GAETANO DONIZETTI
Donizetti - La Fille du Régiment [Daughter of the Regiment] & Don Pasqual (recorded 2005/2006) Juan Diego Florez, Patricia Ciofi, Isabel Rey, Ruggero Raimondi, etc [ Decca Music Group DVD / 3 DVD Box Set - released 12/Dec/2019 ] Juan Diego Flórez proves he's the new King Of The High C's in one of his greatest stage roles. He gives a sensational performance of Tonio's aria 'Ah! mes amis...' - with 9 top Cs sung not once, but twice! |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, Die (The Abduction from the Seraglio) - The complete opera recorded in 1980. Bayerischen Staatsoper / Edita Gruberova / Reri Grist / Francisco Araiza / Karl BAhm (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 6/Sep/2005 ] G :- All Regions - Regular 1.33:1 / 4:3 - PCM Stereo / DTS 5.1 Surround - Colour - NTSC A classic DVD of Mozart's beloved comic opera conducted by one of the most acclaimed Mozart conductors of the 20th century, Karl Böhm. Edita Gruberova's... |
GAETANO DONIZETTI
Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore (complete opera recorded in 1991) Metropolitan Opera / Kathleen Battle, Luciano Pavarotti, Juan Pons, Enzo Dara / James Levine (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 8/Jun/2005 ] "Kathleen Battle sings Adina with perfect, pearl-like tone, absolute fluency and commitment, and a trill to die for." (9/8 Classics Today) |
MUSSORGSKY
Boris Godunov (complete opera) Kirov Opera / Lloyd / Borodina / Steblianko / Leiferkus / Valery Gergiev (conductor) [ Decca Music Group Limited DVD / 2 DVD - released 16/Aug/2004 ] G :- Rosette Recording (Penguin Stereo Guide) |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Mozart: Mitridate, rè di Ponto, K87 (complete opera recorded in 2016) Le Concert d'Astrée / Michael Spyres, Patricia Petibon, Myrtò Papatanasiu, Christophe Dumaux / Emmanuelle Haim (cond) [ Erato / Warner Classics DVD / DVD - released 25/Nov/2017 ] "This is a really good cast. Patricia Petibon's daunting but brilliant first aria as Aspasia, 'Al destin', is sung with panache and nonchalant control." BBC Music |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, HWV46a (complete opera recorded in 2016) Le Concert d'Astree / Sabine Devieilhe, Franco Fagioli, Sara Mingardo, Michael Spyres / Emmanuelle Haim [ Erato / Warner Classics DVD / DVD - released 10/Jun/2017 ] Festival d'Aix-en-Provence has firmly established itself as France's preeminent summer festival and is a key fixture on the international festival calendar. |
LEONARDO VINCI
Artaserse (complete opera recorded in 2012) Lorraine National Opera / Philippe Jaroussky, Franco Fagioli, Max Emanuel Cencic, Valer Barna-Sabadus / Diego Fasolis (director) [ Warner Classics DVD / 2 DVD - released 10/May/2014 ] "This magnificent production is a complete and blissful success. Don't miss it." Those were the words of the French website Classique News when Leonardo Vinci's rediscovered Artaserse was staged by Silviu Purcãrete at the Opéra National de Lorraine... |
JACQUES OFFENBACH
Offenbach: La Vie Parisienne (Complete opera recorded in 2007) Lyon Opera / Jean-Sebastien Bou, Marc Callahan, Marie Devellerea, Laurent Naouri / Sebastien Rouland (cond) [ Vigin Classics DVD / DVD - released 6/Jan/2009 ] "Pelly, one of the most imaginative of a new generation of French stage directors, has dragged La vie parisienne into our own time. In this stylish production from Lyon Opera." (BBC Music Five Stars) |
CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD GLUCK
Gluck: Orphee et Eurydice (Complete opera recorded in 2000) Theatre Musical de Paris / Magdalena Kozena, Madeline Bender, Patricia Petibon / Monteverdi Choir / English Baroque Soloists / Sir John Eliot Gardiner [ Warner Classics DVD / DVD - released 10/Oct/2009 ] When the historic Theatre du Chatelet in Paris re-opened after a period of extensive refurbishment, the first two productions mounted in the theatre were Gluck's Alceste and Orphée et Eurydice. |
PYOTR TCHAIKOVSKY
Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin (complete opera recorded in 2013) Metropolitan Opera / Anna Netrebko, Mariusz Kwiecien, Piotr Beczala, Oksana Volkova / Valery Gergiev (conductor) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / 2 DVD - released 21/Feb/2014 ] "In a show-stopping Letter Scene, Netrebko conveys that first, uncertain declaration of love perfectly...She could easily have been the reigning Tatyana of the past decade." (International Record Review) |
