Schumann Complete Symphonies:
Symphony No. 1 "Spring"
Symphony No. 2
Symphony No. 3 "Rhenish"
Symphony No. 4
In 2018, Christian Thielemann conducts the Staatskapelle Dresden at the Suntory Hall, Tokyo. Directed for TV by Akira Miki. Released 2019, disc has 5.0 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreChristoph Gluck Orphée et Eurydice opera to libretto by Pierre-Louis Moline. This is the 1859 version by Hector Berlioz. Directed 2018 by Aurélien Bory at the Opéra Comique. Stars Marianne Crebassa (Orphée), Hélène Gilmette (Eurydice), and Lea Desandre (Amour). Raphaël Pichon conducts the Ensemble Pygmalion. Set design by Aurélien Bory and Pierre Dequivre; lighting design by Arno Veyrat; costume design by Manuela Agnesini; dramaturgy by Taïcyr Fadel. Directed for TV by François Roussillon. Sung in French. Released 2019, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreWagner Der Fliegende Holländer opera to a libretto by the composer (original 1841 version). Directed 2015 by Olivier Py at the Theater an der Wien. Stars Samuel Youn (Der Holländer), Ingela Brimberg (Senta), Lars Woldt (Donald), Bernard Richter (Georg), Manuel Günther (Der Steuermann), Ann-Beth Solvang (Mary), and Pavel Strasil (Satan). Marc Minkowski conducts Les Musiciens du Louvre and the Arnold Schoenberg Chor (Chorus Masters Erwin Ortner, Ottokar Prochazka, and Jordi Casals). Set design by Pierre-André Weitz; lighting design by Bertrand Killy. Directed for TV by François Roussillon. Sung in German. Released 2019, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read More2019 Europakonzert: Daniel Harding conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker this year in its traditional “Europakonzert” on May 1 celebrating the founding of the orchestra on May Day. Normally this event occurs in a different European city in a beautiful venue of historical significance. Performed 2019 at the Orsay Museum (Musée d'Orsay) in Paris. Here’s the program:
Wagner “Good Friday Spell” from Parsifal
Wagner '“Wotan’s Farewell” and “The Magic Fire” from Die Walküre (Concert Version)
Wagner “Liebestod” from Tristan und Isolde
Berlioz “Royal Hunt” and “Storm” from Les Troyens
Berlios “Love Scene” from Romeo et Juliette
Debussy Pelléas and Mélisande Concert Suite (Suite by Claudio Abbado, based on the Orchestral Suite arranged by Erich Leinsdorf)
Debussy Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune
Hedda Gabler ballet. Music composed by Nils Petter Molvær. Choreographed and directed by Marit Moum Aune based on the play of the same name by Henrik Ibsen. Staged 2017 at the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet. Stars Grete Sofie Borud Nybakken (Hedda Gabler) Silas Henriksen (Eilert Løvborg, Hedda’s first lover), Philip Currell (Jørgen Tesman, Hedda’s husband), Eugenie Skilnand (Thea Elvsted, Hedda’s schoolmate), Shane Urton (Assessor or Judge Brack), Samantha Lynch (Aunt Julie), Klara Mårtensson (Diana), Kristian Alm (General Gabler, Hedda’s father), Erle Østraat (Hedda Gabler as child), and Helle Flood (Thea Elvsted as child) supported by other dancers of The Norwegian National Ballet and The Norwegian National Ballet School. Set design by Even Børsum; costume design by Ingrid Nylander; lighting design by Kristin Bredal; assistant direction by Christoper Kettner; group choreography by Kaloyan Boyadjiev. Directed for TV by Tommy Pascal; produced by Xavier Dubois. Released 2019, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: B+
Read MoreRameau Hippolyte et Aricie opera to a libretto by Simon-Joseph Pellegrin. Directed 2018 by Aletta Collins at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. Stars Anna Prohaska (Aricie), Reinoud Van Mechelen (Hippolyte), Magdalena Kožená (Phèdre), Gyula Orendt (Thésée), Elsa Dreisig (Diane), Adriane Queiroz (Œnone), Sarah Aristidou (La Grande Prêtresse de Diane/Une Matelote), Slávka Zámečníková (Une Chasseresse), Serena Sáenz (Une Bergère), Peter Rose (Pluton), Michael Smallwood (Mercure), Linard Vrielink (Première Parque), Arttu Kataja (Deuxième Parque), and Jan Martinik (Troisième Parque). Features dancers Bruna Diniz Afonso, Ema Jankovic, Patricia Langa, Sophia Preidel, Casia Vengoechea, Yuri Fortini, Daniel Hay-Gordon, Alessandro Marzotto Levy, Will