Sommernachts Konzert 2015

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Sommernachtskonzert 2015 (2015 Summer Night Concert). On May 14, 2015 Zubin Mehta conducts the Wiener Philharmoniker in the annual Summer Night Concert at the Baroque Park of the Schönbrunn palace in Vienna. Features pianist Rudolf Buchbinder. Sound produced by Raimund Langner; directed for TV by Henning Kasten. Released 2015, disc has 5.0 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: B

Here is the program:

1. Richard Strauss, Fanfare für Wiener Philharmoniker
2. Carl Nielsen, Maskarade: Overture
3. Edvard Grieg, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in A Minor (Buchbinder)
4. Alfred Grünfeld, Soirée de Vienne (Buchbinder encore)
5. Christian Sindling, Frühlingsrauschen (Rustle of Spring)
6. Edvard Grieg, Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 
7. Jean Sibelius, Finlandia

 Encores: 

1. Hans Christian Lumbye, Kopenhagener Eisenbahn-Dampf-Galopp
2. Johann Strauss II, Wiener Blut - Walzer

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Mutter Live - The Club Album

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Anne-Sophie Mutter Live - The Club Album concert. Anne-Sophie Mutter performs May 7 and 8, 2015 at the Neue Heimat nightclub in Berlin as part of the Yellow Lounge concert series. Features Mutter's long-time accompanist, pianist Lambert Orkis, harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani, and the Mutter Virtuosi ensemble. Also features a live video installation by VJ (that's video jockey) Philipp Geist. The setlist is as follows:

1. Vivaldi 3. Presto from The Four Seasons - Concerto In G Minor, RV 315, "The Summer"
2. Gershwin Allegro ben ritmato e deciso from Three Preludes
3. Gershwin Andante con moto e poco rubato from Three Preludes
4. Gershwin Allegro ben ritmato e deciso from Three Preludes
5. J.S. Bach. Allegro (3rd movement) from Double Concerto For 2 Violins, Strings, and Basso continuo In D Minor, BWV 1043 (Noa Wildschut, solo violin II)
6. Tchaikovsky "Mélodie" from Souvenir d'un lieu cher, Op. 42
7. Vivaldi Allegro non molto from The Four Seasons - Concerto In F Minor, RV 297, "The Winter"
8. J.S. Bach Vivace (1st movement) from Double Concerto For 2 Violins, Strings, And Continuo In D Minor, BWV 1043 (Nancy Zhou solo violin II)
9. Brahms Hungarian Dance No.1 In G Minor
10. Debussy "Golliwogg's Cakewalk" from Children's Corner
11. Saint-Saëns Introduction et Rondo capriccioso
12. Debussy "Clair de lune" from Suite bergamasque
13. Copland "Hoe-Down" from Rodeo
14. J.S. Bach/Gounod "Ave Maria"
15. Arthur Benjamin "Jamaican Rumba"
16. John Williams "Theme from Schindler's List" 

Finally, although not a word is said about it in the Blu-ray package or in the PR, this was recorded with 96kHz/24-bit sound sampling (according to my Oppo BDP-93). Released 2015, disc has 5.0 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: B+

 

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Il barbiere di Siviglia

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Rossini Il barbiere di Siviglia opera to libretto by Cesare Sterbini. Directed 2009 by Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier at the Teatro Regio di Parma. Stars Changhan Lin (Fiorello), Juan Diego Flórez (Count Almavira), Pietro Spagnoli (Figaro), Joyce DiDonato (Rosina), Alessandro Corbelli (Doctor Bartolo), Ferruccio Furlanetto, (Don Basilio),  Jennifer Rhys-Davies (Berta), Bryan Secombe (Ambrogio), Christopher Lackner (Officer), and Andrew Macnair (Notary). Antonio Pappano conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House (Concert Master Vasko Vassilev) and the Royal Opera Chorus (Chorus Director Renato Balsadonna). Set designs by Christian Fenouillat; costume design by Agostino Cavalca; lighting design by Christophe Forey; directed for screen by David Stevens; produced by Frances Whitaker. Released 2015, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

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Maria Stuarda

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Donizetti Maria Stuarda opera to libretto by Giuseppe Bardari. Directed by David McVickar at the Met. Stars Joyce DiDonato (Maria Stuarda), Elza van den Heever (Elisabetta), Matthew Rose (Talbot), Joshua Hopkins (Cecil), Matthew Polenzani (Leicester), and Maria Zifchak (Anna Kennedy). Maurizio Benini conducts the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus. Sets and costumes design by John Macfarlane; lighting design by Jennifer Tipton; choreography by Leah Hausman. Released 2015, disc has 5.0 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

