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Home / BelAir Classiques

BelAir Classiques

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Tchaikovsky Gala / Bolle, Seminova, Licitra

BelAir Classiques

~~$29.99~~ $26.99

October 01, 2008

TCHAIKOVSKY Swan Lake: Highlights. The Sleeping Beauty: Highlights. The Nutcracker: Highlights & • David Coleman, cond; Polina Semionova ( Odette/Odile ); Roberto Bolle ( Siegfried ); Maurizio Licitra ( Jester ); Gianni Ghisleni ( Rothbart ); Flavia Vallone ( Queen ); Marta Romagna ( Aurora ); Antonino Sutera ( Bluebird ); Daniela Cavalleri ( Florin ); Nadja Saidakova ( Marie ); Ronald Savkovic ( Nutcracker ); La Scala Ballet & O • BELAIR 37 (HD DVD: 114:00) Live: Milan 12/31/2007

& “Etoiles et petits pas”: the Scala backstage and the artists in rehearsal

Although the music comes from the three Tchaikovsky ballets, they have been intermixed and roughly form a plot of their own in this “Tchaikovsky Gala” DVD. The story line is loosely based on Swan Lake , acts I and III. Prince Siegfried (Roberto Bolle) needs to find a wife, so a number of applicants and guests arrive at his castle. In addition to Odile from Swan Lake , Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty , the Sugar Plum Fairy from Nutcracker , and assorted folks from each of those ballets come to greet the prince. As you would expect from Swan Lake , he makes an unfortunate choice and the evening ends in despair.

Many of the big moments from these ballets are included: the “Rose Adagio” from Sleeping Beauty , the “Sugar Plum Fairy/Nutcracker Pas de deux” (act II), the “Bluebird pas de deux” from Sleeping Beauty , and the “Grand pas de deux” (Odile and Siegfried) from Swan Lake . Some of the specialty dances from the ballets add to the festivities. Tchaikovsky remained so stylistically consistent in his ballet scores that this pastiche transitions seamlessly from one musical event to the next.

Every thing works to make this New Year’s Eve gala a splendid success. The dancing is superb, the costumes and scenery are colorful and elegant, and conductor David Coleman and the La Scala orchestra brilliantly support the dancing. The high definition picture is startlingly clear, and the video director captures the event with very few of those inane close-ups of bobbing heads and bouncing torsos. Roberto Bolle gets top billing on the front cover; although he is onstage throughout the event as the Prince, his dancing is restricted to the final moments when he and Polina Semionova (from the Berlin Ballet) take center stage. It might be a case of saving the best for last, but everyone involved, all the soloists and the corps, offer top notch dancing. Nadja Saidakova and Ronald Savkovic are featured dancers with the Berlin State Opera. This is luxury casting throughout. The evening concludes with a company curtain call, a New Year’s greeting from general director, Stéphane Lissner, the soloists appearing in black formal wear sharing in a champagne toast with confetti raining from the loft.

If you’ve never seen the Tchaikovsky ballets, this New Year’s Eve gala will give you an introduction to the riches that await you. If you’re familiar with the ballets, many of the favorite characters and dance numbers have been assembled to provide a fulfilling event.

There is a 31-minute special feature titled “‘Etoiles et petits pas’: the Scala backstage and the artists in rehearsal.” In addition to rehearsal shots, there are numerous images of Milan in various seasons, especially the holidays, with the seasonal decorations given special attention. The lack of narration and/or interviews with the artists and production staff makes this visual montage interesting to look at once, but it lacks meaningful focus.

I found the way the Gala was constructed into a collection of Tchaikovsky/Petipa’s greatest ballet moments into a cohesive, unified event was ingenious; consequently, I was disappointed the special feature did not include an interview with the creative people who devised this very entertaining production. There are two sound formats (PCM stereo and Dolby Digital 5.1); the widescreen HD picture is 16/9. The compatibility note reads, “This is a region free NTSC DVD, designed for playback on all NTSC and modern PAL compatible systems worldwide.” I enjoyed watching this DVD; I hope any of you who see it do too.

