Monteverdi Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria opera to a libretto by Giacomo Badoaro. Co-directed 2017 by Sir John Eliiot Gardiner and Elsa Rooke at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. Stars Furio Zanasi (Ulisse), Lucile Richardot (Penelope), Krystian Adam (Telemaco), Hana Blažíková (Minverva / Fortuna), Gianluca Buratto (Tempo / Nettuno / Antinoo), Michał Czerniawski (Pisandro), Gareth Treseder (Anfinomo), and Zachry Wilder (Eurimaco). Sir John Eliot Gardner conducts the English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir. Lighting design by Rick Fisher; costumes by Patricia Hofstede and Isabella De Sabata. Directed for TV by Sébastien Glas. Sung in Italian. Released 2022, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: D
This is a “staged” concert version of Il ritorno d’ulisse in patria. It’s not an opera performance. We ran into somethings similar in 2021 with the three Mozart/Da Ponte operas in concert versions presented by Harnoncourt. Concert versions of operas can be thrilling for opera experts. But they would be unsatisfactory if you want to see an actual opera. This website is aimed at folks just getting into the fabulous world of fine arts on HDVDs, so we only review real opera performances. We give a D to the staged concerts. This doesn’t mean the performance is bad. It just means “don’t buy this unless you have a special reason.”
Read MoreDer Messias oratorio concert. This is the Handel Messiah (1741) arranged by Mozart (K. 572 from 1789) with the Jennens English compilation of biblical texts translated into German by Christoph Daniel Ebeling and Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock. Directed during Mozartwoche 2020 by Robert Wilson at the Haus für Mozart in Salzburg. Stars Elena Tsallagova (Soprano), Wiebke Lehmkhul (Alto), Richard Croft (Tenor), José Coca Loza (Bass), Alexis Fousekis (Dancer), Max Harris (Old Man), and Leopoldine Richards (A Child). Marc Minkowski conducts Les Musiciens du Louvre and the Philharmonia Chor Wien (Chorus Master Walter Zeh). Set and lighting design by Robert Wilson; costume design by Carlos Soto; co-stage designer was Nicola Panzer; co-set designer was Stephanie Engeln; co-lighting designer was John Torres; video design by Tomasz Jeziorski; make-up design by Manuela Halligan; dramatic advisor was Konrad Kuhn. Directed for TV by Tiziano Mancini. Sung in German. Released 2020, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A+
Introduction
The main theme of this review is an examination of the Robert Wilson “anti-Freud” concept of the unconscious mind. This review also reports on what appears to be the only modern recording available new from a trusted label of Handel’s Messiah as arranged by none other that Wolfgang Mozart (K. 572)!
Read MoreWhat’s the best Blu-ray of the 1711 opera Rinaldo by Handel? In December 2021, we have 3 versions. Two are graded A+. Another graded C+ is also worth watching. It’s remarkable how different the 3 versions are:
Pizzi. The most successful production of Rinaldo in history would be by director Pier Luigi Pizzi dating back to 1985. It’s been revived many times, and we have a 2020 version in a splendid, efficient Blu-ray recording by Tiziano Mancini published by Dynamic. Trimmed down to about 2 hours, it will appeal both to traditionalists and to those interested in maximum visual impact in opera productions. We graded this A+.
Carsen. A completely different A+ Rinaldo was directed by Robert Carsen at Glyndebourne in 2011. Few of us have been in military combat. But all of us remember the horrors of getting through the 8th grade. So Carsen sets his show in a middle school where our hero, after being bullied, gets glorious revenge . . ..
