Énée – Lance Ryan Chorèbe – Gabriele Viviani Panthée – Giorgio Giuseppini Narbal – Stephen Milling Iopas – Eric Cutler Ascagne – Oksana Shilova Cassandre – Elisabete Matos Didon – Daniele Barcellona Anna – Zlata Bulycheva
Valencia Regional Government Choir (Cor de la Generalitat Valenciana) Valencian Community Orchestra (Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana) Valery Gergiev, conductor
La Fura dels Baus, staging Carlus Padrissa, stage director Ronald Olbeter, stage designer Peter van Praet, lighting designer Chu Uroz, costume designer
Recorded live from the Palau de les Arts “Reina Sofia”, Valencia, Spain, 2009.
Bonus: - The making of Les Troyens
Picture format: 1080p High Definition Sound format: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Region code: 0 (worldwide) Subtitles: French, English, German, Spanish, Chinese, Korean Booklet notes: English, German, French Running time: 240 mins (opera) + 21 mins (documentary) No. of Discs: 2
"Ancient myth meets Star Wars, and the eye is constantly engaged with images ranging from space-age technology to details of soccer uniforms." The New York Times
"This is a worthy and compelling, glittering version of a sublime work." International Herald Tribune
The Austrian piano virtuoso Rudolf Buchbinder, a known expert of Mozart plays and conducts three of Mozart’s most beloved piano concertos together with the Staatskapelle Dresden, where he was the first pianist to hold the title of “Capell-Virtous”. In advance to an extensive tour to Germany, Europe and Asia the concert was recorded in Dresden in an unique setting, being the first ultra-high definition recording of this work: especially for this purpose a stage was set up right inside the Gläserne Manufaktur, a luxury car manufacturer in the heart of the city of Dresden.
No. of Discs: 1 Run time: 93 minutes Disc Format: BD 50 Picture: 16:9, HD Audio: PCM Stereo, PCM 5.1 Region Code: 0 (worldwide)
Raffaella Angeletti, Nino Batatunashvili, Annuziata Vestri, Massimiliano Pisapia, Enrico Cossuta, and Thomas Morris star in this Sferisterio Opera Festival Macerata production of the Puccini opera conducted by Daniele Callegari and staged by Pier Luigi.
Federico Barbarossa – Enrico Giuseppe Iori Primo console di Milano – Francesco Musinu Secondo console di Milano – Federico Benetti Il podestà di Como – Gabriele Sagona Rolando – Leonardo López Linares Lida – Dimitra Theodossiou Arrigo – Andrew Richards Marcovaldo – Giovanni Guagliardo Imelda – Sharon Pierfederici Un araldo – Alessandro De Angelis Uno scudiero di Arrigo – Nicola Pascoli
Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Lirico “Giuseppe Verdi” di Trieste (chorus master: Paolo Vero) Boris Brott, conductor
Ruggero Cappuccio, stage director Carlo Savi, set and costume designer (with Mimmo Paladino and Matthew Spender) Nino Napoletano, lighting designer
Recorded live at the Teatro Lirico “Giuseppe Verdi” di Trieste, 23 and 29 February, 2 March 2012
Bonus: - Introduction to La battaglia di Legnano
Picture format: NTSC 16:9 Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS 5.1 Region code: 0 (worldwide) Subtitles: Italian, English, German, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Japanese Running time: 119 mins (opera) + 11 mins (bonus) No. of DVDs: 1 (DVD 9)
This incredible production of the ballet Don Quixote from Teatro alla Scala features the renowned choreography of Rudolf Nureyev. Don Quixote has become one of the most loved ballets, with its energy, freshness, and choreographic splendor, requiring the highest skills of dancers. Natalia Osipova, principal dancer of the Royal Ballet in London, and Leonid Sarafanov, principal dancer of the Mihaylovsky Theatre Ballet in St. Petersburg, are the stars in this dazzling performance.
Picture Format: 16:9 Sound Formats: Dolby Digital Stereo, DTS 5.1 Region Code: 0 (Worldwide)
Richard Strauss’s last stage work is an opera about opera as an art form, depicting the creation of a music drama in a wise and witty way. Which came first – words or music? That is the question that Strauss and his librettist Clemens Krauss address through the story of a Countess torn between a composer and a poet. “Renée Fleming is a world-class Countess, moving and intense … All around her there is luxury casting: Bo Skovhus as the Count, Michael Schade as Flamand, Markus Eiche as Olivier, Kurt Rydl as the theatre director La Roche, the wonderful Angelika Kirchschlager as Clairon – all strike exactly the right note, as do the singers in the smaller roles, turning this Capriccio into an event of the first importance.” (Der Kurier, Vienna)
Subtitles: G, E, F, Sp, Kor, Jap, Chin Booklet: E, G, F No. of Discs: 2 Run time: 166 MINS Picture: NTSC, 16:9 Audio: PCM Stereo, PCM 5.1
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REVIEW:
The greatest pleasure of the performance undoubtedly comes in the wonderful playing of the Staatsoper orchestra, the sweet, tender strings and the mellifluous horns in particular; and Christoph Eschenbach conducts a leisurely and loving account of Strauss's gorgeous score.