FANFARE: David L. Kirk

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On Sale

BelAir Classiques

Tchaikovsky Gala / Bolle, Seminova, Licitra

TCHAIKOVSKY Swan Lake: Highlights. The Sleeping Beauty: Highlights. The Nutcracker: Highlights & • David Coleman, cond; Polina Semionova ( Odette/Odile ); Roberto...

~~$29.99~~ $26.99
October 01, 2008

Full Details

Strauss: Elektra / Herlitzius, Meier, Salonen, Orchestre De Paris

BelAir Classiques

~~$34.99~~ $32.99

August 26, 2014

Also available on Blu-ray

The last production staged by Patrice Chéreau, this Elektra will remain as the main and most striking lyrical event of these last years in Aix-en-Provence.

In 1903, Richard Strauss attended a performance of Elektra, a play by the Viennese poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal based on the tragedy by Sophocles. Three years later, Strauss came to an understanding with Hofmannsthal on a lyric adaptation of the play. Even though tepidly received at its premiere on 25 January 1909 in Dresden, Elektra quickly won over audiences and today occupies an enviable place in the repertoire of opera houses the world over. With its clear-cut contrasts and telluric power, it is one of the most scathing masterpieces of the whole lyric repertoire.

Elektra comes in the wake of Salome with the same dimensions (a single act lasting approximately an hour and three-quarters), a story taking place in ancient times, extreme feelings, and devastating violence. Frenzied unity of place, time and action, with the drama unfolding in the courtyard of the palace in Mycenae, in real time. It tells how Electra, daughter of King Agamemnon, keeps alive the memory of her father, murdered upon his return from Troy by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover, and dwells only on vengeance. And how this vengeance finally comes about.

This production is leaded by three amazing singers: the German soprano Evelyn Herlitzius gave a tremendous, never-to-be-forgotten account of the title role, Waltraud Meier portrays a human and chilling Clytemnestra and Adrianne Pieczonka is a fantastic Chrysothemis.

Everyone’s loneliness and intimate struggles are Patrice Chéreau’s favorites theatrical themes. With Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the Orchestre de Paris, this production of Elektra becomes an unforgettable experience.
.

Richard STRAUSS (1864-1949)
Elektra

Elektra – Evelyn Herlitzius (soprano
Klytämnestra – Waltraud Meier (mezzo)
Chrysothemis – Adrianne Pieczonka (soprano)
Orest – Mikhail Petrenko (baritone)
Aegisth – Tom Randle (tenor)
Tutor – Franz Mazura (bass)
Coro Gulbenkian
Orchestre de Paris/Esa-Pekka Salonen
Stage director: Patrice Chéreau
rec. live, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, July 2013

Region Code: 0 (all)
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Image: NTSC, colour, 16:9 Sound: Dolby 2.0 Stereo, 5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles: French, English, German, Italian, Spanish
Timing: [110:00 (opera) + 23:00 (bonus)]

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On Sale

BelAir Classiques

Strauss: Elektra / Herlitzius, Meier, Salonen, Orchestre De Paris

Also available on Blu-ray The last production staged by Patrice Chéreau, this Elektra will remain as the main and most striking lyrical...

~~$34.99~~ $32.99
August 26, 2014

Full Details

Strauss: Elektra / Herlitzius, Meier, Pieczonka, Petrenko, Orchestre De Paris [blu-ray]

BelAir Classiques

$42.99

August 26, 2014

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD

Last production staged by Patrice Chéreau, this « Elektra » will remain as the main and most striking lyrical event of these last years in Aix-en-Provence. In 1903, Richard Strauss attended a performance of Elektra, a play by the Viennese poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal based on the tragedy by Sophocles. Three years later, Strauss came to an understanding with Hofmannsthal on a lyric adaptation of the play. Even though tepidly received at its premiere on 25 January 1909 in Dresden, Elektra quickly won over audiences and today occupies an enviable place in the repertoire of opera houses the world over. With its clear-cut contrasts and telluric power, it is one of the most scathing masterpieces of the whole lyric repertoire.

