PHILIP GLASS
Glass: The Perfect American (complete opera recorded in 2013) BLU-RAY Teatro Real / David Pittsinger, Donald Kaasch, Christopher Purves, Janis Kelly / Dennis Russell Davies (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Oct/2013 ] "The dark tone is set from the beginning...Purves impresses conveys the complex and ultimately flawed character of Walt...Opus Arte's production is excellent...and brings The Perfect American - such as it is - very vividly to life." 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) |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Un Ballo in Maschera [The Masked Ball] (complete opera recorded in 2008) BLU-RAY Teatro Real / Marcelo Alvarez / Violeta Urmana / Marco Vratogna / ElenaZaremba / Jesus Lopez-Cobos (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Aug/2011 ] Passion, loyalty and political conspiracy are the three pillars of Un ballo in maschera (1859), the 'most operatic of all operas'. Set in XIX century Boston, Mario Martone's atmospheric production for the Teatro Real in Madrid brings out all the... |
PIETRO MASCAGNI / RUGGERO LEONCAVALLO
Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana / Leoncavallo: Pagliacci (complete operas recorded in 2007) BLU-RAY Teatro Real / Violeta Urmana / Vincenzo La Scola / Vladimir Galouzine / Maria Bayo/ Carlo Guelfi / Jesus Lopez-Cobos (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 2/Feb/2009 ] Blu-Ray - "The performances are uniformly superb; especially Violeta Urmana's Santuzza and Vladimir Galouzine's Canio, especially in the aria Vesti La Giubba, where he almost brings down the house. Very highly recommended!" (AudAud.com) |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: I Due Foscari (complete opera recorded in October 2009) BLU-RAY Teatro Regio di Parma / Leo Nucci, Roberto De Biasio, Tatiana Serjan, Roberto Tagliavini / Donato Renzetti [ C Major Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Jan/2017 ] " Lee's production of I due Foscari, set against a simple curved backdrop and beautifully costumed, works best on screen...with Nucci giving a baritonal masterclass in the title role, Tatiana Serjan pouring out exciting (if veiled) tone as Lucrezia |
JULES MASSENET
Massenet: Thais (complete opera recorded in 2009) BLU-RAY Teatro Regio Torino / Barbara Frittoli, Lado Ateneli, Alessandro Liberatore / Gianandrea Noseda (cond) [ Arthaus Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 10/Oct/2012 ] "Ataneli gives a strong performance but the highly stylised nature of the staging doesn't allow for much subtlety of expression. Gianandrea Noseda conducts with... sensitivity for Massenet's style" (Gramophone) |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Aida (complete opera recorded in October 2015) BLU-RAY Teatro Regio Torino / Kristin Lewis, Marco Berti, Anita Rachvelishvili, Mark S. Doss / Gianandrea Noseda (cond) [ C Major Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Jan/2017 ] "A dramatically satisfying - and well-filmed, production which can stand alongside the finest." MusicWeb |
GAETANO DONIZETTI
Donizetti: Il Borgomastro di Saardam (complete opera recorded in 2017) BLU-RAY Teatro Sociale di Bergamo / Giorgio Caoduro, Juan Francisco Gatell, Andrea Concetti, Irina Dubrovskaya / Roberto Rizzi Brignoli (conductor) [ Dynamic Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Jul/2015 ] Having fallen into oblivion following performances in 1839, this attractive, rare opera buffa was revived in 1973 in the Dutch city of Zaanstad (the Saardam of the libretto). It's staged on this recording at Bergamo's Teatro Sociale. |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro [The Marriage of Figaro] (complete opera recorded in 2010) BLU-RAY Teddy Tahu Rhodes / Taryn Fiebig / Peter Coleman-Wright / Rachelle Durkin / Opera Australia / Patrick Summers [ Opera Australia Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 12/Oct/2011 ] Recorded live at the Sydney opera House, this Blu-Ray, DVD and CD performance received the following review: "Stellar cast.....from the first bars of the overture you know you are in for a good time...a spectacular cast on every level...." The Daily... |
JULES MASSENET
Massenet: Cendrillon (complete opera recorded in 2017) BLU-RAY Theater Freiburg / Kim-Lillian Strebel, Anja Jung, Anat Czarny / Fabrice Bollon (cond) [ Naxos Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 18/Sep/2018 ] Massenet's opera Cendrillon has enjoyed enduring popularity on stage and in recordings, but there are surprisingly few Blu-ray releases of this enchanting work. |
HECTOR BERLIOZ
