Classical Music

Classical Music

Mozart married Constanze Weber in 1782, and it is thanks to her diligent curation of ‘these marvellousrelics’ that we have these rarely heard fragments including fugues which reveal the influence of Bach anddemonstrate Mozart’s agility with sophisticated contrapuntal techniques. The more substantial Rondoshave gained popularity with their memorable themes and musical depth, while forays into Baroque stylecan be heard in the unfinished Suite. These, the improvisational Fantasias and a mocking parody of aFuneral March all highlight neglected facets of Mozart’s oeuvre.

For Russian pianist Ekaterina Litvintseva’s first-ever live recording, this young, up-and-coming Russian pianist, together with conductor Heribert Beissel and the Klassische Philharmonie, Bonn produced a recording of two Mozart concerto masterpieces, the No.9 in E flat Major, K271 (“Jeunehomme”), arguably his first masterwork in this genre, and the No. 12 in A, K414. “(A) singing allegro, eloquence and staying power in the…minor middle movement and perfect motor skills in the Presto…” (Bielefeld Neue Westfälische, K271 concert review)

Mozart: Don Giovanni, K. 527 (Sung in German) [Recorded 1955

Ssens Trio (pronounced "Essence") was established in 2014 by three musicians with a wealth of experience in the international music scene. The trio has appeared in concert with Geir Inge Lotsberg, Elvind Ringstad, Havard Gimse and Leif Ove Andsnes, among others. Their first album, "Beethoven: String Trio Op. 3 & Serenade Op. 8" received Pizzicato Magazine's "Supersonic Award" and a prestigious ICMA Awards nomination in 2018. Fanfare Magazine wrote: "With absolutely no hesitation I will say that it goes right to the top of my Beethoven String Trios list." (Jerry Dubins). And the following from a review in Pizzicato Magazine under the heading 'Beethoven With A Communicative Joy of Music Making:' "Their performance is brimming with the joy of playing together. An outstanding 'trialogue,' with each performer fully sensing the other. Through this interactive music-making, which in the Adagio and Minuet movements invokes a remarkably intimate mood, Beethoven's works gain in depth and sensuousness. And when one combines the sensitive playing with a wonderfully eloquent virtuosity, the way is clear for pure listening pleasure." (Alain Steffen)

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.
Personnel: Christian Zacharias (piano).
Recording information: Métropole Lausanne (06/25/2008-06/28/2008).

"We have now reached Volume 5 of MDG’s estimable series of Mozart piano concertos with Christian Zacharias, the first such SACD series to my knowledge and a highly worthy effort... Zacharias’s articulation is spectacular in these pieces, just the right amount of separation between the notes in the faster passages, and an almost organ-like style of playing that allows the melodies to truly soar with a seamless and unobtrusive melisma. The sound is fabulous, the best on any Mozart concerto series so far, and is recommendable without hesitation." -- Steven Ritter, Audiophile Audition

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

Also available on standard DVD

Perhaps no opera is closely and affectionately associated with a single house as Le nozze di Figaro is with Glyndebourne. Effortlessly witty yet shot through with pain and sadness, this deeply ambivalent life in the day of masters and servants as they scheme and outwit one another was Glyndebourne’s opening production in 1934. Michael Grandage’s staging is the seventh, set in a louche Sixties ambience. Marshalled by the ‘ideal pacing’ of Robin Ticciati, a youthful cast of principals has ‘no weak link’ and ‘looks gorgeous’ (The Sunday Times) in a production that continues Glyndebourne’s rewarding history of engagement with Mozart’s and da Ponte’s ‘day of madness’.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
LE NOZZE DI FIGARO

(Blu-ray Disc Version)
Countess Almaviva – Sally Matthews
Figaro – Vito Priante
Count Almaviva – Audun Iversen
Susanna – Lydia Teuscher
Cherubino – Isabel Leonard
Bartolo – Andrew Shore
Marcellina – Ann Murray
Don Basilio – Alan Oke
Antonio – Nicholas Folwell
Don Curzio – Colin Judson
Barbarina – Sarah Shafer
First Bridesmaid – Ellie Laugharne
Second Bridesmaid – Katie Bray