These four Salzburg Festival Opening Concerts are now available in a hardcover slipcase for a very attractive price! Top casts with Pierre Boulez, Daniel Barenboim, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Wiener Philharmoniker, Dorothea Roschmann, Elina Garanca, Klaus Florian Vogt, Rene Pape, Anna Prohaska, Anna Larsson and Johan Botha.
Énée – Lance Ryan Chorèbe – Gabriele Viviani Panthée – Giorgio Giuseppini Narbal – Stephen Milling Iopas – Eric Cutler Ascagne – Oksana Shilova Cassandre – Elisabete Matos Didon – Daniele Barcellona Anna – Zlata Bulycheva
Valencia Regional Government Choir (Cor de la Generalitat Valenciana) Valencian Community Orchestra (Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana) Valery Gergiev, conductor
La Fura dels Baus, staging Carlus Padrissa, stage director Ronald Olbeter, stage designer Peter van Praet, lighting designer Chu Uroz, costume designer
Recorded live from the Palau de les Arts “Reina Sofia”, Valencia, Spain, 2009.
Bonus: - The making of Les Troyens
Picture format: NTSC 16:9 Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS 5.1 Region code: 0 (worldwide) Subtitles: French, English, German, Spanish, Chinese, Korean Booklet notes: English, German, French Running time: 240 mins (opera) + 21 mins (documentary) No. of DVDs: 2 (DVD 9)
"Ancient myth meets Star Wars, and the eye is constantly engaged with images ranging from space-age technology to details of soccer uniforms." The New York Times
"This is a worthy and compelling, glittering version of a sublime work." International Herald Tribune
Herbert von Karajan broke boundaries in many aspects of conducting, among those being that he was the first conductor to become interested in filming his performances to preserve his cultural heritage. This exceptional documentary begins with his first concert productions, taken in Japan in 1957. Following those first recordings is his cooperation with director Henri-Georges Clouzot, then Karajan’s own film company Telemondial. Karajan’s language for orchestral film productions is seen here through all of its stages. This documentary also includes interviews with Karajan and his collaborators.
Picture Format: 1080i, 16:9 Sound Format: PCM Stereo Subtitles: German, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Korean, Japanese Region Code: 0 (All) Total Running Time: 84 mins
Tutto Verdi: The Complete Operas / Various [Blu-ray]
C Major Entertainment
Blu-Ray
$283.99Oct 26, 2018
Tutto Verdi- this edition sets standards by which all similar projects will be judged. It includes all twenty-six operas by the greatest Italian stage composer, together with his immortal Requiem, all of them in definitive performances. “This is how Tutto Verdi should be played.” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) As a bonus, this impressive set also includes ten minute introductions to each opera as well as the documentary “Verdi’s Backyard,” and a 280 page booklet detailing each performance. The Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Regio di Parma shines in each of these productions, as do the world-renowned soloists that include Daniela Dessi, Marcelo Alvarez, Leo Nucci, Fiorenza Cedolins, Irinia Lungu, and many more. Subtitles are available in Italian, English, German, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese.
With an outstanding cast including Daniela Dessi, Fabio Armiliato, Alessandro Luongo, and Alida Berti, this incomparable performance is Puccini at his finest. Directed by Ettore Scola, who has created a great number of award-winning films, this performance is from the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago. One of the most represented operas in history, becoming the inspiration for many works to come, La Boheme is a rich, grandiose opera, which is wonderfully represented in this recording.
Picture Format: NTSC, 16:9 Sound Formats: PCM Stereo, DTS 5.1 Subtitles: Italian, German, English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Japanese Region Code: 0 (Worldwide) Total Running Time: 123 mins
A performance for the ages, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under the charismatic yet calculated baton of Andris Nelsons give everything they've got to Shostakovich's might 8th Symphony. 2011 winner of the prestigious ECHO Klassik Award, Andris Nelsons is one of the most sought-after young conductors on the international scene today. Over the next few seasons he will continue collaborations with Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Boston Symphony and the New York Philharmonic. Andris Nelsons is a regular guest at Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the Metropolitan Opera New York.
Schumann at Pier2 is not a usual concert film; it shows the 4 Symphonies of Schumann from a new perspective. Stars of the film are the conductor Paavo Jarvi and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and it's filmed at Pier2 a former dockyard in the harbor of Bremen.
