HECTOR BERLIOZ
Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini (complete opera recorded in 2015) BLU-RAY Dutch National Opera / John Osborn, Mariangela Sicilia, Maurizio Muraro, Michèle Losier / Sir Mark Elder (cond) [ Naxos Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 5/May/2018 ] "Osborn has all the vocal verve and dash to make the devil-may-care sculptor the constant centre of attention. Mariangela Sicilia uses her fearless, technically brilliant vocalism to sustain his beloved Teresa's vibrant personality…a musical treat" |
Il Volo
Il Volo... Takes Flight: Live From the Detroit Opera House [ Interscope Records U.S.A. / Blu-ray Disc - released 15/Mar/2012 ] G: |
RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen (complete opera cycle recorded in Valencia, 2007-09) BLU-RAY Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, Valencia / Jennifer Wilson, Lance Ryan, Peter Seiffert, Juha Uusitalo / Zubin Mehta (cond) [ C Major Blu-Ray / 4 Blu-ray Box Set - released 27/Jan/2011 ] "Quite a spectacle, brilliantly sung." The Sunday Times / "It looks like a landmark Ring cycle, it is outstanding." BBC Music Magazine |
VERDI / RAMEAU / WAGNER
State Opera (documentary recorded in 2017) BLU-RAY Jonas Kaufmann, Anja Harteros, Kirill Petrenko, Zubin Mehta, Ivor Bolton, etc [ Naxos Blu-ray / Blu-ray - released 20/May/2020 ] The State Opera is the first film ever made about the Bavarian State Opera, one of the world's oldest, most prestigious and internationally esteemed companies. It charts the course of three operas. |
WAGNER
Der fliegende Holländer [The Flying Dutchman] (complete opera recorded in 2010) BLU-RAY Juha Uusitalo / Robert Lloyd / Catherine Naglestad / Marco Jentzsch / The Netherlands Opera / Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra / Harmut Haenchen [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 30/Jun/2011 ] Austrian director Martin Kušej's pioneering vision brings a challenging and provoking insight to Wagner's opera of love and redemption, with his singular ability to connect characters and their actions to the score. Martin Zehetsgruber's spacious,... |
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) |
MICHAEL TIPPETT
King Priam (recorded on film, 1985) BLU-RAY Kent Opera / Rodney Macann, Sarah Walker, Howard Haskin & Anne Mason / Sir Roger Norrington (cond) [ Arthaus Monarda Arts Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Feb/2016 ] Rodney Macann heads a strong cast in the title role, giving a compelling performance as Priam, alongside Sarah Walker's moving portrayal of Hector's wife, Andromache. Howard Haskin plays Priam's rebellious son Paris, who elopes with Helen. |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Mass in C minor, K427 'Great' - A Ballet By Uwe Scholz BLU-RAY Kiyoko Kimura, Christoph Böhm, Oksana Kulchytska (dancers) / Leipzig Ballet, Choir of the Leipzig Opera & Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Balázs Kocsár [ EuroArts Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Aug/2011 ] The full length Choreography takes its name from Mozart's famous unfinished Mass in C minor and adds other works by the same composer, such as the Adagio and Fugue in C minor and the motet Ave verum corpus as well as passages of Gregorian chant, and... |
RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg (complete opera recorded in 2022) Klaus Florian Vogt (tenor) Eva Heidi Stober (soprano) Johan Reuter (bass-baritone) / John Fiore (cond) [ Naxos Blu-ray / 2 Blu-ray - released 24/Nov/2023 ] Triumphantly premiered in 1868, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg evokes the singing guilds of mid-16th-century Nuremburg, a focal point of the Northern European Renaissance. |
DVORAK
Rusalka (complete opera recorded in 2010) BLU-RAY Kristine Opolais / Klaus Florian Vogt / Gunther Groissbock / Janina Baechle / Nadia Krasteva / Bayerisches Staatsorchester / Tomáš Hanus [ KULTUR Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 20/Aug/2012 ] "The cast has clearly bought into the producer's concept and they deliver a devastating ensemble performance. Kristine Opolais as Rusalka is vocally superb and acts magnificently..Tomáš Hanus draws some wonderful playing from the Bavarian State... |
