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Reviews
Endeavour: Exeunt (2023)
Our revels now are ended
Well, that was a marvellous finale to an outstanding series, Endeavour has gone out on a high!
Many long running series end like a damp squib, not so Endeavour. Kudos to all involved, it is rare indeed to see such consistently excellent work over years.
With all 36 Endeavour films you have to pay attention to details right from the start, even more so in this final trio where the never fully resolved Blenham Vale (Neverland) rears its ugly head again. The films are peppered with subtle and not so subtle references to earlier series plus plenty of other Easter eggs. The beauty of the latter is that you can fully enjoy the films even without knowing about them but trying to detect them adds fun when watching again.
Exeunt (I'm sure Colin Dexter would have appreciated that title) gives all the main characters a perfect and often poignant farewell. They have been allowed to develop over the years and all have made the most of that opportunity- the acting has been first class from everyone!
Don't you just adore Dorothea, Max (Shall we say 2 o' clock) and all the Thursday family! Win giving Endeavour her Wednesday special sandwich when saying farewell was scriptwriter Russ Lewis having a last laugh at us because we still don't know what it is!
The bittersweet daydream sequence between Endeavour and Joan was a fitting closure for their never-to-be romance. Joan will be much better off with down-to-earth Jim Strange, who will be there to change the nappies. That scene where Joan gets to drive the car says it all! Btw- in the Morse series the first name of Mrs. Strange is never mentioned (Valerie was Robbie Lewis's wife).
Anton Lesser's Bright was perfection - hearing him recite Prospero's speech is something that stays with you. He had been looking at travel brochures for India, here at the end you see him sitting beside his daughter Dulcie's grave (the tropics...- unforgettable!).
Thankfully the reason why Morse never mentions Thursday was not the one feared by many, Thursday lives and Morse will take Fred's secret to the grave. Touchingly he spared him the knowledge that Tomahawk was Big Pete, that's another secret Endeavour will keep. The final scenes between Endeavour and Thursday are some of the best acting you will ever see. As always with those two everything that wasn't said but could be read in their faces and posture was mesmerizing. I loved the Shakespeare (I know thee not, old man) and the way Thursday says Endeavour, mirroring the pilot. Poignantly the answer is Morse, just Morse.
I had hoped that the eyes-in-mirror scene from the pilot would close the circle: it did and very beautifully and touchingly with the two Jags. Tipping the hat to the first and last of the Morse series with Endeavour singing in the choir (In Paradisum!) and Thursday's funny turn in Lonsdale College was done perfectly, as was the nod to Colin Dexter (Codex crossword setter), the mention of one Robert Lewis up north and a further reference to McNutt.
The many narrative strands and open questions are convincingly solved. I always suspected Fred's loan to his brother Charlie would come back to haunt him and DS Lott was a wrong 'un right from the start (good riddance). There was some deliberate ambiguity like the shot in the churchyard: Not every question gets an answer Fred Thursday said in an earlier film.
Sad to see it end but the quality of the films easily stands up to repeat viewings!
Mozart's Don Giovanni (1955)
A classic with the ultimate Don of the post war years
In 1953 the Salzburg Festival staged a production of Don Giovanni, not in the Festspielhaus but in the huge open air Felsenreitschule (a former quarry) with its imposing baroque rock wall. Directed by the renowned Herbert Graf, with stage design by Clemens Holzmeister, the Vienna Philharmonic and an near ideal cast played and sang under the baton of Wilhelm Furtwängler.
The success was so great that in 1954 a film was produced by Paul Czinner. Technical limitations of the time meant it wasn't a live performance, instead the opera was filmed in situ over many evenings and nights after the 1954 Festival had ended. As Furtwängler died only a few months later this film is an all important document.
Costumes and scenery are traditional in the best sense of the word and the set makes perfect use of the rocky backdrop of the Felsenreitschule stage. Both chorus and soloists are excellently directed and the acting is adapted to film- not all the facial expressions would have been seen from the audience in a performance. Audio is mono but good for the time.