Thompson, Po-Nien Wang, and Victor Villarreal. Sir Simon Rattle conducts the Freiburger Barockorchester and the Staatsopernchor (Chorus Master Martin Wright). Stage design, lighting design and costumes by Ólafur Elíasson; choreography by Aletta Collins; light by Olaf Freese; dramaturgy by Detlef Glese. Sung in French. Released 2019, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreBlomdstedt Conducts Beethoven Box Set released 2019. Herbert Blomstedt conducts the Gewandhausorchester, the MDR Rundfunkchor, the GewandhausChor and the GewandhausKinderchor from 2015-2017. Below are the discs. Each of them has already been reported on this website, and you can get more details by using the links provided:
Beethoven Triple Concerto and Beethoven Symphony No. 5. The Triple Concerto features Isabelle Faust (violin), Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello), and Martin Helmchen (piano).(Grade: N/A)
Beethoven Symphony No. 6 and Symphony No. 7. (Grade: N/A)
Beethoven Symphony No. 9. Features Simona Šaturová (soprano), Mihoko Fujimura (alto), Christian Elsner (tenor), Christian Gehaher (baritone). (Grade:N/A)
Released 2019, three disc set has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Total Grade: N/A
Read MoreVerdi Le Trouvère (Il trovatore in the original Italian) opera to libretto by Salvadore Cammarano and Leone Emanuele Bardare and translated into French by Emilien Pacini. Directed 2018 by Robert Wilson at the Teatro Farnese, Parma, Italy (Co-Director Nicola Panzer; Assistant Director Giovanni Firpo). Stars Giuseppe Gipali (Manrique, Le Trouvère), Franco Vassallo (Le Comte de Luna), Marco Spotti (Fernand), Luca Casalin (Ruiz / Un Messager), Roberta Mantegna (Léonore), Nino Surguladze (Azucena, la Bohémienne), Tonia Langella (Inès), and Nicolo Donini (Un vieux Bohémien). Roberto Abbado conducts the Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Regio di Parma (Chorus Master Andrea Faidutti). Concept, set, and lighting design by Robert Wilson; collaborator for set design was Stephanie Engeln; collaborator for lighting design was Solomon Weisbard; costume design by Julia Von Lellwa; make-up design by Manu Halligan; video designs by Tomek Jeziorski; dramaturgy by José Enrique Macián. Directed for TV by Tiziano Mancini. Sung in French. Released 2019, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreThe Frederick Ashton Collection: Volume Two Box Set released 2019. Below are the discs. Each of them has already been reported on this website, and you can get more details by using the links provided:
La fille mal gardée. Grade: A-
Tales of Beatrix Potter. Grade: A
Total Grade: A
Read MoreThe Nutcracker ballet. Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to a libretto by Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann and Marius Petipa. Choreographed by Peter Wright after Lev Ivanov. Staged 2018 by Christopher Carr at the Royal Opera House. Stars Gary Avis (Herr Drosselmeyer), Anna Rose O’Sullivan (Clara), Marcelino Sambé (Hans-Peter / The Nutcracker), Marianela Nuñez (The Sugar Plum Fairy), Vadim Muntagirov (The Prince), and dancers from The Royal Ballet. Barry Wordsworth conducts the Orchestra the Royal Opera House (Co-Concert Master Sergey Levitin). Designs by Julia Trevelyan Oman; lighting design by Mark Henderson. Directed for TV by Ross MacGibbon. Released 2019, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound output. Grade: NA
Read MoreBruckner Symphony No. 2. Christian Thielemann conducts the Staatskapelle Dresden. Performed 2019 at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. Directed for TV by Alexander Radulescu. Released 2019, disc has 5.0 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Bruckner wrote 9 symphonies. Now with this HDVD of Bruckner S2, Thielemann has recorded HDVDs of all 9 Bruckner symphonies with the Staatskapelle Dresden. All of these were published by C Major except for Bruckner S7 — this came out under the Opus Arte label! We have done a basic story on all the Thielemann Bruckner HDVDs. Of course, all of these HDVDs were fine performances with good sound recording. We did a detailed review of the S9 and graded it B-. We gave the HDVD of S6 a D+. The weak grades were caused by the grave illness DVDitis.
