In Bizet’s opera Les pecheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers) the composer shows us that he is much more than Carmen. His melodies are beautiful, his harmonies are lush, and the ballet pieces are sophisticated. Included in this opera is “Je crois entendre encore,” a staple in every tenor’s repertoire, and the duet “Au fond du temple saint.” Paolo Isotta writes of this production, “I have rarely seen a production as beautiful and faithful to the music.”

Picture Format: 16:9
Sound Formats: DTS 5.1, PCM Stereo
Subtitles: French, English, German, Spanish, Chinese, Korean
Booklet: English, German, French
Region Code: 0 (Worldwide)

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

Also available on standard DVD

KRZYSZTOF PENDERECKI – Paths Through the Labyrinth
(Blu-ray Disc Version)

A film by Anna Schmidt

Even at over 80 Krzysztof Penderecki is still an unflinching and active composer and conductor. Director Anna Schmidt followed Penderecki’s paths for a year—in the process interviewing such world-famous artists as Anne-Sophie Mutter, Julian Rachlin and Janine Jansen as well as Jonny Greenwood (“Radiohead”) and legendary film director Andrzej Wajda.

As a result, Paths Through the Labyrinth has become a comprehensive “work in progress” documentary, accompanying Penderecki from Kraków to Munich, from Vienna to Leipzig, and to his country estate in Luslawice. Throughout, the composer reflects on his beginnings, the turning points in his life and the world of his ideas.

Thoughts, dialogues, encounters and extracts from several famous Penderecki compositions coalesce into a fascinating, multi-layered portrayal of one of today’s most influential musicians.

Bonus:
- Interviews with Lorin Maazel and Jonny Greenwood.

Picture format: 1080i High Definition
Sound format: PCM Stereo
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, German, French, Korean
Booklet notes: English, German, French
Running time: 86 mins (documentary) + 18 mins (bonus)
No. of Discs: 1 (BD 25)

Praise for the Bayerische Staatsoper's new Ballo in Maschera: "A formidable vocal feast" (Bayerische Staatszeitung). Ten years after stepping down as music director fo the Bavarian State Opera, a "grand Zubin Mehta" (Bayerischer Rundfunk) returned to Munich in March, 2016 to celebrate his 80th birthday conducting Verdi's masterpiece for the first time in a staged production. His cast features some of today's finest Verdi singesr: soprano Anja Harteros, singing "Amelia" for the first time and "filling every note with Verdian intensity", tenor Piotr Beczala as a "visually and vocally dashing Riccardo" and George Petean as an "exemplary" Renato (Neue Musikzeitung). In director Johannes Erath's musically super-sensitive new production, this historically-based tale of illicit love, conspiracy and betrayal unfolds in a surrealistic, shadowy setting transformed by lighting and projections. Special praise was showered by the enthusiastic critics on Maestro Mehta, who "creates concetrated musical connections, miraculously guiding his orchestra and unsurpassable voices the way a thermal lifts a paraglider...Musically the performance was a dream" (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung). "A total triumph" (La Razon). "This production shows what a utopia opera can be" (Abendzeitung).

Richard Wagner 
DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN
(Highlights)

Wotan / Der Wanderer – Juha Uusitalo
Loge – John Daszak
Alberich – Franz-Josef Kapellmann
Fasolt / Hunding – Matti Salminen
Fafner – Stephen Milling
Fricka – Anna Larsson
Erda / Schwertleite – Christa Mayer
Siegmund – Peter Seiffert
Sieglinde – Petra-Maria Schnitzer
Brünnhilde – Jennifer Wilson
Siegfried – Lance Ryan
Mime – Gerhard Siegel
Waltraute / Erda – Catherine Wyn-Rogers

Valencia Regional Government Choir (Cor de la Generalitat Valenciana) Valencian Community Orchestra (Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana) Zubin Mehta, conductor

La Fura del Baus, staging
Carlus Padrissa, stage director

Recorded live from the Palau de les Arts "Reina Sofia", Valencia, Spain, 2007-2009.

Special budget-priced DVD
100 minutes of the most stunning visual and musical highlights of this production by La Fura dels Baus, including two new documentaries about Franc Aleu and Carlus Padrissa.

Bonus:
- Portraits of Carlus Pardissa and Franc Aleu

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: DTS 5.1 (highlights) / PCM Stereo (bonus)
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: German, French, English, Spanish (highlights) / English (bonus)
Running time: 100 mins (highlights) + 30 mins (bonus)
No. of DVDs: 1

R E V I E W:

It might seem I am about to trash this issue but I am actually very impressed by the Valencia Ring so do please read on.

