Monteverdi: Coronation of Poppea Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Monteverdi: Coronation of Poppea Blu-ray Movie Review

Colorful characters in black and white.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 4, 2012

If you ask most classical musical lovers about the glories of Italian operas, chances are you’ll get an earful mostly about Verdi and Puccini. This temporal chauvinism (if that coinage might be acceded to) is somewhat strange, since the history of Italy is rife with any number of protean composers who have contributed mightily to this noble art form. In fact, it was an Italian who is credited with helping to found this noble art form. Claudio Monteverdi is one of the most subtly anarchic composers in the entire history of music, a man who pushed the envelope to extremities heretofore unseen (and/or unheard) while at the same time managing to craft a sound world that wasn’t so outré that it alienated his prospective audience (not to mention his prospective patrons). Though Monteverdi helped to establish several norms for the nascent art form of opera, and though he wrote close to twenty pieces in the genre, sadly very little has survived the ravages of time, and a relative smattering of those works ever get performed regularly. Last year saw a largely excellent Blu-ray release of what is probably the most performed opera in the Monteverdi canon, L'Orféo, but in the “now for something completely different” category, we get a fascinating if at times problematic Norwegian production of a darker Monteverdi piece, The Coronoation of Poppea. Monteverdi segues from the world of myth to the world of history (albeit somewhat fictionalized) in this piece, but in this intriguing reinvention, the court machinations of that famous fiddler Nero become fodder what plays like (and was in fact broadcast in Norway as) a miniseries.

Stage director Ole Anders Tandberg and television directors Anja Stabell and Stein-Roger Bull take a quasi-“ripped from the headlines” approach with this production of L’Incoronatione di Poppea, mixed with a potent dash of what might be termed Dynasty Syndrome, something that is probably appropriate if one agrees that the Court of Nero was something like the Carrington Clan of ancient Rome. After a brief introduction which shows Norwegian National Opera’s stunning facilities (which are as modern and sleek as any in the world, and are at least somewhat reminiscent of Sydney’s iconic Opera House), and a quick shot of the audience, we’re off on a weirdly desaturated journey that casts the proceedings largely in black and white, with just faint glimpses of red and a few other hues peeking above a monochromatic baseline. The entire production takes place on a drastically raked stage that serves as something of a cyclorama where, for instance, a faint blue sky is projected in the Prologue featuring the Goddesses of Fortune and Virtue and God of Love (all three portrayed here more as angels, replete with fluffy white wings).

The three angelic (and/or Godly) spirits are in a fierce debate about who really controls the destinies of Mankind (these kinds of preludes were often de rigeur in Baroque Opera), at which point Love (Amelie Aldenheim) states that there’s no question—Love holds the trump card and a brief review of the story of Nero and Poppea will prove it. As in any good Dynasty episode, we have mismatched lovers, unhappy marriages, and intrigue and scheming aplenty. Ottone (Tim Mead) is in love with Poppea (Birgitte Christensen), but Poppea is out to supplant Ottavia (Patricia Bardon) as the wife of Nero (Jacek Laszczkowski). A number of subplots also enter the fray, including the death of Seneca (Giovanni Battista Parodi), not to mention not one, but two, murder plots against Poppea, one led by a distraught Ottone and the other thrust upon the hapless would be suitor by another scheming courtier, Drusilla (Marita Solberg), along with a little help from Ottavia.

Since L’Incoronatione di Poppea is structured as a Prologue followed by three acts, the decision was made to broadcast this version as something of a miniseries, with each separate section airing as one episode. This is a unique and at times very thought provoking production, one which gussies up the proceedings in modern dress (something that may leave some viewers cold) as well as an intriguing production design, not only with regard to the minimal set design but perhaps most expressively to the tweaking of the video content. It’s as if Stabell and Bull want to just slightly invest this reading of Monteverdi’s piece with a slight tip of the fedora to film noir, albeit with a somewhat supernatural turn. The singing and playing here are mostly top notch, with Christensen making an appealing, if just slightly unseemly, Poppea and Laszczkowski a forceful if perhaps unhinged Nero.