Elektra comes in the wake of Salome with the same dimensions (a single act lasting approximately an hour and three-quarters), a story taking place in ancient times, extreme feelings, and devastating violence. Frenzied unity of place, time and action, with the drama unfolding in the courtyard of the palace in Mycenae, in real time. It tells how Electra, daughter of King Agamemnon, keeps alive the memory of her father, murdered upon his return from Troy by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover, and dwells only on vengeance. And how this vengeance finally comes about.

This production is leaded by three amazing singers: the German soprano Evelyn Herlitzius gave a tremendous, never-to-be-forgotten account of the title role, Waltraud Meier portrays a human and chilling Clytemnestra and Adrianne Pieczonka is a fantastic Chrysothemis.

Everyone’s loneliness and intimate struggles are Patrice Chéreau’s favorites theatrical themes. With Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the Orchestre de Paris, this production of Elektra becomes an unforgettable experience.

Richard STRAUSS (1864-1949)
Elektra

Elektra – Evelyn Herlitzius (soprano
Klytämnestra – Waltraud Meier (mezzo)
Chrysothemis – Adrianne Pieczonka (soprano)
Orest – Mikhail Petrenko (baritone)
Aegisth – Tom Randle (tenor)
Tutor – Franz Mazura (bass)
Coro Gulbenkian
Orchestre de Paris/Esa-Pekka Salonen
Stage director: Patrice Chéreau
rec. live, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, July 2013

Region Code: 0 (all)
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Image: NTSC, colour, 16:9 Sound: Dolby 2.0 Stereo, 5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles: French, English, German, Italian, Spanish
Timing: [110:00 (opera) + 23:00 (bonus)]

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BelAir Classiques

Strauss: Elektra / Herlitzius, Meier, Pieczonka, Petrenko, Orchestre De Paris [blu-ray]

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players. Also available on standard DVD...

$42.99
August 26, 2014

Full Details

Sotelo: El Publico / Casado, Klangforum Wien, Coro del Teatro Real

BelAir Classiques

$24.99

November 11, 2016

“El Publico” is Lorca’s most difficult and mysterious play, one of the great classics of modern Spanish theatre. Lorca wrote it in Cuba, just after his trip to New York, at a time of intense experimentation in art and life. Homosexuality is addressed openly in “El Publico,” and the play is a cry of defiance against bourgeois hypocrisy and a plea for sexual and artistic freedom. It has been transformed into an opera thanks to Gerard Mortier. He commissioned the composer Mauricio Sotelo to create an opera for the Spanish repertoire of the 21st century. This production from Teatro Real de Madrid is the world premiere recording of El Publico as an opera. Pablo-Heras Casado conducts the Klangforum Wien and the Chorus of the Teatro Real.

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BelAir Classiques

Sotelo: El Publico / Casado, Klangforum Wien, Coro del Teatro Real

“El Publico” is Lorca’s most difficult and mysterious play, one of the great classics of modern Spanish theatre. Lorca wrote it in...

$24.99
November 11, 2016

Full Details

Shostakovich: Bolt / Bolshoi Ballet

BelAir Classiques

$32.99

March 01, 2007

Featuring Anastasia Yatsenko, Andrei Merkuriev, Denis Savin, Morikhiro Iwata, Pavel Sorokin.

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BelAir Classiques

Shostakovich: Bolt / Bolshoi Ballet

Featuring Anastasia Yatsenko, Andrei Merkuriev, Denis Savin, Morikhiro Iwata, Pavel Sorokin.

$32.99
March 01, 2007

Full Details

Schoenberg: Moses und Aron / Jordan, Paris National Opera Orchestra

Schoenberg: Moses und Aron / Jordan, Paris National Opera Orchestra

BelAir Classiques

$42.99

May 12, 2017

A profound, powerful and yet unfinished opera, Moses und Aron ends with an admission of defeat: "O word, thou Word that I lack!", Moses' last cry, is also the last phrase the composer has been able to set to music. Recounting the story of Moses, who has experienced the immensity of God, and of Aron, who tries to speak of it; casting doubt, with dodecaphonism, upon the adequacy of tonal and traditional musical language; Moses und Aron questions the possibility of a True Speech. Following in their wanderings the chidlren of Israel, a stateless people lost in the desert and looking for signs and images, Moses un Aron symbolizes the challenges encountered by a community looking for her own identity, torn between spiritual ideal and material needs. The opera thus reveals, in Romeo Castellucci's spectacular and poetic staging, a tragic divide between what can and cannot be represented, between God and idols, between endlessness and constriction, between the realm of intuition and the realm of language. The Paris Opera Chorus and Orchestra, who, thanks to his musical director Philippe Jordan's work, has pierced all the secrets of Schönberg's audacious score, reveal with grace and accuracy all the emotion contained in this anxious, overwhelming and unforgettable masterpiece.

