The Cunning Little Vixen

Janáček The Cunning Little Vixen opera to libretto by the composer. Directed by Laurent Pelly in 2009 at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Stars Quinn Kelsey (Gamekeeper), Judith Christin (Gamekeeper's Wife, Owl), Isabel Bayrakdarian, Dennis Petersen (Schoolmaster, Mosquito), Kevin Langan (Parson, Badger), Gustláv Belácek (Harašta), Frederico Lepre (Pásek, Innkeeper), Marcella Polidori (Páskova, Innkeeper's Wife), isabel Bayrakdarian (Bystouška, the Vixen), and Lauren Curnow (Fox). Seiji Ozawa conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Chorus Master Piero Monti). Sets by Barbara de Limburg Stirum; costume design by Laurent Pelly; choreography by Lionel Hoche; lighting by Peter van Praet. Sung in Czech. Released 2013, disc has 5.1 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.