Opus Arte

Cosi Fan Tutte

Opus Arte

$39.99

March 23, 2018

'The school for lovers', Mozart's alternative title for Cos� fan tutte, is given a playful, theatrical treatment by German director Jan Philipp Gloger, who sets this new production for The Royal Opera in a theatre. The four lovers are performed by a cast of young rising stars, with Sabina Puertolas as the fun-loving Despina and acclaimed German baritone and comic genius Johannes Martin Kranzle as the impresario Don Alfonso, who leads the lovers on a role-playing journey full of picturesque settings. Semyon Bychkov conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House in one of Mozart's most beautiful scores, packed with wonderful arias and ensembles. "Ensemble singing is strong; the standout is Daniel Behle's gorgeous tenor as Ferrando. Above all, Semyon Bychkov's impeccable balance and pacing in the pit allows it full space to blossom." (The Independent) "Semyon Bychkov gives an enthralling lesson in Mozart from the outset. Conducting his first Mozart opera in 20 years, he has a style might be said to belong (in the best sense) to the old school. But, Bychkov draws glowingly warm playing, and the textures are lithe and lively. The score's darker colours are all brought out in a performance that bristles with dramatic tension." (The Daily Telegraph)

Cimarosa: Il Matrimonio Segreto / Travis, Fissore

Opus Arte

~~$24.99~~ $21.99

March 27, 2007

CIMAROSA Il matrimonio segreto • Francis Travis, cond; Enrico Fissore ( Geronimo ); Valeria Baiano ( Elisetta ); Antonella Bandelli ( Carolina ); Carmen Gonzalez ( Fidalma ); Roberto Coviello ( Count Robinson ); Paolo Barbacini ( Paolino ); Swiss Italian O • OPUS ARTE 4021 (DVD: 164:00) Live: Lugano 1986

There really should be a video standard to which all companies issuing archival film material on DVDs agree, one that involves a series of clear statements regarding product condition. As it is, we have the Arthaus 1968 Fidelio with Silja I reviewed in Fanfare 32:4, which warned at the film’s start about a deterioration I couldn’t see, and this Il matrimonio segreto from 1986, which provides no warnings at all, but repeatedly suffers from fuzziness in medium-to-distant shots and severe post-image artifacts around moving centers of light, such as candles. As there are numerous candles on the stage in act II, some of them being gestured with during arias and duets, the red blob that swirled around behind these light sources certainly deserved comment on the package.

This isn’t to say the production lacks merit. The singing in general is good. Antonella Bandelli has an exceptionally well-focused tone, with a narrow, quick vibrato. She displays excellent musical sense and breadth of line in “Come tacerlo poi,” the accompanied recitative that hints best at the darker emotions beneath the opera’s elegant surface. Her equal is Valeria Baiano, who doesn’t project quite as well, but delivers an effortless flurry of coloratura in her virtuosic aria, “Se son vendicata.” Roberto Coviello is a bit too dry and baritonal for my liking in the role of the Count, but he delivers the requisite smooth gentility that the role demands. Carmen Gonzalez is the only weak link, with a wide flap in her voice that makes for difficult listening. Paolo Barbacini has trouble with the relatively low top notes in his part, but offers an attractively free, lyrical sound, with good breath support. Unfortunately, his acting is wooden, with gestures and movements frequently appearing a shade too early or too late. By way of contrast, his opposite number is Enrico Fissore, one of those sturdy basses with exceptional acting skills that could hold together a flimsy work with ease, and a stronger one with panache. There are a few too many close-ups that look odd, considering the exaggerated facial expressions used to reach the audience, but he moves with authority and a sense of being completely in character.

The camerawork is otherwise good. This is one of the very few live filmed operatic productions I’ve seen that focuses on the strings or horns during the overture when they are featured—in other words, carefully prepared camerawork based on performance and score. Most stage shots are medium or distant, but even then, the distant shots are mobile enough to concentrate on the singers. My only regret is the level of blur associated especially with facial detail at medium range, as mentioned above.

