|
Haydn: The Creation
Live Recording from The Grosses Festspielhaus Salzburg, 1990
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lucia Popp, Francisco Araiza, Samuel Ramey, Olaf Bär & Iris Vermillion
Wiener Philharmoniker & Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor, Riccardo Muti
The Salzburg Festival summer of 1990 provided a wealth of artistic highlights. One of the very last highlights of the final weekend of the festival, however, was Riccardo Muti conducting Joseph Haydn’s oratorio The Creation in the Grosses Festspielhaus – a matinee performance transmitted live in sound and pictures to Salzburg’s Domplatz, where the rows of seats were crammed with music lovers from all over the world.
Certainly this performance brought together no ordinary ensemble of musicians, even by Salzburg Festival standards. In addition to the Vienna Philharmonic and the Chorus of the Vienna State Opera – two artist collectives that have earned virtual rights of residence at the festival since its establishment – we are treated to a line-up of soloists chosen not simply for their star quality but also for their suitability for the roles, led by the radiant soprano voice of Lucia Popp, the Mexican-born Francisco Araiza, internationally renowned American Samuel Ramey, German baritone Olaf Bär and the German mezzo-soprano Iris Vermillon. All things considered, the recording by Austrian television that forms the basis of this DVD captures an uncommonly joyous matinee of musical entertainment – not always what one has come to expect from summer music festivals.
Sound Format: PCM STEREO
DVD Format: DVD 9, NTSC
Picture Format: 4:3
Subtitle Languages: DE, GB, FR, JP
FSK: 0
Running Time: 120 mins
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen
Live Recording from The Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar 2008
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Frieder Aurich, Kirsten Blanck, Erin Caves, Catherine Foster, Christine Hansmann, Mario Hoff, Renatus Mészár, Tomas Möwes, Norbert Schmittberg, Hidekazu Tsumaya, Johnny van Hal, Nadine Weissmann & Marietta Zumbült
Orchestra and Chorus of The Staatskapelle Weimar, Carl St.Clair (conductor) & Michael Schulz (director)
Set Design by Dirk Becker, Costume Design by Renée Listerdal & Dramaturgy by Wolfgang Willaschek.
Outside Germany, the name Weimar tends to evoke mixed feelings and pictures of German history of the last hundred years. Within Germany, Weimar means a town in the state of Thuringia arguably saturated with the “Deutsche Kultur” of the “Weimarer Klassik”, the legendary Bauhaus, and finally the life and work of Franz Liszt and his son in law Richard Wagner. In Weimar Richard Wagner began composing the first part of his RING-cycle, “Das Rheingold”. In 2008 the Nationaltheater Weimar started a new production of this unique tetralogy. The conductor is Carl St.Clair, a former student of Leonard Bernstein. With Michael Schulz’ fine and highly intelligent staging this new “Ring” production becomes an outstanding document of contemporary opera theatre.
Sound Format: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1
DVD Format: 7 x DVD 9, NTSC
Picture Format: 16:9
Subtitle Languages: DE, GB, FR, IT, ES, JP
FSK: 6
Running Time: about 940 mins
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Verdi: Otello
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aleksandrs Antonenko (Otello), Marina Poplavskaya (Desdemona), Carlos Àlvarez (Iago), Barbara Di Castri (Emilia), Stephen Costello (Cassio)
Wiener Philharmoniker, Riccardo Muti (conductor) & Stephen Langridge (stage director)
This live production from the 2008 Salzburg Festival features young singers Marina Poplavskaya and Stephen Costello and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of leading Verdian Riccardo Muti, in a new production by Stephen Langridge, known from his successful work at London´s Royal Festival Hall, Tokio and Bregenz.
Bonus Talking Otello (20 minutes)
DVD: DD 5.1, PCM Stereo
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mozart: Bastien und Bastienne, K50
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elizabeth Calleo (soprano – Bastienne), Michael Slattery (tenor – Bastien), Martin Winkler (bass-baritone – Colas) & Olivier Cesarini (soprano – Boy)
Orchestre de l’Opéra de Rouen Haute-Normandie, Laurence Equilbey (conductor & musical conception) & Claude Buchwald (director)
Anaïs & Olivier Spiro (film directors)
A wonderfully eerie and fantastical re-imagining of Mozart’s early oneact singspiel, Bastien und Bastienne, presented here on DVD in a film adaptation by acclaimed directors, Anaïs and Olivier Spiro.
Elizabeth Calleo and Martin Winkler triumph in Mozart’s timeless magical tale - filmed live at the Opéra de Rouen in March 2007, whilst acclaimed conductor Laurence Equilbey directs the Orchestre de Opéra de Rouen Haute-Normandie. ‘Bastien under Bastienne’ is a one-act comic opera composed in 1768 by the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, then twelve years old. It was one of Mozart’s first operatic works and one in which the musical and dramatic genius of Mozart is already apparent.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Beethoven: Fidelio, Op. 72
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recorded live at the Zurich Opera House, Germany, in October 2008.
Krešimir Stražanac, Lucio Gallo, Roberto Saccà, Melanie Diener, Alfred Muff, Sandra Trattnigg, Christoph Strehl, Boguslaw Bidzinski & Morgan Moody
Zurich Opera Orchestra & Zurich Opera Chorus, Bernard Haitink (conductor) & Katharina Thalbach (director)
Translucence, transparency – warmth’ are the qualities identified by Bernard Haitink as necessary for an ideal sound performance of Beethoven’s only opera, and all are present in this fantastic recording of Katharina Thalbach’s new production for Opernhaus Zurich. Haitink conducts the Zurich Opera Orchestra in a magnificent performance in which Leonore Overture No. 3 provides an interlude between the two scenes of the second act, following a tradition started by Gustav Mahler. German soprano Melanie Diener, in the role of Leonore, leads a brilliant cast including Alfred Muff as Rocco, Roberto Saccà as Florestan, Sandra Trattnigg as Marzelline and Christoph Strehl as Jaquino. This High Definition recording with true surround sound marks the start of an exciting new collaboration between Opus Arte and Opernhaus Zurich.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Handel: Acis and Galatea
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, on 8th April 2009.
Danielle de Niese (Galatea), Charles Workman (Acis), Matthew Rose (Polyphemus), Paul Agnew (Damon), Ji-Min Park (Corydon)
Dancers of The Royal Ballet, The Royal Opera Extra Chorus & Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Christopher Hogwood (conductor) & Wayne McGregor (director)
Christopher Hogwood conducts the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and a distinguished cast including Danielle de Niese and Charles Workman in Wayne McGregor's new production of Handel's opera in which The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet appear in a rare and beautifully crafted collaboration. Filmed with High Definition cameras and recorded in true surround sound.
“Charles Workman and Danielle de Niese had bags of vocal and personal charm in the title roles, with strong contributions from Matthew Rose as Polyphemus and Paul Agnew and Ji-Min Park as attendant shepherds; among the dancers, special praise to Lauren Cuthbertson as Galatea's frolicking nymph. …An evening of exquisite sensual pleasure.” The Telegraph
Extra features:
Illustrated synopsis
Cast gallery
Documentary: Staging Acis and Galatea
Running time 110 mins
Region code All regions
|