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GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: Le Comte Ory (complete opera recorded in 2011) Metropolitan Opera / Juan Diego Flórez, Diana Damrau, Joyce DiDonato / Maurizio Benini (cond) [ Virgin Classics DVD / 2 DVD - released 12/Mar/2012 ] "The terrific cast was headed by the tenor Juan Diego Flórez as Ory..The soprano Diana Damrau brought her lustrous, agile coloratura soprano voice, and charisma galore, to Adèle." (NY Times) |
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VINCENZO BELLINI
Bellini: I Puritani (complete opera recorded in 2007) Metropolitan Opera / Anna Netrebko, Eric Cutler, Franco Vassallo / Patrick Summers (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / 2 DVD - released 28/Feb/2008 ] "Netrebko has perhaps the most appealing stage presence among contemporary sopranos. She is a natural stage animal who can sing as she moves around the stage and interacts with her colleagues. Her sheer physicality on stage is awesome." (MusicWeb) |
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GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Macbeth (complete opera recorded in 2008) Metropolitan Opera / Zeljko Lucic, Maria Guleghina, John Relyea, Dimitri Pittas / James Levine (Cond) [ Warner Classics DVD / 2 DVD - released 29/Sep/2008 ] "An auspicious issue in first rate sound and vision further enhanced by an excellent "behind the scenes" documentary featuring the mainstays of this memorable January 2008 night at the MET." (ClassicalNet) |
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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) |
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THOMAS ADES
Ades: The Exterminating Angel (complete opera recorded in 2017) Metropolitan Opera / Audrey Luna, Amanda Echalaz, Sally Matthews, Sophie Bevan, Alice Coote, Christine Rice, Iestyn Davies / Thomas Ades (cond) [ Erato DVD / DVD - released 20/Feb/2019 ] GRAMOPHONE AWARD NOMINATION 2019 TOP THREE - Contemporary |
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GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: La Forza Del Destino (The Force of Destiny) - the complete opera. Metropolitan Opera / Leontyne Price, Giuseppe Giacomini, Leo Nucci, Bonaldo Giaiotti, Isola Jones, Enrico Fissore / James Levine (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / 2 DVD - released 13/Oct/2005 ] "Who could begin to challenge the quality of (Leontyne Price's) singing even at this late stage of her career? For the occasion, and the tribute to one of the greatest Verdi singers of our time, this performance is recommended." (MusicWeb Jan 2006) |
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GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: La Cenerentola [Cinderella] (complete opera recorded in 2009) Metropolitan Opera / Elina Garanca, Lawrence Brownlee, Simone Alberghini / Maurizio Benini (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / 2 DVD - released 12/Dec/2014 ] "Garanca is something special. The voice, pure, warm, ample in power and range, she has achieved a mastery in Rossini's florid style, using no quick fixes...Benini's conducting is sure in its feeling for wit and elegance, and the orchestra respond" |
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GIUSEPPE VERDI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Verdi: Un Ballo in Maschera (complete opera recorded in 1991) Metropolitan Opera / Luciano Pavarotti, Leo Nucci, April Millo, Florence Quivar / James Levine (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 30/May/2008 ] "The best justification for buying this issue is to see and hear Pavarotti nearer to his vocal peak in a role which his strong lyric voice and clear diction is ideally suited" (MusicWeb) |
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PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOSVKY
Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin (complete opera recorded in 2007) Metropolitan Opera / Renee Fleming, Elena Zaremba, Ramon Vargas, Dmitri Hvorostovsky / Valery Gergiev (cond) [ Decca DVD / 2 DVD - released 28/Feb/2008 ] 'Miss Fleming's sympathetic, exquisitely sung Tatiana was a major achievement.' The New York Times |
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PHILIP GLASS
Glass: Satyagraha (complete opera recorded in 2011) Metropolitan Opera / Richard Croft, Rachelle Durkin, Kim Josephson, Alfred Walker / Dante Anzolini (cond) [ Orange Mountain Music DVD / DVD - released 10/Dec/2021 ] "The cast is on the mark both vocally and physically…this release is especially recommended as a starting point to Glass's world of music theatre." Gramophone |
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GIACOMO PUCCINI