The DVD menu and title sequence is accompanied by music, which is to be deplored. Please can we have silence in these places on concert and opera videos. No one wants to hear the same truncated chunks over and over again whilst trying to work through the labyrinth to get DTS5.1 instead of stereo and subtitles in the right language. The sound is only in PCM stereo anyway on this section just to add to the confusion. The transitions between sections are handled by simple fade-outs; disruptive if you know the music well but what else can one do in The Ring? The length of pauses is variable from almost nothing to several seconds. Though the extracts are in dramatic order there is no indication of where you are in the operas nor is there any hint that one has changed opera, just randomly timed fades in and out. The worst example is the end of Act 1 of The Valkyrie which stops barely a couple of seconds before a chunk of Act 2. I suspect the tea-boy was in charge of post production. I am relieved to say all is well apart from these technical blots and since the music and production are so entertaining, and the sound and picture is so good, one can forgive Unitel these flaws. Do keep the booklet to hand whilst viewing and don't even bother with this DVD if you don't have another complete recording in your collection because you will get hopelessly lost without a plot summary.

Most opera productions are characterised by their appearance rather than by the performance. It is almost impossible to ignore what you are seeing and it often clashes with what you are hearing. To my knowledge only Bruckner managed to get through The Ring without noticing that there were costumes and scenery involved! The Valencia production is no different. It is dominated by huge video projections throughout and the DVD production often takes advantage of these to add its own layers of image for dramatic effect. Stage lighting is extremely dramatic which enhances the startling images still more. If you like to see people standing and singing against a plain background à la Bayreuth 1960s then you will hate it because this one really grasps the technical challenge and goes with it. The singing is of uniformly high quality and the conducting of Zubin Mehta is fine so long as you do not expect Solti's fierce drive. The orchestra are excellent and even get a scene for themselves in the prelude to Act 3 of Siegfried. Since you will only buy this to check if it is to be love or hate so far as you are concerned before either ignoring it forever, or ordering the entire cycle on Blu-ray, these are some of the delights in store.

Loge has a great little motor scooter with which to run rings around the rest of the cast literally as well as figuratively. The costumes are complicated and often look very heavy which makes the little cranes used on and off through the cycle to carry characters around the stage very understandable. Act 1 of The Valkyrie has a wonderfully effective and very subtle tree which bears careful study. This creation looms over a decidedly stone-age looking Sieglinde and a very tough Siegmund. These two Walsungs look highly dangerous to me and must have posed a serious problem for Hunding. Since we don't see him at all in these extracts we have no idea how he handles them. The Ride of the Valkyries looks fantastic and is well performed against huge and effective video backdrops. Lots of work for the cranes here! The ring of fire which Wotan places around Brunnhilde is a proper inferno as is the fire for Siegfried's forge which looks positively dangerous. Siegfried by the way can sing well but is a patchy actor as seen here. The forge is animated by many stage hands so that Notung appears to be a product of a busy factory rather than one superman. So much for Siegfried facing down Wotan's plans single-handed but since the helpers look like the Nibelung slaves in The Rhinegold it can be seen as logical. I wasn't so taken by Fafner who looks more like an articulated ventilation duct than anything supernatural but some productions even leave him out, such are the challenges of staging this part. Bayreuth once had the entire stage start to writhe, an effect of such impact that all others pall. The prelude to Act 3 of Siegfried has a massive back-projection of snow-covered mountains and eventually of the whole Earth from which Erda emerges in a moment of highly consequent majesty. Siegfried travels down the Rhine on a river of plastic drinks bottles which is utterly bizarre but does actually work - just believe me! The closing scene also manages to be consequent and we see Brunnhilde, on a crane, returning the Ring to the Rhine maidens before disappearing into the conflagration. The producers use lots of gymnasts in this and other scenes to great dramatic effect and the end here is close to awe-inspiring.

The 100 minutes of opera on the DVD is joined by 30 minutes of supporting documentary material. After some preliminary tele-visual nonsense one film describes the way the directorial team worked up their ideas to fulfil Wagner's intentions and sometimes his explicit instructions - now there's a novel idea - to do what the composer says. Others take note! The other film is about the important lighting design. Both are worth one's time.

A superb marketing tool for the entire cycle available on DVD and on Blu-ray. This performance and production is a great success overall and this DVD needs watching just once before you go out and buy the whole thing.

