PERGOLESI
Pergolesi: Lo frate 'nnamorato (Complete opera recorded in 1989) La Scala Opera / Alessandro Corbelli / Nuccia Focile / Amelia Felle / Riccardo Muti (conductor) [ Opus Arte La Scala Collection DVD / DVD - released 23/Jul/2004 ] G :- "…delivered with a polish that makes almost every moment a delight." (BBC Music) |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Giovanna d'Arco (complete opera recorded in 2017) La Scala Opera / Anna Netrebko, Francesco Meli, Carlos Álvarez, Michele Mauro / Riccardo Chailly (cond) [ Decca DVD / DVD - released 28/Sep/2018 ] "Anna Netrebko as Giovanna is simply a force of nature. Across her huge vocal range and the role's giant proportions, her tone remains powerful and her charisma sweeps all before it." BBC Music |
GAETANO DONIZETTI
Donizetti: Olivo e Pasquale (complete opera recorded in 2016) La Scala Opera / Bruno Taddia, Filippo Morace, Laura Giordano, Pietro Adaini / Federico Maria Sardelli (cond) [ Dynamic DVD / 2 DVD - released 1/Jul/2017 ] "Donizetti enthusiasts will find this recording to be a lively and enjoyable performance of a virtually unknown work from the Master's second tier. These are rare, and should be celebrated and cherished." MusicWeb |
W. A. MOZART
Le Nozze di Figaro [The Marriage of Figaro] (complete recorded in 2006) La Scala Opera / Diana Damrau, Ildebrando D'Arcangelo, Pietro Spagnoli, Marcella Orsatti Talamanca / Gérard Korsten (cond) [ Arthaus Legendary Performances DVD / DVD - released 1/Jul/2016 ] "The availability on (Blu-ray) of any production by Giorgio Strehler, even one recorded many years after it was new, is automatically a major event. But this film - a 2006 revival of Strehler's Le Nozze di Figaro from 1980 - is much more than a... |
ROSSINI
Guglielmo Tell [William Tell] (complete opera recorded in 1988) La Scala Opera / Giorgio Zancanaro / Chris Merritt / Giorgio Surjan / Cheryl Studer / Riccardo Muti (cond) [ Opus Arte / Rai Trade / La Scala Collection DVD / 2 DVD - released 4/May/2004 ] G :- Riccardo Muti conducts a fine cast led by Giorgio Zancanaro in the title role of Rossini's towering and opulent last opera with the Corps de Ballet, Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro alla Scala. Sung in Italian |
RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen (7 Disc Complete operas recorded in 2010-13) La Scala Opera / René Pape, Stephan Rügamer, Johannes Martin Kränzle, Doris Soffel, Simon O'Neill, Iréne Theorin / Daniel Barenboim (cond) [ Arthaus Musik DVD / 7 DVD Box Set - released 2/Feb/2015 ] "This was opera magic where Daniel Barenboim brought out the full depth and passion of Wagner's music" (The Telgraph) |
ROSSINI
La donna del lago (complete opera recorded in 1992) La Scala Opera / Rockwell Blake / Giorgio Surjan / Chris Merritt / June Anderson / Riccardo Muti (cond) [ Opus Arte / Rai Trade / La Scala Collection DVD / DVD - released 16/Dec/2004 ] G :- "Mature Rossini at his best and most demanding. I recommend it to enthusiasts of the opera seria now slowly gaining a foothold in the repertoire" - MusicWeb Feb 2005 |
PHILIP GLASS
Spuren der verirrten [The Lost] (complete opera recorded in 2013) Landestheater Linz Upper Austrian State Theatre / Martin Achrainer, Bram de Beul, Keren Robertson / Dennis Russell Davies (cond) [ Orange Mountain Music DVD / DVD - released 15/Sep/2014 ] Spuren der Verirrten, translated here as The Lost, but in German Traces of the Lost, is a German-language opera by Philip Glass on a text adapted from a play by the experimental Austrian writer Peter Handke. Recorded here is the work's premiere... |
PHILIP GLASS
Kepler (complete opera recorded in 2009) Landestheater Linz Upper Austrian State Theatre / Martin Achrainer, Cassandra McConnell, Keren Robertson / Dennis Russell Davies (cond) [ Orange Mountain Music DVD / DVD - released 10/Feb/2011 ] A portrait opera on the life of German mathmatician, astronomer, and astrologer, and a key figure in the 17th century scientific revolution. |
TCHAIKOVSKY
Cherevichki (The Slippers) (complete opera recorded in 2009) Larissa Diadkova / Maxim Mikhailov / Vladimir Matorin / Olga Guryakova / Vsevolod Grivnov / Orchestra of the Royal Opera House / Alexander Polianichko [ Opus Arte Royal Opera House Collection DVD / DVD - released 19/Dec/2010 ] |
MARTIN Y SOLER
