Aida — HDVDARTS

Verdi Aida opera to libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Directed 2011 by Ferzan Ozpetek at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence. Stars Roberto Tagliavini (Il Re or The King), Luciana D'Intino (Amneris), Hui Hei (Aida), Marco Berti (Ramadès), Giacomo Prestia (Ramfis), Ambrogio Maesti (Amonasro), Saverio Fiore (Messagero), and Caterina Di Tonno (Sacerdotessa or Priestess). Zubin Mehta conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and MaggioDanza (Chorus Master Piero Monti). Sets by Dante Ferretti; costumes by Alessandro Lai; choreography by Francesco Ventriglia; lighting by Maurizio Calvesi; set design management by Italo Grassi. Directed for TV by Emanuele Garofalo. Sung in Italian. Released 2012, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

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Here's news about high-definition video disc ("HDVD") recordings of opera, ballet, classical music, plays, fine-art documentaries, and paintings. In the journal below are independent (and hard-to-find critical) reports on hundreds of HDVDs. Pick the best titles for your excelsisphere.

Feb 25. We have just completed one of our most ambitious reviews: Einstein on the Beach opera, the surreal 4 and 1/2 hour cult legend. Kudos, encomiums, and accolades to Opus Arte for giving us this authoritative and weirdly fascinating recording, which we grade A+. Absorbing and learning Einstein is uniquely challenging. We try to help out by providing aids not included in the keepcase materials: an accurate libretto and a list of segments in the opera with correct Opus Arte time stamps. Good luck!

We have some other good grades with an A for the recent Met The Pearl Fishers (Les pêcheurs de perles) and a B- for an earlier The Pearl Fishers from Naples. Also, we recently gave an A- for the new Don Quixote from the Vienna State Ballet.