Glyndebourne Chorus
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Robin Ticciati, conductor

Michael Grandage, stage director

Recorded live at Glyndebourne Festival, June 2012

Bonus:
- The Greatest Opera Ever Written
- From page to stage

Picture format: 1080i High Definition
Sound format: LPCM 2.0 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, French, German, Japanese, Korean
Running time: 180 mins
No. of Discs: 1


REVIEWS

Despite some qualification, Glyndebourne’s new Figaro (summer 2012) is a delight. The curtain opens during the overture on the outside of a Spanish mansion—just what we might expect from an opera set on the outskirts of Seville—with shiny tiles, Moorish arches, and handsome latticework, and townsfolk bustling back and forth. It’s startling to see a circa late-1960s red sports car pull up and have the Almavivas get out: they’re coming home from somewhere or settling into their summer getaway. The Count is the very picture of not-such-great-taste, sporting a page-boy haircut and costumed in a velvet suit with bell-bottomed pants and a wide-lapelled, multi-colored shirt. He obviously is quite a swinging dude, and director Michael Grandage and his wonderful designer Christopher Oram have placed the opera in the decade of the flower children. Will this work?

We meet Figaro and Susanna, dressed more moderately (she would appear to be pregnant in a black outfit with white collar, but it’s never mentioned) and nicely familiar. She is spunky and he seems like a nice guy, and he certainly doesn’t like the fact that his boss wants to sleep with his fiancée, although she seems able to take care of herself. And why should Figaro like it? This is the 1960s or ’70s, and despite the fact that Franco is still in power, the Count’s request is not a feudal right; it’s nothing but bullying. And so Beaumarchais’ and da Ponte’s satire on class war no longer exists, and that tends to be the crux of the opera in its original setting.

Instead, we get the never-ending battle of the sexes, a look at an unhappy marriage, and a rather nasty, wealthy guy with a sense of entitlement along with a pretty good comedy peopled by what seem like real people. During “Non piu andrai”, which Figaro sings while the Count is present, the two men hang out like chums, Figaro leaning with an arm on the Count’s shoulder. Susanna never curtsies and she seems genuinely concerned with cheering up the Countess. If you’re willing to forego the pre-Revolutionary subtext, you’ll have a fine time, especially watching the cast do the twist at the wedding and during the finale. The absolutely natural stage action eschews slapstick and vulgarity and the singers seem more than happy to adapt. Vito Priante’s Figaro, shorn of class anger, is a bit mild, but his stage presence and singing are extraordinary. Rhythmically precise throughout, he eats up “Aprite un po’…” in the last act and is superb in ensembles. Lydia Teuscher’s Susanna is a rich-voiced, non-soubrette, observant Countess-in-the-making; and of course, within this context she might some day have the same social standing. Sally Matthews, if she had a trill for the end of “Dov’e sono”, would be a perfect Countess: her predicament is very clear, and you sense that she wishes she were more lighthearted, more able to adjust to the swinging attitudes going on around her. The voice itself is a gorgeous, full lyric. Audun Iversen’s Count is a sloppy, privileged tyrant, all the more frustrated because no one will pay any attention to his nastiness. His singing is the least neat of all, but he’s a powerful presence. Isabel Leonard’s Cherubino is perfect—boyish and sassy and nimble.

