Nielsen’s Maskarade is a comic opera to a Danish libretto based on an 18th century play.  The version given in Frankfurt in 2021, and recorded for video, updates it to contemporary times and uses a rather racy German translation by Martin Berger.  It’s really rather fun!

Basically, we are in the household of the uptight bourgeois Jeronimus.  His son, Leander, and his valet, Henrik, are recovering from the night before spent at a Masquerade in a newly opened place of entertainment.  Jeronimus is determined that his son marry the daughter of a business acquaintance Leonard.  But Leander has fallen in love with a mysterious girl he met at the Masquerade.  Leonard shows up with the news that his daughter, Leonora, isn’t keen on the marriage and there’s a fair bit of confusion as each apologises to the other for their respective offspring.

Jeronimus puts Leander and Henrik under “house arrest” guarded by his servant Arv.  But the boys are determined to go out again, as is Leander’s mother, Magdelone, who is fed up of her boring husband.  Henrik blackmails Arv into letting them go and everybody heads for the Masquerade (in disguise of course) so Jeronimus and Arv are forced to costume up to hunt them down.  But… Leonard, and independently, his daughter and her maid, are also heading for the party…

Leonard, disguised as a Swedish tennis player, hooks up with Magdelone while Leander finds his mystery girl again (no prizes for guessing who she is!).  Henrik and the maid Pernille make out enthusiastically despite Henrik’s previous conquests doing a Donna Elvira on him.  The Master of Ceremonies organises a masque featuring Vulcan’s capture of Venus and Mars showing Jeronimus the ridiculousness of a cuckolded husband.  Eventually all is revealed and the somewhat relieved parents sanction the wedding of Leander and Leonora while Henrik gets on with his sex life.

Tobias Kratzer directs and this time there’s no big Konzept but it’s lively and colourful with excellent use of some really good dancers and a cast who really throw themselves into the fun, especially the raunchier bits.  Costume designer Rainer Sellmaier has a lot of fun with the fancy dress elements which look like the cast have been let loose in a Kensington Market second hand store!

The score is of a piece with the stage action.  It’s all over the place musically with parodic elements including the use of Lutheran hymn tunes in the rather ludicrous scene where Henrik, disguised as a ghost, persuades Arv that his numerous sins have condemned him to Hell.

There are some terrific performances.  Alfred Reiter is just over the top enough as the irascible Jeronimus, Liviu Hollender is suitably funny and a really strong singer as Henrik.  Monika Buczkowska and Michael Porter as the young lovers sing a couple of really lovely soprano/tenor duets and definitely up the eye candy factor.  There are very funny and solidly sung cameos from Michael McCown as Leonard, Susan Bullock as Magdelone and Samuel Levine as the lugubrious and timid Arv.  There are actually some twenty named roles and they are well cast.

The dancers are first class and Eefje Van Den Bergen, as Venus, and Luca Giaccio, as Mars, dance a really nice pas de deux in Act 3.  The chorus and orchestra are excellent and Titus Engel on the podium keeps the madcap action both fast paced and well co-ordinated.  Good stuff.

Some mirrors and strobe lighting aside it’s not too complex a production to film and Myriam Hoyer does a good job with the cameras backed up by excellent video and audio (DTS-HD-MA and stereo) on Blu-ray.  The booklet has a track listing and synopsis and a good interview about the music with Engel.  Subtitle options are English ,German, Korean and Japanese.

It’s a very enjoyable romp with with excellent music values and a well thought out, relatively straightforward but entertaining production.

Catalogue information: Naxos Blu-ray NBD 0174V