Read MoreHandel and Leonardo Leo Rinaldo opera to a libretto by Aaron Hill. This is the 1718 Naples version of Rinaldo as reconstructed by Giovanni Andrea Sechi. Directed 2018 by Giorgio Sangati at the Palazzo Ducale, Martina Franca, as part of the Festival della Valle d’Itria. Stars Carmela Remigio (Armida), Francisco Fernández-Rueda (Goffredo), Loriana Castellano (Almirena), Teresa Iervolino (Rinaldo), Francesca Ascioti (Argante), Dara Savinova (Eustazio), Valentina Cardinali (Lesbina), Simone Tangolo (Nesso), Dieli Hoxha (Argante’s Herald), Kim-Lillian Strebel (Spirit in the guise of a woman), and Ana Victória Pitts (Wiseman). Also features mimes Alessio Arzilli, Andrea Bellacicco, Alessandro Colaninno, Cristiano Parolin, Marco Risiglione, and Jacopo Sorbini. Fabio Luisi conducts the Orchestra La Scintilla. Set design by Alberto Nonnato; costume design by Gianluca Sbicca; lighting design by Paolo Pollo Rodighiero. Directed for TV by Matteo Ricchetti; sound recorded by Rino Trasi and Giuseppe Famularo. Sung in Italian. Released in 2019, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: C+
Read MoreHandel Rinaldo opera to a libretto by Giacomo Rossi. Directed 2011 by Robert Carsen at Glyndebourne. Stars Sonia Prina (Rinaldo), Anett Fritsch (Almirena), Luca Pisaroni (Argante), Brenda Rae (Armida), Varduhi Abrahamyan (Goffredo), Tim Mead (Eustazio), William Towers (Christian Magus), Oliver Mercer (Herald), Rhian Lewis (Woman), plus Charlotte Beament and Rebecca van den Berg (Sirens). Ottavio Dantone conducts the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (Leader Matthew Truscott). Harpsichord continuo Bernard Robertson; cello continuo Jonathan Manson; double bass continuo Chi-chi Nwanoku; theorbo continuo Elizabeth Kenny). Design by Gideon Davey; lighting by Robert Carson and Peter van Praet; movement direction by Philippe Giraudeau; dramaturgy by Ian Burton. Directed for TV by François Roussillon; sound supervision by Jean Chatauret. Good extras. Sung in Italian. No subtitles in Italian—sad for those learning opera Italian. Released in 2012, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A+
Read MoreMonteverdi L'incoronazione di Poppea opera to a libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello. Directed by John Eliot Gardiner Elsa Rooke at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. Stars Hana Blažíková (Poppea/Fortuna), Kangmin Justin Kim (Nerone), Marianna PIzzolato (Ottavia), Gianluca Buratto (Seneca), Carlo Vistoli (Ottone), Anna Dennis (Drusilla/Virtú/Pallade), and Lucile Richardot (Arnalta/Venere). John Eliot Gardiner conducts the English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir. Lighting design by Rick Fisher; costume design by Patricia Hofstede and Isabella de Sabata. Sung in Italian. Released 2022, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: D
Read MoreVerdi La forza del destino opera to libretto by Francesco Piave. Directed 2021 by Carlus Padrissa (of La Fura dels Baus) at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Stars Saioa Hernández (Leonora), Roberto Aronica (Don Alvaro), Amartuvshin Enkhbat (Don Carlo di Vargas), Annalisa Stroppa (Preziosilla), Ferruccio Furlanetto (Padre Guardiano), Nicola Alaimo (Fra Melitone), Alessandro Spina (Il Marchese di Calatrava), Leonardo Cortellazzi (Mastro Trabuco), Valentina Corò (Curra), Francesco Samuele Venuti (Un Alcalde), and Roman Lyulkin (Un chirurgo). Also stars extras Elena Barsotti, Maria Diletta Della Martina, Maria Novella Della Martira, Sara Silli, Giampaolo Gobbi, Emanuele Marchetti, Alessio Nieddu, and Gaetano Tizzano. Zubin Mehta conducts the Orchestra e Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Chorus Master Lorenzo Fratini). Features chorus soloists Ferruccio Finetti, Leonardo Melani, and Luca Tamani. Assistant direction by João Aboim Carvalho; set design by Roland Olbeter; assistant set designer was Esterina Zarrillo; costume design by Chu Uroz; light and video design by Franc Aleu. Directed for TV by Tiziano Mancini; video production by Metis; recording, editing, and post-production by MASClassica Audio Recording, Claudio Speranzini, and Antonio Martino. Sung in Italian. Released 2022, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreBrahms Double Concerto for Violin and Cello concert. Performed 2016 at the Semperoper Dresden. Christian Thielemann conducts the Staatskapelle Dresden. Features violinist Lisa Batiashvili and cellist Gautier Capuçon. Here is the program:
Brahms Double Concerto for Violin & Cello
Erwin Schulhoff— Zingaresca movement from Duo for Violin and Cello
Tchaikovsky Romeo & Juliet ‘Fantasy Overture’ (Third Version)
Liszt Les Préludes (Symphonic Poem No. 3)
Directed for TV by Beatrix Conrad. Released 2021, disc has 5.0 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreFranco Alfano Risurrezione opera to libretto by Cesare Hanau after the novel by Leo Tolstoy. Directed 2020 by Rosetta Cucchi at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Stars Anne Sophie Duprels (Katerina Mihaylovna [Katyusha]); Matthew Vickers (Prince Dimitri Ivanovich Nehlyudov); Leon Kim (Simonson); Francesca Di Sauro (Sofia Ivanovna); Romina Tomasoni (Matryona Pavlovna/Anna); Nadia Pirazzini (An Old Maidservant); Ana Victoria PItts (Vera/Korablyova); Barbara Marcacci (Fenyichka); Filomena Pericoli (The Hunchback); Nadia Sturlese (The Redhead); Silvia Capra (A Woman); Lisandro Guinis (Kritzlov/Second Peasant); Gabriele Spina (Chief Guard); Giovanni Mazzei (Guard); Nicolò Ayroldi (Train-station Officer); Nicola Lisanti (Officer/First Peasant); Egidio Massimo Naccarato (Muzhik); Antonio Montesi (Cossack); Giulia Bruni (Fedia); Delia Palmieri (First Prisoner); Monica Marzini (Second Prisoner); Giovanna Costa (Third Prisoner); as well as Livia Sponton, Sabina Beani, Katja Da Sarlo, and Nadia Pirazzini (Other Prisoners). Francesco Lanzillotta conducts the Orchestra e Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Chorus Master Lorenzo Fratini). Staging by the Wexford Festival Opera; sets by Tiziano Santi; costumes by Claudia Pernigotti; lighting by Ginevra Lombardo (based on original designs by D. M. Wood). Directed for TV by Davide Mancini; video editing by Metis; audio recording by Claudio Speranzini and Antonio Martino of MASClassica Audio Recording. Sung in Italian. Released 2021, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreFrancesco Cavalli Ercole Amante opera to libretto by Francesco Buti. Directed 2019 by Valérie Lesort and Christian Hecq at the Opéra Comique in Paris. Stars Nahuel di Pierro (Ercole ) Anna Bonitatibus (Giuone), Giuseppa Bridelli (Deianira), Francesca Aspromonte (Iole), Kystian Adam (Hyllo), Eugénie Lefebvre (Pasithea/Clerica/Terza Grazia/Secondo Pianeta), Ray Chenez (Il Paggio), Giulia Semenzato (Venere/Bellezza/Cinzia), Luca Tittoto (Nettuno/Eutyro), and Dominique Visse (Licco). Raphaël Pichon conducts the Choir and Orchestra Pygmalion. Set design by Laurent Peduzzi; costume design and machinery by Vanessa Sannino; lighting design by Christian Pinaud; movement collaboration by Rémi Boissy; puppets by Carole Allemand, Sophie Coeffic, and Valérie Lesort. Directed for TV by François Roussillon. Sung in Italian. Released 2021, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound.Grade: NA
Read MoreA Romantic Take concert with pianist Martha Argerich and violinist Guy Braunstein. Performed 2020 at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin. Here is the program:
Schumann Sonata for Violin and Piano in A minor
Prokofiev Sonata for Violin and Piano in D Major
Franck Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major
Kreisler Liebesleid
Kreisler Schön Rosmarin
Released 2021, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Here’s a trailer from EuroArts:
Read MoreTeatro alla Scala Ballets box set released 2021. Below are the discs. All of these titles have already been reported on this website, and you can get more details by using the links provided:
Three of these are solid titles. The Nureyev Don Quixote is weak, but maybe my D+ is too harsh. The Lover’s Garden is clever but a bit lightweight. If you’re starting to buy ballet titles, you may be able to buy the box for about the price of the Prokofiev . . .
