakable torture . . . Mozart was writing this as a young avatar of the Enlightenment, hence the forgiveness: I won't spoil the plot too much if I tell you that the heroine goes home with her original fella . . . This production is set in the contemporary middle East, not specifically somewhere in Turkey, but some Turkish music, plaintive flute and percussion primarily, is interpolated. Mozartean purists will not approve of this in its use between the vaudeville quartet at the end and the last "Praise to Pasha Selim" but I personally found it very touching. Partly due to the hoariness of the plot, partly due to the attempts to give more weight to the Eastern point of view, there are lapses in logic, but on the whole, the concept succeeds, in large part due to the conviction of the fine young singing actors(and the non-singing actor playing the Pasha), as well as to the fine musicianship of the conductor, Marc Minkowski, leading the Salzburg Festival Orchestra. The young American tenor, Paul Groves, is a slightly puppyish Belmonte, but manly at the same time, and if his singing isn't as elegant as some others in the role(and it might be by now,this was filmed in 1997)his sincerity and sweetness are winning, and his voice is beautiful. I love the way, when as Belmonte he finally sees Konstanze, he runs to her, catches her up, swings her around , then kisses her ardently, but gently. Be still, my aged heart! The bass Franz Hawlata is excellent as Osmin, the keeper of the keys to the Seraglio, who is awarded, as it were, with Konstanze's--well, I guess she'd be her personal assistant, today, but traditionally she's Konstanze's maid, Blonde. He is the Pasha's confidant and guard, and he gets the underlying menace just right, while never overplaying the built-in buffoonery. There are Osmins with darker, deeper voices, but Hawlata, too, has a sweetness and humanity which textures the character richly. Andreas Conrad as Pedrillo, also captured with Konstanze and Blonde, is a dead ringer for the American actor Fisher Stevens, and sings the role very well, and particularly romantically in the serenade that puts the re-abduction, that is, when Belmonte and Pedrillo decide to get "the girls" out, in motion. The subtitles, by the way, are pretty good, not too random as they often are, and in fact, owe a good deal to the gold standard version by Ruth and Thomas Martin--however, because of the plot changes, there are some things that a small DVD insert would help to know: for example, turning the old plot's plain old act of piracy, which results in the purchase of Konstanze, Blonde and Pedrillo by the Pasha, into an act of terrorism by having Konstanze and the others deliberately kidnapped by the Pasha so that he can force negotiations, isn't particularly clear in the spoken dialogue. One of the pitfalls of this concept . . . Anyway here's where the 5 stars come in: first, Malin Hartelius, the young Swedish soprano who plays Blonde. I adore this opera and have heard it in opera houses, including the Met, all over the place, and so many different recordings--she is the best Blonde I've ever seen(although Lillian Watson, the great Lillian Watson, is a close second). She has everything--a beautiful, creamy, supple voice, wonderful looks, terrific comic timing, and a lovely, incisive and sympathetic energy. She's in the Jonathan Miller "Zauberflöte," which is fascinating, and she is a touching, spirited, golden-voiced Pamina. The Pasha is played by the handsome young Akram Tillawi, who also staged the Turkish movement in the harem scene and elsewhere. He is attractive, and you can see why Konstanze, as the subtitle has it, admires him but doesn't trust him. He is furious with himself for falling in love with someone who was just supposed to be a bargaining chip. Often the Pasha is portrayed as the passionate, sensual potentate who tries to overmaster Konstanze physically--see Oliver Tobias passionately kissing the wonderful Konstanze of the great Inga Nielsen in the 1987 George Solti-Covent Garden "Entführung"--and just before she launches into a splendid "Martern Aller Arten," too--but Tillawi plays him as a distracted intellectual. He doesn't do anything too threatening physically(unless loudly quoting love poetry in Arabic to poor Konstanze after she has fallen into an exhausted slumber after "Traurigcheit,"falls under that category), but he is truly in love with her. When he touches her, it is with great tenderness(except once), and when he finally (Plot spoiler! Oh, I'm kidding)gives her freedom back to her, and his life back to Belmonte, he displays the pain he suffers because of the culture clash and the fact that Konstanze is, well, constant. The 26-year old-Mozart was, of course, telling