ROSSINI
La Gazzetta (complete opera recorded in 2005) Gran Teatre del Liceu / Cinzia Forte / Bruno Pratico / Charles Workman / Pietro Spagnoli / Maurizio Barbacini (cond) [ Opus Arte DVD / 2 DVD - released 18/Jul/2006 ] G :- "A joyous version of one of Rossini's lesser known operas, well sung and acted, beautiful to look at and characterised by a riot of comic invention" (MusicWeb Sept 2006) |
RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Tannhauser (complete opera recorded in 2008) Gran Teatre del Liceu / Peter Seiffert, Petra Maria Schnitzer, Béatrice Uria-Monzon, Günther Groissböck, Markus Eiche / Sebastian Weigle (cond) [ C Major DVD / 2 DVD - released 1/Dec/2016 ] "Peter Seiffert sings powerfully and expressively as Tannhauser, and Petra Maria a bit too powerfully as Elisabeth. The orchestra, under Sebastian Weigle, gives a strong account of the score" BBC Music |
VINCENZO BELLINI
Bellini: Norma (Complete opera recorded in 2015) Gran Teatre del Liceu / Sondra Radvanovsky, Gregory Kunde, Ekaterina Gubanova, Raymond Aceto / Renato Palumbo (cond) [ C Major DVD / 2 DVD - released 10/Oct/2016 ] "Renato Palumbo directs a straightforward reading of the score, and the orchestra play for him in their most Italianate manner. The chorus also sounds excellent. This probably now takes the lead as the finest version of Norma available on film" MWeb |
MUSSORGSKY
Khovanshchina (complete opera recorded in 2007) Gran Teatre del Liceu / Vladimir Ognovenko / Vladimir Galouzine / Robert Brubaker / Michel Boder (cond) [ Opus Arte DVD / 2 DVD - released 30/Mar/2008 ] G : - "The staging drifts into occasional dramatic lulls, but nevertheless provides a highly convincing exposition of this difficult but rewarding score. Mussorgsky's drama is an anomaly in the operatic canon, in that it is driven not by character,... |
JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU
Rameau: Dardanus (complete opera [1739] recorded in 2015) DVD + Blu-ray Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux / Reinoud Van Mechelen, Gaëlle Arquez, Karina Gauvin, Florian Sempey, Nahuel Di Pierro / Raphaël Pichon (cond) [ Harmonia Mundi DVD + Blu-ray / 2 DVD - released 20/Sep/2016 ] This video was recorded live at performances of the original version of 'Dardanus' (1739) given at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux in April 2015, in a production by Michel Fau and choreography by Christopher Williams. Raphaël Pichon, the Ensemble... |
WAGNER
Tristan und Isolde (complete opera recorded in 2005) Grand Theatre de Geneve / Jeanne-Michele Charbonnet / Clifton Forbis / Mihoko Fujimura / Albert Dohmen /Alfred Reiter / Armin Jordan (cond) [ Bel Air Classiques DVD / DVD - released 12/Sep/2006 ] G :- "A bold gamble and an exemplary success.... An interpretation that is intelligent, superlatively musical and unfailingly sensitive." Le Monde |
JACQUES OFFENBACH
Offenbach: La Belle Helène (complete operetta sung in French recorded in 2014) Hamburg State Opera / Jennifer Larmore, Jun-Sang Han, Peter Galliard, Viktor Rud, Rebecca Jo Loeb / Gerrit Priessnitz (cond) [ C Major DVD / DVD - released 25/Jul/2015 ] Director Renaud Doucet and designer André Barbe treat the piece as a "great show" with numerous choreographic elements, relocating the action of Offenbach's classical spoof and setting it on a cruise ship in the 1960s |
CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI
Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea (complete opera) Hana Blažiková, Kangmin Justin Kim, Carlo Vistoli, Gianluca Buratto, Lucile Richardot / Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardine [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 22/Apr/2022 ] "A crowning glory, you might say, to Gardiner's half century association with Monteverdi" (TheTimes Five Stars) |
JACQUES OFFENBACH
Ritter Blaubart (complete operetta recorded on film in 1973) Hans Nocker, Anny Schlemm, Werner Enders, Ruth Schob-Lipka / Berlin Opera [ Arthaus DVD / DVD - released 10/Oct/2012 ] |
RICHARD HEUBERGER
Heuberger: Der Opernball (The Opera Ball) (complete Operetta Film, 1970. Sung in German) Helen Mané, Harald Serafin, Maria Tiboldi, Maurice Besançon, Tatjana Iwanow / Symphony Orchestra Kurt Graunke, Munich, Willy Mattes [ Arthaus DVD / DVD - released 10/Mar/2017 ] Richard Heuberger (1850-1914) was born into a well-to-do middle-class family from Graz. He trained initially as an engineer, but after studying for a degree in music, he was appointed director of the Vienna Singakademie. Heuberger created many... |