Director Filippo Crivelli moves his people about with ease, adding stage business that for the most part flows seamlessly into the action. I note two exceptions. The first is the group of four non-singing servants, whose goofy antics and coarse acting reminded me, an ordinarily humane man, of the value of the bastinado. The second was the act II dinner scene for Geronimo, Elisetta, Fidalma, and the Count, in which Carolina pleads for time to get out of being sent to a convent, only to be ignored, ridiculed, or harshly reprimanded. Why is the table set only for four? Why are the first three so suddenly incapable of displaying even the slightest signs of remorse, even as they insist upon Carolina’s departure? Why is the Count, who admires and is infatuated with Carolina, completely stone-faced throughout? As staged, this scene is more appropriate to Rossini’s La cenerentola —and we hate Cinderella’s family in it for good reason, while these people should command our sympathies.

As for the stage design, it is a stylized combination of aqua and turquoise walls with numerous white door flats, their elaborate carvings drawn with charcoal. The props are few, while the costumes are appropriate for period, place, and class. There’s no digital sound, which is hardly surprising, given the performance’s age, but the treble is a bit lacking at the high end. Picture format employs a 4:3 ratio. Subtitles are only available in English, and there were numerous occasions when they dropped out completely for as much as 30 seconds at a time—and not just in arias where repetition was a factor. No synopsis or essay is included, just a list of cuts and timings.

Despite its packaging and audiovisual issues, I liked this version of Il matrimonio segreto . It is sprightly, well sung, and decently acted, with several standout performances. Francis Travis has the style of the work perfectly in hand, and the Swiss Italian Orchestra performs admirably. Don’t let the lack of stars fool you. There’s much to enjoy here.

FANFARE: Barry Brenesal
------------------------------------

Cast:
Enrico Fissore, Valeria Baiano, Antonella Bandelli, Carmen Gonzalez, Roberto Coviello, Paolo Barbacini
Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana / Francis Travis, conductor
Harpsichord-master Marco Balderi
Stage Director Filippo Crivelli

REGIONS: All Regions
PICTURE FORMAT: 4:3
LENGTH: 164 Mins
SOUND: STEREO
SUBTITLES: English

Chopin: La Dame Aux Camelias / Schmidtsdorff, Paris Opera Ballet [Blu-ray]

Opus Arte

$52.99

June 30, 2009

REGIONS: All Regions
PICTURE FORMAT: 1080i
LENGTH: 191 Mins
SOUND: 2.0 & 5.0 PCM
SUBTITLES: ENGLISH/FRENCH/GERMAN/SPANISH/ITALIAN (extra features)
NO OF DISCS: 2

Based on the Alexandre Dumas novel that also inspired the stories of Verdi’s La Traviata and Hollywood’s Moulin Rouge, John Neumeier creates a riveting dance drama around the famous woman of lore, La Dame aux camélias. The passionate tale of Marguerite Gautier and Armand Duval unfolds ingeniously through a drama-within-a-drama as they meet at the theatre during a performance of Manon Lescaut. So begin their romantic adventures in Paris, brought to life by Neumeier’s intense and refined choreographic language. Chopin’s ravishing music highlights this exceptional neo-classical ballet, featuring the star dancers of the Paris Opéra Ballet. This lavish production, filmed live at the Palais Garnier in High Definition and full surround sound, is all about love, passion, danger and glorious dancing from one of the best ballet companies in the world.

Marguerite Gautier: Agnès Letestu
Armand Duval: Stéphane Bullion
Monsieur Duval: Michaël Denard
Prudence Duvernoy: Dorothée Gilbert
Manon Lescaut: Delphine Moussin
Des Grieux: José Martinez
Olympia: Eve Grinsztajn
Gaston Rieux: Karl Paquette
Le Duc: Laurent Novis
Nanine: Béatrice Martel
Le Comte de N.: Simon Valastro

The Paris Opera Ballet
Orchestra of The Opera national de Paris
Conductor: Michael Schmidtsdorff
Stage Director: John Neumeier

Recorded live at the Palais Garnier, Paris, on 2nd, 5th and 8th July 2008.

