Massenet Manon
April 2007 Reviewed by: Wes Marshall Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

The plot of Manon revolves around the choice between love or money, money or love. Manon has to make the choice, and French author Antoine-François Prévost placed enough roadblocks and hairpin turns to excite composers to make his melodrama into an opera four times, with Auber before Massenet and Puccini and Henze following. The success or failure of Massenet’s version rests on the casting choice for Manon, and here we have what may be the best ever.

Edita Gruberova was at the absolute top of her game in 1983: 37 years old, svelte (as opera singers go) and in command of a voice that could soar over an orchestra at will. And she never descended to bellering leather lungs. Instead, she was ever a true coloratura with the ability to flit around lightly like a butterfly collecting dew, and then, between two eighth notes, turn on Wagnerian power. Her voice was a thing of wonder, fully on the level of quality with Joan Sutherland or Beverly Sills. Growing up in the Soviet-dominated Czechoslovakia limited her early opera career, and she never quite achieved the reputation in the west that her singing deserved.

As much as you may love Renee Fleming, try watching her DVD on TDK and compare the two singers in "Je suis encore tout étourdie" of Act One. Gruberova’s singing is other-worldly, a rapid- fire run through delicate artistry and intense emotion, all with perfect control and the ability to float supersonic notes, even at the most quiet level.

The other singers are great additions, particularly Francisco Araiza, whose Paul McCartney-like eyes are properly mooning when he talks with Manon, and his singing of "des Grieux" is amongst the best on DVD. Conductor Adam Fischer milks the score for every last melodramatic note, creating vivid and sudden crescendos. He also occasionally substitutes ritenuto for ritardando and molto presto for accelerando, but there’s no escaping the excitement he generates.

Stage sets, thankfully, remember the Grand in Grand Opera. The TV cameras are not too busy, and the stage sets and actors don’t contribute too much extraneous noise. The crowd always seems as though they are waiting for their neighbor to clap first, lending an uncomfortable moment of silence at the end of each big piece. In most of the world, the crowd would be storming the stage for these performances. The Viennese are surely too stolid. Maybe too many Sacher torts?

Regarding the quality of the recording, this video was originally made for folks owning 21" TVs with 4" speakers. Blown up on a big screen, the picture is quite soft. The sound, while perfectly clear, is two-dimensional: everyone and everything seems to have its own mic.

Never mind the quibbles. Gruberova reigns over the role. If you have any interest in the lovely music in Manon, this is your DVD.

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