Zurich Opera under Nikolaus Harnencourt.
I saw this live last autumn in a performance that was superior all round.
I watched this last week, and wrote notes on my Palm whilst sitting on the sofa. I draft posted the entry with the intention of sprucing it up and making it cogent, but reading through it, I think the desultory, fragmented nature of the post reflects my rather uninterested attitude when watching this actual video.
My problem with this is that there seems to be acting and singing going on at the same time, but in a disassociated way. None of the male singers has a voice of any beauty - at least as they sound here. And whether it's inherent, or the way they're directed, but they just seem two-dimensional cyphers of characters.
When I saw it at Covent Garden, there was a lot of laughter.
Much too much standing around and bel canting, except that it isn't especially bel.
The music as written is really quite gorgeous, but in this video it sounds quite screechy. Except for Cecilia. It isn't the best example I have of her, but it's worth watching for her
Soave il vento - trio, gorgeous as written. Shame about Don Alonso. In fact, generally shame about Don Alonso who seemed to bark through it. Dorabella a ham actress. Or ham directed, I'm not sure. I don't think the singers were particularly helped by the tempi often been on the slow side. This was noticeable, for example, during Come scoglio, one of my favourite Mozart arias. Considering that she's basically singing about standing firm as a rock, a languid tempo seems nonsense. What should be a rallantado becomes a dirge. During the finer colaratura bits in the second part CB is struggling for breath. Still, she's get a good few cheers from the audience.
Whereas Mr Bland Pretty Boy singing Un'aura amoroso barely gets polite applause. This is another of Mozart's utterly gorgeous arias. By all accounts it's a bugger to sing, and he has an approximate relation with the pitch at times, partly again due to the funereal pace. A pace unsuited to the mood of the music and the meanings of the lyrics. Plus him frowning throughout.
Act 1 isn't over yet, and I'm groaning everytime Don Alfonso comes on screen. He's not funny, he's not manipulative, just boring.
There isn't actually a lot of dramatic action happening - much of the story revolves around the psychology. In brief, Don Alfonso bets the guys that the women won't stay faithful if they're away. So they pretend to go away, and come back disguised as Albanians and woo each other's women. When the women reject their advances, they pretend to swallow poison. The housekeeper, Despina, who's in on the joke arrives disguised as a mesmeritist and magically revives them.
Act 2 Another evening, another act
It's such gorgeous music that I've booked to see it next month at ENO. There is no way that the production can be worse than this one.
Philosophically, some people have a problem with this, assuming that it is misogynous - it translates literally as "How all women are..." I have two objections to taking an overtly contemporary feminist view against operas, or indeed, drama, literature or art from historic times. Firstly, their creators are the products of their time. Guess what, neither Mozart nor Da Ponte were Guardian-reading 21st century feminists. And, if for argumemt's sake they were reasonably enlightened for their times, they would still reflect the reality of their age.
You could find it offensive that the purpose of this is to illustrate that women lack the capacity to be faithful. Yet it mentions that men do, too. You could conversely take the view that women were forced by economics and mores to marry. How sensible to marry any convenient halfway decent man. No point sitting around pining for some chap who might or might not come back from battle. Or maybe, we could remember how easily it is for practical jokes to go too far. Or perhaps, it's a lesson about not being taken in too much by charm. Maybe a lesson not to put your love to the test, and not to complain when you find it wanting.
Me, I love the music, but would rather a different cast than on this video, which I doubt I shall watch again for a long time.
Don Alfonso is a crooner, Ferrando a barker, and Guillermo has an insipid voice. Dorabella has a boring voice, and Despina an ugly one.
six other DVDs available. Opera Nights recommends La Scala and Glyndebourne, and that EMI CD looks like a must-have. 