Plus
Illustrated synopsis.
Cast gallery.
Flashback to the Lady of camellias.

Reviews
‘John Neumeier has created a ballet in which emotions go crescendo … Agnes Letestu, the great dramatic heroine, triumphs in this ballet danced to music by Chopin.’ Figaro

Cavalli: La Didone / Bonitatibus, Spicer, Sabata, Christie

Opus Arte

$34.99

September 25, 2012

Also available on Blu-ray

One of the first operas deserving of the name, Didone is our first surviving musical version of the famous episode in Virgil's Aeneid where the Trojan hero loves and then cruelly leaves the noble Dido. Cavalli learnt at the feet of Monteverdi, and his dramatic transformation of the story is all the more expressive for its intimacy, worthy of the examples set by his master. At the centre of this bold and simple staging – the first opera production by comic actor Clément Hervieu-Léger – is the Queen of Carthage herself, sung with uncompromising intensity by Anna Bonitatibus. William Christie and his singers and players show themselves entirely attuned to the world of Cavalli, where meaning and music fuse.

Didone – Anna Bonitatibus
Enea – Kresimir Spicer
Iarba – Xavier Sabata
Ecuba – Maria Streijffert
Cassandra – Katherine Watson

Les Arts Florissants
William Christie, conductor

Clément Hervieu-Léger, stage director

Recorded live at the Théâtre de Caen, October 2011

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: LPCM 2.0 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, French, German
Running time: 176 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

R E V I E W:

This is the Cavalli DVD to own; it should also appeal to Monteverdi fans.

The recording companies have been doing well by Cavalli; Opus Arte have also given us a good recording of Ercole Amante on DVD and blu-ray (OA1020D/OABD7050D) and Dynamic have recently released CD and DVD/blu-ray recordings of Il Giasone. I enjoyed this new recording of La Didone at least as much as that of Ercole and much more than Il Giasone, where a good set of performances is vitiated for me by an over-busy production - see September Roundup. Fortunately the subject matter of La Didone mostly precludes the foolery which spoiled Il Giasone; even the temporary madness of Iarbas is sensitively handled.

The title might lead you to believe that La Didone covers only the same ground as Purcell’s Dido and Æneas, the fourth book of Virgil’s Æneid, but you’ll see from the inclusion of characters such as Cassandra and Anchises that it begins with the fall of Troy, as narrated in the earlier books of that work. The Prologue and Act 1 are set amid the ruins of Troy, vaguely suggested by the background.

Nor does the work end as you might expect with the death of Dido - instead she marries her long-time suitor Iarbas. There is some small justification for that in that Iarbas is at least mentioned by Virgil as having sought to marry Dido ( Æneid 4.195-218) and by Ovid, though the latter makes him invade Carthage after the death of Dido. Cavalli’s librettist took up the rage which possessed Iarbas on hearing of Dido’s love for Æneas: “protinus ad regem cursus detorquet Iarban/incenditque animum dictis atque aggerat iras.” (soon [the rumour] made its way round to King Iarbas, inflamed his mind with what was being said and stirred up his anger.) In this production the happy ending is sensitively handled, with Dido urged to suicide by the ghost of her husband but saved at the last moment by the fidelity of Iarbas who has been divinely saved from his madness. In this production, though Dido agrees to marry Iarbas, the mood remains sombre, as if she has in fact died spiritually, a neat solution, though one that is somewhat at odds with the words and music of rejoicing at that point:

Godiam dunque godiamo
sereni i dì, e ridenti,
né pur pronunciamo
il nome de’ tormenti.

If that makes it seem as if the librettist had been playing around unduly with Virgil, it’s worth remembering that Purcell’s took equally great liberties in introducing the witches and making Mercury into a creature of theirs. Mercury is in fact a very serious messenger indeed in Virgil, as he is in Cavalli where the use of the epithet pio echoes Virgil’s oft-used epithet pius Æneas, with a stern message from Jupiter to stop womanising and get on with the job of founding the Roman Empire. In another departure from Virgil in la Didone, Æneas’ father Anchises is still alive when they arrive in Carthage.

