Götterdämmerung

Wagner Götterdämmerung to a libretto by the composer. Directed 2013 by Plamen Kartaloff at the Sofia Opera and Ballet, Bulgaria. Stars Kostadin Andreev (Siegfried), Atanas Mladenov (Gunther), Biser Georgiev (Alberich), Petar Buchkov (Hagen), Yordanka Derilova (Brünnhilde), Tsvetlana Bandalovska (Gutrune), Petya Tsoneva (First Norn), Dimitrinka Raycheva (Second Norn / Flosshilde), Flora Tarpomanova (Third Norn), Tsveta Sarambelieva (Waltraute), Milena Gyurova (Woglinde), and Silvia Teneva (Wellgunde). Erich Wächter conducts the Orchestra of the Sofia Opera and Ballet (Concertmaster Maria Evstatieva; Chorus Master Violeta Dimitrova). Assistant direction by Julia Krasteva; multimedia designs by Georgi Hristov and Vera Petrova; set and costume design by Nikolay Panayotov; lighting design by Andrej Hajdinjak. Directed for TV by Ruman Kovachev and Plamen Kartaloff; sound engineer was Yordan Tomov; video editing by Angel Hristov. Sung in German. Released 2022, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio. Grade: D

We are giving a D grade to all 4 of the operas in Wagner’s Der Ring cycle published by the Sofia Opera and Ballet. See our screenshots and discussion of this for the Sofia Das Rheingold. Once again we explain: we don’t think this Ring is competitive—but it’s OK if you have a special reason to be interested in this.

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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.