Product: Richard Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier [VHS] (1994)
Rating: 4.0
My Second Favorite "Der Rosenkavalier"
First of all, any discussion of this DVD must begin (and probably end) with the superb conducting of Carlos Kleiber. From the first bar of music, you know you're in for an altogether different "Der Rosenkavalier." His is an extraordinary approach: spirited, agressive even -- and it is wholly successful. The production itself is lovely (although I would not have set Act III in what looks like a warehouse basement; when the innkeeper asks Ochs if he'd like a larger room, you can't help thinking "Larger than THIS?!") and the singers are quite wonderful. I have minor reservations, mainly because I absolutely adore the Covent Garden DVD with Kiri Te Kanawa (who is unparalleled perfection) and can't help making comparisons. Felicity Lott, Vienna's Feldmarschallin, is a supremely intelligent singer/actress, but I think she's a shade long-in-the-tooth for the role (the character is written as being 32); that said, the performance is dignified and in every way valid. It took me a while to warm up to von Otter's Octavian, but she really bloomed in Act 2, and the confusion, heartbreak and joy of Act 3 were convincing and right. Bonney is, if possible, better here than on the Covent Garden DVD; she is the ultimate Sophie. I was looking forward to Kurt Moll's Baron, but felt it was a rather subdued portrayal. He isn't as buffoonish as other Ochs I've seen; he's wilier, a bit more malevolent -- and it doesn't really come off. That said, his interactions with von Otter in Act 3 are quite amusing. All in all, this is a good companion piece to the Covent Garden DVD, which is sublime, and on the whole, more satisfying. True, Solti's more traditional conducting is not as exciting as Kleiber's and it's Ann Howells' Octavian that is too old, but that's the DVD I will probably find myself going back to more often.