Giacomo Puccini GIANNI SCHICCHI
Gianni Schicchi – Alessandro Corbelli
Rinuccio – Massimo Giordano
Lauretta – Sally Matthews
Zita – Felicity Palmer
La Ciesca – Marie McLaughlin

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Vladimir Jurowski, conductor
Annabel Arden, stage director

Recorded live at Glyndebourne Opera House, East Sussex, United Kingdom, 11 July 2004.

Bonus:
- interviews with Alessandro Corbelli, Vladimir Jurowski, and Annabel Arden

Gaetano Donizetti
L’ELISIR D’AMORE

Adina – Ekaterina Siurina
Nemorino – Peter Auty
Sergeant Belcore – Alfredo Daza
Dr Dulcamara – Luciano di Pasquale
Giannetta – Eliana Pretorian

Glyndebourne Chorus
(chorusmaster: Thomas Blunt)
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Maurizio Benini, conductor
Annabel Arden, stage director

Recorded live at Glyndebourne Opera House, East Sussex, United Kingdom, August 2009.

Bonus:
- Illustrated synopsis
- Cast gallery

Giuseppe Verdi
FALSTAFF

Dr Caius – Peter Hall
Sir John Falstaff – Christopher Purves
Bardolph – Alasdair Elliott
Pistol – Paolo Battaglia
Mrs Page (Meg) – Jennifer Holloway
Mrs Ford (Alice) – Dina Kuznetsova
Mistress Quickly – Marie-Nicole Lemieux
Nannetta – Adriana Kucerova
Fenton – Bulent Bezduz
Ford – Tassis Christoyannis

Glyndebourne Chorus
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Vladimir Jurowski, conductor
Richard Jones, stage director

Recorded live at Glyndebourne Opera House, East Sussex, United Kingdom, June 2009.

Bonus:
- Illustrated synopsis
- Cast gallery

Georges Bizet
CARMEN

Moralès – Hans Voschezang
Micaëla – Lisa Milne
Don José – Marcus Haddock
Zuniga – Jonathan Best
Carmen – Anne Sofie von Otter
Frasquita – Mary Hegarty
Mercédès – Christine Rice
Lillas Pastia – Anthony Wise
Escamillo – Laurent Naouri
Le Dancaïre – Quentin Hayes
Le Remendado – Colin Judson
Le Guide – Franck Lopez

The Glyndebourne Chorus
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Philippe Jordan, conductor
David McVicar, stage director

Recorded live at Glyndebourne Opera House, East Sussex, United Kingdom, 17 August 2002.

Bonus:
- Illustrated synopsis and cast gallery
- Costume design
- Choreographing Carmen
- How to fight on stage
- The Gardens of Glyndebourne

Sergei Rachmaninov
THE MISERLY KNIGHT

Albert – Richard Berkeley-Steele
Servant – Maxim Mikhailov
Moneylender – Viacheslav Voynarovskiy
The Duke – Albert Schagidullin
The Baron – Sergey Leiferkus
Aerialist – Matlida Leyser

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Vladimir Jurowski, conductor
Annabel Arden, stage director
Recorded live at Glyndebourne Opera House, East Sussex, United Kingdom, 11 July 2004.

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Picture format: NTSC 16:9 Anamorphic
Sound format: LPCM 2.0 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Menu language: English Running time: 12 hours 30 mins No. of DVDs: 6

Also available on standard DVD

Note: This Blu-ray Disc is playable only on Blu-ray Disc players, and not compatible with standard DVD players. Christoph Willibald Gluck
IPHIGÉNIE EN AULIDE / IPHIGÉNIE EN TAURIDE
(Blu-ray Disc Version)

Iphigénie en Aulide

Iphigénie – Véronique Gens
Diane – Salomé Haller
Agamemnon – Nicolas Testé
Clytemnestre – Anne Sofie von Otter

Iphigénie en Tauride

Iphigénie – Mireille Delunsch
Thoas – Laurent Alvaro
Oreste – Jean-François Lapointe
Pylade – Yann Beuron
Diane – Salomé Haller

Netherlands Opera Chorus
Les Musiciens du Louvre Grenoble
Marc Minkowski, conductor

