Weinberg: The Passenger / Pountney, Breedt, Kelessidi [Blu-Ray]

Weinberg: The Passenger / Pountney, Breedt, Kelessidi, [Blu-Ray] - Neos Product

Label: Neos Production
Catalog No: NEOS 51005
Format: Blu-Ray Video
Release Date: 2010-11-05
Number of Discs: 1
UPC Code: 675754029036

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Album Summary

>Weinberg, Mieczyslaw : The Passenger
Performers Conductor Ensembles Composer

Notes & Reviews:

The Passenger is based on the eponymous novel of the Polish writer and survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp, Zofia Posmycz, in which Martha (Elena Kelessidi), a one-time Secret Service overseer of the camp, unexpectedly meets Lisa (Michelle Breedt), a former prisoner with whom Martha had contact. In flashbacks we learn about what happened in Auschwitz and about the relationship between the two protagonists. The opera is sung in German, English, French, Russsian and Yiddish, and is being performed throughout Europe and the United States over the coming year. The documentary “In der Fremde” portrays Weinberg’s life, reveals the creation of the novel and the author’s memories of Auschwitz,, and shows the work that led up to the performance at the Bregenz Festival.

"[Weinberg's] loud music is very Baba Yar-ish; but in the quieter moments, he's closer to Britten at his sublime simplest...we melt at Svetlana Doneva's mesmerising delivery of Katja's unaccompanied number. The two leads match more-than-acting with top vocal quality...Teodor Currentzis conducts with a focus brilliantly rendered in the Neos sound." -BBC Music Magazine

"Even when Weinberg's music is less inspired, it is expertly made, and you get the feeling that he could meet any challenge... [his] chameleonlike aspect served him well in "The Passenger", because the story pivots on jarring contrasts - the ersatz paradise of the ocean liner set against the man-made hell of Auschwitz. The expected sombre passages in the opera are superbly done: bass chants of lamentation, plaintive songs for female prisoners of various nationalities, hammering ostinatos evocative of the industry of death. But it's the addition of kitsch that makes the work supremely chilling... The Blu-ray of "The Passenger" - one of a number of deluxe, high-definition opera videos that have lately come to market - records a thoughtful and most splendid production. David Pountney, the director, wisely avoids documentary realism, instead giving the Auschwitz scenes an unreal sheen... Teodor Currentzis, the conductor, delivers a ferocious performance. Among the singers, Michelle Breedt is especially acute as Lisa, hinting that the psychological games she plays with Marta are inflected by unspoken desire. The ultimate ambiguity of the plot is that we cannot be sure if Lisa really sees Marta on the ship. The Aufseherin may be hallucinating, her mind corroded by guilt and fear." -Alex Ross, The New Yorker

Notes & Reviews:

Run Time: 190 min.
Region: All
Picture Format: Blu-Ray, 16:9, Color
Sound Format(s): LPCM 2.0, DTS HD Master Audio 5.0
Subtitles: German, English, French, Polish, Russian



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Works Details

>Weinberg, Mieczyslaw : The Passenger
  • Performers: Artur Rucinski (Baritone); Agnieszka Rehlis (Mezzo Soprano); Liubov Sokolova (Mezzo Soprano); Talia Or (Soprano); Elena Kelessidi (Soprano); Svetlana Doneva (Soprano); Wilfried Staber (Bass); Richard Angas (Bass); Michelle Breedt (Mezzo Soprano); Helen Field (Soprano); Roberto Saccà (Tenor); David Danholt (Tenor)
  • Conductor: Teodor Currentzis
  • Ensemble: Vienna Symphony Orchestra
  • Period Time: Modern
  • Form: Opera/Operetta