Cardillac

'Cardillac' is a fascinating opera, not a favourite being an opera personally highly appreciate than love but a good example of why it is so easy to understand its composer Paul Hindemith's importance and significance as a 20th century German composer.

It is a very interesting and well-crafted opera with a story that is both energetic and full of atmosphere. The music won't be for all tastes for first-time viewers or listeners, however on repeat viewing/listening it came over as remarkably accessible and reminded me of why Hindemith's leaner and more contrapuntal style adopted from the 20s onwards is vastly preferred personally over his earlier expressionist style.

There are two productions available of 'Cardillac'. The earlier one from 1985 is great, but there is a marginal preference for this production from 2005. This production is more visually striking, more glittering, less decadent (although both approaches suit the opera's story very well, just that the former is more appealing) and the chorus' diction is also much clearer here and the slightly more resonant sound quality helps.

Staging is compelling and dramatic, it doesn't look static or amateurish, while the orchestra play with the right amount of textural density, decadence and warped beauty that the score demands. The chorus sing and act with vigour and involvement, while Kent Nagano's conducting is on par with Wolfgang Sawallisch's for the earlier production, authoritative, lively and lyrical.

You can't have a good opera production without good performances, this production of 'Cardillac' absolutely has that. Particularly good is Alan Held in the title, possessing a voice capable of heft and elegance as well as tenderness and bite with a rich tone. Like Donald MacIntyre, Held's acting shows perfectly a sinister character that you do feel sympathy for at the end. Angela Denoke shows off her usual compelling acting skills and beautiful voice, and other familiar names like Roland Bracht and Christopher Ventris are more than reliable.

Picture quality and video directing are also strong. Overall, this is an absolutely thrilling production and the opera continues to fascinate, takes some getting used to at first but it is easy to appreciate it. 10/10 Bethany Cox

This sumptuous production deserves to be given the full justice on film it receives here- not least because as a mid 20th Century work by Hindemith, a composer it takes time and patience to understand or appreciate, it is rarely performed. Another good reason, and one of the benefits of the way this opera was filmed seamlessly integrating shots of the behind the scenes technical wizardry and scene changes with the main action on stage, it displays the state of the art workings of the world class Bastille Opera.

The singing is up to standard throughout, but not comparable to the reference Cologne audio recording from 1968 with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in the title role reprised from the highly successful Munich production of a year earlier under Joseph Keilberth. In this respect Alan Held in particular fails to convince vocally as Cardillac the psychotic goldsmith while the rest of the cast sing their roles strongly but without enough nuance.

This seems to have been filmed as a record of the production without being a "live" recording in the strict sense of the word so both realism and superb sound quality with lively interesting camera angles are achieved without compromise. The colourful elegant sets are gorgeous in Parisian Art Nouveau style. One is unlikely to see a version of this opera produced on this scale ever again... if at all.

For this reason, despite my reservations (which can be considered "nit picking" from a devotee of this work) this film must be awarded a clear ten out of ten. You really have to have a receptive ear to modern classical music, though here Hindemith is remarkably tuneful and accessible, but I would suggest this should make an interesting gift to the friend or relative who enjoys Madam Butterfly or Rigoletto and should lead to an interesting conversation afterwards!