Pierre Audi, stage director

Recorded live at De Nederlandse Opera, September 2011

Bonus
- Cast gallery
- Behind-the-scenes documentaries

Picture format: 1080i High Definition
Sound format: LPCM Stereo 2.0 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, French, German, Dutch, Korean
Running time: 229 mins (operas) + 39 mins (bonus)
No. of Discs: 1

R E V I E W:
Of Gluck’s two operas devoted to the character of Iphigénie, it is the latter one that has the overwhelming lion’s share of performances and recordings. I have long found that regrettable; while there is no question for me that Iphigénie en Tauride is Gluck’s greatest operatic masterwork, Iphigénie en Aulide is a marvelous work in its own right that deserves far better than benign neglect. I have sometimes wondered if, somewhat paradoxically, Aulide is slighted because its dramaturgy is somewhat more conventional than that of Gluck’s other major “reform” operas, with its frustrated young lovers, parents of divided sympathies, and so forth. However, this also allows Gluck to employ a more varied musical palette, as he has four major roles in different voice ranges (plus a crucial fifth supporting role) instead of only two or three.

It is therefore a very good thing indeed to have these two operas, whose plots have a fine formal dramatic continuity, brought together in a single set, even if the results are rather mixed. To deliver the bad news first, the production—as one necessarily expects from the Netherlands Opera—is yet another example of the blight of Regietheater. That said, it is thankfully one that is simply jejune rather than offensive. The set consists of two sets of metal bleachers facing one another, on which the characters clamber up and down, or else stand in between them; the majority of personnel are clad in rumpled trenchcoats, generic military uniforms, or leisure suits. (I was first exposed to the bleachers-and-trenchcoats conceit almost 25 years ago at the Oper Unter den Linden in what was then East Berlin, though I suspect that the straitened finances of a collapsing communist economy, rather than any great desire to promote avant-garde aesthetics, were responsible for its use in numerous productions there.) It all looks done on the cheap, though it probably cost an absurd amount of money. There are a few additional silly twists to this drab spectacle as well. Once Iphigénie (in Aulide) is named to be a sacrificial victim to the gods, she appears wearing a suicide bomb belt with an X painted on her forehead, while the minor character of Arcas is the obligatory half-naked hunk in skin-tight pants.

Fortunately, the stage direction largely ignores the costumes and for once has the characters interact in entirely appropriate ways—no orgies, or oral sex, or groping, or armed figures murdering people en masse, etc., etc. The singers seize the opportunity and, particularly in Aulide, give intense, even riveting performances that make one forget the dreary sets and garments and focus instead upon the characters and their respective plights. In Tauride, they are for some reason given much less with which to work, and consequently its dramatic voltage is significantly lower.

There is a very similar split in the musical values, with those for Aulide being very high, and for Tauride somewhat lower. Conductor Marc Minkowski has dedicated himself to promoting the operas of Gluck, and he leads both performances with searing intensity and passion. Compared to Minkowski, John Eliot Gardiner in his 1990 studio recording of Aulide for Erato—until now the only available recording of Gluck’s original score, as opposed to Wagner’s adaptation of it—is correct but somewhat staid. Véronique Gens is a superb Iphigénie, more characterful and potent than Lynne Dawson is for Gardiner, capturing every one of her character’s tormented twists and turns between hope, joy, resignation, and despair. Frédéric Antouin is her worthy partner as Achille, offering impassioned singing in the gleaming tones of a full-bodied lyric tenor. He too is superior to John Aler, his able counterpart under Gardiner. As Clytemnestre, Anne Sophie von Otter reprises her previous assumption of the role for Gardiner. If her voice is not quite as fresh as it was over 20 years before, it remains a remarkably fine instrument; she shows virtually none of the unsteadiness in her top notes that slightly marred her otherwise excellent recording of Swedish songs I reviewed in 36:3, and she has if anything deepened her conception of her role. Nicolas Teste is likewise an excellent Agamemnon, who makes his almost schizophrenic character highly sympathetic and holds his own in comparison with José van Dam under Gardiner. Christian Helmer is an effective Calchas, if not ideally steady vocally and inferior to Gilles Cachemaille under Gardiner. In the comprimario roles, Laurent Alvaro pushes his voice too hard as Thoas, but Martijn Cornet is a decent Patrocle. Salomé Haller is a competent but not arresting Diane in both operas.

