Classical
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Wagner: Lohengrin
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Sale Price: $24.97
List Price: $39.98
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Werner Herzog's 1990 Bayreuth Lohengrin has some very good singing and occasionally interesting staging yet is seriously marred but dull direction and interaction among the characters. Of the four Lohengrin's I have seen on DVD (Abbado, Domingo/Vienna; Hofmann, Levine/Met; and Hofmann, Nelsson/Bayreuth), this overall has the least interesting characterisation and involvement from the singers.The singing generally is fine. Paul Frey is a lyrical although unheroic Lohengrin, but this man can't act his way out of a box. He just looks stiff and unfomfortable. Cheryl Studer was well known for her Elsa, and offers much warmhearted lyricism. Try as she does, though, there is no chemistry between her and the dullard Frey. And she is simply not as moving as the Met's Eva Marton. Ekkehard Wlaschiha's Telramund and Gabrielle Schnaut's Ortrud are reasonably well done, but try as they may, they are somehow held back by well-known filmmaker Werner Herzog's inability to get his actors to well, interact much in a compelling manner. Herzog's best moments come from his nature-inspired Act 2 dialogue between Elsa and Ortrud, more personal and compelling than most anything else in this quite static production. Herzog's emphasis on nature in Act 3 also is winning but when the actors and direction leave such an insipid impression on stage, the trees, the snow at the end - fine touches - go for little.The Act 1 entrance of the swan is not compelling at all here. Almost embarrassing. And too often, the chorus, so vital in this work, while sounding great, looks small and insignificant through Brian Large's camera work. Conductor Peter Schneider is one of the best parts of this performance, offering a straightforward reading with both lyricism and drama, rising to some compelling heights and passion when called for. Still, that and Studer's fine Elsa are not enough to bring this Lohengrin into the top rank. Overall, the drama here is not compelling, not nearly as much as in the Levine/Met and Nelsson/Bayreuth productions, my favorites. Maybe one can chalk it up to Herzog's inexperience with the opera medium. For the most part this is just dull to watch.
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