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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | 2012 Vienna State Opera
Set Designer Rolf Glittenberg Costume Designer Marianne Glittenberg Hofmannsthal’s untimely death meant he never finalised the libretto, leaving many ambiguities in the story that have to be resolved by the Director and singers of each production. ‘The American soprano is at home with the sweet-bitter universe of Richard Strauss and marvellously handled the delicate art of these “conversations in music”. Franz Welser-Möst reconfirms that Richard Strauss particularly inspires him’. Forum Opera “Simply as an abstract visual object, this is a stunning production...a sumptuous treat, stunning in its colour, clean in its art-deco inspired lines and brimming with subtly illuminating details...Magee may not have the luminous voice of Renee Fleming...but once she warms up she's generally got what the role demands. Even in the more intricate passages, she doesn't scant the details. Both of the main rivals for her affections are excellent.” International Record Review, December 2012 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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Filmed live in Baden-Baden by the veteran director Brian Large, Renée Fleming makes her debut in the role of Ariadne together with fellow key Strauss interpreters Sophie Koch and Christian Thielemann, following on from their Rosenkavalier triumph. Thielemann conducts the Staatskapelle Dresden, the orchestra to whom Strauss dedicated his Alpine Symphony and which premiered Feuersnot, Salome, Elektra, Der Rosenkavalier and Daphne. Fleming's voice might have been made for Ariadne and she achieved a great personal triumph in this production: “The chief glory of the evening was hearing Renée Fleming, the Straussian soprano par excellence, making her role debut as Ariadne… As the possessor of what is, possibly, the most beautiful soprano voice in the world, she put her vocal treasures in the service of an empathic, nuanced interpretation of the role. From the creamy top, through a rich, warm middle, to the bewitching, darker colours of her lower register, Fleming poured her magnificent sound into Strauss’s enchanting melodic arcs, animating the sadness, vulnerability, and desire of the bereft princess...” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung | 
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Following the success of Fleming’s Der Rosenkavalier DVD, live from the Met comes Fleming’s interpretation of Strauss’s chamber-opera, Capriccio. | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Recorded live at the NHK Hall, Tokyo, 25 November 2007
Anne Schwanewilms (Marschallin), Kurt Rydl (Ochs), Anke Vondung (Octavian), Maki Mori (Sophie), Hans-Joachim Ketelsen (Faninal), Sabine Brohm (Valzacchi) & Elisabeth Wilke (Annina) Sächsische Staatskapelle & Staatsopernchor Dresden, Fabio Luisi (conductor) & Uwe Eric Laufenberg (director) The Semperoper caused a sensation in November 2007 when it visited Japan for the first time in 26 years.The demand for tickets and the audience's enthusiam were unprecedented, not least because the company was staging a piece that is performed more authentically in Dresden than anywhere else in the world: Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier, which received its first performance in Dresden in 1911. Leading the ensemble was the radiant-voiced Anne Schwanewilms, recently heard in Elektra at Covent Garden, a singer described by the Independent as "one of the greatest singers on the operatic stage today." "Ms. Schwanewilms is an elegantly lovely woman. But more important, she is a very fine soprano with a clear, dusky-toned and focused voice. Her soft sustained high notes, delivered with scant vibrato and true pitch, were ravishing." The New York Times "As Baron Ochs, the Austrian bass Kurt Rydl, a superb singing actor who makes words leap off the stage, conveyed the aggressive crudeness of this pathetically comic aristocrat." The New York Times “Uwe Eric Laufenberg's production may be fuzzy, but this Dresden Rosenkavalier captured on tour in Japan has to be seen for Anne Schwanewilms's Marschallin, one of the most consummate operatic performances I've ever seen. Along with a beautiful, expressive face made for the cameras to adore come exquisitely phrased and coloured singing, total physical ease and an attention to the text which only a native German singer could achieve... There's world class singing, too, from Anke Vondung's Octavian - looking more like an elegant lesbian than a boy... and Maki Mori's girlish, twirling Sophie.