Die Soldaten

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Bernd Alois Zimmerman Die Soldaten opera to a libretto by the composer based on a text by poet Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz. Directed and staged 2012 by Alvis Hermanis at the Salzburg Festival. Stars Alfred Muff, Laure Aikin, Tanja Ariane Baumgartrer, Cornelia Kallisch; Tomasz Konieczny, Renée Morloc, Gabriela Benacková, Matthias Klink, Reinhard Mayr, Daniel Brenna, Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke and Boaz Daniel among a cast of 50 soloists. Ingo Metzmacher directs the Wiener Philharmoniker. Directed for TV by Hannes Rossacher. Sung in German. Released 2012, disc has 5.0 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

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L'elisir d'amore

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Donizetti L'elisir d'amore opera to libretto by Felice Romani. Directed 2009 by Annabel Arden at Glyndebourne. Stars Ekaterina Siurina (Adina), Peter Auty (Nemorino), Alfredo Daza (Belcore), Luciano di Pasquale (Dr. Dulcamara), Eliana Pretorian (Giannetta), and James Bellorini (Dulcamara's Assistant). Maurizio Benini conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra (Leader Pieter Schoeman) and the Glyndebourne Chorus (Chorus Master Thomas Blunt). Designs by Lez Brotherston; lighting by Giuseppe Di Iorio; movement direction by Leah Hausman; TV direction by Robin Lough. Released 2010, this disc has 5.1 dts Master Audio. Grade: A+

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Médée

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Luigi Cherubini Médée opera to a libretto by François-Benoît Hoffmann. Adaption by Krzysztof Warlikowski and Christian Longchamp. Directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie / Koninklijke Muntschouwburg (now you know why they call it "La Monnaie" or "De Munt"). Sung in French, stars Nadja Michael (Médée), Kurt Streit (Jason), Christianne Stotijn (Néris), Vincent Le Texier (Créon), Hendricje Van Kerckhove (Dircé), Gaëlle Arquez (Première servante), Anne-Fleur Inizan (Deuxième servante), Alex Burger (Enfant), and Louis Malotaux (Enfant). Christophe Rousset conducts Les Talens Lyriques and the Chœurs de la Monnaie (Chorus Master Stephen Betteridge). Costume design by Malgorzata Szczesniak; lighting design by Felice Ross, dramaturgy by Christian Longchamp and Miron Hakenback; video by Denis Guéguin; choreography by Saar Magal. Produced by François Duplat; directed for TV and video by Stéphane Metge. Released 2013, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: B+

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The Sleeping Beauty

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The Sleeping Beauty ballet. Music by Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky. Direction and choreography by Frederick Ashton, Anthony Dowell, and Christopher Wheeldon  (based on tradition of Marius Petipa). Produced 2006 at Royal Opera House by Monica Mason and Christopher Newton.  Stars Alina Cojocaru (Princess Aurora), Federico Bonelli (Prince Florimund), Marianela Nuñez (Lilac Fairy), Christopher Saunders (King Florestan), Elizabeth McGorian (The Queen), Alastair Marriott (Cattalabutte), and Genesia Rosato (Carabosse). Also features Isabel McMeekan, Ricardo Cervera, Lauren Cuthbertson, Andrej Uspenski, Mara Galeazzi, Johannes Stepanek, Natasha Oughtred, José Martin, Laura Morera, Ernst Meisner, Valeri Hristov, Gary Avis, Edward Watson, David Makhatelli, Gemma Bond, Helen Crawford, Victoria Hewitt, Hikaru Kobayashi, Iohna Loots, Samanthan Raine, Gemma Sykes, Jonathan Howells, Deirdre Chapman, Sarah Lamb, Yohei Sasaki, David Pickering, artists of the Royal Ballet, and students of the Royal Ballet School. Valeriy Ovsyanikov conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. Original designs by Oliver Messel and Peter Farmer; lighting by Mark Jonathan; staging by Christopher Carr. Directed for TV by Ross McGibbon. Released 2009, disc has 5.1 PCM sound. Grade: C+

