Richard Strauss Capriccio
February 2006 Reviewed by: Wes Marshall Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

"Capriccio" is Italian for "a whim, a trifle." The composer subtitled the opera, "A conversation piece for music in one act by Richard Strauss." Fascinating that he chose to offer a whimsical conversation at the end of his career. This, after all, was the composer who had stormed the heavens with works like Also Sprach Zarathustra, Ein Heldenleben, Salome, Elektra, and Tod und Verklärung.

The opera accomplished two goals. First, it is a playful discourse on whether words or music are more important in opera. More importantly, it is Strauss’s demonstration of what he was able to accomplish in the world of opera, which was considerable.

The discourse is accomplished by having the Countess (Ms. Fleming) be courted by a poet (Gerald Finley) and a musician (Rainer Trost), then being forced to choose between words and music. There is really very little action, yet Strauss moves things along nicely with a brilliantly used small orchestra and simply sublime vocal lines. I count the ending trio in Strauss’s opera from 30 years prior, Der Rosenkavalier, to be amongst the most transcendent music ever written. You will get something of that goose-bump quotient here in chapter 19 of the second disc, where Ms. Fleming offers the most calmly limpid singing as she makes her final choice between the poet and the musician.

Adding to the beauty is Robert Carsen’s magnificent direction. He has placed the opera in 1942 Paris instead of the composer’s specified 1775. While that usually signifies an opportunity to cut corners, Carsen uses camera tricks where the performers are also members of the audience, and as the opera goes on, the non-verbal communication between the singers and their alter egos in the audience adds additional richness to the story. I don’t know how well this devious artifice will hold up over multiple viewings, but it had the little hairs on my arms standing on end at the finish of the opera. Fans of the work simply must see what Carsen has done.

TDK, as usual, has provided a good picture, good sound, and no -- zero -- extras. And this time there is an extra sting. We have a 148-minute opera, in one act mind you, spread over two discs. Filmmakers never seem to have a problem fitting films of this length on one disc, and usually with extras. Does TDK smell a little extra income?

In any case, all opera lovers should see this production. Rent it if you are not a big Strauss fan; buy it if you are.

• Go Back