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Rating: - A Complete Don
A history of a French Don Carlos mirrors the failure of France to provide singers whose career is based on that language. The DVD under consideration reflects that deterioration in that not one singer can claim it as their first language. The Don is Mexican, Posa a Dane, Elizabeth a Georgian, Philip an Englishman,Eboli, a German. As a result we really don't anything resembling French production although Vargas, Miles and Skovhus are better at it than Tamar and Michael. Tamar, howeve, has a beautiful lyrico spinto voice and Michael are somewhat careless. Even with these criticisms I am thrilled that it is a complete text and unlikely to be challenged in the next few years.

What can be challenged and should be is the Konswitschy staging. It is not as grotesque as his Lohengrin but it is not worthy of this opera. I have no objection to minimalism or updating as such in many recent Regie productions, but to reduce this opera to essentially three walls,against which the action is played makes no sense. The ballet and the Auto-da-fe are silly in concept; the ballet can be omitted but not the latter which contains essential dramatic elements. But to stage it as he has is truly unfortunate treating it as a telecast coming from the opera house!

Fortunately there is enough good singing that compensates for much of the non-production. Vargas is clearly at the limits of his talent with this role. (Apparently Villazon in a current ROH production has unwisely chosen the role as his return to the stage;the reviews have not been good)Vargas' French is as good as Domingos' and although he is not the actor that Alagna is he is clearly involved and committed which go for a lot in my book. Iano Tamar apparently restricts her career to Europe; a pity since she is a genuine spinto--at least in the smaller houses of Europe. The voice is beautiful and she uses it musically. This is probably the only French role she sings and it shows in her cavalier treatment of the text. Skovhus, a lyric baritone, has wisely restricted his career (for the most part)to Europe. Although he sang Kurvenal it was at Glyndebourn, a 1000 seat house. Perhaps in time he may be a Verdi baritone, but I doubt it. Miles sings Philip beautifully, but he does not have the charisma of a Christoff or Ghiaurov. I think that the production is partly to blame, that and his "Englishness". Michael's Eboli is better than Meier's but it still isn't the right kind of voice. She is now singing Salome at ROH, but it is difficult to hear that role in her voice.

There exists a CD version of the opera, but I have reached a stage in my life when I am now opting for a DVD--even in cases when no DVD can mesure up what is available on CD (I refer principally to the great recording from Bayreuth emanating in the fifties). A ticket to the opera is very expensive--at least for a decent seat and for a much smaller investment I am able to see operas that can be made available in my living room. They repay watching in a way a CD can't.

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Rating: - Horrible torture
Truly awful. A very bad production. Conductor Bertrand de Billy gives a dull performance. Male singers don't do their job -besides having a dreadful French. Nadia Michael's Eboli would be the only one positive point. Konwitschny directed the opera for the stage and he's the first reason not to buy this dvd: nothing original or interesting here, his little bourgeois mediocrity is everywhere in his choices, the worst being the ballet replaced by a ridiculous «Eboli's dream». What is the point having the original score if it's butchered like this?
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À la sortie de ce dvd, les critiques étaient très partagés : si «Opéra magazine» l'encensait, «Diapason» publiait une très mauvaise critique. Malheureusement avec raison.

Musicalement d'abord, toutes les erreurs ont été accumulées : un chef en pilote automatique, des chanteurs inadéquats vocalement et un mépris absolu pour la langue. La leçon du quintuple vinyl Deutsche Grammophon enregistré dans les années 80 avec Domingo et Abbado n'a malheureusement pas porté. C'est même pire car Bertrand de Billy est d'une insignifiance rare. Et encore une fois pourquoi monter cet opéra en français si les chanteurs ne peuvent que mâchouiller la langue et en détruire la prosodie ? Cela pourrait à l'extrême limite passer si ces derniers étaient adaptés à leur rôle. Las ! Ramón Vargas est dépassé par Don Carlos et ses allures de Sancho popotte ne font que noircir le tableau. Bo Skovhus braille son Rodrigue et ne sait pas quoi faire de sa grande carcasse (surtout quand il chante vautré sur le pauvre Vargas). Alastair Miles est un mauvais Philippe II sourd et inexpressif. Les femmes sont plutôt meilleures : Iano Tamar est une Élisabeth convaincante à qui il ne manque plus que des cours à l'Alliance française ; Nadia Michael enfin, est une bonne Eboli qui compense ce qui lui manque en voix par une présence dramatique admirable (ce qui est habituel chez elle, sa Médée bruxelloise de mai 2008 en est un autre exemple). Par ailleurs cette chanteuse allemande est la seule de toute la distribution à avoir un bon français.

