Music / operafilm

The fiery angel


Reviews (11)


MusicWeb international

2021 January

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Robert Cummings (musikanmelder)

2021 January

"Recording of the month: The opera is a masterpiece. Some would call it a flawed masterpiece because of its puzzling libretto ... Visually it's an excellent production in just about every way and absolutely fascinating to watch, well served by fine performances ... As for the performances by the singers, Polish soprano Ewa Vesin has the unenviable task of taking on the role of Renata, considered one of the most challenging in the repertory. The vocal range, screeching, rapid repetitions of words and phrases, and mad scenes are hugely taxing ... Throughout the opera she portrays Renata more convincingly than any other soprano I've encountered on video and CD. English baritone Leigh Melrose makes an excellent Ruprecht ... All in all, the cast is excellent and the chorus sings well ... I must say that I love this opera and this recording is now clearly my first choice. Highest recommendations!".


Classical net

2011

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Robert Cummings (musikanmelder)

2011

"It is a powerful account in nearly every important respect. Soprano Galina Gorchakova, in the titanically demanding role of Renata, is splendid both vocally and dramatically. Baritone Sergei Leiferkus as Ruprecht is equally compelling, and the rest of the cast is fine ... The sets are modest but quite effective in conveying a medieval sort of atmosphere. The costumes are of the period and the religious habits also seem quite authentic. The camera work is excellent and the sound reproduction good ... this is overall a great production of a major masterpiece and the finest of the three recordings of the opera. Highest recommendations!".


MusicWeb international

2022 April

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Robert Cummings (musikanmelder)

2022 April

"Without hesitation, I can call this a "good news, bad news" event. The good news is the musical performances by soloists, chorus and orchestra are simply superb, and much of the success must be credited to conductor Constantin Trinks, who captures the full measure of Prokofiev's powerful score with uncommonly adept phrasing and subtlety. Musically speaking this is the finest recording of the opera ever made. Now the bad news: this is a regietheater production that, while probably not disappointing to those who favor such nontraditional and aggressively modern approaches, radically recasts Prokofiev's opera from its Renaissance-era setting to, presumably, a crude mid-20th century mental asylum ... Discarding the religious elements here is akin to taking the whale out of Moby Dick and replacing it with an angry minnow ... Bo Skovhus is excellent as Ruprecht ... [and] again, on purely musical grounds, this new effort on Unitel Edition is the first choice".


BBC music magazine

2021 April

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Christopher Cook (musikanmelder)

2021 April

"If anyone might have rebuilt the opera's reputation it is the director Emma Dante ... The cast, mostly Russian in the middle ranks, are good too. The Polish soprano Ewa Vesin tackles the hugely demanding role of Renata with complete conviction, while Leigh Melrose's Ruprecht, in thrall to her, does his best to find a character ... But where's the music drama? This is an opera that talks too much and acts too little, that is high on mystic magic and low on theatre".


Klassisk

2014, nr. 33

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Esben Tange (f. 1962)

2014, nr. 33

"Indholdet er intet mindre end elektrificerende, og i øvrigt er Prokofievs 'Ildenglen' en overset perle i det 20. århundredes operalitteratur. Så er det sagt ... Med en toptændt 40-årig Valery Gergiev i orkestergraven spiller Mariinskij Teatrets orkester med al den frenetiske intensitet, man kan ønske sig. Som Renata er den unge russiske sopran Galina Gorchakova suveræn ... Barytonen Sergei Leiferkus er forestillingens sikre anker".


Diapason

2023 janvier

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Didier van Moere

2023 janvier


Klassisk

2022, nr. 65

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Steen Chr. Steensen

2022, nr. 65

"Ildenglen kandiderer til at være den mest mystiske opera i historien. Noget om en kvinde (Renata), der har hallucinationer om en ridder (Ruprecht) og drømmer om en anden ridder (Heinrich), som i hendes forestillinger er en ildengel, og hun får de to riddere til at duellere om hende ... og hun ender med at gå i kloster ... Operaen er aktuel i en ny iscenesættelse af den tyske instruktør Andrea Breth ... Hun har ladet handlingen udspille sig i det, man en gang kaldte en galeanstalt. Og det virker ... Den litauiske sopran Ausriné Stundyté er perfekt i rollen som Renata og når stemmemæssigt ud i alle facetter ... med en suveræn nuanceret klangbeherskelse, samtidig med at hun scenisk fremstiller vanvid i alle mulige og umulige afskygninger. Den andens store rolle i operaen er Ruprecht sunget af vokalt overbevisende Bo Skovhus ... Det østrigske radioorkester leverer et brillant og kirurgisk præcist orkesterspil under ledelse af Constantin Trinks".


BBC music magazine

2022 June

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Daniel Jaffé

2022 June

"The entire action is relocated to what the booklet note calls a 'a modern psychiatric ward' - a nightmarish institution equipped with the most basic hospital equipment ... Both main characters are inmates ... Bo Skovhus does his best, but inevitably gives something of a one-note performance, looking bewildered and a touch unhinged throughout. He and Ausrine Stundyte (Renata) are gifted just one insightful scene ... Too often, though, the production rides roughshod over the story".


The gramophone

2021 March

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David Gutman

2021 March

"Key to the success of any performance of this opera is the portrayal of Renata ... Here the role is taken by Polish soprano Ewa Vesin, not one whit fazed by her unflattering outfits, let alone Prokofiev's tortured vocal writing ... Carmine Maringola has transplanted the opera from pre-Enlightenment darkness to a literal netherworld with his set design ... Should you find balletic doppelgängers a distraction in opera this extravaganza won't be for you ... Outstanding among the singers is Leigh Melrose as Ruprecht ... Is there too much focus on the grotesque and the physical? I'd say the music can take it ... This is at the very least a plausible take on one of the weirdest operas in the repertory".


Fono Forum

2022 Mai

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Manuel Brug

2022 Mai

"Die Welt der Andrea Breth, das ist Düsternis, Grauschlieren, Trauer und Melancholie. Und sollte ein Stück allzu heiter sein, dann wird es massiv depressiv seelentapeziert. So wie in Prokofjews "Der feurige Engel" über eine Frau am Rande des Opernnervenzusammenbruchs ... Wir sind im Irrenhaus. Zwischen Klinikbetten, Therapiestühlen ... und einem Käfigberg erlebt die so routiniert wie packend sich sopranreinsteigernde Ausrine Stundyte das diesmal nur eingebildete Martyrium der Renata. Der ihr verfallene Ruprecht (ein wuchtiger Pro der Opernekstase: Bo Skovhus) ist ebenfalls Insasse der geschlossenen Musiktheateranstalt".


The gramophone

2022 June

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Marina Frolova-Walker

2022 June

"For many years I've been trying to persuade people that 'The Fiery Angel' is Prokofiev's best opera ... It grips us and astonishes from the first note to the last ... The staging by Andrea Breth unfortunately makes a nonsense of all this from the outset ... and it is difficult to become emotionally involved with a medical casebook ... In these unpropitious surroundings, Ausrine Stundyte manages to deliver a truly star performance as Renata. Her voice is powerful, flexible and beautiful, while her delivery is magnetic and her acting superb ... Bo Skovhus as Ruprecht is seriously undermined by the production ... Even so, he is vocally impressive and tries his best to act out the director's instructions with conviction ... Musically, this DVD can stand its ground ... To be as fair as possible, this production saw the light of day during the lockdowns, streamed from an almost empty theatre ... so its vision of illness and claustrophobia allows it to stand as a monument to those times".