American Bach Soloists — New Titles/Journal

Handel Messiah oratorio to libretto by Charles Jennens (Foundling Hospital Version, 1753). (The actual title of the recording is Handel's Messiah in Grace Cathedral, but we are indexing it simply as Messiah.) Performed Dec. 18 & 19, 2014 by the American Bach Soloists and the American Bach Choir at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco under the baton of Jeffrey Thomas. Stars Mary Wilson (soprano), Eric Jurenas (countertenor), Kyle Stegall (tenor), Jesse Blumberg (baritone), and John Thiessen (trumpet). Stage direction by Philip Daley; the audio recording was produced by Chris Landen; directed for video by Frank Zamacona; produced by Abigal McKee with Don Scott Carpender as Executive Producer. This title has no subtitles in English or in translation. Released in 2016, the disc has a 5.1 dts-HD sound file that was recorded with 96kHz/24-bit sound sampling as well as surround and stereo files recorded at 48kHz/24-bit. Grade: B-

What's New

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.