Customer Rating: 
Summary: Wondeful Fidelio
Comment: I love Beethoven. And I especially love "Fidelio". But I also realize how hard it is to pull it off, and why it took the composer so long to finally get the opera to its final form. The first act can be long and shapeless in the wrong hands thanks to the combination of spoken dialogue and music. A strong director is required to make sure that things don't sag. The same can be said of the music which requires a great conductor to maintain control and yet still provide exuberant fireworks but also supporting the singers' needs. The singers themselves come across some of the most demanding music in opera, particularly the main soprano and tenor. So severe is the music in its demands that rarely do any singers tackling the roles of Leonore (Fidelio) and Florestan ever sound effortless and truly at ease.
In this DVD we have not a live performance but a filmed one from 1970. (It's too bad there isn't a complete live performance of the Vienna performances that same year w/ Leonard Bernstein; parts of the performance and the rehearsals were recorded, but since I am greedy I wish there were far more existing). At first this distracts the viewer, as we see singers lip synching in different degrees of success. The acting itself is at times rather stagey as well, but ultimately one gets used to these minor points, particularly with such a sympathetic a protagonist as Gwyneth Jones in the title role. Her singing her is at her early best, just before she started having control problems. She has strong rapport with Josef Greindl's wonderful Rocco.
James King is still under rated today. We still read lots of "yes, but" qualifiers whenever critics write about his performances. Here he too is at his very best: a truly lean, masculine sound with an even tone from top to bottom. He and Jon Vickers practically owned this role for decades!
Gwyneth Jones and James King also make a truly believable couple, so important in this opera. They have wonderful chemistry together. When one thinks about it when did Miss Jones not have any chemistry with her colleagues?
The rest of the cast is vocally good, but in the visual medium with its cruel close ups rather below average--thanks mainly to the mature Marzelline and the older Jaquino. And as someone else pointed this out Pizzaro (the great Gustav Neidlinger) hovers around almost like Count Dracula! However the equally great Martti Talvela is luxury casting for Don Ferrando.
Karl Bohm is at the helm of the Deutschen Opera of Berlin and chorus. I have several other recordings (on CD) of the maestro conducting this work, and this is probably his most successful balanced between conducting and consistent singing. I cannot give higher praise than that.
Of the production itself...well, after suffering through the inanities of the recent staging from the Met (even the radiant Karita Mattila couldn't save that one), this one comes as a breath of fresh air. True it is on the traditional side, (meaning that no stupid liberties are taken from the libretto) but that works with "Fidelio".
And for a film produced almost 40 years ago it holds up very well. Maybe not HD, but heck I can live with it, particularly since it still looks so good for its age. (Or maybe I am not as fussy).