Class acts Ann Murray and Andrew Shore, both a bit vocally worn, are nonetheless a terrific Marzellina and Bartolo, and Alan Oke’s Basilio is snidely right-on. (Neither he nor Marzellina get their last-act arias.) Sarah Shafer is a fine Barbarina, looking to be about 14 years old. And as mentioned, Oram’s luxurious sets add to the special feel of the production. I’m somewhat stumped by Robin Ticciati’s conducting of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. The instruments are period but the approach is mid-20th century—not slow or heavy, really, but somehow lacking the zip we expect these days. The finale of Act 2 is wonderfully clear but lacks the “accidental” mania it should have. There are plenty of laughs from the Glyndebourne audience, but the whole affair is not the insane day Mozart envisioned. The preferred DVD versions are Pappano’s from Covent Garden (Opus Arte) and Jacobs’ (on BelAir); nonetheless, this new one is fresh and charming and a good bet.

-- Robert Levine, ClassicsToday.com

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MOZART Le nozze di Figaro & • Robin Ticciati, cond; Vito Priante (Figaro); Lydia Teuscher (Susanna); Audun Iversen (Almaviva); Sally Matthews (Countess); Isabel Leonard (Cherubino); Ann Murray (Marcellina); Andrew Shore (Bartolo); Sarah Shafer (Barbarina); Alan Oke (Don Basilio); O of the Age of Enlightenment; Glyndebourne Ch • OPUS ARTE 7118 (Blu-ray: 154:00+14:00) Live: Glyndebourne 2012

& Le Nozze di Figaro: The Greatest Opera Ever Written? Le Nozze di Figaro: From Page to Stage

What do we have here? A Marriage of Figaro where the noble couple arrive home in a snazzy Austin-Healey convertible; where the Susanna sports a 1950s-style maternity top and an obvious baby bump in her wedding dress; where the Count wears a velour-trousered leisure suit with bell bottoms, and shares a hand-rolled joint with his maid while trying to grope her; where the peasants at the festivities (along with the Count) dance the Twist and the Frug; where several of the characters look like they were outfitted on London’s Carnaby Street in the 1960s. We get all of that, along with some lavish Moorish-style sets and a historically informed pit band, in this 2012 Blu-ray video from the Glyndebourne Festival. Helped along by some excellent singing, it all proves quite satisfactory and highly entertaining.

I’m not sure a pregnant Susanna makes much more sense than a pregnant Juliet; after all, the Count is supposed to be trying to amorously seduce her, and is asked to attest to her virginal status prior to the wedding. But when a pregnant lead soprano turns up for work, I suppose the show must go on. The soprano in question, young German lyric Lydia Teuscher, does, in truth, look quite attractive and well worth seducing even in maternity garb, and the fine singing she brings to Susanna more than compensates for the slight loss in verity to Da Ponte’s libretto. In fact, all of the singing is quite excellent, down to the luxury casting of noted mezzo-soprano Ann Murray in the role of Marcellina. (Unfortunately, her act IV aria, along with Don Basilio’s, is cut.) Young Italian bass-baritone Vito Priante brings a rich and accurate instrument to Mozart’s title character, and his rather hyperkinetic acting has been toned down a bit by director Michael Grandage to more properly fit the production concept (and the close-up cameras). Aside from Murray, the best-known singer in the cast is probably British soprano Sally Matthews, who here is a quite lovely and enjoyable Countess and provides finely sung versions of “Porgi amor” and “Dove sono.” She also combines beautifully with Teuscher to sing a consummate “Sull’ aria,” one of my favorite duets in all opera. The Count with his 60s-style Mod haircut, mustache, and hippie style clothes, comes off as a bit ridiculous, robbing the character of any real menace, but baritone Audun Iversen also has a fine, rich voice, and brings a rather comedic swagger to the part. He also brings much avid physical contact to his enthusiastic pursuit of Susanna. (One might wonder why in the Act IV Garden Scene he fails to notice the lady he is embracing is minus the belly). Isabel Leonard continues her rapid climb to the top ranks with this lively and endearing portrayal of boy Cherubino; some say she steals the show here. Oh, and she can really sing, a joy to listen to. As usual for Glyndebourne, the smaller roles are finely cast as well. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment provides a properly light touch in Mozart’s score, just as this wonderful little light comedy demands.