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Monteverdi Complete Operas

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Monteverdi Complete Operas box set. This is not a collection of titles previously published separately. This box includes three operas performed on one day in September 2013 as part of a single huge production directed by Barrie Kosky at the Berlin Komische Oper:

1. L'Orfeo or La Favola d'Orfeo, written 1607(libretto by Alessandro Striggio reworked and translated into modern German by Susanne Felicitas Wolf and Ulrich Lenz). This is the earliest surviving opera still regularly seen on the boards. Performed in the morning, it's the familiar story Orpheus story for which we already have five HDVD versions.
2. Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, written 1639 (libretto by Giacomo Badoaro, Wolf, and Lenz) here called Odysseus. Performed in the afternoon.
3. L'incoronazione di Poppea, written 1643 (libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello, Wolf, and Lenz),  Performed in the evening. We have an opera and a ballet version of this already in HDVD.

There are no clearly authentic musical scores for these works---instead multiple competing scores come from obscurity down to us. Here's how Shirley Apthorp put it in the Financial Times: "Composer Elana Kats-Chernin has re-imagined Monteverdi's score with a battery of exotic instruments in different chamber orchestrations for each opera. The result is a marathon for all concerned." Well, in the form of HDVD recordings, you can pace yourself and experience this over several days.

The production has 32 soloists and more than 200 supporting artists. Stars Tansel Akzeybek (Telemachos/Valletto), Thomas Michael Allen (Arnalta/Eumaios), Alexey Antonov (Pluto), Katharina von Bülow (Minerva), Brigitte Geller (Poppea), Julia Giebel (Drusilla), Karolina Gumos (Fate/Juno), Dominik Köninger (Orpheus), Theresa Kronthaler (Sylvia/Proserpina/Otho), Ezgi Kutlu (Penelope), Jens Larsen (Antinoos/Time/Neptun/Seneca), Tom Erik Lie (Amphinomos/Amme), Annelie Sophie Müller (Minerva/Tugend or Virtue), Julia Novikova (Eurydice), Christiane Oertel (Eurykleia), Günter Papendell (Odysseus), Peter Renz (Amor), Helene Schneiderman (Octavia), Stefan Sevenich (Charon), Roger Smeets (Nero), Frank Soehnle (Figuren orr Figures of Orpheus and Eurydike), Ariana Strahl (Damigella/Fate), Adrian Strooper (Eurymachos/Liberto), Christoph Späth (Pisandro/Jupiter), and Mirka Wagner (Melanto). André de Ridder conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the Komische Oper Berlin (Chorus Master André Kellinghaus). Set designs by Katrin Lea Tag; costume designs by Katrin Lea Tag and Katharina Tasch; lighting by Alexander Koppelmann; choreography by Otto Pichler; dramatic advice by Ulrich Senz; directed for video by Peter Schöenhofer. Sung in German with subtitles in German, English, French, and Turkish. Released 2015, has 3 discs with 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

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BBC Proms At Royal Albert Hall

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BBC Proms At Royal Albert Hall concert. David Zinman conducts the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. Features violinist Julia Fischer. Video directed by Bridget Caldwell. Released 2015, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio. Grade: NA

The concert features the following works:

1. Strauss Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche
2. Dvořák Violin Concerto
3. Beethoven Symphony No. 6  "Pastoral"

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Les Parapluies de Cherbourg

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Les Parapluies de Cherbourg jazz opera. Music by Michel Legrand. Based on the 1964 film of the same name directed by Jacque Demy. Directed 2014 at the Paris Théâtre du Châtelet. Stars Marie Oppert (Geneviève Emery), Vincent Niclo (Guy Foucher), Natalie Dessay (Madame Emery), Laurent Naouri (Roland Cassard), and Louise Leterm (Madeleine). Also stars, with numerous small roles each, Jasmine Roy, Franck Vincent, Franck Lopez, Arnaud Léonard, Valentin Johner, Salem Sobihi, and Elsa Dreisig.  Stage musicians are Denis Leloup (trombone), François Laizeau (drums), Claude Egea (trumpet), Pierre Boussaguet (double bass), and Pierre Perchaud (guitar). Michel Legrand conducts the Orchestre national d’Ile-de-France. Sets by Vincent Vittoz; designs by Jean-Jacques Sempé and Vincent Vittoz; costumes by Vanessa Seward; lighting by Renaud Corler. Directed for TV by Denis Caïozzi.  Released 2014, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A+