Cesare Siepi as Don Giovanni was THE Don of the 50ies and 60ies and hasn't been surpassed to this day. He and Ezio Pinza, the Don of the 30ies and 40ies, were the ideal Don Giovannis, both had the physique du role, both were Bassos Cantantes as opposed to the more usually cast baritones. Siepi sings with flawless legato and goes seamlessly from lowest basso notes into the high baritonal range. He can tone down his big voice to a seductive mezza voce and has the power for the final scene. Tall, slim and elegant, he looks great in tights, moves lithely like a panther and displays all the arrogance of the Don's class. The switch to seductor is played perfectly as is the terror in the final scene. There he shows his most fantastic acting and singing, pulling himself together and standing up unrepentantly to the Commendatore, only to be overcome again by terror.
Otto Edelmann's Leporello is the perfect contrast in figure and voice. Even though the vocal range is similar there is no mistaking Leporello, but he can also pull off a Don-imitation when serenading Elvira. With his burly figure he adds comic buffo relief but also shades of the badly treated renitent working man. After he has overcome initial intonation problems the only thing that jars a bit is the not quite idiomatic Italian.
Deszö Ernster sings the Commendatore with great menace. His voice shows signs of his age in the slightly loose vibrato but the confrontation in the finale is nonetheless thrilling.
Donna Anna is sung by Elisabeth Grümmer and her portrayal is one for the ages. Her large lyric soprano is soulful and beautiful, especially in the high register and she acts fantastically- no wonder, because she first trained as a classic actor before turning to singing.
Her Don Ottavio is Anton Dermota, who has his 1st act aria Dalla sua Pace cut and in the other one (Il mio tesoro) he struggles a bit with the long phrases. I must confess I never was keen on his sound and his Ottavio is one that makes the viewer and listener understand why Donna Anna always postpones her marriage. But the same goes for Kenneth Riegel in the Losey film- no Anna is ever going to marry such a boring Ottavio;-) Mozart made this role a thankless one.
Donna Elvira was originally sung by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf but she (or Walter Legge) decided the film was not for her. So we get Lisa della Casa instead which to my taste is a positive change (sorry, I cannot like the artificiality of Schwarzkopf). Della Casa was a beautiful woman with a lovely voice. Her interpretation may be a bit generalized and she isn't as intense as Grümmer but still an asset for the film.
Masetto is played by a very young Walter Berry, a joy to watch and listen to!
His Zerlina (Erna Berger in her mid 50ies) sounds good and youthful if you close your eyes but even with the most skilful lighting and all tricks in the book you cannot overlook that this Zerlina is 30 years older than a Zerlina should be. To Berger's credit she makes the best of the situation. She isn't the only one with this predicament: I find Teresa Berganza in Losey's film also miscast and there even the voice sounds too old, which Erna Berger's doesn't.
All in all the nearly 3 hours of this Don Giovanni never get boring. In spite of Furtwängler's sometimes slow tempi he holds it all together and the singing and acting are so good that there's always something to keep your attention. For me the absolute highlight is Don Giovanni's last scene where Mozart's music transcends the classical style. After that drama the final triumphant sextet always feels like a slight letdown but that's because we hear the music with modern ears- in Mozart's time audiences would have been relieved to be back to normal.
La forza del destino (1958)
Still the best Forza on DVD
Verdi's La Forza del Destino is a very long opera with great music but poses a bit of a problem scenically. The plot is convoluted and hard to believe, think Il Trovatore, but much longer. The comic scenes were intended to lighten up things but sometimes drag on. So most performances have (sometimes heavy) cuts. This performance is no exception and yet still comes in at over 2,5 hours.
The opera was recorded at the San Carlo in Naples on 20.03.1958 (the date 15.03. On the Hardy Classics DVD is wrong, that was Corelli's role debut of which there is only a private audio recording in bad sound). The audio of 20.03. (with the prompter audible) is from the radio broadcast, the video was filmed at the same time, without sound, and had been lost. When the film resurfaced it turned out to be very dark and had to be lightened considerably which impacted the picture quality. The film also had to be aligned to the audio. Considering the technical challenges the result is good enough though of course it cannot be compared to modern videos.
