GILBERT and SULLIVAN
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Gilbert & Sullivan: Princess Ida Ambrosian Opera Chorus with Frank Gorshin, Nan Christie, Laurence Dale, Anne Collins & others [ BBC / Umbrella DVD / DVD - released 10/Aug/2014 ] Music by the London Symphony Orchestra, the Ambrosian Opera Chorus and a host of stars including Frank Gorshin, Bernard Dickerson, Anne Collins and Claire Powell. 114 minutes. For more than 100 years the operas of Gilbert & Sullivan have played to... |
GILBERT and SULLIVAN
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Gilbert & Sullivan: Patience & The Sorcerer [2 DVDs] Ambrosian Opera Chorus with Sandra Dugdale, Donald Adams, Derek Hammond-Stroud, John Fryatt, Clive Revill, David Kernan & Nana Christie [ BBC / Umbrella DVD / DVD - released 10/Aug/2014 ] For more than 100 years the operas of Gilbert & Sullivan have played to packed audiences around the world. These two names have become synonymous with classic light opera - music that is timeless and tuneful lyrics that are witty, scathing and memorable. |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1, 6 & 8 (recorded 2001) Berliner Philharmoniker [Berlin Philharmonic], Claudio Abbado [ EuroArts DVD / DVD - released 1/Mar/2014 ] Recorded live at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Rome, February 2001 |
ROSSINI / SCHUBERT / MOZART & OTHERS
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Cecilia Bartoli - A Portrait Cecilia Bartoli (mezzo) [ Decca DVD / DVD - released 19/Apr/2014 ] The original documentary film on the early life of Cecilia Bartoli as well as a concert recording at the Savoy Hotel. Other performers featured include Lesley Schatzberger (basset clarinet), András Schiff (piano), and, Charles Spencer (piano) |
W. A. MOZART
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro [The Marriage of Figaro] (complete opera directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle. Recorded in 1976) Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau / Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Mirella Freni, Hermann Prey, Maria Ewing / Vienna Philharmonic / Karl Bohm [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / 2 DVD - released 2/Jun/2005 ] "a visual treat, but having some solos delivered as interior monologues is distracting" Gramophone |
W. A. MOZART
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Mozart: Le Nozze Di Figaro [The Marriage Of Figaro] (Complete Opera recorded in 1994) Glyndebourne Opera / Gerald Finley, Alison Hagley, Renee Fleming / Bernard Haitink (conductor) [ Warner Music Vision DVD / DVD - released 10/Sep/2009 ] "Pure magic….Bernard Haitink conducted the LPO in an eloquent performance, beautifully played…….One listened, as Haitink, Hagley, and Finley lifted a loving, carefully prepared performance to greatness" Opera Magazine |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Rigoletto (Complete opera recorded in 1977) The Metropolitan Opera / Placido Domingo, Ileana Cotrubas, Cornell MacNeil / James Levine (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 27/May/2004 ] "Yes, Rigoletto is a singer's opera, but Verdi also poured into it some of his most dramatic as well as melodic music. That said, the vivid colours of the production have come up amazingly well and the sound is clear." (MusicWeb Dec 2006) |
FRANZ LEHAR
Lehar: The Merry Widow (complete operetta recorded in 1988) Opera Australia / Joan Sutherland, Ron Stevens, Ann-Maree McDonald / Richard Bonynge (cond) [ ABC Universal DVD / DVD - released 1/Mar/2011 ] The sparkling story concerns a national crisis in the picture-postcard country of Pontevedro, as the recently-widowed Hanna Glawari appears to be in danger of marrying a foreigner. |
GIOACCHINO ROSSINI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Rossini: Barber of Seville, The [Il barbiere di Siviglia] complete studio recording of the opera recorded in 1972 Teresa Berganza, Luigi Alva, Hermann Prey, Enzo Dara / Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Claudio Abbado [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 21/Jun/2005 ] In the 1970s, the era from which this production emanates, the director Jean Pierre Ponnelle was reaching the height of his powers. In his 1972 production at Milan's La Scala, Ponnelle designed a realistic set that still feels fresh. |
RICHARD STRAUSS
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Strauss, (R.): Elektra (complete opera recorded in 1981) Vienna State Opera / Astrid Varnay, Leonie Rysanek, Catarina Ligendza, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau / Karl Bohm (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / 2 DVD - released 1/Aug/2005 ] "Karl Bohm - Strauss's protégé - conducts, while Gotz Friedrich directs the stage production itself, dramatically evoking and emphasizing the expressionist set design inherent in Strauss's original conception." (Rovi) |