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Britten Collection

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A Britten Collection box set has five operas previously published by Opus Arte. Four of them have already been reported on this website, and you can get more details by using the links provided:

1. Death in Venice. (Grade NA) This has been lavishly praised by the print critics.
2. Gloriana. (Grade NA) Customer reviews are split down the middle---half love and half hate---on this radical treatment of an obscure opera.
3. Billy Budd. (Grade A+) Superb production of an all-male sailor story.
4. Peter Grimes. (Grade NA) This has also been enthusiastically received by the print critics.
5. Rape of Lucretia. (We excluded this. It was originally made in 2001 as a SD video with stereo sound and was later republished as a 1080 video with engineered surround sound. We give Opus Arte full credit for disclosing this provenance in their advertisements.)

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La Traviata (Damrau)

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Verdi La Traviata opera to libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. Directed 2014 by Benoît Jacquot the Paris Opéra Bastille. Stars Diana Damrau (Violetta Valéry), Francesco Demuro (Alfredo Germont), Ludovic Tézier (Giorgio Germont), Anna Pennisi (Flora Bervoix), Cornelia Oncioiu (Annina), Gabriele Mangione (Gastone), Fabio Previati (Il Baron Douphoi), Igor Gnidii (Il Marchese d'Obigny) and Nicolas Testé (Dr. Grenvil). Francesco Ivan Ciampa conducts the Ochestre et Chœur de l'Opéra National de Paris. Sets by Silvain Chauvelot; costumes by Christian Casc; lighting by André Diot; choreography by Philippe Giraudeau. Directed for TV by Lousie Narboni and Benoît Jacquot; produced by Françoise Gazio and Laurent Métivier. Sung in Italian. Released 2015, disc has 5.1 Dolby Digital sound. Grade: NA

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Aida

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Giuseppe Verdi Aida opera to libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Directed 2015 by Peter Stein at the Teatro alla Scala. Stars Carlo Colombara (The King), Anita Rachvelishvili (Amneris), Kristin Lewis (Aida), Fabio Sartori (Radamès), Matti Salminen (Ramfis), George Gagnidze (Amonasro), Azer Rza-Zada (Messenger), and Chiara Isotton (Priestess). Zubin Mehta conducts the Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala (Chorus Master Bruno Casoni). Dancers are students of the Ballet Academy of Teatro Alla Scala directed by Frédéric Olivieri.  Set design by Ferdinand Wögerbauer; costume design by Nana Cecchi; lighting design by Joachim Barth; choreography by Massimiliano Volpini. Directed for TV by Tiziano Mancini. Sung in Italian. Released 2015, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

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Angels Sing --- Libera in America

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Angels Sing --- Libera in America boys' choir concert. Recorded live in August 2014 at The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC. Singers are Marc Alvares, Shay Balsekar, Henry Barrington, Anthony Blake, Ciaran Bradbury-Hickey, Tiarnan Branson, Gabriel Collins, Kavana Crossley, Thomas Delgado-Little, Ben Fairman, Daniel Fontannaz, Alex Gula, Matthew Jansen, Timothy Lee, Sam Leggett, Isaac London, Matthew Madine, Eoghan McCarthy, Alessandro Mackinnon-Botti, Michael Menezes, Alex Montoro, Sammy Moriarty, Jakub Niedermaier-Reed, Rocco Tesei, Cassius O'Connell-White, Matthew Rangel-Alvares, Bertramo Smart, Camden Stewart, Sam Wiggin, and Lucas Wood. Robert Prizeman directed and conducted the Libera choir and a chamber orchestra assembled for this event. Music produced and mixed by Sam Coates, Ian Tiley, and Robert Prizeman. There is also a short feature about the choir and the trip to America. Produced by Daniel Hart, John Rexroad, and Steven Philipp. There is no credit for the video on the keepcase or in the keepcase booklet. There are no subtitles for the music or for short comments made by the boys during the performance. The music was recorded using 48kHz/24-bit sound sampling. Released 2015, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound output. Grade: D+

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Admeto Special 4-Pack

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Admeto Special 4-Pack. The Handel Admeto opera from the 2006 Halle Handel Festival was published in 2009 by Arthaus as Item No. 101258. See the preceding entry in the Alphalist. Later Arthaus announced a new version with 1 Blu-ray disc, the whole opera on 2 DVDs, and a separate CD with the music. That's 4 discs packed in one case. The Blu-ray disc appears to be the same as in the old edition except it's on a double-layer disc (50 GB). The item number of the 4-Pack is 109067.