Production and costumes are traditional and very much representative of what opera used to be in 50ies Italy and earlier. For viewers used to modern Regietheater the acting may at first look strange, but the singers' gestures are meant to be seen and understood in the furthest reaches of the house and so may look exaggerated or static on screen. The singing also was different, microphones (usually only one high above the orchestra pit) were only for backstage purposes and for the broadcast, none amplyfying into the auditorium, so the voices had to have squillo (ring) to project above the orchestra and into the house.
Orchestra (a notoriously undisciplined one) and choir of the San Carlo are ably conducted by Francesco Molinari-Pradelli. There is the odd misalignment between stage and pit typical of live performances and sometimes there are brief disagreements over tempi between conductor and soloists. The rowdy Naples claque also make themselves felt by throwing cabbages at Corelli (Northerners weren't always welcome in the South).
Renata Tebaldi sings Leonora di Vargas, one of her best roles, and in 1958 she was still in her prime. The voice is huge but capable of the most ethereal pianos, with a still solid top, an all enveloping velvety middle range and strong chest voice- this is simply great singing! Her big aria and the final trio are out of this world. Tebaldi was a tall woman (nearly 1,80m) and had suffered from Polio in her youth. She has always (undeservedly) come in for a lot of flak from Callas supporters saying her acting was static and her singing unimaginative. It's true she doesn't do much running around on stage yet her acting always has dignity and sincerity and her Leonora is completely convincing. In a way she can appear old fashioned but Tebaldi's role portraits both vocally and on stage are just as valid as Callas'.
Franco Corelli's Don Alvaro (only days after his role debut) is already a fully realized characterisation and vocally the role fits him like a glove. He has the mezza voce and long sustained breaths but also the ringing high notes and the raw power for the dramatic outbursts.
In the aria you can detect a touch of the (in)famous Corelli nerves, as the performance goes on the nervousness disappears. In Solenne in quest'ora which he sings lying on his back you can hear the voice of a man close to death, perfection! (Except maybe for the last needlessly aspirated addihios, but Bastianini does just the same;-) The last duet with Don Carlo is the test for every Don Alvaro, it has a low B flat (under C) where voices too light for the part simply go under/ are inaudible. Corelli passes with flying colours and apart from vocal glory also pulls off some convincingly sincere acting in a monk's robe.
As Don Carlo di Vargas Ettore Bastianini's dark baritone ideally complements Corelli's tenor, in this case I really regret that their second duet was cut. The beauty of Bastianini's voice was always indisputable but at times he could sound a bit stolid and uninvolved. This is certainly not the case here, he is fully into the action- like Corelli he was usually much more inspired live than in the recording studio.
Boris Christoff lends his unmistakeable bass to Padre Guardiano. The beard and hair seem a bit outdated even for the 50ies but his performance is certainly impressive. Vocally I prefer Cesare Siepi in this role but that's a matter of personal taste.
The part of Preziosilla is a very hard one to pull off, her music is rather formulaic and not Verdi's most inspired. Oralia Dominguez is a luxury cast and she does all that can be done with the role.
Renato Capecchi as Fra Melitone has a much more thankful role which he acts and sings with gusto, this is real comic relief amid the drama and tragedy.
The whole cast is one houses today can only dream of and as such the performance is an invaluable document. Apart from that it is the only live video of a full opera that we have of the great Franco Corelli (all the others are lip synched TV films).
Turandot (1958)
Forget about Pavarotti, this is the real Principe ignoto!
This Turandot, originally telecast on 23. Dec.1958, was made by RAI as a black & white TV-film. The music was recorded first, presumably in only a few takes (or even in one go? ). Afterwards the video was filmed with the singers lip-synching to their own recording. While this may not be ideal as the lip-sync is often noticeable it was usual at the time.
The video in 4:3 format is rather dark and grainy, better not viewed on a large screen, sound is mono but better than the video. Subtitles are available (English, German, French).
