DVD : Offenbach - La Belle Helene / Harnoncourt - Complete Opera
Price: $79.99 Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0014381927627
Format: Classical, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC
Label: Image Entertainment
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Image Entertainment
Region Code: 1
Release Date: June 26, 2001
Running Time: 124 minutes
Sales Rank: 129935
Studio: Image Entertainment
Theatrical Release Date: 1999
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Editorial Review:
Description:
Offenbach's light-hearted opera is based on the story of Helen of Troy. Helmut Lohner's lavish interpretation is delightfully entertaining, highlighting the declining social mores of the Parisian upper classes under the second empire. Conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt conjures up an unusual combination of sounds and a new listening experience, with an orchestra configured to replicate that which would have been available to Offenbach.
Amazon.com:
Offenbach's operetta La Belle Hélène, which pokes fun at the Parisian upper class of a century and a half ago through tales of ancient Greece, requires a leap of imagination that this production only partly succeeds in reconciling. On musical grounds we're on sure footing. Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducts the chorus and orchestra of the Zurich Opera House with his customary flair for precise and taut rhythms and an appreciation of the composer's wit and the good tunes that are a-plenty. His multinational cast headed by Vesselina Kasarova as Helen of Troy and Deon van der Walt as her lover, Paris, are excellent, and among the smaller parts there's a lively and stylish performance from Liliana Nichiteanu as Oreste. The video direction by Hartmut Schroder and the superb sound obtained from the relatively intimate Zurich Opera House, a delightful setting for this operetta, are further assets.
The production, alas, is unenlightening and perpetrates an over-the-top style that seems to be synonymous with Offenbach. The backdrop, a pink concave awning, is hideous. The costumes by designer Jean-Charles de Castelibajac are silly: Paris is dressed in lederhosen and looks like a twerp, the high priest Calchac wears a Ku Klux Klan hat, and Helen at one point looks as though she'll take to rappelling. Kasarova suggests the lure of Helen in her voice, but a beauty she's not. So it's left to Harnoncourt, who joins the company at the curtain call with a twinkle in his eye and a nifty side step, and his superb orchestra to remind us what might have been. --Adrian Edwards
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
I'm agreeing with CT Havadas' review. And noting that this VHS performance IS NOT from the same performance as in the DVD version.
Kasarova is fantastic in both... slightly more vocally alluring in the VHS than in the DVD version. Drop dead gorgeously sultry voice and knows how to use it. The singing of the Act II duet 'C'est ne qu'un reve' is virtually x-rated in a very classy way.. Though in the VHS more than in the DVD, some shots of her are not flattering (somehow the square jaws ... Read More
Rating: -
In the event you would wish to watch something very light, fresh, cheerful and relaxing in dvd form available operetes, then this may be your choice which you can enjoy until the end.
The music has a unique nuance of sound, which charcterized Offenbach's difference in music with other Italian based operas. It has the similarity to French music and liveliness. The fresh and cheerful comedy also add to the beauty of this operete.
The singers, Vesselina Kasarova as Helene and Deon Van de Walt ... Read More
Rating:  -
This production is tres epatant for all the bankers and industrialists and moribund widows of Zurich on a Saturday night but is overblown, silly and distracts from the music. E Schmarre as the Swiss would say. Like all the productions - yes I mean ALL - at the world's most expensive but most bland Opera House the combination of must-be-Swiss chorus, players and above all audience reduces even the music to occasional jolliness but no thrills and even less magic. The best thing to do with this is to turn ... Read More
Rating:  -
It is so rare to see an Offenbach operetta performed today that, if nothing else, this is worth the price for the sake of curiosity. It happens to be a delightful work (much of it used in Rosenthal's ballet arrangement "Gaité Parisienne"). The text is insouciant and witty, and the music sparkles. The beautiful Zurich Opera cast from strength: Vasselina Kassarova as Hélène is a delight. She also happens to be one of the pre-eminent artists of our time, a mezzo of radiant voice, temperament, splendid technique, ... Read More
Rating: -
Harnoncourt really captures the spirit of this light opera, and the entire cast seem to enjoy themselves, which makes it a thoroughly enjoyable experience. This is Offenbach the way it should be done.
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