Tributes - Pulse motion picture, a "requiem for the 20th century." Bill Morrison, New York based, made the video. He uses black and white images of decomposing nitrate film which he alters as original art and a sobering segment he photographed himself with crude SD gear (from a helicopter) of a Staten Island salvage yard for decommissioned tugboats and ferries. Simon Christensen wrote the music. It's performed by a group called Kundi Bombo. This band has three members: Christina Åstrand playing violin; Peter Navarro-Alonso playing soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones; and Christensen himself on percussion, zither, and electronics. There is no text for this movie. There is a dense, abstruse keepcase booklet in English only. Released 2011, disc has 7.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: B
Read MoreThe Verdi Opera Selection box set. This box set contains three titles released individually by Arthaus Musik: La Traviata, Simon Boccanegra, and Aida. We have previously put up basic information for all these titles and have graded one, La Traviata, which we gave a B+. All indications are that the other two titles are perfectly decent. We can think of no reasons for Arthaus Musik to package these three titles together other than to offer a discounted price. For example: the box set is available for €43.00. To purchase all three titles indivdually would total €127.00)
Read MoreGiovanni Battista Pergolesi La Salustia opera after an anonymous adaptation of Apostolo Zeno's Alessandro Severo. Directed 2011 by Juliette Deschamps at the Teatro G.B. Pergolesi, Jesi, as part of the Fondazione Pergolesi Spontini Music Festival. Stars Vittorio Prato (Marziano), Serena Malfi (Salustia), Laura Polverell (Giulia), Florin Cezar Ouatu (Alessandro), Giacinta Nicotra (Albina), and Maria Hinojosa Montenegro (Claudio). Corrado Rovaris conducts the Accademia Barocca de I Virtuosi Italiani. Sets by Benito Leonori; costumes by Vanessa Sannino, lighting by Alessandro Carsetti; directed for TV by Tiziano Manchini. Released 2013, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreRichard Strauss Elektra opera to a libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Original stage production by Herbert Wernicke (died 2002) as restaged 2010 by Bettina Göschl at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. Stars Linda Watson (Elektra), Jane Henschel (Klytämnestra), Manuela Uhl (Chrysothemis), René Kollo (Aegisth), Albert Dohmen (Orest), Andreas Hörl (Orest''s Tutor), Jörg Schneider (Young Servant), Carsten Sabrowski (Old Servent), Irmgard Vilsmaier (Overseer), Constance Heller, Nina Amon, Hermine Haselböck, Katrin Adel, Bernarda Bobro (Maidservants), Iwona Sakowicz (Trainbearer), and Catherine Veillerobe (Confidante). Christian Thielemann conducts the Münchner Philharmoniker with the Philharmonia Chor Wien (Chorus Master Walter Zeh). Stage adaptation by Frank Kuhlmann and Christoph Lettow; costumes by Dorothee Melzer; lighting by Felix Kirchhofer and Christian Kass; video direction by Andreas Morell. Released 2010, has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A+
Read MoreShakespeare As You Like It play. Directed 2009 by Thea Sharrock at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, London. Stars Brendan Hughes (Duke Frederick), Naomi Frederick (Rosalind/Ganymede), Laura Rogers (Celia/Aliena), Dominic Rowan (Touchstone), Gregory Gudgeon (Le Beau), Sean Kearns (Charles), Philip Bird (Duke Senior), Tim McMullan (Jaques), Peter Gale (Amiens), Jamie Parker (Oliver), Jack Laskey (Orlando), Trevor Martin (Aham), Michael Benz (Silvius), Jade Williams (Phebe), Sophie Duval (Audrey), and Ewart James Walters (Hymen) plus musicians Rob Millett, Ben Grove, Tracy Holloway, David Powell and Dai Pritchard. Designs by Dick Bird; music composed by Stephen Warbeck; choreography by Fin Walker; fights directed by Kevin McCurdy; musical direction by Rob Millet; film direction by Kriss Russman and produced by James Whitbourn. Released 2010, this disc has 5.1 dts Master Audio Grade: A+
Read MoreVerdi Alzira opera to a libretto by Salvadore Cammarano. This is considered Verdi’s least performed opera. For the Tutto Verdi project, C Major presents this concert staging in lieu of an actual performance. Andreas Leisner provided the scenic concept for the concert in 2012 at the Grand Hotel Dobbiaco, Italy as part of the Alto Adige Festival. Stars Junko Saito (Alzira), Francesco Facini (Alvaro), Thomas Gazheli (Gusmano), Joshua Lindsay (Ovando), Ferdinand von Bothmer (Zamoro), Yasushi Hirano (Ataliba), Anna Lucia Nardi (Zuma), and Joe Tsuchizaki (Otumbo). Gustav Kuhn conducts the Orchestra Haydn di Bolzano e Trento & the Istituto Corale ed Orchestrale di Dobbiaco (Chorus Master Marco Medved). Directed for TV by Tiziano Mancini. Sung in Italian. Released 2012, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreVerdi I masnadieri opera to a libretto by Andrea Maffei. Directed 2012 by Gabriele Lavia at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples. Stars Giacomo Prestia, Aquiles Machado, Artur Ruciński, Lucrecia Garcia, Walter Omaggio, Dario Russo, and Massimiliano Chiarolla. Nicola Luisotti conducts the San Carlo Theater Orchestra and Chorus (Chorus Master Salvatore Caputo). Set design by Alessandro Camera; costume design by Andrea Viotti; lighting design by Carlo Netti; directed for video by Annalisa Buttò. Released 2012, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
