Cheap Previn - A Streetcar Named Desire / Previn, Fleming, Gilfry, San Francisco Opera (DVD) (Kirk Browning) Price

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Customer Reviews of Previn - A Streetcar Named Desire / Previn, Fleming, Gilfry, San Francisco Opera

Flamingo? Canari? Tarantula? For sure a tragedy
The libretto-writer and the composer have mainly kept the text of the play, thus going back to its social meaning, after the film that move away from it, though, maybe, with a less heavy hand due to the cutting of the last sentence of the play. The game is thus less social, more individual, and yet the main cause of the tragedy is the social bigotry of southern culture, of southern society, maybe of human society as a whole. But it is an opera and the play gets a completely new dimension. André Previn's music is very modern and it refuses all the singing variations that are so common in classical operas, particularly in the Italian tradition. That gives to the text a clarity and a force that it deserves. Yet the sensual music and the very expressive singing amplify the power of the text. This appears very claerly in Blanche's confession of her « crime » concerning her first husband. She enters a long aria that is poignant and dramatic. This is emphasized by her getting down from the apartment through the invisible wall facing the audience, down two steps to the front of the stage, as if she was moving from one place and one time to another place and another time. The equivalent of a flashback in this medium. This scene becomes central in the opera and unerasable from our memory and consciousness. Especially since Mitch remains in the apartment, behind Renée Fleming. Another outstanding scene is the finale. There, the apartment turns away to the left and opens a vast perspective, lighted in blue and misty, into which a blue-dressed Blanche walks as if she were going onto/into the vast blue sea she has just dreamed of. A metaphor of her escape, of her sacrifice, of her ordeal in this society that cannot accept misfits to the point of educating people into absurd bigotry that causes the worst dramas imaginable. A great moment of pleasure with great music, great singing, great acting. I will only criticize, moderately, the choice of the voices. The three women have voices that are too close and their contrast is thus too little powerful. The men can also be seen as being too close with the same result. In a way we were expecting Mitch to have a very low voice, that of a bass, and Stanley to be a more powerful tenor able to dominate the stage, to crush any rebellion with his sole voice. But a marvellous moment of music nevertheless.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Perpignan

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Outstanding production
A Streetcar Named Desire often seems more of a play set to music than it does a traditional opera. The cast look the part of the characters they play, the setting and props are realistic, and the performers act their parts realistically rather than with stylized poses and gestures. Many operas in English are still incomprehensible without subtitles, but that is not the case here. The music itself is secondary to the drama; it sets the mood without being harsh or distracting. Renee Fleming is fabulous as always, but no less impressive are the other singers. It's not your typical opera, but altogether highly recommended.

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A Dissenting View
I bought this opera and I believe that the reviews below are accurate in most senses. The scenery, orchestral playing, singing, and acting are all excellent, without exception. My objection is that this opera IS close to the original play and the original play is ambiguous and unpleasant. The music created to support the play is mostly atonal and unpleasant to my ear creating an experience that many people will want to avoid. So while well done, I would recommend caution in considering buying this tape.