Fidelio — HDVDARTS

Beethoven Fidelio opera (1814 version) to libretto by Joseph Ferdinand von Sonnleithner, Stephan von Breuning, and Georg Friedrich Treitschke. Directed 2008 by Katharina Thalbach at the Zurich Opera House. Stars Krešimir Stražanac (Don Fernando), Lucio Gallo (Don Pizarro), Roberto Saccà (Florestan), Melanie Diener (Leonore/Fidelio), Alfred Muff (Rocco), Sandra Trattnigg (Marzelline), Christoph Strehl (Jaquino), Bogusław Bidziński (First Prisoner), and Morgan Moody (Second Prisoner). Bernard Haitink conducts the Zurich Opera Orchestra with the Zurich Opera Chorus, Supplementary Chorus, Youth Chorus, and Extras Association (Chorus Master Ernst Raffelsberger). Set design by Ezio Toffolutti; lighting by Hans-Rudolf Kunz. Directed for TV by Felix Breisach. Sung in German. Released 2010, disc has 5.0 dts Digital Surround sound. Grade: B-

Wonk Gordon Smith and his OperaDou jury gave this Fidelio a B-.

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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.