What Cavalli has taken on in dealing with the fall of Troy and the loves of Dido and Æneas in one opera is certainly daunting; Purcell limited himself to the second half of the story. Berlioz originally had to split the action across two operas, as Colin Davis also did with the Chelsea Opera Group production with which he made his name as a Berlioz interpreter and which was my own introduction to Les Troyens. At almost three hours, La Didone is certainly a work of heavenly length, as, indeed is Ercole Amante, but neither outstays its welcome. It’s a fine work in the tradition of his teacher Monteverdi. The blurb describes it as ‘one of the earliest operas deserving of the name’, which begs the question what the others were, but it certainly fits.
There is an earlier recording, edited and conducted by Fabio Biondi on Dynamic DVD 33537 and CD, CDS537. Like the present recording it was recorded live; with both you have to ignore a certain amount of stage shuffle. We don’t seem to have reviewed it on MusicWeb International but it received a mixed reception elsewhere, largely because of some vocal shortcomings. Try the audio version for yourself if you can from the Naxos Music Library.

There need be no serious reservations about any of the performances on this Opus Arte recording. You can judge for yourself because large chunks of this performance, one of just under an hour - and one of almost two hours - are available on YouTube. Anna Bonitatibus’ performance of Dido’s lament, with French subtitles, is here; neither sound nor picture is much to write home about by comparison with the finished product on DVD and blu-ray but these generous extracts will give you a good idea of the merits not only of her singing but also of the quality of that lament - a serious challenge to Purcell’s When I am laid in earth and even to Monteverdi’s Lamento d’Arianna.

Let me say at the outset that one major recommendation for this production is the lack of gimmicks in the production. All too often recent productions of opera have been spoiled by tomfoolery, such as the shift of the action of the Glyndebourne Rinaldo to a boarding school, thereby diminishing the value of some very good singing. There’s very little of that here, though I’m not sure why Venus has to depart from Troy and arrive in Carthage lugging a modern suitcase, or why Dido from the outset is not wearing the dark mourning clothes which Anna begs her to put aside. Worst of all, though mild by comparison with that Rinaldo, why does the same dead stag grace the stage in Troy and in Carthage? Why a dead stag when the hunters have been exclaiming about catching a boar? It’s handily placed to provide the blood which Dido smears on herself - and, apparently on the conductor during the curtain call.

Anna Bonitatibus as Dido is first-class; her powerful mezzo voice is as resplendent as her wonderful name and Krešimir špicer’s Æneas is hardly far behind - just occasionally I thought that he pushed the tone a little too hard as he was warming up at the start of Act 1. In quieter moments he sounds mellifluous right from the beginning, especially when he bids farewell to Dido. I’d encountered Ms Bonitatibus before as Juno in Ercole Amante and Krešimir špicer as an effective Ulysses in the Virgin Classics DVD of Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse (4906129). They lead a strong cast here and I hope to hear both again.

There are absolutely no weak spots in the singing; the only time I had even the slightest concern was when Francesco Javier Borda as Jupiter failed to be quite convincing with the cruelly deep notes which Cavalli has given him. Otherwise he manages the very different roles of Jupiter and Sinon extremely well, exulting in the wicked deception which he has wrought in the latter role. Cavalli’s audience would be classically savvy enough to recall that he was the inventor of the Trojan horse.

Of the other dual roles, Ascanius and Cupid are required to double by the plot and Terry Wey, boyish in appearance and tone of voice, carries off both excellently. Only the combination of Creusa and Juno is problematic - no sooner have we got used to seeing Tehila Nini Goldstein as the first than she has to change gear considerably as the exulting goddess. Claire Debono doubles Iris in the Prologue and Venus. Having played the former pretty straight, I thought her just a little too coquettish as Venus. That does at least mirror her reputation in the renaissance, as depicted in Boticelli’s Venus and Mars.

