Wagner - Lohengrin (remastered)
by August Everding
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Eva Marton, John Macurdy, Leif Roar, Leonie Rysanek, Peter HofmannDirector: August Everding
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); German (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); German (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0
Format: Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 220 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-08-08
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Deutsche Grammophon
Movie Reviews of Wagner - Lohengrin (remastered)
Movie Review: The most powerful 'Lohengrin' ever
Summary: 5 Stars
This 1986 Met 'Lohengrin' proves why a beautiful sound is not everything.
I purchased the earlier 1982 Bayreauth production (which also features Hofmann and Leir Roar) and after watching both DVD's - the difference was an eye opener. In the earlier Bayreauth production, Peter Hofmann's voice is far more beautiful, his upper notes not as strained as they are 4 years later at the Met. Also, his Bayreauth costumes are far more beautiful and more fitting than the Met ones with their 'Grand ole Opry' rhinesteone gloves and silver boots (ugh!). In addition, the voices of the women (Karan Armstrong and Elizabeth Connell) in the earlier Bayreauth production are less forced, more smooth, more note perfect than the voices of the women (Eva Marton and Leonie Rysanek) in the Met performance which sound strained, almost screeching and even at times off-key.
Yet the Met production is awesome, stupendous! -- while the Bayreauth production almost makes you yawn. The Met production has power, feeling, it has grandeur - from the first moment you are swept up in it, you believe in the characters, you feel their rage, greed, weakness and grandeur. No matter how many times you watch the Met DVD, you still get the goose bumps, the tingle, the joy of experiencing 'Lohengrin' as it was meant to be felt. Hofmann's 'Lohengrin' in the Met is more regal, more pained, more magnificent in his desolation at the end by Elsa's betrayal. And in the Met production Hofmann's piety burns through more powerfully than in the Bayreauth. Marton's 'Elsa' is stunning - she hits her notes with power but it is her acting that blew me away. Indeed, her most powerful performance comes when she doesn't even sing a note but instead stands motionless on stage sobbing in grief and shame from the consequences of her betrayal of Lohengrin. It breaks your heart. In contrast, Karan Armstrong's 'Elsa' was irritating because I never connected enough to care what happened to her - as a result, frankly, my dear, I didn't give a damn when she died at the end. It was just a soprano hitting the floor. Leif Roar's 'Telramund' was the only person who wasn't different in either production - in both, he gave equal passion and fury - he was magnificent. But finally, it is Leonie Rysanek who proves the vital necessity of emotional power. Rysanek's 'Ortrud' reveals why Leonie was a legend - not just because she hit the notes but because she infused them with such power of emotion that it knocked you off your seat. You felt her rage, her arrogance, her power, her ruthlessness, etc. In comparison, Elizabeth Connell's 'Ortrud' is merely beautiful music. She sings the notes perfectly - but nothing else. You can see Connell make the face of an angry woman but if you close your eyes, you do not hear that anger - and you should because that is what operatic singing is all about.
The filming of both productions is also vastly different. The Met production is wonderful - it films precisely those parts of the stage which you need to see, which explain, which reveal the more powerful and necessary movement on stage at that moment. You are never lost, you know exactly what is going on, etc. In contrast, the film director of the Bayreauth production irritated the hell out of me by constantly doing closeups instead of showing the entire scene. Since I couldn't see what happening on stage, how on earth could I understand what the characters were reacting to? As a result, I was totally confused as to what was going on - it was maddening and robbed me of enjoyment. Finally, the design of the Bayreauth set was offsetting in many ways - for instance, when Hofmann stood at the back of the stage in front of a giant revolving disc, you almost had to hold on to your chair because the revolving disc made you dizzy to look at it. Yuck.
Still, in the end, it was the emotion of the voices that revealed to me how incredibly important emotion is. Yes, beautiful voices are pleasant - but in the end, if they are only beautiful and nothing more, they leave you empty. The Met was not empty in any sense of the word. The Met production was glorious, emotional, thrilling, etc. It proved that sound NEEDS fury in order to signify something.
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