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... |
WALTER BRAUNFELS
Braunfels: Ulenspiegel (complete opera recorded in 2014) EntArteOpera / Marc Horus, Christa Ratzenböck, Joachim Goltz, Hans Peter Scheidegger / Martin Sieghart (cond) [ Capriccio DVD / DVD - released 12/Jul/2017 ] Charles de Coster's novel Thyl Ulenspiegel provided the source for Braunfels' opera of the same name. It narrates one of the darkest chapters in human history - the Spanish Inquisition in 16th-century Flanders. |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Xerxes [Serse] (complete opera recorded in 2007) Frankfurt Opera / Gaëlle Arquez, Elizabeth Sutphen, Lawrence Zazzo, Louise Alder / Constantinos Carydis (cond) [ C Magor DVD / DVD - released 14/Sep/2018 ] "...Arquez rightly dominates, vocally and dramatically…Carydis's direction, always responsive to the singers, meshes well with the production." Gramophone |
WOLFGANG RHIM
Rhim: Jakob Lenz (complete opera) De Munt La Monnaie / Georg Nigl, Henry Waddington, John Graham-Hall / Franck Ollu (cond) [ Alpha DVD / DVD - released 14/Jun/2019 ] Wolfgang Rihm's chamber opera Jakob Lenz has become one of the most frequently performed works in the 20thcentury German opera repertoire. |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: La Traviata (complete opera recorded in 1988) Glyndebourne Festival Opera / Marie McLaughlin, Walter MacNeil, Brent Ellis / Bernard Haitink (cond) [ Arthaus Musik DVD / DVD - released 4/Apr/2003 ] "The DVD clarifies the orchestral sound and the voices, to the benefit of Bernard Haitink"s poetic, plangent reading...visual clarity reveals a newly immediate richness and authenticity of setting and costume" -Gramophone, February 2002 |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Die Zauberflöte (complete opera) BLU-RAY Glyndebourne Opera / David Portillo, Sofia Fomina, Björn Bürger, Brindley Sherratt / Ryan Wigglesworth [ Opus Arte DVD / Blu-ray - released 15/May/2020 ] "In the first half, André Barbe's exquisitely drawn and then enlarged interiors magic the eye, and the cut-out guests that people the hotel are a delight...is there a more satisfying Sarastro around at present than the magnificent Brindley Sherratt?" |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Giulio Cesare (complete opera recorded in 2005) Glyndebourne Opera / Sarah Connolly, Angelika Kirchschlager, Danielle de Niese. Christophe Dumaux, Christopher Maltman / William Christie (cond) [ Opus Arte DVD / 3 DVD - released 18/Jul/2006 ] Gramophone Magazine Award Finalist 2006: DVD - 'Christie conducts Handel beguilingly - in fact, I'd go so far as to suggest that nobody does Handel better.' (Opera) |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel Box Set: Rinaldo / Saul / Giulio Cesare (Recorded live at Glyndebourne Opera House, 2005-2015) Glyndebourne Opera / Sonia Prina, Anett Fritsch, Sarah Connolly, Danielle de Niese, Christopher Purves, Iestyn Davies / Orchestra of the Age of Enligh [ Opus Arte DVD / 5 DVD Box Set - released 20/Mar/2017 ] "Dantone conducts a strongly characterised performance founded on the alert playing of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment." (BBC Music on Rinaldo) |
W. A. MOZART
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Mozart: Cosi Fan Tutte (complete opera recorded in 2006) Glyndebourne Opera / Topi Lehtipuu, Luca Pisaroni, Miah Persson, Anke Vondung / Ivan Fischer (conductor) [ Opus Arte / Rai Trade DVD / 2 DVD - released 1/May/2007 ] 'I had to search long and hard down memory lane to recall a Così that so vividly revealed both the pleasure and the overwhelming pain of this evermore disturbing masterpiece, and I failed.' Opera |
ROSSINI / W. A. MOZART / J. STRAUSS II
Love, Passion & Deceit: Classic Opera productions from Glyndebourne [La Cenerentola, Cosi fan Tutte, Die Fledermaus] Glyndebourne Opera / Topi Lehtipuu, Luca Pisaroni, Miah Persson, Ruxandra Donose, Pamela Armstrong, Thomas Allen, etc [ Opus Arte / Rai Trade DVD / 5 DVD Box Set - released 1/Jul/2015 ] 'I had to search long and hard down memory lane to recall a Così that so vividly revealed both the pleasure and the overwhelming pain of this evermore disturbing masterpiece, and I failed.' Opera on Cosi |
GEORGES BIZET
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Bizet: Carmen (complete opera recorded in 1985) Grace Bumbry, Jon Vickers, Mirella Freni, Justino Diaz / Vienna State Opera Choir & Vienna Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan [ Deusche Grammophon DVD / DVD - released 1/Dec/2005 ] This famous film of the world's best-loved opera, directed by Herbert von karajan, features the three greatest exponents of their respective roles at the time. - "overwhelming in its truthfulness to the tragic vision of Carmen", wrote the... |
