Humperdinck: Hänsel und Gretel (Zurich, 1999)
 

Cast: Malin Hartelius (Gretel), Liliana Nikiteanu (Hänsel), Volker Vogel (Witch), Gabriele Lechner (Gertrude), Alfred Muff (Peter), Martina Jankova (Sandman), Milena Jotowa (Dew Fairy); Zurich Opera House, Franz Welser-Möst (conductor), Frank Corsaro (director), Maurice Sendak (design)

Recorded 1999 at the Zurich Opera House

Issued on DVD in 2001 by TDK Mediactive (DV-OPHUG, PAL/region 2 with menus in English and subtitles in English, German, Spanish, and Italian).

Technical Details:
Aspect Ratio: Nominally 16:9, in practice ~14:9
Sound: LPCM Stereo; AC3 Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1 (reviewed in stereo)

Running time: 105 minutes

Sung in German
 
This recording offers two major assets, many fine performances and some idiosyncrasies. Maurice Sendak's sets and costumes form one of the assets, placing real people successively in a dreary but not oppressive real world, then in a delightful fantasy space. Frank Corsaro's direction is problematic. He offers comprehensible, clever ideas such as cats as both pets and familiars; and confusing ones such as the horde of children on stage nearly continuously symbolizing . . . something, one assumes, though what that might be eludes the viewer. (The enclosed booklet is of no help here and hardly trustworthy since it misidentifies two of the three soloists it names.)
 
Hartelius looks, acts and sings well as Gretel, though she is a bit mature in voice and appearance for the little girl. Nikiteanu is a model Hänsel in every way. She looks, sounds, moves and grimaces like a boy. Surely Corsaro helped, but the credit must largely go to her excellent acting and singing. The only fault is that one wishes for a bit more volume from her, particularly when singing with Hartelius, but that may be in part the fault of the engineering.
 
The choice of a tenor as the Knusperhexe (witch) is arguable to begin with and Vogel will win few advocates. Lechner is a bit over the top physically and rough vocally. Muff starts off well but runs out of steam easily and fails to persuade the viewer of his concern for the children. Jankova does not inspire repose with her brittle voice and awkward movement but Jotowa is a delight. One can hardly picture a better children's chorus.
 
This performance seems almost to be two operas. Acts I and II are dark in mood with insufficient lighting even in the daylight scenes, solid but uninflected conducting and a general dreariness. Once in the witch's garden, the transformation is complete. Welser-Möst elicits a buoyant reading as brightly colored as the stage itself. Nothing is rushed, but at last one feels the dances that are in the score.
 
The sound on the disc is fine in stereo; I haven't the facility to check other modes on PAL or Region 2 discs. The picture is less satisfactory with poor edges likely to be the effect of digital correction for inadequate lighting. In several scenes, action is lost to the general, murky, brownish-grey of insufficient light. The mysteries of this recording are deepened by being unable to see the staging clearly.
 
Related website:
TDK Mediactive www.tdk-mediactive.com
 
Michael Richter, 31 December 2002
mrichter@cpl.net
 
See also Michael Richter's Introduction to the DVD, for a list of other reviews see the DVD Project page.