Prokofiev The Fiery Angel opera to libretto by the composer. Directed 2019 by Emma Dante at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. Stars Leigh Melrose (Ruprecht), Ewa Vesin (Renata), Anna Victorova (The Landlady), Mairam Sokolova (Fortune-teller/Mother Superior), Sergey Radchenko (Agrippa of Nettesheim), Andrii Ganchuk (Johann Faust/The Servant), Maxim Paster (Mephistopheles), Goran Jurić (The Inquisitor), Domingo Pellicola (Jacob Glock), Petr Sokolov (Mathias Wiessman), Murat Can Güvem (The Doctor), Timofei Baranov (The Innkeeper), Arianna Morelli (First Nun), and Emanuela Luchetti (Second Nun). Alejo Pérez conducts the Orchestra del Teatro dell’Opera di Roma and the Coro del Teatro dell’Opera di Roma (Chorus Master Roberto Gabbiani). Set design by Carmine Maringola; costume design by Vanessa Sannino; choreography by Manuela lo Sicco; lighting design by Cristian Zucaro; fight direction by Sandro Maria Campagna. Directed for TV by Carlo Gallucci. Sung in Russian. Released 2021, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A

The libretto of The Fiery Angel opera is based on the eponymous novel by Valery Bryusov (1873-1924), whose portrait is seen below left. Valery was in love with Nina Petrovskaya (1879-1928), also a writer, seen on the right. Nina was in love with Andrei Bely (1880-1934), yet another writer, seen below in the chair. Eventually Nina took up with Valery, but she remained in love with Andrei. Valery poured out his frustration about this . . .

Mozart La finta giardiniera opera (composed at age 18) to a libretto possibly from Giuseppe Petrosellini. Directed by Frederic Wake-Walker at the Teatro alla Scala in 2018 (reviving his 2014 production at Glyndebourne). Stars Julia Martin du Theil (La Marchesa Violante or Sandra in disguise), Bernard Richter (Il Contino Belfiore), Krešimir Špicer (Don Anchise), Anett Fritsch (Arminda), Lucia Cirillo (Il Cavalier Ramiro), Giulia Semenzato (Serpetta), and Mattia Olivieri (Nardo). Diego Fasolis directs the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala on period instruments; fortepiano by James Vaughan; harpsichord by Paolo Spadaro. Set and costume designs by Antony McDonald; lighting by Lucy Carter. Directed for TV by Daniela Vismara. Sung in Italian. Released 2001, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

This is our third Finta in Blu-ray. It’s a 3 act work, but it seems to divide into two halves: the first half is set in the house of the town mayor, Don Anchise. The second half begins when all the characters find themselves lost in the woods. Our earliest Finta, from Opernhaus Zürich, has an hilarious first half, but the second half gets boring. Our second Finta, from Opéra de Lille, starts off weak, but is delightful in the second half. Let’s hope this Glyndebourne production revived in Milan is good all the way through . . .

Puccini La Bohème opera to libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica. Directed 2012 by Stefan Herheim at the Oslo Opera House. Stars Diego Torre (Rodolfo), Marita Sølberg (Mimì), Vasilij Ladyuk (Marcello), Jennifer Rowley (Musetta), Giovanni Battista Parodi (Colline), Espen Langvik (Schaunard), and Svein Erik Sagbråten (Benoît / Parpignol / Alcindoro / Toll Gate Keeper / Death). Eivind Gullberg Jensen conducts the Norwegian National Opera Orchestra, the Norwegian National Opera Chorus, and the Norwegian National Opera Children’s Chorus. Set and costume design by Heike Scheele; lighting design by Anders Poll; dramaturgy by Alexander Meier-Dörzenbach. Directed for TV by Stein-Roger Bull. Sung in Italian. Released 2022, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: B+

A Blu-ray of this performance was originally published by Electric Picture. (See images 3 and 4 in the gallery above.) I Electric Picture no longer exists, and Naxos purchased the right to publish this recording.

Gordon Smith (our first wonk) showed the original Electric Picture version to his friends on the much celebrated L’ OperaDou Jury . . .