Read MoreThe Snow Queen ballet. Music by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, music arrangement by Richard Honner, and choreography by Christopher Hampson. Performed 2019 at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre. Stars Constance Devernay (The Snow Queen), Bethany Kingsley-Garner (Gerda), Andrew Peasgood (Kai), Kayla-Maree Tarantolo (Lexi/The Summer Princess), Bruno Micchiardi (Ringmaster), Grace Horler (Mazelda, the Fortune Teller), and Jerome Anthony Barnes (Zac). Jean-Claude PIcard conducts the Scottish Ballet Orchestra (Leader Justine Watts). Designs by Lez Brotherston; lighting design by Paul Pyant. Directed for TV by Ross MacGibbon. Released 2021, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreMark Adamo Becoming Santa Claus opera to a libretto by the composer. Directed 2015 by Paul Curran at the Winspear Opera House in Dallas, Texas. Stars Jennifer Rivera (Queen Sophine), Jonathan Blalock (Prince Claus), Matt Boehler (Donkey/Messenger), Hila Plitmann (Yan), Lucy Schaufer (Ib), Keith Jameson (Yab), and Kevin Burdette (Ob). Also features dancers Kym Cartwright, Caradee Cline, Jason Fowler, Matt Holmes, Tom Kilps, and Elise Lavallee. Emmanuel Villaume conducts the Dallas Opera Orchestra, with associate conductor Paolo Bressan, handbell director Tim Effler; musical preparation by Kirk Severtson and Christopher Devlin. Choreography by Paul Curran; set and costume design by Gary McCann; lighting design by Paul Hackenmueller: projection design by Driscoll Otto; wig and make-up design by David Zimmerman; assistant director was Opheli Wolf; stage manager was Lisa Marie Lange; assistant stage directors were Katy Reeves and Miranda Wilson. Directed for TV by Aaron Butler. Sung in English. Released 2017, disc has LPCM stereo and 5.1 Dolby Digital sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreRichard Strauss Der Rosenkavalier opera to libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Directed 2020 by André Heller at the Staatsoper Berlin. Stars Camilla Nylund (Feldmarschallin Fürstin Werdenberg), Michèle Losier (Octavian), Nadine Sierra (Sophie), Günther Groissböck (Baron Ochs auf Lerchenau), Roman Trekel (Herr von Faninal), Anna Samuil (Jungfer Marianne Leitmetzerin), Karl-Michael Ebner (Valzacchi), Katharina Kammerloher (Annina), Atalla Ayan (Italian Singer), Erik Rosenius (Ein Polizeikomissar), Florian Hoffmann (Der Haushofmeister bei der Feldarmarschallin), Linard Vrielink (Der Haushofmeister bei Faninal), Jaka Mihelač (Ein Notar), Andrés Moreno Garcia (Ein Wirt), and Victoria Randem (Eine Modistin). Zubin Metha conducts the Staatskapelle Berlin and the Staatsopernchor Berlin (chorus master Anna Milukova). Set design by Xenia Hausner; costume design by Arthur Arbesser; lighting design by Olaf Freese; video design by Günter Jäckle and Philip Hillers. Directed for TV by Felix Breisach. Sung in German. Released 2021, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
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