Les Troyens (complete opera recorded in 2003) BLU-RAY Theatre Musical de Paris / Yannis Kokkos, Susan Graham, Gregory Kunde / Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, Sir John Eliot Gardiner [ Opus Arte / BBC Blu-Ray / 2 Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Aug/2011 ] "The magnificent high-definition recording does it ample sonic and visual justice. For anyone who loves Les Troyens, this is a revelatory and essential performance." (The Gramophone Classical Music Guide) |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Lucio Silla (complete opera recorded in 2017) BLU-RAY Theatro Real / Kurt Streit (Silla), Patricia Petibon, Silvia Tro Santafé, Inga Kalna / Ivor Bolton (cond) [ Bel Air Classiques Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Nov/2018 ] "But the vocal laurels, and the principal reason for recommending this recording, belong to Patricia Petibon who tears into Giunia's arias as if her really depended on it." BBC MusicBBC Music Magazine October 2018 Opera Choice |
PHILIP GLASS
Glass: Einstein on the Beach (recorded in 2012-13) BLU-RAY Theâtre du Châtelet / Helga Davis, Kate Moran, Antoine Silverman / The Philip Glass Ensemble, Michael Riesman [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / 2 Blu-ray Disc - released 10/Nov/2016 ] "This is close to a definitive version of the opera as you're likely to get." Gramophone |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Fidelio (complete opera recorded at the Salzburg Festival in 2015) BLU-RAY Vienna Opera / Jonas Kaufmann, Adrianne Pieczonka, Tomasz Konieczny, Hans-Peter König, Olga Bezsmertna / Franz Welser-Möst (cond) [ Sony Classical Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Jul/2016 ] "Jonas Kaufmann's gorgeously sung Florestan"(Financial Times) and Leonora - "triumphantly sung by Adrianne Pieczonka" (The Guardian/Observer) |
JULES MASSENET
Massenet: Werther (complete recorded in 2005) BLU-RAY Vienna State Opera / Marcelo Álvarez, Elina Garanca, Ileana Tonca, Adrian Eröd, Alfred Sramek, Peter Jelosit / Philippe Jordan (cond) [ Arthaus Legendary Performances Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Oct/2015 ] "The Vienna State Opera Orchestra plays rhapsodically for Phillip Jordan. He comes close to delivering a great Werther...this is a stunning, newly and originally conceived show." (ClassicsToday) |
GEORGES BIZET
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Bizet: Carmen (complete Franco Zeffirelli production recorded in 1978) Vienna State Opera / Placido Domingo, Elena Obraztsova, Isobel Buchanan, Yuri Mazurok, Isobel Buchanan / Carlos Kleiber (cond) [ Arthaus DVD / Blu-ray Disc - released 12/Jul/2004 ] The Vienna Carmen from 1978 is a sensational filmed document from the musical legacy of Carlos Kleiber: the meticulous conductor only ever conducted a highly selected repertoire, and among his very few audio and video recordings are only seven... |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Strauss, (R.): Capriccio (complete opera recorded in 2013) BLU-RAY Vienna State Opera / Renee Fleming, Bo Skovhus, Michael Schade, Angelika Kirchschlager / Christoph Eschenbach (cond) [ C Major Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 28/Apr/2014 ] "Kurt Rydl crowns a fine stage career with a gloriously eccentric impersonation of La Roche...The singing honours belong entirely to Angelika Kirchschlager as Clairon." BBC Music |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: La forza del destino (complete opera recorded in 2008) BLU-RAY Vienna State Opera / Salvatore Licitra, Nina Stemme, Carlos Alvarez, Alastair Miles / Zubin Mehta (cond) [ C Major Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 15/Feb/2012 ] "Nina Stemme's Leonora? A hugely well-acted assumption of the role, with (in the 'Pace! Pace, mio dio' scena) the uncanny presence and vocal fury offered by Price, Barstow or Freni." Gramophone |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Simon Boccanegra (complete recorded in 2002) BLU-RAY Vienna State Opera / Thomas Hampson, Cristina Gallardo-Domas, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Miroslav Dvorský / Daniele Gatti (cond) [ Arthaus Legendary Performances Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Oct/2015 ] Arthaus presents a "visually alert, musically sensitive and disturbingly coherent" (The Standard) production of Simon Boccanegra on Blu-ray, one of Verdi's lesser known works yet regarded by many opera lovers as one of his finest. |
GLUCK
Gluck: Iphigénie en Aulide & Iphigénie en Tauride (complete operas recorded in 2011) BLU-RAY Véronique Gens / Mireille Delunsch / Les Musiciens du Louvre Grenoble & Chorus of De Nederlandse Opera, Marc Minkowski & Pierre Audi [ Opus Arte Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 20/Feb/2013 ] "[von Otter] presents a deeply sympathetic character...[Gens's] Iphigenia is equally touching and just as beautifully sung...one or two [production] oddities are far outweighed by the intensity that Pierre Audi secures from his team" (Gramophone) |