There are over 20 versions of this opera out on video, several fine ones among them. In Blu-ray format the field is much smaller. Perhaps the Covent Garden production from 2006 with Erwin Schrott in the title role is the equal to this one, I haven’t seen it, but it has gotten good reviews. As with nearly all Glyndebourne productions I have seen, they provide full value here with elegant sets, fine singers, and a well-rehearsed cast in a charming staging. Le Nozze is a bit of a special opera for the Festival, as it inaugurated the series back in 1934 with a cast including the owner’s wife, Audrey Mildmay. The Glyndebourne forces have done the opera full justice in this new production, and this entertaining Blu-ray set deserves to be highly recommended.

FANFARE: Bill White

An attractive looking production, very traditional but lively and detailed in cloak swirling commedia dell’arte style, in Mozart-era costume and massive neo-Classical sets.
Out of the old school, is Muti’s conducting, …reasonably brisk and dramatically effective. As such, though it’s not my favourite reading, I very much enjoyed it.

We’re lucky to have Sir Thomas Allen’s Don, though a decade after his Glyndebourne triumph in the role. His acting is more youthful and psychotically magnetic than in James Conlon’s Cologne recording. ‘La ci darem la mano’…an unsettling mix of seduction and stalking. Francisco Araiza is an ardently Italianate Ortavio. Ann Murray is…Donna Elvira, imperious and touching. Suzanne Mentzer’s sparkling but vulnerable Zerlina, convincing in her rapport with Natale de Carolis’s light-voiced…Mavetto. The chorus work a lot harder than they sometimes do at La Scala, to good effect. All told, this staging is much richer than Michael Hampe’s worthy but rather drab incarnations for Karajan and Conlon. At mid-price this is very appealing.’

- Gramophone

Daniela Dessi and Delores Ziegler lead the cast in Mozart's brilliant and witty opera, as the two women whose faithfulness in the face of romantic love is ruthlessly tested in Da Ponte's comic tale. Mozart lavishes some of the finest music ever written on the unfolding story of the two sisters' chaotic and fickle love affairs with their two Italian army officers.

Fiordiligi: Daniela Dessi | Dorabella: Delores Ziegler | Guglielmo: Alessandro Corbelli | Ferrando: Jozef Kundlak | Despina: Adelina Scarabelli | Don Alfonso| Claudio Desderi

Orchestra & Chorus of Teatro alla Scala, Conductor Riccardo Muti

Part six of this mid-price collection, this DVD includes a 32 page booklet with full libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte

ALL REGIONS
SUBTITLES: ENGLISH
Running time 186 mins
Picture format 4:3
Sound format Dolby Stereo

Will listeners raised on virtuoso performances of Mozart's piano concertos be able to make room in the hearts for Christian Zacharias' recordings with the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne? It depends on how willing they are to forego the pleasures of virtuosity for the pleasures music-making. This is not to say that Zacharias isn't a virtuoso pianist. As his twenty years of recordings make very clear, he has talents and abilities far beyond those of most mortal pianists. But it is to say that, as those recordings make equally clear, Zacharias is far more interested in music-making than he is in virtuosity. As both pianist and conductor here, Zacharias leads performances which are all about sympathetic interplay, about musicians listening to each other, about the meaning behind the notes and the joy inside the notes. The Lausanne musicians respond joyfully to Zacharias' direction, playing with him and not for him and breathing life into every line and sonority. While listeners raised on virtuoso performances may find something lacking, those listeners who value playing together more than showing off will find much to enjoy.

Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm's sound is ideally balanced between detail and depth and between immediacy and atmosphere, thereby providing an aural image of a real pianist with a real orchestra in a real place in real time.

- James Leonard, AllMusic Guide

Hummel’s affinity with Mozart’s musical language began in 1786, when the very young Johann Nepomuk lodged with the Mozart family in their home for two years. • Hummel’s interest in, and knowledge of his teacher’s works for fortepiano and orchestra is attested by many accounts. • This recognized authority, added to the widespread approval he enjoyed as a composer, created the context in which Hummel produced his numerous transcriptions (approx. 50), scored principally for flute, violin, cello and fortepiano, applying now-historically valuable improvisatory practice solutions as well.