The version shown here is the usual one with Alfano's ending and with the usual cut of Del primo pianto. The latter serves to make Turandot's change of heart more understandable but Alfano wrote it in a low tessitura whereas the remainder of Turandot's role is extremely high that many sopranos had it cut.
The film's creative director, Mario Lanfranchi, incorporated elements of Japanese Kabuki, seen in the stylized poses and (hand) movements and in the mask like make up. This works perfectly for the well choreographed crowd scenes and also for solos or small ensembles, adding a dreamlike/ nightmarish quality to the cruel fairytale. In my eyes the lack of colour is a bonus as it makes for a more archaic look and emphasizes light and shadow -quite a bit of Turandot plays at night!
On to the singers:
The scenes of Ping, Pang and Pong can drag quite a bit in less than excellent versions, here they are first class, both vocally and scenically, they are a joy to watch and listen to (the House in Honan!).
The Timur of Plinio Clabassi is sung very well, up close the costume and make up cannot quite hide that he is much younger than his role.
Renata Matteoli portrays a wonderfully fragile slave girl Liú. She really looks the part and sings beautifully, apart from a few acuti with a hint of the acerbic- but not any worse than Scotto on the 1965 studio recording.
Lucille Udovich was an American soprano who made her career in Italy, chosen by Gigli to sing with him in concerts and having her stage debut in 1954 in Spontini's Agnese de Hohenstaufen. Sadly Udovich's career was curtailed by bad health.
Hers was a true spinto voice with cutting (some say strident though here I cannot hear it) high notes just as required for Turandot. Birgit Nilsson's may have been even more laser like but Udovich's voice has a warmth which makes her change from icy to loving in the 3rd act more plausible. She easily manages the fiendishly difficult high tessitura. Acting wise Turandots don't have much to do, hampered as they are by their heavy costume (manto stellato) and headdress and their nails! Udovich does it as well as any and her Principessa di gelo looks female enough to make Calaf's infatuation not ridiculous.
Puccini composed the part of Calaf with Giacomo Lauri Volpi's voice in mind. His heir (in LV's own words) Franco Corelli was the undisputed owner of the role after the war and hasn't been reached, much less surpassed, to this day. Il Principe ignoto (Calaf) is a role for a full spinto tenor who must have a high C. Anyone can sing Nessun dorma into a microphone but the whole role- without amplification- is quite a different proposition!
Apart from fulfilling all the vocal requirements like no other after him, Corelli famously also had the physique du role. The film makes the most of it, the camera closing in on his face and eyes in the pivotal scenes. The most pivotal of all comes in the 2nd act after the riddle scene: first the brilliant high C on Ti voglio ardente d'amor and then the ravishing mezza voce in Il mio nome non sai... There Turandot's ice gets the first cracks.
This film has Corelli in flexible, youthful voice and he displays not only powerful full throated singing but also subtlety, mezza voce and diminuendo aplenty. Apart from the film star looks there's much more than just a hint of Corelli's reportedly mesmerizing stage presence.
Conducted by Fernando Previtali, choir and orchestra of RAI give an authentic and italianate reading of Puccini's masterpiece.
The DVD by VAI comes with two extras from the Bell Telephone Hour (TV show) 1962: Corelli in E lucevan le stelle and Amaro sol per te (with Lisa della Casa), both from Tosca. Though in colour, the videos aren't in better quality than the Turandot film but they are to be treasured as rare video examples of Corelli in his prime.
For viewers tolerant of vintage recordings this is by far the best Turandot, a priceless document of the greatest Calaf since Lauri Volpi.
Endeavour (2012)
One of the best series out there
Having known the Colin Dexter books for years, I was aware of the original Morse series with John Thaw but had never seen it. Then during lockdown I came across Endeavour on German TV and was immediately hooked (though slightly put off by the synchronisation).
I promptly ordered the DVD sets of both Morse and Endeavour in the original language. Morse arrived first, which was a good thing. I liked them but some felt pretty dated. The bit I enjoyed most was Colin Dexter trying to upstage John Gielgud in Twilight of the Gods;-) It doesn't really matter in which order you watch, except for The Remorseful Day. Thaw is brilliant of course, so is James Grout as Strange. Initially I felt a bit irritated that Lewis wasn't the older Welshman of the books but then rather enjoyed Kevin Whately. It's a real pity that de Bryn disappears so quickly, he plays a much bigger role in the books and is Morse's only friend.
