Gramophone Magazine
February 2021
Blu-ray of the Month

Nicole Chevalier (Leonore), Eric Cutler (Florestan), Gabor Bretz (Don Pizarro), Christof Fischesser (Rocco), Melissa Petit (Marzelline), Benjamin Hulett (Jaquino), Karoly Szemeredy (Don Fernando), Arnold Schoenberg Chor, Manfred Honeck, Christoph Waltz (director)

None other than Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz has been engaged for the stage direction of the new production of Fidelio from the Theater an der Wien. There, at one of the oldest opera houses in Vienna, Beethoven was what one would call today a composer-in-residence. And he was this in two respects: here he lived for two years in an apartment in the wing of the building. And it was here that he premiered many of his most famous orchestral works, symphonies and his only opera: Fidelio. In his third opera production Waltz brilliantly stages the second version of the opera in the breathtaking set designed by the German-American architectural practice Barkow Leibinger. The abstract staircase landscape in the form of a double helix, symbolizing prison, extends space into the back theatre and is infinitely changeable in the cinematic lighting concept of Hollywood regular Henry Braham. Manfred Honeck at the rostrum of the dynamic Wiener Symphoniker leads a superb and versatile cast of singers: Nicole Chevalier bewitches vocally and dramatically on her stage debut as Leonore, Eric Cutler gives Florestan a powerful voice. But the production, which was sold out months before, never saw its stage premiere, as the Theater an der Wien sadly had to shut down due to the Covid 19 pandemic a few days before. Thanks to an incredible effort by all participants, the opera house was converted into a film studio at short notice so that Christoph Waltz’s production could be preserved for posterity.

"Manfred Honeck and Christoph Waltz show nothing but absolute faith in the dramaturgical success of the results...All the leads look and sound the part...Nicole Chevalier and Eric Cutler both excel, she in the even trickier fioriture of ‘Komm Hoffnung’ than the 1814 version, he in the more shaded, less black-and-white heroism of Florestan...the pacing throughout is taut and sure, including a good, old-fashioned quick pulse for ‘O namenlose Freude’. Don’t miss it." - Gramophone Magazine, February 2021.