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

This is the fifth release in the acclaimed series of the complete symphonies by W. A. Mozart recorded by the Danish National Chamber Orchestra and their renowned chief conductor Adam Fischer. On this volume you can enjoy the symphonies nos. 31 33 and 34 composed during 1778-80. The performances are as fine as this music has ever received.

Jean Muller writes: "Mozart’s piano sonatas are, according to Charles Rosen, actually quite fully fledged Classical compositions which are in no respect inferior to his works in other genres. Even in the few sonatas composed for pedagogical purposes, the dramatic genius of Mozart that had been sharpened by opera reveals itself. In all his sonatas the astounding, simply inexhaustible melodic richness is perfectly balanced by clear proportions and an osmosis between form and content, and with a dreamy, almost playful lightness. In the two minor-key sonatas, on the other hand, Mozart is shockingly tragic, unexpectedly uncompromising, and on a par with Beethoven in terms of dark, surging power. One particular aspect, however, seems to me to be frequently neglected: the typical Mozart humour. Capricious, mischievous, childish, playful, parodying, affectionate etc – there are not enough adjectives to describe the wit of Mozart. Astonishingly, this humour never has a hurtful or injured tone but is, on the contrary, always deeply gracious and humanistic. The emotional spectrum of Mozart’s humour, with all its diversity, is always focused on the light.“

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)

MOZART Piano Concertos: Nos. 6, 13, 16 • Christian Zacharias (pn, cond); Lausanne Co • MDG GOLD 1667 (SACD: 67:07)


This is Volume 7 in what is apparently going to be a complete set of the Mozart piano concertos by Christian Zacharias. I asked to review it because I was so impressed by his performances of the five Beethoven concertos with Armin Jordan conducting (Cascavelle 3118), in which Zacharias’s enlivened inflections of phrase and rhythmic acuity were combined with original and highly imaginative cadenzas that acted within the concertos like mini-fantasias.


I am not at all disappointed by his solo playing here, which is crisp yet lighter in tone than his Beethoven, which is wholly appropriate for Mozart. The problem, to me, is his conducting and the overall performance and sound quality of the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra. Its playing is “soft” both in phrasing and attack, coming across almost as background or elevator music. This was the kind of Mozart sound in vogue during the late 1970s and early ’80s, before the historically informed crowd moved in to show us that such earlier conductors as Toscanini, Furtwängler, Doráti, and Markevitch had it right, that unlike Haydn, whose music sounds good at a slightly relaxed pace and with a wide dynamic range, Mozart tends toward sameness and boredom when given that approach. Mozart needs to be performed with a combination of emotional commitment and sharply etched contours, as in the performances of Harnoncourt, Norrington, Pinnock, and others. In the case of the piano concertos, one can scarcely imagine or achieve finer performances than those of the entire series recorded by fortepianist Jos van Immerseel and Anima Eterna on Canal Grande 8016.


Of course, there are listeners who are much in favor of this particular style of Mozart performance. I myself was one of them in the early 1980s, when I became a fan of Murray Perahia’s then-groundbreaking series of Mozart concertos. For them, then, this disc and its six other counterparts issued so far will make quite satisfying listening. The hybrid multichannel sound is warm and round, which again de-emphasizes the music’s edge.


FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley

Classical Music

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
COSÌ FAN TUTTE

Ferrando - Topi Lehtipuu
Guglielmo - Luca Pisaroni
Don Alfonso - Nicolas Rivenq
Fiordiligi - Miah Persson
Dorabella - Anke Vondung
Despina - Ainhoa Garmendia

The Glyndebourne Chorus
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Iván Fischer, Conductor

Nicholas Hytner, Stage Director

Recorded live at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in June and July 2006

Bonus Material:
- Insights - with Ivan Fischer, Nicholas Hytner and members of the cast
- Illustrated Synopsis and Cast Gallery

Picture format: 1080i High Definition, 16:9
Sound format: 2.0 and 5.0 True HD
Region code: 0 (All Regions)
Menu Language: English
Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian
Running time: 210 minutes
No. of Discs: 1 (BD50)

MOZART JUBILEUM - COLLECTION

Mozart, W.A.: Zaide [Opera]

Also available on Blu-ray

MOZART OPERAS
(5-DVD Box set)

LE NOZZE DI FIGARO

Figaro - Erwin Schrott
Susanna - Miah Persson
Count Almaviva - Gerald Finley
Countess Almaviva - Dorothea Röschmann
Marcellina - Graciela Araya
Barbarina - Ana James
Cherubino - Rinat Shaham

Royal Opera Chorus
Royal Opera House Orchestra
Antonio Pappano, conductor

David McVicar, stage director

Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, 10, 13 and 17 February 2006

Bonus:
- The Magic of Mozart: Interviews with Antonio Pappano, David McVicar and principal cast
- Cast gallery and illustrated synopsis

DON GIOVANNI

Don Giovanni - Simon Keenlyside
Leporello - Kyle Ketelsen
Commendatore - Eric Halfvarson
Donna Anna - Marina Poplavskaya
Donna Elvira - Joyce DiDonato
Don Ottavio - Ramón Vargas
Zerlina - Miah Persson
Masetto - Robert Gleadow

Royal Opera House Chorus and Orchestra
Charles Mackerras, conductor
Francesca Zambello, stage director

Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, on 8 and 12 September 2008

Bonus:
- Illustrated synopsis and cast gallery
- Into the Royal Opera House
- Backstage Tour

DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE

Tamino - Will Hartmann
Pamina - Dorothea Röschmann
Queenof the Night - Diana Damrau
Sarastro - Franz-Josef Selig
Papageno - Simon Keenlyside
Papagena - Ailish Tynan
Monostatos - Adrian Thompson

Royal Opera Chorus
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Colin Davis, conductor

David McVicar, stage director
John F. Macfarlane, set designer
Paule Constable, lighting designer
Leah Hausman, choreographer

Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, 27 January 2003

Bonus:
- BBC feature looks behind the scenes at this production
- Conductor Sir Colin Davis talks about Die Zauberflöte
- Illustrated synopsis of the operas

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Picture format: NTSC 16:9 anamorphic
Sound format: LPCM 2.0 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, Spanish (all), French, German, Italian (Figaro, Don Giovanni)
Running time: 9 hrs 49 mins
No. of DVDs: 5

The notable musicologist Alfred Einstein commented that Idomeneo is 'one of those works that even a genius of highest rank, like Mozart, could write only once in his life'. Every page of the score deserves appreciation. Of the many exceptional arias and ensembles, especially notable is the third act quartet 'Andro Ramingo e solo', one of the most moving concerted numbers in any Mozart opera. This recording is based on the original 1781 Munich version, without the extended ballet but including some music cut by Mozart before the premiere.

Accompanied by a luxurious team of professionals, consisting of the renowned stage director Peter Stein, his stage designer Ferdinand Wöger and conductor Ádám Fischer, Teatro alla Scala presents with Mozart’s Zauberflöte a production where orchestra, chorus, soloists as well as outfitters all consisted of students of the Academia Teatro alla Scala, the educational institution aimed to train the young talents, founded by the Teatro alla Scala in 2001. The result was more than stunning and an instant success with the audience of the ten sold out performances at La Scala, which is famous for its more than critical loggionisti. According to Die Presse, Fischer “gets the best out of the Academy Orchestra with delicate execution and humane phrasing” while the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung praises Fatma Said as ''Pamina'' and Yasmin Özkan as ''Queen of the Night''.

Mozart: Romantic Mozart (The)