There is only one reason I do not give this Iphigénie en Aulide an unqualified endorsement over Gardiner’s CD set as the version of choice; whereas both conductors cut the ballet music that Gluck recycled for his Don Juan, Minkowski also makes further cuts in two choral sections that remove an additional 15 minutes or so of music. Perhaps he believed that to be a painful necessity due to the presentation of both operas in a single evening, but it is greatly to be regretted.

By contrast, Iphigénie en Tauride is presented intact. Here my standard of comparison is the other performance of this opera on DVD, the 2000 performance from Zurich under William Christie. I am in near total agreement with James Camner’s review of it in 30:3, being only even more enthusiastic about Christie’s conducting and less so about Anton Scharinger’s singing as Thoas. While the giant bobble-head costumes used in that Regietheater production are indeed ludicrous, I will grudgingly concede that the pseudo-Freudian conceit behind them has more to offer both visually and conceptually than the drab, sterile setting saddled upon Minkowski, and hence makes for relatively more compelling drama. Also, while three of the four principal singers here are quite solid (those being Mireille Delunsch, Yann Beuron, and Jean-François Lapointe), they all are markedly inferior to Juliette Galstien, Deon van der Walt, and Rodney Gilfrey, their counterparts under Christie, with Galstien and Gilfrey in particular being outstanding in every way, and Alvaro’s wobbly Thoas is a marked liability for Minkowski.

There is a supplemental feature, lasting 38 minutes, on the creation of the two opera productions. Since they come together as a pair, my counsel is to get this for the superb Aulide despite the cuts, and tolerate or ignore the Tauride.

FANFARE: James A. Altena

GLUCK Iphigénie en Aulide.1 Iphigénie en Tauride2 & • Marc Minkowski, cond; 1Véronique Gens (Iphigénie); 2Mireille Delunsch (Iphigénie); Salomé Haller (Diana); Nicolas Testé (Agamemnon); Anne Sofie von Otter (Clytemnestre); Frédéric Antoun (Achille); Martijn Cornet (Patrocle); Laurent Alvaro (Arcas/Thoas); Jean-François Lapointe (Oreste/Calchas); Yann Beuron (Pylade); Netherlands Op Ch; Les Musiciens du Louvre Grenoble • OPUS ARTE 1099 (2 DVDs: 229:00) Live: Amsterdam 9/7/2011

& The making of “Iphigénie en Aulide”; “Iphigénie en Tauride” (38: 00)

This two-DVD set documents an unusual evening in the theater, with both of Gluck’s Iphigénie operas being given on one night as a double bill. The risk of mounting such a project is great, not least because these operas are very draining on both cast and audience. The fact that Marc Minkowski was able to pull this off was due in no small measure to the intelligent casting, which duplicated only two singers in both operas: Salomé Haller as Diana and Laurent Alvaro, who sings the small role of Arcas in the first opera and Thoas in the second.

For those unfamiliar with these Gluck operas, they represent somewhat different styles despite their similar subject matter and the fact that they were only written five years apart. Gluck’s growth as a creative artist in those five years was phenomenal, almost as stunning as Igor Stravinsky’s growth between the first and last acts of his opera The Nightingale. In Iphigénie en Aulide, although he already has a firm grasp of the new musico-dramatic structures he had created, he was still operating in an essentially lyric vein. There are strophic arias and all of the recitatives are orchestrally accompanied, which gives the music a remarkable sense of unity that was very rare in those days, but by 1779, when he wrote Iphigénie en Tauride, his sureness of handling drama through music had grown to its full maturity. The later opera, even from its opening notes, has a much greater thrust and impetuosity in both the orchestral and vocal writing than was present in the earlier opera. This, then, presents director, cast, and conductor with another challenge, which is how to reconcile the differing styles of these operas in one night’s performance.