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Mozart Symphony No. 35 & Haydn Cello Concerto No. 1

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Mozart Symphony No. 35 & Haydn Cello Concerto No. 1.  In 2012 Seiji Ozawa conducted the Mito Chamber Orchestra in Mito, Japan at the Art Tower Mito (ATM). The program was:

1. Mozart Divertimento in D major K.136
2. Haydn Cello Concerto No.1 withsoloist Dai Miyata
3. Mozart Symphony No. 35 "Haffner"

Released 2012, disc has for all tracks: (1) Stereo 2.0 PCM 96kHz/24bit (2) 5.0 PCM 96kHz/24bit and (3) 5.0 Dolby Digital 48kHz sound (thanks to Zoltan Glied for a tip on this). Video Directors were Goro Kobayashi and Masami Utsimi; Technical Directors were Kiyotaka Aoki and Satoru Fukuda; Switcher was Hiroshi Minegishi;  Camera by Fumio Saito; Sound by Ryota Ono; Video Engineer was Shoichiro Ogawa. Grade: A+

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Kaguyahime - The Moon Princess

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Kaguyahime - The Moon Princess modern ballet at the Nederlands Dans Theater. Choreography by Jiří Kylián to music composed for this ballet and conducted by Maki Ishii. Directed by Hans Hulscher. Stars dancers Fiona Lummis, Paul Lightfoot, Martin Muller, Ken Ossola, Johan Inger, Patrick Delcroix, Glenn Edgerton, Karine Guizzo, Brigitte Martin, Lisa Drake, Susan Laraghy, Carolina Armenta, Jorma Elo, Bruce Michelson, Sol Léon, Nancy Euverink, Cora Kroese, Philippa Bukinham, Lorraine Blouin, Owen Montague, Ivan Dubreuil, and Zane Booker. Features musicians Michael de Roo, Katsuji Kondo, Satoru Yaotani, Sukeyasu Shiba, Mami Tsunoda, and Mayumi Miyata. Stage design and lighting by Michael Simon; costume design by Férial Simon; NOS production by George von Breeman; NHK production by Hiroko Okudaira. This ballet was created in 1988. Nobody is saying what date this production was filmed. But this does appear to be a "cleaned up" re-release in 2012 of a DVD title that came out in 1994. Disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound, which should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt. Grade: B

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Ariadne auf Naxos

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Richard Strauss Ariadne auf Naxos opera to libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Directed 2006 by Claus Guth at Opernhaus Zürich. Stars Emily Magee (Primadona/Ariadne), Elena Moçuc (Zerbinetta), Roberto Saccà (Tenor/Bacchus), Alexander Pereira ( Haushofmeister), Michael Volle (Musiklehrer), Michelle Breedt (Komponist), Randall Ball (Officer), Guy de Mey (Tanzmeister), Andrew Ashwin (Perückenmacher) Ruben Drole (Lakai), Gabriel Bermúdez (Harlekin), Martin Zysset (Scaramuccio), Reinhard Mayr (Truffaldin), Blagoj Nacoski (Brighella), Eva Liebau (Najade), Irène Friedli (Dryade), and Sandra Trattnigg (Echo). Christoph von Dohnányi conducts the Orchestra der Oper Zürich. Set and costume designs by Christian Schmidt; dramaturgy by Ronny Dietrich; lighting by Jürgen Hoffmann; directed for TV by Thomas Grimm. Released 2013, this disc has 7.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: B

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The Gambler

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Prokofiev The Gambler opera to libretto by the composer. Directed 2010 by Temur Chkheidze at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg.  Stars Sergei Aleksashkin, Tatiana Pavlovskaya, Vladimir Galuzin, Larisa Dyadkova, Nikolai Gassiev, Alexander Gergalov, Nadezhda Serdyuk, Andrei Popov, Oleg Sychev, and Andrei Spekhov. Valery Gergiev conducts the Mariinsky Orchestra and Chorus. Set designs by Zinovy Margolin; costumes by Tatiana Noginova; lighting by Gleb Fishtinsky; directed for TV by Laurent Gentot. Released 2013, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

