Die Frau ohne Schatten

Richard Strauss Die Frau ohne Schatten opera to a libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Directed 2011 by Jonathan Kent at the Mariinsky Theater in Saint Petersburg. Stars Avgust Amonov (Emperor), Mlada Khudoley (Empress), Edem Umerov (Barak), Olga Sergeeva (Barak's Wife), Olga Savova (Nurse), Evgeny Ulanov (Messenger of the Spirits), Liudmila Dudinova (Guard of the Entrance of the Temple), Alexander Timchenko (Vision of a Boy), Tatiana Kravtsova (Voice of the Falcon), and Lydia Bobokhina (Heavenly Voice). Valery Gergiev conducts the Mariinsky Orchestra. Production designs by Paul Brown; lighting by Tim Mitchell; video and projection designs by Sven Ortel and Nina Dunn; choreography by Denni Sayers. Directed for TV by Henning Kasten. Released 2013, 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.