Ariadne auf Naxos

Alert dated Jan. 20, 2020: Mystery title! Shot 2014, this was set for release in September 2019, but this was delayed until sometime in 2020.

Richard Strauss Ariadne auf Naxos opera to libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Directed 2014 by Sven-Eric Bechtolf at the Wiener Staatsoper. Stars Soile Isokoski (Primadonna/Ariadne), Sophie Koch (Der Komponist), Jochen Schmeckenbecher (Ein Musiklehrer), Johan Botha (Ein Tenor/Bacchus), Daniela Fally (Zerbinetta), Adam Plachetka (Harlekin), Carlos Osuna (Scaramuccio), Jongmin Park (Truffaldin), Benjamin Bruns (Brighella), Norbert Ernst (Ein Tanzmeister), Peter Matić (Der Haushofmeister), Macus Pelz (Ein Lakai), Won Cheol Song (Ein Perückenmacher), Dániel Lökös (Ein Offizier), Valentina Nafornița (Najade), Rachel Frenkel (Dryade), and Olga Bezmertna (Echo). Christian Thielemann conducts the Orchestra of the Wiener Staatsoper. Set design by Rolf Glittenberg; costume design by Marianne Glittentberg; lighting design by Jürgen Hoffmann. Directed for TV by Robert Gummlich. Released 2019, 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.