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DVD : Gluck - Alceste / Robert Wilson · John Eliot Gardiner · Anne Sofie von Otter · English Baroque Soloists · Théâtre du Chatelet |
List Price: $29.99Amazon.com's Price: $26.99 You Save: $3.00 (10%)Prices subject to change.
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Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0014381930726
Format: Anamorphic, Classical, Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
Label: Image Entertainment
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
Number Of Items: 1
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen
Publisher: Image Entertainment
Region Code: 1
Release Date: March 27, 2001
Running Time: 133 minutes
Sales Rank: 79738
Studio: Image Entertainment
Theatrical Release Date: 2000
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Editorial Review:
Description:
Robert Wilson's production of Gluck's 1776 French version of Alceste is striking with theatrical symbols. The intriguing visual arena is complemented by the fact that the piece is conducted for the first time with a period instrument ensemble, the English Baroque Soloists. The excellent Monteverdi Choir provides the chorus, with dancers taking their place on stage. Together, they give a magnificently persuasive expression to the horror and compassion demanded by Christoph Willibald Gluck's most elevated and sublime works. 133 minutes.
Amazon.com:
Rebelling against the increasingly formulaic operas of the time, Christoph Willibald Gluck's "reformist" opera Alceste (1767) was a successful attempt to return to a purer form of musical drama. It is highly appropriate that this 1999 production of the revised 1776 Paris version should be conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner, with the English Baroque Soloists and Monteverdi Choir, the same forces responsible for many fine Bach performances equally emphasizing character and text. In setting the tragic story of the profound love between Queen Alceste and her husband King Admète, Gluck provided a score of austere, rending beauty.
Principals Anne Sofie von Otter and Paul Groves dominate the production as much through the power of their acting as their musical prowess. The major scenes are electrifying in their emotional intensity. Contrasting with this psychological realism are the simple, Greek-inspired designs by Robert Wilson. Silhouetted, geometric shapes glide gracefully through the slow-motion movements of the actors, bringing an hypnotic, dreamlike quality to the work. Near-constant blue lighting adds a sense of late-evening tranquillity, giving the stage a highly distinctive look and a feeling of dislocation in space and time. Both chilling and uplifting, this Alceste is a triumph. --Gary S. Dalkin, Amazon.co.uk
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
Within the first 5 minutes of this production you see EVERYTHING that will take place in the remaining 2 + hours. What one must do, however, it view it as it is, and sink down into it's ritualistic nature. It rather reminded me of a High Church Easter Vigil. It does seem MUCH longer than its 2.25 hours, but there is a hypnotic effect which begins after about 30 minutes. Don't look for what is NOT there (typical stage movement), but concentrate on what IS present: a beautifully sung principal roles, especially Von Otter, beautiful lighting and costuming (one has to like blue, however) and thrilling orchestral playing. The whole thing comes off as an antique frieze come to (hardly moving) life, but pinning down the actual period of the antique frieze is difficult.
None of it's shortcomings really matter, however, if you are willing to meet it on IT'S terms, and not try to force it into your preconceived notions of what Opera should be.
Rating:  -
When is a CD more visually exciting than a DVD? That's not a joke; the answer is this Chatelet production of Gluck's Alceste. I've watched glaciers - literally - for hours, and seen more action than this.Was Brian Large, the director, momentarily suffering a post-encephalitic syndrome such as Oliver Sachs reported in Awakenings? LSD could not make this staging meaningful. This Alceste makes Wagner's Rheingold seem like a Rossini romp. It turns "Remenbrance of Things Past" into a haiku. It makes the American election process seem cogent.
What do you get when you pop this disk into your player? Blue. Faded Levi blue. A blue backdrop with hazy blue stage lights, sectioned by various blackish pillars and cubes. A small blue cube gyrates slowly overhead throughout the first act. A dozen female dancers in off-the-shoulder blue prom dresses, with blue Egyptian head-gear, glide stiffly fore and aft, their arms bent hieroglyphically. Eventually Alceste enters, sheathed in a simple red robe which, if you watch long enough, begins to seem blue also. Lo, the blue backdrop is declared to be a temple. There is a large gray-blue statue with impressive genitalia. A priest begins to sing sad blue phrases of omen. Blue moons later, Admetus emerges from the indigo shadows, saved from death by Alceste's sacrifice of her life, an act which makes him feel.... blue.
Oy! I've seen screen savers with infinitely more variety. Handel's Admeto, by the by, written in the same ... Read More
Rating:  -
I am not a modernist. I harangue endlessly about placing an opera in an appropriate setting, time and place that is consistant to the story or the era of the composer. But the timeless setting of Robert Wilson's Alceste as conducted by Sir Eliot Gardiner seems almost perfect. The addition of the ballet-chorus takes the story back to it's Greek drama roots and puts action into a long, somewhat static opera. Another reviewer likened it to Kabuki dancers, I'm reminded of Egyptian tomb paintings or Minoan vase figures. Whatever, the effect is enormous. The whole project works well with one exception. The high priests are declamatory, the Admete of Paul Groves is rivetingly regal and the pantomime dancers carry the story along. Only one element seems lacking: Alceste. She must be both womanly and royal. Whereas Von Otter's voice can evoke the loving wife very well she can't command the stentorian needed for Admete's Queen. I've had the priviledge of seeing Jesse Norman at Chicago Lyric. She could do both and mesmerise an audience. Otherwise this is a great DVD to watch and to listen to.
Rating: -
The old Met had six composers displayed above the proscenium - Gluck,
Mozart, Beethoven, Verdi, Wagner, and Gounod. How different would the list be were it done today? Gluck is hardly a favorite or popular. He is more admired as a reformer than loved as a composer. And coming to him I have always considered a task - someone I SHOULD listen to and admire. I have long hoped to finally hear Alceste. Previous recordings have been severely handicapped in one way or another. And now here it is in the French version and in video. The musical performance is wonderful. How could it be other with Gardiner in charge? Robert Wilson is always something of a chore. I don't like him generally but I must confess that he is a good choice for a static work like Alceste. He reminds us always of the Greek roots to which Gluck wished to return. There is a marvellous hierarchic quality to this production that matches the drama and the music. Reading some authors on this work it is generally agreed to be the most somber and funereal of all operas. And Wilson's staging matches that solemnity. In all it is good to have this even though I still more admire than like it.
Rating: -
Okay, I'll admit to the fact that this period of music is not of great interest to me. But, I decided to get it a chance. While beautifully sung and played, this is the most boring thing I have ever seen in my life. For over 2 hours the principle singers moved in slow motion most of the time with the arms and hands in statuesque like positions -- it literally put me to sleep! Maybe it was effective in theatre but it sure wasn't on video. If you want it for the music and singing I would highly recommend it -- but don't bother watching it.
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