W. A. MOZART
Don Giovanni (complete opera recorded in 2010) Festival d'Aix-en-Provence / Bo Skovhus, Kyle Ketelsen, Marlis Petersen, Kristine Opolais / Louis Langrée (cond) [ Bel Air Classiques DVD / DVD - released 31/Jul/2013 ] "Skovhus is electrifying in the lead role as he pivots from roaring malevolence to whispered fragility..The Freiburg Baroque Orchestra under Louis Langree articulates extreme states of mind latent in Mozart's score...This DVD is a must-see" BBC Music |
GAETANO DONIZETTI
Donizetti: Il Borgomastro di Saardam (complete opera recorded in 2017) Festival Donizetti Opera / Giorgio Caoduro, Juan Francisco Gatell, Andrea Concetti, Irina Dubrovskaya / Roberto Rizzi Brignoli [ Dynamic DVD / DVD - released 1/Jul/2020 ] "The opera fizzes along under Roberto Rizzi Brignoli, the general frivolity offset by tender music for the lovers." Gramophone Magazine July 2018 DVD/Blu-ray of the Month |
ERICH KORNGOLD
Korngold: Die Tote Stadt, Op. 12 (complete opera recorded in 2010) Finnish National Opera / Klaus Florian Vogt, Camilla Nylund, Markus Eiche, Sari Nordqvist / Mikko Franck (conductor) [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 25/Nov/2013 ] "Holten's surreal evocation of Bruges, the dead city of the title, is wonderfully creepy...Vogt excels as the wild-eyed, obsessive Paul, desperately trying to make over Camilla Nylund's slutty Marietta in saintly Marie's image. Mikko Franck's conduct |
EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAARA
Rasputin (Complete opera) Finnish National Opera / Matti Salminen / Lillia Paasilivi / Jorma Hynninen / Jyrki Anttila / MIkko Franck (cond) [ Ondine DVD / DVD - released 4/Apr/2006 ] G :- "This is a grand show." [10/10 for performances and sound Classics Today] |
DONIZETTI
Donizetti: Maria Stuarda (complete opera recorded in 2009) Teatro La Fenice / Fiorenza Cedolins, Sonia Ganassi, Jose Bros, Mirco Palazzi / / Fabrizio Maria Carminati (cond) [ C Major DVD / DVD - released 12/May/2011 ] "An outstanding release, and a great relief to be removed from the static period costume displays normally inflicted on this drama." DVD of the Month Gramophone Magazine, May 2011 |
GIACOMO PUCCINI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Puccini: Tosca (complete opera recorded 2000) Francesca Patane, Jose Cura, Renato Bruson / Symphony Orchestra of the Province of Bari / Pier Giorgio Morandi [ PIM DVD / DVD - released 4/Sep/2003 ] This performance was acclaimed as an operatic event, and the superstar cast makes it a Tosca for the ages. Enrico Castiglione has directed the work with tremendous originality and dramatic power. |
GIACOMO PUCCINI
Puccini: Tosca (complete opera recorded 2000) Francesca Patane, Jose Cura, Renato Bruson / Symphony Orchestra of the Province of Bari / Pier Giorgio Morandi [ Brilliant Classics DVD / DVD - released 4/Sep/2003 ] This performance was acclaimed as an operatic event, and the superstar cast makes it a Tosca for the ages. Enrico Castiglione has directed the work with tremendous originality and dramatic power, heightening with a modern and cinematic style a... |
NICOLA ANTONIO ZINGARELLI
Zingarelli: Giulietta e Romeo (complete opera) Franco Fagioli (countertenor), Adèle Charvet (mezzo-soprano) / Orchestre de l'Opéra Royal, Stefan Plewniak [ Château de Versailles Spectacles - L'opéra de Napoléon CD + DVD / CD/DVD - released 27/Aug/2021 ] Napoleon's fervor for opera was extreme. This music-loving conqueror brought to him a young Italian star, the contralto Giuseppina Grassini, and the most dazzling castrato: Girolamo Crescentini, the only singer to move the Emperor to tears. Invited... |
DOMENICO CIMAROSA
Cimarosa: L'Italiana In Londra (complete opera recorded in 2021) Frankfurt Opera / Angela Vallone, Bianca Tognocchi, Theo Lebow, Jurii Samoilov / Leo Hussain (cond & fortepiano) [ Naxos DVD / DVD - released 16/Feb/2024 ] L'Italiana in Londra was Domenico Cimarosa's first international triumph, thrilling audiences all over Europe after its premiere in 1778. However, it later became eclipsed by the even bigger success of Il matrimonio segreto and has become a rarity on... |
NICOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV