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Verdi Macbeth opera to a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. Directed 2006 by Liliana Cavani at the Teatro Regio di Parma Verdi Festival. Stars Leo Nucci (Macbeth), Enrico Iori (Banco), Sylvie Valayre (Lady Macbeth), Roberto Iuliano (Macduff), Tiziana Tramonti (Dame di Lady Macbeth), Nicola Pascoli (Malcolm), Enrico Turco (Il Medico), Davide Ronzoni (L'Araldo), Riccardo di Stefano (Un Domestico) and Noris Borgogelli (Il Sicario or Assassin). Bruno Bartoletti conducts the Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Regio di Parma (Chorus Master Martino Faggiani). Sets by Dante Ferretti; costumes by Alberto Verso; lighting by Sergio Rossi; choreography by Amedeo Amodio. Directed for TV by Andrea Bevilacqua. Sung in Italian. Released 2012, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
This was recorded in 2006, which makes it pretty old from our perspective. So the question is whether there is enough quality in the recording to benefit from Blu-ray. Here's an interesting YT clip from the Tutto Verdi Project that's worth while even though it's not in HD:
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Rossini Adelaide di Borgogna opera to a libretto by Giovanni Federico Schmidt. Directed 2011 by Pier’ Alli at the Rossini Opera Festival, Pesaro. Stars Daniela Barcellona (Ottone), Jessica Pratt (Adelaide), Bogdan Mihai (Adelberto), Nicola Ulivieri (Berengario), Jeannette Fischer (Eurice), Francesca Pierpaoli (Iroldo), and Clemente Antonio Daliotti (Ernesto). Dmitri Jurowski conducts the Orchestra and Coro de Teatro Comunale di Bologna (Chorus Master Lorenzo Fratini). Piano continuo by Sabrina Avantario; cello continuo by Sara Nanni. Set, costumes, and lighting by Pier’ Alli; video projections by Unità C1. Directed for TV by Tiziano Mancini. Released 2013, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreGluck Iphigénie en Aulide opera to a libretto by Leblanc du Roullet and Iphigénie en Tauride opera to a libretto by Nicolas-François Guillard. Directed 2011 by Pierre Audi at De Nederlandse Opera, the two related operas are presented as a double feature:
1. Iphigénie en Aulide stars Véronique Gens (Iphigénie), Salomé Haller (Diane), Nicolas Testé (Agamemnon), Anne Sofie von Otter (Clytemnestre), Frédéric Antoun (Achille), Martijn Cornet (Patrocle), Christian Helmer (Calchas), and Laurent Alvaro (Arcas).
2. Iphigénie en Tauride stars Mireille Delunsch (Iphigénie), Laurent Alvaro (Thoas), Jean-François Lapointe (Oreste), Yann Beuron (Pylade), and Salomé Haller (Diane).
Marc Minkowski conducts Les Musiciens du Louvre Grenoble & Chorus of De Nederlandse Opera (Chorus Director Martin Wright). Sets by Michael Simon; costumes by Anna Eiermann, lighting by Jean Kalman; dramaturgy by Klaus Bertisch; directed for TV by Misjel Vermeiren. Released 2013, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreBerliner Philharmoniker 3D in Singapore concert. Simon Rattle conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker in the Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances and Mahler Symphony No. 1. This disc was published by EuroArts. It isn't easy to tell from the PR or the package, but this disc plays in 2D or 3D. This title was released previously by EMI Classics in a version intended for the Japanese market that also could be viewed in 2D or 3D. Subject disc is intended for western audiences; we assume it is the same as the EMI version except for language dress and artwork. Released 2013, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. We reviewed the EMI version. We never reviewed subject EuroArts disc. We assume the two recordings are the same and give subject disc the same grades we gave the EMI edition: 2D Grade: C- 3D Grade: D
Nobuyuki Tsujii - Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 and Shostakovich Symphony No. 14 concert. (The real name of this title is Nobuyuki Tsujii at White Nights.) Nobuyuki Tsujii plays piano and Valery Gergiev conducts the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra at the 2012 White Nights Festival. Here's the program:
1. Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1
2. Rachmaninov Prelude in G sharp minor
3. Tsujii Elegy for the Victims of the Tsunami of March 11, 2011
4. Tchaikovsky "November" from The Seasons
5. Shostakovich Symphony No. 14
Singers are Olga Sergeyeva (soprano) and Yuri Vorobiev (bass). Released 2013, disc has 5.1 Dolby Digital sound. Grade: NA
Read MorePuccini Turandot opera to a libretto by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. Directed 2012 by Graeme Murphy at the Melbourne Arts Centre. Stars Susan Foster, Rosario La Spina, Hyeseoung Kwon, Jud Arthur, Shane Lowrencev, Andrew Moran, Graeme Macfarlane, David Corcoran, and Benjamin Rasheed. Andrea Licata conducts the Orchestra Victoria, the Opera Australia Chorus, and the Opera Australia Children’s Chorus. Choreography by Graeme Murphy; set and costume designs by Kristian Fredrikson; lighting by John Drummond Montgomery; audio direction by Tony David Gray. Directed for TV by Cameron Kirkpatrick; Chris Yates was Production Executive; Sam Russell was Producer. Sung in Italian. Released 2013, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A
Read MoreBruckner Symphony No. 4 concert. Part of the BrucknerMature Symphonies series by Accentus. Daniel Barenboim conducts the Staatskapelle Berlin at the Philharmonie Berlin in 2010. Directed for TV by Andreas Morell; produced by Paul Smaczny. Released 2013, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
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