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2009 **** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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Renée Fleming performs in a wonderful version of Der Rosenkavalier with an all star cast. Sophie Koch, Diana Damrau, Franz Hawlata, Jonas Kaufmann perform in this Decca release with the Munchner Philharmoniker and Christian Thielemann conducting. For this filming, Baden-Baden Festival Opera is re-staging the celebrated Herbert Wernicke production, already seen in Salzburg (1995) and Paris (1998) – a stylish pastiche of vast mirrors, Viennese Baroque decorations, Hollywood-esque staircases and early 20th century evening wear. “[Fleming] speaks volumes with those expressive eyes and floats the trio's opening phrase to perfection...Sophie Koch produces rich, impassioned sounds and makes a convincing boy...Kaufmann [is] handsome and oddly impressive as the Italian tenor” BBC Music Magazine, August 2010 ** “we have Christian Thielemann's immaculately bittersweet conducting and Renée Fleming's Marschallin, sung and acted with superb conviction...Watch out, meanwhile, for Jonas Kaufmann's brief, but sensational appearance as the Italian Tenor.” The Guardian, 11th December 2009 **** | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Sydney Opera House October 2010
Catherine Carby (Octavian), Cheryl Barker (Die Marschallin), Manfred Hemm (Baron Ochs), Emma Pearson (Sophie), Andrew Brunsdon (Valzacchi), Jacqueline Dark (Annina), Henry Choo (Italian Singer) & Warwick Fyfe (Faninal) Opera Australia Chorus & Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Andrew Litton (conductor) & Brian FitzGerald (original director) Designer Carl Friedrich Oberle Lighting Designer Nigel Levings Der Rosenkavalier, the most successful opera of Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s partnership, is a story of love, lust and human frailty. The story is not complicated but it soars and dips on Strauss’ music with Hofmannsthal’s expressive libretto. With Cheryl Barker in the role of the Marschallin, who can fail to be moved by her poignant portrayal of facing the final loss of youth and her young lover? Count Octavian, Catherine Carby, has the vibrant voice of a young man who has his life to enjoy with no thought of anything but pleasure and the Marschallin’s company – until he meets the beautiful and innocent Sophie von Faninal, played by Emma Pearson. The boorish Baron Ochs auf Lerchenau is superbly exposed by Manfred Hemm, his Viennese accent lending authenticity. With all the outstanding artists completing the cast and the Opera Australia and Ballet Orchestra, this production is led by conductor Andrew Litton to create a truly stunning operatic and theatrical experience against the classic staging of Carl Friedrich Oberle. Audio DVD/2.0 LPCM/5.1 DTS Picture format NTSC Audio BD LPCM stereo and 5.0 DTS-HD Master Audio |
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| |  | Recorded live at the Salzburg Festival, July 2011
Already brimming with symbols and transformations, the epic fairytale recounted by Strauss and his librettist Hofmannsthal in Die Frau ohne Schatten acquires a further allegorical dimension in Christoph Loy’s inventive production for the Salzburg Festival. The central character, the Empress – half-spirit, half-human, and unable to bear children until she finds a shadow – here becomes a young soprano who makes a voyage of personal and professional discovery as she records the opera. A superb cast fulfils the complex vocal and dramatic demands of the piece while Christian Thielemann and the Vienna Philharmonic rise gloriously to the challenges of Strauss’s most ambitious and splendid operatic score. Premiere recording of this production. Christian Thielemann’s first opera performance at the Salzburg Festival. First opera from Salzburg Festival to be released on Opus Arte. Extra features include 'Christian Thielemann rehearses 'Die Frau Ohne Schatten', and cast gallery. Running time: 220 minutes Subtitles: EN/FR/DE/ES Sound format: 2.0LPCM + 5.1(5.0) DTS “Evelyn Herlitzius and Wolfgang Koch inject drama as a couple experiencing marital difficulties...[the Empress] is central throughout, compellingly acted and luminously sung by the marvellous Anne Schwanewilms...Holding it all together are the clearly articulated text and a magic carpet of sound that's down with assurance by Christian Thielemann...Orchestral detail has tremendous clarity and the documentary extra includes pithy insights from cast and crew” BBC Music Magazine, July 2012 **** “Loy's Personregie works well for nearly every singer...The VPO under Christian Thielemann is impeccable...[Thielemann] brings a perceptive though-line to this vast structure, and he cares as much about intimacy as about grandeur...The stand-out onstage is Michaela Schuster (Nurse), vocally magnificent and revelling in her characterization...Schwanewilms's Empress embodies dignified feminine beauty and dignity...her pristine timbre eminently suits the role.” International Record Review, June 2012 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Live Recording from The Deutsche Oper Berlin, 2011
