Tristan und Isolde

Wagner Tristan und Isolde opera to libretto by the composer. Directed 2007 by Nikolaus Lehnhoff at Glyndebourne. Stars Robert Gambill (Tristan), Nina Stemme (Isolde), Katarina Karnéus (Brangäne), Bo Skovhus (Kurwenal), René Pape (King Marke), Stephen Gadd (Melot), Timothy Robinson (Young Sailor/Shepherd), and Richard Mosley-Evans (Steersman). Jiří Bělohlávek conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra (Lieder Pieter Schoeman) and the Glyndebourne Chorus (Chorus Master Thomas Blunt). Set design by Roland Aeschlimann; costume design by Andrea Schmidt-Futterer; lighting design by Robin Carter with Roland Aeschlimann. Directed for TV by Thomas Grimm; TV and video producer was Ferenc Van Damme; executive producer was Hans Petri. Sung in German. Released 2009, 2-disc set has 5.0 Dolby True-HD sound. Grade: B-

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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.