Handel - Serse / Rasmussen, Piau, Bayrakdarian, Bardon, Hallenberg, Peirone, Lippi, Rousset, Les Talens Lyriques, Dresden Opera | 
 enlarge | Actors: Sandrine Piau, Paula Rasmussen, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Patricia Bardon, Christopher Rousset
Studio: Euroarts
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.99
Buy New: $22.71
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New (17) Used (7) from $20.34
Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 44128
Format: Ac-3, Classical, Color, Dolby, Dts Surround Sound, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Ntsc
Languages: English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), German (Subtitled), Italian (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 160 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 2053798
UPC: 880242537980
EAN: 0880242537980
ASIN: B000BK5388
Theatrical Release Date: 2005
Release Date: November 15, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW Factory Sealed - Ready to be shipped within 24 hrs from California - Average 5 workdays delivery time - Excellent customer service - Buy with confidence!
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 Wonderful, yes...but January 7, 2008
Robert Baksa (new york state)
This is a wonderful production, well sung, costumed and designed. However, I was surprised to find that it did not satisfy me as completely as the old English National Opera production. Rousset conducts an absolutely gorgeous group of early music performers in which many of the string players hold their bows in the manner often preferred by early music proponents. But the ENO production is almost half an hour longer which suggests that the Dresden performance has been cut...something that we don't expect in newer performances. Oddly, though we tend to think of earlier performances as stodgy and conservative, ENO's performance is marginally stranger than the new one.
The humor in the Dresden is more heavy handed than at ENO so that the older performance seems to sprint along in spite of its greater length.
Both casts have much to recommend them but for me the ENO cast seems more in control of their roles. Murray is hammier than Rasmussen but it is an asset in the role. In spite of occasional shrillness in her voice, Masterson always charms me and I prefer her to Bayrakdarian. Lesley Garrett is also charming and she but she has strong competition from Piau. Rigby's voice seems better suited to the cross dressing role than the Dresden mezzo for whom the role lies too low. The king's brother is sung by a countertenor with ENO and its a toss up if you prefer a mezzo in the role. I find HIM more effective than HER even though I don't really like the countertenor sound. The father of the two sisters is stronger with ENO as is the servant Elvino. The Dresden Elvino is too broadly comic and oafish.
I love Handel's music. He was a remarkable melodist and his harmonies, particularily in his operatic scores, are wonderfully flexible and chromatic. He was much more "modern" than we think of if we only know things like the Water Music and the Messiah. But his melodies are often subtle and elusive. In the da capo arias it would be wonderful to hear the opening tunes again. I feel that the current practice of embellishing the return has gone too far. The da capos are often so distorted as to be unrecognizable. This is more of a problem with Dresden than ENO and in many new performances it is becoming more of an annoyance than a delight. One can only speculate on whether the practice in the Baroque was applied as much as it is today.
The big problems with the ENO performance are that it lacks subtitles and it is in English translation. I do not mind this although some of the words are missed when the singers go to their higher registers. Human beings do not appear to have changed that much physically in the last few centuries so one wonders how much more understandable the lyrics would have been if the orchestras were tuning at a much lower pitch AND if the singers were not so pressured to develope volume to cope with larger concert venues and louder orchestras.
Of course the over riding problem with the ENO production is that it seems not to be currently available. As a stop gap, the Dresden show will certainly be acceptable.
Excellent Version of Xerxes September 25, 2007
Connor Newlon (WV, USA)
I have to agree with the other reviews, this was an interesting, well-crafted version of a fine Handel opera. One negative in this production is the feel of the set and costumes--very dark and cold. Perhaps this is a deliberate contrast to the warmth and passion of the music? For me it didn't work. However, the singing and acting overcame the stale, morbidity of the set. Another small negative is that Romilda, played by Isabel Bayrakdarian was, at times, a bit shaky in her voice and not completely convincing with her character. This is a small complaint considering Bayrakdarian did well enough and the rest of the cast is extraordinary, as other reviewers have noted. I found the overall production impressive. Would highly recommend it.
 Superb performances September 18, 2007
Marcolorenzo (Italy)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Superb singing, acting, and conducting, a classic. It will be a long time before this production is exceeded on a musical level. The settings and the costumes make reference to the turn of the 19th century Turkish Ottoman empire. It works to an extent, although the gray and black tonalities have made the job of the costumer and set designer easier, they do not add anything to the musical work. And if the sets and costumes are from 19th century Turkey then Serse is not Serse (4th century B.C. Persian) and this is disturbing also. But there is grandeur (flags waving and triumphal entrance on baby elefant sculpture at the celebration of the battle victory scene)and elegance and interesting movement and certain stage conventions (love letters written on paper, etc. ) are made easier by setting the opera closer to our time.
 Serse - Rasmussen - wow May 6, 2007
rhun10 (Cambridge, MA)
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
EuroArts' DVD of George Frederick Handel's Serse (as in Xerxes, king of Persia) is a dazzling array of voices. Handel opera edges towards the silly side, which the sets followed with an elongated, tall, leather couch, with enough room a hockey team, let alone two sisters. Nevertheless, given a chance to listen to a sterling show from Paula Rasmussen, as Serse, this is hot.
Serse's brother Arsamene is sung astutely by Ann Hallenberg. She has a wonderful sound. Playing the second banana, Hallenberg craftily goes for the sweeter surfaces of her songs and comes across as the character everyone is pulling for. She is an amazing mezzo.
