Also available on Blu-ray

This release is the world premiere recording of Brett Dean’s new opera based on Shakespeare’s best-known tragedy: To be, or not to be. This is Hamlet’s dilemma, and the essence of Shakespeare’s most famous and arguably greatest work, given new life in operatic form in this original Glyndebourne commission. Thoughts of murder and revenge drive Hamlet when he learns that it was his uncle Claudius who killed his father, the King of Denmark, then seized his father’s crown and wife. But Hamlet’s vengeance vies with the question: is suicide a morally valid deed in an unbearably painful world? Dean’s colorful, energetic, witty and richly lyrical music expertly captures the modernity of Shakespeare’s timeless tale, while also exploiting the traditional operatic elements of arias, ensembles and choruses. Matthew Jocelyn’s inspired libretto is pure Shakespeare, adhering to the Bard’s narrative thread but abridging, reconfiguring and interweaving it into motifs that highlight the main dramatic themes: death, madness, the impossibility of certainty and the complexities of action. ‘World Premiere of the Year’, 2018 International Opera Awards, London ‘…one of the unmissable operatic events of the year.’ (The Sunday Times 4 Stars) ‘…a richly imaginative composer at the top of his game.’ (The Times 4 Stars) ‘Dean’s music is many-layered, full of long, clear vocal lines … new opera doesn’t often get to sound this good … Hannigan’s spectacular high-soprano unhinging is the more shocking following her poise and inwardness’ (The Guardian 4 Stars) Clayton triumphs with ‘unimpeachable vocal and acting credentials’ (The Independent 4 Stars)

BERNSTEIN CONDUCTS DEBUSSY

Claude Debussy: Images, Prélude à l'apres-midi d'un faune, La Mer

Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Leonard Bernstein, conductor

Recorded live from the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Rome, 1989.

Picture format: NTSC 4:3
Sound format: PCM 2.0 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Booklet notes: English, German, French
Running time: 86 mins
No. of DVDs: 1 (DVD 9)

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DEBUSSY Images pour orchestre. Prélude à l’près-midi d’un faune. La Mer • Leonard Bernstein, cond; Santa Cecila Natl Academy O • UNITEL 701608 (DVD: 86: 00)


Although Debussy did not figure largely in Bernstein’s repertoire, the conductor had an innate affinity for the composer’s music. We are therefore fortunate to have this concert, from scarcely a year before Bernstein’s death, preserving his interpretations of this repertoire in digital sound. Bernstein’s older Columbia recordings with the New York Philharmonic from 1960–63 are also still in print, although to duplicate this particular program one must acquire two different CDs (one from Sony, the other an ArkivMusic reissue). Those performances, however, are completely superseded by the present ones, both sonically and interpretively. In his later years Bernstein became decidedly self-indulgent, and his performances sometimes assumed bloated dimensions, as in the famous (or notorious) 1989 Christmas Day Berlin performance of the Beethoven Ninth. (I was blessed to attend that concert in person, being resident in East Berlin for my doctoral dissertation research at the time. As an interpretation it verged on the preposterous, but I still wouldn’t have missed it for all the world.) Here, however, he is in top form, eliciting performances with superb clarity of line, pellucid orchestral color and instrumental balance, and moderate tempi that are convincingly right at every point. Debussy is not the first thing I, as someone partial to Romantic German and Slavic orchestral repertoire, think to take off the shelf for personal listening pleasure, but Bernstein leaves me marveling at the sheer genius of these masterworks, providing a joy of rediscovery.


There are of course many performances of these works available on CD; most readers will already have their favorites, so I will not assay a broader discussion that in any case would exceed the bounds of this review. Regarding performances on DVD, this is the only complete performance of Images available. (For whatever reason, Bernstein altered the order of its three movements and placed Iberia in third position.) The Naxos issue with Alexander Rahbari and the Belgian Radio Symphony, which also has the Prélude and La Mer , omits Iberia in favor of the Nocturnes ; those are solid performances but not in the same class as these. The only other DVD to feature both the Prélude and La Mer is with Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic, reviewed negatively by Christopher Abbot in Fanfare 26:2 and positively by Colin Clarke in 32:3. I do not intend to enter the lists of the debates between champions and detractors of the German and American maestros; suffice it to say that in these works I prefer Bernstein’s clarity and sense of motion to Karajan’s lushness and perfumed languor. His DVD has more interesting camerawork to boot, with better lighting and more varied and better close-ups of the instrumentalists. The sound quality is excellent, the recordings having been made for commercial issue at the time. For those with more slender wallets, or who are uninterested in the visual aspects of an orchestral concert, these same performances were issued on CD by DG and are still in print as an ArkivMusic reissue. Strongly recommended.