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BelAir Classiques

Schoenberg: Moses und Aron / Jordan, Paris National Opera Orchestra

A profound, powerful and yet unfinished opera, Moses und Aron ends with an admission of defeat: "O word, thou Word that I...

$42.99
May 12, 2017

Full Details

Rimsky-Korsakov: Tsar's Bride / Barenboim, Peretyatko, Tomowa-Sinto, Kranzle, Cernoch

Rimsky-Korsakov: Tsar's Bride / Barenboim, Peretyatko, Tomowa-Sinto, Kranzle, Cernoch

BelAir Classiques

$29.99

September 25, 2015

Also available on Blu-ray

Based on an historical case, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride takes place in the suburbs of Moscow during the reign of Tsar Ivan IV, “the Terrible”, during the latter half of the 16th c. Widowed, he is looking for a new wife, his third. He chooses the young Marfa. She loves another man but bends to the Tsar’s will and renounces her love for the other. From this plot, Russian director Dmitri Tcherniakov retains only the frame. A live competition is organized for a virtual monarch, much like the reality shows of today. Here, the characters become the various players of the audiovisual industry bringing an acerbic critic to contemporary television. Daniel Barenboim conducts the Staatskapelle Berlin. With Olga Peretyatko, Anita Rachvelishvili and Johannes and Martin Kränzle. Recorded at Staatsoper, Im Schiller Theater Berlin, in October 2013.

1 DVD
Run time 152 min
Subtitles: French, English, German
Picture: 16/9, NTSC
Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0, Dolby Digital 5.1

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BelAir Classiques

Rimsky-Korsakov: Tsar's Bride / Barenboim, Peretyatko, Tomowa-Sinto, Kranzle, Cernoch

Also available on Blu-ray Based on an historical case, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride takes place in the suburbs of Moscow during...

$29.99
September 25, 2015

Full Details

Rimsky-Korsakov: Tsar's Bride / Barenboim, Peretyatko, Tomowa-Sinto, Kranzle, Cernoch [Blu-ray]

Rimsky-Korsakov: Tsar's Bride / Barenboim, Peretyatko, Tomowa-Sinto, Kranzle, Cernoch [Blu-ray]

BelAir Classiques

$36.99

September 25, 2015

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD

Based on an historical case, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride takes place in the suburbs of Moscow during the reign of Tsar Ivan IV, “the Terrible”, during the latter half of the 16th c. Widowed, he is looking for a new wife, his third. He chooses the young Marfa. She loves another man but bends to the Tsar’s will and renounces her love for the other. From this plot, Russian director Dmitri Tcherniakov retains only the frame. A live competition is organized for a virtual monarch, much like the reality shows of today. Here, the characters become the various players of the audiovisual industry bringing an acerbic critic to contemporary television. Daniel Barenboim conducts the Staatskapelle Berlin. With Olga Peretyatko, Anita Rachvelishvili and Johannes and Martin Kränzle. Recorded at Staatsoper, Im Schiller Theater Berlin, in October 2013.

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BelAir Classiques

Rimsky-Korsakov: Tsar's Bride / Barenboim, Peretyatko, Tomowa-Sinto, Kranzle, Cernoch [Blu-ray]

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players. Also available on standard DVD...

