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) |
GILBERT and SULLIVAN
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Gilbert & Sullivan: Trial By Jury & Cox and Box Ambrosian Opera Chorus with Kate Flowers, Frankie Howard, Ryland Davies, Russell Smythe, Thomas Lawlor & 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 Alexander Oliver, Thomas Hemsley, Anne Collins and Kate Flowers. 112 minutes. |
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) |
GAETANO DONIZETTI
Donizetti: Don Pasquale (complete opera recorded in 2010) Metropolitan Opera / Anna Netrebko, Matthew Polenzani, John Del Carlo / James Levine (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophone DVD / DVD - released 26/May/2011 ] A red hot ticket at the Metropolitan Opera in 2010/2011 was Donizetti's comic gem, Don Pasquale, with Anna Netrebko reviving Norina, the part that made her a star in New York. |
GEORGES BIZET
Bizet: Carmen (Complete opera recorded in 2002) Glyndebourne Opera / Anne Sofie von Otter, Marcus Haddock, Laurent Naouri, Lisa Milne / Philippe Jordan (cond) [ Opus Arte Essential Opera Collection DVD / 2 DVD - released 20/Oct/2013 ] G: "(Von Otter's) Carmen has loads of overt sexuality - she languidly glides through the Habanera while sucking on a piece of fruit and then a cigar - and she shows plenty of temperament and fatalism tinged with fear later." (Los Angeles Times) |
HILDEGARD von BINGEN
Hildegard von Bingen - In Portrait - Ordo Virtutum Ansy Boothroyd / John Hancorm / Vox Animae, led by Evelyn Tubb / Mayfield Chamber Opera Chorus / Michael Fields / Piers Adams / Steven Devine [ Opus Arte / Kultur DVD / 2 DVD - released 5/Jan/2004 ] G :- "The vocal artistry is at a very high level… neither Evelyn Tubb nor Ansy Boothroyd try to steal the show. …If I were forced to limit my library to only one recording of music by Hildegard von Bingen, this would be it." -Continuo, USA (Ordo... |
OFFENBACH
Les Contes d'Hoffmann [The Tales of Hoffmann] (Recorded live in 2006) Opera de Bilbao / Aquiles Machado, Milagros Poblador, Maria Bayo, Valentina Kutzarova, Konstantin Gorny, Katharine Goeldner / Alain Guingal (Conductor [ Opus Arte Essential Opera Collection DVD / 2 DVD - released 1/Oct/2013 ] 'Excellent work by Giancarlo del Monaco… extremely careful definition of the characters and efficient directing of the actors which brings out the best in them. … An absolute triumph for the women.' El Pais |
GEORGES BIZET
Bizet: Carmen (complete opera recorded in 2014) Arena di Verona / Ekaterina Semenchuk, Irina Lungu, Carlo Ventre, Carlos Álvarez, Francesca Micarelli / Henrik Nánási (cond) [ Bel Air Classiques DVD / DVD - released 20/Aug/2015 ] "This is picture-postcard opera … It's traditional, it's colourful." Gramophone |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Il Trovatore (complete opera) Arena di Verona / Luca Salsi, Anna Netrebko, Yusif Eyvazov, Dolora Zajick, Riccardo Fassi / Pier Giorgio Morandi (cond) [ C Major DVD / 2 DVD - released 22/May/2020 ] It's an event that draws many thousands of music lovers to one of the most beautiful cities in the world every summer: the opera season at the ancient Arena di Verona. The 2,000-year-old roman amphiteatre with its gigantic stage dimensions is one of... |
CHARLES GOUNOD
Romeo et Juliette [Romeo and Juliet] (complete opera recorded in 2011) Arena di Verona / Nino Machaidze, Ketevan Kemoklidze, Cristina Melis / Fabio Mastrangello (cond) [ Bel Air Classiques DVD / DVD - released 1/Apr/2013 ] "[Machaidze] seems to be the Juliette of choice today and this video makes clear why that's the case: lovely singing and a demeanour that manages to be sensual and innocent at once." (International Record Review) |
SCHNEITZHOEFFER
La Sylphide (complete ballet recorded in 2004) Aurélie Dupont / Mathieu Ganio / Mélanie Hurel / Le Corps De Ballet And Opéra National De Paris / Ermanno Fl [ Arthaus Musik DVD / DVD - released 12/May/2011 ] Arthaus presents Pierre Lacotte's landmark reconstruction of the Romantic Ballet La Sylphide, long regarded as a classic in its own right. |
DONIZETTI
L'elisir d'amore (complete opera recorded in 2012) Baden-Baden Festspielhaus / Miah Persson, Rolando Villazon, Ildebrando D'Arcangelo, Roman Trekel / Pablo Heras-Casado (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 10/Oct/2014 ] "Villazon turns in an action-packed, razzle-dazzle production. The opera is set in a film studio during the silent movie era, where the cast is filming a Western...Villazon's Nemorino...comes across as individual, hyperactive, zany, but also a bit pe |
GAETANO DONIZETTI
Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore (complete opera recorded in 2012) BLU-RAY Baden-Baden Festspielhaus / Miah Persson, Rolando Villazon, Ildebrando D'Arcangelo, Roman Trekel / Pablo Heras-Casado (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 10/Oct/2014 ] "Villazon's Nemorino...comes across as individual, hyperactive, zany, but also a bit petulant and unlovable...Persson exudes easy-going charm...[d'Arcangelo] sings with fine, Italianate comic energy." (Gramophone) |
STRAVINSKY / FAURE / TCHAIKOVSKY
Jewels (ballet by George Balanchine) Ballet de L'Opera National de Paris / George Balanchine / Christian Lacroix [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 19/Jun/2006 ] G :- 'Jewels', a work first performed by the New York City Ballet in 1967. This alluring, abstract ballet, a triptych in which each piece sparkles with the brilliance of a precious stone, is a lyric tribute to women and to the capital cities of... |