[ Dynamic Blu-Ray / 6 Blu-ray Box Set ]
Release Date: Friday 16 August 2024
Should this item be out of stock at the time of your order, we would expect to be able to supply it to you within 2 - 5 business days.
The term 'Baroque' in music covers a period o f around 150 years, from 1600 to 1750, and this collection of six operatic masterpieces shows the diversity of musical experience to be found from this era. All of these excellent Maggio Musicale Fiorentino productions were recorded in Florence, a city that was witness to the origins of opera and saw its rise in popularity with leading names such as Monteverdi and Vivaldi. Lully and Handel represent opera's spread throughout Europe and its adaptation to national tastes, establishing theatrical traditions of romance and tragedy that are still universal to audiences today.
"Sardelli directs a stylish performance, drawing some fine playing from the modern instruments of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino orchestra...It is only right that this famous staging should have been preserved on film, and the production is here given added lustre by Pe's splendid Rinaldo." Opera [Rinaldo]
"Sardelli (wielding an authentically Lullian staff for certain movements) propels a crisp account - the festival orchestra's first with period instruments. The many dances show off a wonderful variety of instrumental colours." Gramophone [Acis et Galatee]
"The stars of the show are Charles Workman as Ulysses and Arianna Vendittelli as the goddess Minerva. Workman has real stage presence and can colour his voice to convey bravura, tenderness, reflectiveness and much else. Vendittelli's sound is bright and warm." BBC Music [Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria]
"[Katrin Wundsam] She has a fruity voice, steady as a rock, and a very good technique. She has been singing on and off stage for over 12 years and the considerable coloratura demands holds no fears for this singer. The orchestra is superb, led by De Marchi with what seems like ideal pacing." Fanfare [Didone abbandonata]
Monteverdi: Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria
Lully: Acis et Galatée
Handel: Rinaldo
Intermedi della Pellegrina: Firenze 1589
Vivaldi: Il Farnace, RV711
Vinci, Leonardo: Didone abbandonata