-- Dave Billinge, MusicWeb International

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

Also available on standard DVD

Giuseppe Verdi
IL TROVATORE
(Blu-ray Disc Version)

Il conte di Luna – Claudio Sgura
Leonora – Teresa Romano
Azucena – Mzia Nioradze
Manrico – Marcelo Álvarez
Ferrando – Deyan Vatchkov
Ines – Cristina Giannelli
Ruiz – Roberto Jachini Virgili
Un vecchio zingaro – Enrico Rinaldo
Un messo – Seung Hwa Paek

Parma Teatro Regio Chorus and Orchestra
(chorus master: Martino Faggiani)
Yuri Temirkanov, conductor

Lorenzo Mariani, stage director
William Orlandi, set and costume designer
Christian Pinaud, lighting designer

Recorded live at the Teatro Regio di Parma, 5 and 9 October 2010

Bonus:
- Introduction to Il Trovatore

Picture format: 1080i High Definition
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: Italian, English, German, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Japanese
Running time: 140 mins (opera) + 10 mins (bonus)
No. of Discs: 1 (BD 50)

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.

Giuseppe Verdi
AIDA

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: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / Dolby Digital 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian
Running time: 135 mins
No. of DVDs: 1 (DVD 9)

R E V I E W:

At Bregenz one can expect spectacular productions – or at least conspicuous ones. I am talking about Opera on Lake Bodensee which takes place in July and August each year. It’s part of the Bregenz festival which provides a lavish offer of opera, theatre and concerts. The outdoor stage surrounded by water invites gigantic sets and the long distance to the grandstand on the shore requires amplifying equipment. I have seen some productions on DVD and also some stills. They are generally provocative, putting the characters in settings as far away from the original as can be imagined. Il trovatore a few years ago took place in an industrial landscape, possibly on an oil platform. This Aida goes even further. The water here isn’t ocean deep but allows the actors to wade, to swim, to fall in or splash, even to be drowned. During the prelude two lifeless bodies hanging on a wire attached to an enormous building crane, are slowly transported before the eyes of horrified onlookers until they are lowered down into a barge off the stage. In Trovatore fire was central to the proceedings; in Aida water has the same importance, the Nile being the life-blood of the Egyptians. There is a water ballet in the triumphal scene. The tomb episode takes place on a ship drifting among the waves. During the final duet the ship rises from the water and sails into the sky, leaving Amneris alone at the waters’ edge. A real amphibious opera.

Dominating the stage picture are two monstrously big, blue feet. Why are they there? Whatever the reason they appear to function as the firm foundation around which the action rotates, whether it be Aida, the slave girl, scrubbing the floor, Amneris in black dotted evening gown airing her human ‘dogs’ or high priests and soldiers invading the stage. There are activities aplenty with numerous extras just being there, costumes are a mix of modern and ancient. All this business tends to suffocate the central conflicts and it is typical of the performance that it is in the Nile scene – act III – that the action grabs the viewer by the throat; this is the first scene with no external distractions. In a way this is dramaturgically sensitive, since the first two acts primarily deal with festivities, while the core of the drama is the triangle Aida – Amonasro – Radames. This is an oversimplification of the plot. There are many strands in the libretto and Amneris – though basically an evil character but one who loves – is the hub around which everything rotates. In this performance it also becomes obvious why Verdi initially contemplated naming the opera Amneris.

Iano Tamar, the Georgian soprano who was also a great Leonora in Il Trovatore, is the star; her somewhat darkish timbre contrasting well with Tatiana Serjan’s girlish Aida. Tamar has authority and a thrilling lirico-spinto voice. In the first scene in act IV she is truly great. Serjan at first seems too lyrical for Aida, having a fluttery soubrette voice but it sits well with her youthful looks. Her Ritorna vincitor is however sung with intensity and in the third and fourth acts she grows in stature, no doubt inspired by Scottish baritone Iain Paterson’s powerful Amonasro. He is an unusually dangerous Ethiopian king. Rubens Pelizzari is a rather pale Radamès in the first two acts but like his Aida he grows and in the Nile duet he finds a glow that has eluded him before. O terra addio, though sung in a strange setting, is delivered with lyrical beauty and warmth by both artists. Tigran Martirossian is an acceptable Ramfis but Kevin Short’s King is terribly wobbly.

As so often with these Bregenz productions one ends up in two minds. They’re innovative for sure, and this Aida is no exception. One can marvel at ideas that suddenly illuminate the proceedings but just as often one thinks: ‘What’s the point of this?’ Carlo Rizzi keeps things together and draws splendid playing from the Wiener Symphoniker. The choral forces have no easy task to walk all those stairs and balance on wet slippery stones while keeping an eye on the conductor but they manage it well. Sound and pictures are good. Readers have to decide from my descriptions whether this is a DVD worth spending money on, but Iano Tamar’s glorious Amneris should definitely be seen and heard.

