Monteverdi - Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria / William Christie, Les Arts Florissants, Adrian Noble (Aix-en-Provence Festival)
by Humphrey Burton, Adrian Noble
List Price:
Our Price: $17.97
You Save: $7.01 (28%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bertrand Bontoux, Cyril Auvity, Joseph Cornwell, Kresimir Spicer, Marijana MijanovicDirector: Adrian Noble, Humphrey Burton
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Italian (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Italian (Subtitled)
Format: Anamorphic, Classical, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 180 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-02-24
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Virgin Classics
Movie Reviews of Monteverdi - Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria / William Christie, Les Arts Florissants, Adrian Noble (Aix-en-Provence Festival)
Movie Review: Did Opera Decline after Monteverdi?
Summary: 5 Stars
As a long, long, long-time opera lover with shelves groaning with LPs, CDs, DVDs and even some 78s, I often wonder if the art form declined almost immediately after its brilliant beginnings in the sublime works of Claudio Monteverdi. If the original idea of opera was to emulate ancient Greek tragedy -- a deeply serious and elevated form of drama in which music and chant served to intensify the meaning and emotional force of the poetic text -- Monteverdi's achievement seems truer to that aesthetic model than almost everything that followed up until Wagner! Monteverdi's sensitivity to the word and his feeling for the humanity of his characters is astounding -- and his operas are profound and very, very beautiful. Of course, the fact that he and his terrific librettist for "Il ritorno" (Giacomo Badoaro) do not strictly adhere to the so-called Aristotelian unities (of time, space, and action) is hardly Greek: "Il ritorno," with its variety of "high and low" characters and its mixture of comedy and tragedy, reflects the sort of Renaissance ideal we see at its flowery best in Shakespeare. So we're still in good company.
Wonderful and terrible at the same time is the fact that "Il ritorno" exists only in fragmented form -- and we do not even know for certain what instruments were intended for the orchestra. That means every time we see or hear "Il ritorno," it is virtually a new work! Scenes come and go, and instrumentation changes according to the whim and/or deep research of the conductor/editor. I adore what Raymond Leppard did with it (and you can still get that version in an old taped-for-TV Glyndebourne release containing a heartbreaking performance of Penelope by the glorious Dame Janet Baker). But William Christie and Les Arts Florissants are the superb early music purists du jour, and I love almost all his DVD stuff, even when the stage direction is total madness -- and sometimes utterly awful as in the multi-media circus of Rameau's "Les Paladins" on Opus Arte (a sort of perverse must-have item).
Anyhow, this disc is just wonderful - and although there is much to quibble about in many of the staging choices - it delivers an emotional wallop. Like most viewer-listeners, I like this bit, then hate that. But I would not be without this DVD! I wish it were on Blu-ray.
As far as the plentiful competition for this "Il ritorno" is concerned, all the discs at Amazon have something wonderful to offer. Too bad the fun, super-souped-up Hans Werner Henze version is going for absurdly high prices -- $75 and way up -- from private sellers.
More Monteverdi - Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria / William Christie, Les Arts Florissants, Adrian Noble (Aix-en-Provence Festival) reviews:
1 2 3
1 2 3
Summary of Monteverdi - Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria / William Christie, Les Arts Florissants, Adrian Noble (Aix-en-Provence Festival)