$36.99
September 25, 2015

Full Details

Reich: Rain, Music for 18 Musicians / Opera National de Paris (DVD)

BelAir Classiques

~~$29.99~~ $26.99

November 13, 2015

Also available on Blu-ray

A DVD of a stunning 2014 performance choreographed by Belgian modern great Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, performed by members of the Paris Opera Ballet and set to Music for Eighteen Musicians, Steve Reich's major score composed in 1976. In tandem with the score rendered here by Ensemble Ictus and the Synergy Vocals ensemble, ‘Rain’ draws its spatial polyphony which manifests on the stage in a glorious pastiche of dancers and rhythm. Created by De Keersmaeker’s company, Rosas in 2001, “Rain” entered the Paris Opera Ballet's repertoire ten years later and reinforces her key role not just in the world of modern dance but in the worlds of contemporary art.

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BelAir Classiques

Reich: Rain, Music for 18 Musicians / Opera National de Paris (DVD)

Also available on Blu-ray A DVD of a stunning 2014 performance choreographed by Belgian modern great Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, performed by...

~~$29.99~~ $26.99
November 13, 2015

Full Details

Rameau: Les indes galantes / Bolton, Munchner Festspielorchester

Rameau: Les indes galantes / Bolton, Munchner Festspielorchester

BelAir Classiques

$31.99

November 17, 2017

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BelAir Classiques

Rameau: Les indes galantes / Bolton, Munchner Festspielorchester

$31.99
November 17, 2017

Full Details

Rameau: Les indes galantes / Bolton, Munchner Festspielorchester [Blu-ray]

Rameau: Les indes galantes / Bolton, Munchner Festspielorchester [Blu-ray]

BelAir Classiques

$42.99

November 17, 2017

When the European youth chooses War above Love, Cupid decides to seek out new followers on other continents. The opera thus recounts the way people love, hate, envy or trust overseas, all the while asking its western audience a burning question: how do we love right? In "Dreams of Babel", a documentary about the dance prodigy Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui released on DVD by Bel Air Classiques in 2010, the choreographer explained how shifting identities, multiculturalism, and his own plural heritage as the son of an immigrant, had shaped his dramaturgy and artistic inspiration. Thus, to take on the stage direction for "Les Indes Galantes", whose multiple plots take place in a fantasized exotic « elsewhere » supposed to mirror the European society, meant for Cherkaoui bringing the tension between identity and alterity to a whole new level. And the choreographer pushes his reflection much farther than mere baroque specular aesthetics: his "Indes Galante"s raise the sensible issues of population movements, fragmented and ever-changing territories and borders, but also the refugee crisis that has shaken Europe to its very core… For this new production at the Prinzregenten Theater, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui brought his own dance ensemble, the Eastman company, as well as a brilliant vocal cast, among which Anna Prohaska, Francois Lis or Lisette Oropesa. Ivor Bolton conducts a Münchner Festspielorchester at the top of its game.

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BelAir Classiques

Rameau: Les indes galantes / Bolton, Munchner Festspielorchester [Blu-ray]

When the European youth chooses War above Love, Cupid decides to seek out new followers on other continents. The opera thus recounts...

$42.99
November 17, 2017

Full Details

Puccini: Turandot / Guleghina, Licitra, Iveri, Carella

BelAir Classiques

$29.99

November 15, 2011

Also available on Blu-ray

PUCCINI Turandot • Giuliano Carella, cond; Maria Guleghina ( Turandot ); Salvatore Licitra ( Calaf ); Tamar Iveri ( Liù ); Luiz-Ottavio Faria ( Timur ); Carlo Bosi ( Emperor ); Leonardo Lòpez Linares ( Ping ); Saverio Fiore ( Pang) ; Gianluca Bocchino ( Pong ); Arena di Verona O & Ch • BELAIR BAC 066 (DVD: 128:00); BAC 466 (Blu-ray: 128: 00) Live: Verona 2010

Turandot was Giacomo Puccini’s last opera and one he did not live to finish. He “laid down his pen,” as the expression goes, for the last time after he had finished the music for the death of Liù and the solemn procession during her ritual removal from the stage. Unfortunately for the composer who eventually finished the work, Franco Alfano, Puccini left more than the unfinished manuscript; he left an untenable dramatic situation as well. With the death of Liù there remains a clueless tenor who has apparently been fatuously pursuing the wrong girl all along, and a cruel, unlikeable dramatic soprano, Turandot. These two are finally to come together as a couple and the audience must feel that a celebratory resolution of the opera’s emotional impetus is occurring with this union. Sorry, it just doesn’t happen. Alfano wrote approximately 14 more minutes of pretty good music, certainly nothing that would embarrass Puccini, much of it based on the older composer’s extensive notes, but he could not dispel the anticlimactic pall of this final bit. One or two other composers have rewritten the completion in the decades since, but have fared no better, I’m not at all sure Puccini could have saved the bacon either had he lived longer. So we are left with a congenitally weak conclusion for the opera, but it is a work that contains much superior material elsewhere as well. The aria “Nessun dorma” alone is a small Puccini miracle and rivals or surpasses anything else he wrote for the tenor voice.