Puccini: La Rondine (Complete opera recorded in 2009) Metropolitan Opera / Angela Gheorghiu, Roberto Alagna, Lisette Oropesa / Marco Armiliato (cond) [ Warner Classics DVD / DVD - released 4/Oct/2010 ] "I have never heard Alagna sing better, and Gheorghiu is at her sumptuous best. There are comparably beautiful performances by the younger couple, Marius Brenciu and Lisette Oropesa" New York Daily News |
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GAETANO DONIZETTI
DonizettI: Lucia di Lammermoor (complete opera recorded in 2009) Metropolitan Opera / Anna Netrebko, Piotr Beczala, Mariusz Kwiecien / Marco Armiliato (conductor) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / 2 DVD - released 16/Nov/2009 ] "Director Mary Zimmerman's…offers a Victorian gloss on the drama… which adds a fresh and fascinating resonance. This is reinforced by the filming, often steeply angled from front stage, and enjoys uncommonly strong choral and orchestral support." BBC |
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GAETANO DONIZETTI
Donizetti: Maria Stuarda (complete opera recorded in 2013) Metropolitan Opera / Joyce DiDonato, Elza van den Heever, Matthew Polenzani / Maurizio Benini (cond) [ Erato DVD / 2 DVD - released 7/Apr/2014 ] "The two main protagonists brilliantly capture all the opera's drama and passion; DiDonato is magnificent and moving." Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice August 2014 |
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GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: La donna del lago (complete opera recorded in 2015) Metropolitan Opera / Joyce DiDonato, Juan Diego Florez, Daniela Barcellona, John Osborn / Michele Mariotti (cond) [ Erato DVD / 2 DVD - released 10/Dec/2015 ] The Metropolitan Opera give this live performance of Rossini's work based on the poem by Sir Walter Scott, with Joyce DiDonato as Elena, the lady of the lake, who loves the heroic Malcolm (Daniela Barcellona). |
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VINCENZO BELLINI
Bellini:Norma (complete opera recorded in 2017) Metropolitan Opera / Joyce DiDonato, Sondra Radvanovsky, Joseph Calleja, Matthew Rose / Carlo Rizzi (cond) [ Erato DVD / 2 DVD - released 15/Nov/2018 ] In the Met's 2017-18 season, powerhouse soprano Sondra Radvanovsky tackled one of opera's most fearsome roles, the title druid priestess of Bellini's Norma, who wrestles with love and betrayal before making the ultimate sacrifice on a funeral pyre. |
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ALBAN BERG
Berg: Lulu (complete opera recorded in December 2016) BLU-RAY Metropolitan Opera / Marlis Petersen, Susan Graham, Daniel Brenna, Paul Groves, Johan Reuter / Lothar Koenigs [ Nonesuch Classics Blu-Ray+DVD / 2 Blu-ray Disc/DVD - released 10/Mar/2017 ] "conducting, singing, direction: they're all of a piece, working to domesticate Berg's feral beast, and making it the funniest, least absurd and most approachable Lulu on film" Gramophone |
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HANDEL / RAMEAU / VIVALDI / CAMPRA / PURCELL / etc
The Enchanted Island (complete opera recorded in 2012) Metropolitan Opera / Joyce DiDonato, David Daniels, Danielle de Niese, Placido Domingo / William Christie (cond) [ Virgin Classics DVD / 2 DVD - released 19/Oct/2012 ] "The singing from Danielle de Niese, David Daniels and Joyce DiDonato is stellar...William Christie conducts magisterially." (The Observer) |
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GAETANO DONIZETTI
Donizetti: Don Pasquale (complete opera recorded in 2010) Metropolitan Opera / Anna Netrebko, Matthew Polenzani, John Del Carlo / James Levine (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophone DVD / DVD - released 26/May/2011 ] A red hot ticket at the Metropolitan Opera in 2010/2011 was Donizetti's comic gem, Don Pasquale, with Anna Netrebko reviving Norina, the part that made her a star in New York. |
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GEORGES BIZET
Bizet: Carmen (complete opera recorded in 1988) Metropolitan Opera / Agnes Baltsa, Jose Carreras, Leona Mitchell, Samuel Ramey / James Levine (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 3/Jun/2000 ] Georges Bizet's Carmen, which takes place in and around Seville, Spain tells of the downfall of a soldier, Don José, seduced by the wiles of the fiery gypsy, Carmen. José abandons his sweetheart and his military duties for Carmen. |
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GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Otello (complete opera recorded in 2015) Metropolitan Opera / Aleksandrs Antonenko, Sonya Yoncheva, Željko Lučić, Chad Shelton, Dimitri Pittas, Jennifer Johnson / Yannick Nézet-Séguin (cond) [ Sony Classical DVD / DVD - released 24/Sep/2016 ] Directed by the Tony Award winning and six time MET director, Bartlett Sher, this lavish production of Verdi's operatic masterpiece Otello features one of the most exciting young opera singers of her generation, Sonya Yoncheva, and the Metropolitan... |