Ivor Bolton, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg - Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail (2006)
Ivor Bolton, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg - Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail (2006)
NTSC 16:9 (720x480) | Deutsch (LinearPCM, 2 ch) | (DTS, 6 ch) | 7.41 + 4.98 Gb (2xDVD9) | 156 min
Classical | Decca | Sub.: Deutsch, English, Francais, Espanol, Chinese
NTSC 16:9 (720x480) | Deutsch (LinearPCM, 2 ch) | (DTS, 6 ch) | 7.41 + 4.98 Gb (2xDVD9) | 156 min
Classical | Decca | Sub.: Deutsch, English, Francais, Espanol, Chinese
The plot couldn't be simpler: the Spanish nobleman Belmonte must free his fiancée Konstanze, her English maid Blonde and Belmonte's servant Pedrillo from the clutches of the Turkish Bassa, or Pasha, Selim. Belmonte must sneak into the pasha's seraglio and sneak back out again, all the while eluding and outsmarting Osmin, the overseer of the harem. With his Salzburg production of 2003, young Norwegian director Stefan Herheim raised a storm of controversy that continued to crackle in 2006, when the production was revised for the Mozart 22 cycle. The controversy was largely due to the fact that Herheim transposed the events to the inner world of the human psyche. The harem is no longer a real harem, but a psychological place of longing and desire, enticing and yet threatening at the same time. The entire exotic, Janissary scenery gives way to the more familiar images of one's own sexual urges and impulses. The production revolves around the question: how does a man get a woman? To get to the bottom of this age-old question, Herheim shows how men and women try to seek happiness together and fail since they are caught in conventions and subservient to their inner demons - illustrated here by Osmin as priest and devil. "It is a genesis, the beginning of all beginnings, when man is separated into two sexes, is disoriented, and from then on seeks to return to his original form in ever new constellations," explains Herheim.
Giving powerful accounts of their difficult roles is a top-notch cast dominated by Laura Aikin as Konstanze and Charles Castronovo as Belmonte. With her elegiac Andante arias, Aikin is an oasis of calm and nobility. Castronovo suggests his own vulnerability with his wonderfully lyrical timbre. At the head of the Mozarteum Orchestra, Ivor Bolton once again confirms his reputation as a dynamic and sensitive interpreter of Baroque and Classical operas. The clarity and wisdom of his music-making provide an astute contrast to the turbulent activity on stage. Indeed, the marriage of orchestra and voices evokes the image of the stage of life: on the surface, everything is in motion; below, order rules - but it is an order that is often lost in everyday life.
Cast:
Konstanze - Laura Aikin
Blonde - Valentina Farkas
Belmonte - Charles Castronovo
Pedrillo - Dietmar Kirschbaum
Osmin - Franz Hawlata
Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor
Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg
Conductor - Ivor Bolton
Ivor Bolton, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg - Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail (2006)
Ivor Bolton, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg - Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail (2006)
Ivor Bolton, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg - Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail (2006)
Ivor Bolton, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg - Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail (2006)
Ivor Bolton, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg - Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail (2006)