One other small reservation concerns Anchises; he’s frequently referred to as decrepit - in Virgil Æneas has to carry him on his back and in Cavalli’s libretto he calls himself decrepito - yet he looks rather too sprightly here. We wouldn’t want him to sing in a comic old-man’s voice - this is La Didone not La Calisto, where Hugues Cuénod had such a field day - so it’s just a convention that we have to respond to with willing disbelief. Similarly, the abruptness of Creusa’s death, her dying exclamation, subsequent ghostly reappearance, and the expiration of Coroebus must be thought of as theatrical conventions just like similar abrupt deaths and reappearances in Jacobean Revenge Plays and Victorian melodrama. By and large, there’s nothing here that has to be taken as convention that we are not likely to find in a Handel opera. There is some scope for comic relief in the form of Iarbas’s madness, but it’s hardly slapstick; it’s less emotive than Vivaldi and Handel were to make the madness of Orlando, and it’s certainly not overdone here. Nor is the brief scene where Neptune grapples with Jupiter for interfering in his domain over-played.

That death of Corœbus gives Cavalli the opportunity to write a lament for Cassandra of a kind beloved of audiences of the day. It provides a foretaste of Dido’s lament later; it was the popularity of Il Lamento d’Arianna that not only saved it when the rest of Monteverdi’s L’Arianna was lost but also led its composer to rejig it as a lament for the Virgin Mary.

William Christie’s direction can almost be taken to guarantee a fine performance and that’s the case here. We see him standing at the outset before quite a large orchestra, in front of a harpsichord. I don’t know how often he plays it, but there seems to be another keyboard in the continuo - it and the other continuo instruments can (just) be heard where it matters and that’s a pleasant change from some modern recordings where the harpsichord might just as well not be there.

The recording sounds well enough as played on television but much better via my audio system. I haven’t seen or heard the blu-ray version, which doubtless improves on the sound and picture of the DVD, but you certainly wouldn’t be in any way disappointed with the latter. The camera-work is mostly unobtrusive; in the brighter lighting of Acts 2 and 3, the chitarrone sticking up into the picture is a little distracting, but it probably could not have been avoided. Just occasionally individual voices catch the microphone less than ideally as the actor moves across the stage; this particularly when heard on headphones. Slightly more often the stage noises are a little distracting, especially when heard in audio only.
The notes are far too minimal - a two-page essay in three languages on the Cavalli revival, but no libretto or even synopsis, just a brief plot outline, which is a serious problem. The subtitles, though good, are no substitute. There’s an online Italian libretto and another with English translation. There are subtitles in English, French and German only; could we not also have had them in the original Italian? The English translation is mainly accurate, though there’s the odd inevitably typo and an occasional questionable translation - why call Giove and Mercurio, the Latin deities, by their Greek names, Zeus and Hermes in the subtitles? When Dido describes herself in the final scene as Iarbas’ ancella e sposa, the first word signifies handmaid or slave, not friend as it’s translated.

As I was tidying up this review I noticed that one music magazine has made this the thoroughly deserved DVD/Blu-ray Recording of the Month, a title which I was also tempted to bestow. If you wish to have only one Cavalli recording in your collection, this would vie strongly for that honour, ahead of Ercole Amante and alongside the inauthentic but hugely enjoyable Raymond Leppard recording of La Calisto (no longer available on CD). You may even find yourself preferring La Didone to Monteverdi.

-- Brian Wilson , MusicWeb International

Cavalli: Ercole Amante / Pisaroni, Cangemi [Blu-ray]

Opus Arte

$52.99

February 23, 2010

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

Also available on standard DVD

CAVALLI, F.: Ercole amante (DNO, 2009) (Blu-ray, HD)

Francesco Cavalli
ERCOLE AMANTE
(Blu-ray Disc Version)

Ercole – Luca Pisaroni
Iole – Veronica Cangemi
Giunone – Anna Bonitatibus
Illo – Jeremy Ovenden
Deianira – Anna Maria Panzarella
Licco – Marlin Miller
Nettuno / Tevere / Spirit of Eutyro – Umberto Chiummo
Bellezza / Venere – Wilke te Brummelstroete
Cinzia / Pasitea / Spirit of Clerica – Johannette Zomer
Mercurio / Spirit of Laomedonte – Mark Tucker
A Page / Spirit of Bussiride – Tim Mead

Netherlands Opera Chorus
Concerto Köln
Ivor Bolton, conductor

David Alden, stage director

Recorded live from the Het Muziektheater, 2009.