L'intérêt du dvd est bien sûr de montrer la mise en scène. Et là, c'est dantesque. Peter Konwitschny a d'abord eu à coeur de faire du laid avec les habituels néons. Ensuite il s'est employé à supprimer toute grandeur. Toute mise en scène moderne qui se veut pensée comme la sienne est en fait l'expression d'une dégringolade petite-bourgeoise, ce qui sied mal à Schiller, à Verdi, à l'Espagne du siècle d'or ou même à tout opéra. Le clou en est le ballet. Bien sûr, on peut toujours épiloguer sur la pertinence du ballet ou sur la qualité de la musique, mais si on le joue pourquoi ne pas donner la vraie Peregrina, le couronnement d'Élisabeth/Eboli, que finalement on n'a jamais vu ? Cette fois, nous avons droit à un «Rêve d'Eboli», où elle s'imagine dans un HLM mariée à Carlos et recevant ses beaux-parents pour une pizza livrée par «Posa's pizza». Évidemment cela se veut être de l'humour mais cette trivilisation facile en dit long sur la palette limitée dont dispose le metteur en scène. Aller au-delà des personnages de Schiller pour retrouver les vrais personnages historiques aurait été un défi nettement plus intéressant comme idée de mise en scène mais cela aurait demandé de la culture et du travail et non simplement d'avoir une seule pauvre idée indigne de la plus minable des agences publicitaires. Ana Mendoza de la Cerda, princesse d'Eboli et grande d'Espagne a eu un destin autrement plus intéressant que ce que montre Konwitschny. Car il ne s'arrête pas là, puisque comme dans une comédie de boulevard on la surprend dans le lit de Philippe II (contresens du point de vue du livret) et l'Inquisiteur marche sur sa robe en entrant dans le cabinet du roi. Autre idiotie : elle s'auto-mutile et s'énuclée l'oeil gauche. Pourquoi se mutiler, et surtout cet oeil-là ? (Dans la réalité Eboli avait un bandeau sur l'oeil droit mais cela n'a rien à voir avec ce qui se passe dans l'opéra puisqu'il s'agit d'une séquelle d'un duel avec un page de son père.) Dernière idée saugrenue : l'autodafé est transformé en retransmission télévisée à cheval sur la scène et les couloirs de l'Opéra. La présentatrice annonce donc le roi et sa cour comme s'il s'agissait de candidats à une émission de télévision-réalité. Bien sûr, à des prisonniers politiques sur scène correspond un lâcher de tracts dans la salle. Attention : idée politique forte. Bref, les grosses Birkenstock de M. Konwitschny sont bien lourdes ! Le pire est peut-être que ces idées pesantes et sur-appuyées sont présentées comme novatrices et originales alors que l'on est dans le ressassé petit-bourgeois le plus absolu.

En bref, quatre heures bien pénibles...

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Rating: - Stupid Staging of Verdi's Great Opera
The French Don Carlos (rather than the Italian Don Carlo) is one of my favorite operas and one of Verdi's greatest. Unfortunately, although this version is well sung, it is a horror visually. One can see the details of this silly production from the other reviews. In their first scene together Carlos and Elisabeth play pick-up-sticks. In the following scene Carlos and Posa crawl around on all fours and behave like drunken fraternity brothers. But the unsurpassed horror is converting the ballet into a cozy scene where Eboli cooks a chicken and has the folks to dinner. It's called Eboli's dream in this produciton--though nightmare is more like it. (At this point I decided just to listen and not watch. I recommend this to all from the beginning.)
One wonders why opera companies trust so many of their productions not just to staging directors with no talent but to blithering idiots. Surely someone in the company should know better.
Watch the Paris opera version. That's Don Carlos. This is not.