Manuela Uhl (Danae), Mark Delavan (Jupiter), Matthias Klink (Midas), Thomas Blondelle (Merkur) & Burkhard Ulrich (Pollux) Deutsche Oper Berlin, Andrew Litton (conductor) & Kirsten Harms (stage director) World Premiere Recording on DVD! Stage Design by BERND DAMOVSKY Richard Strauss completed his second-to-last opera “Die Liebe der Danae” in 1940. Written under war clouds, the “merry mythology” based on an idea by Hugo von Hofmannsthal was given a provisional, by-invitation-only dress rehearsal premiere at the 1944 Salzburg Festival the day before all theaters in the “Reich” were closed by order of the Ministry of Propaganda. The official world premiere took place at the 1952 Salzburg Festival – now no longer in the presence of the composer, who passed away in 1949. As Europe was about to go up in flames, Strauss was pouring his entire arsenal of melodic beauty and lushness into the score of “Die Liebe der Danae”. The rarely performed opera is nothing if not a feast for Strauss lovers, with arias, ensembles and orchestral interludes blazing with sumptuous colors and rich textures. A kind of compendium of Strauss’ most inspired musical ideas, it is like the swan song of an aged composer who is taking leave from the world on the eve of the catastrophe that will engulf it. Embodying the composer, in a way, is the role of Jupiter, an aging god who realizes that he will never win the love of the beautiful Danae. This timeless production from the Deutsche Oper Berlin can also be seen as the mirror of a changing world order, with a wonderfully suggestive symbol dominating the stage during all three acts: a grand piano suspended upside-down from the rafters. This image can be seen as “an allegory for high and noble art” (Frankfurter Rundschau) or as the symbol of a world turned upside down, ready to come crashing down at any second. Starring Manuela Uhl, Mark Delavan and Matthias Klink in the lead roles, this production does full justice to this rarely performed but exceptionally moving work. BONUS: Behind the Scenes – interviews, backstage and rehearsal footage Sound Format: PCM Stereo, dts-HD Master Audio 5.0 Picture Format: 16:9 Resolution: 1080i FULL HD Languages: DE (Original Language), GB, IT, FR, ES, JP, Korean Running Time: 150 mins + 22 mins (Bonus) Blu-ray Disc: 50 GB (Double Layer) FSK: 0 “[Delavan] boast[s] a highly distinctive timbre with an effulgent upper register, fine dynamic control (here is one heroic baritone who really can sing intimately), expansive personality and fabulously clear and meaningful textual projection...the orchestra revel in the score under Andrew Litton. It has always been a fine house ensemble and it more than rises to the occasion here - the Juipiter/Mercury dialogue is particularly scintillating.” International Record Review, January 2012 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Live Recording from The Opernhaus Zürich, 2005
Set Design by Rolf Glittenberg & Costume Design by Heidi Hackl. When Richard Strauss set Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s “Electra” to music in 1909, it marked the beginning of the long-standing and productive collaboration between the two artists. Convinced that the drama was suitable to be staged as an opera, Strauss produced some music that could ideally achieve the expressionistic “trauma of faithfulness” that the work demanded. Martin Kušejs’ production at the Zurich opera house brings the bloody, ancient story into the present day: In the courtyard of her father who was murdered at the hands of her mother, Electra’s isolation is striking in that she is dressed as a punk in the better family. The director expertly realises the tension between uninhibited and yet suppressed sexuality: “…a sinister, cold atmosphere of sex and degradation“. We witness a society that has gone mad, one that only knows violence. The soloists and Christoph von Dohnányi with the choir and orchestra of the Zurich Opera magnifi cently make their contribution to this truly unique Electra. Picture format: 1080i Full HD
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish
Booklet notes: English, German, French
Running time: 102 mins
No. of Discs: 1 (BD 25) “It's a change to see a production of Strauss's and Hofmannsthal's psychotic masterwork that's not weighted with greater German gloom, louring Second World War-derived imagery and cakes of lurid make-up. Martin Kušej directs people well, and since Elektra is largely an opera of dialogues, his work (all closely derived from the text) demands attention.
