Médée

Luigi Cherubini's (1760-1842) 1797 masterpiece is technically an opéra-comique (because the original libretto included spoken couplets between the musical numbers), but in reality this is a dark, passionate tragedy based on the Greek myth about the sorceress who married Jason after helping him win the Golden Fleece but took terrible vengeance against their children when he set her aside for a new wife. In this 2011 production from La Monnaie in Brussels, Médée is even more dramatic: the couplets have been replaced with stark, direct dialogue while the score is brilliantly played by the original-instrument group Les Talens Lyriques under Christophe Rousset. In the title role that Maria Callas famously revived for modern audiences, Nadja Michael displays enormous vocal power while spitting out frenzied rants with venomous fury. The rest of the cast—Kurt Streit as Jason; Hendrickje Van Kerckhove as his new love, Dircé; Vincent Le Texier as Dircé's father, King Créon; and Christianne Stotijn as Médée's confidante, Néris—are solid. As often happens, the one drawback here is the staging, with Krzysztof Warlikowski situating much of the action in what appears to be a large steam bath, which permits characters to appear frequently in various states of undress but is nevertheless peculiar. Still, this is a striking production, overall, presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and PCM stereo on DVD, and DTS-HD 5.1 and PCM stereo on Blu-ray. Highly recommended. (F. Swietek)