Opera

A warhorse in excellent performance but problematic production [SB]

Very well performed and beautifully presented recording of Barber’s Romantic opera [NB]

If you are curious about Rossini’s version of Otello then you will not go far wrong with this Naxos recording [RH]

(Déjà Review) I just couldn’t stop playing this disc which is not surprising given that Freni has one of the finest soprano voices I have ever heard [MC]

An idiomatic, well focused and vigorous performance [JS]

(Déjà Review) A glorious disc! [OL]

A lukewarm achievement at best [MP]

(Déjà Review) A major triumph [RC]

(Déjà Review) A glorious reading becomes all the more appealing in its newest incarnation [ST]

(Déjà Review) All lovers of elegant stylish Mozart singing should lend an ear to this disc [GF]

(Déjà Review) Three magnificent works, superbly performed and recorded [WH]

Déjà Review) Noseda conducts intelligently, sensitively, with full structural awareness of the dramatic trajectory [CC]

by Ralph Moore

(Déjà Review) Renée Fleming triumphs but this Covent Garden production is less than perfect [IL]

A curious conflation of rural folktale and Symbolist myth in a compelling, convincing performance [NB]

(Déjà Review) A terrific Elektra to which I will, without doubt, return [GF]

Halévy’s neglected colossus arrives on Blu-ray with fine singing, but in a somewhat muddled staging [DHa]

(Déjà Review) A knock-out from the very first bars of the overture [GF]

Superbly produced and significant period opera with much to commend it [DC]

A fitfully interesting, ultimately disappointing Don Giovanni from Barrie Kosky [DHa]

(Déjà Review) Strongly competitive in a hotly contested field [BW]

The only recording of Rangström’s opera, best enjoyed whilst closely following the libretto [EJW]

A classic recording, which captures the spirit of the opera superbly [GPu]

One of Vivaldi’s best operas receives a recording which succeeds in most regards [MP]