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Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #34031 in DVD
- Released on: 2010-09-28
- Rating: NR (Not Rated)
- Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
- Number of discs: 33
- Formats: Box set, Classical, Color, NTSC
- Original language: English
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
A towering achievement (and now much cheaper)
By Autonome
Well here we go, end of the journey that took me about six years (18 operas in a couple of months but the last four a long time after the publication of each initial review).
Needless to say that regardless of likes/dislikes, this is a towering achievement. When will we see again the 22 Mozart operas performed and taped the same season in Salzburg with this degree of overall quality?
Of course, this is not perfect. Of course, a Mozart set that crucifies "Nozze" that way will not deserve five stars, ever, but there are a lot of satisfactions.
Reviewing all my reviews (now on Amazon), I realise that I have assigned "5 stars" to 8 performances (so almost half of the 19 boxsets): "Apollo e Hyacinthus", "Finta Semplice", "Re Pastore", "Zauberflöte" but also more controversially to "Entführung" - because the re-invention of the piece was original, "Don Giovanni" - because it successfully tells of the psyche of the male gender, "Cosi" for the youth and the freshness of the performance and "Zaide/Adama" because it was great to mix an unfinished Mozart opera with a a new piece specifically composed for the occasion).
I listened to all these pieces chronologically and I went through many different states of mind: enthusiasm at the beginning for "Apollo" and "Semplice"; a long period of boredom and stale music-making for "Betulia Liberata", "Sogno di Scipione", Lucio Silla" and the miserable "Ascanio in Alba". Renewed enthusiasm for a magnificent "Re Pastore", a challenging "Entführung" and this great combo "Zaide-Adama".
But after the back-to-back disasters that "Sposo Deluso/Oca del Cairo" and "Nozze di Figaro" were, I had to pause for five years, before putting pen to paper again and I tremendously enjoy the "Don", "Cosi" and a "Zauberflöte" which is one of the best and most moving I have ever seen or heard.
When I average all my ratings, I get to 3.8 stars, that I am happily rounding up to "4". Among the best singers, who could forget Malin Hartelius in "Semplice", Bejun Mehta in "Mitridate", Ana-Maria Martinez and Sophie Koch in "Cosi", Ildebrando d'Arcangelo in the "Don" and in "Nozze" (of which he is the only saving grace) and the wonderful Dianan Damrau ("Zauberflöte" and "Ascanio in Alba" - of which she is the only saving grace).
Among the production directors, Ursul and Karl-Ernst Hermann (with "Idomeneo" and "Cosi") as well as Martin Kusej (for "Don Giovanni" and "Clemenza"), Pierre Audi (for "Zauberflöte"), John Dew ("Apollo"), Stefan Herheim ("Entführung") and Thomas Hengelbrock (for "Re Pastore") win the prize of most stimulating stagings.
I didn't find that the Wiener Philharmoniker was at its super best nor that its conductors were particularly brilliant (I did find Harnonoucert in "Nozze" and Muti in "Zauberflöte" disappointing while Harding in Don Giovanni was just serviceable). For pace, swing, accuracy and brilliance, I had to go to my compatriot Marc Minkowski and his Musiciens du Louvre (in "Mitridate"), the brilliant Orchestra of the Mozarteum University conducted by Josef Wallnig in "Apollo", the Camerata Salzburg of Michael Hofstetter in "Semplice", the Mannheim National Theater Orchestra and Adam Fischer in "Ascanio", and the Balthasar-Neumann-ensemble led by Thomas Hengelbrock (who also directed) in Re Pastore.
So I found strengths where I did not expect to find them and weaknesses where there shouldn't have been. Was it irritating? not often. Boring? at times. Stimulating? oh yes! Is it worth purchasing? Yes, I think that like me you will revisit this boxset many times because at the end of the day Mozart wins, and this is the most important thing!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Mozart and Da Ponte Knew What They Were Doing!
By Giordano Bruno
Of course "we" all assume that Mozart knew what he was doing and therefore "we" have become ever more assiduous in matching his intentions, performing his works on instruments he would have recognized, with tempi and articulation that he would have chosen, mastering late baroque bel canto vocal techniques that he would have relished. But Mozart was not his own librettist. All the great Mozart operas involved the Composer in close collaboration with a Writer, most often Lorenzo da Ponte. What Mozart expressed in music may have transcended the poetic gifts of da Ponte, but it didn't revise or reverse da Ponte's themes. Mozart never ignored the dramaturgy of his librettists, so why do contemporary directors feel obliged to do so? Isn't it perhaps time to bring some integrity to "historically informed dramatic practices" to match the achievements of historically informed performance practices in music? Don't jump to conclusions! I'm not demanding "traditional" stagings with the singers in powdered wigs. I'm calling for performances in any style that pays attention the intellectual and dramatic content of those collaboratiosn of words and music that we call operas.
This box set contains all twenty-two of Mozart's operas, in productions that willfully trash the dramatic structures of Da Ponte and other librettists. Several of these stagings are so painfully contemptuously of the "content" of the operas that I'm tempted to apply the stale derogative term "Regietheater" to them. Not one of the mature or even semi-mature operas in this box is as good in any way as other performances available on DVD. The box is a waste of money.
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful.
bargain Mozart
By edvanhulst
Really a very good price for 4 operas of Mozart.
So dont be surprised if you seen better performances.
But close your eyes and enjoy the music.
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