The Los Angeles Opera's revival of works suppressed by the Nazis continues with this offering from Walter Braunfels—a very loose adaptation of Aristophanes' The Birds—which premiered to acclaim in 1920. In 1933, the half-Jewish composer was forced to emigrate, and his works were banned in Germany; although Braunfels returned after the war, he never regained popularity. The rediscovery of his compositions, helped by the advocacy of L.A. Opera Music Director James Conlon, who conducts this 2009 performance, reveals a deeply conservative artist steeped in late-Romantic conventions, who comes across like a watered-down Wagner or Strauss. Braunfels also transformed the raunchy Greek original into a heavily didactic piece in which two disillusioned men, called Good Hope and Loyal Friend, arrive at the kingdom of the birds, where the former falls in love with the Nightingale and the latter encourages the ruler, an erstwhile human turned into a Hoopoe, to build a new realm in the clouds, free from the gods' control—with unfortunate results. The production features a strong orchestral performance, but the singing is variable, with Désirée Rancatore a superb Nightingale but James Johnson gruff as Loyal Friend (the others, including Brandon Jovanovich as Good Hope and Martin Gantner as Hoopoe, fall in between). Presented in DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 and PCM stereo on DVD, and DTS-HD 5.1 and PCM stereo on Blu-ray, Die Vögel boasts colorful costumes and solid small-scale sets. While the work's rarity makes it worth adding for larger music collections, it's optional elsewhere. (F. Swietek)
Die Vögel
(2009) 139 min. In German w/English subtitles. DVD: $29.99, Blu-ray: $39.99. Arthaus Musik (dist. by Naxos of America). Volume 26, Issue 3
Die Vögel
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