little Konstanze Weber, using the high voice of Cavileri, that he would be true to her to the death, and beyond, no matter what tortures awaited. If he were alive today, Mozart would be in tears of joy hearing the Konstanze of the astonishing Christine Schäfer. Musically, she is a phenomenon--in Konstanze's first aria, "Ach, Ich Liebte," she immediately gains our sympathy--I've never felt Konstanze's mourning and loneliness so clearly as when I hear Schäfer sing of it. In fact, her entire portrayal is new and fresh--all the virtues of Konstanzes past, with added subtleties. It's a given that Konstanze is sad, and afraid, but brave and defiant at the same time. We see this Konstanze's courage despite her real trauma and her real danger--her personal autonomy has been violated and her physical violation is perhaps imminent. Schäfer makes this so immediate that it is a blow to the heart. Schäfer's Konstanze is naturally simpatico. In this staging we see the life of the seraglio--the women all have characters, there are some little girls(presumably the Pasha's daughters, let's not go there), and one magnificent lady who is obviously his mother--everyone of them seems to love and want to protect Konstanze. Perhaps they have come to be in the Seraglio against their wills, and have become resigned. Konstanze will not and cannot do that--Schäfer's retort to the Pasha,when he says he wants her love of her own free will and she should take her time,but tomorrow's the day, is a tart and slightly sarcastic reading of "give me a few days to forget my sorrow." Then she gives him such a look--and marches off stage. Her "Traurigcheit," often sung by Konstanze alone on the stage, is sung in the midst of a sort of "girls night in" party in the harem--her distress and anguish slowly draw everyone in. The Pasha's mother finally caresses her tenderly as she falls into the aforementioned exhausted slumber. It's funny, but silly--PashaMom shushes the harem ladies, and they all try to shush the audience, but it cheers anyway. And then, shortly thereafter, comes "Martern, aller Arten," that famed and fiendish soprano-slayer. There is some odd staging in this production anyway, and this aria, with its 40-bar instrumental intro, is notoriously difficult to stage without exhausting Konstanze. Inga Nielsen got kissed(it's Oliver Tobias, for heaven's sake, so what if she was a bit out of breath); Beverly Sills stomped all over the stage at NYCity Opera and glowered at the Pasha before blasting him into the wings. Schäfer seems to be doing yoga as the 4 instrumentalists actually come onstage to play, and to observe the proceedings. So she is left to sing this most intricate and athletic of soprano solos while running around and over the set--at one point, the Pasha leaves the stage and she has to look for him. Not very satisfying theatrically--but thrilling musically. If Schäfer takes a breath anywhere during it, I'm not aware of it. She is defiant, courageous, laughing at death or torture. This amazing music sings Schäfer as much as she sings it--beautifully.When, after she has left the stage, the Pasha marvels at her courage, we do, too. The camera has pulled back so we discover the Pasha in the orchestra pit(lots of breaking of the fourth wall)--we also see the MUSICIANS applauding Schäfer. She is, not to put too fine a point on it, a knockout.
The gorgeous 3-R quartet(reunion, recrimination and reconciliation) that ends Act Two is exquisitely, passionately sung by the four, and the Act Three duet between Konstanze and Belmonte is exhilarating and so moving. Schäfer's conviction and concentration, and commitment, are heroic. Her singing is angelic.Physically, she is diminutive and attractive,youthful,fiercely intelligent-- a little like the very young Julie Harris, and as intensely talented.
There are things to carp about in this production--name one production without them--but there are so many lovely moments, and silly and odd things, that it is endearing and memorable. The whole cast is terrific, but as you may have guessed, Schäfer is worth the price of the DVD a million times over. Amazon also sells her CD of "Die Entführung," with William Chrisie, Les Arts Florisants, and Ian Bostridge as Belmonte. Get it! If my word's not good enough, look up Alan Blyth's review in the Gramofile section of Gramophone Magazine on line. In fact,click on "Christine Schäfer" on this product page, look up her stuff, and buy all of it. Not everyone loves her Gilda in the Rigoletto at Covent Garden of four years ago, but I do(well, obviously)--she is a Gilda to break your heart. And the Lulu--is there a braver soprano alive than Christine Schäfer? Ransom your first born if you have to. She's the real thing.