Rimsky-Korsakov: Christmas Eve (complete opera recorded in 2021) Frankfurt Opera / Julia Muzychenko, Enkelejda Shkoza, Alexey Tikhomirov, Anthony Robin Schneider / Sebastian Weigle (cond) [ Naxos DVD / DVD - released 11/Nov/2022 ] Composed using his own libretto, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov created this magical opera based on the short story by Nikolay Gogol 'The Night before Christmas' in which Vakula the handsome blacksmith wants to marry the rich farmer's daughter Oksana, who... |
RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (complete opera recorded live in 2008) Franz Hawlata / Klaus Florian Vogt / Michaela Kaune / Norbert Ernst / Bayreuther Festspiele / Sebastian Weigle [ Opus Arte DVD / 2 DVD - released 16/Feb/2011 ] Ostensibly Richard Wagner's opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg tells a humorous tale about artistically inclined craftsmen. Goldsmith Veit Pogner promises his daughter Eva's hand in marriage to the winner of a song contest, to which three men are... |
CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI
Monteverdi: Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (complete opera) Furio Zanasi, Lucile Richardot, Krystian Adam, Hana Blažiková, Gianluca Burrato / Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 22/Apr/2022 ] Claudio Monteverdi was a pioneer in the origins and development of opera, taking vocal music beyond Renaissance polyphony and entering a modern era in which genuine feelings and emotions are expressed through a wide variety of characters. Part of a... |
PHILIPPE BOESMANS
Julie (complete opera recorded in 2005) Festival d'Aix-en-Provence / Gary Magee / Malena Ernman / Kerstin Avemo / Kazushi Ono (cond) [ Bel Air Classiques DVD / DVD - released 1/Jun/2009 ] G - "Bondy's purely naturalistic production is beautifully filmed with telling use of close-ups..." BBC Music Magazine, October 2007 ***** |
ALBAN BERG
Wozzeck (complete opera recorded at the Bolshoi in 2010) Bolshoi Theatre / Georg Nigl, Mardi Byers, Maxim Paster / Teodor Currentzis (cond) [ Bel Air Classiques DVD / DVD - released 20/Sep/2012 ] GRAMOPHONE AWARD FINALIST 2013: Opera |
MONTEVERDI
L'Orfeo (complete opera recorded in 2009) Georg Nigl / Roberta Invernizzi / Sara Mingardo / Raffaella Milanesi / Furio Zanasi / Concerto Italiano / Rinaldo Alessandrini [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 11/May/2011 ] "In short, this is a wonderfully satisfying performance, featuring one of the finest Orfeos on disc, and a production which suits the needs of both the large-scale theatre and the small screen equally well." (International Record Review) |
RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg [complete opera recorded in 2012] Glyndebourne Opera / Gerald Finley, Anna Gabler, Johannes Martin Kränzle / London Philharmonic Orchestra, VladimirJurowski [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 2/Feb/2013 ] "Gerald Finley's pivotal Sachs relish[es] this intensely verbal role with a Lieder-singer's skill and beauty...Jurowski completes the ensemble with a beautiful account, unfolding the story with pace and details...Together they make the immense... |
JANACEK
The Cunning Little Vixen (complete opera animated version) German Symphony Orchestra / Kent Nagano / Geoff Dunbar [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 4/Jul/2003 ] G : - A lavish animation of Janácek's well-loved classic featuring Sharp Ears, the loveable, flirtatious fox. The innovative animator Geoff Dunbar brings fresh life to this charming opera with its new sound track made in 2001 with the Deutsches... |
GIOACCHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia [The Barber of Seville] (Complete opera recorded in 2016) Glyndebourne Opera / Alessandro Corbelli, Danielle de Niese, Björn Bürger, Taylor Stayton / Enrique Mazzola (cond) [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 1/Oct/2017 ] "High-flying American tenor Taylor Stayton proves vocally agile and dramatically vital as Count Almaviva, with Danielle de Niese an entrancing Rosina" BBC Music |
GAETANO DONIZETTI
Donizetti: Don Pasquale (Complete opera recorded in August 2013) Glyndebourne Opera / Alessandro Corbelli, Danielle de Niese, Nikolay Borchev, Alek Shrader / Enrique Mazzola (cond) [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 10/May/2014 ] "There is plenty to enjoy in this production, with lots of original visual gags that delight the audience and work well in their context without at any time going too far. The performance is really something to cherish." (MusicWeb) |