Pierre Audi’s direction is singularly arresting and brilliant despite sparse sets and updated, somewhat ridiculous costumes. We see Iphigénie and Achille singing to each other in trench coats; when Iphigénie appears later in the first opera, she is wearing a bomb belt on what looks like a prom dress and a greasepaint X on her forehead to indicate that she has been marked for death. Calchas, the High Priest, looks nerdy in a blue suit with shirt open at the collar and horn-rimmed glasses—and, of course, we get our ubiquitous mostly-naked guy in tight slacks (who turns out to be Arcas). In act II, Agamemnon appears in a carnival cruise ship captain’s outfit, complete with dorky hat and a little winged emblem on it (and sunglasses…don’t forget the sunglasses, even though the stage is nearly as dark as pitch). In short, the costumes are rather ridiculous. The set, such as it is, consists of two high but narrow staircases on either side of the very small stage. Yet to Audi’s credit, he directs around this nonsense to create a dramatic presentation that is both interesting and appropriate to an updating of Greek theater. One can almost envision these singing actors performing their roles in more conventional costumes and sets, and their portrayals are dramatically apropos as well as fascinating to watch.

As for the singers in the first opera, pride of place goes to Nicolas Testé as Agamemnon. He possesses a large, well-focused voice that can even negotiate a trill, and his acting is superb. Nearly as fine are Véronique Gens as Iphigénie and Frédéric Antoun as Achille. Both have smallish voices of the sort that Gluck undoubtedly wrote for, yet they are pointed and carry well and their duets are a joy to the ear. Less impressive is Jean-François Lapointe as Calchas, whose voice has a flutter and an insufficient low range for the role. Anne Sofie von Otter, quite frankly, has little or nothing left of what was once a lovely if small voice. Twenty-plus years of singing, including several roles too large for her, have left the voice wobbly and hollow-sounding. She lacks volume even in so small a theater as this one that De Nederlandse Opera performs in. Her acting as always is spot-on, but I’m not listening to her just for acting. I want some voice, too.

Yet through it all, holding everything together, is the golden thread of Minkowski’s conducting, so that in the end one feels justified in going through this experience for his sure-handed leadership. One of the virtues of hearing a conductor this gifted is his way of knitting everything together so that chorus-recit-aria-vocal ensemble all flows seamlessly and naturally, with appropriate dramatic peaks when called for. Besides, it’s such a rare treat to actually see a production of any Gluck opera nowadays that I can almost overlook von Otter’s vocal faults and the silly costumes. Even in the earlier Iphigénie opera, one can clearly hear Gluck’s musical innovations and—more importantly for us today, with 20/20 hindsight—how much these innovations impacted the music of Cherubini, Spontini, Berlioz, and eventually Wagner. This is especially evident in those orchestrally accompanied recitatives: With their brief, almost blunt melodic thrusts, they stab into the listener’s ears in such a way that they convey the impetuosity of the characters. How ironic, then, that the “bel canto boys,” Rossini-Bellini-Donizetti, turn recitatives back into semi-parlando mush in the early decades of the 19th century. Listen—for just one small example-to the way Agamemnon sings of his daughter, whom he loves, and the tender accents that Gluck imparts to the orchestra behind him, using soft winds; then, immediately after, as he thinks of the sacrifice he is about to make, the tempo doubles and short, stabbing strings cut into his words. This is writing of pure genius. There is no other way to describe it.

The one demerit one can make against Gluck (and, specifically, his librettist) is that they whitewashed the story in order to provide a happy ending. In reality, Agamemnon had no guilt pangs or second thoughts about sacrificing his daughter, and in fact Iphigénie was killed to appease Diana; but by changing the ending of the story, Gluck was not only able to send his audiences home whistling a happy tune but also to manufacture out of thin air the “legend” that Diana took Iphigénie to her home island of Tauride, where the unfortunate girl spent much of her time doing what her father wanted to do to her: killing—oops, sacrificing—strangers who landed there to the goddess. Fabricated the story may be, but Gluck turned it into one of the most riveting operas ever written.

After a rough beginning, in which her voice is unsteady and very nasal, Mireille Delunsch brings it into clear focus and gives a good account of Iphigénie. Mind you, her performance here will not efface memories of Carol Vaness or Susan Graham, but it’s very fine on its own merits. As in the first opera, Minkowski’s conducting is just spectacular—he really “drives the storm” that opens this opera with intense fury—and again he manages to knit together the various scenes into a cohesive whole. Here, too, the staging makes even more sense that it did in the first opera, and except for Thoas (Laurent Alvaro) wearing a modern-day military uniform (what the heck is it with Regietheater directors and military uniforms? If they want to wear one so badly, just put it on yourself and leave the characters in their traditional garb!) most of the costumes here make much more sense. Sadly, Alvaro’s voice is consistently unsteady despite a bright timbre and his high notes covered and nasal. In short, he’s a poor choice for a role that requires long stretches of singing that are powerful and call for dramatic focus. The two priestesses, Simone Riksman and Rosanne van Sandwijk, are splendid, but the smaller male roles are sung rather pitifully.

