Mahler Symphony No. 8 "Symphony of a Thousand"

Mahler Symphony No. 8 ("Symphony of a Thousand"). Riccardo Chailly conducts 2011 the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig as well as the MDR Rundfunkchor, the Chor der Oper Leipzig, the GewandhausChor, the Thomanerchor Leipzig, and the GewandhausKinderchor (Chorus Masters Howard Arman, Georg Christoph Biller, Frank-Steffen Elster, Gregor Meyer, and Volkmar Olbrich). Soloists are Erika Sunnegårdh (soprano), Ricarda Merbeth (soprano), Christiane Oelze (soprano), Lioba Braun (alto), Gerhild Romberger (alto), Stephen Gould (tenor), Dietrich Henschel (baritone), and Georg Zeppenfeld (bass). Directed for TV by Michael Beyer; produced by Paul Smaczny. Released 2011, 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.