Derek Bailey Music

I concur with the negative opinions already expressed.

First the positives: beautiful music, Wagnerian with a lyrical twist.

The negatives: first off: maybe I'm spoiled, but in this day there is no reason for an opera DVD NOT to have subtitles (I hope the double negative makes sense). The fact that it is sung in English is no excuse, especially when Rusalka or the Princess is going full-bore in some big ensemble. (Loud sopranos are more difficult to understand than loud male voices.) I understood maybe one-third of the libretto. Given the heavy reinterpretation given this staging, the listener needs all the clues he/she can have. Fortunately, the Met Opera web site had a synopsis that filled in some holes. That's one star off there.

Secondly, the production makes hash of the story. While some of the negative comments of one of my fellow reviewers seems to me to be nitpicking, the general thrust seems to be valid: there is no way to integrate the story, what you see on stage, and what you hear.

In the first place, if I hadn't read the blurb on the DVD case (one or two sentences long) outlining the Freudian interpretation, there is no way to see it in the staging. The story interprets the staging, not the other way around.

In the second place, based on this Freudian view, the ending makes no sense. Are we to believe that Rusalka should have never grown up? Or, are we to say that all men are jerks, all women are ..., and that "coming of age" sexually will transform women into demonic seductresses who will inevitably kill men? Huh????!!!

That leads to my third criticism of the staging: a fairy story only works AS A FAIRY STORY. Since Tolkien (Lord of the Rings) is all the rage right now (January 2004), let me invoke him: to allegorize a fairy tale is to kill it. One must let the mythic archetypes stand on their own, speaking their own truth, telling their own story.

The mis-staging costs another star.

Generally, we have a four star DVD here, but these errors, 4-2 = 2 stars.

P. S. In checking around on the web for more info on this work, I've learned that there is a new DVD of Rusalka with Renee Fleming in the title role. Unfortunately, at the time of this writing it is only available in UK. Hopefully we can get it soon. Wait for it.

This version of Rusalka Is beautifully sung in English, not Czech. Since Czech is not the most accessible language to many of us in the English speaking world, I have no problem with this aspect. There have always been different opinions about translating operas, but whatever your preference, it certainly is not a bad thing to have a choice! The point to keep in mind about this performance is first of all, its wonderful quality of artistry, and second, the innovative approach to the story. I would not interpret this as a Freudian approach. While it is true that the setting is an Edwardian nursery, the girls within it should not be considered human! Despite what the notes may say, there is nothing in the performance to support the idea that Rusalka is human. During her transformation from nymph to woman, there is even a symbolic cutting of a binding on her legs. This can be seen as pointing out the similarity to the transitions of human experience, and the agonies that often result--the very point to the metaphor of Hans Christian Andersens's story. I found the whole approach very effective and in no way distracting from the storyline.
This is a wonderful version of a beautiful, lyrical, and touchingly sad opera. If you want a performance of Rusalka in English, don't hesitate to try this. By the way, there is no lip-synching here, thank goddness!

I bought this because I love Dvorak, and know little or nothing about his operas...I confess I began to watch it without reading the plot synopsis...tried to figure out what was going on without it...I think it's a reasonable expectation that one should be able to understand the plot that way. So...what's with this girl in the swing, and the pond in the middle of the bedroom floor? OK...it's a modern interpretation...oh, she's a water nymph, and she's sitting in a tree. It's not that her bedroom has flooded; it's a woodland pond. Sigh. I hate these modern versions--a fairy tale should be a fairy tale, and in the case of an opera like this, which is not as well known as most, most viewers will (like me) never have seen it before, so why not go with a real tree, a pond, etc.? This modern nonsense spoils it. Can we expect to see Hansel and Gretel set in the South Bronx? Also, I agree with others...just because it's sung in English (why on earth?) doesn't mean it doesn't need subtitles. I can only catch about half of the words. The music is great, and the singing is OK (the prince is too old and too fat to be her love object), but overall it's a disappointment

Yes, as everyone else says this is not the quaint fairy tale that Dvorak envisioned (and it is sung in sometimes garbled English), but it is an original and terribly moving evocation of a similar story--an unusual, different sort of being (a wood nymph in the original, here a young adolescent) who longs for a perfect, "normal" relationship and is left tragically betrayed and alone, if loved very briefly. The staging is starkly modern and at the same time Victorian (it makes Robert Carsen's Paris production with Fleming look very derivative); the singing is always heartfelt and impressive, although Rusalka (Hannan) has a few weak moments especially in act 2. The orchestral sound is generally good although the winds are at times strangely wobbly. But the final effect of this version of a quintessential romantic score is a revelation of deep human meaning that most traditional productions have not touched (including the Met one). Beautifully filmed.

Performance was not bad, but why in the world go to the trouble of translating the libretto into English? I didn't understand much more than if it had been in Czech with NO subtitles. Putting it in English also distorts Dvorak's musical phrasing. I guess I missed the small print on this one.... if I had known there were no subtitles I would not have purchased it and I'm sure Amazon won't take it back for that reason.

