GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Rigoletto (Complete opera recorded in 1981) Metropolitan Opera / Louis Quilico, Christiane Eda-Pierre, Luciano Pavarotti, Isola Jones / James Levine (cond) [ Decca Music Group DVD / DVD - released 5/Nov/2014 ] "Musically there's much to admire...The vocalism is strong and occasionally outstanding." Gramophone |
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) |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Verdi: Ernani (complete opera recorded in 1983) Metropolitan Opera / Luciano Pavarotti, Leona Mitchell, Sherrill Milnes / James Levine (cond) [ Decca DVD / DVD - released 18/Jan/2008 ] " Mr. Pavarotti gave a splendid full-throated performance... He was also a sensitive partner in the many ensemble numbers... Miss Mitchell filled the house gloriously... " New York Times |
GIOACCHINIO ROSSINI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Rossini: L'Italiana in Algeri (Complete opera recorded in 1986). Metropolitan Opera / Marilyn Horne, Paolo Montarsolo, Douglas Ahlstedt / James Levine (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / 2 DVD - released 13/Oct/2005 ] Marilyn Horne takes centre stage in this production of Rossini's opera, recorded live at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1986. Other performers include Douglas Ahlstedt, Paolo Montarsolo and Allan Monk. James Levine conducts. |
GIACOMO PUCCINI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Puccini: Manon Lescaut (Complete opera recorded in 1990) Metropolitan Opera / Renata Scotto, Placido Domingo, Pablo Elvira, Renata Capecchi / James Levine (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 1/Aug/2006 ] "What makes this performance rather special is the acted and sung interplay between Scotto and Domingo. The way she jumps up into his arms and he carries her to the coach is an effective and touching moment." MusicWeb |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Verdi: Otello (complete opera recorded in 2012) Metropolitan Opera / Renee Fleming, Johan Botha, Falk Struckmann / Semyon Bychkov (cond) [ Decca DVD / DVD - released 15/May/2015 ] Renée Fleming's Desdemona enshrines one of her signature roles in a definitive performance: "she knows exactly how to spin the gentle lines of the 'Willow Song' and 'Ave Maria' so that they softly fill the hall" (New York Times). This 2012... |
JULES MASSENET
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Massenet: Thais (complete opera, recorded in 2009) Metropolitan Opera / Renee Fleming, Thomas Hampson, Michael Schade / Jesus Lopez-Cobos (cond) [ Decca Music Group DVD / DVD - released 18/Feb/2010 ] The New York Times lauded Renée Fleming as a "vocally sumptuous and unabashedly show-stealing Thaïs". If this is crime, opera needs more of it! |
RICHARD WAGNER
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Wagner: Tannhauser (Complete Opera recorded in 1983) Metropolitan Opera / Richard Cassilly, Eva Marton, Tatiana Troyanos / James Levine [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / 2 DVD - released 13/Oct/2002 ] The Metropolitan Opera sings deeply passionate Wagner in this 1991 production on a spare but darkly atmospheric stage. |
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 |
HECTOR BERLIOZ
MARBECK COLLECTABLE: Berlioz: Les Troyens (complete opera recorded in 1983) The Metropolitan Opera / Tatiana Troyanos, Jessye Norman, Placido Domingo / James Levine (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / 2 DVD - released 28/Jun/2007 ] "Domingo's clarion (though stretched) Aeneas and Norman's passionate Cassandra are most memorable. Troyanos does not match Gardiner's Susan Graham, but Levine is admirably epic and provides the traditional finale." BBC Music |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: La Traviata (Franco Zeffirelli's film of the complete opera) Metropolitan Opera / Teresa Stratas, Placido Domingo, Cornell MacNeil, Pina Cei / James Levine (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 6/Sep/2007 ] "Surpassingly voluptuous…a spinning wheel of colors and textures." (Variety) |
DONIZETTI / VERDI
An Evening With Pavarotti And Joan Sutherland (recorded at the Met in 1987) Luciano Pavarotti and Joan Sutherland with Leo Nucci and the Metropolitan Orchestra conducted by Richard Bonynge [ Decca DVD / DVD - released 21/Mar/2008 ] Two of the greatest opera stars of the time, and long-term singing partners, Luciano Pavarotti and Joan Sutherland, come together to perform four famous scenes from Acts I and III of Lucia di Lammermoor, Act III of La Traviata and Act III of... |
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 |
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 |
GAETANO DONIZETTI
Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore (complete opera recorded in 1991) Metropolitan Opera / Kathleen Battle, Luciano Pavarotti, Juan Pons, Enzo Dara / James Levine (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 8/Jun/2005 ] "Kathleen Battle sings Adina with perfect, pearl-like tone, absolute fluency and commitment, and a trill to die for." (9/8 Classics Today) |
ALEXANDER BORODIN
Borodin: Prince Igor (complete opera recorded in 2013) Metropolitan Opera / Ildar Abdrazakov, Mikhail Petrenko, Sergey Semishkur, Vladimir Ognovenko / Gianandrea Noseda (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophone DVD / 2 DVD - released 20/Sep/2014 ] For the first time in nearly 100 years, Borodin's defining Russian epic, famous for its Polovtsian Dances, comes to the MET. Dmitri Tcherniakov's production is a brilliant psychological journey through the mind of its conflicted hero, and his "[…]... |
GEORGES BIZET
Bizet: Les Pêcheurs de Perles [The Pearl Fishers] (complete opera recorded in 2015) Metropolitan Opera / Diana Damrau, Matthew Polenzani, Mariusz Kwiecien, Nicolas Teste / Gianandrea Noseda (cond) [ Erato DVD / DVD - released 24/Jan/2017 ] "The British director and filmmaker Penny Woolcock, working with a dream cast delivers in this sensitive and insightful production, originally created by the English National Opera in London." New York Times |
CHARLES GOUNOD
Gounod: Faust (complete opera recorded in 2013) Metropolitan Opera / Jonas Kaufmann, Marina Poplavskaya, Russell Braun, Jonathan Beyer / Yannick Nézet-Séguin (cond) [ Decca Classics DVD / 2 DVD - released 4/Apr/2014 ] "Mr. Kaufmann, a Met superstar… was a handsome, vocally splendid Faust. He sang the pensive and romantic passages with veiled dusky colorings and tender lyricism, and unleashed pent-up power in full-bodied phrases, capped by fearless high notes." NYT |
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. |
GIORDANO
Andrea Chenier (complete opera recorded in 1997) Metropolitan Opera / Luciano Pavarotti, Maria Guleghina, Juan Pons / James Levine (cond) [ Decca DVD / DVD - released 22/Apr/2012 ] |