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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)

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A fascinating aspect of this recording is the usage of instruments that were once performed by Mozart himself. The violin concerto is performed on an instrument from the workshop of Pietro Antonio Dalla Costa, and the Piano Concerto in A major is performed on Mozart’s own fortepiano. Mark Minkowski, principal conductor and artistic director of the Salzburg Mozart Week, conducts the Musiciens du Louvre on this release. Minkowski is also the music director of Sinfonia Varsovia, and has held the position since 2008. This release is heralded as spreading “collective Mozart happiness all round.” (Salzburger Nachrichten)

Picture Format: 16:9
Sound Formats: PCM Stereo, DTS 5.1
Region Code: 0 (Worldwide)
Running Time: 56 mins (Concert) - 16 Mins (Bonus)

This dramatic opera is associated with one of Mozart’s sojourns in Milan. The Austrian genius was sixteen when he composed this jewel of bel canto dedicated to the general and dictator of Ancient Rome: Lucio Silla made its debut on 26 December 1772, when Mozart was almost seventeen. It was the third opera that he had staged in the Regio Ducal Theatre, Milano. The staging by Marshall Pynkoski, specialized in eighteenth-century operas with particular insights into Baroque dance, drama and gestures, pays "attention to detail, making use of scenes and eighteenth-century impeccably decorated costumes designed by a specialist of the genre in film, Antoine Fontaine“ (delteatro.it). "The female cast is remarkable“ (La Repubblica).

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For the 225th anniversary of Mozart’s death, La Scala Theatre presents a new production of Le nozze di Figaro that had been entrusted to the extraordinary director Frederic Wake-Walker (author of a production of La finta giardiniera which was the revelation of the Glyndebourne Festival in 2014). He focusses the action of the piece on the instability of love: “Le nozze di Figaro presents us with an impossibility – a world where everyone is loving and forgiving.” The approach to his direction is “elaborate and very innovative” and “also musically, the new production of Figaro is worth a tour to Milan." (NZZ) "the cast is magnificient.” (Kurier) “… when Diana Damrau enters as the Countess, we get a performance of special gravitas. Even the orchestra, under Franz Welser-Möst’s baton, melts to such grace.” (Financial Times)

In the garden of a Baroque villa, a chamber orchestra is playing Mozart’s wonderful quartets and quintets, and everywhere is pervaded with echoes and references to the composer’s world. As if by magic or conjured by the imagination, figures emerge from the shadows of the labyrinthine garden: they are Mozart’s characters, and they play with – or perhaps make fun of – the guests at the party, embroiling them in their well-known amorous dalliances. With lightness and irony, this journey into the universe of Mozart tips its hat to the 1700s also with the scenery and costumes, and fills the garden with fun and passionate virtuoso dances, which follow each other dynamically and quickly with constant changes in the mood. Like in a dream where everything is jumbled together, where reality and illusion merge.

The world-famous singer, conductor and the holder of 14 Grammy Awards Pl�cido Domingo came up, as conductor and artistic director, with a unique 'Don Giovanni' at the Estates Theatre Prague, where the opera had it's premiere 230 years ago. The production boasts an original classic scene, traditional costumes designed by Theodor Pi tek, the Oscar winner for 'Best costume design' for the Amadeus movie and authentic stage direction matching the performance features from 1787. The production is conceived as a replica of the legendary staging by the National Theatre Opera from 1969. The opera shines under the direction of Jir� Nekvasil, which is further enhanced by stars of the Czech opera scene, handpicked by Maestro Domingo himself. Also adding vitality to the production are four winners of the renowned, international vocal competition, Operalia, which Domingo himself founded in 1993: Irina Lungu, Dmitry Korchak, Julia Novikova, and Simone Alberghini.

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Barcelona’s prestigious Gran Teatre del Liceu presents Mozart’s beloved Singspiel in an elegant, dramaturgically twisted production with a sparkling cast of top-rank international stars headed by coloratura soprano Diana Damrau as Konstanze and rising star Olga Peretyatko as Blonde. Stage director Christof Loy has conjured up a thought-provoking and strikingly original scenario in which both Konstanze and Blonde are feeling respect, admiration and even profound love for their captors. The result is a tantalizing approach that overturns the traditional patterns of good and evil.