I must admit that I vastly prefer Endeavour where everyone is allowed to develop in the course of the series. Of course you can watch each episode on its own, they are all stand alone mysteries (except maybe the 3 act opera of Series 7), but starting at the beginning is much more enjoyable and lets you appreciate how much the main characters have developed and grown over the years.
All the critics out there who complain that Shaun Evans will never be John Thaw- why should he be? He's by now very clearly morphing into the Morse of the books who was a slightly unsavoury character at times. Thaw's Morse has been sanitized, Colin Dexter even changed the character a bit in his later books to accommodate John Thaw.
Introducing Thursday was a masterstroke, the interaction between Morse and Thursday is played to perfection by Evans and Roger Allam. They don't need many words or no words at all to say so much.
The same goes for the scenes between Thursday and Anton Lesser's Bright- a masterclass in acting!
Bright's character starts out as the rather inflexible and old fashioned boss and gets more human and interesting with each episode.
Sean Rigby as Strange is a dead ringer for James Grout. Initially often funny and a bit dim he matures and perfectly shows why he will be Morse's boss in the future.
James Bradshaw as deBryn usually gets great lines and delivers them perfectly. His sadly all too short scenes with Morse always are highlights clearly hinting at the friendship Dexter's books depict.
The woman are none of them in the books but are essential to Endeavour, balancing out the male environment.
Abigail Thaw's Dorothea Frazil, the independent, whisky drinking journalist is a fabulous creation, as with deBryn you always wish she had more screen time.
The Thursday ladies, Win (Caroline O'Neill) and Joan (Sara Vickers) also get more independent with each series. The will they-won't they between Morse and Joan maybe has been going on a bit too long but by now it is clear it's won't they- which is in tune with the Morse of the books.
All episodes begin with an introduction which is brilliantly filmed- and imho the introductions have been getting ever better over the years. The viewer must pay attention from the start, usually there already are vital clues! Of course the Whodunnit and its solution take up most of the time. Some are a bit outlandish, but all are enjoyable.
The cinematography is always great and the costumes, the props, everything transports the viewer perfectly back into the sixties and early seventies.
But what I appreciate most are the all too short reflective scenes between the main players which don't further the mystery but make us understand the characters and their development. These scenes are just brilliantly played and I wish there were more of them. Sadly they are often the ones that land on the cutting room floor:-(
The music has always been an integral part of Morse and Endeavour, Barrington Pheloung's Morse theme never fails to move and the In Paradisum of the pilot was a stroke of genius connecting it to The Remorseful Day. Some people complain that there isn't enough opera since Pheloung's death, but to my taste Matt Slater's music is great. There's still opera, but not always as obvious as in the earlier series. I laughed out loud in Scherzo when Strange comes to collect Joan and the music plays pura siccome un angelo from La Traviata.
I sincerely hope that Endeavour gets a proper ending with a series 9 though it hasn't been officially confirmed yet. Much as I would like it to continue, I think that will be the last.
Tosca (1955)
Better than the 1956 Tosca!
This Tosca is a black and white TV film. RAI films were usually lip-synched, but this one is done better than most.
To get the negative aspects out of the way first:
The transfer to DVD (Hardy classics) is rather sloppy, they might at least have cleaned the dust from the film! Picture quality is grainy and at times flickering and with 4:3 TV format it doesn't fill the screen. It's better not viewed on a large TV but only on a smaller screen.
My biggest gripe is the audio transfer which runs about a halftone sharp and distorts the singers' voices. (The VHS by Bel Canto Society is at correct pitch but who does or can play VHS these days?!)
A comparison to the 1956 Tosca Cinecittá colour film is unavoidable as a young Franco Corelli is in both of them.
