GAETANO DONIZETTI
Donizetti: Anna Bolena [complete opera recorded in 2011] Vienna State Opera / Anna Netrebko, Elina Garanca, Ildebrando D'Arcangelo / Evelino Pido (cond) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / 2 DVD - released 16/Feb/2012 ] With her sensational role debut at the Vienna State Opera, superstar diva Anna Netrebko displays a performance of rare vocal and dramatic power. The Russian soprano sings the role of the unjustly accused second wife of British King Henry VIII,... |
HECTOR BERLIOZ
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust (The Damnation of Faust) - From the Royal Albert Hall 1989 Anne Sofie Von Otter, Keith Lewis, Jose Van Dam, Peter Rose / The Chicago Symphony Chorus and Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti [ AWD DVD / DVD - released 20/Jan/2006 ] Sir Georg Solti conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in a magnificent performance of Berlioz's concert cantata. |
GIOVANNI BATTISTA PERGOLESI
Pergolesi: Il Prigionier Superbo / La Serva Padrona (complete operas recorded 2009 & 2011) Antonio Lozano, Maria Rodrìguez Cusì, Marina de Liso, Alessandra Marianelli, Carlo Lepore / Accademia Barocca de I Virtuosi Italiani, Corrado Rovaris [ Arthaus DVD / 2 DVD - released 10/Nov/2012 ] "Marianelli is a sharp-witted, pert-voiced Serpina...Lepore is a suitably blustery Uberto, the playing of Accademia Barocca is exemplary, with some particularly splendid trumpet playing" International Record Review |
THOMAS ADES
Ades: The Exterminating Angel (complete opera recorded in 2017) Metropolitan Opera / Audrey Luna, Amanda Echalaz, Sally Matthews, Sophie Bevan, Alice Coote, Christine Rice, Iestyn Davies / Thomas Ades (cond) [ Erato DVD / DVD - released 20/Feb/2019 ] GRAMOPHONE AWARD NOMINATION 2019 TOP THREE - Contemporary |
VINCENZO BELLINI
Bellini: Norma (the complete opera, recorded in 2006) The Bavarian State Opera / Edita Gruberova / Zoran Todorovich / Roberto Scandiuzzi / Sonia Ganassi / Markus Herzog / Friedrich Haider [ Deutsche Grammophone DVD / 2 DVD - released 29/Jan/2007 ] "Gruberova delivers her own wholly individual interpretation ... she translates Bellini's interplay of pain, love and desire into physically palpable inner and outer drama. Immensely moving." - Die Welt |
RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer [The Flying Dutchman] (Complete opera recorded in 2021) BLU-RAY & DVD Bayreuth Festival / John Lundgren, Georg Zeppenfeld, Asmik Grigorian, Attilio Glaser / Oksana Lyniv (conductor) [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc/DVD - released 20/Apr/2024 ] "Lyniv's conducting is superb in terms of pacing and tonal weight and balance...Grigorian and Zeppenfeld sing as fluently and fearlessly as they act." Gramophone Magazine September 2022 Blu-ray of the Month |
RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Die Walkure (complete opera) Bayreuther Festspiele / Donald McIntyre, Matti Salminen, Gwyneth Jones / Pierre Boulez [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / 2 DVD - released 24/Jul/2005 ] "This is the Patrice Chéreau centennial version of Wagner's masterwork, conducted by Pierre Boulez with a passion and intensity remembered still. Chéreau directs an outstanding cast with great originality and worked with video director Brian Large to |
RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Gotterdammerung (Complete Opera recorded in 1982) Bayreuther Festspiele / Peter Hofmann, Karan Armstrong, Elizabeth Connell, Leif Roar, Siegfried Vogel / Woldemar Nelsson (cond) [ EuroArts DVD / 2 DVD - released 21/Feb/2020 ] DVD re-release of the 1982 exclusive recording of Richard Wagner's opera Lohengrin from the Bayreuth Festival, a masterful interpretation from the source of Wagnerian culture itself. Richard Wagner's three-act opera, an exquisitely lyrical piece,... |
GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia [The Barber of Seville] (complete opera recorded in 1988) Cecilia Bartoli, David Kuebler, Gino Quilico, Carlos Feller / Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gabriele Ferro [ EuroArts DVD / DVD - released 2/Nov/2018 ] "All the singers benefit from Michael Hampe's imaginative yet uneccentric direction and from Gabriele Ferro's well-calibrated (if not exactly warm-hearted) conducting." Opera |
ANTONIO VIVALDI
Cecilia Bartoli: Viva Vivaldi Cecilia Bartoli (mezzo-soprano) / Il Giardino Armonico, Giovanni Antonini [ EMI Classics / EuroArts DVD / DVD - released 13/Sep/2000 ] Cecilia Bartoli performs a collection of arias from Vivaldi's operas at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris in 2001, accompanied by Baroque ensemble Il Giardino Armonico. |
