GLUCK
Gluck: Iphigénie en Aulide & Iphigénie en Tauride (complete operas recorded in 2011) Netherlands Opera / Véronique Gens / Mireille Delunsch / Les Musiciens du Louvre Grenoble, Marc Minkowski [ Opus Arte DVD / 2 DVD - released 20/Feb/2013 ] GRAMOPHONE AWARD FINALIST 2013: Opera |
ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK
Humperdinck: Hansel und Gretel (complete opera recorded in 2015) Wiener Staatsoper / Adrian Eröd, Janina Baechle, Daniela Sindram, Ileana Tonca, Michaela Schuster / Christian Thielemann (cond) [ EuroArts DVD / DVD - released 30/Sep/2016 ] Based on one of the best-loved stories by the Brothers Grimm, Hänsel und Gretel soon became one of the most-performed operas in the world and has remained enduringly popular with both children and adults ever since. |
RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (complete opera recorded in 2013) Wiener Staatsoper / Monika Bohinec, Anna Gabler, Roberto Saccà, Peter Sonn, Michael Volle, Markus Werb / Daniele Gatti [ EuroArts DVD / 2 DVD - released 30/Sep/2016 ] "A fresh, charming and perceptive production, magical and irresistible!" (New York Times) "All narrative and poetry is nothing but the key to true dreams" (Hans Sachs). Spontaneously emerging from just such a truthful dream by the cobbler-poet on... |
ENGLEBERT HUMPERDINCK
Humperdinck: Konigskinder (complete opera recorded in 2010) Zurich Opera / Jonas Kaufmann, Isabel Rey, Oliver Widmer / Jens-Daniel Herzog (cond) [ Decca DVD / DVD - released 20/Dec/2012 ] Tenor superstar Jonas Kaufmann leads the cast in the first-ever DVD release of the beautiful fairytale opera from the composer of Hänsel und Gretel. The German tenor is "the fairytale prince of most opera-goers' dreams - young, reckless,... |
FRANZ SCHUBERT
Schubert: Fierrabras (complete opera recorded in 2007) Zurich Opera / Jonas Kaufmann, Juliane Banse, Twyla Robinson / Franz Welser-Most (cond) [ EMI Classics DVD / DVD - released 26/Mar/2007 ] "it is well cast, everyone seguing from dialogue through song splendidly, notably soprano Twyla Robinson's in the most exciting performance of the evening. Kaufmann is predictably excellent (though it is a rather short role) Juliane Banse sounds dark... |
GAETANO DONIZETTI
Donizetti: Don Pasquale (complete opera recorded in 2006) Zurich Opera / Juan Diego Florez / Isabel Rey / Ruggero Raimondi / Nello Santi (cond) [ Decca DVD / DVD - released 12/Sep/2007 ] Following DVD releases of Il barbiere di Siviglia from Madrid and La Fille du regiment from Genoa, Decca continues the DVD series presenting Florez in his great stage roles with this performance of Donizetti's irresistible comedy from Zurich Opera House. |
FRANZ LEHAR
Lehár: Das Land des Lächelns [The Land Of Smiles] (complete operetta recorded in 2017) Zurich Opera / Piotr Beczala, Julia Kleiter, Rebeca Olvera, Spencer Lang / Fabio Luisi (conductor) [ Accentus DVD / DVD - released 20/Nov/2018 ] "Fabio Luisi conducts with a subtle consciousness of the requisite style and the orchestra sounds marvellous" Opera |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Macbeth (Complete opera recorded in 2001) Zurich Opera / Thomas Hampson, Paoletta Marrocu, Roberto Scandiuzzi / Franz Welser-Most [ Arthaus DVD / DVD - released 1/Jul/2022 ] Thomas Hampson made a triumphant début in the title role of Verdi's Macbeth in this Zurich Opera production, with Paoletta Marrocu as his beautiful, power-hungry wife. |
Joe Bonamassa
An Acoustic Evening at the Vienna Opera House [ J&R Adventures / Blu-ray Disc - released 5/Apr/2013 ] Hailed worldwide as one of the greatest guitar players of his generation, Joe Bonamassa has almost single-handedly redefined the blues-rock genre and brought it into the mainstream. He continues this role with his first-ever entirely acoustic... |
BENJAMIN BRITTEN
Peter Grimes (complete opera filmed on Aldeburgh beach in 2013) Alan Oke, Giselle Allen, David Kempster / Guildhall School of Music & Drama & Britten-Pears Orchestra, Steuart Bedford [ Arthaus DVD / DVD - released 10/Mar/2014 ] GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE AWARD NOMINATION 2014 |
RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Gotterdammerung (Complete Opera) Albert Bonnema / Luana Devol / Eva-Maria Westbroek / Staatsorchester Stuttgart / Lothar Zagrosek [ EuroArts DVD / 2 DVD ] G : - "It is very likely that in the near future the Stuttgart Ring, conceived by Klaus Zehelein will be remembered as a Wagnerian watershed as much as Wieland Wagner's in the 1950s." (Opera |
