'Benvenuto Cellini' is an interesting, if problematic, opera. Berlioz's music is wonderful, showing his mastery as an orchestrator. The fault lies with the story, which is confused and overlong, in need of more narrative clarity, trimming and tightening.
The comparison in the review summary has been made, as both production were directed by Terry Gilliam, a fine director with many great films. 'The Damnation of Faust' was underwhelming, being excellent musically and "Ride to the Abyss" was imaginatively staged but it was unappealing visually and much of the production, set in the Holocaust, often made little sense and was in bad taste. Of the two, 'Benvenuto Cellini' is the vastly superior production and something close to a triumph. It is also better than the sole production available on DVD, which was fine musically but perplexing visually and dramatically.
Not perfect by all means. The staging does get too busy sometimes, sort of understandable considering the problematic nature of the story, and Gilliam's direction and the visual spectacle occasionally is a touch overblown and gets in the way of things.
On the other hand, the production values are certainly very colourful, also really liked the Dickensian style of the costumes and make-up which worked surprisingly well. While not always entirely working, Gilliam's staging is much more tasteful than in 'The Damnation of Faust' and has many moments of real invention with a surreal touch at times, without resorting to gimmicks and excess, and nobly tries to make the story interesting and clear and largely succeeds. No easy feat with an opera that is notoriously difficult to stage.
Musically, the production is outstanding, the music is very demanding for the orchestra and the singers and both are more than up to the task. The orchestra play energetically, lyrically, powerfully and sensitively, while the chorus are at the top of their game and act with total engagement in one of their best overall performances in recent years. Edward Gardner gives an alert, lyrical and sympathetic reading as conductor. Michael Spyres in the title role is much better than he was in 'Les Contes D'Hoffman, he was poor in that performance so there was a worry as to whether he would cope with a far heavier role. He is however is much better voice, not sounding strained in the upper register where a good deal of the Tessitura sits at, and he is compelling dramatically.
Corrine Winters is remarkably vivid and sings beautifully, while Nicholas Palleson is a fun and sinister villain of the piece, the Ascanio is played with great ebullience and Willard White is luxury casting as the Pope.
All in all, while not without its flaws, after underwhelming with 'The Damnation of Faust' Gilliams largely triumphs here. 8/10 Bethany Cox
The comparison in the review summary has been made, as both production were directed by Terry Gilliam, a fine director with many great films. 'The Damnation of Faust' was underwhelming, being excellent musically and "Ride to the Abyss" was imaginatively staged but it was unappealing visually and much of the production, set in the Holocaust, often made little sense and was in bad taste. Of the two, 'Benvenuto Cellini' is the vastly superior production and something close to a triumph. It is also better than the sole production available on DVD, which was fine musically but perplexing visually and dramatically.
Not perfect by all means. The staging does get too busy sometimes, sort of understandable considering the problematic nature of the story, and Gilliam's direction and the visual spectacle occasionally is a touch overblown and gets in the way of things.
On the other hand, the production values are certainly very colourful, also really liked the Dickensian style of the costumes and make-up which worked surprisingly well. While not always entirely working, Gilliam's staging is much more tasteful than in 'The Damnation of Faust' and has many moments of real invention with a surreal touch at times, without resorting to gimmicks and excess, and nobly tries to make the story interesting and clear and largely succeeds. No easy feat with an opera that is notoriously difficult to stage.
Musically, the production is outstanding, the music is very demanding for the orchestra and the singers and both are more than up to the task. The orchestra play energetically, lyrically, powerfully and sensitively, while the chorus are at the top of their game and act with total engagement in one of their best overall performances in recent years. Edward Gardner gives an alert, lyrical and sympathetic reading as conductor. Michael Spyres in the title role is much better than he was in 'Les Contes D'Hoffman, he was poor in that performance so there was a worry as to whether he would cope with a far heavier role. He is however is much better voice, not sounding strained in the upper register where a good deal of the Tessitura sits at, and he is compelling dramatically.
Corrine Winters is remarkably vivid and sings beautifully, while Nicholas Palleson is a fun and sinister villain of the piece, the Ascanio is played with great ebullience and Willard White is luxury casting as the Pope.
All in all, while not without its flaws, after underwhelming with 'The Damnation of Faust' Gilliams largely triumphs here. 8/10 Bethany Cox