Paula Rasmussen is Serse, and the woman of the match. She makes it sound so easy. Her rounded notes have a crystalline ring to them. Rasmussen softly hammers "Ombra mai fu" - Handel covering Cavalli - that's right, a tree's shade is everything! Her entrance to that aria is superb, as she comes in on the backbeat, off the band's fade, and builds her elongated phrases into something lovely. This kid is brilliant in her trouser role. BTW - if you get a chance to hear her sing Cherubino (Figaro), go for it, as she is the cat's pajamas - no one comes close. It is ridiculous how remarkable a voice Rasmussen has - she makes everyone around her sound better.
Oil and Water October 27, 2006
Frank Elliott (Hendersonville, NC United States)
6 out of 10 found this review helpful
Baroque music has a fairly large and enthusiastic following. Anyone seeking to add a superlative Handel to their collection could not go wrong with this one. For those relatively new to clasical music in general and opera specifically, you might have an adjustment phase to go through. Most of us have seen the period piece movie set in the opulent mansion with ladies in complex gowns doing the minuet with the handsome soldiers...all so regimented and ordered. Meaning, not a whole lot of spontaneity, nor are there any pratfalls, or the striking of awkward positions.
There is but one actor/vocalist in this one who does preceisly that, for a little comic relief. It is Matteo Peirone who plays the affable, take a sip now and then, Elviro, valet to the jilted brother of Xerxes. He can actually sing quite well; but is required to disguise himself to deliver a letter, at risk of his life - and therefore- disguises his singing voice as well - in a not so melifluous timbre. I have to admire that. One could call it a bad career move; and thus find oneself forever cast as a buffoon. Nonetheless, he does his part very well, and our hat is off to that devoted player who can take a bit part and do wonders with it. He reminded me over and over of the part of Dr. Dulcamara in the Alagna, Georghiu production of "L'Elisir d'Amore" by Donizetti. Handel's music is a generation before Donizetti's exhilirating melodic romps, so it is not fair to compare the two.
The opening score of Handel's Xerxes is just gorgeous. Our attention is immediately drawn to the conductor and the unsung heroes of opera, the musicians. The singers often have at least a break between long arias, but the musicians must work on and on. These do so wonderfully. It is quite amazing to hear what devoted musicians can do with a mere twelve tones. If they were not able to play so expressively , so impressively, I wonder if Baroque music would have the enthusiastic following it has without them.
On now to the vocalists, who also pull some rabits out of the hat with a mere twelve tones also. It is explained in the liner notes that in those days "castratti" played the roles. We are no longer that barbaric, thank God, to require people to sacrifice their sex lives in order to perform drama with orchestral works. It explains further that if the parts were rewritten for a tenor, "it just didn't come across the same" - words to that effect.I remain unconvinced. It still makes you wonder. All that upper range just makes me hunger for the male voice. This then, is the reasoning behind casting male parts with female vocalists. To me, this was just so distracting, it was difficult to just enjoy the drama, the orchestra, and the singing. Singing which was pyrotechnic, to be sure. The primary objet d'amore, Romilda, played by Isabel Bayrakdarian is a case in point. You certainly will find her as alluring as King Xerxes and his rival for her love, Xerxes own brother Arsamene, played by Ann Hallenberg-nor will you be disappointed with Isabel's acting and marvelous quality of voice. A woman two men could easily find themselves fighting over.
Patricia Bardon portrays for us the coquettish Atalanta, who schemes to tangle things up so she can take Xerxes brother away from her rival, Romilda - (the good looking sister). She does a fine and a cutely salacious job of that.
I save the best for last, the role of King Xerxes, and the American Paula Rasmussen who takes on the title role, including the enormous task of dressing, acting, and even striding like 'the man in charge'. But far more than that...her voice. Oh my gosh, her voice. When she does her musical soliloquy, you want to stop everything and just listen. Make a note of the scene number so you can return to it.
I bought this DVD solely on the strength of her performance in "L'Viaggio a Reims", the Gran Teatra Liceu production ( one of my top all time favourites, and if you don't have that one yet, you better act fast before it becomes out of reach price wise ). This is the most startling thing of all, I suppose. In L'Viaggio she is nothing less, nothing more, than The most comely and womanly thing on the planet. And my gosh, her voice. I think you will have to agree. In Viaggio, she does a trio with a lover 'wannabe', herself, and the fellow who has "dibs on her" so to speak...and all three take turns with a Rossini aria requiring all three to jump an octave again and again, and again. There, of course, you would hear clearly Paula Rasmussen's highly coveted mezzo soprano. Clear as a bell, and when need be, low as a foghorn, and high as a bosun's whistle. Just amazing. But the womanliness. My gosh, the womanliness of her. I can easily imagine her playing Carmen. Someone pour a bucket of cold water on me, please.
I suppose you can understand my difficulty with Paula as King Xerxes. She does a wonderful job. It is said that the violin was an attempt to come close to the human voice, and some violins are indeed, true wonders. But compared to Paula's voice?...it is nooooo contest. Breathtaking.
So please...no more casting of Paula as a male....this was interesting, and a keeper for that reason...but please...is nothing sacred? Look at her some time in a bathing suit ( vis L'viaggio a Reims ).
I have only one serious demerit to register with this production, and that would have to be the set design. Same Mr. Tomassi did the costumes, and they are par excellent - plus magnifique. But the set...oh dear God.
All black and white,(costumes also), all contemporary motif, all hard unyielding stone, all dark, and more foreboding than this libretto requires. If that were not bad enough... there's this "Erector Set" look to the cloyingly boring grid of industrial strength- square metal tubing all over the set, without relief for hours. The " Tree " in the tale, demands center stage, and it too is a great blob of pewter slag, framed within , you guessed it, the same square tubing framework. A dark, almost black "marble" floor.
It just does not work.
For the love of God, please do these devoted musicians and vocalists a huge favor next time, and let them have some say so. This array of talent deserves better than to be framed in by scrap metal. Ye gods.
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