-- Göran Forsling, MusicWeb International

Also available on Blu-ray


MOZART Così fan tutte & • Sylvain Cambreling, cond; Anett Fritsch ( Fiordiligi ); Paola Gardina ( Dorabella ); Kerstin Avemo ( Despina ); Juan Francisco Gatell ( Ferrando ); Andreas Wolf ( Guglielmo ); William Shimell ( Don Alfonso ); Teatro Real de Madrid O & Ch • C MAJOR 714508 (2 DVDs: 202:00+18:00) Live: Madrid March 2013


& kulTour with Holender: Michael Haneke


Così fan tutte is quite an unconventional little opera and unique for its time. It treats the subject of female inconstancy in romance, a topic that proved too controversial for 18th- or 19th-century tastes, but one that still piques our interest today, even if now considered a bit cynical and chauvinistic. If librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte had written a more conventional tale about male inconstancy instead, it likely would have already faded into operatic history. Perhaps Da Ponte got lucky in his choice of subjects, but then he always seemed to get lucky in his endeavors with W. A. Mozart. Perhaps we are underestimating the man. Of course, a sublime score from a true musical master does the mutual product no harm.


Here award-winning film and stage director Michael Haneke takes Da Ponte’s story even a bit further, with somewhat mixed results. Instead of two romantic couples we now have three, with Don Alfonso married to ladies’ maid Despina. This pair seems to bicker and fight like the best of modern couples, but they live in a sumptuous villa overlooking the Mediterranean. Set designer Christoph Kanter has located all the action in the couple’s modern drawing room, with low bookcases and a well-stocked wet bar on the left, and built-in couch and marble fireplace on the right. Three steps in the rear lead up to ceiling-high French doors that open onto a patio with ornate columns overlooking the sea. When we join the action, there is a costume cocktail party going on, 18th-century period costumes apparently optional. Of our six protagonists, only Don Alfonso is in period garb, although Despina wears what appears to be a clown suit (she also dons a red clown nose in her appearance as the medico at the end of act I). Fiordiligi wears a red party dress and Dorabella a black pant suit with t-shirt with her boyfriend’s visage on it. Later the t-shirt comes off, providing damning evidence to Ferrando that his lady has been rather naughtier than nice.


The two young naval officers begin by wearing suits and ties, but when they reappear ready for duty they are in naval greatcoats with powdered wigs and ceremonial swords reminiscent of Lord Nelson or John Paul Jones. Costume party or something else intended? The suitors’ Albanian disguises amount to colorful vests, patently false mustaches, and their neckties, now worn around their heads. The disguises, never serious, are gone completely by the end of act I, raising the issue of the girls’ complicity in the swap of mates. Curiously, the two couples pair up as originally until the little duet in act II where the girls choose up sides. Although making for a dramatic moment, one would think Don Alfonso and director Haneke would be promoting the swap of partners from the outset, as in most productions. Lurkers are another issue, those inappropriate characters who lurk silently on stage when they aren’t supposed to be there. For instance, the opening trio where the ladies’ faithfulness is questioned by Don Alfonso and defended rather ineptly by the young suitors is attended by the ladies in question. Their subsequent duet in praise of their prospective husbands’ effigies seems now a rather sardonic reply. Haneke gives us plenty of lurking, but it is never clear exactly why. In any case, this ploy has been used to excess in other so-called modern productions. Despina is portrayed here as angry and sad, a rather significant change in mood from her written role in what is supposed to be light comedy. I’m not saying director Haneke has completely set us adrift, it’s just not very clear to me exactly where his boat is steering.


Happily, the music-making is first-rate. I am a sucker for this particular Mozart score, so I may be no true judge, but it seems to me the Fiordiligi of Anett Fritsch is quite wonderfully sung, as is the Ferrando turned in by Juan Francisco Gatell. The others are all well above the norm and they all sing exceptionally together in the many ensembles. If I were picking nits, I would say Despina’s voice is not as clearly differentiated from the other young ladies as it might be and Don Alfonso lacks a certain baritonal heft found on many competing sets. Three musical numbers are cut, about average for a live performance, but Haneke has his singers taking extra time and vocal care with Da Ponte’s important recitatives, which are given virtually uncut. Hence the disc timing extends to nearly four hours, perhaps a bit long for modern tastes.


The trend today in opera recording is to live videos, and Così is no exception. The number of Così productions available on video disc is now nearly 20, but only four to date on high definition Blu-ray, this one included. I cannot pretend to have seen them all, but Fanfare ’s staff has reviewed many of them over the years; these reviews available to subscribers at the online Archive. Currently, I am partial to a Riccardo Muti-led performance from Salzburg I reviewed in Fanfare 34:6 with Margaret Marshall and Ann Murray as the two sisters. This Madrid production raises some interesting questions about the opera and is quite well sung. Recommended.


