Le Comte Ory

"Le Comte Ory, Rossini's penultimate opera, and his final comic masterpiece, premiered in 1828 ... At this 2017 production of the Opéra Comique, this scenario was updated to the time of the opera's composition, with French military expeditions to Algeria replacing the Crusades ... Stage director Denis Podalydès and costume designer Christian Lacroix do, though, provide settings and characters that are interesting to look at ... The singers make a strong team. The Isolier of mezzo-soprano Gaëlle Arquez shines in the travesty role, looking and sounding well. Julie Fuchs's Comtesse Adèle sings enchantingly, with a lovely sound ... I would not easily relinquish this very recommendable performance for its generally excellent style and scale, and near-ideal francophone cast. Conductor Louis Langrée leads the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées and the singers of Les éléments with sparkle and drive".

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"My frustration in respect of costumes is compounded by the positives being of such a high order, both in respect of the singing and, more important still, of the orchestral contribution under Louis Langrée who makes Rossini's music sparkle as I have too rarely heard it. All of the singers act their roles well and the excellence of their singing often matches the quality of their acting".

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"Bartoli's vocal registers may not be quite as finely 'matched' as one might hope for ... but the combination of classy singing and delighted playing quickly has one setting such quibbles aside ... [Tang] leads with precision and point ... [and] is capable of drawing sounds of rare beauty from the period instruments of the Orchestra La Scintilla".

"I'm not sure, though, that Leiser and Caurier don't go one step too far with the sex-farce elelments of the piece ... Musical standards are high, with Tang and the orchestra bouncing the score merrily along".

Vurdering (performance): 4/5.

Vurdering (picture & sound): 5/5.

"Puren Spass macht die tolle Farce vom "Comte Ory" ... Rossinis krachige Komödie ... angeleitet von dem munteren Maurizio Benini haben lauter la-Vokalisten wie Juan Diego Flórez, die als Osterei verkleiderte Diana Damrau und Joyce DiDonato als notgeiler Page eine wunderbare Buffa-Zeit".

"The cast is certainly distinguished ... Not since the 1950's has there been a singer better able to cope with the phallocentric Count's billings and cooings than Juan Diego Flórez, Diana Damrau, a coloratura possessed of breeding as well as presence, makes a superb Countess Adèle, and the irrepressible Joyce DiDonato gives a properly testosterone-fuelled performance ... As Ory and his men observe: What an excellent piece of folly! It's charming, it's divine!".

"The music is endlessly witty, rhythmically ever-changing, unexspectedly mellow at times, and spicy with woodwinds ... What a cast the Met has put together! The title role is taken by Juan Diego Flórez, handsome, sly and tonally shiny, tossing off high notes as if they were easy ... There is only one competing dvd ... but this one is way ahead of it".

"Dieser Pikant-burleske, musikalisch meisterlich moussierende Schwank wurde an der Pariser Opèra Comique abgefilmt ... mit einem hervorragenden Vokalensemble. Denis Podalydès verlegt mit viel Komödiensympathie die sinnenfrohe Geschichte ins prüde, aber geile 19. Jahrhundert ... Gräfin Adèle singt Julie Fuchs mit lächelnder Koloraturattitüde ... Philippe Talbot gibt einen testosterongesteuerten Grafen, und Louis Langrée dirigiert mit Finesse das Orchestre des Champs-Élysées".

"Rossini's sublimely amusing late comedy Le Comte Ory is very much a game of two halves ... In this recent Paris staging, it is the second act which delights rather more than the first ... The Opéra Comique's Francophone cast is led by Julie Fuchs's sweet-toned Countess ... Talbot is excellent, though I can't understand why he muffles many of Ory's glistening high Cs ... Of the several DVD rivals, it is the Zurich Opera staging ... which continues to have pride of place".