*$* Tannhauser Blu ray

There are three major faults with this production: The Robotic ballet, the Elisabeth part sung by Nylund, and the synthetic sound quality.



We agree that the set, staging, costumes, the lighting, the staircase that dominates the set, all are quite interesting and pleasing to the eye.

But this alone does not make an opera 'stand'.

We take issue with the notion that some viewers (on the UK site) expressed the opinion that singing throughout is excellent, in particularly I take the notion expressed there that Camilla Nylund is a well sung Elisabeth.

No, she is NOT.

Camilla Nylund is grossly misplaced here.

Although a young looking face, the singer's voice sounds 'old', wasted, faded, and `bleached-off' - it lacks youth-tone and sparkle the way the roll of Elisabeth asks for.

Nylund voice in this setting is terrible wobbly and the top notes are white flat...Moreover:

most of her registers are wobbly; her technique is to take the notes FROM UNDER THE PITCH (something the Russian old school of singing teaches); This sort of vocal behavior does not add to a Wagnerian voice's being 'voluminous' at all...! One has to listen to other signers that capture this roll to understand how Nylund's obsolete technique hinders her from getting it right. Especially painful is her opening aria "Dich, teure Halle". Listening to it one admits that a great singer this Nylund is not.

This mediocre singing is very disturbing through all of the recording.

As for the rest of the singers they earned here top notch, especially Venus as portrayal by Waltraud Meier; now this is a voice to recon with...A rare breed of a voice it is, one that easily crosses over between the Mezzo-soprano range and the soprano range (one should hear - and see her - on the Metropolitan Levine 25 anniversary DVD where she singes the most difficult part of the Isolde narration, to appreciate what this singer's voice is all about (or more precisely what it used to be).

We are, however, aware now that she is nearing the end of her singing career, as very occasionally that voice too begins to show singes of bleach-ness at the middle register and the highest notes are a bit truncated. Still - this is a minor observation (her acting is great, though...

And mind you: we are a group of five persons that spent years as singer's trainers, singers, musician and a previous prima-ballerina...This brings us to the first act, what was supposed to be a ballet:

No one here could understand the logic or the artistic drive behind the choreography of the robot-cocoon-like figures. The ballet was quite boring and it serves no purpose, so why?

The interview with the choreographer does very little to broaden our understanding - it just might well be a case of his self-trip semi-consciousness, some idea he had, and idea that was not fully thought out but which that amounts to nothing with that `ballet' choreography.

Also: The interviews with the other participants of this production (the bonus part on the DVD) does not add to the understanding of the efforts they put into it. By telling us what their perspective is, they add nothing to the `story'.

Well cleverly was the reaction of Waltraud Meier: She simply ignored the crew - went her way and just commented: I have been singing this roll some twenty years ago. (Compliments Mrs. Meier - when the questions are stupid, do not respond).



The cinematography is good and the stairs decor and costumes are stupendous.

If it was not for Nylund (Elisabet's roll), the cocoon ballet, and for the overall synthetic sound - the voting points given would have been quite higher.

As it is, someday, another Blu-ray production with a higher standard of singing, better sound recording and a more traditional-logically ballet choreography will come along.

As things are right now - this Blu-ray deserves only two points.
(1 customers reviews)
Customers Rating=2.0 / 5.0

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