Happily, our Oreste (Lapointe) and Pylade (Yann Beuron) are quite fine, which is important because from the point of their entrance onward they get the lion’s share of the singing. The staging of Iphigénie’s aria in which she grieves for her dead family is very well sung and staged, but I question the need to have Thoas come sneering into the picture to kiss her at the end.

Suffice it to say that Minkowski uses “original instruments” (or facsimiles thereof) as well as lower pitch (whether the A=409 supposedly used by French court tuner Pascal Taskin in 1783, the A=407.9 used a few years earlier, or Mozart’s A=421 I have no idea…these people really get hung up over this stuff), which makes the music sound at least a half-tone lower than you’re used to it from any A=440 performance, but to me this is all a moot point. It’s the performance that matters, the feeling and intensity of the playing and singing, not which tuning fork was used.

My lone complaint on packaging is that the booklet does not break down the operas by scenes, thus if you’re skipping ahead to catch a specific aria or scene you’ll have to guess. I’m not sure why they didn’t do this; I’ve seen it in almost every other opera DVD I’ve ever reviewed.

Having now given detailed descriptions of the performances, we reach the point where one rightly expects an endorsement or a rejection. I find myself divided on this issue, however. Audi’s direction, the conducting of Minkowski, and the singing of some, but not all, of the principals are certainly first-rate, but then we are faced with those cluttered staircases and inappropriate costumes (not to mention the substandard singing of Alvaro as Thoas). On the other hand, knowing how much the world (and particularly Europe) is in the thrall, I might even say the iron grip, of Eurotrash, could you really expect to someday see better productions with equally good direction, singing and conducting? The only other Iphigénie en Tauride on DVD is the one originally issued by Kultur in 2006 but now on Arthaus Musik 100377, which features the rather strained singing of Juliette Galstian as Iphigénie and yet another idiotic production, with people in giant masks following or mimicking the principals. Overall, I tolerated the Iphigénie en Tauride better because of the finer costumes and Delunsch’s generally well-focused singing, but you may prefer great audio recordings of these two operas. The best, indeed the only great, recording of the first work is the German-language performance from 1962 with Inge Borkh (Klytemnestra), Christa Ludwig (Iphigénie), James King (Achilles), and Walter Berry (Agamemnon), conducted by Karl Böhm, on Orfeo 428962, while the now-classic Muti recording of the second opera with Carol Vaness, Gösta Winbergh, and Thomas Allen (Sony Classical) is still the benchmark.

FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley

Also available on Blu-ray

The last days of the American icon Walt Disney form a powerful and poignant subject for Philip Glass's latest opera, which was filmed at its first performances in Madrid in January 2013. Phelim McDermott's spectacular production is worthy of Disney's own visual imagination and its definitive influence on American culture, while in the pit is the conductor Dennis Russell Davies, an experienced and authoritative champion of the composer's hypnotically beautiful music, which gives wings to Rudy Wurlitzer's operatic transformation of Peter Stephan Jungk's novel, using both fact and fiction to peer into Disney's troubled psyche as illness forces him to confront his mortality.

What the press said: ''...one of the crowning events of the past year's globe-trotting celebration of Mr. Glass's 75th birthday.'' The New York Times
Philip Glass
THE PERFECT AMERICAN

Walt Disney – Christopher Purves
Roy – David Pittsinger
Dantine – Donald Kaasch
Hazel George – Janis Kelly
Lillian Disney – Marie McLaughlin
Sharon – Sarah Tynan
Diane – Nazan Fikret
Lucy / Josh – Rosie Lomas

The Improbable Skills Ensemble
Madrid Teatro Real Chorus and Orchestra
Dennis Russell Davies, conductor

Phelim McDermott, stage director

Recorded live from the Teatro Real, Madrid, February 2013

Bonus:
- Cast gallery

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: LPCM 2.0 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean
Running time: 120 mins
No. of DVD: 1

A very special dance occasion in honour of a celestial alignment of events, the Gala des Étoiles celebrates the Ballet Corp’s time-honoured tradition of a Grand Gala at La Scala as it coincides with Milan’s tenure as host city of EXPO 2015. Symbolically espousing the spirit of the Universal Exposition by bringing together outstanding international talent, La Scala’s étoiles – Svetlana Zakharova, Roberto Bolle and Massimo Murru – extend Milan’s red carpet to a veritable constellation of guest dancers from around the world, including rising stars and luminaries of the ballet universe.