FANFARE: Bill White

Richard Wagner 
DIE WALKÜRE

Siegmund – Peter Seiffert
Hunding – Matti Salminen
Wotan – Juha Uusitalo
Sieglinde – Petra-Maria Schnitzer
Brünnhilde – Jennifer Wilson
Fricka – Anna Larsson
Gerhilde – Bernadette Flaitz
Ortlinde – Helen Huse Ralston
Waltraute – Pilar Vázquez
Schwertleite – Christa Mayer
Helmwige – Eugenia Bethencourt
Siegrune – Heike Grötzinger
Grimgerde – Manuela Bress
Rossweisse – Hannah Ester Minutillo

Valencian Community Orchestra (Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana)
Zubin Mehta, conductor

La Fura del Baus, staging
Carlus Padrissa, stage director

Recorded live from the Palau de les Arts "Reina Sofia", Valencia, Spain, 2008.

Bonus feature:
- The making of Die Walküre

Picture format: 1080i Full HD
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (opera) / Dolby Digital 2.0
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: German, French, English, Spanish (opera) / English (bonus)
Booklet notes: German, French, English
Running time: 245 mins (opera) + 27 mins (bonus)
No. of Discs: 1 (BD 50)

VERDI Un giorno di regno • Donato Renzetti, cond; Guido Loconsolo (Belfiore); Anna Caterina Antonacci (Marchesa del Poggio); Ivan Magri (Edoardo); Alessandra Marianelli (Giulietta); Andrea Porta (Baron Kelbar); Paolo Bordogna (La Rocca); Teatro Regio di Parma O & Ch • C MAJOR 720304 (Blu-ray); 720206 (1 DVD: 119:00 opera, 10:00 bonus) Live: Parma 2010

Giuseppe Verdi’s second opera, Un giorno di regno, proved to be a real disaster, the opera was pulled from the stage at Milan’s La Scala after only one performance, during which the raucous crowd loudly vented their displeasure, sending the young composer into a paroxysm of despair. Yet conditions were never propitious for the opera’s success. Due to the favorable reception of Verdi’s first opera, Oberto Conte di San Bonifacio, he had been signed to compose three more for the Milan house. The intendent, Bartolomeo Merelli, decided at the last minute he needed a comedy to round out the new season, and Verdi was given a choice of several old discarded and rejected librettos from the house stock. According to Verdi himself, he picked the one he disliked least, an older work by Felice Romani, probably updated and touched up for him by house librettist, Temistocle Solera. Verdi’s métier was never comedy, he did not write another until his last, Falstaff, when he was nearly 80. This particular comedy, an opera buffa, was already old-fashioned for the times, employing secco recitatives (sung passages accompanied only by piano) long out of style. After only recently losing his young son to illness, while he worked on this new opera Verdi’s wife fell sick and died as well. Shocked and in grief, Verdi wanted nothing more to do with composing for comedic situations, but Merelli, desperate for the opera, cited the contract and forced the composer to finish the music in a rush. To top it off, the somewhat temperamental singers employed at La Scala were not committed to the work and one key singer was in bad voice. The result was predictable.

With all the above excuses now offered, my opinion of the work is considerably higher than that of the opening night crowd. They were hoping to see top notch Donizetti and only got average Rossini (still pretty good) with a dash of Verdi mixed in. The opera has some strong musical numbers and could easily be mistaken for an early Rossini piece, in fact it is quite reminiscent of Rossini’s first staged opera, La Cambiale di matrimonio, except that instead of one set of mismatched lovers, here we have two, in the pattern of romantic operetta, along with a pair of quarreling buffo basses. The tenor, Belfiore, is posing as the King of Poland while the real king carries out a delicate mission of state. Belfiore must not reveal his true identity while he is a guest at the castle of Kelbar in France. He is in love with a young widow, the Marchesa del Poggio (mezzo), who is also in attendance at the castle. The Marchesa recognizes Belfiore and gets wounded feelings because he won’t acknowledge her. She has been toying with another man, and in a fit of spite, announces she will marry him. Among the other characters are the junior pair of young lovers, penniless tenor Eduardo and his would-be girlfriend Giulietta, the daughter of castle owner Kelbar. Rounding out the lot are the two basses, Baron Kelbar himself, and La Rocca, the state treasurer, who also has his eye on Giulietta. Belfiore uses his royal powers to help straighten things out, and get everyone matched up properly again. When he is finally able to renounce the throne, the others accept the fait accompli with at least grudging good grace. Sound like Strauss Jr. or Franz Lehar? Verdi could probably have used their help, but he was half a century too early.

