RAMEAU
Hippolyte et Aricie (complete opera recorded in 2012) Paris Opera Palais Garnier / Topi Lehtipuu, Anne-Catherine Gillet, Stéphane Degoutad, Sarah Connolly / Emmanuelle Haim [ Erato / Warner Classics DVD / 2 DVD - released 28/Nov/2014 ] Recorded live at the Paris Opera Palais Garnier, Haïm is joined by the orchestra of Le Concert d'Astrée, as well stellar cast including Sarah Connolly as Phèdre, Stéphane Degout as Thésée, Anne-Catherine Gillet as Aricie and Topi Lehtipuu as Hippolyt |
BENJAMIN BRITTEN
Peter Grimes (a filmed version of the complete opera filmed in 1969) Peter Pears / Heather Harper / Owen Brannigan / Elizabeth Brainbridge / London Symphony Orchestra / Benjamin Britten [ Decca DVD / DVD - released 12/Dec/2008 ] G : - "Heather Harper sings with the most beautiful tone in the role of Ellen and acts with compelling sincerity. Pears himself is utterly vindicated... The whole complex character is there - and the camera follows closely." Gramophone Magazine,... |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Don Carlo (complete opera recorded in 1983) Metropolitan Opera / Placido Domingo, Mirella Freni, Grace Bumbry, Nicolai Ghiaurov / James Levine (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / 2 DVD - released 13/Oct/2005 ] Filmed in 1983, this DVD captures the Metropolitan Opera's sweeping sets, its army of authentically costumed singers, and a cast of glowing soloists led by Plácido Domingo, Mirella Freni, Grace Bumbry and Nicolai Ghiaurov |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Otello (Complete opera recorded in 1996) Metropolitan Opera / Placido Domingo / Renee Fleming / James Morris / Richard Croft / Charles Anthony / James Levine (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 16/Aug/2004 ] G - Starring Placido Domingo, Renee Fleming, James Morris, Richard Croft, Charles Anthony, Metropolitan Opera Chorus, and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. |
GAETANO DONIZETTI
Donizetti: La Fille du Regiment (The Daughter of the Regiment) [complete opera recorded in 2007] Natalie Dessay, Juan Diego Florez, Felicity Palmer, Alessandro Corbelli, Donald Maxwell, Dawn French, Orchestra & Choir of the Royal Opera House, Brun [ Erato / Warner Classics DVD / DVD - released 29/Sep/2008 ] GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE AWARD FINALIST 2008 - DVD - "The Royal Opera's new staging of La Fille du régiment will probably go down in history as one of the company's great achievements ... Laurent Pelly's production casts Natalie Dessay and Juan... |
GIOACCHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia [The Barber of Seville] (complete opera recorded in 2009) BLU-RAY Royal Opera House / Joyce DiDonato, Juan Diego Florez, Pietro Spagnoli, Ferruccio Furlanetto / Antonio Pappano (cond) [ Erato / Warner Classics Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Nov/2015 ] "The Royal Opera's cheerful and colourful new production of Rossini's most popular work is a copper- bottomed hit." The Daily Telegraph |
VERDI
Les vêpres siciliennes (complete opera recorded in 2013) Royal Opera House / Lianna Haroutounian, Bryan Hymel, Erwin Schrott, Michael Volle / Antonio Pappano (cond) [ Warner Classics / Opus Arte DVD / 2 DVD - released 25/Mar/2015 ] "Pappano gets huge power and tension from the ensemble, and paces the long evening to perfection...sound and balance are good, and the filming has a real sense of the style of the show." (Gramophone) |
VERDI
Don Carlo (complete opera recorded in 2008) Royal Opera House / Marina Poplavskaya, Simon Keenlyside, Rolando Villazón, Ferruccio Furlanetto / Antonio Pappano (cond) [ Warner Classics DVD / DVD - released 1/May/2016 ] National Theatre director Nicholas Hytner's new staging of Verdi's grandest - and arguably greatest - opera, Don Carlo, was the highlight of the 2007/2008 Royal Opera House season. This new production marked Rolando Villazón's much anticipated,... |
BARTOK
Bluebeard's Castle (a filmed version of the complete opera) Sylvia Sass / Kolos KovAts / London Philharmonic Orchestra / Sir Georg Solti [ Decca DVD / DVD - released 1/May/2008 ] G : - "If not anything, this is a fine opportunity to re-assess Bartók's dramatic acumen in an intimate environment. Sound and visuals are of the highest Decca standards. Highly recommended." (ClassicalNet April 2008) |
GIOACCHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: Ricciardo e Zoraide (complete opera recorded in 2018) Teatro Ventidio Basso / Pretty Yende, Juan Diego Florez, Sergey Romanovsky, Victoria Yarovaya / Giacomo Sagripanti (Cond) [ Decca Music Group DVD / 2 DVD - released 1/Oct/2019 ] To celebrate the 200th anniversary of the premiere of the Rossini rarity, the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro staged Ricciardo e Zoraide with an all-star cast. Juan Diego Flórez makes his debut as the crusader Ricciardo, giving a "masterclass in bel... |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Salome (complete opera recorded in 1988) Teresa Stratas, Bernd Weikl, Astrid Varnay, Hans Beirer, Wieslaw Ochman / Karl Bohm (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophone DVD / DVD - released 28/Nov/2014 ] "It is now almost certainly the best Salome either on CD or DVD...Stratas really looks the part as well as singing it...Above all, Gotz Friedrich's production evokes the atmosphere and dramatic intensity of Strauss's opera" Rosette Penguin Guide |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Theodora (complete opera recorded in 2015) Theatre des Chams-Elysees / Katherine Watson, Philippe Jaroussky, Stéphanie d'Oustrac, Callum Thorpe / William Christie (cond) [ Erato / Warner Classics DVD / 2 DVD - released 20/Feb/2017 ] Handel's Theodora, a tale of Christian martyrdom in 4th century Antioch, is a dramatic oratorio rather than an opera, but it achieved a new currency in 1996, when William Christie conducted a staging at Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Christie, who... |
POULENC
Dialogues des Carmélites (Complete opera recorded in 2013) Théâtre des Champs-Elysées / Patricia Petibon, Sophie Koch, Véronique Gens, Sandrine Piau / Jérémie Rhorer (cond) [ Warner Erato Classics DVD / 2 DVD - released 15/Dec/2014 ] "Patricia Petibon gives the performance of a lifetime as Blanche...[Plowright's] performance has a dramatic veracity that is disturbing in the extreme...Long sceptical about the piece, I was completely won over - the highest complement I can pay it." |
JOHANN STRAUSS
Strauss, (J.): Die Fledermaus (complete opera recorded in 1972) Vienna State Opera / Gundula Janowitz, Eberhard Wacher, Renate Holm, Erich Kunz / Karl Bohm (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 11/Nov/2007 ] G - "It breathes the wondrous, intoxicating atmosphere of Vienna, features the orchestra and select singers of that city's legendary opera and is presided over by that master among Strauss conductors, Karl Böhm" (San Francisco Examiner) |
TCHAIKOVSKY
Eugene Onegin (complete opera Recorded at the 2007 Salzburg Festival) Vienna State Opera / Peter Mattei / Anna Samuil / Joseph Kaiser / Daniel Barenboim (com) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / 2 DVD - released 10/Aug/2008 ] G : - Recorded at the 2007 Salzburg Festival, this production of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin features an excellent, young cast and the Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by maestro Daniel Barenboim. |
WAGNER
Parsifal (the complete opera) Waltraud Meier / Siegfried Jerusalem / Metropolitan Opera / James Levine [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / 2 DVD - released 16/Aug/2004 ] G :- "Meier's Kundry is electrifying ... she simply is Kundry, having thought herself voice, body and soul into the part, a wholly remarkable achievement which is the stuff of legends" (Gramophone) |
HANDEL / RAMEAU / VIVALDI / CAMPRA / PURCELL / etc
The Enchanted Island (complete opera recorded in 2012) Metropolitan Opera / Joyce DiDonato, David Daniels, Danielle de Niese, Placido Domingo / William Christie (cond) [ Virgin Classics DVD / 2 DVD - released 19/Oct/2012 ] "The singing from Danielle de Niese, David Daniels and Joyce DiDonato is stellar...William Christie conducts magisterially." (The Observer) |
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. |