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV
Le Coq d'Or [The Golden Cockerel] (complete opera recorded in 2002) Albert Schagidullin / Olga Trifonova / Yuri Maria Saenz / Ilya Levinsky / Orchestre de Paris / Kent Nagano [ ArtHaus Musik DVD / DVD - released 1/Aug/2011 ] This Châtelet revival of Le Coq d'or brings to the stage once again the great Kabuki actor Ennosuke III's striking staging of Rimsky-Korsakov's opera first mounted in co-production with the San Francisco Opera in 1984. |
GIACOMO PUCCINI
Puccini: Gianni Schicchi (complete opera) Glyndebourne Opera / Alessandro Corbelli, Felicity Palmer, Marie McLaughlin / Massimo Giordano, Sally Matthews / Vladimir Jurowski (cond) [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 16/Jun/2005 ] G :- "A delightful humorous and warm production of the final part of Puccini's Il trittico." (MusicWeb July 2005) |
JANACEK
Jenufa (complete opera recorded in 2009) Amanda Roocroft / Deborah Polaski / Miroslav Dvorský / Nikolai Schukoff / Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro Real Madrid / Ivor Bolton [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 26/Oct/2011 ] "Amanda Roocroft has won laurels as Jenufa in various stage productions and comes across as a deeply sincere performer here, even if the voice is apt to turn shrill at the top...[Polaski's] very understatement is moving in its own way." (Gramophone) |
PROKOFIEV
The Love for Three Oranges [L'Amour des 3 Oranges] (complete opera) Amsterdam Muziektheater / Alain Vernhes, Martial Defontaine, Francois Le Roux, Sandrine Piau / Stephane Deneve (cond) [ Opus Arte DVD / 2 DVD - released 28/Aug/2006 ] G :- "A reliable ensemble of singers yields the palm, though, to the astonishingly full-blooded playing of the Rotterdam Philharmonic under Denève..." (BBC Music) |
GIOCOMO PUCCINI
Puccini: Madama Butterfly (complete opera) Amsterdam Muziekther / Cheryl Barker, Martin Thompson, etc. / Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra Edo de Waart (conductor) [ Opus Arte DVD / 2 DVD - released 25/Oct/2005 ] G :- "A superb DVD that now becomes my top recommendation for this opera on DVD. The production is top-notch, and the orchestral contribution the strongest I have yet to hear" (MusicWeb Jan 2006) |
RAMEAU
Zoroastre (complete opera recorded at the Drottningholm Court Theatre, 2006) Anders J. Dahlin / Sine Bundgaard / Anna Maria Panzarella / Ditte Andersen / Christophe Rousset (cond) [ Opus Arte DVD / 2 DVD - released 22/Jun/2007 ] G - "Christophe Rousset and his forces deliver an excellently paced reading and much of the singing is perfectly judged. Pierre Audi's production, while it moves the cast around efficiently enough, is at times obscure in its use of gesture…" (BBC... |
VERDI / WAGNER / MOZART / BEETHOVEN / STRAUSS / ROSSINI / BIZET
Gala Concerts: A Verdi Gala From Berlin / Gala Concert from the Vienna State Opera / Great Stars in Opera [4 DVD set] Andrea Rost, Ramon Vargas, Alan Titus, Agnes Baltsa, Placido Domingo, Neil Shicoff / Various orchestras & conductors [ EuroArts DVD / 4 DVD Box Set - released 20/Nov/2011 ] The greatest names in opera take to the stage for these galas from three musical centres that have come to stand as symbols of rebirth - Vienna, Berlin and Dresden. |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Salome (complete opera recorded in 2011) Festspielhaus Baden-Baden / Angela Denoke, Kim Begley, Doris Soffel / Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Stefan Soltesz (conductor), etc [ Arthaus Musik DVD / DVD - released 10/Apr/2012 ] This highly acclaimed production of Strauss' Salome from the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden is staged by German director Nikolaus Lehnhoff. Starring Angela Denoke as "a brilliant Salome" (FAZ), who is joined by a great ensemble of soloists, Kim Begley,... |
FRANCESCO CAVALLI
Cavalli: La Didone (complete opera recorded in 2011) Anna Bonitatibus, Kresimir Spicer, Xavier Sabata, Maria Streijffert / Les Arts Florissants, William Christie (cond.) & Clément Hervieu-Léger (dir.) [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 20/Feb/2013 ] "This live French performance is a real beauty. Virtually anything William Christie touches these days is, and the cast he has assembled is second to none with Anna Bonitatibus simply stunning in the title role." (AudAud.com) |