RICHARD STRAUSS
Strauss, (R.): Der Rosenkavalier (complete opera recorded in 2014) BLU-RAY Glyndebourne Opera / Tara Erraught, Kate Royal, Lars Woldt, Michael Kraus / Robin Ticciati (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 20/Mar/2016 ] Strauss's musically ravishing comic masterpiece is given a visual updating in director Richard Jones's stylish and 'gently subversive' Glyndebourne staging, one which offers 'a dreamlike distortion not just of Vienna's 18th-century past, but also of... |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Cosi fan Tutte (complete opera recorded in 2006) BLU-RAY Glyndebourne Opera / Topi Lehtipuu / Luca Pisaroni / Miah Persson / Anke Vondung / Ivan Fischer (conductor) [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Aug/2009 ] Blu-Ray 'I had to search long and hard down memory lane to recall a Così that so vividly revealed both the pleasure and the overwhelming pain of this evermore disturbing masterpiece, and I failed.' Opera |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: La Traviata (complete opera recorded in 2014) BLU-RAY Glyndebourne Opera / Venera Gimadieva, Michael Fabiano, Tassis Christoyannis, Emanuele D'Aguanno, Magdalena Molendowska / Mark Elder (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Sep/2015 ] Verdi's tragic masterpiece is elegantly updated by director Tom Cairns in this 'fresh and thrillingly unfamiliar' (Independent) Glyndebourne production, in which Violetta's death is cast as an idée fixe, creating a liberating framework that is well... |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Otello (complete opera recorded in February 2006) BLU-RAY Gran teatre del Liceu, Barcelona / Jose Cura / Kressimira Stoyanova / Lado Ataneli / Vittorio Grigolo / Anotoni Ros-Marba (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Aug/2011 ] "With strong conducting from Antoni Ros-Marbà, the whole cast collaborate to give us the truth of this desperately upsetting work, as no other DVD and few live performances I've seen of it ever have." (BBC Music) |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Strauss, (R.): Elektra (complete opera recorded in 2010) BLU-RAY Salzburg Festival / Irene Theorin, Waltraud Meier, Eva-Maria Westbroek, Robert Gambill, René Pape / Wiener Philharmoniker / Daniele Gatti [ Arthaus Musik Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 23/Jun/2011 ] "Among Elektras on DVD this, along with Karl Böhm's historical performance, must rank among the best; and on Blu-ray it is superb." BBC Music Magazine, October 2011 ***** (Award Finalist 2012) |
RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Die Walküre (complete opera recorded in 2010) BLU-RAY Bayreuth Festival / Johan Botha, Edith Haller, Linda Watson, Albert Dohmen / Christian Thielemann (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Aug/2011 ] "[Botha] is outstanding throughout as Siegmund...Dorst's production, and this filming of it, are at their best in the latter stages of Act 3 and the result is a powerful and affecting account of one of The Ring's greatest episodes" (Gramophone) |
KIRI te KANAWA
I Could Have Danced all Night (Concert & Portrait) BLU-RAY Kiri Te Kanawa (soprano) / New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, John Hopkins / Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Stephen Barlow [ Arthaus Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Oct/2015 ] Dame Kiri Te Kanawa's story has all the best elements of an operatic fairytale. Coming from a part-Maori background she went on to become one of the world's most famous opera stars. |
GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: Equivoco stravagante (Complete Opera recorded in 2018) BLU-RAY Königliches Kurtheater, Bad Wildbad / Antonella Colaianni, Giulio Mastrototaro, Emmanuel Franco, Patrick Kabongo / José Miguel Pérez-Sierra (cond) [ Naxos Blu-ray / Blu-ray - released 10/Oct/2021 ] No opera has been performed at Rossini in Wildbad as often as L'equivoco stravagante, so it was the perfect choice for the festival's 30th anniversary in 2018. |
GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: Il Turco in Italia (complete opera recorded in 2008) BLU-RAY La Fenice Opera / Simone Alaimo, Myrto Papatanasiu, Bruno De Simone / Jonathan Webb, conductor [ Arthaus Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 20/Mar/2010 ] Il Turco in Italia is one of Rossini's wittiest but most neglected works. It is full of ingenious and freshly composed invention. It is Rossini's first collaboration with Felice Romani - Bellini's librettist - on this opera and Romani understood... |
GIACOMO PUCCINI
Puccini: Madama Butterfly (complete opera recorded in 2016 - original 1904 version) BLU-RAY La Scala, Milan / María José Siri, Bryan Hymel, Carlos Álvarez, Annalisa Stroppa / Riccardo Chailly (cond) [ Decca Blu-ray / Blu-ray - released 20/Mar/2019 ] Over a century after Madama Butterfly's premiere in 1904, Riccardo Chailly restores Puccini's original two act version to the La Scala stage This is the first ever video release of the original two-act version of Madama Butterfly from 1904, making... |