It may be a long time before a better case is made for Verdi’s maligned second opera than on this C Major video of a 2010 production from the Teatro Regio in Parma. This is set No. 2 in their Tutto Verdi project to record all of Verdi’s operas on high definition Blu-ray disc, and already one of the highlights of the series. Sets are stylish and traditional, costumes in period and finely appointed. Stage Director Pier Luigi Pizzi to his credit pretty much sticks to the story in this seldom seen work, although there is a quite enjoyable tongue-in-cheek bathing scene for the Marchesa where she gives us an old-fashioned strip tease as she disrobes. Mezzo Anna Caterina Antonacci still has the goods to make it riveting entertainment for we males. (And what is the Marchesa doing taking a bath at the castle when she is not an overnight guest? Who cares, it’s harmless and entertaining.) Antonacci sings quite wonderfully, as usual, and even assays Verdi’s coloratura with confident aplomb. Her creamy mezzo voice is always on pitch and she is one of the best actresses on the stage today. She gives the distinct impression that if Belfiore is lucky enough to end up with her she is going to be a handful. Hot young tenor Guido Loconsolo also brings plenty of vocal talent to the role of Belfiore and he looks great as well. The second set of lovers, tenor Ivan Magri and Italian soprano Alessandra Marianelli, despite a few wayward pitch problems are both more than satisfactory here. The quarreling buffo basses should be more properly termed quarreling buffo baritones, neither Andrea Porta as the baron nor Paolo Bordagna as La Rocca have the strong bottom range for a buffo bass (think Osmin in Mozart’s Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail). Both do however bring a nice comedic flair which suits the story well. The chorus seems curiously muffled in a couple of spots but sings quite well when you can hear them, The Parma house orchestra here under conductor Donato Renzetti, seems quite capable, at least in early Verdi. I will be interested to see how they hold up in the blockbuster operas of middle Verdi and the even more demanding scores like Don Carlos and Aida.

Musical highlights include the cleverly written overture, quite reminiscent of Rossini, the virtuoso tenor aria “Pietoso al lungo pianto,” the mezzo soprano aria “Si mostri a chi l’adora,” and the septet, patterned after the septet in La Cenerentola, but not quite as tuneful or as funny. The staging of the septet here is quite reminiscent of the Cenerentola staging from Houston Grand Opera seen on DVD where everyone sits in chairs and pops up when it is their turn to sing, similar to the old Whack-a-Mole game at the carnival. There is a competing video version of Un giorno di regno being released this month with a strong cast on Hardy Classics which I have not seen, but I would recommend this set even if there were a dozen others out there; I am quite pleased with it.

FANFARE: Bill White   

Also available on Blu-ray

It is the one ballet that everyone knows, has heard of or seen, and it is one of the loveliest and most frequently performed works in the ballet literature. No other ballet is capable of conjuring up such intensive images, dreams and yearnings simply at the mention of its name as Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. Rudolf Nureyev created a new version of it in 1964 for the Vienna State Opera; it helped the dancer and choreographer, then 26 years old, to achieve international fame and also projected the Vienna State Ballet onto the world stage, where it was to become one of the company’s greatest successes.To mark the 50th anniversary of this ballet, the Vienna StateOpera is now reviving it with new sets and costumes designedby Julia Spinatelli, whose concept is inspired by the fairytalephantasy world of King Ludwig II incorporating simple, paintedbackdrops and few accessories, to present a new Swan Lake.
Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky
SWAN LAKE

Prince Siegfried - Vladimir Shishov
Odette / Odile - Olga Esina
The Queen / The Prince’s mother - Dagmar Kronberger
Rothbart / The magician - Eno Peci
The Prince’s friend 1 - Alice Firenze
The Prince’s friend 2 - Kiyoka Hashimoto
The Prince’s friend 3 - Greig Matthews
The Prince’s friend 4 - Masayu Kimoto
The big swan 1 - Gala Jovanovic
The big swan 2 - Oxana Kiyanenko
The big swan 3 - Laura Nistor
The big swan 4 - Prisca Zeisel
The cygnet 1 - Maria Alati
The cygnet 2 - Ioanna Avraam
The cygnet 3 - Eszter Ledán
The cygnet 4 - Rui Tamai

Vienna State Opera Ballet
Vienna State Opera Orchestra
Alexander Ingram, conductor