Average customer rating:

Weird...but fun
FULL FRONTAL NUDITY: REAL AND SIMULATED
Poor Mozart, abducted and murdered
Successful hijacking? Are you kidding?
Successful hijacking

Mozart - Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail
Starring: Laura Aikin , Charles Castronovo , Valentina Farcas , Dietmar Kerschbaum , and Franz Hawlata
Director: Stefan Herheim
Manufacturer: Decca
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Mozart - Die Zauberflote
Mozart - La Finta Giardiniera
Mozart - La Finta Semplice
Mozart - Lucio Silla
Mozart - Bastien und Bastienne / Der Schauspieledirector

ASIN: B000ICL3PQ
Release Date: 2007-01-09

Customer Reviews:

Weird...but fun.......2007-04-08

Without question, this is an incredibly bizarre production. The revised storyline makes little sense, and there is a surprising amount of violence and sexual innuendo. However, the singers are superb, both vocally and in regard to their stage presence and acting, the orchestra plays beautifully, the chorus is wonderful, and the set is as clever as it is strange. It's definitely not for purists, or for someone new to this particular opera. But for someone who's seen Die Entfuhrung before, and is familiar enough with the original story to not miss it, watching Belmonte, Constanze, Blonde, Pedrillo, and Osmin embark on an entirely new adventure -- and push the boundaries of good taste -- is rather enjoyable.

FULL FRONTAL NUDITY: REAL AND SIMULATED.......2007-03-10

This is the second DVD from M22 that I have seen so far. Luck would have it that the library got it before temptation to buy set in. It is not possible to clean this up by turning off the picture for one scene, as is the case with the M22 Finta Semplice or the Zurich Magic Flute.

Worse still, this production wanders too far from the original story for my taste. I don't find anything fun about it either. There is as much underware on display here as in our local mall. I am not the first person to think that Salzburg Festival is an underware promotional to some extent.

If you want a clever and very well done Regietheater version get the 1997 Salzburg production with Minkowski. For A traditional production get the Gelmetti 1991 one.

Regretably these do not have as good sound as this 2006 production, but in my opinion the difference is not enough to save this ugly mess. The singing is too hard driven, in my opinion, negating the advantage of lower distortion.

These singers have great potential provided they back off a bit in the future.

Poor Mozart, abducted and murdered .......2007-02-10

I agree with every word in Stefan's review. His five points sum up all the deficiencies of this awfull pretentious production.
Too much sex, too much incest, too much movements,too much of irrelevant figures and objects on stage. From much ado Mozart's sublime music gets lost.(Lesbiane scene to konstanze's "Traurigkeit"?????????????????????)

Successful hijacking? Are you kidding?.......2007-01-26

There is little to NOTHING successful in this "hijacking" of my favorite Mozart opera. I'm at a total loss for words but..................if you looking for Turkey you won't find it here. I'm not even sure this is "of this earth." If you think you know this opera that's good because 15 minutes into this you'll start wondering if the packaging is labeled incorrectly. I do not object to operas being placed in different locales/time periods and with a very different point of view. I find that challenging and that's good for me. BUT, this does not resemble the opera I know in any shape or form. What I object to here most is (1) the gratuitous violence, (2) the crude sex, (3) the major dialogue changes, (4) the overdone production, (5) the settings that don't give you a clue as to where you are or what is happening - have I said enough? The singing is average to good but certainly nothing worth buying this for. After watching Doris Dorrie's fun "La Finta Giardiniera", this Abduction was a MAJOR disappointment and hopefully the low point of the Mozart operas at Salzburg during 2006. I've got 4 more of the Mozart series sitting here to watch and I'm keeping my fingers they are better than this bad idea that did nothing but get worse as I watched it.

