Rossini - Le Comte Ory / Massis · Laho · Montague · Shaulis · Tézier · Davis · Jérôme Savary · Glyndebourne Festival Opera

Given the infrequency of productions of Rossini's "Le Comte Ory," this DVD performance from the 1997 Glyndebourne Festival production is an absolute must-see for both veteran "Ory" fans and newcomers alike. Happily, the performance of this infectiously delightful opera is completely entertaining, few quibbles aside.Count Ory, like Mozart's "Don Giovanni," is a sex addict on the loose, prowling about the countryside for women. But any darker shades you might find in Mozart are absent in Rossini's bright and bubbling score. Disguised as a religious hermit/spiritual counselor, Ory sets his sites on the beautiful but chaste and unwed Countess Adele. Along the way he settles for an appetizer or two. The women, you see, are all alone and unprotected because their men are off to fight the Crusades.Ory's page, Isolier, has similar designs on Adele. By the second act, both Isolier and Ory, this time disguised as a nun, get a go for Adele's bed. But the Crusaders return in the nick of time; Ory takes flight; Isolier wins the Countess's hand.Tenor Marc Laho is a smiling, ingenuous, but persistent Ory, a lovable character with expressive eyes. The terrors of Rossini's high tessitura don't daunt Laho, though I'd prefer a more focused top in the voice. But Annick Massis, the Countess Adele, is phenomenal! She sails through the role with a bright, attractive, and accurate soprano. I found myself very drawn by her graceful moves on stage. Mezzo Diana Montague is a trim and expressive Isolier. The grand trio at the end of Act II is heavenly, especially the contributions of Massis and Montague.Julien Robbins sings a stolid Governor and Jane Schaulis is a comic Ragonde. Andrew Davis conducts.Jerome Savary's direction is fluid, keeping one's attention through Rossini's repetitions. Though some silly moments, thankfully, there is a minimum of distracting stage business; the bit of Glyndebourne picnickers wandering onto the stage brings a good laugh. Ezio Toffolutti's production is tastefully hued in the color of medieval tapestries. It has many nice touches, such as the rain falling during the storm at night or the languid, steamy baths in the beginning of Act II. This is a production you will actually want to watch again, let along listen to over and over!My love for Rossini's "Le Comte Ory" was based only on the three commercial recordings. How wonderful to have the visuals in my mind's eye fulfilled by this video! If you don't already know the opera, you're in for a treat.

Le Comte Ory is supposed to be a light, opera buffo, a comic opera. This presentation has turned it from comic to tawdry, replete with inappropriate groping, double entendres and homosexual overtones. Some of it is amazingly stupid and out of context. It starts out, appearing to be a traditional presentation, taking place in Catholic France, during the time of the Crusades, with the characters in appropriate costume. When Raimbaud makes his appearance, as Ory’s assistant, to collect the fruit and cheese offerings of the waiting maidens, he remarks that the offerings would be better rounded, if there was wine. Suddenly, we have the appearance of two adult males, in present day tuxedos, plus an adult female, in a current-era cocktail dress, one of which men is carrying a woven, wicker, picnic basket, from which Raimbaud extracts a bottle of champagne. Those cocktail party characters, then walk off stage, with no further involvement. As the rest of the women leave the area, Raimbaud starts groping them and patting their rear ends, something never in the original. Having the part of Isolier, Comte Ory’s young page, played by a female, is not unusual, since a page is, typically, a young male and there aren’t a lot of very young, male, opera singers. However, when the Governor has Isolier sit on his lap, then begins to fondle Irolier’s chest, as he speaks to him, there is a strong suggestion that the Governor is homosexual, since Isolier is supposed to be a young male. While the Governor receives Isolier’s rebuke, in response, in the form of a strongly presented elbow to the mid-section, it is, at best tasteless. From there, this presentation goes downhill, RAPIDLY. Don’t waste your time or money and avoid this, at all costs, unless you enjoy tawdry, revisionist opera.

Rossini - Le Comte Ory / Massis · Laho · Montague · Shaulis · Tézier · Davis · Jérôme Savary · Glyndebourne Festival Opera I wanted to see this opera to get familiar with it before The Metropolitan production of the HD series was shown on TV.I found this production on Amazon among others. I gas glad to get this one because it is very good. I enjoyed it very much, it was very funny. The setting, costumes and of course the singers/actors were great.The only singer that I knew from other productions was Ludovic Tezier, but I read the reviewers and decided to buy this one.The whole cast was excellent. There were some funny scenes such as the one as marc Laho dressed as a nun using two oranges as breasts and loosing one of them while he is singing.This is also a character that doesn't have any concern seducing women, first as a pilgrim and then as a nun, at the end he is discovered and punished for his actions.Countess Adele and Isolier played by Annick Masie and Diana Montage were also very good as well as the rest of the characters.A few weeks later I saw the Met's production which I found very good,it is probably that I will buy it.

Rossini's opera might well have been a knee-slapper at its first performances, but this kind of vaudeville seems quaint today. If you can bring a loose, indulgent attitude to the work, it is pleasantly amusing. This production probably does the piece as well as it deserves. Musically, of course, Rossini recycles much of the music of an opera he had written that he was convinced would never circulate (The Trip to Reins) with great skill; it is here very well performed.

Despite (or perhaps because of) being an old Glyndebourne live performance, it is still splendid fun. It might have earned 5 Stars had it not been for just the one badly blemished note from the tenor early in Act 1, but the spontaneity of a live performance makes it a perfectly acceptable trade off. (Can't lay my hands on my copy but thought it was NOT a Region 1 DVD.) PS. The music was recycled, of course, in Il Viaggio a Reims, Rossini never being one to waste a good tune.

Auf dieser DVD ist keine Oper drauf gebrannt, sondern für ca 15 Minuten POP-Musik!!!NICHT KAUFEN!!! Zumindest nicht von meinem Anbieter: "moviemars.de"!!!