LET LA SCALA COME TO YOU
by George Jonas
National Post
October 7, 2005

One would assume that people who go to the opera like opera, but it's not
necessarily so. Some only like going to the opera. They enjoy getting
dressed up, thronging about in foyers and waving at like-minded patrons of
high culture.

At the same time, the assumption that people who don't go to the opera
don't like opera isn't necessarily accurate either. Some only hate getting
dressed up, and previous experience has made them despair of finding a
parking place anywhere near the Lincoln Center.

The first group is being adequately served by the great opera houses of the
world, musically as well as socially. It's the second group that has been
without succour (to use a word popular with opera librettists). Until
recently, one had to go to New York to experience the Met, even if one
didn't speak enough Russian to feel comfortable taking a taxi in Manhattan.

This is no longer so. For some years now, people who liked operas, but
disliked going to the opera, haven't had to burn a drop of fossil fuel to
visit La Scala in Milan. La Scala has been happy to come to their homes.

In the DVD age, it has become unnecessary to trek to London to see the
Royal at Covent Garden, La Fenice in Venice, Kirov at the Mariinsky Theatre
in St. Petersburg, the Bayreuth festival in Bavaria or the venerable state
operas in Paris, Vienna or Budapest. These days, the great opera companies
of the world are all making house calls.

Some would counter that, the essence of opera being aural rather than
visual, house calls by the great opera companies have been available ever
since the invention of the phonograph. I say bunk (and so would Wagner).

The essence of the operatic experience isn't aural. You may be able to
whistle the tune of Mein lieber Schwan backwards after listening once or
twice to a record, but until you've seen Lohengrin actually mount his swan,
you haven't experienced the Grail legend. The essence of opera is a
combination of what you see and what you hear, and high quality
combinations of sight and sound haven't existed in home entertainment until
recently.

They certainly exist today. A mid-range DVD player, a decent headset and an
afternoon's browsing at your local CD-DVD outlet will make a $100,000
travel experience available to you for about $1,200 worth of equipment --
and you won't have your luggage sent on a side-trip to Ulan-Bator for it.

Opera DVDs are costly, but a total expenditure of about $220 will still get
you -- for instance -- a box at the Met for a performance of Donizetti's
L'Elisir D'Amore with Luciano Pavarotti and Kathleen Battle, plus a box at
La Fenice to hear Eva Mei and Michele Pertusi in Massenet's Thais, plus a
box at Covent Garden to see Placido Domingo in Offenbach's Les Contes
d'Hoffman, plus a box at the Mariinsky Theatre where the Kirov Opera will
perform Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades for you. Considering the price of
opera tickets, not to mention the airfare to New York, Venice, London and
St. Petersburg, $220 isn't a bad deal.

Shopping for opera DVDs requires the same instinct as shopping for fruit.
Production values vary -- but then they always do. Getting dressed up for
the theatre and looking for a parking place doesn't guarantee a good
performance. If, for instance, I would have had to get dressed, flown to
the Puccini festival in Torre del Lago, Italy, rented a car and found a
parking place to see the most hideous Madama Butterfly, sickeningly staged
by Stefano Monti, indifferently sung by Daniela Dessi, Fabio Armiliato, and
Juan Pons, and cautiously conducted by no other than Placido Domingo
himself, I would have been irked. As it was, it was just 50 bucks down the
drain, about the same as a bad meal.

This Madama Butterfly is about the worst opera DVD I've ever encountered,
with La Fenice's Thais and Kirov's Queen of Spades not far behind. Franco
Zefirelli's magnificent film versions of Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana
and its standard companion piece, Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, are probably the
best. They prove that in good hands -- better make it masterful hands --
opera (or at least some opera) can be realistically staged and performed.

Placido Domingo, Elena Obratsova, Axelle Gail, Renato Bruson, Juan Pons and
especially Canada's own Teresa Stratas, turn in flawless performances,
vocally as well as dramatically. Flying to Milan to see the same production
at La Scala would have been worth it, and a $30 DVD has made it a true
bargain.

Other bargains include Ingmar Bergman's version of Mozart's The Magic Flute
-- quirky, and just a little tedious, but if it weren't, it wouldn't be
Bergman. For routine excellence try the Met's 1985 version of Puccini's
Tosca, with Domingo as Cavaradossi, Zefirelli staging, Guiseppe Sinopoli
conducting. It's vintage stuff.

If you go to the opera to be seen, technology is powerless to help you. For
social opera buffs, there's no substitute for being there. Others have a
choice. The DVD brings the most sublime sight and sound within the reach of
your housecoat and slippers. If sleep ensues, let it. There's no risk, no
embarrassment. Do try this at home.

© National Post 2005

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