Successful hijacking .......2007-01-24

The truth is I was very afraid ahead of this production. The staging was the responsibility of a 33-year-old - and we know that an even younger director produced the only true scenic disaster so far in this M22 collection, "Ascanio in Alba". Also the conductor of this "Entfuhrung" was Ivor Bolton - not the most inspired among the men and women who have shared the pit so far. Well, I was wrong on both counts.
Stefan Herheim, the stage director, simply decided to hijack Mozart's opera by suppressing the part of Selim, the enlightened pasha (who only had a spoken role), totally change the recitatives and the texts, and effectively completely change the meaning of the opera: from being a comic romp from the Age of Enlightenment about different mentalities in Europe and in The Orient, the piece becomes a very successful reflection on marriage, most of the time very funny, but sometimes erring on tragedy: this production is therefore a pure and simple hijacking of Entfuhrung, and one could even say a betrayal, but a very talented and successful one. The reason why Herheim's treatment of Entfuhrung is so much more successful than what David Hermann and Christof Hetzer did with "Ascanio" lies in the fact that Herheim has a concept, a story to tell, and decides to stick to it all the way through. His set is quite big (it's the House for Mozart, where the M22 Idomeneo was also taped). A movable wall representing the windows of a palace stand towards the end of the stage just in front of a giant screen where different effects, silhouettes, false perspectives are being projected with great success: it adds some "special effects" to an already very vivid production. All characters will remain in wedding dress (or wedding suits) during the performance, to underline the purpose of the piece and keep a "light" touch to it. I won't even try to spoil anything because the performance is very complex and its very subject (the concept of marriage, its successes and ultimately its failure) is actually visited under very different angles, but there are beautiful ideas, very funny ones (announcing intermission by pulling a plug off an electrical appliance), very poetic ones (two giant Belmonte and Constance on the screen opening a house of dolls populated by their own characters on stage), but also disturbing ones (the quasi-rape scene between Blonde and Pedrillo showing the ultimate inability of man to live in couple).
Musically, it's party time. Ivor Bolton is very poetic, very musical, the orchestral lines are very transparent but contrary to his Giardiniera, Bolton is not reluctant to let the Mozarteum Orchestra give plenty of sound when necessary. He accompanies the ensembles beautifully and gives great consistency to the evening: an unqualified success. Charles Castronovo is a refreshing tenor with strong italianita, he is introducing a breath of fresh air in the tenor roaster of this M22 project. Dietmar Kerschbaum is a solid Pedrillo, his musicality is all the more remarkable that he has a lot to do on-stage. Valentina Farcas is a Blonde with a beautiful tone even if she does not quite control her high register. She is also charming: she is a stunning look-alike of the young Diana Rigg. We were not as impressed by the Constance of Laura Aikin: the voice is acid and even quite strident at times. However, this does not spoil the evening at all: the most beautiful part of the evening is the magical quartet that closes Act II: a moment of pure poetry.
However, let's face it, the triumph of the evening belongs to the Osmin of Franz Hawlata, a legendary Baron Ochs. The voice is very ample with a lot of colours that reminded me of Kurt Moll from time to time. Hawlata also refuses to bark (it could be tempting in such a part) and his stage presence is absolutely incredible.
In Heimer's production, he is at the centre of everything, the cynical [...] who is just here to demonstrate that happiness in marriage does not work and that the best willingness in the world will be of no use. In effect, he is a rough draft of Don Alfonso, and the way the two couples interact are very close to the Guilelmo/Fiordiligi and Ferrando/Dorabella antics in another Mozart opera. I will not be afraid to say that in my view, Herheim's Entfuhrung is the closest thing you will get to a prequel to Cosi fan Tutte. Hijacking indeed, but this journey is worth taking.

