The Plebs Rise up: Barry Emslie welcomes a radical production of ‘Rienzi’

Review of Rienzi, directed Lavelli, conducted Steinberg, Toulouse, 2012 (Opus Arte, 2 DVDs).

March 2014, Volume 8, Number 1, 73–5.

Facts first. There are three hours of music on these two DVDs plus 55 minutes of interviews. The cuts are therefore savage, although the end result runs smoothly. The first act, where the relationship between the trio of major characters and the dialectic between the public and private worlds is laid out, is wisely indulged. After that matters become (commendably) ever more abbreviated. Of course purist Wagnerites will not want to know, which is fine. But it will be their loss.