A very special dance occasion in honour of a celestial alignment of events, the Gala des Étoiles celebrates the Ballet Corp’s time-honoured tradition of a Grand Gala at La Scala as it coincides with Milan’s tenure as host city of EXPO 2015. Symbolically espousing the spirit of the Universal Exposition by bringing together outstanding international talent, La Scala’s étoiles – Svetlana Zakharova, Roberto Bolle and Massimo Murru – extend Milan’s red carpet to a veritable constellation of guest dancers from around the world, including rising stars and luminaries of the ballet universe.

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

Also available on standard DVD
This exciting release presents three contrasting ballets by The Royal Ballet’s Founder Choreographer Frederick Ashton: The Dream (1964) is an enchanting adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream to music by Mendelssohn. Symphonic Variations (1946) is an early Ashton masterpiece, and a breathtaking, abstract work on the beauty of pure movement. Marguerite and Armand (1963), here danced by former Royal Ballet Principal Zenaida Yanowsky and Guest Artist Roberto Bolle, is a tragic love story of great lyric beauty. The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House is conducted by Emmanuel Plasson. Each of these performances received stellar reviews. "First-rate dancing in an Ashton triple bill that offers comedy, serenity and demi-monde ardour. In one of her final performances as principal, Zenaida Yanowsky gives a tremendously intense and intelligent performance as the tragic courtesan" (The Stage) "A passionate tribute to an all-time genius The Royal Ballet is bringing this season – and its 70th-birthday celebrations – to a close with a perfectly chosen trio of works by its founder choreographer Frederick Ashton (1904-1988), works that remind us just how brightly and variously his genius blazed." (The Daily Telegraph)

"The Essential Opera Collection is an exciting new mid-price series that brings together popular operas and classic productions in simple stylish packaging. The ten launch titles represent the leading opera houses of the world, including The Royal Opera House, Teatro Real, Paris Opera, and The Netherlands Opera. This 19 DVD box set contains the first batch of ten titles at an extremely attractive price. Each title also available separately." - Opus Arte

THE ESSENTIAL OPERA COLLECTION
(19-DVD Box Set)

PUCCINI, G.: Tosca (Teatro Real, 2004)
MOZART, W.A.: Don Giovanni (Teatro Real, 2005)
MOZART, W.A.: Nozze di Figaro (Le) (Paris National Opera, 2006)
VERDI, G.: Rigoletto (Royal Opera House, 2001)
OFFENBACH, J.: Contes d’Hoffmann (Les) (Opera de Bilbao, 2006)
MONTEVERDI, C.: Orfeo (L’) (DNO, 1997)
WAGNER, R.: Walkure (Die) (DNO, 1999)
VERDI, G.: Aida (Liceu, 2003)
VERDI, G.: Trovatore (Il) (Royal Opera House, 2002)
BIZET, G.: Carmen (Glyndebourne, 2002)

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: LPCM 2.0 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish (Carmen, Tosca) + Italian (Don Giovanni, Il Trovatore, Le nozze di Figaro, Les contes d’Hoffmann) + Dutch (L’Orfeo, Die Walkure) + Japanese (Die Walkure) / English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Catalan (Aida) / English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish (Rigoletto)
Running time: 29 hours 18 mins
No. of DVDs: 19

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

Ariane et Barbe-bleue makes its premiere on Blu-ray.

Stéphane Denève is universally acclaimed for his interpretation of French repertoire.

This is the twelfth release from the Liceu-Opus Arte partnership.

Dukas's opera Ariane et Barbe-bleue, based on Maeterlinck's symbolist version of the classic tale, sees free spirit Ariane become the sixth wife of the infamous Barbe-bleue, who gives his new bride seven keys to seven doors, but prohibits the use of the last. Ariane discovers an array of glittering jewels behind the first six doors, but a terrifying reality awaits her as she unlocks the seventh.