Mozart - Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail / Aga Winska, Richard Croft, Elisabet Hellstrom, Bengt-Ola Morgny, Tamas Szule, Arnold Ostman, Drottningholm Opera

Average customer rating:

Mozart - Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail / Aga Winska, Richard Croft, Elisabet Hellstrom, Bengt-Ola Morgny, Tamas Szule, Arnold Ostman, Drottningholm Opera
Starring: Mozart , Schaffer , Winska , Croft , and Ostman
Manufacturer: Arthaus Musik
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Mozart - La Clemenza di Tito / Dahlberg, Soldh, Poulson, Nilsson, Hoglind, Arvidson, Ostman, Drottningholm Opera
Mozart - Cosi fan Tutte / Biel, Hoglind, Tibell, Florimo, Linden, Severin, Ostman, Drottningholm Opera
Mozart - Idomeneo / Kale, Kuebler, Biel, Soldh, Jakobsson, Ostman, Drottningholm Opera
Rimsky-Korsakov - Sadko / Vladimir Galouzine, Gegam Grigorian, Sergei Alexashkin, Larissa Diadkova, Nikolai Putilin, Valery Gergiev, Kirov Opera
Strauss - Daphne

ASIN: B000GQL8MM
Release Date: 2006-08-29

Mozart - Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio) / Bohm, Gruberova, Grist

Average customer rating:

Live performance and Video from late in Bohm's career
The essence of singspiel is lost
Enjoyable performance of less popular opera
It's the singing
A great performance!

Mozart - Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio) / Bohm, Gruberova, Grist
Starring: Thomas Holtzmann , Francisco Araiza , Edita Gruberova , Reri Grist , and Norbert Orth
Director: Karlheinz Hundorf
Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

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Mozart - Cosi fan Tutte
Mozart - Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro)
Verdi - Il Trovatore / Domingo, Kabaivanksa, Cossotto, Cappuccilli, van Dam, Zednik, von Karajan, Vienna Opera
R. Strauss - Der Rosenkavalier / Tomowa-Sintow, Baltsa, Perry, Moll, von Karajan, Salzburg Opera
Rossini - Il Barbiere di Siviglia

ASIN: B00005U1W4
Release Date: 2002-04-09

Customer Reviews:

Live performance and Video from late in Bohm's career.......2005-11-06

Whether or not you purchase this video will depend largely on how much you admire Karl Bohm (1894-1981), the Austrian conductor who made hundreds of recordings (many of them for DG) with the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Dresden State Orchestra, and Bavarian State orchestra. I for one am such an admirer of Bohm-I would get almost any recording he made if the price is within reason in a month that's not too tight budget-wise. For this Mozart "Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail", I bought the DVD in 2003, and have enjoyed it from time to time ever since.

The singers: Edita Gruberova, Francisco Araiza, Reri Grist, Martti Talvela, and Norbert Orth, are all very fine, even if Araiza doesn't compete with Fritz Wunderlich in his celebrated 1965 DG recording, with Eugen Jochum and the Bavarian State Opera. Some opera fans may be more picky about sets, staging, or tempos than I am, but I found all this most enjoyable. One caveat: there are ensemble imperfections between Grist and Talvela in their duet about 1/3 way through the opera, and the 6/8 tempo in one section is too slow: it should really move. Compare this with the same duet in the Wunderlich/Jochum recording, and see what I mean.

DG has re-released this video, perhaps in better sound and picture quality, for about $25.00. I haven't seen the newer edition, but am guessing it is superior to this earlier DVD release. For this DVD, the picture is full screen and quite clear, and the camera work is very good: each soloist is shown in context when alone, or with the group on stage in ensembles.
Balances between soloists and orchestra are fine, which is more difficult in live opera productions than in the studio where conditions are more conducive to capturing a good recording.

I don't know another DVD recording of "Die Entfuhrung" for comparison, but would recommend either the Bohm/Dresden Staatskapelle (DG CD), Beecham/Royal Philharmonic (EMI, mono) or Jochum/Bavarian State Opera (DG CD, with Fritz Wunderlich as Belmonte!) as alternatives: the Jochum/Wunderlich above all others.