Bellini I Capuleti e i Montecchi opera to a libretto by Felice Romani. Directed 2015 by Arnaud Bernard at Teatro La Fenice in Venice. Stars Jessica Pratt (Giulietta), Sonia Ganassi (Romeo), Rubén Amoretti (Capellio), Shalva Mukeria (Tebaldo), and Luca Dell’Amico (Lorenzo). Omer Meir Wellber conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro La Fenice. Set design by Alessandro Camera; costume design by Carla Ricotti; lighting design by Fabio Barettin. Directed for TV by Stéphane Vérité. Sung in Italian. Released 2022, disc has PCM stereo audio output. Grade: NA

"Pag and Cav" opera double feature directed and staged 2019 by Robert Carson at the Dutch National Opera:

• First plays the Ruggero Leoncavallo Pagliacci to a libretto by the composer. Stars Roman Burdenko (Tonio), Ailyn Pérez (Nedda), Brandon Jovanovich (Canio), Marco Ciaponi (Peppe), and Mattia Olivieri (Silvio).

• Then plays the Pietro Mascagni Cavalleria rusticana to libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzeti and Guido Menasci. Stars Anita Rachvelishvili (Santuzza), Rihab Chaieb (Lola), Brian Jagde (Turiddu), Roman Burdenko (Alfio), and Elena Zilio (Mamma Lucia).

Lorenzo Viotti conducts the Netherlands Philharmonica Orchestra, the Chorus of the Dutch National Opera (Chorus Master Ching-Lien Wu), and the Nieuw Amsterdams Kinderkoor (Chorus Master Anaïs De La Morandais. Set design by Rudu Boruzescu; costume design by Annemaria Woods; lighting design by Robert Carson and Peter von Praet; choreography by Marco Berriel; dramaturge was Ian Burton. Directed for TV by François Roussillon. Sung in Italian. Released 2021, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

We already have 5 HDVDs of the traditional “Cav and Pag” with their of slice-of-life “verismo” stories set in small towns in Italy. But director Carsen switches the customary order making this a “Pag and Cav” in a setting stripped of local color . . .

Chaya Czernowin Heart Chamber opera to a libretto by the composer. Directed 2019 by Claus Guth at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Stars Patrizia Ciofi (She), Noa Frenkel (Her Internal Voice), Dietrich Henschel (He), Terry Wey (His Internal Voice), Frauke Aulbert (The Voice), and Uli Fussenegger (The Double Βass Player). Johannes Kalitzke conducts the Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Ensemble Nikel Vocal Ensemble. Set and costume design by Christian Schmidt; video design by rocafilm; live electronics by SWR Experimentalstudio. The opera lasts 87 minutes and a feature film, I Did Not Rehearse to Say I Love You lasts 86 minutes as an extra feature. Opera and film both directed by Uli Aumüller. Sung in English. Released 2021, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

We have a few truly avant-garde modern operas in Blu-ray by composer like Unsuk Chin and now, Chaya Czernowin. Here is a comment about Heart Chamber from Tim Rutherford-Johnson that was included in the program notes at the world premiere in Berlin in 2019 . . .

Bizet Carmen opera to libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. Directed 2009 by Adrian Noble at the Opéra Comique. Stars Anna Caterina Antonacci (Carmen), Andrew Richards (Don José), Anne-Catherine Gillet (Micaëla), Nicolas Cavallier (Escamillo), Virginie Pochon (Frasquita), Annie Gill (Merédès), Matthew Brook (Zuniga), Riccardo Novaro (Moralès), Françis Dudziak (Le Dancaïre); Vincent Ordonneau (Le Remendado), and Simon Davies (Lillas Pastia). Sir John Eliot Gardner conducts the Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, the Monteverdi Choir, and the Maîtrise des Hauts-de-Seine (Chorus Master Gaël Darchen). Set and costume design by Mark Thompson; lighting design by Jean Kalman; movement collaborator was Sue Lefton. Directed for TV by François Roussillon. Sung in French. Released 2021, disc has 5.0 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

This video harks back to 2009, and it was published in 2010 by FRAmusica (with the eye-catching cut-through keepcase cover), but in DVD only. Critics reviewing the disc were favorable even while they ranked it as runner-up to the famous Covent Garden Blu-ray of Carmen that had come out in 2008 with Antonacci and Kaufman.