VARIOUS
Tonight: Welthits von Berlin bis Broadway Renée Fleming (soprano), Klaus Florian Vogt (tenor) / Staatskapelle Dresden, Christian Thielemann [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 24/Jan/2014 ] The Staatskapelle Dresden's New Year's Eve concert has become a much-loved fixture in the musical calendar. This year's event stars Christian Thielemann, Renée Fleming and Klaus Florian Vogt. |
HANS PFITZNER
Pfitzner: Palestrina (complete opera) Christopher Ventris / Peter Rose / Michael Volle / Falk Struckmann / Christiana Karg / Bavarian State Opera Chorus and Orchestra / Simone Young [ Euroarts DVD / 2 DVD - released 15/Jun/2010 ] "Simone Young directs a flowing and nicely paced account. Christopher Ventris is sensitive, achieving exhausted nobility as the composer, and Falk Struckmann provides a rounded portrayal of the subtle Borromeo." (Gramophone) |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Handel: Agrippina (complete opera recorded in 2004) Combattimento Consort Amsterdam / Renate Arends / Annemarie Kremer / Jan Willem de Vriend (cond) [ Challenge Records DVD / DVD - released 25/Sep/2006 ] "A viable work of art, as witnessed by those who experienced this almost perfect production" Ivo Sindelár (The Czech Handel Society) |
JACK HEGGIE
Heggie: Great Scott (complete opera recorded in 2015) Dallas Opera / Joyce DiDonato, Ailyn Perez, Frederica von Stade, Anthony Roth Costanzo / Patrick Summers (cond) [ Erato / Warner Classics DVD / DVD - released 12/Mar/2021 ] WQXR, the USA's leading classical music radio station, welcomed as a "deeply moving and musically brilliant work" that "should enter the standard repertory just as Heggie's two previous masterpieces - Dead Man Walking and Moby-Dick - already have". |
PUCCINI / BELLINI / VERDI / DONIZETTI
Joan Sutherland & Luciano Pavarotti - Live At Sydney Opera House Dame Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti / The Elizabethan Sydney Orchestra, Richard Bonynge [ ABC Opera Australia DVD / DVD - released 25/Sep/2019 ] "(Pavarotti) proved...that this is truly one of the most phenomenal voices of our era, used with genuine musicality and artistry." - The Australian |
RICHARD WAGNER
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Wagner: Die Walkure (complete opera recorded in 1992) Daniel Barenboim / Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele / Harry Kupfer / Poul Elming / Nadine Secunde / Matthias Holle / etc. [ Warner Music Vision / Unitel DVD / 2 DVD - released 28/Oct/2005 ] "In many ways this is now the best bet for anyone wanting a DVD version of Die Walkure." (International Record Review) |
BELLINI
I Puritani (complete opera recorded in 2009) Netherlands Opera / Daniel Borowski, Mariola Cantarero, Riccardo Zanellato / Giuliano Carella (conductor), Francisco Negrin (director) [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 2/Feb/2013 ] "Osborn manages a stupendous top F, non-falsetto, and his singing in the trio, lyrical but desperate, is even more wonderful...Go on, give it a whirl." (Gramophone) |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Fidelio (opera recorded 1962/63) Deutsche Oper Berlin / Walter Berry, James King, Christa Ludwig, Lisa Otto / Artur Rother (cond) [ Arthaus Musik DVD / DVD - released 7/Aug/2011 ] For the four main roles, singers were chosen who already had international experience but were still fresh and vigorous. Christa Ludwig, James King and Walter Berry. |
ENGLEBERT HUMPERDINCK
Humperdinck: Hänsel und Gretel (complete opera filmed in 1981) Edita Gruberova, Brigitte Fassbaender, Hermann Prey, Helga Dernesch, Sena Jurinac, Norma Burrowes / Wiener Philharmoniker, Sir Georg Solti [ Deutsche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 14/Nov/2005 ] This production, filmed in 1981, is released on DVD for the first time. |
WAGNER / GOUNOD / MASCAGNI / CILEA / VERDI / PUCCINI
Opera Gala: Live from Baden-Baden Ekaterina Gubanova (mezzo) Jonas Kaufmann (tenor) Anja Harteros (soprano) Bryn Terfel (bass-baritone) / Badische Staatskapelle, Marco Armiliato [ Sony Classical DVD / DVD - released 8/Dec/2016 ] The Festspiel-Saison at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden culminated with Jonas Kaufmann, Bryn Terfel, Anja Harteros and Ekaterina Gubanova all on stage in this magnificent Opera Gala. The gala presented a diverse range of solo-arias and duets. Among the... |