FANFARE: James A. Altena

In 1990, commissioned by Dave Stewart of Eurythmics, veteran music film director Robert Mugge and renowned music scholar Robert Palmer ventured deep into the heart of the North Mississippi Hill Country and Mississippi Delta to seek out the best rural blues acts currently working. Starting on Beale Street in Memphis, they headed south to the juke joints, lounges, front porches, and parlors of Holly Springs, Greenville, Clarksdale, Bentonia, and Lexington. Along the way, they visited celebrated landmarks and documented talented artists cut off from the mainstream of the recording industry. The resulting film expresses reverence for the rich musical history of the region, spotlighting local performers, soon to be world-renowned, thanks in large part to the film, and demonstrating how the blues continues to thrive in new generations of gifted musicians.

A breath of fresh air is blowing over the Ural Opera Ballet with this new version of Paquita, halfway between tradition and modernity! A festive ballet recounting the thwarted loves of a Romani woman and an officer, Paquita marked the debut of Marius Petipa in Saint Petersburg. But only the last scene of the ballet, the famous Grand pas Classique, remained in the companies’ repertoire. Thanks to a careful reconstruction, the Ural Opera Ballet finally revives the original version in three acts. The product of methodical research by expert Sergei Vikharev and former Principal Vyacheslav Samodurov, the choreography scrupulously recreates Petipa’s 1881 version, according to notes kept at the Harvard Theater Collection. The original score has been rearranged by the famous Saint Petersburg composer, Yuri Krasavin. But if this new production uses the original libretto of the ballet, it nonetheless transposes it in time. The result is a show of great relevance, which brings up to date the strong political and social substrate of the original plot by illustrating it with artistic references gleaned throughout the 20th century. A powerful theatrical experience, crowned with the jury’s special award of the ‘‘Golden Mask’’ in 2019.

While love is breaking into the lives of two young people, an artificial being will challenge what they believed they knew about it…

Revisiting this classic of the Romantic repertoire, Jean-Christophe Maillot gives us, with an original musical score, a reflection on the search for the ideal partner in a technologically advanced society. Is it still the flesh and blood being with which we are familiar or a different being, making us question our allegiance to the human race?

Lost after its material records were destroyed by fire in 1883, the spectacular ballet La Source originally portrayed the idealistic vision of a magical domain in which a complex but beautiful love story of mythical figures unfolded. Jean-Guillaume Bart has long been captivated by La Source, and his new choreography retains the ballet’s romantic fascinations and its glorious music by Delibes and Minkus. Filled with exotic colour and atmosphere, Bart takes the narrative on an odyssey through near- and far-flung realms of classical dance in a brilliant production, further elevated by Christian Lacroix’s gorgeous costumes and Éric Ruf’s imaginative set designs.

Also available on Blu-ray

Swanilda – Dorothée Gilbert
Frantz – Mathias Heymann
Coppélius – José Martinez
Spalanzani – Fabrice Bourgeois

Paris National Opera Ballet
Orchestre Colonne
Koen Kessels, conductor

Patrice Bart, choreographer (after Arthur Saint-Léon)
Ezio Toffolutti, set and costume design
Yves Bernard, lighting design

Recorded live from the Palais Garnier, March 2011

Bonus:
- Cast Gallery
- Documentary – The Mystery of Coppélia

Picture format: NTSC 16:9 anamorphic
Sound format: LPCM Stereo 2.0 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles (bonus): English, French, German, Spanish
Running time: 83 mins (ballet) + 30 mins (bonus)
No. of DVDs: 1 (DVD 9)

R E V I E W:

To me Delibes’ Coppélia, like Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, stands amongst the very best ballets for children’s entertainment at Christmas. The world of make-believe weaves a simple yet logical plot with magical overtones, memorable music and colourful characters placed within vibrant settings.