W.A. MOZART
Cosi Fan Tutte (complete opera) Helena Dose / Sylvia Lindenstrand / Daniele Perriers / Thomas Allen / Anson Austin / Franz Petri / London Philharmonic Orchestra / John Pritchard [ Arthaus Musik / EuroArts DVD / DVD - released 2/Jul/2004 ] G :- All Regions - Regular 1.33:1 / 4:3 - PCM Stereo - Colour - 158 Minutes - NTSC A performance of the Mozart opera "Cosi Fan Tutte" in two acts recorded live at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 1975. Sung in Italian. Starring Helena... |
WAGNER
Siegfried (complete opera recorded in 1999) Het Muziektheater Amsterdam / Heinz Kruse / Graham Clark / John Brocheler / Henk Smit / Carsten Stabell / Anne Gjevang / Hartmut Haenchen (cond) [ Opus Arte DVD / 3 DVD - released 19/Jun/2006 ] G :- "This Siegfried definitely had me hooked from beginning to end" (MusicWeb July 2006) |
VERDI
Aida (complete opera recorded in 2012) Arena di Verona / Hui He, Marco Berti, Andrea Ulbrich, Ambrogio Maestri / Daniel Oren (cond) [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 15/Jan/2014 ] "[Hui He] is quite magnificent, her silvery-toned soprano soaring above the orchestra. Add her involved and expressive acting and excellent vocal characterisation to a smooth legato line and I was bowled over." (MusicWeb) |
PUCCINI / LEONCAVALLO
Il Tabarro / Pagliacci James Levine / Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus / Teresa Stratas / Placido Domingo / Juan Pons / Luciano Pavarotti [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 15/Sep/2005 ] G :- Here the two pieces have been combined to celebrate the Metropolitan Opera's 1994/95 season opening - an operatic tour-de-force with Luciano Pavarotti and Plácido Domingo in the starring roles |
WAGNER
Die Walkure (Complete Opera) James Levine / Metropolitan Opera Orchestra / Hildegard Behrens / Jessye Norman [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / 2 DVD - released 13/Oct/2002 ] The Metropolitan Opera sings deeply passionate Wagner in this 1991 production on a spare but darkly atmospheric stage. |
GIACOMO CASANOVA / LORENZO DA PONTE / W. A. MOZART
The Giacomo Variations: A chamber opera play John Malkovich, Ingeborga Dapkunaite, Florian Boesch & Sophie Klussmann / Martin Haselböck (cond) [ Arthaus DVD / DVD - released 1/Jul/2016 ] Giacomo Casanova received a doctorate as jurist, scratched along as violinist in a theatre, dabbled in the role of a lieutenant and was cofounder of France's lottery. |
BRITTEN
Billy Budd (complete opera recorded in 2010) John Mark Ainsley / Jacques Imbrailo / Phillip Ens / Glyndebourne Chorus / London Philharmonic Orchestra / Mark Elder [ Opus Arte DVD / 2 DVD - released 8/Aug/2011 ] "[Elder paces] the developing tragedy with airily lyrical detail and brooding, ominous power. John Mark Ainsley' s plangent, dark-toned tenor and intense diction show us a more neurotic Vere than usual, ridden with doubts and anxieties" (The Times) |
CARL MARIA von WEBER
Der Freischütz (Recorded at the Semper Oper Dresden, 2015) Dresden Opera / Sara Jakubiak, Christina Landshamer, Georg Zeppenfeld, Michael König / Christian Thielemann (cond) [ C Major DVD / 2 DVD - released 1/Feb/2016 ] "This is supple, carefully sifted music-making, beautifully paced...The vocal casting is as precise and well calculated as the overall approach but the production seems to nervous of the work itself to give the singers anything dynamic to do" Gramoph |
AULIS SALLINEN
The Red Line (Punainen Viiva), Op. 46 (complete opera) Jorma Hynninen / Päivi Nisula / Finnish National Opera Orchestra / Finnish National Opera Chorus / Tsuumi Dance Company / Mikko Franck [ Ondine DVD / DVD - released 22/Dec/2010 ] This new DVD features the première recording for video of the two-act opera The Red Line (1978) by Finnish composer Aulis Sallinen (b. 1935). |
KIRI te KANAWA
Opera in the Outback Kiri Te Kanawa (soprano) / Adelaide Symphony Orchestra with the Adnyamathanha Women's Choir [ Kultur / Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 29/Jul/2008 ] G : - Opera in the Outback features internationally renowned diva, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, singing a superb selection of songs from opera favourites to the popular classics. |