This production from the Arena di Verona is a quite traditional one and uses the standard Alfano ending. As I have said in previous reviews, this particular outdoor venue demands spectacular sets and special effects to make up for the less than ideal acoustics and the distance from audience to stage. It gets plenty of glitz and glitter here with a new celebratory production from that master showman, the Cecil B. DeMille of his day, Franco Zeffirelli. The Arena, Turandot, and Zeffirelli are a near-perfect match, and the Italian stage director vindicates the confidence shown in him with this splendid new production. The new sets are ornate, sumptuously colorful, detailed, and properly large. The production employs a large chorus and many extras, all meticulously dressed, to attend and pay homage at Turandot’s father’s impressive Imperial Palace. We get many close-ups, and the crowd in general is doing more natural things than in some other Zeffirelli efforts. I must admit to a guilty secret: I am a closet Zeffirelli fan. His work is always a visual feast even when it may be drawing attention away from the drama and the singing. I’ll take my chances.

This production was to prove somewhat of a swan song for tenor Salvatore Licitra, at least on video. Licitra was to die almost exactly a year later in a motor scooter accident in Sicily, apparently brought on by a cerebral hemorrhage. It is an unfortunate loss to the artistic community when any artist dies prematurely, but particularly so in the already thin ranks of premier operatic tenors. Licitra sings quite well here as Calaf; he even encores “Nessun dorma,” once a big no-no in Italian opera houses. In my estimation Licitra is the pick of the cast, but fails to bring the last ounce of thrilling vocalism that would rank him alongside a Corelli or a Pavarotti in the role. Dramatic soprano Maria Guleghina has begun competing with herself in recordings of Turandot, much like Eva Marton did back in the ’80s and ’90 s (and stage designer/director Zeffirelli is doing as well). This is Guleghina’s third video performance in the role, and there are quite a few audio recordings of her Turandot as well. Here she is in quite good voice and sings cleanly, if a little passionlessly. Her big voice at times has a steely edge, much like Birgit Nilsson in the role, but then much of Turandot’s music is not meant to charm. The Liù of Tamar Iveri is a bit more problematic. She has a heavy vibrato that distracts from the vocal line, and her tone turns edgy when she pushes in her top range. Beginning back with Anna Moffo and even earlier, the singing of Liù has been of a generally high standard in the recorded history of the opera, so to come up a bit short here is unexpected. Luiz-Ottavio Faria as Timur sings solidly, as do the Ping, Pang, and Pong, especially the baritone Ping of Leonardo Lòpez Linares, who acquits himself with distinction. The sound on video from the Arena orchestra is really much better than it has any right to be, as I have noted before. And the chorus sounds very good as well, thanks to the miracles of modern sound reproduction. Thomas Edison would be amazed.

There has been a plethora of videos of Turandot (though not so many as for some other Puccini operas), but not one has really separated itself from the pack as a clear first choice. The Levine set with Eva Marton and Plácido Domingo has been highly praised over the years and also features a Zeffirelli production, but suffers from 25-year-old video and audio technology. The Gergiev set on TDK offers the novelty of the Luciano Berio ending in place of the Alfano, but the cast is quite pedestrian. An earlier set from the Arena features Ghena Dimitrova and Nicola Martinucci. This one is better, in fact as good a choice as any, and has quite the best cast of singers of the three Guleghina sets.

The booklet contains a synopsis in Italian, English, German, and French. Audio formats are PCM stereo and Dolby 5.1 surround. Subtitles are in all major European languages, no Korean, but Japanese. There are no extras with the opera but it is available in both DVD and Blu-Ray formats. I would recommend the latter if you have the equipment; this production is a visual tour de force and the high-resolution picture is like watching it in a theater. Recommended.

