The success of André Previn’s first opera has been remarkable‚ and I can remember few things like it in the past 50 years. The importance of a composer and subject that are so widely known is clear‚ but Previn also demonstrates the value of a musical language that can be appreciated by the ordinary music­loving public. In Renée Fleming’s prize­winning recital I Want Magic! (Decca‚ 11/98) Blanche DuBois’ Act 3 aria helped demonstrate the beauties of Previn’s neo­Straussian writing. There’s more in the same vein‚ too‚ including Blanche’s Act 3 aria ‘I Can Smell the Sea Air’ and the warm‚ lyrical love music for her and Mitch in Act 2. The audio recording from the 1998 première (DG‚ 4/99) helped the work gain even wider familiarity‚ but that can be nothing compared with the potential for this DVD to introduce it to music­lovers who would never contemplate attending a modern opera in a major opera house. The sultry prelude‚ with its sleazy solos‚ sets the New Orleans atmosphere aurally; but thereafter the work comes across far more vividly in vision‚ with the camera mostly in close­up but retreating at appropriate points to reveal the full scope of Michael Yeargan’s set. Perhaps the most convincing portrayal is that of Rodney Gilfrey as the rough worker Stanley‚ perpetually chewing‚ smoking or drinking‚ periodically exploding into violence‚ but with beefy baritone always beautifully produced. Anthony Dean Griffey is almost equally good as the naive‚ mother­loving Mitch‚ so cruelly deceived by Blanche; while Elizabeth Futral does quite wonderfully well as the tender Stella. For all the beauty of her arias and her high notes throughout‚ perhaps the least convincing is Renée Fleming herself. Partly‚ I think‚ this is because Previn too often pushes the voice into its higher reaches irrespective of natural speech patterns. It’s almost as though he was determined to emphasise that this is opera‚ not musical theatre. In addition‚ though‚ Fleming’s starry presence requires some suspension of belief to accept the full extent of Blanche’s mental deterioration. Overall the work makes gripping listening and viewing‚ and the DVD is a marvellous memento of what was surely a significant landmark in operatic history. There are those who complain that Tennessee Williams’s play did not need music; but the purpose of making operas from plays was never to improve them but to widen the audience for them. That is something that Previn’s setting has surely done.