A Night Or Two At the Opera

By Michael Walsh

With everything from Gandhi to Fly Fishing for Trout available for the home VCR, it is not surprising that video companies also have something for the opera lover. But while filmmakers have long since perfected the art of adapting plays and musicals to their medium, opera on film or videotape is in its infancy, the equivalent of shellac 78s in the age of digital CDs. Except for such movies as Franco Zeffirelli's La Traviata or Francesco Rosi's Bizet's Carmen, most videos are theatrical presentations rather than cinematic creations in their own right. Still, there is much to be said for having the best seat at the Vienna State Opera or Covent Garden right in your living room. A sampling of the current releases:

STRAUSS: Der Rosenkavalier. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf as the Marschallin, Sena Jurinac as Octavian, Anneliese Rothenberger as Sophie, Otto Edelmann as Baron Ochs. Herbert von Karajan conducting the Vienna Philharmonic. Video Arts International; $79.95; hi-fi mono. Pride of place belongs to this classic, filmed at the Salzburg Festival and released in 1962. The cast is the cream of central Europe at the time: Schwarzkopf, regal but warm in what was her greatest role; Jurinac, an ardent youthful swain; Rothenberger, silvery voiced and breathtakingly beautiful; and Edelmann, a bumptious hick from the sticks. Karajan's mastery of the score so gloriously displayed on his 1957 Angel recording with Schwarzkopf is evident in every energized bar.

Visually, Director Paul Czinner is content to let Rudolf Hartmann's production speak for itself. The perspective is from the center orchestra seats, with a wide view of the stage; there is little of the distracting crosscutting or ogling close-ups that later video directors have found so irresistible. One surprisingly awkward visual moment, though, occurs in the middle of the most famous line in the opera, the Marschallin's worldly wise "Ja, ja" as she withdraws from Octavian's life. Here the film leaps in mid-utterance from a long shot of Schwarzkopf to a close-up, calling attention to the camerawork when the viewer's concentration should be on the poignancy of the moment. Although the color has faded somewhat, giving the film an antique air, the picture is sharp and clear. All in all, this Rosenkavalier captures the feeling of being there, right down to the sight of Karajan making his way energetically through the orchestra, hopping onto the podium and cuing the horns for their first dashing leap. There are no subtitles, so have your libretto handy.

PUCCINI: Turandot. Eva Marton as Turandot, Jose Carreras as Calaf, Katia Ricciarelli as Liu. Lorin Maazel conducting the Vienna State Opera Orchestra. MGM/UA Home Video, $79.95, stereo. Stage Director Harold Prince's stylishly barbaric 1983 production grimly captured the fairy tale's bloodthirsty, amoral ! quality with striking imagery: the gruesome severed head of the luckless Prince of Persia is held high on a stake, impassive masks hide the faces and emotions of Turandot and her retinue, and the ice princess makes her entrance in Act II down what must be the longest staircase in operatic history.

As Turandot, Soprano Marton shows off her huge voice, and the handsome Carreras sings persuasively as her fearless suitor. The only drawback, musically, is Maazel, who attenuates some tempos to the point at which the music nearly collapses. This is no way to treat Puccini's last and finest score, and it mars what otherwise is a fine evening of musical theater. Video Director Rodney Greenberg takes an active approach, focusing tightly on Calaf's choice between his family and desire as he woos the princess. The film has English subtitles.

STRAVINSKY: The Rake's Progress. Leo Goeke as Tom Rakewell, Felicity Lott as Anne Trulove, Samuel Ramey as Nick Shadow. Bernard Haitink conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Video Arts International, $79.95; hi-fi mono. Despite Stravinsky's cynical and emotionally constricted music, the Rake has won a toehold in the repertory on the strength of its composer's reputation and its splendid libretto by W.H. Auden and Chester Kallman. David Hockney's Hogarthian production, filmed in 1977 at the Glyndebourne Festival, is an ideal realization. Unfortunately, Video Director Dave Heather cannot refrain from overusing the close-up. This technique emphasizes Goeke's finely calibrated portrayal of Tom's moral and mental breakdown. But it means the director's choices are also the viewer's; there is little opportunity to admire Hockney's inventiveness independently. Ramey, who has made a specialty of opera's diabolical bass roles (Mefistofele in Boito's work of the same name, Bertram in the Paris Opera's recent revival of Meyerbeer's Robert le Diable), is an ominous Nick Shadow, and Lott, a winning Anne.

PUCCINI: La Boheme. Neil Shicoff as Rodolfo, Ileana Cotrubas as Mimi, Thomas Allen as Marcello, Marilyn Zschau as Musetta. Lamberto Gardelli conducting the Royal Opera House Orchestra. Thorne/EMI Video; $39.95; hi-fi stereo. No operatic library would be complete without Puccini's tale of life and love on the Left Bank, and this production, by the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, is a good one. Shicoff, an American tenor with a big Italianate voice, has a winningly earnest manner, and Cotrubas keeps her inclination toward maudlin coyness in check to make an affecting seamstress. Stage Director John Copley's production is conventional, but Boheme is not the kind of opera that benefits from radical interpretation. It is best played straight, a view that Video Director Brian Large endorses, keeping his camera on the principals and letting Puccini's ever fresh music work its magic. Hi-fi stereo sound, while inferior to LPs or CDs, is still the best that the videotape medium offers, and, at the price, this is a bargain. There are no subtitles, but a libretto is included.