JULES MASSENET
Massenet: Manon (complete opera recorded in 2007) Gran Teatre del Liceu / Natalie Dessay/ Rolando Villazon / Samuel Ramey / Victor Pablo Perez (cond) [ Virgin Classics DVD / 2 DVD - released 4/Apr/2008 ] G : - "Natalie Dessay and Rolando Villazón bring to their characters the generosity of their commitment...the French soprano Natalie Dessay is poised to succeeding brilliantly her evolution towards the repertoire of lyric sopranos" www.forumopera.com |
GAETANO DONIZETTI
Donizetti: L'Elisir d'Amore (complete opera recorded in 2005) Gran Teatre del Liceu / Rolando Villazon, Maria Bayo, Jean-Luc Chaignaud / Daniele Callegari (cond) [ Virgin Classics DVD / DVD - released 1/Jul/2011 ] "Rolando Villazón is here on top form, fleshing out the notes with alternate delicacy and vehemence and personifying the shy, frustrated hero with a Chaplinesque range of gesture and mannerism." (BBC Music) |
RICHARD WAGNER
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Gotterdammerung (complete opera recorded in 2004) Gran Teatre del Liceu / Harry Kupfer / Deborah Polaski / John Treleaven / Matti Salminem / Falk Struckmann / Gunter von Kannen / Bertrand de Billy [ Opus Arte DVD / 3 DVD Box Set - released 1/Jul/2009 ] "This is in many respects superb. The acid test is that one should emerge exhausted from Wagner's emotional outpourings, yet uplifted, and this de Billy and his team of soloists do in the final analysis achieve" (MusicWeb Sept 2005) |
HECTOR BERLIOZ
Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini (complete opera recorded in 2007) Grobes festspielhaus, Salzburg / Burkhard Fritz, Maija Kovalevska, Laurent Naouri, Brindley Sherratt / Valery Gergiev (cond) [ Naxos Unitel DVD / DVD - released 1/Jan/2010 ] "Burkhard Fritz as Benvenuto is a strong heroic tenor and copes well with the vocal demands of the role, while Maria Kovalevska as his beloved Teresa enchants us with her lovely voice and physical beauty." (The WholeNote.com) |
RICHARD WAGNER
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Wagner: Die Walkure (complete opera recorded in 2003) Gran Teatre del Liceu / Richard Berkeley-Steele / Falk Struckmann / Linda Watson / Bertrand de Billy (cond) [ Opus Arte / Kultur DVD / 3 DVD Box Set - released 1/Jul/2009 ] Filmed at Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu in 2003, Harry Kupfer's acclaimed production, first staged in Berlin, numbers among the greatest productions of modern times and is recorded in sumptuous surround sound. |
JACQUES OFFENBACH
Offenbach: La Vie Parisienne (Complete Operetta recorded in 2021) Théâtre des Champs-Élysées / Jodie Devos, Rodolphe Briand, Marc MauIllon, Sandrine Buendia / Romain Dumas (cond) [ Naxos DVD / 2 DVD - released 10/Feb/2023 ] "Director Christian Lacroix's dazzling sets and costumes perfectly complement Offenbach's beguiling music (played by Les Musiciens du Louvre under the baton of conductor Romain Dumas), and it's charmingly sung by a superlative cast." FlipSide |
EMMERICH KALMAN
Kalman: Die Zirkusprinzessin [The Circus Princess] (complete Operetta Recorded 1969, sung in German) Ingeborg Hallstein, Rudolf Schock, Isy Orén, Peter Karner, Jane Tilden / Symphony Orchestra Kurt Graunke, Munich, Werner Schmidt-Boelcke [ Arthaus DVD / DVD - released 10/Mar/2017 ] With The Csardas Princess and Countess Mariza, Emmerich Kálmán created two operetta classics that remain popular to this day. His successes from the Viennese "Silver Operetta Era" include The Circus Princess (1926), which contains elements of modern... |
GIUSEPPE SAVERIO MERCADANTE
Mercadante: Didone abbandonata (complete opera recorded in 2018) Innsbruck Festival / Viktorija Miškūnaitė, Katrin Wundsam, Emilie Renard, Carlo Vincenzo Allemano, Diego Godoy / Alessandro De Marchi [ Naxos DVD / DVD - released 7/Jun/2019 ] Giuseppe Saverio Mercadante was a contemporary of Donizetti and Rossini, and his prolific output of operas proved influential in founding dramatic techniques that were taken on by Verdi. |
JESSYE NORMAN
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Jessye Norman - A Portrait Jessye Norman (soprano) with various accompaniments [ Deccal DVD / DVD - released 14/Mar/2008 ] An intimate and in-depth 90 minute portrait of the legendary soprano, including specially staged studio films of 12 bestloved pieces from Jessye Norman's repertoire. |