José van Dam is cast as the villainous Barbe-bleue, while taking on the immensely demanding role of Ariane - who does not leave the stage throughout the entire opera - is American soprano Jeanne-Michèle Charbonnet.

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Reviews:

Charbonnet copes well with the extreme demands of Ariane, while Patricia Bardon is excellent as the nurse and it is wonderful to have Jose van Dam for Barbe-Bleu's handful of lines. Most of all, Stéphane Denève's pacing and handling of orchestral texture are spot-on.

– BBC Music Magazine

Charbonnet stands up remarkably well to the role's non-stop demands. As her nurse, Patricia Bardon is admirable in a role she has rather made her own on stage and disc. Dukas's opera deserves to be heard.

– Gramophone

Paul Dukas
ARIANE ET BARBE-BLEUE

Barbe-Bleue – José van Dam
Ariane – Jeanne-Michèle Charbonnet
Nurse – Patricia Bardon
Sélysette – Gemma Coma-Alabert
Ygraine – Beatriz Jiménez
Mélisande – Elena Copons
Bellangère – Salomé Haller
Alladine – Alba Valldaura

Liceu Grand Theater Chorus and Orchestra
Stéphane Denève, conductor

Claus Guth, stage director

Recorded live at Gran Teatre del Liceu, June and July 2011

Picture format: 1080i High Definition
Sound format: LPCM Stereo 2.0 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Catalan, Japanese
Running time: 120 mins
No. of Disc: 1 (Bl-ray)

Paul Dukas
ARIANE ET BARBE-BLEUE

Barbe-Bleue – José van Dam
Ariane – Jeanne-Michèle Charbonnet
Nurse – Patricia Bardon
Sélysette – Gemma Coma-Alabert
Ygraine – Beatriz Jiménez
Mélisande – Elena Copons
Bellangère – Salomé Haller
Alladine – Alba Valldaura

Liceu Grand Theater Chorus and Orchestra
Stéphane Denève, conductor

Claus Guth, stage director

Recorded live at Gran Teatre del Liceu, June and July 2011

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: LPCM Stereo 2.0 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Catalan, Japanese
Running time: 120 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

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

Also available on standard DVD

This new release from Opus Arte is a live recording from the Glyndebourne Opera House, Lewes, taken in October of 2015, of the first ever professional UK staging of Donizetti’s Poliuto. This masterpiece is rarely performed, but is nevertheless a masterwork that shows the magnanimous genius of this bel canto opera composer. The exhilarating American tenor Michael Fabiano sings the role of Poliuto, and fellow world-class singers Ana Maria Martinez and Igor Golovatenko round out a spectacular cast. “Every now and then the world of opera unearths a forgotten masterpiece […] Poliuto needs at least three world-class singers, and Glyndebourne has them” (What’s on Stage) Extra features include “Passion & Faith: Preparing for a UK premiere” and “Love & Opression: An interview with Mariame Clement.”

Picture Format: 16:9, 1080p HD
Sound Formats: LPCM 2.0, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Region Code: 0 (Worldwide)
Subtitles: English, French, German, Japanese, Korean
Running Time: 117 mins, 15 mins (Bonus)

Also available on Blu-ray

This new release from Opus Arte is a live recording from the Glyndebourne Opera House, Lewes, taken in October of 2015, of the first ever professional UK staging of Donizetti’s Poliuto. This masterpiece is rarely performed, but is nevertheless a masterwork that shows the magnanimous genius of this bel canto opera composer. The exhilarating American tenor Michael Fabiano sings the role of Poliuto, and fellow world-class singers Ana Maria Martinez and Igor Golovatenko round out a spectacular cast. “Every now and then the world of opera unearths a forgotten masterpiece […] Poliuto needs at least three world-class singers, and Glyndebourne has them” (What’s on Stage) Extra features include “Passion & Faith: Preparing for a UK premiere” and “Love & Opression: An interview with Mariame Clement.”