NICOLA VACCAJ
Vaccaj: Giulietta e Romeo (complete opera recorded in 2018) BLU-RAY La Scala Opera / Bruno Taddia, Filippo Morace, Laura Giordano, Pietro Adaini / Federico Maria Sardelli (cond) [ Dynamic Blu-Ray / Blu-ray - released 1/Aug/2019 ] "Raffaella Lupinacci's characterful, fruity mezzo is matched by detailed and lively acting, and Leonor Bonilla brings a bright, elegant soprano and oodles of charm to Giulietta." Gramophone DVD/Blu-ray of the Month July 2019 |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro [The Marriage of Figaro] (complete recorded in 2006) BLU-RAY La Scala Opera / Diana Damrau, Ildebrando D'Arcangelo, Pietro Spagnoli, Marcella Orsatti Talamanca / Gérard Korsten (cond) [ Arthaus Legendary Performances Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Oct/2015 ] "This is above all a heartfelt performance of a heartfelt masterpiece, and in the end Strehler's work is inseparable from the contributions of the conductor, designers and cast." (OperaNews) |
PYOTR Il'yich TCHAIKOVSKY
Tchaikovsky: Cherevichki [The Slippers] (complete opera recorded in 2009) BLU-RAY Royal Opera House / Larissa Diadkova, Maxim Mikhailov, Vladimir Matorin, Olga Guryakova, Vsevolod Grivnov / Alexander Polianichko (cond) [ Opus Arte Royal Opera House Collection Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Aug/2011 ] "…this expensive-looking production that combines the forces of the Royal Opera and the Royal Ballet…" The Guardian |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Rodelinda (complete opera recorded in 2018) BLU-RAY Le Concert d'Astrée / Jeanine de Bique, Jakub Józef OrliĆski, Tim Mead, Benjamin Hulett, Avery Amereau / Emmanuelle Haim (cond) [ Erato / Warner Classics Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 5/Nov/2019 ] With this Blu-ray of Rodelinda, one of Handel's most emotionally complex operas, conductor Emmanuelle Haïm adds to her impressive Erato catalogue of the composer's works. The imaginative production, by Jean Bellorini, was seen at the Opéra de Lille... |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Un Ballo in Maschera [The Masked Ball] (complete opera recorded in 2005) BLU-RAY Leipzig Opera / Massimiliano Pisapia, Franco Vassallo, Chiara Taigi, Annamaria Chiuri, Eun Yee You / Riccardo Chailly [ EuroArts / Unitel Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Jan/2017 ] "traditional costumes and stylized sets...[Talgi] has a pure, warm soprano, finely controlled in her legato singing, and Franco Vassallo sings magnificently, making his defying aria, Eri tu, a powerful climax, helped by Riccardo Chailly's conducting" |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Elektra (complete opera recorded in 2010) BLU-RAY Linda Watson / Jane Henschel / Manuela Uhl / René Kollo / Albert Dohmen / Munich Philharmonic Orchestra / Christian Thielemann [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 16/Feb/2011 ] "Watson has physical stature, an expressive face...the necessary intelligence and a suitable instrument, which is saying a great deal in this most formidable of roles...[Henschel] makes a capital Klytämnestra" (International Record Review) |
GIOCOMO PUCCINI
Puccini: Turandot (complete opera recorded in 2008) BLU-RAY Maria Guleghina, Marco Berti, Alexia Voulgaridou, Alexander Tsymbaluk / Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, Zubin Mehta [ C Major Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 10/May/2016 ] This 2008 production is staged by Chen Kaige, the film director of Farewell My Concubine and winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival. |
GIACOMO PUCCCINI
Puccini: Turandot (complete opera filmed in 2010) BLU_RAY Maria Guleghina / Salvatore Licitra / Tamar Iveri / Arena di Verona, Giuliano Carella [ Bel Air Classiques Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 10/May/2012 ] Turandot from the Verone Arena : Franco Zeffirelli's legendary production of a Puccini Masterpiece. |
RODION SHCHEDRIN
Shchedrin: The Left-Hander (Complete opera recorded in 2013) BLU-RAY & DVD Mariinsky Theatre / Andrei Popov, Edward Tsanga, Vladimir Moroz, Kristina Alieva / Valery Gergiev (cond) [ Mariinsky Blu-Ray + DVD / 2 Blu-ray Disc/DVD - released 15/Jul/2016 ] ANNA MATISON: FILM DIRECTOR ALEXANDER ORLOV: SET DESIGNER IRINA CHEREDNIKOVA: COSTUME DESIGNER ALEXANDER SIVAEV: LIGHTING DESIGNER Specially written for Gergiev on the occasion of his 60th birthday, Rodion Shchedrin's 'The Left-Hander' is... |
SERGEI PROKOFIEV
Prokofiev: Semyon Kotko, Op. 81 (Complete opera filmed at Mariinsky II, St Petersburg 2013) BLU-RAY/DVD Mariinsky Theatre / Gennadi Bezzubenkov, Viktor Lutsyuk, Tatiana Pavlovskaya, Varvara Solovyova / Valery Gergiev (cond) [ Mariinsky DVD + Blu-Ray / 2 Blu-ray Disc/DVD - released 20/Sep/2016 ] "Valery Gergiev is a born Prokofiev interpreter" The Guardian |