BIZET / MENDELSSOHN / MOZART / PUCCINI / STRAUSS 11 / RAMEAU
THE BLU-RAY EXPERIENCE: Opera and Ballet Highlights Paris Opera Ballet / Royal Opera House / Teatro Real, Madrid / Glyndebourne Opera / Pacific Northwest Ballet / Drottningholms Slottsteater [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Jan/2009 ] Blu-Ray - Opera and Ballet Highlights from the Opus Arte catalogue at a very special price. |
CHARLES WUORINEN
Brokeback Mountain (Complete Opera recorded in 2014) Teatro Real Madrid / Daniel Okulitch, Tom Randle, Heather Buck / Titus Engel (cond) [ Bel Air Classiques DVD / DVD - released 20/Nov/2015 ] "Wuorinen's setting reminds one of Monteverdi - formal, stately and psychologically precise...[Okulitch] gives a magnificent and deeply powerful performance...His Ennis emerges as an Orpheus for a new age of love and loss." (Gramophone) |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Così fan tutte, K588 (complete opera recorded in 2013) BLU-RAY Teatro Real de Madrid / Anett Fritsch, Paola Gardina, Kerstin Avemo, Juan Francisco Gatell / Sylvain Cambreling (cond) [ C Major Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 10/Dec/2013 ] "Everyone in the cast collaborates well musically and dramatically, and they can handle the physicality asked of them onstage...Shimell's Don Alfonso is unnervingly suave, seductive, even Mephistophelian at times." International Record Review |
RICHARD WAGNER
Der Fliegende Hollander [The Flying Dutchman] (complete opera recorded in 2016) DVD + BLU-RAY Teatro Real Madrid / Samuel Youn, Ingela Brimberg, Kwangchul Youn, Nikolai Schukoff / Àlex Ollé (cond) [ Harmonia Mundi DVD + Blu-ray / 2 Blu-ray Disc/DVD - released 1/Mar/2018 ] "it's an impressive and engaging show." Gramophone |
GAETANO DONIZETTI
Donizetti:Roberto Devereux (complete opera recorded in 2015) BLU-RAY Teatro Real Madrid / Mariella Devia, Marco Caria, Silvia Tro Santafe, Gregory Kunde / Bruno Campanella (cond) [ Bel Air Classiques Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 20/Feb/2017 ] In the last and most dramatic aria in Roberto Devereux, one of the four Tudor period operas composed by Donizetti in 1837 (along with Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda and Il Castello di Kenilworth), the protagonist, Queen Elizabeth I of England, exclaims:... |
VERDI / MOZART / MONTEVERDI / OFFENBACH / PUCCINI / WAGNER
The Essential Opera Collection (19 DVD) Muziektheater Amsterdam / Glyndebourne Opera / Madrid Teatro Real / Gran Teatre del Liceu / Netherlands Opera / Royal Opera House / Paris Opera [ Opus Arte Essential Opera Collection DVD / 19 DVD Box Set - released 20/Nov/2015 ] The 'Essential Opera Collection' is an exciting new mid-price series that brings together popular operas and classic productions in simple stylish packaging. The ten launch titles represent the leading opera houses of the world, including The Royal... |
ROSSINI
Rossini: Il Barbiere de Siviglia [The Barber of Seville] (complete opera recorded in 2005) Teatro Real, Madrid / Maria Bayo / Juan Diego Florez / Pietro Spagnoli / Ruggero Raimondi / Gianluigi Gelmetti (conductor) [ Decca DVD / 2 DVD - released 20/Dec/2005 ] G :- A top international cast including soprano María Bayo, tenor Juan Diego Flórez, and the great bass baritone Ruggero Raimondi. |
JANACEK
Jenufa (complete opera recorded in 2009) Amanda Roocroft / Deborah Polaski / Miroslav Dvorský / Nikolai Schukoff / Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro Real Madrid / Ivor Bolton [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 26/Oct/2011 ] "Amanda Roocroft has won laurels as Jenufa in various stage productions and comes across as a deeply sincere performer here, even if the voice is apt to turn shrill at the top...[Polaski's] very understatement is moving in its own way." (Gramophone) |
LEOS JANACEK
Janacek: Jenufa (complete opera recorded in 2009) BLU-RAY Teatro Real Madrid / Amanda Roocroft, Deborah Polaski, Nikolai Schukoff / Ivor Bolton (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 20/Aug/2011 ] "Something in the composer's writing brings out the best in [Roocroft's] creamy voice and committed acting, and here she's superb as a young woman who forgives her stepmother for committing a terrible crime." (ClassicFM) |
LEOS JANACEK
Janacek: Kata Kabanova (complete opera recorded in 2008) Teatro Real, Madrid / Karita Mattila, Miroslav Dvorsky, Guy de Mey, Dali Schaechter / Jiri Belohlavek (cond) [ FRA Musica DVD / DVD - released 12/Dec/2010 ] "Its luminosity is reflected in Jiří Bělohlávek's conducting, undoubtedly the most airily lyrical Katya I can remember, which uses Mackerras's edition but applies less spiky gestures" BBC Music Magazine, January 2011 ***** |
JANACEK