I concur with the negative opinions already expressed.

First the positives: beautiful music, Wagnerian with a lyrical twist.

The negatives: first off: maybe I'm spoiled, but in this day there is no reason for an opera DVD NOT to have subtitles (I hope the double negative makes sense). The fact that it is sung in English is no excuse, especially when Rusalka or the Princess is going full-bore in some big ensemble. (Loud sopranos are more difficult to understand than loud male voices.) I understood maybe one-third of the libretto. Given the heavy reinterpretation given this staging, the listener needs all the clues he/she can have. Fortunately, the Met Opera web site had a synopsis that filled in some holes. That's one star off there.

Secondly, the production makes hash of the story. While some of the negative comments of one of my fellow reviewers seems to me to be nitpicking, the general thrust seems to be valid: there is no way to integrate the story, what you see on stage, and what you hear.

In the first place, if I hadn't read the blurb on the DVD case (one or two sentences long) outlining the Freudian interpretation, there is no way to see it in the staging. The story interprets the staging, not the other way around.

In the second place, based on this Freudian view, the ending makes no sense. Are we to believe that Rusalka should have never grown up? Or, are we to say that all men are jerks, all women are ..., and that "coming of age" sexually will transform women into demonic seductresses who will inevitably kill men? Huh????!!!

That leads to my third criticism of the staging: a fairy story only works AS A FAIRY STORY. Since Tolkien (Lord of the Rings) is all the rage right now (January 2004), let me invoke him: to allegorize a fairy tale is to kill it. One must let the mythic archetypes stand on their own, speaking their own truth, telling their own story.

The mis-staging costs another star.

Generally, we have a four star DVD here, but these errors, 4-2 = 2 stars.

P. S. In checking around on the web for more info on this work, I've learned that there is a new DVD of Rusalka with Renee Fleming in the title role. Unfortunately, at the time of this writing it is only available in UK. Hopefully we can get it soon. Wait for it.

This version of Rusalka Is beautifully sung in English, not Czech. Since Czech is not the most accessible language to many of us in the English speaking world, I have no problem with this aspect. There have always been different opinions about translating operas, but whatever your preference, it certainly is not a bad thing to have a choice! The point to keep in mind about this performance is first of all, its wonderful quality of artistry, and second, the innovative approach to the story. I would not interpret this as a Freudian approach. While it is true that the setting is an Edwardian nursery, the girls within it should not be considered human! Despite what the notes may say, there is nothing in the performance to support the idea that Rusalka is human. During her transformation from nymph to woman, there is even a symbolic cutting of a binding on her legs. This can be seen as pointing out the similarity to the transitions of human experience, and the agonies that often result--the very point to the metaphor of Hans Christian Andersens's story. I found the whole approach very effective and in no way distracting from the storyline.
This is a wonderful version of a beautiful, lyrical, and touchingly sad opera. If you want a performance of Rusalka in English, don't hesitate to try this. By the way, there is no lip-synching here, thank goddness!

I bought this because I love Dvorak, and know little or nothing about his operas...I confess I began to watch it without reading the plot synopsis...tried to figure out what was going on without it...I think it's a reasonable expectation that one should be able to understand the plot that way. So...what's with this girl in the swing, and the pond in the middle of the bedroom floor? OK...it's a modern interpretation...oh, she's a water nymph, and she's sitting in a tree. It's not that her bedroom has flooded; it's a woodland pond. Sigh. I hate these modern versions--a fairy tale should be a fairy tale, and in the case of an opera like this, which is not as well known as most, most viewers will (like me) never have seen it before, so why not go with a real tree, a pond, etc.? This modern nonsense spoils it. Can we expect to see Hansel and Gretel set in the South Bronx? Also, I agree with others...just because it's sung in English (why on earth?) doesn't mean it doesn't need subtitles. I can only catch about half of the words. The music is great, and the singing is OK (the prince is too old and too fat to be her love object), but overall it's a disappointment

Yes, as everyone else says this is not the quaint fairy tale that Dvorak envisioned (and it is sung in sometimes garbled English), but it is an original and terribly moving evocation of a similar story--an unusual, different sort of being (a wood nymph in the original, here a young adolescent) who longs for a perfect, "normal" relationship and is left tragically betrayed and alone, if loved very briefly. The staging is starkly modern and at the same time Victorian (it makes Robert Carsen's Paris production with Fleming look very derivative); the singing is always heartfelt and impressive, although Rusalka (Hannan) has a few weak moments especially in act 2. The orchestral sound is generally good although the winds are at times strangely wobbly. But the final effect of this version of a quintessential romantic score is a revelation of deep human meaning that most traditional productions have not touched (including the Met one). Beautifully filmed.

Performance was not bad, but why in the world go to the trouble of translating the libretto into English? I didn't understand much more than if it had been in Czech with NO subtitles. Putting it in English also distorts Dvorak's musical phrasing. I guess I missed the small print on this one.... if I had known there were no subtitles I would not have purchased it and I'm sure Amazon won't take it back for that reason.