Der Rosenkavalier

Richard Strauss Der Rosenkavalier opera to libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Directed 2010 by Brian FitzGerald at the Sydney Opera House. Stars Cheryl Barker (The Feldmarschallin), Catherine Carby (Count Octavian Rofrano), Manfred Hemm (Baron Ochs Auf Lerchenau), Warwick Fyfe (Herr von Faninal), Emma Pearson (Sophie von Faninal), Andrew Brunsdon (Valzacchi), Jacqueline Dark (Annina), and Henry Choo (Italian Singer). Andrew Litton conducts the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra (Concertmaster Aubrey Murphy), Opera Australia Chorus (Chorus Master Michael Black), and Children's Chorus (Chorus Preparation by Anthony Hunt). Rehearsed by Roger Press; designs by Carl Friedrich Oberle; lighting by Nigel Levings. Audio direction by Tony David Cray. Directed for TV by Cameron Kirkpatrick; Production Executive was Chris Yates; Producer was Sam Russell. Sung in German. Released 2013, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

Here's a YouTube clip from a TV broadcast of this production:

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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.