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Ring des Nibelungen in 7 Hours (Colón Ring)

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Wagner Ring des Nibelungen in 7 Hours (Colón Ring). Directed 2012 by Valentina Carrasco at Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. Special abridged adaption of the Ring by Cord Garben was presented live in one day in 4 parts with 3 intermissions over 9 hours; this boils down to about 8 hours of music and intermissions in recorded form. Stars Linda Watson, Jukka Rasilainen, Stig Andersen, Leonid Zakhozhaev, Andrew Shore, Marion Ammann, Simone Schröder, Kevin Conners, Sabine Hogrefe, Gerard Kim, Sonja Mühleck-Witte, Daniel Sumegi, Gary Jankowski,  Stefan Heibach, Silja Schindler, Uta Christina Georg, Bernadett Fodor, Sabine Hogrefe, Susanne Geb, Manuela Bress, and Adriana Mastrángelo. Roberto Paternostro conducted the Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro Colón (Chorus Master Peter Burian). Sets by Carles Berga (based on original designs by Schlössmann); costumes by Nidia Tusal; lighting by Peter Van Praet; video direction by Ernestine Böttcher and Karina Barresi.

Box also has a separate disc with a documentary by Hans Christoph Von Bock called The Colón Ring. (This documentary is also available as a separate title.) Set has 3 discs. The opera lasts 489 minutes; the documentary lasts 93 minutes. Released 2013, opera has 5.1 PCM sound. Grade: NA

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Death in Venice

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Benjamin Britten Death in Venice opera to a libretto by Myfanwy Piper. Directed by Pier Luigi Pizzi in 2008 at Teatro La Fenice using special sets and locations in Venice. Singing stars are Marlin Miller (Gustav von Aschenbach), Scott Hendricks (The Traveller and others), Razek-François Bitar (The Voice of Apollo), Alessandro Riga (Tadzio), Danilo Palmieri (Jaschiu), Sabrina Vianello (The Strawberry Seller / The Newspaper Seller), Liesbeth Devos (The Lace Seller / A Strolling Player), Julie Mellor (The Beggar Woman), Marco Voleri (The Hotel Porter / The Glass Maker), Shi Yijie (A Gondolier / A Strolling Player), William Corrò (The Ship's Steward and others), and Luca Dall'Amico (The Lido Boatman, and others).  Chorus soloists are Carlo Agostini, Antonio Casagrande, Anna Malvasio, Enrico Masiero, Ciro Passilongo, Alessia Pavan, Gabriella Pellos, Francesca Poropat, Andrea Lia Rigotti, Paola Rossi, Elisa Savino, Bo Schunnesson, Claudio Zancopè, and Franco Zanette. Dancers and mimes are Roberto Adriani, Gianmaria Bissacco, Silvia Casadio, Antonio D'Amore, Natalia Danuta, Danilo Fernandez, Fulvio Garlato, Giuseppe Grasso, Alexandra Grillo, Sara Lippi, Mata Mafalda Marcelli, Tiziana Minio, Roberto Moro, Giuseppe Romano, Tomaso Santinon, Francesca Thian, Andrea Tocchio, Davide Tonucci, Carlo Zanetti, Lara Zinelli, and Davide Zongoli. Bruno Bartoletti directs the Orchestra and Chorus of Del Teatro La Fenice (Chorus Master Alfonso Caiani). Sets and costumes by Pier Luigi Pizzi; choreography by Gheorghe Iancu; lighting by Vincenzo Raponi, Video Director was Davide Mancini.This came out first in a Dynamic DVD and is now republished as a world premiere in Blu-ray. Released 2013, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

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Mahler Symphony No. 2

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Mahler Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection." Also includes a performance of Ich bin der Welt Abhanden Gekommen for 16 voices arranged by Clytus Gottwald. Mariss Jansons conducts the Symphonieorchester and Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks (Barvarian Radio Orchestra and Choir) (Chorus Master Michael Gläser). Anja Harteros (soprano) and Bernarda Fink (alto) are soloists. Directed for TV by Brian Large. Released 2013, disc has 5.0 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

