Wednesday 27 October 2010

Il Mondo della Luna

Joseph Haydn:-
Il Mondo della Luna
live recording from the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, 2009
directed by Tobias Moretti
Dietrich Henschel, Vivica Genaux, Bernard Richter, Christina Landshamer, Maite Beaumont, Markus Schafer
Concentus Musicus Wien
cond: Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Running time: 167'
+ Interview with Nikolaus Harnoncourt: 26'
DVD & Blu-ray
Released 27th September 2010




Ernesto's aria Begli occhi vezzosi sung by Vivica Genaux


(from an Amazon customer review)

The Theater an der Wien has been able to do what the Salzburg Festival has not: secure Nikolaus Harnoncourt's committment to conduct an opera once a year. He has done Haydn's Orlando Paladino, Stravinsky's The Rake`s Progress, and in 2010 Haendel's Rodelinda. Il Mondo della Luna is his second collaboration with Tobias Moretti, a well known German actor who has been increasingly active in the field of opera production. The first production they did together was Mozart`s La Finta Giardiniera at the Zurich opera, also available on DVD.

I really enjoyed this production, hilarious in parts but very serious in others(...) This is Haydn at his best. A complete whirlpool of emotions that has you laughing and crying at the same time. The singing was excellent, but the real star is Harnoncourt; the story comes alive under his hands, the tension is never released and most of all the human side of the characters is brought out to such a degree that the whole thing holds a mirror in front of you that can be painful at times...

I do not think that there is any production available that brings out the stunning genius of Haydn as a composer and as an opera composer to such a degree as this production does. Often underestimated, Haydn knows very well what goes on inside of us and how to address it. Perhaps he, in the end, is the true star of this production(...)  As Harnoncourt rightly says, when you scratch the surface of Haydn you find absolute madness just underneath.

Genaux again, singing Qualche volta non fa male


A concert performance of Haydn's Orlando Paladino by Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Berlin Philharmonic is available as an online concert on the orchestra's Digital Concert Hall (€9.90 for a 24 hour ticket)

An excerpt from the concert:-


An excerpt from the interview with Nikolaus Harnoncourt available on the same page:-


No comments:

Post a Comment