Sandrine PiauProkofiev: The Love for Three Oranges [Blu-ray]

Having recently seen three videos of this opera (along with Haitink/Glyndebourne, and Nagano/Lyon), this is the best of the three, for me. It has outstanding singing and orchestral playing, and the right balance of imaginative costuming and staging without becoming TOO cluttered and silly (Glyndebourne is cluttered and silly; Lyon is minimalist). And there is something else magic and special about this video. It has a realistic theatrical feeling to it. What I am trying to say is, it gives you the feeling you are actually there, experiencing a night at the opera in person. (Glyndebourne is an old video with technical limitations, and includes blue-screen effects an audience would never see; Lyon is a live performance but in studio conditions with no audience present.)Why then would I not give five stars? Because it has a few maddeningly poor design issues in the DVD itself that I wish the engineers and manufacturers would wake up and not continue to blithely give us. First is that like many Blu-rays, the subtitles are tiny white letters with no outline, so when there is a light background on screen, the subtitles are completely unreadable. Second is that the opera soundtrack is recorded at an extremely low level, so that one has to turn up the amplifier to almost maximum to get a satisfying level. That's not terrible in and of itself, but the "extras" are recorded at a much, much higher than average level. So if you finish the opera and then go straight to the featurettes, you'll be screaming swear words as you frantically turn down the volume.Why don't they think of these things in advance?

This is not a generally appealing opera. It is not very tuneful apart from the well known march and there are no arias as such although it is not lacking in beautiful moments - the only problem for me is they were few and far between. The nutty fairy tale storyline also made it even more "far out" than many operas although this meant there was no need for pretence about it being realistic. It is billed as being a comedy and does have some amusing moments but maybe not as many as one could expect from the plot.We looked at it last night with friends but the women were not very impressed, I was lukewarm but my music loving mate loved it. So there you go, it might be your cup of tea.The oddball: Story, music and setting.The positive: Clever production, staging and very colourful appealing costumes (except for the neurotic Prince who ran around in his pajamas the whole time).The negative: Overall unappealing music, the lighting not always good making some characters harder to distinguish but the worst aspect was the uneven capture of the voices, often good but also too often weak making a bad balance with the orchestra.Bottom line is it IS very different so from that point of view is refreshing. We looked at a documentary on Prokofiev first and this did add to appreciation BUT be warned it is not an easy work to appreciate. That said it IS different and there are unlikely to be more Blu Ray releases of it so it could have a quirky place in your collection. It will stay here but is unlikely to be visited very often.

My favourite performance of this delightful work is the 1982 Glyndebourne Festival release under Haitink. Fantastic sets and costumes and as light as a feather. Unfortunately the video and sound shows its age. This production is, to be blunt, dead dreary. A mixture of suits and pyjamas that looked as if they might have been borrowed from a church shop. The make up of the doctors was so bad one really wondered if they had had to do it themselves on the tram on the way to the performance! For a fantasy opera such as this, this is just unacceptable economy, especially at Blu ray prices. The sets are not much better and the involvement of the conductor in the "humour" just did not work for me. In many ways this is somewhat similar to the multi suited DVD release from Paris with better video and sound but even more unenterprising costumes and sets. Despite its age Haitink knocks both these performances for six! Dont waste your money.

fine

How could anyone give a bad review for such a wonderful production? I was very familiar with the orchestral music from this opera before watching the video, but probably like so many, was not aware of the fantastic story that is supported by Prokofiev's masterful writing. I was drawn in instantly, and like a child, the magical fantasy world kept me hanging on until the end. The staging is perfect for the story line. There props and cast are constantly moving throughout. I believe this energy is what Prokofiev would expect from any opera company. His music is motor-like in quality, so everything within the production must have that same movement. The cast give it 100%. Even the singers running about in the background are totally committed. The main characters are perfectly cast and give this bizzare tale a very real and current feeling. Don't miss this one, and don't listen to the negative comments. If you are a major fan of Prokofiev and want to see his almost movie-like score taken to the stage, this is the production for you!

The love for three oranges ist eine Märchenoper von Serge Prokofiev die ins groteske gesteigert wurde. Es ist ein verspieltes Stück mit humorvoller Musik. Obwohl das Textbuch in russisch geschrieben, wurde die Oper im Jahre 1921 in Chicago in französischer Sprache uraufgeführt.Diese Aufführung- ebenfalls in französisch- ist aus dem Jahr 2005 vom Het Muziektheater Amsterdam. Die Inszenierung ist sehr gut, die Sänger unter dem Dirigenten Stéphane Denève geben ihr Bestes. Auch die Videoaufzeichnung ist von guter Qualität. Der Ton liegt unkomprimiert in 2.0 und 5.1 vor. Diese schöne Oper ist bestimmt für jeden Opernfreund ein musikalischer und visueller Hochgenuß.

Brillante interprétation, avec une mise en scène inventive et des chanteurs comédiens de cet opéra trop peu joué. Il sera donné à Nancy prochainementLe blu ray est excellent tant au niveau du son que de l'image surtout avec un téléviseur 4 k.Version vivement conseillée.

Grande qualité musicale et de mise en scene