Vanessa

This is the Vanessa production we have been waiting for. Glyndebourne did a spendid job of interpreting Barber's first opera written in collaboration with Gian Carlo Menotti, his librettist. In my opinion this opera is one of the finest written in the English language. The neurotic character of Vanessa has her mirrors covered as she lives in the past, longing for her love Anatol who has been gone a very long time. The set has two giant mirror frames which act as a conduit between the background lit in a cool blue light and the foreground lit in warm tones. In that rear space we see film projections of past and present. Characters and events are amplified in a psychological way and orchestral interludes are given narrative depth. Barber's music is just beautiful. The singers are all excellent. I am familiar with only two: mezzo Rosalind Plowright who plays the old baroness and the bass Donnie Ray Albert who plays the old doctor. Emma Bell inhabits the character of Vanessa in a most mercurial and intense way. Erika, the character with the most transformation is played in a most sympathetic way by Virginie Verrez. There is never a dull moment. The character of Anatol is somewhat Don Giovanni-like in the way he carelessly bounces from one woman to another, even coming on to one of the maids. Yet he is a sycophant and gigolo with little resources of his own, shamelessly seeking a life of luxury with his feigned love. Somehow this purple melodrama written in the 1950s is right for now in the twenty-first century. The music sticks with you long after the opera has ended.

The DVD was fine. I wish the opera had been a little better.

This is a great performance of a very fine opera!

James H. North, Fanfare magazineVanessa begins with a thoroughly noir premise for what becomes a conventional, if somewhat cynical, Romantic opera: The title character has waited 20 years for the return of her lover, cooped up in a manor with curtains drawn over windows and mirrors, to slow her aging and hide its effects. This is an elegant production, sensible and imaginative. Now that the curtains are open, scenes are mimed behind mirrors and windows, which represent the characters in front of them: What they are thinking, what they are imaging, what they are hoping. I have a few minor nits. It’s obvious that Anatol is a cad, a scoundrel; director Keith Warner adds needless exaggerations: Soon after his arrival in an overdone pin-stripe suit, Anatol puts his feet up on the elegant antique sofa. He picks up a magazine when Erika is trying to talk seriously to him. He struts around with one hand in a pants pocket. In the farewell scene, he caresses a maid just as he is leaving for Paris with his new wife. OK! OK! I get the picture: Anatol is not a gentleman. One odd misinterpretation: The libretto has Erika saying to herself (on the stairs before she comes down to the party): “His child, his child! It must not be born.” Warner has her screaming it to the assembled guests. It may be a dramatic moment, but it belies the following scenes, where no one is supposed to know about her one-night stand with Anatol. The costumes place us in the 1920s, in an unidentified society—“northern” because the story calls for two snowstorms. Vanessa and Erika are wearing all-too-obvious wigs, making them look silly until we get used to them.The singing gets off to a poor start; perhaps Bell and Verrez needed time to get into their characters. Recitative and parlando go well in the opening scene, but when the music opens up into aria, both belt too much, turning this developing drama into mere operatic vocalizing. Nor is there enough difference between their voices; it has always seemed a dramatic contradiction that the 40ish woman is a soprano, her 20ish niece a mezzo. Virginie Verrez has a very light, soprano-like mezzo; “Must the winter come so soon,” which needs a darker aura, is not a success. Things turn better with Anatol’s arrival, and the women are better in ensembles than in solos. Edgaras Montvidas is a smooth actor and a fine tenor, although he lacks the ring of Nicolai Gedda at the high moments. There lies the problem for any performance of Vanessa: The Met’s 1958 premiere and the RCA recording, both led by Dimitri Mitropoulos, were stunning, with great singers in all five principal roles: Eleanor Steber, Rosalind Elias, Gedda, Regina Resnik, and Giorgio Tozzi. And perhaps the story seemed more believable, the music more convincing, in the Eisenhower era. Nor does the London Philharmonic capture the atmosphere, being bright and vital where it should be dark or mellow. Still, we should be grateful for this only video of Vanessa. The Blu-ray video is spectacularly clean, the audio a bit bright and glassy. There is one extra, “Vanessa, an operatic thriller.” Subtitles come in English, French, German, Japanese, and Korean. That subtitles so rarely come in Italian suggests that Italians listen only to Italian opera, to their loss.In this merely fine performance, the seams begin to show: how cleverly librettist Gian Carlo Menotti has chosen the characters’ names, and how perfectly Samuel Barber has scored them: the rising, caressing phrase of “VanESSa,” the awkward downward turn of “ErikA,” the flat, unemotional “anatol.” Even “DOCtor, dear DOCtor” fits the music and the character. These are all successful choices, but we shouldn’t be thinking of them during the performance.Vanessa has remained just outside the repertoire, receiving quite a few performances in many countries. Long exposure has increased one’s respect for Menotti’s libretto but not for Barber’s music. Despite a couple of hit numbers, it lacks the convincing sincerity that marked the composer at his best: Knoxville, Summer of 1915; the Violin Concerto; even The School for Scandal Overture. But heed also Walter Simmons, who (in Fanfare 14:3) found the music magnificent and the libretto ridiculous.

I came to see and hear Vanessa when this version was screened to UK cinemas last year. My wife and I found it stunning in every way and it is difficultto imagine a better production than this one from Glyndebourne. The most astounding thing is that Vanessa had never been found to deserve a UK performance until last year. i feel strongly that it should be a core repertoire item and can think of numerous established works which I feel it should replace. Vanessa is profound in its depiction of the problems that we may all have in our relationships and uses the remoteness of its setting to explore both human isolation and the nature of placing all one's hopes, as some do, in a life partner from whom one is both remote and estranged over many years. Having seen it in the Cinema we were lucky enough to confirm our impressions in Sussex on the last day of the season. Vanessa comes across well enough on CD but this DVD is an essential one for a true understanding of a great work which absolutely does not deserve the neglect it has suffered.

A fabulous production of a fabulous opera! I could not fault it at any level. Vocally it’s outstanding as is the orchestral playing. The production is brilliantly directed and designed with bravura flair by the talented Ashley Martin-Davis. The blu Ray is of first rate quality both visually and aurally too. Oh for productions like this at Covent Garden! Bravo Glyndbourne opera! Highly recommended.

Ein fast vergessenes Opernjuwel, dessen Musik berührend und ergreifend ist, auch wenn sie damals nicht dem letzten Schrei der " Moderne" entsprochen hat. Und die Story? Ein zeitloses Problem: das Warten auf..., zuerst die ältere Frau, und dann fällt das Warten auf die junge Frau! Die Dvd erfüllt alle Erwartungen. Jede Rolle ist optimal besetzt, der Dirigent lotet alle Klangfarben aus, und die Bildqualität ist hervorragend!

Schnelle Lieferung - gute QualitätDie Oper war nach der Uraufführung an der MET in der Versenkung verschwunden. Ganz zu Unrecht. Ich hoffe, daß diese Aufnahme die Oper wieder auf ihren berechtigten Platz in der Musikgeschichte zurückholt.

Une belle version admirablement chantée, dans une mise en scène grandiose. Du Grand Glyndebourne.