Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini (complete opera recorded in 2007)

"Burkhard Fritz as Benvenuto is a strong heroic tenor and copes well with the vocal demands of the role, while Maria Kovalevska as his beloved Teresa enchants us with her lovely voice and physical beauty. English baritone Brindley Sherratt is very capable and convincing as Balducci, the Pope's treasurer. In the supporting cast American soprano Kate Aldrich is superb as Ascanio and Russian bass Mikhail Petrenko creates a hilarious cameo role as the Pope. The production is a visual stunner and comes together wonderfully, particularly at the carnival scene with a Brueghelesque feel about it."
(The WholeNote.com)

'A mix of futurism à la Metropolis, fantasy à la Batman and quotes from Piranesi's Carceri, juxtaposed in the form of photo montages, enhanced with…robots, a helicopter, a shark and the winged vehicle of a pop star Pope', was how the Neue Zürcher Zeitung described this astonishing Salzburg Festival production of Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini. The high-calibre cast, headed by Burkhard Fritz as the temperamental Renaissance artist and the 26-year-old Latvian soprano Maija Kovalevska as Teresa, the woman with whom he tries to elope, is conducted by Valery Gergiev who 'pulled out all the stops. He whips the Vienna Philharmonic into a delirium similar to that which possibly took hold of the composer'. (Der Standard) This is French grand opera at its fast-paced and spectacularly-staged best.