Janacek: Kata Kabanova (complete opera recorded in 2008) BLU-RAY Karita Mattila / Miroslav Dvorsky / Guy de Mey / Dali Schaechter / Orchestra del Teatro Real Madrid / Jiri Belohlavek [ FRA Musica Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 12/Dec/2012 ] "Throughout, Mattila sings with a flood of golden tone… Bělohlávek's conducting is beautifully judged, whether in tension or release. Utterly brilliant!" (Gramophone) |
PUCCINI
La Boheme (recorded live at the Teatro Real, Madrid, March 2006) Teatro Real, Madrid / Inva Mula / Aquiles Machado / Laura Giordano / Fabio Maria Capitanucci / David MenACndez / Felipe Bou / JesAs Lopez Cobos (cond) [ Opus Arte DVD / 2 DVD - released 13/Nov/2006 ] G :- "This production, performance and the quality of recording far surpasses that by Pavarotti and the finely portrayed Mimi of Renata Scotto in the 1972 recording from the Met and quite a few other productions in a crowded market." MusicWeb... |
VERDI
La Traviata (complete opera recorded in 2006) Teatro Real Madrid / Norah Amsellem / Jose Bros / Renato Bruson / Itxaro Mentxaka / Maria Espada / Jesus Lopez Cobos (cond) [ Kultur / Opus Arte DVD / 2 DVD - released 2/Feb/2009 ] G :- 'Norah Amsellem's Violetta flourishes - vocally and dramatically, nothing is a challenge to her… Thanks to Pizzi's intelligence, every detail in the action works in this production... Jesus Lopez Cobos' maturity is astonishing... his perfect... |
FEDERICO MORENO-TORROBA
Luisa Fernanda (complete opera recorded in 2006) BLU-RAY Teatro Real Madrid / Placido Domingo,Nancy Herrera, José Bros, Mariola Cantarero / Jesús López Cobos (conductor) [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Jun/2016 ] 'The production at the Teatro Real in Madrid was a top-of the-range version… Vidal is a peach of a role for Domingo' The Independent |
ALBENIZ
Merlin (complete opera recorded in 2003) Teatro Real Madrid / David Wilson-Johnson / Stuart Skelton / Eva Marton / Carol Vaness / Jose De Eusebio (cond) [ Kultur / BBC / Opus Arte DVD / 2 DVD - released 2/Feb/2009 ] G :- "From its opening stage scene, as dawn breaks outside St Paul's Cathedral in London on a Christmas Morning to the final curtain, with the sun setting behind Madrid's encircling mountains, turning the Plaza de Oriente and the Teatro Real pink,... |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Idomeneo (complete opera) BLU-RAY Teatro Real Madrid / Eric Cutler, David Portillo, Anett Fritsch, Eleonora Buratto / Ivor Bolton (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-ray / Blu-ray - released 1/May/2020 ] "The sound on the Blu-ray disc is excellent and gives plenty of weight to Bolton's superlatively engaged conducting." MusicWeb Recommended July 2020 |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Idomeneo (complete opera) Teatro Real Madrid / Eric Cutler, David Portillo, Annett Fritsch, Eleonora Buratto / Ivor Bolton (cond) [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 1/May/2020 ] "Mozart's third venture into the "opera seria" genre, demolished its traditional boundaries to open the way to lyric drama. Blending youthful earnestness with mature mastery, Mozart uses - while profoundly changing - the elements of a genre based on... |
HENRY PURCELL
Purcell: The Indian Queen (complete opera directed by Peter Sellars recorded in 2013) BLU-RAY Teatro Real Madrid / Julia Bullock, Vince Yi, Nadine Koutcher, Christophe Dumaux / Teodor Currentzis (cond) [ Sony Classical Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 10/Nov/2016 ] "punchy playing from Perm Opera's MusicAeterna orchestra under Teodor Currentzis...The Perm chorus...also field Purcell's sacred anthems with refreshing directness." (Gramophone) |
KURT WEILL
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (complete opera recorded in 2010) Measha Brueggergosman / Jane Henschel / Willard White / Michael Konig / Teatro Real Madrid / Pablo Heras-Casado [ Bel Air Classiques DVD / DVD - released 9/Nov/2011 ] Bel Air present the hard-hitting new production of Kurt Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny by Catalan collective, La Fura dels Baus, from the Teatro Real de Madrid. |
KURT WEILL
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (complete opera recorded in 2010) BLU-RAY Teatro Real, Madrid / Measha Brueggergosman, Jane Henschel, Willard White, Michael Konig / Pablo Heras-Casado (cond) [ Bel Air Classiques Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 10/May/2012 ] "Superbly filmed by Andy Sommer, it makes for uncomfortable viewing, particularly during the current economic crisis. You might, however, find it musically less convincing. There's exceptional conducting from Pablo Heras-Casado, but the singing is... |