Rudolf Nureyev, choreographer
Luisa Spinatelli, set and costume designer
Marion Hewlett, lighting designer

Recorded live at the Vienna State Opera, 16 March 2014

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS 5.0
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Booklet notes: English, German, French
Running time: 132 mins
No. of DVDs: 1 (DVD 9)

Also available on Blu-ray

Performed on the Bregenz Festival's vast lakeside stage, this production of Turandot is captivating and spectacular. Giacomo Puccini's final opera is set in China and is an interesting love story that is sure to enrapture audiences. Puccini died before he completed the opera left instructions that Riccardo Zandonai should finish the work but Franco Alfano was the one to complete the third act. Paolo Carignani conducts the Wiener Symphoniker with the staging done by Marco Arturo Marelli. Leading the cast are Mlada Khudoley, Riccardo Massi, Guanqun Yu, and Michael Ryssov.

Giacomo Puccini
TURANDOT

Turandot - Mlada Khudoley
Altoum - Manuel von Senden
Timur - Michail Ryssov
Calaf - Riccardo Massi
Liù - Guanqun Yu
Ping - Andrè Schuen
Pang - Taylan Reinhard
Pong - Cosmin Ifrim
Un mandarino - Yasushi Hirano

Prague Philharmonic Chorus
(chorus master: Lukáš Vasilek)
Bregenz Festival Chorus
(chorus master: Benjamin Lack)
Vienna Symphony Orchestra
Paolo Carignani, conductor

Marco Arturo Marelli, stage director and set designer
Constance Hoffman, costume designer
Davy Cunningham, lighting designer

Recorded live at the Bregenz Festival, July 2015

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS 5.0
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: Italian, English, German, French, Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Japanese
Booklet notes: English, German, French
Running time: 125 mins
No. of DVDs: 1 (DVD 9)

Also available on Blu-ray

The Beethoven cycle of the 21st century! Christian Thielemann joins forces with the prestigious Wiener Philharmoniker in a unique and monumental project BEETHOVEN 9, their first-ever recording of all 9 Symphonies in full high definition and Surround Sound. This recording from the Golden Hall of Vienna´s Musikverein is accompanied by nine(!) hour-long documentaries, one on each symphony, featuring Christian Thielemann and Germany´s most eminent music critic, Prof. Joachim Kaiser. From insights into Beethoven´s musical thinking to interpretational comparisons, including excerpts form legendary performances by Karajan, Bernstein, Böhm, Järvi etc., to historical perpsectives – no aspect of Beethoven´s symphonic oeuvre will remain untreated! This 2 DVD-set or Blu-ray contains Beethoven Symphonies 4, 5 & 6 and the Documentaries about Symphonies 4, 5 & 6.

Recorded live at the Goldener Saal der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, Vienna

including:
Discovering Beethoven
with Joachim Keiser and Christian Thielemann
one-hour long documentary for each symphony

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS 5.0 (Documentaries, PCM Stereo)
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Italian, Korean, Chinese, Japanese
Running time: 133 mins (performances)

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

Also available on standard DVD

Hector Berlioz
LES TROYENS

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

Daniel Barenboim conducts the Staatskapelle Berlin in concert in Berlin, Vienna, and New York. Also included is a 22 minute documentary on the musical world of Mahler as seen by Barenboim and Pierre Boulez.

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

Also available on standard DVD

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.

HERBERT VON KARAJAN
In Rehearsal and Performance

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major, K. 219 (Rehearsal and Performance)

Yehudi Menuhin, violin
Vienna Symphony Orchestra
Herbert von Karajan, conductor

Antonín Dvo?ák: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95, "From the New World" (Rehearsal and Performance)

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Herbert von Karajan, conductor

Recorded in 1966.

Filmed by Henri-Georges Clouzot

Combining the forces of two of the 20th century´s greatest musicians – Yehudi Menuhin and Herbert von Karajan in their only recorded performance together – this magnificent programme marks a high point in filmed classical music. Both features, Mozart´s Violin Concerto No. 5 and Dvorák´s “New World” Symphony, were directed by master film-maker and long-time Karajan collaborator Henri-Georges Clouzot (The Wages of Fear).

bonus:
- Herbert von Karajan in conversation with Yehudi Menuhin (on Mozart, in English) and Prof. Joachim Kaiser (on Dvo?ák, in German)

Special bonus feature:
- Previously unreleased rehearsal session prior to Violin Concerto No. 5!

