GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: La Traviata (recorded live Covent Garden in 2009) BLU-RAY Royal Opera House / Renee Fleming, Joseph Calleja, Thomas Hampson / Antonio Pappano (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 30/Jun/2011 ] "this is a sensible, believable, attractive presentation that is more in line with Verdi than with the idiocies of Regietheater...Vocally, [Fleming] is on good form at almost every turn." International Record Review, July 2011 |
RACgine Crespin (soprano) / Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Edward Downes, conductor
Classic Recitals: RACgine Crespin-Italian Operatic Arias [ Decca Classic Recitals / CD - released 5/Apr/2004 ] The present recital, made in May 1963 (just four months before the Berlioz and Ravel) gives a wonderful glimpse into several of the Italian roles Crespin performed. |
LEONCAVALLO / PONCHIELLI / CILEA / ZANDONAI / PUCCINI / MASCAGNI / etc
Nessun Dorma (arias from opera) Roberto Alagna (tenor) / Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden / Mark Elder [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 1/Jun/2006 ] Following on from the great success of his previous Berlioz releases, superstar tenor Roberto Alagna explores the world of opera with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden under conductor Mark Elder. |
BAZIN / MASSENET / GOUNOD / GRe°TRY / HALe°VY / THOMAS / MEYERBEER
French Opera Arias Roberto Alagna (tenor) / Royal Opera House Orchestra, Bertrand de Billy [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 1/Jun/2006 ] 2001 GRAMOPHONE AWARD WINNER - Recital "Imaginative programming that combines some old favourites with some rarely encountered gems. All sung with panache by a tenor at home in this music" |
BENJAMIN BRITTEN
Simple Symphony / Spring Symphony / Four Sea Interludes Jennifer Vyvyan; Norma Proctor; Peter Pears / Royal Opera House Orchestra, Benjamin Britten / I Musici, Felix Ayo [ Alto / CD - released 10/Aug/2013 ] (Spring Symph) "confirmed in my admiration by this, both technically and musically among the best things the gramophone has given us. The music is not difficult for any open-minded listener to enjoy" (Gramophone) |
MASSENET
Werther (complete opera recorded in 2011) Rolando Villazon, Sophie Koch, Audun Iversen / Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Antonio Pappano [ Deutsche Grammophon / 2 CD Box Set - released 22/Apr/2012 ] "This is Massenet with an Italianate cut but his sense of drama is second to none, rising to white heat at the climax of that fateful Christmas Eve meeting." (Gramophone Award Nomination 2012) |
DELIBES / ADAM / HEROLD
Ballet Spectacular: Coppelia, Giselle, La Fille Mal Gardee (Complete ballets recorded 2000-2006) The Royal Ballet / Leanne Benjamin, Carlos Acosta, Alina Cojocaru, Johan Kobborg, Marianela Nunez / Opera House Orchestra [ BBC / Opus Arte DVD / 3 DVD Box Set - released 20/Dec/2014 ] "La fille mal gardée is sheer perfection, Nuñez and Acosta are unsurpassable respectively in the feminine grace and masculine confidence of Ashton's Lise and Colas, and their mimetic skills are delicious" BBC Music |
LEO DELIBES
Coppelia (Complete ballet recorded in 2000) The Royal Ballet / Leanne Benjamin, Carlos Acosta / Opera House Orchestra, Nicolae Moldoveanu [ BBC / Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 11/Apr/2002 ] G:- "Highest-quality image and resolution." (Four Stars AudAud.com) |
TCHAIKOVSKY
The Nutcracker, Op. 71 (recorded at Bregenz Festival, 2009) BLU-RAY Royal Ballet / Orchestra of the Royal Opera House / Peter Wright (choreographer) / Miyako Yoshida / Ricardo Cervera / Steven McRae [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 19/Nov/2010 ] 'One of the very best seasonal treats for children and adults alike, the Royal Ballet's Nutcracker is a handsome, magical, thoroughly traditional rendering of ETA Hoffmann's immortal if deeply strange story.' Sunday Express |
TCHAIKOVSKY
The Nutcracker, Op. 71 (recorded at Bregenz Festival, 2009) Royal Ballet / Orchestra of the Royal Opera House / Peter Wright (choreographer) / Miyako Yoshida / Ricardo Cervera / Steven McRae [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 10/Jun/2012 ] This all-time ballet favourite, in which young Clara is swept into a fantasy adventure when one of her Christmas presents comes to life, is at its most enchanting in Peter Wright's glorious production - as fresh as ever in its 25th year.... |