Soler: L'arbore di Diana (complete opera) Laura Aikin / Michael Maniaci / Ainhoa Gramendia / Steve Davislim / Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona / Harry Bicket [ Dynamic DVD / DVD - released 24/Feb/2011 ] "Laura Aikin is a slow-burn Diana: reserved and beautifully haughty in tone in the first act; silky and warm as the waves of love begin to lap over her in the second...there's terrific unanimity between voices and orchestra throughout. Indeed, the... |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Mozart: Mitridate, rè di Ponto, K87 (complete opera recorded in 2016) Le Concert d'Astrée / Michael Spyres, Patricia Petibon, Myrtò Papatanasiu, Christophe Dumaux / Emmanuelle Haim (cond) [ Erato / Warner Classics DVD / DVD - released 25/Nov/2017 ] "This is a really good cast. Patricia Petibon's daunting but brilliant first aria as Aspasia, 'Al destin', is sung with panache and nonchalant control." BBC Music |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, HWV46a (complete opera recorded in 2016) Le Concert d'Astree / Sabine Devieilhe, Franco Fagioli, Sara Mingardo, Michael Spyres / Emmanuelle Haim [ Erato / Warner Classics DVD / DVD - released 10/Jun/2017 ] Festival d'Aix-en-Provence has firmly established itself as France's preeminent summer festival and is a key fixture on the international festival calendar. |
HENRY PURCELL
Purcell: King Arthur (complete opera recorded in 2009) Ana Maria Labin, Chantal Santon-Jeffrey, Melodie Ruvio / Le Concert Spirituel / Herve Niquet [ Glossa DVD / DVD - released 16/Mar/2010 ] G - "Directed by French comedy duo Corinne and Gilles Benizio… conductor Hervé Niquet's knockabout rewrite of King Arthur is as much a tribute to Monty Python as it is to Henry Purcell. Purists beware." (BBC Music) |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Macbeth (feature film of the opera recorded in 1987) Leo Nucci / Samuel Ramey / Shirley Verrett / Veriano Luchetti / Teatro Comunale di Bologna / Riccardo Chailly [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 9/Nov/2007 ] G - "Practically everything has already been said about the quality of Shirley Verrett´s voice: she plays Lady Macbeth magnificently. On the other hand, her partner Leo Nucci, new to the role of Macbeth, seems like a fresh discovery." (Le Figaro) |
CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI
Monteverdi: L'Orfeo (complete opera recorded in 2015) DVD + Blu-ray Theatre de Caen / Cyril Auvity, Hannah Morrison, Paul Agnew / Les Arts Florissants, Paul Agnew [ Harmonia Mundi DVD + Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc/DVD - released 1/Dec/2017 ] "Cyril Auvity's tremulous and emphatic singing of the title-role has unstinting dramatic commitment: the shadowy silhouettes of the obbligato instrumentalists in 'Possente spirto' appear as if the underworld is conjured to do Orfeo's bidding)." |
MONTEVERDI
L'Orfeo (complete opera recorded in 2002) Les Concert des Nations / Furio Zanasi, Arianna Savall, Montserrat Figueras, Sara Mingardo / Jordi Savall [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 11/May/2015 ] Jordi Savall directs Le Concert des Nations, La Capella Reial de Catalunya and the leading soloists of early opera in a beautiful period production of Monteverdi's favola in musica staged at Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu in 2002. Gilbert Deflo's... |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Dancer's Dream - Four documentaries dedicated to the great ballet productions by Rudolf Nureyev Les Etoiles / Les Premiers Danseurs et le Corps de Ballet de l'Opéra national de Paris / Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Paris [ Arthaus Musik DVD / 4 DVD - released 1/Jul/2011 ] The documentaries by François Roussillon examine the various aspects of the ballets, which have become classics in the repertoire of the ballet ensemble of the Paris opera through Rudolf Nureyev's choreography. Nureyev's innate talent for dancing and... |
BENET CASABLANCAS
Casablancas: L'Enigma di Lea (complete opera recorded in 2019) Liceu Grand Theatre / Allison Cook, José Antonio López, Sara Blanch, Marta Infante, Sonia de Munck / Josep Pons (cond) [ Naxos DVD / DVD - released 21/Jan/2022 ] Recorded at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, Spain, 12-13 February 2019 |
R. STRAUSS
Elektra (complete opera recorded live in Baden-Baden, 2010) Linda Watson / Manuela Uhl / Jane Henschel / Albert Dohmen / Rene Kollo / Munich Philharmonic Orchestra / Christian Thielemann [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 27/Jan/2011 ] Linda Watson, one of the great Wagnerian sopranos of today, superbly masters her role debut as Elektra, one of opera's most demanding roles. |