On this DVD, excellent performances are provided by the quartet of principal dancers. The corps de ballet contributes delightfully in well-lit pools of light. Their routines are traditional and much as we would expect. Upstage in comparative gloom are incidental villagers going about their daily business to add a nice air of authenticity. The costumes are elegant and I liked the Dr Caligari style presentation of Coppélius. Kessels sets a traditional pace much more in keeping with the spirit of the work rather than the majestic yet deliberately ponderous pace set by Mark Elder in his Covent Garden recording.

This said, the French choreographer, Bart has decided to consider the psychological undertones of Coppélius and assemble a darker side to the illusionist to provide a love triangle between Swanilda, Frantz and Coppélius rather than the traditional development of the ballet. We have no doll sitting in an upstairs window that maddens Swanilda and whose jealousy provides a humorous situation to feed the development of plot. Instead Coppélius, very much in evidence in Act I for no apparent reason, provides Frantz with a book in which the beautiful doll is displayed. Later, in his house a large book is opened containing a life-size Swanilda/Coppelia.

In Bart’s production the dancing is delightful and the performance has pace yet Delibes’ orchestral picture does not match the plot and does not always fit. To complement the ballet’s dark mood, a sombre street-scene at dusk is provided throughout an Act I which is atmospheric with distorted rising perspectives reminiscent of a 1920s German expressionism setting. The impeding gloom is an improvement over the flat appearance of Osbert Lancaster’s Covent Garden setting in 2000. Here, an opportunity has been lost in not providing a visual contrast between the village scene and the mysterious interior of Coppélius’s house. To dance the cheery and colourful mazurka without a warmer mood of lighting is disappointing. We are told that Bart introduces some orchestral sections from Lakmé and The King has Spoken to help carry the darker atmosphere. Although the additional music does not detract it does seem unnecessary.

The television production supports our interest with well-chosen camera angles and clear focus on the action. It must be said that the production’s visual story was not always easy to follow even when you know the traditional plot.

The DVD in addition to provision of the usual Chapters includes an interesting documentary with interviews of the key dancers, director and choreographer who explain their interpretations. Subtitles are available in English, German and Spanish.

-- Raymond J Walker, MusicWeb International

Also available on Blu-ray

Toy maker Dr. Coppelius (Gary Avis) seems to have a beautiful young woman in his house: Coppelia (Ashley Dean), who sits and reads on his balcony. Franz (Vadim Muntagirov) and his vellow young villagers are curious about her and how she ignores them all. Franz’s fiancée Swanilda (Marianela Nunez) is not pleased by Franz’s interest in another woman, but equally curious. When Dr. Coppelius goes to the local tavern, the young villagers slip into his house to introduce themselves to the strangely silent young woman but are met with a house full of mechanical dolls and, seemingly, magic… A classic returns to The Royal Ballet repertory with Ninette de Valois’ charming and funny Coppelia- a story of love, mischief and mechanical dolls. The intricate choreography is set to Delibes’ delightful score and shows off the technical precision and comedic timing of the whole Company. Osbert Lancaster’s designs bring a colorful storybook world to life in this Christmas treat for the whole family.

Premiered in 1883, 'Lakmé' remains one of the most popular of all French operas. Reflecting contemporary tastes, the original source material presented a tragic liaison between a French officer and a Tahitian woman on a Pacific island, but Delibes moved the location to British-ruled India where the two central characters are torn between passion and loyalty, and assailed by a fanatical religious leader. For this opera Delibes wrote music of indelible beauty, including the much-loved ‘Flower Duet’ and ‘Bell Song’.

Starring Linda Plech, Dos Santos.

Nelson Eddy, Gale Sherwood, John Conte, Otto Kruger. A wonderfully-done adaptation of Romberg's famous operetta as it was performed live for a 1955 TV telecast. Unlike earlier film versions, the live performance now captured on film illuminates the story in a much truer format to Romberg's original. 1955/b&w/76 min/NR/fullscreen.

