Mozart Le nozze di Figaro opera to libretto by Lorenza da Ponte. Directed 2012 by Michael Grandage at Glyndebourne. Stars Sally Matthews (Countess Almaviva), Audun Iversen (Count Almaviva), Vito Priante (Figaro), Lydia Teuscher (Susanna), Isabel Leonard (Cherubino), Ann Murray (Marcellina), Andrew Shore (Bartolo), Sarah Shafer (Barbarina), Colin Judson (Don Curzio), Alan Oke (Don Basilio), and Nicholas Folwell (Antonio). Robin Ticciati conducts the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Glyndebourne Chorus (Chorus Master Jeremy Bines). Film directed by François Roussillon; produced by George Bruell and Toni Hajal. Released 2013, has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreMahler Symphonies 1-10 box set. This box has all the Mahler symphonies plus Totenfeier and Das Lied von der Erde. The concerts were performed 2009 - 2011 by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Mariss Jansons and several guest conductors. The discs in this box are not sold separately.
Grade for the box as a whole: D.
Read MoreRossini La Cenerentola to libretto by Jacopo Ferretti. Directed 2009 by Sharon Thomas at the Met. Stars Elīna Garanča, Lawrence Brownlee, Simon Alberghini, Alessandro Corbelli, Rachelle Durkin, Patricia Risley, and John Relyea. Maurizio Benini conducts the Met Orchestra and Chorus. Produced by Cesare Lievi; sets and costumes by Maurizio Balo. Released 2013, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreR. Strauss Ariadne auf Naxos opera to libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Directed 2012 by Philippe Arlaud at the Baden-Baden Festival. Stars René Fleming (Ariadne/Primadonna), Eike Wilm Schutte (Ein Musikleher), Sophie Koch (Der Komponist), Robert Dean Smith (Bacchus/Der Tenor), and Jane Archibald (Zerbinetta). Christian Thielemann directs the Staatskapelle Dresden. Set and lighting design by Philippe Arlaud; costume design by Andrea Uhmann; directed for TV by Brian Large. Released 2013. Grade: NA
Read MoreVerdi La Traviata opera to a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. Directed 2007 by Karl-Ernst Herrmann and Ursel Herrmann at the Teatro Regio di Parma Verdi Festival. Stars Svetla Vassileva (Violetta Valery), Daniela Pini (Flora Bervoix), Antonella Trevisan (Annina), Massimo Giordano (Alfredo Germont), Vladimir Stoyano (Giorgio Germont), Gianluca Floris (Gastone), Armando Gabba (Barone Douphol), Filippo Polinelli (Marchese D’Obigny), Roberto Tagliavini (Dottore Grenvil), Iorio Zennaro (Giuseppe), Roberto Scodura (Un Domestico di Flora), and Matteo Mazzoli (Un Commissionario). Yuri Termirkanov conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Regio di Parma (Chorus Master Martino Faggiani). Set, costume, and lighting design by Karl-Ernst Herrmann. Directed for TV by Tiziano Mancini. Sung in Italian. Released 2013, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreVincenzo Bellini Beatrice di Tenda opera to a libretto by Felice Romani. Directed 2010 by Henning Herman Brockhaus at the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania. Stars Michele Kalmandi, Dimitra Theodossiou, José Maria Lo Monaco, Alejandro Roy, Michele Mauro, and Alfio Marletta. Antonio Pirolli conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro Massimo Bellini (Chorus Master Tiziana Carlini). Sets and lighting by Henning Herman Brockhaus; costumes by Giancarlo Colis (who also assisted in set design); assistant director and choreographer was Emma Scialfa; video director was Matteo Ricchetti. Released 2013, disc has dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreJohn Adams Nixon in China opera to a libretto by Alice Goodman. Directed 2011 by Peter Sellars at the Metropolitan Opera. Stars singers (order of appearance) Russell Braun (Chou En-lai), Ginger Costa-Jackson (Nancy Tang, First Secretary to Mao), Teresa S. Herold (Second Secretary to Mao), Tamara Mumford (Third Secretary to Mao), James Maddalena (Richard Nixon), Janis Kelly (Pat Nixon), Richard Paul Fink (Henry Kissinger), Robert Brubaker (Mao Tse-tung), and Kathleen Kim (Chiang Ch'ing [Madame Mao Tse-tung]), as well as dancers Haruno Yamazaki and Kanji Segawa. John Adams (the composer) conducts the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Chorus (Chorus Master Donald Palumbo), and Ballet. Produced by Peter Sellars; set design by Adrianne Lobel; costume design by Dunya Ramicova; lighting design by James F. Ingalls; choreography by Mark Morris; sound design by Mark Grey. Released 2012, disc has Dolby TrueHD 24-bit sound. Grade: A-
Read MoreGiselle ballet. Music by Adolphe Adam to libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges & Théophile Gautier. Choreography by Marius Petipa. Staged 2006 by Peter Wright at the Royal Opera House. Stars Alina Cojocaru (Giselle), Johan Kobborg (Count Albrecht), Marianela Nuñez (Myrtha), Martin Harvey (Hilarion), Richard Ramsey (Wilfred), Sandra Conley (Berthe), David Drew (Duke of Courland), Genesia Rosato (Bathilde), Alastair Marriott (Leader of the Hunt), Laura Morera, Ricardo Cervera, Gemma Sykes, Victoria Hewitt, Bennet Gartside, Kenta Kura (Pas de Six), Deirdre Chapman (Moyna), and Isabel McMeekan (Zulme) as well as artists of the Royal Ballet. Boris Gruzin conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House (Concert Master Sergey Levitin). Design by John Macfarlane; lighting by Clare O'Donoghue based on Jennifer Tipton; staging by Christopher Carr; TV direction by Ross MacGibbon. Released 2009, disc has 5.0 PCM sound. Grade: A-
