Dreyer Gaido — New Titles/Journal

Ottorino Respighi Belkis, Queen of Sheba concert film. Directed 2012 by Martin Andersson in Stuttgart. Gabriel Feltz conducts the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker and the Czech Philharmonic Choir, Brno (Choir Master Petr Fiala). Features narratress Julia Jentsch, mezzo soprano Stella Doufexis, and tenor Metodi Morartzaliev. Produced by Martin Andersson, eyecatchproductions, and the Stuttgarter Philhamoniker; published by the Breyer Gaido Music Production Company in Germany. This is a German language product with subtitles in English. Released 2014, disc has 5.1 surround sound (no further details on sound available). The picture format is Cinemascope 1:2.35 to be shown in HD TV in letterbox. Grade: NA

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.