CHOPIN Piano Sonata No. 2, “Funeral March.” Polonaise in f?, op. 44. Prelude in B?, op. 28/21. BEETHOVEN Piano Sonatas: No. 27; No. 32. SCRIABIN Etude, op. 8/2. 2 Poems, op. 32 • Ivo Pogorelich (pn) • C MAJOR 701308 (DVD: 101:00)
This video was filmed in 1987, when Pogorelich was in his late-20s. The locale is an ornate Italian villa with excellent acoustics. The sound engineering has held up very well, and the camerawork is unobtrusive. There is no showmanship. Pogorelich simply plays the music, without jumping about or making faces. He has one of the most compulsively watchable pairs of hands I’ve ever seen. I haven’t been this taken with the physical act of a pianist’s playing since I saw Earl Wild play the Gershwin Concerto in 1986. There is a balance of form and function in Pogorelich’s hands that is just enthralling. Pogorelich performs the Chopin and the Scriabin in a black tunic, switching to a plain blue shirt for the Beethoven. Perhaps there’s something revealing in that. The video footage was originally divided into five separate television programs, which simply are played here in succession. I didn’t find this distracting.
I believe Chopin’s Second Piano Sonata was one of the works Pogorelich performed in the 1980 International Chopin Competition in Warsaw. That was where Martha Argerich resigned from the jury after Pogorelich’s elimination, calling him “a genius.” This video contains a great rendition of the sonata. Even the brief introductory chords are dramatic and arresting. In the first movement, Pogorelich has a beautiful response to the second subject, varying it with richness and nobility on each of its appearances, the third time giving it beautiful tone coloring. The scherzo features a dynamic left hand, while its second subject is highly rhapsodic. The opening of the Marche funèbre is grand, even triumphant, whereas its second subject is shaded nocturnally. The return of the Marche is terrifying, leading to the finale’s splendid virtuosic chaos. Throughout the sonata Pogorelich’s conception is bold, dynamic, and vivid.
The remaining Chopin works are equally impressive. The polonaise is freely shaped, colorful, and propulsive. The return of its main theme at the end is immense and thrilling. Pogorelich’s interpretation of the prelude is slow and stately. He brings the same ingratiating talents as a miniaturist to the short works by Scriabin. They highlight his craftsmanship as a subtle colorist and superb technician. The étude is languorous. As for the Two Poems, the first is dreamy, while the second is torrential.
Pogorelich’s Beethoven is more provocative, owing to his preference for slow tempos. In the first movement of Sonata No. 27, I prefer to think of his tempo not as slow but as spacious. The music’s structure always is apparent. In the final movement, Pogorelich offers a truthful representation of Beethoven’s cantabile marking. This issue, however, bedevils the last sonata. In its first movement, Pogorelich’s concept of maestoso is assisted by his ability to clarify voices. This movement’s contrast of virtuosity and repose seems here to prefigure Liszt. Things bog down, unfortunately, in the last movement. There Pogorelich takes the adagio molto marking too literally, interfering in his slowness with the other instruction for cantabile playing. His phrasing becomes choppy. Beethoven did offer the instruction semplice, but that doesn’t mean to proceed so slowly as to be simple-minded. I watched this DVD four times before writing this review, and the last movement of Sonata No. 32 was the only performance I grew weary of.
If you are collecting these works on CD, I can make some recommendations. In the Chopin sonata, I like Cécile Ousset (whose muscularity recalls Pogorelich), Leif Ove Andsnes, and Idil Biret. Richard Goode and Bernard Roberts are interesting in both of the Beethoven sonatas. For No. 32, there also are fine recordings by Bruce Hungerford, Jerome Rose, and, on a Graf fortepiano, Peter Serkin. Scriabin’s Two Poems appears in a lyrical presentation by the Russian-American pianist Dmitry Paperno, on a lovely collection of shorter works titled Through the Years. As for Pogorelich’s DVD, it is fascinating and compulsively watchable almost all the way through. If you can overlook some rather zany Beethoven, it might be for you.
DEBUSSY Images pour orchestre. Prélude à l’près-midi d’un faune. La Mer • Leonard Bernstein, cond; Santa Cecila Natl Academy O • UNITEL 701608 (DVD: 86: 00)
Although Debussy did not figure largely in Bernstein’s repertoire, the conductor had an innate affinity for the composer’s music. We are therefore fortunate to have this concert, from scarcely a year before Bernstein’s death, preserving his interpretations of this repertoire in digital sound. Bernstein’s older Columbia recordings with the New York Philharmonic from 1960–63 are also still in print, although to duplicate this particular program one must acquire two different CDs (one from Sony, the other an ArkivMusic reissue). Those performances, however, are completely superseded by the present ones, both sonically and interpretively. In his later years Bernstein became decidedly self-indulgent, and his performances sometimes assumed bloated dimensions, as in the famous (or notorious) 1989 Christmas Day Berlin performance of the Beethoven Ninth. (I was blessed to attend that concert in person, being resident in East Berlin for my doctoral dissertation research at the time. As an interpretation it verged on the preposterous, but I still wouldn’t have missed it for all the world.) Here, however, he is in top form, eliciting performances with superb clarity of line, pellucid orchestral color and instrumental balance, and moderate tempi that are convincingly right at every point. Debussy is not the first thing I, as someone partial to Romantic German and Slavic orchestral repertoire, think to take off the shelf for personal listening pleasure, but Bernstein leaves me marveling at the sheer genius of these masterworks, providing a joy of rediscovery.