Read MoreGiselle ballet. Music by Adolphe Adam to libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges & Théophile Gautier. Choreographed by Patrice Bart and Eugène Polyakov based on Petipa tradition and performed 2006 at the Opéra National de Paris, Palais Garnier. Stars Laëtitia Pujol, Nicolas Le Riche, Marie-Agnès Gillot, Wilfried Romoli, Richard Wilk, Natacha Quernet, Danielle Doussard, Stéphane Elizabé, Myriam Ould-Braham, Emmanuel Thibault, Emilie Cozette, and Laura Hecquet. Paul Connelly directs the Orchestre de l'Opéra National de Paris. Sets by Alexandre Benois realized by Silvano Mattei; costumes by Benois realized by Claudie Gastine; lighting realized by Marc Anrochte; directed for TV by François Roussillon. Released 2012, disc has 7.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A+
Read MoreThe Flames of Paris ballet. Music by Boris Asafiev. Book by Alexander Belinsky and Alexei Ratmansky based on a libretto by Nikolai Volkov and Vladimir Dmitriev. Directed and choreographed 2010 by Alexei Ratmansky (after Vasily Vaynonen) at the Bolshoi Ballet. Stars Natalia Osipova, Denis Savin, Ivan Vasiliev, Yuri Klevtsov, Nina Kaptsova, Anna Antonicheva, and Ruslan Skvortsov. Pavel Sorokin conducts the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra. Scenography by Ilya Utkin and Evgeny Monakhov; costumes by Yelena Markovskaya; lighting by Damir Ismagilov; produced by François Duplat and Antoine Perset; directed for TV and video by Vincent Bataillon. Released 2010, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A
Read MoreNutcracker ballet. Music by Tchaikovsky. Original choreography by Helgi Tomasson. Performed 2007 by the San Francisco Ballet at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House. Stars Elizabeth Powell (Clara), Davit Karapetyan (Nutcracker Prince), Damian Smith (Uncle Drosselmeyer), David Arce (Mouse King), Yuan Yuan Tan (Snow Queen), Pierre-François Vilanoba (Snow King), Vanessa Zahorian (Sugar Plum Fairy), Maria Kochetkova (Grand Pas de Deux Ballerina), Nicolas Blanc (Chinese Man); and Sarah Van Patten (Genie). Martin West conducts the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. Set design by Michael Yeargan; costumes by Martin Pakledinaz; lighting by James F. Ingalls; projection designs by Wendall K. Harrington. Directed for film by Matthew Diamond; Audio Producer was Adam Abeshouse; Executive Producer was Havid Horn. Disc has especially valuable extras. Released in 2009, disc has 5.0 PCM sound. Grade: A+
Read MoreBritten Peter Grimes opera to a libretto by Montagu Slater. Directed 2012 by Richard Jones at the Teatro alla Scala. Stars John Graham-Hall (Peter Grimes), Susan Gritton (Ellen Orford), Christopher Purves (Captain Balstrode), Felicity Palmer (Auntie), Ida Falk Winland (Niece), Simona Mihai (Niece), Peter Hoare (Bob Boles), Daniel Okulitch (Swallow), Catherine Wyn-Rogers (Mrs. Sedley), Christopher Gillett (Horace Adams), George Von Bergen (Ned Keene), Stephen Richardson (Hobson), and Francesco Malvuccio (Boy). Robin Ticciati conducts the Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala (Choras Master Bruno Casoni). Sets and costumes by Stewart Laing; lighting by Mimi Jordan Sherin; movement direction by Sarah Fahie; directed for TV by Patrizia Carmine. Released 2013, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreHaydn Orlando Paladino opera to libretto by Nunziano Porta. Directed 2009 by Nigel Lowery and Amir Hosseinpour at the Staatsoper unter den Linden, Berlin. Stars Marlis Petersen, Tom Randle, Pietro Spagnoli, Magnus Staveland, Sunhae Im, Alexandrina Pendatchanska, Victor Torres, and Arttu Kataja. René Jacobs conducts the Freiburger Barockorchester. Set and costume design by Nigel Lowery. Directed for TV by Andreas Morell; produced by Paul Smaczny. Released 2013, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreBruckner Symphony No. 4 ("Romantic") and Symphony No. 7 concert. Christian Thielemann conducts the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra at Baden-Baden (No. 4 in 2009 and No. 7 in 2007). Directed for TV by Agnes Méth. Released 2013, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreTchaikovsky Eugene Onegin opera to libretto by the composer and K. Shilovsky based on the verse novel by Alexander Pushkin. Directed 2011 by Mariusz Treliński at the Paleau De Les Arts Valencia. Stars Kristine Opolais, Lena Belkina, Artur Ruciňski, Dmitri Korchak, Günther Groissböck, Helene Schneiderman, Margarita Nekrasova, Emilio Sánchez, Aldo Heo, and Simon Lim. Omer Meir Wellber conducts the Orquestra and Cor de la Generalitat Valenciana. Choreography by Emil Wesolowski. Released 2013, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
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