Negative Positive
Title: I Hear a Lot of Comedy Here
Review: I consider myself fortunate to own a recording of this performance of this great opera. The literature which came with my set indicates that the Book of the Month Club was distributing it when I got mine, sometime after 1960. There is no need for me to compare this with any other version; cable TV has shown me a few others, so I have some vivid impressions of how this can be staged. In the essay with my set, I find a comment on "the Vienna performance in 1788." Imagining this music set in the same decade as the French Revolution approaches the dramatic impact that I would place on this. For those who are not familiar with what happens, I will merely quote a line from the summary. "The fearless rake opens the door and admits the colossal statue." Perhaps I have seen the statue coming through a wall, like Samson tearing down a temple at his death. Whatever, this is great stuff.
Is the review positive or negative? 