CHARLES GOUNOD
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Gounod: Faust (complete opera directed by Ken Russell in 1985) Vienna State Opera / Gabriela Benackova, Francisco Araiza, Ruggero Raimondi / Erich Binder (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / 2 DVD - released 23/Jun/2006 ] Gounod's crowning achievement Faust, first staged in 1859 at the Lyric Theatre in Paris, is a conflict of good and evil, love and hate. |
GILBERT and SULLIVAN
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Gilbert & Sullivan: The Yeomen of the Guard Ambrosian Opera Chorus with Joel Grey, elizabeth Gale, Claire Powell, Alfred Marks, David Hillman & Elizabeth Bainbridge & others [ BBC / Umbrella DVD / DVD - released 10/Aug/2014 ] For more than 100 years the operas of Gilbert & Sullivan have played to packed audiences around the world. These two names have become synonymous with classic light opera - music that is timeless and tuneful lyrics that are witty, scathing and memorable. |
GILBERT and SULLIVAN
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Gilbert & Sullivan: Ruddigore Ambrosian Opera Chorus with Vincent Price, Keith Michell, John Treleaven, Ann Howard, Sandra Dugdale, Donald Adams & Johanna Peters [ BBC / Umbrella DVD / DVD - released 10/Aug/2014 ] For more than 100 years the operas of Gilbert & Sullivan have played to packed audiences around the world. These two names have become synonymous with classic light opera - music that is timeless and tuneful lyrics that are witty, scathing and memorable. |
EMMERICH KALMAN
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Kalman: Die Csárdásfürstin [The Gypsy Princess] (complete Operetta Recorded 1971, sung in German) Anna Moffo, René Kollo, Dagmar Koller, Sándor Németh / Symphonie-Orchester Kurt Graunke Bert Grund [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 10/Mar/2006 ] Kalman's successes from the Viennese "Silver Operetta Era" include The Circus/Gipsy Princess (1926), which contains elements of modern dance music in addition to the usual Kálmán mixture of Hungarian folk music and Viennese waltzes. |
GIACOMO PUCCINI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Puccini: La Boheme (a film by Robert Dornhelm) Anna Netrebko (soprano) & Rolando Villazon (tenor) / The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bertrand de Billy [ Kultur DVD / DVD - released 5/Dec/2009 ] "The lovers' sheer intensity and Dornhelm's cinematic vision, expanded in the accompanying documentary, make this one of the finest opera films ever - unmissable." BBC Music Magazine (Five stars *****) |
ANNA NETREBKO
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Anna Netrebko - The Woman, The Voice Anna Netrebko (soprano) / Wiener Philharmoniker / Gianandrea Noseda [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 4/Oct/2004 ] Presenting Anna and her astonishing rise to stardom, this DVD showcases five arias from Anna Netrebko's debut album - Faust, Don Giovanni, La Sonnambula, La Boheme, and Rusalka (filmed in Salzburg and Los Angeles). |
HECTOR BERLIOZ
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust (The Damnation of Faust) - From the Royal Albert Hall 1989 Anne Sofie Von Otter, Keith Lewis, Jose Van Dam, Peter Rose / The Chicago Symphony Chorus and Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti [ AWD DVD / DVD - released 20/Jan/2006 ] Sir Georg Solti conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in a magnificent performance of Berlioz's concert cantata. |
RICHARD WAGNER
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen - Gotterdammerung (recorded 1992) Bayreuther Festspiele / Siegfried Jerusalem, Bodo Brinkmann, Anne Evans, Hilde Leidland, Eva-Maria Bundschuh / Daniel Barenboim [ Warner Music Vision / Unitel DVD / 2 DVD - released 1/May/2010 ] "If a cycle is going as well as the Harry Kupfer/Daniel Barenboim Ring was, the super-test of Götterdämmerung brings out the best in everyone… Barenboim manipulates his orchestra with Furtwänglerian virtuosity" Gramophone 2007 |
WAGNER / BERNSTEIN / MOZART / VERDI / TRADITIONAL / etc
Bryn Terfel - Live in Concert - Songs and Arias Bryn Terfel (baritone) / Radio Filharmonisch Orkest Holland, Edo de Waart [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 1/Jun/2002 ] "An undemanding popular concert with something for everybody - splendidly performed and brilliantly recorded. Recommended." MusicWeb |
RICHARD STRAUSS
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Strauss, (R.): Der Rosenkavalier (the complete opera recorded in 1994) Felicity Lott, Anne Sofie Von Otter, Barbara Bonney, Kurt Moll / Carlos Kleiber (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / 2 DVD - released 16/Aug/2004 ] "Lightly Handled, well-played Strauss. Strongly recommended." -Gramophone June 2001 |