Stravinsky: The Nightingale (Paris, 1999)

Cast: Natalie Dessay (Nightingale), Marie McLaughlin (Cook), Violeta Urmana (Death), Laurent Naouri (Chamberlain), Maxime Mikhailov (Bonze), Albert Schagidullin (Emperor); Orchestre at Choeurs de l'Opéra National de Paris, James Conlon (conductor), Christain Chaudet (director)

Produced in a French studio.

Issued on DVD by Virgin Classics in 2005 [5442429, NTSC/all regions, menus in English, subtitles in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian]

Technical details
Aspect ratio 16:9
Sound PCM Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1

Running Time: 50 minutes
Sung in Russian
It may be best to take the indisputable and conventional aspects of this review first; the rest is problematic, even paradoxical. The basic audio of this film is that of the 1999 EMI CD release. It is excellent on every count: conducting, playing, singing and recording. This disc is a fairy-tale film using the recording as its soundtrack. The singers are the actors and prove exemplary in that capacity as well. In a broader sense, the film is a synthesis around the soundtrack and is in no sense a realization, let alone a staging of Stravinsky's work. Indeed, a second sound track is provided with effects which enhance the film as cinema but are extraneous or worse to the music itself. It may be worth noting that the supplements on the making of the film and of its special effects take more time (52 minutes) than the opera itself (50 minutes).

This, then, is a bifurcated review. Taken as a recording of the opera, it is a failure. The imagery distracts from the work rather than realizing it; one is consistently wondering 'What is that?' or 'Where did all of those come in?' rather than feeling that the music has been filled out. However, taken as an experience in cinema, perhaps in psychedelic cinema, it is a triumph.

Related website:
Virgin Classics www.virginclassics.com/
 
Michael Richter, 25 June 2005
mrichter@cpl.net
 
See also Michael Richter's Introduction to the DVD, for a list of other reviews see the DVD Project page.