Content area
Full Text
HANDEL: Alcina
* Naglestad, Coote, Schneiderman, Smith, Mahnke, Romei, Erbeck, Gerger, Stuttgart Staatsorchester, Hacker, 1999. Arthaus Musik DVD 100 339, 159 mins.
In this production from Stuttgart (scheduled to arrive at San Francisco with much the same cast in November), the action takes place on a single set, a palace hall empty save for a pile of the usual castle bric-a-brac: dented helmets, swords, armor, pieces of molding - and one high heel. On the rear wall, an enormous gilt frame encloses a window to another part of the palace or, at times, what seems to be a mirror - the ambiguity effectively suggests the enchanted state of life around Alcina's domain. While the set and some of the staging, by Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito, help to separate the strands of the...