Warner Classics — New Titles/Journal

Angels Sing --- Libera in America boys' choir concert. Recorded live in August 2014 at The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC. Singers are Marc Alvares, Shay Balsekar, Henry Barrington, Anthony Blake, Ciaran Bradbury-Hickey, Tiarnan Branson, Gabriel Collins, Kavana Crossley, Thomas Delgado-Little, Ben Fairman, Daniel Fontannaz, Alex Gula, Matthew Jansen, Timothy Lee, Sam Leggett, Isaac London, Matthew Madine, Eoghan McCarthy, Alessandro Mackinnon-Botti, Michael Menezes, Alex Montoro, Sammy Moriarty, Jakub Niedermaier-Reed, Rocco Tesei, Cassius O'Connell-White, Matthew Rangel-Alvares, Bertramo Smart, Camden Stewart, Sam Wiggin, and Lucas Wood. Robert Prizeman directed and conducted the Libera choir and a chamber orchestra assembled for this event. Music produced and mixed by Sam Coates, Ian Tiley, and Robert Prizeman. There is also a short feature about the choir and the trip to America. Produced by Daniel Hart, John Rexroad, and Steven Philipp. There is no credit for the video on the keepcase or in the keepcase booklet. There are no subtitles for the music or for short comments made by the boys during the performance. The music was recorded using 48kHz/24-bit sound sampling. Released 2015, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound output. Grade: D+

Verdi Les vêpres siciliennes opera to libretto by Charles Duveyrier and Eugène Scribe. Directed 2013 by Stefan Herheim at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. Stars Lianna Haroutounian (Hélène), Bryan Hymel (Henri), Michael Volle (Guy de Montfort), Erwin Schrott (Jean Procida), Neal Cooper (Thibault), Jihoon Kim (Robert), Jean Teitgen (Le Sire de Béthune), Jeremy White (Le Comte de Vaudemont), Nicholas Darmanin (Daniéli), Michelle Daly (Ninetta), and Jung Soo Yun (Mainfroid). Antonio Pappano conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House (Concert Master Vasko Vassilev) and Royal Opera Chorus (Chorus Director Renato Balsadonna). Set design by Philipp Fürhofer; costume design by Gesine Völlm; lighting design by Anders Poll; dramaturgy by Alexander Meier-Dörzenbach;choreography by André de Jong. Directed for TV by Rhodri Huw. Sung in French. Released 2015, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A

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.