VINCENZO BELLINI
Bellini: I Capuleti e i Montecchi (complete opera recorded in 2015) BLU-RAY La Fenice / Jessica Pratt, Sonia Ganassi, Rubén Amoretti, Shalva Mukeria / Shalva Mukeria (cond) [ Naxos Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 13/May/2022 ] "I can tell you that from the first to the fourth performance, which was on Sunday, enthusiasm reached, or perhaps surpassed, the levels of Il Pirata and La Straniera in Milan" Bellini in a letter to a friend |
PUCCINI
La Rondine (complete opera recorded in 2008) BLU-RAY La Fenice Opera / Fiorenza Cedolins / Fernando Portari / Sandra Pastrana / Carlo Rizzi, conductor [ Arthaus Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Aug/2009 ] BLU-RAY - The score of the operetta-like threeact "lyrical comedy", which tells the story of the love between Magda and Ruggero, must be one of Puccini's most subtle creations. |
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:... |
ANTONIN DVORAK
Dvorak: Rusalka, Op. 114 (complete opera recorded in 2012) BLU-RAY La Monnaie Opera / Myrtò Papatanasiu, Pavel Černoch, Annalena Persson, Willard White / Ádám Fischer (cond) [ EuroArts Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 10/Jul/2016 ] "The cast throw themselves into [the production] with admirable energy, but it's simply too calculated and posturing...musically this isn't at all bad. Adam Fischer's conducting is smooth, rich and idiomatic, his principals good." (BBC Music) |
FERDINANDO PAER
Paer: Agnese (complete opera recorded in 2019) BLU-RAY Teatro Regio Torino / Bruno Taddia, Filippo Morace, Laura Giordano, Pietro Adaini / Federico Maria Sardelli (cond) [ Dynamic Blu-Ray / Blu-ray - released 1/Feb/2020 ] Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Regio di Torino, Diego Fasolis, Leo Muscato (director) |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro [The Marriage of Figaro] (complete recorded in 2006) BLU-RAY La Scala Opera / Diana Damrau, Ildebrando D'Arcangelo, Pietro Spagnoli, Marcella Orsatti Talamanca / Gérard Korsten (cond) [ Arthaus Legendary Performances Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Oct/2015 ] "This is above all a heartfelt performance of a heartfelt masterpiece, and in the end Strehler's work is inseparable from the contributions of the conductor, designers and cast." (OperaNews) |
MAURICE JARRE
Notre Dame de Paris (Complete Ballet, recorded live in March 2013) BLU-RAY La Teatro alla Scala Ballet / Natalia Osipova, Roberto Bolle, Eris Nezha, Mick Zeni / Paul Connelly (cond) [ Opus Arte La Scala Collection Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 20/Aug/2014 ] With Roland Petit's cool, cabaret-style choreography and chic costumes by Yves Saint Laurent, Notre Dame de Paris has been a modern ballet hit ever since its 1965 premiere. Petit's deft condensation of Victor Hugo's epic and tragic novel is now... |
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)." |
BENET CASABLANCAS
Casablancas: L'Enigma di Lea (complete opera recorded in 2019) Blu-ray Liceu Grand Theatre / Allison Cook, José Antonio López, Sara Blanch, Marta Infante, Sonia de Munck / Josep Pons (cond) [ Naxos Blu-ray / Blu-ray - released 21/Jan/2022 ] Recorded at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, Spain, 12-13 February 2019 |
EMILIO de CAVALIERI:
de Cavalieri: Rappresentatione di Anima et di Corpo (complete opera recorded in 2021) Blu-ray Theater an der Wien / Georg Nigl, Cyril Auvity, Anett Fritsch, Daniel Schmutzhard / Giovanni AntoninI [ Naxos Blu-ray / Blu-ray - released 24/Mar/2023 ] "This Rappresentatione is as entertaining a sermon as you're ever likely to see. Does it belong in the opera house? Carsen certainly makes a persuasive case." Gramophone Editor's Choice June 2023 |