Bonus:
- Illustrated synopsis.
- Cast gallery.
- Behind the scenes with Johanette Zomer.
- Behind the scenes with Luca Pisaroni.
- The making of Ercole Amante.

Picture format: 1080i High Definition
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS Surround 5.0
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch
No. of Discs: 1 (BD 50)

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3361140.az_CAVALLI_Ercole_Ivor_Bolton.html

CAVALLI Ercole amante • Ivor Bolton, cond; Luca Pisaroni ( Ercole ); Veronica Cangemi ( Iole ); Jeremy Ovenden ( Hyllo ); Tim Mead ( Paggio/Bussiride ); Anna Maria Panzarella ( Deianira ); Anna Bonitatibus ( Giunone ); Marlin Miller ( Licco ); Concerto Köln; Netherlands Op Ch • OPUS ARTE OA1020D (2 DVDs: 261:00); OA BD7050D (2 Blu-rays: 261:00) Live: Amsterdam 1/2009

Francesco Cavalli lives pretty much in the shadow of his teacher, Monteverdi, whose three operas are frequently performed. Not so with most of Cavalli’s extant works. When you watch the Netherlands Opera production of Ercole amante it becomes clear why performances of this very large work are few and far between. It is a long opera that requires a large cast of singers and dancers. The Netherlands Opera production is truly a labor of love and daring venture.

The basic plot is simple: Hercules wants to bed his son’s girlfriend. His wife, their son, and the girlfriend are not pleased by this. For three hours an assortment of deities and the girlfriend’s deceased father are outraged and conspire against Hercules. Only a few of these ancillary characters support Hercules in his amorous endeavor.

Ercole amante was written to celebrate the marriage of King Louis XIV of France to Marie-Thérèse of Spain. The opera was intended to be a lavish court entertainment; a new theater was built for the occasion. Unfortunately the theater was not completed on time, so the premiere was delayed a year and Cavalli’s opera Xerse was performed instead. The French composer Lully composed dances that were inserted into both of these Cavalli operas. King Louis danced in the opera to the great delight of the audience (did they have a choice?). It is unknown if Louis was aware that the opera was about the abuse of power and that Hercules was a thinly disguised depiction of the King.

The Netherlands Ercole amante is a big-budget production. It employs a large cast, magnificent costuming that is colorful and often whimsical, elaborate scenic effects, and some ingenious motorized props. The staging is very imaginative and cleverly gives the feeling of Baroque opera even when modern elements are incongruously added to the mix. I wasn’t quite as smitten with the scenery. The stage appears to be quite large, a huge expanse to fill. A few of the set pieces are brilliantly colorful with large bold patterns like wallpaper patterns blown up to gigantic proportions. On video they often overwhelm and detract from the performers. This perhaps was caused by the lighting, which I find harsh and too white. Huge shadows are cast on the scenery and occasionally over the performers. This might have been effective in the theater, but with the tight focus of home video it is distracting and sometimes annoying.

Don’t let these quibbles dissuade you from watching this video. The performance is three hours 18 minutes long (plus five minutes of curtain calls) and is never boring. David Aldin’s creative direction and the talented cast bring this very old opera to life with vivid characterizations and ingenious business. There is not a weak or second-rate voice in the cast; everyone (chorus included) is consistently engaged in the drama. A few performers play multiple roles and create individual characterizations for each. Luca Pisaroni is outstanding as King Louis/Hercules. Pisaroni is a slender man who transforms himself into a muscle-bound Hercules by donning a plastic costume piece by piece. Perhaps aided by the limitations of the costume, he struts and swaggers as a bully, but is strangely likable.