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Rating: - Not only another Don Carlo... is OTHER Don Carlo
Don Carlo is an opera that have a lot of different versions, also in italian and in the original french.
Can't compare this version with another one because there's no one more with the original complete music presented in the premier.
The versions before the Abbado's in the early 80's were in four acts and italian lyrics. Since the resurrection of the five acts a lot of versions are presented... like a lot times Verdi's review his work.
Miles is not the best Phillip II... wonder why not do a more dramatic acting. Skovhus is a remarkable acting Posa, but his voice is not the dark that matches perfectly with the role, but... his colleagues are so lyrical too.
Tamar and Michael are a perfect couple fighting for Carlo's love. Their voices matches well between them and with Vargas'. Only good things to say about them.
Vargas is on the dramatic limit of his voice. He is more lyric, more romantic tenor, nevertheless, his technique gives us a good Carlo, with perfect diction and a marvelous color.
Despite other reviews, I think there's no one to compare.
The Chatelet one is more brilliant, more colorful, yes, with van Dam, Alagna and Mattila in their best.
The italian version with Lloyd and Villazon have voices that matches better with the roles, it's true.
But the other works have... other music...
Can hear the difference between versions in the openning phrases and music of the Posa-Carlos duet in the beginning of second act. The same duet? No, is other duet.
Think this version needs time... give it and enjoy listening...
The scene (maybe I must to say "the walls" instead "scene", because it doesn't exist) is the bad point... very bad, but the music make the job.

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Rating: - Verdi with controversy but with depth
A very powerful performance this. It uses every note Verdi originally wrote for the Paris production including the ballet music. It is a very good performance with Skovhus and Miles standing out from a fine cast. There are better performances on the other DVDs but this one can pass the test and it has other virtues going for it.
The controversy lies as it does in the regie production. Konvitchny may be controvesial but I 've found if you hear him out he not only makes sense but offers keen insights into the piece. His direction offers depth of character as few productions do. As to the scenery the Fontainblue act is played fairly realistically and with a real dash of color which disappears when Elisabeth is stripped and fitted with the black which is the only color in the Spanish court. As the act ends a three walled box descends from above obliterating the starry sky. The rest of the opera will be played within this white prison until the final moments offer a way out for Carlos and Elisabeth.
There are touches where you are shocked such as Carlos and Rodrigo crawling around on the floor as they pledge loyalty to one another until you realize they are renewing their childhood friendship. The most controversial events occur in the 3rd act. Konvitchny replaces the ballet by Eboli's dream of life with Carlos - set in a 60s iiving room. It is the only color since the first act - the only escape from the stiffling court. If you decide to do the ballet in a production such as this what are you to do? Tutus just wouldn't do. I think he makes a case for his idea.
Then Konvitchny tranfers the Auto da Fe to the theater itself. A TV announcer gives commentary from the lobby as the royal family and the grand inquisitor take their seats. This audacity elicts both applause and loud boos from the audience. But is it out of place? The first time I heard Don Carlo I wondered what this scene had to do with the rest of the opera. Would Verdi have written it were it not de rigeur for a Grand Opera? Only about 10 minutes concerns the overall plot. The rest is superfluous. Why not make a statement showing how we are still complicitous in murder? Certainly makes sense to this American at this time. Finally there is the matter of the ending. Verdi himself never found a satisfactory solution. Every other production I've seen just sputters out. I won't give away Konvitchny's solution, but it delivers a tremendous wallop. Is this a traditional comfy production? Not on your life. But does it give insight into these suffering people: wondrously human characters caught in a system in which even Philip and the Grand Inquisitor are victims? Indeed it does.