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La forza del destino

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La forza del destino

Verdi La forza del destino opera to libretto by Francesco Piave. Directed 2011 by Stefano Poda at Teatro Regio di Parma Verdi Festival. Stars Ziyan Afteh (Il Marchese di Calatrava), Dimitra Theodossiou (Donna Leonora), Vladimir Stoyanov (Don Carlo di Vargas), Aquiles Machado (Don Alvaro), Mariana Pentcheva (Preziosilla), Roberto Scandiuzzi (Padre Guardiano), Carlo Lepore (Fra Melitone), Adriana Di Paola (Curra), Alessandro Bianchini (Un Alcalde), Myung Ho Kim (Mastro Trabuco), and Gabriele Bolletta (Surgeon). Gianluigi Gelmetti directs the Orchestra e Coro Del Teatro Regio di Parma (Concert Master Martino Faggiani). Sets, costume, and lighting design, and choreography by Stefano Poda. Directed for TV by Tiziano Mancini.  Released 2013, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: C+

Stefano Poda, one of the most distinctive opera directors, has been involved in some 100 productions including at least 15 in his “unity style” in which he designs and directs everything that happens on the stage.

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Ballo in maschera

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Verdi Un ballo in maschera opera to libretto by Antonio Somma. Directed 2012 by Massimo Gasparon (after Pierluigi Samaritani) at the Teatro Regio di Parma Verdi Festival. Stars Francesco Meli, Vladimir Stoyanov, Kristin Lewis, Elisabetta Fiorillo, Serena Gamberton, Filippo Polinelli, Antonio Barbagallo, Enrico Rinaldo, Cosimo Vassallo, and Enrico Paollilo. Gianluigi Gelmetti directs the Orchestra e Coro Del Teatro Regio di Parma (Concert Master Martino Faggiani). Sets and costumes by Pierluigi Samaritani; lighting by Andrea Borelli; choreography by Roberto Maria Pizzuto; video direction by Tiziano Mancini. Released 2013, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

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Don Carlo

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Verdi Don Carlo opera to a libretto by Camille du Locle and Joseph Méry. Directed (year not given) by Joseph Franconi Lee at the Teatro Comunale "Luciano Pavarotti" in Modena. Stars Giacomo Prestia, Mario Malagnini, Simone Piazzola, Luciano Montanaro, Paolo Buttol, Cellia Costea, Alla Posniak, Irène Candelier, Giulio Pelligra, and Marco Gaspari. Fabrizio Ventura conducts the Orchestra Regionale Dell'Emilia-Romagna and the Coro Lirico Amadeus-Fondazione Teatro Comunale di Modena (Chorus Master Stefano Colò. Sets and costumes by Alessandro Ciammarughi; lighting by Nevio Cavina; video direction by Tiziano Mancini. Released 2013, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

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Robert le diable

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Meyerbeer Robert le diable opera to a libretto written by Eugène Scribe and Germain Delavigne. Directed 2012 by Laurence Pelly at the Royal Opera House. Stars Bryan Hymel (Robert), John Relyea (Bertram), Marina Poplavskaya (Alice), Patrizia Ciofi (Isabelle), Jean-François Borras (Raimbaut), Nicolas Courjal (Alberti), David Butt Philip (First Chevalier/Master of Ceremonies), Pablo Bemsch (Second Chevalier/Herald), Ashley Riches (Third Chevalier/Prince of Grenada), Jihoon Kim (Fourth Chevalier/Priest), and Dušica Bijelić (Lady-in-Waiting). Daniel Oren conducts the Orchestra (Concert Master Peter Manning) and Chorus of the Royal Opera House (Chorus Director Ronato Balsadonna). Set designs by Chantal Thomas; costumes by Laurent Pelly and Jean-Jacques Delmotte; lighting by Duane Schuler; choreography by Lionel Hoche; video design by Claudio Cavallari; directed for the screen by Sue Judd.  Released 2013, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A+

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