According to Christian Hoskins, writing in the December 2019 Gramophone at page 68, no other conductor has managed to do
Read MoreRossini Ricciardo e Zoraide opera to libretto by Francesco Berio di Salsa. Directed 2018 by Marshall Pynkosky at the Rossini Opera Festival. Stars Pretty Yende (Zoraide), Juan Diego Flórez (Ricciardo), Sergey Romanovsky (Agorante), Victoria Yaravaya (Zomira), Nicola Ulivieri (Ircano), Xabier Anduaga (Ernesto), Sofia Mchedlishvili (Fatima), Martiniana Antone (Elmira), and Ruzil Gatin (Zamorre). Giacomo Sagripanti conducts the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale Della Rai and the Coro del Teatro Ventido Basso (Chorus Master Giovanni Farina). Set design by Gerard Gauci; costume design by Michael Gianfrancesco; lighting design by Michelle Ramsay; choreography by Jeanette Lajeunesse Zingg. Directed for TV by Ariella Beddini. Sung in Italian,. Released 2019, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreNicola Vaccaj Giulietta e Romeo opera to libretto by Felice Romani. Directed 2018 by Cecilia Ligorio at the Palazzo Ducale, Martina Franca, Italy as part of the Festival of the Valle d’Itria. Stars Leonor Bonilla (Giulietta), Raffaella Lupinacci (Romeo), Leonardo Cortellazzi (Capellio), Paoletta Marrocu (Adela), Vasa Stajkic (Tebaldo), and Christian Senn (Lorenzo). Sesto Quatrini conducts the Orchestra Academy of the Teatro alla Scala and the Chorus of the Teatro Municipale, Piacenza (Chorus Master Corrado Casati). Directed for TV by Matteo Ricchetti. Sung in Italian, this is the only video available of this opera. Released 2019, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreDonizetti Enrico di Borgogna (Henry of Burgundy) opera to a libretto by Bartolomeo Merelli. Directed 2018 by Silvia Paoli at the Teatro Sociale in Bergamo, Italy as part of the Donizetti Opera Festival. Stars Anna Bonitatibus (Enrico), Sonia Ganassi (Elisa), Levy Sekgapane (Guido), Francesco Castoro (Pietro), Luca Tittoto (Gilberto), Lorenzo Barbieri (Brunone), Federica Vitali (Geltrude), and Matteo Mezzaro (Nicola). Alessandro De Marchi conducts the Academia Montis Regalis and the Coro Donizetti Opera (Chorus Master Fabio Tartari). Set design by Andrea Belli; costume design by Valeria Donata Bettella; lighting design by Fiammetta Baldiserri; assistant direction by Tecla Gucci. Directed for TV by Adriano Figari and Matteo Ricchetti; sound recording by Rino Trasi and Giuseppe Famularo. Sung in Italian. Released 2019, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MorePuccini Le Villi opera to a libretto by Ferdinando Fontana. Directed 2018 by Francesco Saponaro at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Stars Elia Fabbian (Guglielmo Wulf), Maria Teresa Leva (Anna), Leonardo Caimi (Robert), and Tony Laudadio (Narrator). Marco Angius conducts the Orchestra e Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Chorus Master Lorenzo Fratini). Also stars dancers from Compagnia Nuovo BallettO di ToscanA and special extras Elena Barsotti, Gaia Mazzeranghi, and Paolo Arcangeli. Set design by Francesco Saporano; costume design by Chiara Aversano; lighting design by Pasquale Mari; choreography by Susanna Sastro; assistant direction by Veronica Bolognani; assistant set design by Lucia Imperato. Directed for TV by Matteo Ricchetti; video editing by Adriano Figari; sound recording by Rino Trasi, Vera Zanotti, and Giuseppe Famularo. Sung in Italian. Released 2019, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
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