The essence of singspiel is lost.......2004-12-29

I have to respectfully disagree with the other reviewers who have posted comments on this DVD. First off, let me admit that "Abduction" is one of my three favorite operas, so perhaps I am being overly critical. But there are a few major flaws in this performance in my opinion, which would justify a 1 star rating (part for poor performance, and part for grave disappointment - after knowing how magical this opera can be). You will probably notice that some of the other reviewers' comments allude to qualities of the opera itself, not only this particular performance. I think that they see the potential here, but I would still argue that this execution has some fatal flaws.

The very essence of "Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail" is its colloquial German nature. This opera is like a game, or a joke, that Mozart left for his audience - a gem if properly appreciated. One of the themes with which Mozart experimented was the transition between dialogue and music (the singspiel dilemma). Mozart was such a master at writing singspiels that he showed that he could move from spoken word to music in almost every imaginable situation. Examine the way Belmonte tries to get Osmin's attention in Act I by speaking to the seemingly crazy man, who is singing to himself. Belmonte only gets his attention when he finally joins in song. Or the "Konstanze, Konstanze, Konstanze" of spoken dialogue that becomes the opera's first major aria (before the third name is finished). Or the contrasting way that Belmonte later declares his propensity to sing before "Wenn der Freunde." My point - which may be getting lost here - is that the beauty of German opera/singspiel is not just about the music, but how the dialogue and the music blend together. There is an excellent recording of Abduction from La Scala with Devia, Lippert, Moll from 1994, in which the interchange between Belmonte and Pedrillio is so charged with emotion and excitement and sexuality, and is so undeniably authentically German, that it pours life into every moment they are onstage. Belmonte and Pedrillo should be young, have pretty voices, be sexually charged with some degree of verisimilitude, and make a believable attempt at understanding their German lines. These two guys on this video simply slaughter the language, and they rob Abduction of its true magic. The tenors are old, boring, stiff, and sing the roles as if they are bel canto heroes (Italian in nature). They ultimately fail. And there is no worse insult that I can give an Abduction performance than that: the Belmonte and Pedrillo rob the opera of its magic by being as inauthentic and improperly typecast as possible. This is such a significant disappointment for those who are familiar with the opera, and understand its charm. By the way, the bass Osmin, sounds like a tenor singing a bass role. And he is not, by any stretch of the imagination, funny.

The Konstanze is Edita Gruberova, who is quite an international star. She gives a rather fine performance here. Some of her scales in "Ach Ich Liebte" are simply magnificent, they are reminiscent of a studio recording in terms of accuracy, but are indeed sung before a live audience. However, her German is also terrible. For example, the aria is not "Ach Ich Liebte" - it's "Asch isch leebter." Her acting is pretty bland as well. Usually, audiences (as well as myself) can forgive a Konstanze as long as she turns out a decent "Martern aller Arten" in Act II. She does indeed, but I have never been a huge fan of Gruberova (while I do recognize that she is quite accomplished and celebrated). I can respect her abilities, but for me- if I only could own one Konstanze on DVD, it would most definitely not be hers. I would probably rate her a "B" in this performance.

A few other notes: the Blondchen does NOT sing the E's in her first aria. She skips them entirely. Most people like to listen to that role for the high notes, but you will not find them on this disc. Also, Mr. Bohm (no doubt a great conductor) has a little trouble with the tempi in the overture, in my opinion. Perhaps he is too accomplished for me to say that he has "a little trouble"; let's just say his interpretation is not to my liking. He takes the middle section of the overture a little too fast for my tastes, and loses the mystery of the violins' line. After all, mystery is indeed what Mr. Mozart intended in this opera. In his times, the Seraglio and its location was deemed to be highly intriguing and a topic of great interest for Austrians. I am sad to say that this mystery is lost on me in the overture.