Taking it's title from Herb Ellis' most famous composition, Detour Ahead chronicles the life and music of the famed jazz guitarist. From his birth in Farmersville, Texas and his early days playing rhythm in the big bands of Jimmy Dorsey and Glen Gray to his innovative work with groups like the Soft Winds, Detour Ahead covers every major step of the guitarist's life. Muh attention is given to his groundbreaking work with the Oscar Peterson Trio of the 1950s, his days with Ella Fitzgerald, his work with the Great Guitars, and his many friends in jazz. On-camera interviews include Ray Brown, Charlie Byrd, Benny Golson, Benny Green, Al Grey, Lionel Hampton, Gene Harris, Jon Hendricks and Hank Jones. Along with modern interviews, Detour Ahead features never-before-seen home movies from jazz's golden age of Herb on tour with Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald and others. Running time: 60 minutes.

It's one of Wiener Staatsoper's most outstanding opera productions for children: Cinderella - Viennese version for children by Alma Deutscher, the musical prodigy of our times. Based on the popular fairy tale, Deutscher tells a modern version of the story, combining humor, poetry and the magic of theatre. Alma Deutscher began composing Cinderella, her favorite fairy tale, at the age of eight. However, she does not directly follow the Brothers Grimm original, as music plays a central role in her version. Cinderella is a young composer whom her stepmother and stepsisters envy because of her talent and demote to working as a music copyist. The prince is a poet who finds Cinderella through their common love of art.

Intimate live performance of avant duo Mikrokolketyw at the legendary Polish film studios Wytw�rnia Film�w Fabularnych in April of 2010. Dew Point places the material of "Revisit" into the performance setting, expanding their tunes into improvised forms, playing as the soundtrack to director Harmon's film Sound in Motion. Mikrokolektyw's electronics driven compositions become more acoustic, the dynamic of each song expanded and explored. Visually the DVD provides a lush and atmospheric backdrop in which the band plays out against rich colors touched with interludes of abstraction from the film they accompany. 5.1 surround sound, PCM Stereo, plus the film Sound in Motion. Directed by Raymond Salvatore Harmon. NTSC all region, 70 minutes.

In this six-episode, 3 DVD collection, Dick Cavett talks with legendary major league baseball pitchers from the Golden Age of baseball, including Satchel Paige, Dizzy Dean, Bob Feller, Whitey Ford, Denny McLain, Vida Blue and Tommy John with special guests including Whitey Ford teammate Mickey Mantle, Paul Simon, Marcel Marceau, Salvador Dali, Robert Altman and others.

Together with his fellow-Hungarian Franz Lehár, Emmerich Kálmán (1882-1953) was one of the leading operetta composers of the first quarter of the 20th c. Following the success of his first operetta in 1908, the years 1912-26 brought him a string of four further and farther-reaching operetta successes, including 1915s Die Csárdásfürstin (The Gipsy Princess). This 2002 production from the Seefestspiele Moerbisch Austria Festival, celebrated as a reference performance, stars Vera Schoenenberg and Ferdinand von Bothmer as Sylva Varescu and Edwin Ronald respectively.

Videoland, purveyor of the finest in middle-European operetta, offers up a performance of the finest operetta of them all, Die Feledermaus, by Johann Strauss II ("The Waltz King"), recorded in front of a most appreciative and receptive audience during the Seefestspiele Moerbisch Austria Festival in 2012. Manfred Mayrofer leads the festival's orchestra and a cast that includes Herbert Lippert as Von Eisenstein, Alexandra Reinprecht as Rosalinde, Harald Sarafin and Daniela Fally. Helmut Lohner directed this lavish and entertaining production.

Herald Serafin; Margarita de Arellano; Mathia Hausmann; Elisabeth Starzinger; Marwan Shamiyeh; Daniel Serafin; Alexander Klinger; Ernst Konarek; Bernd Ander; Doris Nitsch; Peter Branoff; Johanna Hohloch; Peter Lidner; Mirjana Irosch; Claudio Hiller.

DIE RÄUBER

Also available on Blu-ray

A Film by Paul Smaczny & Günter Atteln

Founded in 1212 the St. Thomas Choir Leipzig is one of the most famous and prestigious boys' choirs in the world. This documentary accompanies “Die Thomaner”, aged between 9 and 18 years old, over a period of one year. Their unique world, from motets to boarding school and the football pitch, is distinguished by success, pressure to perform, doubt, pride, homesickness, and friendship. The film charts the breadth of the boys' experience from the classroom to traveling on tour to South America.

