La bohème

"Recording of the month: It is a considerable relief to be able to enthuse almost unreservedly about an opera production ... With no barriers from the staging we can focus entirely on the action and the music. In this cast and with this conductor, chorus and orchestra we have a team close to perfection. Pappano gives the score all the detailed attention it deserves without ever losing the big picture ... The present cast were not all known to me but every characterisation is magnificent and the actual voices lovely to hear. Nicole Car is as good a Mimi as one could wish for ... She is matched by a superb Rudolfo in Michael Fabiano ... So, unusually, I am completely happy with this one and would place it near or at the top in a very crowded field".

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"Well, all good things come to an end ... There are no views over the rooftops of Paris, no paintings in the garret where the students reside. Indeed, one might think that the overall staging had been done on a strict minimum budget basis ... On the music side I personally find the singing rather average for a major international house. Nicole Car as Mimì makes an immediate vocal impact in her interpretation and maintained a good quality of singing and characterization throughout ... For me it has few virtues and I doubt if it will see the inside of my player again".

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"The director Stefan Herheim creates productions that are larger than life: intellectually charged but joyously theatrical. Little of his work has been captured on DVD, which makes this Bohème, which he made for the Norwegian National Opera, a must-have ... The production is a surreal, moving experience: sometimes mystifying but ultimately haunting".

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"Vurdering: [22] best classical music recordings of 2012" - "The intellectually charged but dazzlingly theatrical director Stefan Herheim deconstructed the traditional sets of the Norwegian National Opera's previous production of La Bohème, creating a mixture of old and new with a sober twist: Mimi dies of cancer at the start, and the opera is reconfigured as Rodolfo's surreal, moving refusal to admit it".

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"This production follows another vogue, that of updating to modern times. It is set in present day Paris slums ... This frequently means a disparity between what is sung and what we see ... [Rodolfo] particularly well sung and vocally nuanced by Giorgio Berrugi's tasteful and elegant singing ... Mimi's response, and their subsequent duet, indicates Irina Lungu to be a lyric soprano of some substance and a name to look out for ... All the principles act their parts well to create a meaningful narrative that keeps, as much as modernisation allows, our minds on the original story and its tear-jerking tragic end ... Gianandrea Noseda conducts with his usual distinction in this, his debut in the opera, drawing vibrant, full-bodied tone from his charges".

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"The two leads, Sonya Yoncheva and Charles Castronovo ... can, to state the obvious, certainly sing, but I was unconvinced by their acting skills, finding little or no spark in their interactions ... The orchestral contributions are elegant, delicate and passionate as required. Emmanuel Villaume adopts a relatively sedate tempo in most places ... Regarding ... Richard Jones' production ... the sets are undoubtedly the best parts of the show. They are quite wonderful, very evocative, and the snow that even falls before the opening curtain sets the scene ... That said, I feel that going to the opera (even by the medium of video) and being most impressed by the sets is rather like going to an art gallery, and thinking the frames were the best part ... Ultimately the success of La bohème is tied to Mimì and Rodolfo. If their romance and tragedy doesn't convince, then no matter how impressive the sets and the supporting cast are, the overall result can't be deemed a success, and sadly that is the case here".

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"Zeffirelli has produced an ultra-traditional naturalistic spectacular for this big hit. You will find nothing here to challenge you intellectually or usurp any expectations you already had ... So if you like what Zeffirelli does and you're a fan of good singing then this is probably about as good as armchair opera gets. Buy it for the fantastic sound and to wallow in the classic production styles of the old school".

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"Den første billedoptagelse fra The Met var La bohème med ham [Pavarotti] i 1977. Han var ved pragtfuld stemme med forbavsende få usikkerhedsmomenter i betragtning af, at det var live en enkelt eftermiddag. Det vil nok forbløffe mange, at Pavarotti i nærbilleder er en udmærket skuespiller. Hans ansigt afspejler, hvad der sker ... Hans Mimi er Renata Scotto, som ved, hvad hun vil ... Fabrizio Melanos iscenesættelse er lidt gammeldags, men naturlig, og den passer fint til Pavarotti".

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"Et værdifuldt nostalgisk gensyn og en nyhed for mange. Man forstår begejstringen for den nytilkomne dirigent Lamberto Gardellis ægte italiensk ledede La bohème. Det sanglige niveau er smukt på et forståeligt dansk-svensk. Den dejligt syngende Helena Döse står for det sidste. Tonny Landy er en ung Rodolphe med lyrisk kvalitet ... Holger Bolands iscenesættelse er god, gammeldags levende i Paul Kanneworffs dekorationer, som publikum elskede fra 1939 til 1999!".

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"John Copleys opsætning har årtier bag sig på Covent Garden i London, så mange danskere vil genkende den. Den blev støvet af og genopsat i 2009 med unge sangere, og det er forfriskende at se nye ansigter og høre nye aldeles udmærkede stemmer ... Min interesse skyldes dirigenten, letten Andris Nelsons ... Han artikulerer orkesterstemmen levende og smidigt til ren fornøjelse".