Picture format: NTSC 4:3 B/W (mastered from an HD source, original filmed in 35mm)
Sound format: PCM Stereo / PCM Mono (rehearsal)
Subtitles: English (Kaiser interview) / German (Menuhin interview)
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Running time: 69 mins (performance) + 38 mins (rehearsal)
No. of DVDs: 1

Also available on Blu-ray

Franz Joseph Haydn
IL MONDO DELLA LUNA

First Haydn Il Mondo della Luna (which has blissfull Mozartian spirit) on DVD and Blu-ray! Nikolaus Harnoncourt created an interpretation in which Haydn’s work can become a veritable gem of opera literature. Renowned actor and director Tobias Moretti relates the story as a light-footed, magical fairy tale infused with slapstick, witty details and fantasy costumes.

‘Harnoncourt on top form’ (4 star rating, Financial Times)

‘Haydn's work can become a veritable gem of opera literature.’ (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)

‘An electrifying birthday gift for – and above all from – Nikolaus Harnoncourt’ (Der Standard)

‘The ensemble of singers acts in a way that is seen much too rarely in the opera: acrobatically, credibly and always wittily.’ (Kurier)

Ecclitico – Bernard Richter
Ernesto – Vivica Genaux
Buonafede – Dietrich Henschel
Clarice – Christina Landshamer
Flaminia – Anja-Nina Bahrmann
Lisetta – Maite Beaumont
Cecco – Markus Schäfer

Concentus Musicus Wien
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, conductor

Tobias Moretti, stage director
Heidi Hackl, costume design
Renate Martin and Andreas Donhause, set design
Olaf Winter, lighting design

Recorded live from the Theater and der Wien, 2009.

Bonus:
- Interviews with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Tobias Moretti

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: Italian, English, German, French, Spanish
Booklet notes: English, German, French
Running time: 167 mins (opera) + 26 mins (bonus)
No. of DVDs: 2 (x1 DVD 9 + x1 DVD 5)

Also available on Blu-ray

The Beethoven cycle of the 21st century!
Christian Thielemann joins forces with the prestigious Wiener Philharmoniker in a unique and monumental project BEETHOVEN 9, their first-ever recording of all 9 Symphonies in full high definition and Surround Sound. This recording from the Golden Hall of Vienna´s Musikverein is accompanied by nine(!) hour-long documentaries, one on each symphony, featuring Christian Thielemann and Germany´s most eminent music critic, Prof. Joachim Kaiser. From insights into Beethoven´s musical thinking to interpretational comparisons, including excerpts form legendary performances by Karajan, Bernstein, Böhm, Järvi etc., to historical perpsectives – no aspect of Beethoven´s symphonic oeuvre will remain untreated! This 3 DVD-set contains Beethoven Symphonies 7, 8 & 9 and the Documentaries about Symphonies 7, 8 & 9.

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 7, 8 and 9

Annette Dasch, soprano
Mihoko Fujimura, mezzo-soprano
Piotr Beczala, tenor
Georg Zeppenfeld, bass

Singverein der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde Wien
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Christian Thielemann, conductor

Recorded live at the Goldener Saal der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, Vienna
including:
Discovering Beethoven
with Joachim Keiser and Christian Thielemann
one-hour long documentary for each symphony

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS 5.0 (Documentaries, PCM Stereo)
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Italian, Korean, Chinese, Japanese
Running time: 157 mins (concert) + 169 mins (documentaries)
No. of DVDs: 3

Also available on Blu-ray

Giuseppe Verdi
LA BATTAGLIA DI LEGNANO

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)

Also available on Blu-ray

Beethoven's Missa Solemnis was performed on 13 and 14 February, 2010 at the traditional memorial concert to commemorate the bombardement of Dresden during the last weeks of World War II. Under Christian Thielemann, the Staatskapelle Dresden proved itself exeptionally qualified to master this work´s magnificent challenges. Thielemann “conjured up the gigantic cosmos of the Missa with such lightness and grace that its mystery seemed to reveal itself”, wrote the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. No less remarkable was the fabulously homogeneous solo quartet formed of El?na Garan?a, Krassimira Stoyanova Michael Schade, Franz-Josef Selig.

Subtitles: German, English, French, Spanish, Japanese
Booklet: English, German, French
No. of Discs: 1
Run time: 90 minutes
Disc Format: DVD 9
Picture: NTSC, 16:9
Audio: PCM Stereo, PCM 5.1
Region Code: 0 (worldwide)

Also available on Blu-ray

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)

Beatrice Uria-Monzon, Roberto Alagna, Erwin Schrott, Marina Poplavskaya, Eliana Bayon, and Itxaro Mentxaka star in this Gran Teatre de Licieu production of the Bizet opera conducted by Marc Piollet and staged by Calixto Bieito.

Also available on Blu-ray

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.

– MusicWeb International