Cavalleria rusticana & Pagliacci

"Cav and Pag" opera double feature directed by Giancarlo del Monaco 2007 at the Madrid Teatro Real:

First plays the Pietro Mascagni Cavalleria rusticana to libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzeti and Guido Menasci. Stars Violeta Urmana (Santuzza), Vincenzo La Scola (Turiddu), Dragana Jugovic (Lola), Viorica Cortez (Mama Lucia), and Marco di Felice (Alfio).
Then follows the Ruggero Leoncavallo Pagliacci to libretto by the composer. Stars Vladimir Galouzine (Canio), María Bayo (Nedda), Carlo Guelfi (Tonio), Antonio Gandía (Beppe), and Ángel Ódena (Silvio).

Jesús López Cobos conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Real. Set design by Johannes Leiacker; costumes by Birgit Wentsch; lighting by Wolfgang von Zoubek; directed for TV by Ángel Ruis Ramirez. Released in 2009, with 5.1 PCM sound. Sung in Italian. For both operas, Grade: A-

Here are clips for both operas:

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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.