Rodelinda

A Joy for Ear and Eye
First things first: You don't have to be a Renee Fleming groupie to like the Metropolitan Opera's fine production of Rodelinda. Fleming may not be the greatest baroque stylist, but she has a beautiful voice, and (quoting Marion Rosenberg) "she uses it fearlessly and with unsparing commitment." James Oestreich in The New York Times writes that "she threw herself and her voice wholeheartedly into the considerable drama."

About the other singers there can be no complaint. Andreas Scholl (deposed King Bertarido, who has faked his own death) is one of today's most accomplished countertenors, and Iestyn Davies (counselor Unulfo) makes a notable Met debut. Mezzo Stephanie Blythe (Eudige, the king's sister) is a highly impressive veteran. Tenor Joseph Kaiser (the pretender Grimoaldo, her fiance) and bass-baritone Shenyang (Garibaldo) are strong newcomers. Harry Bicket leads the fine cast and Met Orchestra in a stylish performance.

Stephen Wadsworth's...

Handel triumphs at the MET
I left the HD broadcast at the movie theater, when this presentation originally aired, in a state of euphoria. Something about the fun of the movie theater opera experience makes objective criticism of these performances difficult. So when I got this DVD, it was the first time I was able to think about the performance a little more objectively.

The technical details are all just fine: plenty of subtitle options, easy to navigate scene selection, and they've included portions of the intermission interviews (with some strange, very obvious edits). The booklet is fairly typical for an opera DVD.

If you are used to listening to Baroque specialists perform this score, the Met orchestra and the nonspecialist singers may come across as a little jarring at first. Though, to my mind, there is no definitive recording on CD of Rodelinda, I have nevertheless become used to two recordings performed by Baroque period ensembles. And so hearing everything, in essence, a...

Brilliant cast in a little-known opera--a gem!
I'm a big Renee Fleming fan, so I ordered this mostly for that, knowing next to nothing about the opera except the bare bones of the plot. But when the opera was over, I found that I truly loved it! Handel has always been one of my favorites, and his score is chock-full of trills, runs, embellishments, and the things that make Handel Handel. I found both Countertenors, in the role of the king and his friend, to be very solid and crisp in their diction and handled the embellished vocal lines beautifully. It can be very easy to rush those lovely lines and blur the notes, but that didn't happen here.
Renee was terrific as the title character, the Queen Rodelinda, who has lost her husband (she thinks) and is imprisoned with her son in a lavish castle. (The set design blew me away, as did the costumes. It's a sumptuous, gorgeous piece. I wanted to move in!). At first the coloratura was a bit blurred, but she came into her own as the performance progressed. Stephanie Blythe was...

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