There are of course many performances of these works available on CD; most readers will already have their favorites, so I will not assay a broader discussion that in any case would exceed the bounds of this review. Regarding performances on DVD, this is the only complete performance of Images available. (For whatever reason, Bernstein altered the order of its three movements and placed Iberia in third position.) The Naxos issue with Alexander Rahbari and the Belgian Radio Symphony, which also has the Prélude and La Mer, omits Iberia in favor of the Nocturnes; those are solid performances but not in the same class as these. The only other DVD to feature both the Prélude and La Mer is with Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic, reviewed negatively by Christopher Abbot in Fanfare 26:2 and positively by Colin Clarke in 32:3. I do not intend to enter the lists of the debates between champions and detractors of the German and American maestros; suffice it to say that in these works I prefer Bernstein’s clarity and sense of motion to Karajan’s lushness and perfumed languor. His DVD has more interesting camerawork to boot, with better lighting and more varied and better close-ups of the instrumentalists. The sound quality is excellent, the recordings having been made for commercial issue at the time. For those with more slender wallets, or who are uninterested in the visual aspects of an orchestral concert, these same performances were issued on CD by DG and are still in print as an ArkivMusic reissue. Strongly recommended.
A superb new Otello from the Salzburg Easter Festival: “Cura is a commanding Otello with his richly coloured tenor and both fragile delicacy and fiery ardour” (Südwestpresse). “Röschmann as Desdemona guarantees effortless perfection” (Neue Musikzeitung). “Álvarez as Iago would be hard to surpass” (Abendzeitung). This Salzburg production – featuring “a cast worthy of any festival” (Südwestpresse) – is conducted by Christian Thielemann, who displays a command of Verdian tragedy to match his celebrated sovereignty in Wagner. He and his great Dresden Staatskapelle, a consummate opera ensemble, “achieve wonders” (Die Presse), “generating Italian ‘Musikdrama’ with their incandescence and precise nuances” (Abendzeitung). In his fascinating staging, director Vincent Broussard integrates video with set and lighting design to create an idealized visual context for what he calls Otello’s “conflict of ancient and modern, of 2D and 3D”.
Note: This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.
Giuseppe Verdi AIDA (Blu-ray Disc Version)
Set against the magnificent backdrop of Lake Constance, every production at the Bregenz Festival faces strong natural competitors. But with this first-ever production of Verdi’s “Aida” (in an abridged version) on the lakeside stage, it is easy to overlook the beauty of the surrounding nature. Stage director Graham Vick and set designer Paul Brown conjure up an “open-air spectacle of superlatives” (Die Zeit) that throws a bridge between ancient Egypt and today’s U.S. The stage effects are stunning: ruins of the Statue of Liberty pieced together with the help of giant cranes, boats carrying priestesses and prisoners – parts of the opera even take place in the lake itself! And in the Grand March – one of the most famous marches in opera – a golden elephant comes sailing into view on a barge¿ Under Carlo Rizzi, the Wiener Symphoniker brilliantly support the chorus and soloists, among whom Iano Tamar (Amneris) and Tatiana Serjan (Aida) stand out. Drawing capacity crowds of over 200,000 spectators in just one season, “Aida” is the festival’s most successful opera to date, even more successful than the “Tosca” production, which has been immortalized in the James Bond film “Quantum of Solace”.
Il Re – Kevin Short Amneris – Iano Tamar Aida – Tatiana Serjan Radamès – Rubens Pelizzari Ramfis – Tigran Martirossian Amonasro – Iain Paterson Un messaggero – Ronald Samm Una sacerdotessa – Elisabetta Martorana
Camerata Silesia Polish Radio Choir, Krakow Bregenz Festival Chorus Vienna Symphony Orchestra Carlo Rizzi, conductor
Graham Vick, stage director Paul Brown, stage and costume designer Ron Howell, choreography Wolfgang Göbbel, lighting designer
Recorded live from the Bregenz Festival, 22 and 24 July 2009.
Picture format: 1080i High Definition Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Region code: 0 (worldwide) Subtitles: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian Running time: 135 mins No. of Discs: 1 (Blu-ray)
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