What’s so interesting about the libretto (by Giovanni Grancesco Busenello) is how it actually lionizes the illicit lovers, leaving the spouse and erstwhile suitor out in the cold. This was something akin to heresy back in the day it was written and ironically would have equally failed the Production Code of the 1930s and beyond had the story been filmed in the United States. Of course, that only makes it all the more redolent of Dynasty and its soap operatic (no pun intended) kin. Living large and dangerously is a time honored tradition, and L’Incoronatione di Poppea proves that while Love may hold the trump card, Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.

Monteverdi: Coronation of Poppea Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

L'Incoronatione di Poppea (The Coronation of Poppea) is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of EuroArts with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. It's difficult to assess this presentation in standard terms, since it has been so drastically tweaked in post. You'll notice that one screencap is included of the quick pre-performance shots of the audience and hall to show that had this been released with no desaturation or other artificial boosting, it would have had excellent color and contrast. As it is, the image has been desaturated to provide mostly gray scale, with occasional flashes of color, typically red, being allowed to shine through. Contrast has also been pushed significantly, leading to the intentional effect of whites blooming quite noticeably, typically around the angelic figures, which of course is perfectly appropriate, giving them an effulgent aura (clearly seen in several screencaps included with this review). Within this highly artificial context, the image here is rather excellently sharp, and fine detail can be quite convincing, especially in close-ups. The monochromaticism along with the pushed contrast does rob the image of some fine detail, that can't be denied, but that gives the proceedings a decidedly unique visual twist that makes this production a one of a kind experience, for better or worse.

Monteverdi: Coronation of Poppea Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Some audiophiles may well be disappointed that L'Incoronatione di Poppea only includes an uncompressed LPCM 2.0 stereo mix, and no surround mix. This may be due to this release's television origins, though my hunch is there must be some Norwegian series that are being broadcast in 5.1 mixes (at least one would think so at this late date). Be that as it may, despite the lack of a surround mix, the audio hear is quite exceptional, with full, round bodied tones and excellent balance between the vocalists and the Orchestra of the Norwegian National Opera under the direction of Alessandro de Marchi (who plays as part of the coninuo). Be prepare for one big surprise: this release has a "credits sequence", again befitting its television origins, which plays out to accompaniment featuring a Flamenco-style guitar and bongo drums, certainly not part of Monteverdi's vocabulary. Once the opera starts, we get that typically secco sound of a lot of Baroque music (though this doesn't appear to be a period music ensemble), which is nicely rendered on the LPCM track without too much of a brittle nature.

Monteverdi: Coronation of Poppea Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No supplements are included on the Blu-ray disc itself. There's a decent essay in the insert booklet giving a little information about the Norwegian Opera (which was led by iconic soprano Kirsten Flagstad in its nascent years), as well as some background on Monteverdi and the opera itself (including a very brief synopsis). This is one release that certainly would have benefited from a "making of" featurette, since this production is so distinctive and unusual.

Monteverdi: Coronation of Poppea Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It may just be the case that I have been exposed to so many modern reinterpretations of hoary old classics that my critical faculties have been worn down to the nub, but once again (as in my recent assessment of Rusalka), I was surprisingly captivated by a rather radical reinterpretation of one of the glories of Baroque opera and a landmark in Monteverdi's compositional oeuvre. Some may not cotton to this production's modern dress or the really unusual video presentation here which casts everything in (more or less) black and white. But putting those potential qualms aside, this is a well sung and played presentation that highlights the larger than life emotions on display while forsaking none of Monteverdi's own inherent structure and approach. It's unusual, to say the least, but that can be invigorating sometimes. This release certainly would have benefited from a supplemental featurette explaining the production's origins and its unusual television presentation, but otherwise it comes Recommended.