Picture Format: 16:9
Audio Formats: PCM 2.0, DTS 5.0
Subtitles: English, French, German, Japanese, Korean
Region Code: 0 (Worldwide)
Running Time: 117 mins, 15 mins (Bonus)

Stuffed peacocks, mirrored floors strewn with flower petals, mirrored walls that alter perspective, background arches that can serve as either monastic or regal, the inevitable modern chairs (sets by Vincent Lemaire), and a blaze of colors in both costumes (by Christian Lacroix) and lighting (by Guido Levi) keep this production of Donizetti’s 1840 La favorite–complete and in the original French, and directed ordinarily by Vincent Broussard–interesting to look at. In fact, it is all so visually beautiful, and so frequently changes hue, that the rather hand-to-heart, falling-to-the-knees behavior of the soloists does not seem such a bore. Given the look, it’s not clear exactly during what era this story is supposed to unfold–but who cares? It looks great and works on its own terms.

Broussard has the rainbow-dressed, frilly courtiers move at a snail’s pace, which adds a nice creepiness to the proceedings, and Alphonse’s clear refusal to cringe at the priest Balthazar’s warning and malediction near the end of Act 2 (Act 1 in this production) by kissing Léonor brutally until they’re both on the ground is very effective. Precisely why, in the last act, Fernand has a modern suitcase that glows gold in the dark is anyone’s guess–as is Léonor’s last-act costume, which, though indescribable, makes her look like a poorly wrapped gift. She doesn’t die at the end, by the way; she merely walks backward through the arches and fades into the distance. Meaning?

The sincerity of the cast and the singing make up for any eccentricities or deficiencies in the direction or production. As Léonor, mezzo Kate Aldrich is wonderful, throwing herself into the role of the misused “favorite” of the King with gusto, singing with warm but exciting tone. The voice is even throughout, and after a couple of moments of wavering pitch early on, her big Act 3 aria is the showpiece it should be, and her final-act duet with Fernand is deeply moving.

Chinese tenor Yijie Shi, having learned the role in a few weeks when the designated tenor cancelled, is remarkable. He looks anywhere between 15 and 20 years of age, but the voice is splendid–ringing, pure, easily produced, used with nuance and superb attention to the text. His high notes are true and fearless. He acts as well as he can–he looks genuinely horrified and bruised, not to mention confused, a good deal of the time–and it would be wonderful if his career continued healthily on this path: he had been singing mostly Rossini prior to this engagement, and Fernand is not a light role. (Aldrich was a substitute for the tedious Sophie Koch, so we win all around.)

Ludovic Tézier is a splendid Alphonse–nasty, selfish, and singing with big, rounded tone. As Balthazar, the priest who supposedly gives comfort and threatens damnation almost simultaneously, Giovanni Furlanetto doesn’t quite have the voice–the tone itself lacks authority and he lacks the sepulchral low notes required for the part. The others in the cast are excellent. Chorus and orchestra sing and play wonderfully for Antonello Allemandi, who, while clearly knowing the score, occasionally allows the niceties in late-Donizetti to go by unspotted in favor of a razzmatazz reading. It’s exciting, however, and few will complain.

The only competition on video is a 1953 film starring Sophia Loren (I don’t know who does the singing, but I also don’t care) and a “private” 1971 production from Japan, in Italian, somewhat cut and visually murky, starring a blazing Fiorenza Cossotto and Alfredo Kraus, which is in a different category, really. It’s a good thing this new DVD is as good as it is–it fills a gap. The only bonus is a cast gallery and the booklet lacks track listings and timings. Subtitles are in European languages and Korean, Chinese, and Japanese.

-- Robert Levine, ClassicsToday.com

Also available on Blu-ray

Gaetano Donizetti
DON PASQUALE

Don Pasquale – Alessandro Corbelli
Norina – Danielle de Niese
Malatesta – Nikolay Borchev
Ernesto – Alek Shrader
A Notary – James Platt
Servant – Anna-Marie Sullivan

Glyndebourne Chorus
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Enrique Mazzola, conductor

Mariame Clément, stage director

Recorded live at the Glyndebourne Festival, 2013

Bonus:
- Behind the Curtain
- Danielle de Niese introduction
- Staging the Opera
- Cast gallery

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: LPCM 2.0 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, French, German, Korean
Running time: 128 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

Also available on standard DVD

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

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: 1080i High Definition
Sound format: LPCM Stereo 2.0 / DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles (bonus): English, French, German, Spanish
Running time: 83 mins (ballet) + 30 mins (bonus)
No. of Discs: 1 (BD 50)