FANFARE: Bill White

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BelAir Classiques

Puccini: Turandot / Guleghina, Licitra, Iveri, Carella

Also available on Blu-ray PUCCINI Turandot • Giuliano Carella, cond; Maria Guleghina ( Turandot ); Salvatore Licitra ( Calaf ); Tamar Iveri...

$29.99
November 15, 2011

Full Details

Prokofiev: Love For Three Oranges / Tellier, Gerasimov, Sokhiev

Prokofiev: Love For Three Oranges / Tellier, Gerasimov, Sokhiev

BelAir Classiques

$29.99

September 01, 2007

As the prologue begins a near riotous dispute divides the clans of 'Tragic', 'Comic', 'Lyric' and 'Brainless'. The former only like tears, the latter swear only by laughter...and we shall hear their angry banter throughout the opera. A king to despair his princely heir stagnate in seemingly incurable melancholy.

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BelAir Classiques

Prokofiev: Love For Three Oranges / Tellier, Gerasimov, Sokhiev

As the prologue begins a near riotous dispute divides the clans of 'Tragic', 'Comic', 'Lyric' and 'Brainless'. The former only like tears,...

$29.99
September 01, 2007

Full Details

Prokofiev: Cinderella / Zurich Ballet

Prokofiev: Cinderella / Zurich Ballet

BelAir Classiques

$29.99

November 01, 2008

Once upon a time a former prima ballerina called Cinderella. After her mother's death she became a servant in the dance company directed by her stepmother and her two stepsisters. The invitation to a charity gala performance, which the famous solo dancer Frederic, will attend, is going to change her life...

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BelAir Classiques

Prokofiev: Cinderella / Zurich Ballet

Once upon a time a former prima ballerina called Cinderella. After her mother's death she became a servant in the dance company...

$29.99
November 01, 2008

Full Details

Pharaoh's Daughter / Zakharova, Bolshoi [Blu-ray]

BelAir Classiques

$42.99

May 25, 2010

Note: This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players, and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Svetlana Zakharova, Sergei Filin, Gennady Yanin, Maria Aleksandrova (dancers)

Soloists of the Bolshoï Ballet & Orchestra of the Bolshoï Theatre, Alexander Sotnikov

Choreographer: Pierre Lacotte after Marius Petipa.

For the first time in Blu-ray, Bel Air Classiques present Petipa’s extravaganza, The Pharaoh’s Daughter, in the stunning production by Pierre Lacotte. This Russian ballet enjoys a special place in history. Premiered in 1862, this grand spectacle, which lasted four hours and featured a cast of 400, was Petipa’s first truly successful ballet and secured his future in St Petersburg, where he went on to become the most influential choreographer of the 19th century. Until recently, The Pharaoh’s Daughter was also one of Petipa’s lost ballets; it hadn’t been performed since 1928. In 2000 the French choreographer Pierre Lacotte premièred a restored version at the Bolshoi Theatre, after much research into the original, resulting in a shorter although still sumptuous extravaganza. Ballet scenarios don't come much sillier than The Pharaoh's Daughter, which turns on the story of British Egyptologist Lord Wilson who, after a reckless hit of opium, dreams himself back to the time of the pharaohs. Wilson falls in love with Aspicia, the ballet's titular heroine, and when she throws herself into the Nile to avoid being married off to the King of Nubia, Wilson is left to face death by snakebite. Tragedy is averted by the Nile's underwater king who restores Aspicia to Wilson's arms.

"Whatever doubts are raised by Lacotte's choreography, his designs are deliriously extravagant - and with these, at least, we're guaranteed a taste of the blockbusting opulence that enthralled St Petersburg and Moscow 140 years ago." -- Judith Mackrell, The Guardian

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BelAir Classiques

Pharaoh's Daughter / Zakharova, Bolshoi [Blu-ray]

Note: This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players, and not compatible with standard DVD players. Svetlana Zakharova, Sergei Filin,...

$42.99
May 25, 2010

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