4/5 A 1991 Covent Garden 'Fidelio'
  by J Scott Morrison (Middlebury VT, USA)
There are a number of really fine DVDs of Fidelio available these days. Among those are the Met's version with Mattila and Heppner Beethoven - Fidelio / Levine, Mattila, Heppner, Pape, Lloyd, Polenzani, Metropolitan Opera and one with Popp and Kollo Beethoven - Fidelio. This 1991 production from Covent Garden has been available before and has had mostly positive reviews. It is a traditional staging with era-appropriate and lifelike mise en scéne and costumes. Further, it has some of the finest voices of the time. I was especially pleased with the Rocco of Robert Lloyd, whose 'Hat man nicht auch Gold beineiben' is a delight. The first act foursome leads give us a marvelous 'Mir is so wunderbar.' As the second couple, Marie McLaughlin (Marzelline) and Neill Archer (Jaquino) are excellent. Monte Pedersen makes a suitably evil Don Pizarro. The important choral parts are movingly sung. In the pit is the young Christoph von Dohnyani who has the proceedings firmly in his grasp. The two main leads, sung by Gabriela Benacková and Josef Protschka, are certainly acceptable and in the case of Benacková, outstanding. Benacková's warm, soaring voice is perfect for the rôle. Her 'Abscheulicher, wo eilst du hin' is superb. The couple's acting is somewhat generic.

This would not be my first choice if you are going to have just one DVD of this great opera. I would give the palm to the Met/Levine/Mattila/Heppner/Pape version. But it would not be bad for a second version.

TT: 125mins; Sound: PCM stereo; Subtitles: German, French, English,T Italian, Dutch, Spanish; Format 4:3; Region Code: 0 (worldwide); NTSC.

Scott Morrison