GIACOMO PUCCINI
Puccini: Manon Lescaut (complete opera recorded in 2014) Royal Opera House / Jonas Kaufmann, Kristine Opolais, Christopher Maltman / Antonio Pappano (cond) [ Sony Classical DVD / DVD - released 20/Oct/2015 ] 'Antonio Pappano has few peers today as a Puccini conductor, and gives the score a tremendous sense of vivid theatricality' THE GUARDIAN |
W. A. MOZART
Mitridate, re di Ponto (recorded live Covent Garden in 1993) Royal Opera House / Bruce Ford, Jochen Kowalski, Ann Murray, Luba Orgonasova / Paul Daniel (cond) [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 10/Feb/2012 ] |
HECTOR BERLIOZ
Berlioz: Les Troyens (complete opera recorded in 2012) Royal Opera House, Bryan Hymel, Anna Caterina Antonacci, Eva-Maria Westbroek / Antonio Pappano (cond) [ Opus Arte DVD / 2 DVD - released 1/Nov/2013 ] GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE AWARD NOMINATION 2014 |
HECTOR BERLIOZ
Les Troyens (complete opera recorded in 2012) BLU-RAY Royal Opera House, Bryan Hymel, Anna Caterina Antonacci, Eva-Maria Westbroek / Antonio Pappano (cond) [ Opus Arte Blu-ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Nov/2013 ] GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE AWARD NOMINATION 2014 |
MEYERBEER
Robert Le Diable (complete opera recorded in 2012) Royal Opera House / Bryan Hymel, Patrizia Ciofi, John Relyea, Marina Poplavskaya / Daniel Oren (conductor) [ Opus Arte Royal Opera House Collection DVD / 2 DVD - released 20/Aug/2013 ] A grand opera that dominated the stages of Europe for most of the 19th century, Robert le diable is a masterpiece. Director Laurent Pelly breathes new life into Giacomo Meyerbeer's great spectacle and audaciously entertaining moral fable, in this... |
MEYERBEER
Robert Le Diable (complete opera recorded in 2012) BLU-RAY Royal Opera House / Bryan Hymel, Patrizia Ciofi, John Relyea, Marina Poplavskaya / Daniel Oren (conductor) [ Opus Arte Royal Opera House Collection Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 20/Aug/2013 ] "Meyerbeer's vocal writing demands virtuoso singing, and receives that here. Bryan Hymel hurls himself unstintingly at the title role, impossible high notes and all. Marina Poplavskaya suggests the spiritual inspiration of Alice, while Patrizia Ciofi |
VERDI
Aida (recorded live Covent Garden in 1994) Royal Opera House / Cheryl Studer / Luciana d'Intino / Dennis O'Neill / Edward Downes (cond) [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 1/Aug/2011 ] "[Sir Edward Downes'] command of the score's structure, its curious blend of delicacy and bombast, of classical propriety and romantic excess, is complete and he drew superbly disciplined playing from the pit and lusty singing from the augmented... |
GEORGE BENJAMIN
Written on Skin (complete opera recorded in 2013) Royal Opera House / Christopher Purves, Barbara Hannigan, Bejun Mehta, Victoria Simmonds / George Benjamin (cond) [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 20/Aug/2014 ] GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE AWARD WINNER 2014 - Contemporary |
HUMPERDINCK
Hansel und Gretel (complete opera recorded in 2008) Royal Opera House, Covent Garden / Angelika Kirchschlager / Diana Damrau / Elizabeth Connell / Thomas Allen / Colin Davis, conductor [ Opus Arte DVD / DVD - released 20/Jan/2012 ] 'Angelika Kirchschlager's tousled, boyish Hänsel and Diana Damrau's Gretel are dramatically convincing and vocally superb, while their parents, excellently sung and played by Elizabeth Connell and Thomas Allen, earn our sympathy as well as our... |
ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK
Humperdinck: Hansel und Gretel (complete opera recorded in 2008) BLU-RAY Royal Opera House, Covent Garden / Angelika Kirchschlager / Diana Damrau / Elizabeth Connell / Thomas Allen / Colin Davis, conductor [ Opus Arte Blu-Ray / Blu-ray Disc - released 1/Aug/2009 ] BLU-RAY - "Diana Damrau, a plain-Jane Gretel with awkward pigtails, gets along famously with her brother, dancing, playing, being huffy. They work well off one another and their voices blend beautifully. The Sandman and Dew Fairy are lovely." (10/10... |