Monteverdi's story of how Ulysses returned from the Trojan War and found his palace full of young suitors for his wife and kingdom has been well served in video productions, but never better than in this one. Les Arts Florissants has set new standards in Renaissance and Baroque music, both for technical skill and for period style. This performance upholds the group's exalted reputation in Monteverdi's magnificent music. Humphrey Burton's direction is effective, with convincing stage action that walks a tightrope between realism and allegory in situations that are sometimes contrived, symbolic, or inherently static. Costumes do not pinpoint any particular period; scenery is minimal almost to the point of nonexistence; what is lost in realism is gained in suggestiveness and flexibility.Various gods and goddesses meddle in the action. Burton takes these departures from realism in stride, most notably in the scene where Ulysses (Kresimir Spicer) shoots the suitors of his wife, Penelope (Marijana Mijanovic), and the goddess Minerva (Olga Pitarch) takes the arrows from his bow and guides them to their targets. As the goddess of love (several divine roles are double-cast), Pitarch strikes charming poses and has a big, pink heart tattooed on her shoulder. The singing under Christie's expert direction is excellent throughout the cast, notably from Robert Burt (the beggar Iro) besides those mentioned above. --Joe McLellan
Art House & International DVD Video
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Movies most talked about in The Full Monte(verdi)
Opera in Seventeenth-Century Venice: The Creation of a Genre (Centennial Books)by Ellen Rosand
University of California Press; Published: 2007-10-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $34.41
Price in other shops:
Music and Theatre from Poliziano to Montiverdi (Cambridge Studies in Music)by Nino Pirrotta, Elena Povoledo
Cambridge University Press; Published: 2008-11-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $42.71
Price in other shops:
Monteverdi's Last Operas: A Venetian Trilogyby Ellen Rosand
University of California Press; Published: 2007-12-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $54.18
Price in other shops:
Cavalli - Giasone / Chance ? Banditelli ? Dubosc ? van der Kamp ? Deletr? ? Visse ? de Mey ? Concerto Vocale ? JacobsRelease date: 2000-11-14; Music CD
Price in other shops:
Cavalli - La DidoneRelease date: 2007-09-25; DVD
Best price: $30.91
Price in other shops:
Monteverdi - L'Incoronazione di Poppea / Delunsch, von Otter, Brunet, Hellekant, Fouch?court, Sedov, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Minkowski, Gruber (Aix-en-Provence Festival)Release date: 2006-09-12; DVD
Best price: $26.64
Price in other shops:
Monteverdi: L'Incoronazione Di PoppeaRelease date: 2001-05-08; Music CD
Best price: $91.24
Monteverdi: Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in PatriaRelease date: 2003-05-13; Music CD
Best price: $139.80
Monteverdi - Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria / William Christie, Les Arts Florissants, Adrian Noble (Aix-en-Provence Festival)Release date: 2004-02-24; DVD
Best price: $18.66
Price in other shops:
Monteverdi - Madrigali guerrieri ed amorosi / Concerto K?ln, JacobsRelease date: 2003-03-11; Music CD
Best price: $28.70
Price in other shops:
Similar DVD Movies
Monteverdi - L'incoronazione di Poppea / Haymon · Balleys · Liang · Chance · van der Kamp · Grant Murphy · Fouchécourt · Visse · McFadden · Vink · Piau · Berg · Les Talens Lyriques · Rousset · Audi (Amsterdam Opera 1994)Release date: 2005-09-20; DVD
Best price: $68.09
R. Strauss - SalomeRelease date: 2007-07-10; DVD
Best price: $18.63
Price in other shops:
Cavalli - La CalistoRelease date: 2006-11-14; DVD
Best price: $29.84
Price in other shops:
Lully - Persee / Novacek, Auvity, Lenormand, Whicher, Laquerre, Coulombe, Niquet, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, TorontoRelease date: 2005-08-16; DVD
Best price: $18.38
Price in other shops:
Leos Janacek - From the House of Dead / MCO, ASC, Boulez, Chereau (Festival Aix-en-Provence 2007)Release date: 2008-04-22; DVD
Best price: $18.39
Price in other shops:
Handel - Giulio Cesare (Glyndebourne Opera Festival 2006)Release date: 2006-05-16; DVD
Best price: $36.02
Price in other shops:
Vivaldi - Ercole su'l Termodonte / Il Complesso Barocco, Curtis (Spoleto Festival 2006)Release date: 2007-06-26; DVD
Best price: $18.98
Price in other shops:
Rameau - Les Indes Galantes / Petibon, Croft, Hartelius, Agnew, Rivenq, Berg, Strehl, Christie, Les Arts Florissants, Paris OperaRelease date: 2005-08-16; DVD
Best price: $29.04
Price in other shops:
Rameau - Les Paladins / Piau, Naouri, Lehtipuu, d'Oustrac, Piolino, Schirrer, Gonzalez-Toroi, Christie, Paris OperaRelease date: 2006-01-17; DVD
Best price: $33.42
Price in other shops:
Monteverdi - L'Incoronazione Di Poppea / Leppard, Ewing, Bailey, Duesing, Lloyd, Gale, Clarey, GlyndebourneRelease date: 2004-02-10; DVD
Best price: $16.49
Price in other shops: