Berlioz : Béatrice et Benedict

23,93€ – 26,29€

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[ DVD – BLU-RAY ]

Berlioz‘s rare opera Béatrice et Benedict, based on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, performed at the Glyndebourne Festival in Laurent Pelly‘s production, with the great Stéphanie d’Oustrac in the title role…

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Berlioz : Béatrice et Benedict

Berlioz’s rare opera Béatrice et Benedict, based on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, performed at the Glyndebourne Festival in Laurent Pelly’s production, with the great Stéphanie d’Oustrac in the title role…

Hector Berlioz’s opera Beatrice and Benedict is a sparkling and witty adaptation of Shakespeare’s comedy Much Ado About Nothing. The story is set in Messina, where the triumphant return of soldiers marks the beginning of a series of misunderstandings and romantic shenanigans. Beatrice and Benedict, known for their verbal jousts and their mutual professed disdain for love, are gradually trapped by their friends in a subtle and twisted game of seduction. As their verbal duel develops into a tender confession of love, Berlioz’s enchanting music accentuates each emotion and retort with exquisite finesse, creating an atmosphere that is both comic and touching.

Through the eye of French director Laurent Pelly this expression of Berlioz’s undying admiration for the Bard — his adaptation of Much Ado about Nothing as an opéra comique — becomes ‘an elegant treatise on love and music designed in shades of grey with 50s-era costumes’ (Sunday Express ★★★★). Housed by designer Barbara de Limburg in a series of oversized boxes, it’s ‘terribly chic, terribly pretty’ (The Spectator). Soaring over the ‘warmly graceful playing of the London Philharmonic’, Paul Appleby sings ‘attractively’ as Bénédict and Stéphanie d’Oustrac ‘makes a marvellously wiry and fiery Béatrice, singing with charm and acting with gusto’ (The Telegraph).

Distribution

Berlioz : Béatrice et Benedict [DVD & Blu-ray]

Music and libretto : Hector Berlioz

Béatrice : Stéphanie d’Oustrac
Bénédict : Paul Appleby
Héro : Sophie Karthäuser
Somarone : Lionel Lhote
Ursule : Katarina Bradić
Don Pedro : Frédéric Caton
Claudio : Philippe Sly

Glyndebourne Chorus
London Philharmonic Orchestra

Conductor : Antonello Manacorda

Stage direction and costumes : Laurent Pelly

Lighting design : Duane Schuler
Set design : Barbara de Limburg
Chorus master : Jeremy Bines

Press review

“…delivered with sumptuous assurance …” – THE TIMES

“Paul Appleby and Stéphanie d’Oustrac excel in the title roles” – MUSIC OMH

“The choral singing thrills, and, in the pit, Antonello Manacorda proves to be an excellent Berliozian, getting classy playing from the London Philharmonic, on wonderful form.” – THE GUARDIAN

“The production has much to say musically. Conductor Antonello Manacorda sets the mood with an overture deftly caught between Gallic whimsy and the unexpectedly sober beauty that anticipates the opera’s exquisite nocturne.” – THE SPECTATOR

“The evening’s best element is Berlioz’s score, witty, exciting, charming and just sheerly beautiful by turns, which the principals, the top-quality Glyndebourne Chorus, and the excellent London Philharmonic Orchestra all deliver with spirit under the focused baton of conductor Antonello Manacorda.” – THE STAGE

“Berlioz described his score as “a caprice written with the point of a needle” and its sparkling detail is skilfully worked by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Antonello Manacorda conducts temperately, while his cast weave words and music together with needlepoint clarity.” – THE FINANCIAL TIMES

“Stephanie d’Oustrac and Paul Appleby are irresistible in the title roles – her delicate vocal control and his generous tenor warmth make entirely credible the way her fizzing fury and his defiant cynicism are gradually eroded to reveal passionately beating hearts.” – THE INDEPENDENT

Technical informations

HD recording : Festival de Glyndebourn | 2016
TV direction : François Roussillon
Release date : 1st July 2017
Distribution : Naxos Distribution

1 DVD
Reference : OA1239D
Barcode : 809478012399
Running time : 118 min. (opera) + 11 min. (bonus)
Subtitles : FR / ENG / GER / JAP / KOR
Image : Color, 16/9, NTSC
Sound : PCM 2.0, DTS Digital Surround 5.1
Region code : 0

1 BLU-RAY
Reference : OABD7219D
Barcode : 809478072195
Running time : 118 min. (opera) + 11 min. (bonus)
Subtitles : FR / ENG / GER / JAP / KOR
Image : Color, 16/9, Full HD
Sound : PCM 2.0, DTS HD Master audio 5.1
Region code : A, B, C

About Opus Arte

Founded as a production company by Hans Petri in 1999, Opus Arte released its first DVD in 2001. From the outset, the label has been releasing recordings from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, one of the closest and longest-standing relationships they have had. So much so that in 2007 the ROH acquired Opus Arte, which in turn became their in-house DVD label. In 2018 the label joined the Naxos family, although its continues to work very closely with the ROH and maintains its base of operations at the Royal Opera House in London.

Opus Arte now boasts a catalogue of over 800 programmes, including recordings in 4K, 3-D and Dolby ATMOS, and was one of the first labels to release high definition content on Blu-ray. They proudly associate with many of the world’s finest arts organisations, which aside from the Royal Opera House includes Glyndebourne, Dutch National Opera & Ballet, Teatro Real, Bayreuth, Shakespeare’s Globe and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

As of 2024, Naxos, Opus Arte and Bel Air Classiques have agreed to pull their resources together to further highlight their shared values of artistic excellence, innovation and transmission.

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