St. Matthew Passion

Bach St. Matthew Passion oratorio recorded live 2012 at the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. Georg Christoph Biller conducts the Thomanerchor Leipzig and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig (the Leipzig St. Thomas Boys Choir and the Gewandhaus Orchestra). Soloists are Christina Landshamer (soprano), Stefan Kahle (alto), Wolfram Lattke (tenor), Martin Lattke (tenor), Klaus Mertens (bass), and Gotthold Schwarz (bass). Directed for TV by Michaes Beyer; produced by Paul Smaczny. Released 2012, disc has dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

This recording has an extraordinary pedigree. Per Accentus PR, it was in 2012 (probably still is) "the only audio-visual release of Bach's St. Matthew Passion performed by the choir for which it was written, in the St. Thomas Church, Leipzig, where the composer worked and is buried."

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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.