Aida — HDVDARTS

Verdi Aida opera to libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Directed 2006 by Franco Zeffirelli at the Teatro alla Scala. Stars Violeta Urmana (Aida), Roberto Alagna (Radamès), Ildiko Komlosi (Amneris), Giorgio Giuseppini (Ramfis), Carlo Guelfi (Amonastro), Marco Spotti (The King), Antonello Ceron (Messenger), and Sae Kyung Rim (Priestes) in singing roles. Dancers from the Teatro alla Scala Ballet are Luciana Savignano, Roberto Bolle, and Myrna Kamara. Riccardo Chailly directs the Orchestra e coro del Teatro alla Scala (Chorus Master Bruno Casoni). Sets by Franco Zeffirelli; costumes by Maurizio Millenotti; lighting by Gianni Mantovanini; choreography by Vladimir Vassiliev. Directed for TV by Patrizia Carmine. Released 2008, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: B

Sorry, no decent YouTube clip for this older title. Also, Presto appears not to have this in Blu-ray.

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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.