ALEXANDER BORODIN
Borodin: Prince Igor (complete opera recorded in 2013) Metropolitan Opera / Ildar Abdrazakov, Mikhail Petrenko, Sergey Semishkur, Vladimir Ognovenko / Gianandrea Noseda (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophone DVD / 2 DVD - released 20/Sep/2014 ] For the first time in nearly 100 years, Borodin's defining Russian epic, famous for its Polovtsian Dances, comes to the MET. Dmitri Tcherniakov's production is a brilliant psychological journey through the mind of its conflicted hero, and his "[…]... |
GEORGES BIZET
Bizet: Les Pêcheurs de Perles [The Pearl Fishers] (complete opera recorded in 2015) Metropolitan Opera / Diana Damrau, Matthew Polenzani, Mariusz Kwiecien, Nicolas Teste / Gianandrea Noseda (cond) [ Erato DVD / DVD - released 24/Jan/2017 ] "The British director and filmmaker Penny Woolcock, working with a dream cast delivers in this sensitive and insightful production, originally created by the English National Opera in London." New York Times |
CHARLES GOUNOD
Gounod: Faust (complete opera recorded in 2013) Metropolitan Opera / Jonas Kaufmann, Marina Poplavskaya, Russell Braun, Jonathan Beyer / Yannick Nézet-Séguin (cond) [ Decca Classics DVD / 2 DVD - released 4/Apr/2014 ] "Mr. Kaufmann, a Met superstar… was a handsome, vocally splendid Faust. He sang the pensive and romantic passages with veiled dusky colorings and tender lyricism, and unleashed pent-up power in full-bodied phrases, capped by fearless high notes." NYT |
VINCENZO BELLINI
Bellini:Norma (complete opera recorded in 2017) Metropolitan Opera / Joyce DiDonato, Sondra Radvanovsky, Joseph Calleja, Matthew Rose / Carlo Rizzi (cond) [ Erato DVD / 2 DVD - released 15/Nov/2018 ] In the Met's 2017-18 season, powerhouse soprano Sondra Radvanovsky tackled one of opera's most fearsome roles, the title druid priestess of Bellini's Norma, who wrestles with love and betrayal before making the ultimate sacrifice on a funeral pyre. |
GIORDANO
Andrea Chenier (complete opera recorded in 1997) Metropolitan Opera / Luciano Pavarotti, Maria Guleghina, Juan Pons / James Levine (cond) [ Decca DVD / DVD - released 22/Apr/2012 ] |
GIACOMO PUCCINI
Puccini: La Boheme (complete opera recorded in 1977) Metropolitan Opera / Luciano Pavarotti, Renata Scotto, Ingvar Wixell / James Levine (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 22/Sep/2005 ] Puccini's masterpiece shows young love at its most heartbreaking in this rich production from the Metropolitan Opera in New York. |
ALBAN BERG
Berg: Lulu (complete opera recorded in December 2016) BLU-RAY Metropolitan Opera / Marlis Petersen, Susan Graham, Daniel Brenna, Paul Groves, Johan Reuter / Lothar Koenigs [ Nonesuch Classics Blu-Ray+DVD / 2 Blu-ray Disc/DVD - released 10/Mar/2017 ] "conducting, singing, direction: they're all of a piece, working to domesticate Berg's feral beast, and making it the funniest, least absurd and most approachable Lulu on film" Gramophone |
RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Lohengrin (complete opera recorded in 1986) Metropolitan Opera / Peter Hofmann, John Macurdy, Eva Marton, Leonie Rysanek / James Levine (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / 2 DVD - released 20/Jul/2006 ] "The Met brought out its best available performers. . . James Levine. . . controls the music superbly and. . . brings out a texture of sound in which Wagnerian sensualists can simply wallow." (Washington Post, 1986) |
VERDI
Rigoletto (complete opera recorded in 2013) Metropolitan Opera / Piotr Beczala, Zeljko Lucic, Diana Damrau, Oksana Volkova, Stefan Kocan / Michele Mariotti [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 8/Nov/2013 ] The sought-after lyric tenor Piotr Beczala, is the womanizing Duke in this new production of Verdi's Rigoletto from the Metropolitan Opera. Ċ½eljko Luèiæ sings the title role and Diana Damrau sings Rigoletto's daughter Gilda. |
JOHANN STRAUSS 11
Die Fledermaus (complete operetta recorded in 2003) Glyndebourne Opera / Pamela Armstrong, Thomas Allen, Ragnar Ulfung, Hakan Hagegard / Vladimir Jurowski (cond) [ BBC / Opus Arte / Kultur DVD / 2 DVD - released 1/Dec/2010 ] "Malena Ernman is a stunning Orlofsky (at the end, Lawless reveals that the prince was really a princess after all), and Håkan Hagegård and Pamela Armstrong are very satisfying as Dr. Falke and Rosalinde, respectively." ClassicalNet |