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"Franco Zeffirellis pragtopsætning af "La boheme" på Metropolitan Operaen havde premiere i 1981 ... Hør, hvor pragtfuldt Carreras sang inden sin sygdom ... Oplev, hvor gribende den både elskelige og intelligente Teresa Stratas var som Mimi, og opdag, hvad Renata Scotto, som også sang Mimi på The Met, mestrede som Musetta".

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"Optagelser fra en nu svunden tid, da de medvirkende var på deres højeste rent kunstnerisk, og som man selv med den bedste vilje ikke finder ret meget sammenligneligt i dag".

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"Dirigenten Herbert von Karajans og instruktøren Franco Zeffirellis første La bohème på La Scala i Milano er helt fra 1965, men den er stadig værd at se og høre. Selv optagelsen er også så teknisk god, at det som helhed må være den bedste La bohème på dvd ... Karajan var Pucini-dirigenten frem for alle. Hans tolkning er gribende smuk, og man bliver klogere på dette såre menneskelige mesterværk".

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"Optagelsen fra den 5. april i år er ... god med Angela Gheorghiu i pragtform og Ramón Vargas, og den er ikke spor støvet ... Det er dejligt på tæt billedhold at se menneskeligt ægte reaktioner. Til gengæld savnes totalbilleder af hele scenen ... Lusovic Tézier er en helt rigtig Marcello, Ainhoa Arteta en forfriskende Musetta".

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"Pappano is always terrific in Puccini. His pacing and attention to orchestral detail are superb and he draws highly sympathetic playing from his orchestra. But the vocal performances here don't really make this a Bohème to stand out from the crowd ... Car is a lovely Mimì, though, very much the girl next door, with a simple charm to her Act I aria that immediately makes you love her ... Rhodri Huw's stylish film direction certainly draws the viewer but it's going to need further acquintance with this production ... to cast any magic".

"Ein virtuoses Spiel mit den Bedeutungsebenen, das aufgeht und einen vor dem Videoschirm bannt".

"High-concept productions often demand musical distensions but ... this La boheme is a vital, middle-of-the-road reading, full of discipline and integrity, thanks, no doubt, to conductor Eivind Gullberg Jensen. The cast's singing is clearly invigorated by these fresh staging ideas ... Tenor Diego Torre has a wonderfully robust high C; soprano Marita Sølberg is a stylistically Italianate as any Mimi I've ever heard. Don't schedule any social engagements after watching this. You might not be in any shape to keep them".

"Iscenesættelsen er af den gode, gamle slags, vi er i den rigtige tid med det rigtige interieur og de rigtige kostumer, og der synges rigtig godt ... Alle er værd at se og høre på. Dertil kommer så, ikke overraskende, godt orkesterspil under den fremragende Lamberto Gardelli, og et velsyngende og bevægeligt operakor ... Sangligt og musikalsk finder man ikke meget, der er ret meget bedre".

"The grimness of modern urban life is never far away ... though the modern additions can't hide the fact that this is a traditional Bohème at heart, true to the work's spirit ... Cavalletti is a sincere, touching Marcello, and Kelebogile Besong a deliciously over-the-top Musetta, as the staging demands ... Noseda doesn't disappoint here, conducting with sensitivity and refinement, neve indulgent but consistently moving ... All told, this is a touching and recommendable modern-dress Bohème".

"Det her er, som vor far lavede det: Den rigtige historie med de rigtige personer i de rigtige omgivelser og den rigtige tid. Smukt at se på, livfuldt underholdende og bevægende ... Der synges rigtig godt ... ikke bare god opera, men også godt teater ... Al mulig ros til instruktør, dirigent, sangere og Teatro Real i Madrid".

"Zeffirelli's Met production is unashamedly a spectacular but in its 1982 staging the cast is a remarkable one".

Vurdering (performance): 4/5.

Vurdering (Picture & sound): 3/5.

"En ny dvd fra årets Salzburg Festival har Anna Netrebko i rollen som den brystsvage Mimi og den i udlandet ret eftertragtede Piotr Beczala som Rodolfo ... Avisen Süddeutsche er begejstret over hendes præstation og derudover også dirigent Daniele Gatti og Wiener Filharmonikernes evne til at få orkesterfarver frem så kulden bider, så diffust morgenlys flimrer".

"Eine eiskalte Hand ... Anna Netrebko sieht so verhuscht und mausgrau aus wie noch nie. Steht dünnbeinig verloren herum wie im Nebel. Aber sie singt konzentriert, zart, wunderbar. Mit flutenden Dunkelsilbertönen, die warm und blühend sind, während ... Rodolfo beim ausgegangenen Joint näherkommt. Keine Kerze, keine Häkelstola, kaum Paris. Bohème ohne Zauber, nüchtern, nicht realistisch ... Er und Netrebko harmonieren wunderbar im Timbre ... Das Moderne, die filmartige Schnitt-technik ... Bewusst strukturklar, aber insgesamt ohne Poesie".