Eva Johansson's Elektra is a hooded tomboy with definite Asbo leanings; she has to be on full throttle for this role but both Dohnányi's orchestra and TDK's engineers are kind to her.
Melanie Diener, a consummate singing actress, locates the hard, hard role of Chrysothemis somewhere between Victoria Beckham and Brechtian alienation: every entry, every new event is as surprising to her as a goldfish going round its bowl.
Marjana Lipovšek presents their mother as a complex of confused identities, eschewing both in voice and acting any melodramatic harridan tendencies. As their brother, Alfred Muff survives a dreadful first 'disguise' wig to present a revenger of quiet, un-neurotic determination.
Equally original is Rudolf Schasching's lecherous groper of an Aegisthus, convincingly deceived when Elektra plays up to his libido.
The action takes places in a dangerously uneven, hillock-strewn courtyard, reached by many doors. There is much cavorting by the smaller roles: the maids (and one token transvestite) dress up as…maids (French) for Aegisthus' pleasure, while action or tension in the palace (Strauss's 'interludes') is illustrated by door-to-door crosses by a large troupe of actors in various states of ecstasy, undress, axecarrying, etc. They've not been terribly well directed and the effect only really works when the (false) news of Orestes' death sets off Klytemnestra's laugh. At the end, when revenge is done, the girl extras perform a dance in Las Vegas-style frillies – weird, but suitably unnerving.
Dohnányi's old master's approach to the score goes for a long pay-off rather than whipping up the tension from the word go, employing a wide range of tempi and dynamics and stressing the modernity of the score. Both the Vienna staging of Harry Kupfer (with Claudio Abbado) and the studio film of Götz Friedrich (with Karl Böhm and a veteran stellar cast) remain indispensable.
But, for an alternative vision allied to a close, human reading of the text, the new performance, while not quite the sum of its parts, makes for intelligent viewing.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 “Dohnanyi's powerful conducting and the singing of a fine cast make this TDK account of Strauss Elektra magnetically compelling. Eva Johansson has a sharp cutting edge to her soprano, entirely apt for the role, well contrasted with the much sweeter Chrysothemis of Melanie Diener” Penguin Guide, 2010 edition **/*** | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Recorded live at Festspielhaus Baden-Baden 29 Jan, 1 & 4 Feb 2010
Conducted by Christian Thielemann, this performance was the sensation of the 2010 Baden-Baden Festival. A one-act masterpiece inspired by Greek mythology, it is a dense, jagged cry for justice and vengeance. With its powerfully expressive chords, spooky waltz rhythms and mad dance of triumph, it shakes the audience to the core. Herbert Wernicke’s legendary production for the Bayerische Staatsoper stands out for its clear lines, classical structural elements and striking colour contrasts. Linda Watson, one of the great Wagnerian sopranos of today, superbly masters her role debut as Elektra, one of opera’s most demanding roles. Extra features: Cast gallery Running time 1 hour 40 mins Region code All regions Video codec AVC/MPEG-4 Disc size BD50 Picture format 1080i High Definition / 16:9 Sound format 2.0 LPCM + 5.1(5.0) DTS digital surround Menu language EN Subtitles: EN/FR/DE/ES “Perhaps taking its cue from Electra's repeated cry of 'Allein!' ('Alone!') the production presents all its characters as both alone and alienated from one another...Possibly in reaction to the statuesque starkness of the staging, Thielemann seems to want to tone down the score's mythic violence and tease out its moments of human (essentially womanly) warmth.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2011 *** “Watson has physical stature, an expressive face...the necessary intelligence and a suitable instrument, which is saying a great deal in this most formidable of roles...[Henschel] makes a capital Klytämnestra, lavishing lovelier tone on the role than it usually receives...Never do Christian Thielemann and the Munich Philharmonic overwhelm the singers: they make chamber music, in effect, with no bombast whatever” International Record Review, March 2011 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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