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The Passenger

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Mieczysław Weinberg The Passenger opera to libretto by Alexander Medvedev after a novel of the same name published in 1962 by concentration camp survivor Zofia Posmysz. Directed 2010 by David Pountney at the Bregenz Festival (The title in German is Die Passagierin). Stars singers Michelle Breedt (Lisa), Roberto Saccà (Walter), Elena Kelessidi (Martha), Artur Rucinski (Tadeusz), Svetlana Doneva (Katja), Angelica Voje (Krzystina), Elżbieta Wróblewska (Vlasta), Agnieszka Rehlis (Hannah), Talia Or (Ivette), Helen Field (Alte), Liuba Sokolova (Bronka), Tobias Hächler (1st SS Officer), Wilfried Staber (2nd SS Officer), David Danholt (3rd SS Officer), Richard Angas (Elderly Passenger/Steward), Heide Capovilla (Senior Overseer/Capo), David Gabl, Michael Koch, Juliusz Kubiak, and Anton Schwärzler (4 Soldiers), Michelle Lau and Matthias Zuggal (Soldiers on watchtowers), and violinist Andreas Semlitsch (Double for Tadeusz in violin scene). Also stars stage musicians Raphael Brunner, Stefan Mikic, Roger Szedalik, Dominik Neunteufel, and Michael Schatzmann. Teodor Currentzis conducts the Weiner Symphoniker and the Prague Philharmonic Choir (Choirmaster Lukáš Vasilek). Set design by Johan Engels; costume design by Marie-Jeanne Lecca; lighting design by Fabrice Kebour; video direction by Felix Breisach. The opera is sung in German, English, French, Russian and Yiddish. There is also a documentary film "In der Fremde" in German with English subtitles. Released  2015, disc has 5.0 dts-HD Master Audio sound and the documentary and extras are in stereo. Grade: A

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The Grand Organ of Coventry Cathedral

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In 2014, Kerry Beaumont plays the following selections on the grand organ of the Coventry Cathedral in Coventry, England:

1. Lemmens "Fanfare"
2. Holst "Mars, the Bringer of War" (The Planets)
3. Mendelssohn "Prelude and Fugue" in C minor
4. J. S. Bach "Come Sweetest Death" (Komm, Susser Tod)
5. Handel "For unto us a Child is Born"
6. Walton "Orb and Sceptre"
7. Messiaen "Jesus accepte la souffrance"
8. Boellmann "Toccata" from Suite Gothique
9. Brewer "Triumphant Song"
10. Beethoven "Moonlight Sonata (1st Movement)"
11. Davies "RAF March Past"
12. Durufle "Prelude and Fugue sur le non d'Alain"
13. Cholley "Rumba sur les grands jeux"

The Grand Organ of Coventry Cathedral is an impressive recording package with a Blu-ray video disc, a DVD, and a CD of the music. Each of the 13 musical selections is accompanied with video showing Beaumont playing plus numerous clips of the Cathedral and the town of Coventry with its history and landmarks. There is an excellent keepcase booklet which gives you guidance as to what you see in the video for each musical number. Then in another section of the booklet you get a discussion of the musical aspects of each of the 13 selections. Finally, the booklet has two pages of technical data on the Coventry organ! So far I've covered only the main program. There are also 4 bonus extras, all with Beaumont as docent: (1) a 19-minute narration of the musical program, (2) a 44-minute detailed rundown on the features of the Coventry Grand Organ, (3) an 8-minute explanation of the challenges faced by the organist in playing "Rumba sur les grands jeux", and (4) a 12 minute discussion of two chamber organs that the Cathedral also owns and uses! Recorded and produced by Paul Crichton; filmed and edited by Richard Knight; Associate Producer was Callum Ross; Executive Producer was Neil Collier. Released 2015, Blu-ray disc has 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound. Grade: A

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