The Phantom of the Opera
[ Universal Pictures / DVD - released 20/Apr/2005 ] Based on the hit musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, the tale tells the story of a disfigured musical genius that haunts the catacombs beneath the Paris Opera, waging a reign of terror over its occupants. When he falls fatally in love with the lovely... |
A Jan Schmidt-Garre Film featuring Roland Pöntinen, Vesselina Kasarova, Peter Feuchtwanger, Katerina Hebelkova, Christiane Libor
Chopin At The Opera [ Arthaus Musik DVD / DVD - released 26/Oct/2010 ] The opera for Chopin was the highest form of art - even though he never entertained the thought of writing for the stage himself. His contemporaries Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini meant more to him than Beethoven, Liszt or Schumann. They influenced... |
GILBERT and SULLIVAN
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Gilbert & Sullivan: Princess Ida Ambrosian Opera Chorus with Frank Gorshin, Nan Christie, Laurence Dale, Anne Collins & others [ BBC / Umbrella DVD / DVD - released 10/Aug/2014 ] Music by the London Symphony Orchestra, the Ambrosian Opera Chorus and a host of stars including Frank Gorshin, Bernard Dickerson, Anne Collins and Claire Powell. 114 minutes. For more than 100 years the operas of Gilbert & Sullivan have played to... |
GILBERT and SULLIVAN
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Gilbert & Sullivan: Patience & The Sorcerer [2 DVDs] Ambrosian Opera Chorus with Sandra Dugdale, Donald Adams, Derek Hammond-Stroud, John Fryatt, Clive Revill, David Kernan & Nana Christie [ BBC / Umbrella DVD / DVD - released 10/Aug/2014 ] For more than 100 years the operas of Gilbert & Sullivan have played to packed audiences around the world. These two names have become synonymous with classic light opera - music that is timeless and tuneful lyrics that are witty, scathing and memorable. |
GIOVANNI BATTISTA PERGOLESI
Pergolesi: Il Prigionier Superbo / La Serva Padrona (complete operas recorded 2009 & 2011) Antonio Lozano, Maria Rodrìguez Cusì, Marina de Liso, Alessandra Marianelli, Carlo Lepore / Accademia Barocca de I Virtuosi Italiani, Corrado Rovaris [ Arthaus DVD / 2 DVD - released 10/Nov/2012 ] "Marianelli is a sharp-witted, pert-voiced Serpina...Lepore is a suitably blustery Uberto, the playing of Accademia Barocca is exemplary, with some particularly splendid trumpet playing" International Record Review |
VINCENZO BELLINI
Bellini: Norma (the complete opera, recorded in 2006) The Bavarian State Opera / Edita Gruberova / Zoran Todorovich / Roberto Scandiuzzi / Sonia Ganassi / Markus Herzog / Friedrich Haider [ Deutsche Grammophone DVD / 2 DVD - released 29/Jan/2007 ] "Gruberova delivers her own wholly individual interpretation ... she translates Bellini's interplay of pain, love and desire into physically palpable inner and outer drama. Immensely moving." - Die Welt |
RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Tannhäuser (Complete Opera recorded in 1989) Bayreuther Festspiele / Richard Versalle, Cheryl Studer, Rutland Engert-Ely, Hans Sotin / Giuseppe Sinopoli (cond) [ EuroArts DVD / 2 DVD - released 21/Feb/2020 ] "Thundering applause", wrote the prestigious "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung", and Rome's "La Republica" noted the "triumphal success and storm of applause" that greeted Giuseppe Sinopoli and the ensemble at Tannhäuser's 1989 Bayreuth Festival... |
PYOTR Il'yich TCHAIKOVSKY
Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin (complete opera) Bernd Weik, Teresa Kubiak, Stuart Burrows / Royal Opera House, Covent Garden / Sir Georg Solti [ Decca Music Group Limited DVD / DVD - released 16/Aug/2004 ] Director Petr Weigl is celebrated for his sumptuous opera films, using magnificent natural settings and casting photogenic actors in the principal roles. |
ARAIA / CALDARA / GRAUN / PORPORA / etc.
Sacrificium - The Art of the Castrati Cecilia Bartoli (soprano) / Il Giardino Armonico / Giovanni Antonini [ Decca Music Group DVD / DVD - released 15/Mar/2010 ] Cecilia Bartoli sings virtuoso arias from her Sacrificium album, on location in and around the spectacular baroque palace of Caserta in Southern Italy. |
ERICH WOLFGANG KORNGOLD
Korngold: Das Wunder der Heliane (complete opera recorded in 2018) Deutsche Oper Berlin / Sara Jakubiak, Brian Jagde, Josef Wagner, Okka von der Damerau, Derek Welton / Christof Loy [ Naxos DVD / 2 DVD - released 7/Jun/2019 ] Erich Wolfgang Korngold regarded Das Wunder der Heliane as his greatest work, but the opera has been neglected since its premiere in 1927. This 2018 production from the Deutsche Oper Berlin features the American soprano Sara Jakubiak as Heliane, and... |