Bonus material is available on both discs. On disc 1 is a synopsis of the plot and “cast gallery.” The synopsis runs for 10 minutes; a voice-over narrator tells the story while pictures from the production are shown. It is well worth your time to watch this before watching the opera.

There are three bonus features on the second disc. Singers Johannette Zomer, who plays three comprimario roles, and bass Luca Pisaroni are the subject of bio-pics that run about 10 minutes each. Much longer, and perhaps more interesting, is the 30-minute feature The Making of Ercole amante.

The opera spans both discs: acts I through III on disc 1, acts IV and V on the second. The picture is 16:9 widescreen. There are two sound formats: LPCM stereo and digital surround. Subtitles are available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Dutch. The subtitles (at least in English) alternate between the top and bottom of the screen. The lack of punctuation and splitting sentences into phrases occasionally makes making sense of what is being sung tricky.

If you like Baroque opera, or are looking for an introduction to Cavalli’s under-appreciated works, or just want to see a classy and imaginative opera production, this Netherlands Ercole amante is recommended.

FANFARE: David L. Kirk

Carlos Acosta – Dances Royal Ballet Classics [blu-ray]

Opus Arte

$52.99

September 25, 2015

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

Also available on standard DVD

So memorably described as ‘a dancer who slashes across space faster than anyone else, who lacerates the air with shapes so clear and sharp they seem to throw off sparks’ (Independent), Carlos Acosta has been at the forefront of contemporary ballet since his arrival at the Royal Ballet in 1998. Here he sparkles in three of his most celebrated roles: the young lover Colas in the joyfully bucolic La Fille mal gardée, which received five stars from the Guardian, Times and Mail on Sunday; the innocent but doomed Romeo in Prokofiev’s sumptuously-scored adaptation of Shakespeare’s famous play; and, acting as producer and choreographer for the first time, as Basilio in Don Quixote, a production that wowed audiences thanks to its ‘intelligent’ choreography and Acosta’s ‘titanic determination, bullet-proof charisma [and] delectably trusting and playful rapport’ with co-star Marianela Núñez (Daily Telegraph). These three compelling ballets showcase Carlos Acosta’s world-class reputation as a dancer and choreographer, bolstered by outstanding co-stars and artists of the Royal Ballet. Filmed in High Definition and recorded in true Surround Sound.

CARLOS ACOSTA – Dances Royal Ballet Classics
(3 Blu-ray Disc Box Set)

Ferdinand Hérold
LA FILLE MAL GARDÉE

Lise - Marianela Nuñez
Colas - Carlos Acosta
Widow Simone - William Tuckett
Alain - Jonathan Howells

Royal Ballet
Royal Opera House Orchestra
Anthony Twiner, conductor

Frederick Ashton, choreographer
Osbert Lancaster, set designer

Sergey Prokofiev
ROMEO AND JULIET

Romeo - Carlos Acosta
Juliet - Tamara Rojo
Mercutio - José Martin
Tybalt - Thiago Soares
Nurse - Sandra Conley
Lord Capulet - Christopher Saunders
Lady Capulet - Elizabeth McGorian
Paris - David Pickering
Benvolio - Yohei Sasaki
Royal Ballet
Royal Ballet Sinfonia
Boris Gruzin, conductor

Kenneth MacMillan, choreographer
Nicholas Georgiadis, costume designer
John B. Read, lighting designer

Ludwig Minkus
DON QUIXOTE

Kitri - Marianela Nuñez
Basilio - Carlos Acosta
Don Quixote - Christopher Saunders
Sancho Panza - Philip Mosley
Lorenzo - Gary Avis
Gamache - Bennet Gartside
Espada - Ryoichi Hirano
Mercedes - Laura Morera

Royal Ballet
Royal Opera House Orchestra
Martin Yates, conductor

Carlos Acosta, choreographer (after M
arius Petipa)
Tim Hatley, set and costume designer Hugh Vanstone, lighting designer

Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, 2 February 2005 (La fille mal gardée), 2007 (Romeo and Juliet) and October 2013 (Don Quixote)

Bonus:
- Cast gallery and illustrated synopsis (La fille mal gardée)
- Interviews with cast and crew (Don Quixote)
- Introductions to Acts II and III (Don Quixote)

Picture format: 1080i High Definition
Sound format: LPCM 2.0 (all) / DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (Romeo and Juliet, Don Quixote) / Dolby Digital 5.1 (La fille mal gardée)
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Menu language: English
Subtitles: French, German, Spanish, Italian (La fille mal gardée)
Running time: 6 hrs 15 mins (ballet) + 12 mins (bonus)
No. of Discs: 3 (BD 50)

Britten: The Rape Of Lucretia / Ainsley, Boylan, Bayley, Melrose, Maltman

Opus Arte

~~$34.99~~ $32.99

January 28, 2014

BRITTEN The Rape of Lucretia • Paul Daniel, cond; Sarah Connolly (Lucretia); Christopher Maltman (Tarquinius); John Mark Ainsley (Male Chorus); Orla Boylan (Female Chorus); Clive Bayley (Collatinus); Leigh Melrose (Junius); Catherine Wyn-Rogers (Bianca); Mary Nelson (Lucia); O of the English Natl Op • OPUS ARTE 7135 (Blu-ray: 120:00) Live: Aldeburgh 6/2001

Premiered at Glyndebourne in July of 1946, The Rape of Lucretia was Britten’s first stage work after Peter Grimes, and the first he called a “chamber opera.” It was composed for just eight singers and a chamber ensemble of 12 instrumentalists, but a good performance of Lucretia packs at least as much of an emotional wallop as Peter Grimes or Billy Budd, and this performance is indeed a good one. A mood of dread and tense expectation is established in the opening scene for the Roman generals—Collatinus, Junius, and the depraved Tarquinius—that hardly lets up for the entire work. Four of the singes are truly top-notch: John Mark Ainsley and Orla Boylan as the Male and Female Chorus, Sarah Connolly in the title role, and Christopher Maltman (officially a “Barihunk,” who gets to take his shirt off for the rape scene) portraying Tarquinius. The other singers also cover their roles quite effectively. For example, the peaceful oasis in act I, scene 2, where the servants Bianca and Lucia wordlessly accompany the Female Chorus, is especially lovely.

As is frequently the case for this artist, stage director David McVicar questions, clarifies, and reconsiders. In a brief “Extra Feature,” McVicar explains that he actively rebelled against Britten’s specific instructions that the Male and Female Chorus should comment on the action, but not participate in it. Here, the two interact on stage with the other six singers, which makes the production considerably more theatrical and much less stylized. One reason, McVicar offers, is that Lucretia’s relationship with the Female Chorus can counter the typical “objectification” of the character—we can more easily understand her as something other than a sexual target. Lucretia’s costume is almost frumpish; she’s no fancier in her dress than her servants. She sports a plain, short hairstyle and wears very little jewelry. This wife of a powerful Roman general is certainly no temptress. This effort to de-glamorize the character may further confuse the already confused matter as to why Lucretia feels any sense of blame for her violation, why she won’t accept her husband’s absolution and kills herself. McVicar doesn’t seem to have much trouble with the opera’s “Christian” epilog, which was added (perhaps, it’s been said, at the urging of Peter Pears) to soften the harsh tragedy of Lucretia’s death by invoking the suffering and sacrifice of Christ. The director reminds us that the work was introduced just following World War II, when the world was attempting to come to grips with the senseless horror of the Holocaust. But a listener certainly won’t feel warm and fuzzy after the final blackout: This production maintains plenty of the moral ambiguity inherent to the score and libretto.

In keeping with the modest musical forces employed, Yannis Thavoris’s set and costume design is simple, attempting no profound commentary of its own. The recorded sound is good, with excellent detail to reveal Britten’s imaginative use of the small orchestra. Subtitle choices are English, French, German, Japanese, and Korean.

FANFARE: Andrew Quint

Opus Arte

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