MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


Support us financially by purchasing this from

Hector BERLIOZ (1803-1869)
Béatrice et Bénédict
An opera-comique in two acts after Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing
Béatrice - Stéphanie d’Oustrac
Bénédict - Paul Appleby
Héro - Sophie Karthäuser
Ursule - Katarina Bradić
Somarone - Lionel Lhote
Claudio - Philippe Sly
Don Pedro - Frédérick Caton
Glyndebourne Chorus
London Philharmonic Orchestra/Antonello Manacorda
rec. live, Glyndebourne, Lewes, 9 August 2016
Region free; 16:9; Audio Formats: LPCM2.0; dts-HD Master Audio
OPUS ARTE Blu-ray OABD7219D [129 mins]

Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict is a specific realisation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. It concentrates only on the sparring love/hate relationship between the two protagonists: the shrewish Béatrice and the cynical, proudly independent Bénédict. There is no Don John, nothing sinister, and no Dogberry and the watch.

This Glyndebourne production is novel and imaginative. It reflects the black and white photographs of the time in which it is set—the costumes suggestive of the period immediately after Second World War. The colours are black and white, and the multitude of greys between. The set is a city made up of multitudinous boxes of all sizes, again all monochrome; the colours of the production are rather in Berlioz’s exquisite music. The boxes represent the conventional lives of the people and they (the chorus) are often seen in those safe, yet arguably constricting, boxes that signify authority and convention, especially for Héro and Claudio. Outside those boxes, representing rebellion, are Béatrice and Bénédict.

Berlioz took Shakespeare’s text and weaved his own libretto around it. Much of his writing, considered archaic, has been updated for modern audiences. Many Act 1 viperish exchanges between Béatrice and Bénédict are spoken rather than sung.

Stéphanie d’Oustrac’s Béatrice is superb: a wild virago spitting defiance and venom at Bénédict who gives as good as he gets. As she is tricked into renouncing hate for love, she—hesitatingly and not completely convinced—demurs and discovers a feeling within herself that is deeper and more understanding than that of Bénédict, who has likewise been swayed into love by the same sort of trickery. D’Oustrac is a fine actress with a commanding yet subtly nuanced mezzo timbre. She is partnered very effectively by Paul Appleby as her Bénédict, waspish and street-wise and witheringly contemptuous, until he too succumbs to softer, if bewildered, feelings.

Impressive, too, is Sophie Karthàuser’s Héro. She expresses, in the opening scene, her girlish enthusiasm and hero-worship at the expectation of her Claudio’s triumphant return from the wars and the imminent announcement of their wedding. Later she is joined by her attendant Ursule (Katarina Bradić) in the ravishing closing of Act 1 duet in which they rhapsodise about the beauty of the evening and the bliss of love. Later in Act 2 there is another gorgeous trio for these two—and Béatrice, as they extol the joys of impending marriage.

Mention must also be made of Lionel Lhote’s very amusing portrayal of Somarone, the inept conductor of the on-stage chorus. The chorus is first seen rehearsing his oddly-contrived, ham-fisted wedding song, then, in Act 2, the hilarious drinking song with some very amusing slapstick elements.

The booklet in English, French and German carries an erudite essay by the author of Berlioz, Servitude and Greatness, David Cairns, on Berlioz and Shakespeare, with special emphasis on Much Ado About Nothing and this opera. There is, too, a conversation with Laurent Pelly, the director of this production. Missing, though, is a listing of all the numbers of the opera; an inconvenient omission if one wants to immediately access specific parts of the production. But, on the plus side, the eleven-minute, on-screen feature offers interesting insights into the opera and this production by members of the cast and the supporting creative design, lighting and costume talents.

This is a very worthwhile production of a comic opera that is seldom performed and little known except for its overture.

Ian Lace



 

 



Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing