Strauss: Die Frau ohne Schatten Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.0

Strauss: Die Frau ohne Schatten Blu-ray Movie Review

Perhaps only "the shadow" knows why Christof Loy staged this opera this way.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 9, 2012

Does Actors’ Equity Association, the labor union which represents American actors and stage managers, also represent international opera stars? Some who are familiar with the rather arcane and labyrinthine rules of Equity may come to that conclusion when they see the rather odd production of Richard Strauss’ Die Frau Ohne Schatten (The Woman Without a Shadow), from the 2011 Salzburg Festival (a Festival which makes an annual pilgrimage of sorts out of Die Frau Ohne Schatten’s librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s version of Everyman). Actors’ Equity has all sorts of “levels” for theatrical presentations, from fully staged to what are called staged readings, where the actors are permitted to have scripts, blocking is minimal and there are usually next to no sets or props utilized. Staged readings are popular for plays or musicals that are still feeling their way in their early writing process, or for established plays or musicals being presented by companies with less than full coffers, for the pay rates are substantially different and of course there’s not the additional expense of hiring all the ancillary technicians who make fully staged productions a reality. However (and I know this from personal experience), Equity does not allow staged readings to be videotaped or recorded, so that now begs a second question: if Equity did somehow manage to finagle its way into representing international opera stars, why did it ever allow this production of Die Frau Ohne Schatten to be memorialized, in high definition no less? Of course the above is all stated with tongue firmly in cheek, but it hopefully serves to warn any prospective audience members for this famously obtuse and difficult work that what they’re going to get is something akin to a staged reading, and not a particularly graceful one at that. Director Christof Loy evidently had a “vision” for this version, and while it frankly can’t be relegated to that oft-derided category of Eurotrash, it’s a peculiarly odd framing device that most companies who are considering doing this piece will more than likely throw in the garbage anyway.

Die Frau Ohne Schatten seems to have been born under a figurative dark star, as it has had an extremely rocky history from it conception to its premiere and its subsequent production history. That string of bad luck unfortunately continues with this production. Strauss and von Hofmannsthal had wanted to create a sort of allegorical fairy tale about an Empress of the spirit world who needed to find a human shadow so that she could bear children. The libretto is rather infamously arcane, a sort of quasi-Wagnerian trip through the ether into a world of gods and goddesses, some of whom interact with humans, but in the case of von Hofmannsthal’s conception, all for basically the sole purpose of procreating. A woman’s place, whether that woman be spirit or human, is definitely in the home in this piece, and preferably barefoot and pregnant as well.

The problem with many allegories is that if you’re not completely familiar with their referents, you’re out in the cold, wondering exactly what the subtext of the situation really is. The problem with Christof Loy’s interpretation of Die Frau Ohne Schatten is that he doesn’t seem to understand the subtext of what he’s trying to do, and in fact he completely confuses an already arcane opera by “re-allegorizing” it, an allegory upon another allegory. In Loy’s interpretation, we’re actually witnessing a famous recording session from 1955, when Karl Böhm made the first modern recording of the piece. This is where the staged reading aspect comes in—we have singers lined up on what is supposed to be a recording stage, with music stands (clearly holding the score) and “microphones”, as various engineers scurry about twiddling dials and looking furiously busy. Loy attempts to meld the original conceptions of the major roles in Die Frau Ohne Schatten with their quasi-contemporary counterparts who are doing the recording, and the result is, to put it mildly, a jumble.

What’s so sad about this all is that the talent involved is largely impeccable. Simply seeing the names Christian Thielemann and the Vienna Philharmonic on the cover of this Blu-ray may be enough to suck in some unsuspecting consumers, and it must be admitted that musically at least this is a largely fulfilling enterprise. The score here is among Strauss’ most vocally and instrumentally challenging. Huge changes in topography create gigantic obstacles in terms of phrasing and dynamics, and under Thielemann’s always precise yet nuanced baton, the score breathes with an immediacy that it rarely ever does. This isn’t a pedantic Die Frau Ohne Schatten from a musical standpoint, and one wishes that it hadn’t been approached that way from a directorial perspective. The cast, headed by Stephen Gould and Anne Schwanewilms, does what they can given the rather bizarre dramatic context imposed upon them. Vocally things are a good deal better, with the principal roles being well cast in terms of a traditionally Straussian sound. But this is one of those failed attempts at reimagining a piece that ends up being better enjoyed with the video element turned off. It’s best to think of this Die Frau Ohne Schatten basically as an audio Blu-ray.

Strauss: Die Frau ohne Schatten Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Die Frau Ohne Schatten is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Opus Arte with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. While visually there really isn't a lot to write home about in terms of the staging concept (despite some really odd elements like dream sequences and a totally bizarre "Christmas" finale), this high definition presentation pops rather nicely in terms of what it has to work with. Colors are nicely robust and well saturated and contrast and black levels are also impressive. Fine object detail is excellent, though the video director Karina Fibich tends to prefer midrange and wide range shots that take in the extremities of the stage, or only one or two people at a time, which partially mitigates the possibility of getting "up close and personal" with the singers. Some of the loveliest moments of this video presentation are in fact the fleeting glimpses we have of Salzburg which run under the brief credits sequence at the start of this offering (I've included a couple of screencaps here, as these shots are indeed stunning, brilliantly sharp and very colorful).

Strauss: Die Frau ohne Schatten Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Die Frau Ohne Schatten features the typical DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround and uncompressed LPCM 2.0 stereo fold down mixes that virtually all Opus Arte releases do. The music is the real star of this Blu-ray and the good news is the recording is absolutely first rate. Strauss' gargantuan orchestrations sound remarkably crystalline, with inner lines being especially clear and evocative in the 5.1 mix. There are no real balance issues to report here, quite remarkable given the immensity of the Straussian orchestral sound. Fidelity is excellent and dynamic range is fairly varied within the understood context of this hyperemotional musical language that Strauss so repeatedly evoked in his operatic compositions.

Strauss: Die Frau ohne Schatten Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Cast Gallery (1080i; 00:38)


• Thielemann in Rehearsal (1080i; 25:59) contains some kind of unintentionally funny backstage footage of Thielemann rehearsing his singers in Salzburg. Why funny? Because they're all just kind of casually dressed standing around in an ancient Salzburg rehearsal hall screaming out the incredibly declamatory lines of Strauss with Christian calmly standing in a corner slightly waving his arms. Your comedic mileage may vary. On a more serious note (no pun intended), Thielemann offers up some of his always cogent commentary on this very enigmatic work. It's also interesting to see him work out tempos and breathing points for his singers.

Strauss: Die Frau ohne Schatten Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Die Frau Ohne Schatten proves how easily it is to weigh an entire production down with one simple, if devastating, misstep. Christof Loy either didn't properly think this concept through or was so enamored by the thought of recreating the Karl Böhm recording session that he just didn't care that it had nothing—absolutely nothing—to do with Die Frau Ohne Schatten. The fact that this production has such a stellar cast and especially such a remarkable conductor and orchestra makes this all the more maddening. To cut Loy at least a little slack, Die Frau Ohne Schatten is very often produced with a Wagnerian feel, to the point one almost expects to see breastplates and horned helmets entering the fray, so at least give Loy credit that he didn't go that route. But that's really damning with faint praise, which in fact is about all that this production deserves from a staging standpoint. Divorcing the music from the actual production leads to a completely divergent result, as this is overall a very well sung production, and Thielemann guides the Vienna Philharmonic in an absolutely ravishing account of one of Strauss' most soaringly Romantic scores. It's hard to really recommend this release, since the production is so incredibly muddled, but if you've never heard Die Frau Ohne Schatten you may in fact want to check this out. Just leave your actual video monitor off.