“Diana Damrau achieved a huge success at the Barcelona Liceu.” Opera News “Franz-Josef Selig, the best Osmin I have ever seen.” Opera News

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL

Selim – Christoph Quest
Konstanze – Diana Damrau
Blonde – Olga Peretyatko
Belmonte – Christoph Strehl
Pedrillo – Norbert Ernst
Osmin – Franz-Josef Selig

Liceu Grand Theatre Chorus and Orchestra
Ivor Bolton, conductor

Christof Loy, stage director
Herbert Murauer, set and costume designer
Olaf Winter, lighting designer

Recorded live at the Grand Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, 2011

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: German, English, French, Spanish, Catalan, Chinese, Korean
Running time: 188 mins
No. of DVDs: 2

For this spectacular production of Mozart's Davide penitente on the vast stage of the Salzburg Felsenreitschule at the Mozart Week 2015, Marc Minkowski and the equestrian choreographer Bartabas used dancing horses and thus restored the former riding school to it's original function. Horses, riders from the Acad�mie �questre de Versailles and Bartabas himself, whose successful productions are unique in the world of art, perform their elegant dressage arabesques within this exceptional setting. Soloists, chorus and orchestra are ranged over three levels on galleries cut from the bare rock. The result is a unique synthesis of the arts. "A festival of beauty" (Munich Abendzeitung), "Minkowski and Bartabas have created a great piece of theatre" (NMZ)

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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

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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.

Gustav Mahler’s Ninth Symphony shows the culmination of the composer’s career. The concert recorded in this landmark live performance was part of The Mahler Project, in which friends and conductors Daniel Barenboim and Pierre Boulez tackled all of Mahler’s symphonies with the Staatskapelle Berlin. A documentary from Christoph Engel accompanies the concert, in which a diverse selection of statements and conversations from both conductors is featured.

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This C Major DVD release of Gustav Mahler’s Symphonies 3 and 4 continues the complete Mahler audiovisual cycle project the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductor Paavo Järvi initiated with the recent release of Mahler’s first two symphonies.Soprano soloists Waltraud Meier and Genia Kühmeier feature in these performances of the Third and Fourth Symphonies respectively.“Genia Kühmeier sang with a transcendent and immaculate tone.“ (FAZ)“Great orchestra, outstanding conductor.“ (Bild Zeitung)

Running Time Total: 215 Minutes
Symphonies: 195 Minutes
Introductions to Symphonies Nos 3 + 4 by P. Järvi : 20 Minutes
Picture 16:9, HD
Sound: DTS 5.1, PCM Stereo
Symphonies: Original language: German
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Japanese
Introductions to the Symphonies: English, German, Korean, Japanese
Booklet: English, German, French

This C Major Entertainment release of Gustav Mahler's Ninth Symphony and the Adagio from the unfinished 10th Symphony concludes the issuance of the complete, acclaimed Mahler cycle with Paavo J�rvi and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, which since the 1980's and the release of Eliahu Inbal's FRSO Mahler cycle has come to be known as a "powerful Mahler orchestra" (Frankfurter Rundschau). As on previous releases, conductor Paavo J�rvi's learned and probing introductions to the symphonies heard on the accompanying release are a worthy and self-recommending bonus feature."Paavo J�rvi interprets the 9th symphony with self-assurance and stylistic certainty, as one expects from only the great Mahler conductors." (Frankfurter Neue Presse on the 9th)"J�rvi's understanding of the slow movement of the 10th Symphony brought a unique clarity. (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)

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The highly praised Mahler Cycle with Paavo Järvi and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra continues with the release of the 7th and 8th Symphonies.

PAAVO JÄRVI CONDUCTS MAHLER SYMPHONIES

Gustav Mahler:
Symphony No. 7 in E Minor
Symphony No. 8 in E-Flat Major, “Symphony of a Thousand”

Erin Wall, soprano
Ailish Tynan, soprano
Anna Lucia Richter, soprano
Alice Coote, mezzo-soprano
Charlotte Hellekant, mezzo-soprano
Nikolai Schukoff, tenor
Michael Nagy, baritone
Ain Anger, bass

Limburger Cathedral Boys Choir
Czech Philharmonic Choir, Brno
Europa Chor Akademie
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra
Paavo Järvi, conductor

Recorded at the Rheingau Musik Festival, 2011 (Symphony No. 7) and 2013 (Symphony No. 8)

Bonus:
- Introductions to the Symphonies by Paavo Järvi

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: Latin, German, English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Japanese / English, German, Korean, Japanese (bonus)
Booklet notes: English, German, French
Running time: 149 mins (concert) + 20 mins (bonus)
No. of DVDs: 2 (DVD 9)

This 2 DVD C Major Entertainment release of Gustav Mahler's Fifth and Sixth Symphonies continues the issuance of the complete, acclaimed Mahler cycle with Paavo J�rvi and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, which since the 1980s and the release of Eliahu Inbal's FRSO Mahler cycle has come to be known as a "powerful Mahler orchestra" (Frankfurter Rundschau). As on previous releases, conductor Paavo J�rvi's learned and probing introductions to the symphonies heard on the accompanying release are a worthy and self-recommending bonus feature.