Richard Strauss - Der Rosenkavalier / Pizzi, Komlosi
Richard Strauss'sDer Rosenkavalier, one of the greatest and most  popular operas of the 20th century, has been recorded several times, in audio  and video formats, with unusual skill and devotion. This production is the first  available in DVD. It faces formidable competition from CD and VHS recordings,  but it has its own personality and, taken on its own terms, it is a delight--well cast, carefully worked out in the smallest details of music and staging,  and technically far ahead of its most notable competitors. The only serious  problem is with the orchestra--quite competent after a minute or two warming up  at the beginning, but simply not as sumptuous or idiomatic as the Vienna  Philharmonic.Der Rosenkavalier's plot is a complex blend of farce and serious drama.  Young love, social pretension, greed, and unselfishness are part of its subtly  mingled motivations. It requires a carefully integrated interpretation and  receives one in this production, thanks to excellent conducting and stage  direction. Elizabeth Whitehouse gives a touching characterization of the  Marschallin, an aging grande dame who comes to terms with the loss of her youth  and her young lover, Octavian (the velvet-voiced Ildiko Komlosi). Daniel Lewis  Williams has just the right level of boorish pomposity as the aptly named Baron  Ochs (Oxin German).Notable competitors include a1931 recordingof about half the  score with many members of the original cast and a1956 recording, conducted by  Herbert von Karajan with a much-admired performance by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf as  the Marschallin. The Schwarzkopf-Karajan combination (in a later performance)  can be seen in a technically flawed but classicVHS edition. I would not discard  thoseRosenkavaliers, but this one takes an honorable place on the shelf  beside them.--Joe McLellan