One last note about the production. It is very flimsy and not at all ornate or symbolic. The Bavarian State Opera (the resident company for this Munich house) is supposed to be one of the top ten opera houses in the world. Their productions and their interpretations are rumored to be top notch. This is not a good example of Munich opera. The sets are boring, the staging is very straightforward, and there is nothing even bordering on "daring" here. And I was so surprised to hear that a German audience could stand to see so many singers massacre their language (and the charm of this singspiel) on their home turf. I would really recommend other Abduction performances over this one. If you get a nice German pair of tenors, and a powerful soprano (like Gruberova or Schafer/Devia/et al), you are off to a good start. And then someday soon you could return to this recording and truly see what is missing.

Sorry for such a negative review. Buyer beware! There are very few redeeming qualities to this DVD!

Enjoyable performance of less popular opera.......2004-05-27

Although this opera of Mozart is not on the same popularity as Don Giovanni and Le Nozze de Figaro, however it is still Mozart's enchanting melodious,cheerful and spirited music. It is also enhanced by the divine singing of Edita Gruberova as Constanze with her clear coloratura voice performing with mafnificent passion in this opera. Regretfully the tenor Francisco Araiza as Belmonte, although his singing is quite good apparently has no matching voice to Gruberova. His solo singing is as superb as ever, but all duets with Gruberova sounds rather unharmonized.However, by adding Reri Grist as Blonde and Norbert Orth as Pedrillo, together made all the unharominized sounds better in the next following quartets, which is really beautiful and overlay any imperfections. The entire performance itself is presented magnificently due to the background sets and the costumes which are so splendid and give the right imagination of the place of the story itself.
Last but not least, the performance in its entirety is enjoyable, especially the divine solo arias sung by Edita Gruberova, which can be regarded as one in the height of her successful performances.

It's the singing.......2003-12-08

This production of Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio is sung in German with subtitles in English, German, Italian, French, Spanish, and Chinese. Karl Bohm conducts the Bavarian State Opera Orchestra.

Edita Gruberova and Francisco Araiza do full justice to Mozart's beautiful music. Araiza's voice is simply sweet and flawless. Gruberova shows herself to be a master singer, a true prima donna, in the best sense of the term. Her "Marten alle Arten" aria captures a beautiful Mozart moment in time, as if it were a dazzling little snow-globe you want to hold in your hands, and cherish forever.

Although the story line is basically a boyfriend breaking into a harem to free his girlfriend, the greater message is what all the characters learn from the Pasha: Wise is the person who realizes that you cannot force someone to love you.

This is a classic performance of the incredibly beautiful Mozart melodies. Some other productions have more colorful costuming and stage sets; this one has a more traditional approach, with the emphasis on classic bel canto, where you listen more for the beautiful art of singing. If you prefer the SINGING to the set and costumes, this is the one for you.

A great performance!.......2003-09-13

This "Entfuhrung..." is one of the best TV opera productions I've ever seen... and I've seen too many.
The quality of the music is unmatchable. Herr Bohm conducts the orchestra very well.

The perfomers? From Selim (spoken character) to every singer do it awesome. Specially the Soprano arias of Constanze. Gruberova sings them quite well. Belmonte is played by Araiza.

Description

Belmonte seeks his betrothed, Konstanze, who, with her maid Blonde, is held prisoner by the Pasha. Pedrillo, now forced to serve as the Pasha's gardener, tells him that the Pasha loves Konstanze, but will not force his attentions on her. Belmonte, with Pedrillo's help, plans to abduct Konstanze and Blonde from the Seraglio. Director Hans Neuenfels, who produced his "first Mozart" here in Stuttgart, retains the story's naivety and absurdity. He does this primarily by splitting the characters: Neuefels places an actor at every singer's side who not only takes over his role for the spoken original scripts, but also interacts with his singing double and other characters of the piece. Catherine Naglestad, Heinz Gohrig, Kate Ladner, Lothar Zagrosek, Mattias Klink, Roland Bracht. Director: Hans Neuenfels.

