I due Foscari — HDVDARTS

Verdi I due Foscari opera to a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. Directed by Thaddeus Strassberger in 2015 at the Royal Opera House. Stars Plácido Domingo (Francesco Foscari), Francesco Meli (Jacopo Foscari), Maria Agresta (Lucrezia Contarini), Maurizio Muraro (Jacopo Loredano), Samuel Sakker (Barbarigo), Rachel Kelly (Pisana), Lee Hickenbottom (Fante), and Dominic Barrand (Servant of the Doge). Antonio Pappano conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House (Concert Master Peter Manning) and the Royal Opera Chorus (Chorus Director Renato Balsadonna). Set designs by Kevin Knight; costume design by Mattie Ullrich; lighting by Bruno Poet. Directed for TV by Jonathan Haswell. Sung in Italian. Released 2016, disc has the screen5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

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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.