Starring: Placido Domingo, Elizabeth Futral, Michelle DeYoung, Paul Groves, Hao Jiang Tian Directed by: Zhang Yimou, Brian Large Binding: DVD Published: 2008-09-16
The Metropolitan Opera's acclaimed Live in High-Definition series, which projects live performances into theaters across the globe, has met with unprecedented critical and commercial success and has made opera convenient and affordable to millions of viewers worldwide. Now, EMI Classics is proud to collaborate with The Met to release 6 new DVDs made from these broadcast performances. Legendary tenor Plácido Domingo leads an all-star cast in this visually stunning opera by Academy Award-winning composer Tan Dun (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon). Commissioned by The Met in the mid-1990s, this spectacular new production was one of the most highly-anticipated cultural events of the 2006-07 Metropolitan Opera season, combining the expressive power of traditional ancient Chinese singing with the long musical lines of Italian Opera. Conducted by Tan Dun himself, with revered Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou (Hero, Raise the Red Lantern) directing and Oscar-winner Emi Wada designing the costumes. A remarkable performance!
The First Emperor is one of those spectacular MET stagings, bursting with colorful costumes and striking sets in noted film director Zhang Yimou's production. It's been billed as a "global opera" in its mixture of traditional Chinese and Western music written by Tan Dun, who has successfully bridged the two in his compositions, perhaps most effectively in his film music. The opera's based on supposed incidents in the life of Qin Shi Huang, whose military conquests unified China in 221 BC. He's credited with building a centralized state, constructing the Great Wall, codifying the laws, and standardizing weights and measures. His efficiency also extended to ruthlessly suppressing dissent and murdering scholars, which could indicate a subtext that makes him a stand-in for Mao Zedong. The libretto, by the composer and Ha Jin, largely conforms to Western epic opera traditions, revolving around the tribulations of an ambitious power-seeker, his daughter's love for the composer Jianli, and the Emperor's desire for her to marry a general for political reasons. The bloody ending involves the death of the three members of the love triangle and the Emperor's ascension to the throne where he hears the anthem composed for the occasion by Jianli, which turns out to be the song of the slaves building the Great Wall.
The opera opens with a promising scene based on traditional Chinese music and employing traditional instruments to great effect. A narrator, the Yin-Yang Master, sensationally done by the Peking Opera performer Wu Hsing-Kuo, outlines the story we are about to see in a striking mixture of singing, dancing, and acrobatics against a backdrop of Chinese drummers and a chorus. After that, the principals enter and the music becomes predominately western with the Chinese instruments relegated to marginal exotica. The singers are forced to struggle with a libretto that seems unsingable, words resisting the melodies to which they're set. Set piece arias are predominately slow, accentuating the static effect of the staging in most of the scenes. As the Emperor, Placido Domingo, more baritonal than usual, often sounds strained but retains his stage presence. As his daughter, soprano Elizbeth Futral sings very well indeed, especially given the ungrateful material she's given. Tenor Paul Graves sings her lover, the composer Jianli. He's perhaps the most effective cast member, singing with color and firm tone. His rival for the princess, General Wang, is well sung by Hao Jiang Tian, and the excellent mezzo, Michelle DeYoung is a suitably scary Shaman, costumed like a Halloween witch, super-long fingernails to the fore. Tan Dun conducts the MET orchestra, whose music is fairly tepid when the assisting Chinese instruments fall silent. The enthusiastic reception of the audience at the end of this 2007 performance suggests that the opera, or at least the production, is a crowd pleaser. Home theatre audiences will welcome the blaze of colors and innovative production details, in a contemporary opera featuring some fine singers. --Dan Davis
The First Emperor is an all-regions disc in 16:9 ratio. Sound options include PCM Stereo and DTS 5.1 Surround. Sung in English, subtitles include English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Extras include a brief introduction by Zhang Ziyi, a Beverly Sills interview of Placido Domingo, and a 20-minute rehearsal film.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.0 / 5.0
the first emperor by tan dun:
This opera is by far the best of all tan dun works. The costumes by designer Emi Wada are are unbelieveable beautifull. Placido Domingo as the first emperor Qin was full and strong that is missing from his other recordings, it must be the help he got with working under Tan Dun. The whole opera will be my best in my very large collection. RYTA SMITH
Interesting visual spectacle but musically bizarre...:
This is an amazing stage and costume spectacle with highly unusual music that is sometimes pleasing and other times jarring. It is certainly different. Tan Dun even gave the orchestra vocal parts! The overly simplistic story line and lyrics of the opera, however, were no match for the luscious spectacle enveloping the music and singing. Elizabeth Futral, for example, did a wonderful acting job as the princess with Eastern mannerisms but the English vocal lines she expressed were often just plain... more info
Nothing much to be proud of...:
At the start of the show, actress ZHANG Ziyi, attired in a curious 'aerodrome look', said that she is 'proud of this production of The First Emperor'.
I regret to say that I cannot quite agree with her.
Despite the decade of hard work spent on the musical script by TAN Dun, I regret to say that Mr. Tan has chosen the wrong libretto for the opera: the story plot based on an earlier lakclustre Chinese film 'Qin Song' starring the sublime JIANG Wen as the First Emperor and XU Qing as Princess... more info
Don't listen to the critics:
Critics have been very harsh on this new opera. This has happened before; composers have been misunderstood or not-understood at all by critics, while the public loved them. Seems too early to dismiss "The First Emperor". I have seen it many times and every time I discover something new. The DVD is much better than the live broadcast I saw in the theater, the image is much brighter. The opera is full of symbols. I am sure I don't even understand them all yet. Although the obvious theme is about the... more info
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