BONUS Two tracks from Johann Sebastian Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion” performed by the choir for which it was written - St. Thomas Boys Choir - in St. Thomas Church, Leipzig, where the composer worked and is buried. No. 1 Chor: "Kommt, ihr Töchter, helft mir klagen" No. 39 Arie (Alto): "Erbarme dich"

Rising superstar soprano Dinara Alieva – since 2010 a Bolshoi Opera mainstay – has been entrancing opera and concert audiences throughout Europe and elsewhere, appearing to consistent acclaim in major roles at many of the world’s top houses. This live concert video – following her highly successful prior CD release on Delos, Pace mio Dio (DE 3462) – showcases not only her voluptuous voice, interpretive power and stylistic versatility ... but also (thanks to the visual element) her stunning glamour and charismatic stage presence. The varied and highly appealing program encompasses operatic favorites from such composers as Charpentier, Massenet and Cilea – as well as lighter fare from the Spanish Zarzuela and Viennese operetta traditions plus several beloved popular standards. Woven through the vocal program is a series of scintillating orchestral bonbons courtesy of conductor Constantine Orbelian (per Opera News, “...the singer’s dream collaborator) leading the superb Russian National Orchestra and the vaunted Grand Choir, “Masters of Choral Singing.” “She is a wonder…a singer who possesses the gift of heaven.” (Monserrat Caballé)

In Johanna Doderer's Fatima, oder von den mutigen Kindern, the courageous Fatima defeats the evil Lord of the Castle in a wager and frees the dreams that he has held captive. Drawing on a story by Rafik Schami, Johanna Doderer created this children's opera in 2015 to fulfill a commission from the Vienna State Opera. Austrian composer Johanna Doderer studied composition with Beat Furrer and then later in Vienna with Klaus Peter Sattler and Erich Urbanner. Her catalogue ranges broadly from chamber music to orchestral work and operas. Presently, she is focusing her work in the field of opera. She regularly collaborates with musicians such as Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Sylvia Khittl-Muhr, and conductor Ulf Schirmer. Her works have been performed at the Austrian Embassy, Washington, D.C., and the University of Arts Graz.

DOMINO: LIVE AT RADIO BREMEN TV-STUDIOS 1963

Barrie Kosky, one of the most exciting opera directors of our time, opened his newly staged Da Ponte cycle at the Wiener Staatsoper with a character-driven new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni. Kyle Ketelsen in the title role and Philippe Sly as Leporello "took centre stage (...) and dared to satirise the burden of tradition" (ORF). Hanna-Elisabeth Muller is a compelling Donna Anna, Patricia Nolz gives a remarkable role debut as Zerlina, and Peter Kellner shines as Masetto. Kate Lindsey presents a fascinating character study as Donna Elvira, and Stanislas de Barbeyrac excels as Don Ottavio. Philippe Jordan conducts the Orchestra of the Wiener Staatsoper, bringing "transparency, tangibility and poetry on the basis of historical accuracy" (Der Standard) - even in the subtly played recitatives on the fortepiano. "Kosky and Jordan met congenially in the direction of the singers." (ORF)

Donizetti: Don Gregorio, L'elisir D'amore / Bordogna, Trucco, Valerio, Benetta, Hernandez, Donizetti / Valerio, Composer: Gaetano Donizetti, Performer: Giorgio Valerio, Livio Scarpellini, Elizaveta Martirosyan, Paolo Bordogna, Conductor: Stefano Montanari, Alessandro de Marchi, Orchestra/Ensemble: Bergamo Musica Festival Orchestra, Bergamo Musica Festival Chorus, Number of Discs: 4. A double-bill of Donizetti operas recorded at the Bergamo Music Festival in 2007. Director Roberto Recchia sets 'Don Gregorio' in the 1920s, a time which mirrors in many ways the political and social conditions prevailing when the piece was originally written. Spoken dialogues in the Neapolitan dialect are used in place of the recitatives, but Donizetti's music remains unchanged. The characters in this comic opera are inspired by the Italian Commedia dell'Arte. In 'L'elisir d'amore', conductor Alessandro de Marchi allows the comedic aspects of the work to be exploited fully by the cast, which includes Silvia Dalla Benetta, Raul Hernandez and Alex Esposito.