Comprimarii:
The part of Il Sagrestano in both films is very convincingly sung and acted by Vito de Taranto, complete with limp and nervous tics. Angelotti is Antonio Sacchetti, he also gets to play in the colour film to someone else's singing- hard to understand as Sacchetti's singing is excellent. Renato Ercolani as a smarmy but subtly menacing Spoletta and the other comprimarii in the 1955 film are also good, both vocally and as actors.
Principals:
Tosca is Renata Heredia Capnist, a virtually unknown singer, I couldn't even find a date of birth. In the film she looks a bit older than Cavaradossi, so just the right age for the jealous Diva. Heredia Capnist sang a repertoire from Mozart and Donizetti to Verismo, from Donna Anna to Fedora and Turandot. Her voice is not overly voluminous but has plenty of squillo and excellent mezza voce. Vissi d'Arte is sung beautifully - lying on the floor as per tradition- with perfect pianissimi and legato. These days they'd roll out the red carpet for a Tosca like her! She is also a convincing actress and in the spoken bits of the role she easily holds her own, bettered only by Callas.
Scarpia is Carlo Tagliabue (1898-1978), one of the great pre-WWII baritones, here near the end of his illustrous career but still an impeccable singer with great legato lines and the vocal heft needed for the role. He imbues Scarpia with all the menace the part needs. A short pot bellied satyr with spindly legs, the close-ups of his face aren't flattering but they portray the vile police chief to perfection. This is a sadistic Scarpia to be afraid of.
For most viewers the star undoubtedly will be the 34 year old Franco Corelli as Cavaradossi, only 4 years into his stage career. His voice at that time still had the quick vibrato (caprino) that led to Del Monaco's PeCorelli (bleating sheep) jibe and that Corelli got rid of by 1959. A real pity the DVD runs sharp, at 440 Hz the vibrato would be much less noticable.
Corelli is in glorious voice: amazing breath control, lots of squillo and ringing acuti, but also ravishing mezza voce and diminuendi. He isn't as self indulgent as in his Met years, scooping and portamenti are less excessive and though he milks the high notes he doesn't distort the music as he sometimes did later on. His diction is also good here.
Corelli's acting and singing is better than in the 1956 film, much more nuanced and much more alive. The costume shows off his famous cosce d'oro (golden thighs) and he even adds an athletic interlude, vaulting over the railing from his painter's scaffold.
The scenery is opera style with painted backdrops, but serviceable. The main draw are the singers who are very well directed and all of them convincing actors. The camera often gets close so that you can see their facial expressions. They also act with their eyes- Cavaradossi in the 1st act duet with Tosca looking furtively towards the chapel where Angelotti is hiding, Tosca in the 2nd act when she notices the knife... After Vissi d'arte you see Tosca on her knees and Scarpias hand (only his hand) inching closer -very creepy! The interaction between the principals is very much on, the 1st act love duet could hardly be sung and acted better, the 2nd act is gripping drama and the 3rd act does really get to you...There Corelli always was at his best though in 1955 he still sings disciogliea dai veli more or less as written and without the hugely drawn out diminuendo of later years. Thankfully the camera concentrates on the desperate Cavaradossi and not on a boring lamp as in the 1956 film (really, how can you spoil E lucevan le stelle with such a harebrained idea!).
That the singers also are the actors makes it much more believable. Franca Duval in the 1956 film is a perfect beauty, but she is about as lively as a doll and not a good match to the wonderful but rather matronly voice of Maria Caniglia. Renata Heredia Capnist cannot compete with Duval in terms of sheer beauty but she's a hundred times more convincing.
Orchestra and choir of RAI are well rehearsed and the conducting of Antonio Votto is inspired. Votto was one of the old school conductors who really knew about singing and opera and who also knew that divas are on stage and not in front of an orchestra.
Of the two Toscas my preferred one definitely is the 1955 RAI version, both musically and from the point of acting. The DVD transfer of the 1956 film suffers from the same problem of incorrect pitch as the 1955 one, so if you can stomach the picture quality, go for the earlier version. Diehard Corelli fans of course will have both, if only to see Corelli's elder brother Ubaldo (Aldo Relli) as Sciarrone in the 1956 film.