Customer Reviews:

Is this Mozartýs Entführung aus dem Serail?.......2001-11-22

Hans Neuenfels' stagings have an irritating habitude of displeasing the audiences. His last Fledermaus in Salzburg involved the police - the director of the festival was punched by a member of the audience. Two of my friends were there and said it was the worst operatic performance of their entire life. This video is a serious candidate for this title. First of all, who is Mr.Neuenfels to re-write the dialogues? We all know how particular Mozart was about his libretti and especially in the case of this opera how demanding he was on his librettist. Worst than that - Neuenfels dialogues are longer than the original ones and it takes this comedy to loose the essential quality of comedy (timing). Also, his re-invention of the plot made the whole thing to be simply impossible to follow if you don't know the story already. It doesn't help either to use two artists for each role: a singer and an actor. It makes the stage to be incredibly crowded and it was simply unnecessary considering that the singers had better physique du rôle than the actors and were themselves good actors. Anyway, they definitely had to be because they are made to move around in a distracting manner. If the musical performance was something of particular interest, I could have overlooked the production (or turned the image off), but the fact is that it was incredibly boring. Zagrosek's conducting was acceptable in the ouverture, with good woodwind playing, but since singers appear, the orchestra starts to be recorded in too recessed a way, turning the whole thing very shallow. Also, Zagrosek's tempi are slow and his phrasing is heavy - and his cast doesn't help him. The Konstanze has a creamy voice with some beautiful mezza voce, but she is unable to make it move. The coloratura is incredibly blurred - Martern aller Arten was a martyredom to the audience. The Belmonte had a plausible voice, rather juicy, but he sounded too much the operetta tenor to my ears - his voice is a bit lacrymose and he is not very precise with divisions. Roland Bracht (Osmin), the more familar name in the cast has an imposing voice, but he is not really Mozartian and doesn't have very good low notes. The saving grace of the production is the Blonde, who has a charming bright and clear voice and is also very funny. This video has strong competition all the way - Böhm's tempi are slow and the production is a bit outdated, but he has Gruberová and Araiza. The Covent Garden video has a charming production, good conducting, a nicest Belmonte in Deon van der Walt and there is Kurt Moll, who is reason enough to watching it.

This is NOT Mozart's Entführung aus dem Serail!.......2001-11-13

This was a very disappointing performance, and I question why it was chosen for a DVD. The singing is acceptable, but not what I would consider to be especially inspired. The root of the problem is the production. I was so looking forward to adding this DVD to my collection, as this ranks as one of my favorite operas--thank goodness I checked it out at the library first! It just is not a captivating performance, and it is far too untraditional for my taste. Surely a much better version of this opera will come along on DVD. Until then, you're better off enjoying it on CD and leave the visuals to your mind. It is doubtful your imagination will conjure up anything like this production of annoying mirror images! It is disturbing to say the least and it does nothing to enhance our understanding of Mozart or this opera.

Shocking but good to see and listen.......2001-11-11

You may find shocking to see all the characters, except the Pasha, splitted in two: the singer and the actor, and interacting mutually, but you will finally enjoy it. You must take into account that this is not a typical Opera but a Singspiel that has not a rigid libretto and the dialogues are opened to improvisation. I found the two female singers (Catherine Naglestad playing Constanze and Kate Ladner playing Blonde)quite good, as well as the tenor playing Pedrillo and the baritone playing Osmin. I recommend it to all Opera lovers.

Annoying - Bad Singing.......2001-10-31

To see all the characters played by TWO people is truly annoying. For example, there are always two constanzes on stage, two blonchens, and two everyone...The singing is average, the stage is modern...it does not reflect traditional mozart style.

DVD:

DVD

DVD

DVD

Sundance Channel Starter Kit I (Scotland, PA/Amy's O/Swimming/The Slaughter Rule/The Heart of Me)

Serendipity

Godmoney

DVD: All Tied Up

Star Trek - Deep Space Nine Season 2