Videos
Bizet: Carmen (Château de Versailles Spectacles)
Two decent principal singers adrift in a sea of poor voices – a dispiriting issue [RMo]
Beethoven: Symphonies 4 & 5 (ICA Classics)
(Déjà Review) Anyone with an interest in Munch and his magnificent Boston band will find this DVD fascinating [TP]
Donizetti: Roberto Devereux (Dynamic)
A fine production of one Donizetti’s strongest operas [RWe]
Bjarnason: The Grotesque & The Sublime (Sono Luminus)
New Music from Iceland will both chill you and burn you up [PH]
Braunfels: Die Vögel (Arthaus Musik)
(Déjà Review) A superb recording that merits the highest praise [RC]
Beethoven: Symphonies 4-6 (C major)
(Déjà Review) Eminently worth your while, especially if you want to hear a somewhat different take on these Beethoven warhorses [RC]
Strauss: Intermezzo (Naxos)
Richard Strauss’s domestic drama powerfully reimagined by Tobias Kratzer [DHa]
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde (Arthaus Musik)
(Déjà Review) A very likeable performance [GF]
Talbot: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Opus Arte)
Alice remains a sheer delight 15 years later, and is now available in high definition [MP]
Galuppi: L’Olimpiade (Dynamic)
(Déjà Review) A desirable acquisition for lovers of baroque opera [GF]
Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Opus Arte)
Get a Blu-ray player and buy this [JWn]
Bartok: Piano Concerto 2 & Mahler: Symphony 5 (C major)
Bronfman excels in Bartók, Nelsons indulges in Mahler [LW]
Berg: Violin Concerto & Mahler: Symphony 4 (Unitel)
Good seats for a fine Salzburg Festival concert at a fraction of the price [WH]
Offenbach: Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Unitel Editions)
A challenging production, but very rewarding if you give it a go, and the singing is sensational [ST]
Prokofiev: The Gambler (Unitel Edition)
Prokofiev’s masterly opera about greed and desperation is presented in brilliant performances and a fine if somewhat controversial production [RC]
Rossini: Adina (C Major)
A sprightly, colourful rendition of a little-known opera, essential for all Rossini fans [CRo]
Strauss: Salome (Opus Arte)
(Déjà Review) I’ll be coming back to this again and again [ST]
Kenneth MacMillan (choreographer) Celebrated (Opus Arte)
Three one-act ballets in very fine performances [RMay]
The Alchemy of the Piano (Naxos)
A revealing and well-structured exploration of the power, flexibility and communicativeness of the piano [MS]
Donizetti: Zoraida di Granata (Dynamic)
A classy production of an unfamiliar opera with a more than respectable cast of singers [MP]
Verdi: I Vespri Siciliani (Dynamic)
(Déjà Review) A generally well sung performance in the composer’s home town should be watched by opera producers as well as Verdi lovers [RJF]
Prokofiev: War and Peace (BSO Recordings)
An interpretation of Prokofiev’s epic for our times [DHa]
Verdi: Macbeth (C Major)
A mediocre staging of Verdi’s first Shakespearean opera [DHa]
Prokofiev: The Stone Flower (VAI)
(Déjà Review) You must have this very idiomatic performance and production if you have any liking for Prokofiev’s music [RB]
