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World Premiere Recording.

Pergolesi’s first opera “La Salustia” is filled with emotions and dramatic elements. It portrays the battle of two women, their struggle for power and justice. Further, it is the story of failing deceitful plots and mistrust.

Salustia is the strong empress, wife of the Roman emperor Alessandro, whose mother-in-law Giulia would rather see dead than accept as ruler. Strangely however, it is Salustia who saves Giulia from her own death more than once. She fights not only for her own justice – ruling together with her love Alessandro – but also for justice amongst all the other battling parties. At the end she is rewarded for her moral strength. The drama around the unbreakable Salustia takes its course in the setting of ancient Rome. Young French director Juliette Deschamps, known for various opera productions in Jesi, made the old story come alive on a stage that suggests an ancient palace with large windows, later on the coliseum. The cast features well-loved Pergolesi interpreters such as Serena Malfi, Laura Polverelli or Vittorio Prato. The Accademia Barocca de I Musici Italiani, well-known for productions in historic performance practice, are led by Corrado Rovaris. This is a world premiere recording of one of the very few Salustia-productions that exist worldwide.

Pergolesi’s comic opera Lo frate ’nnamorato (The Brother in Love) from 1732 was his ticket to the Royal Chapel in Naples. Its huge success was due to the beautiful score, showing Pergolesi’s talent for opera compositions, and the exquisite Libretto by Gennarantonio Federico. Lo frate ‘nnamorato especially owes its wit and exuberance to the comic resources of improvisational theatre, which is refl ected in the narrative structure and relationships between the dramatis personae. Love triangles, marriage plans that come to nothing, intrigues and more lead the opera along to the unsuspected outcome.

The 2011 Jesi production, set in the 1950s, features an outstanding cast of singers that further present first-class acting skills that drive a line between quintessence and parody, inventive genius and a sense of tradition, caricature and insight into the roles and characters. Nicola Alaimo, Elena Belfiore, Patrizia Biccirè and Jurgita Adamonytė – to name but a few – carry this wonderful production, realized by the young Argentine director Willy Landin.

Fabio Biondi began his career as a Wunderkind Violinist at the age of twelve. In 1990 he founded his fabulous ensemble Europa Galante, which quickly became the most internationally renowned and awarded Italian ensemble of baroque music.

Sound Format: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio 5.1

Picture Format: 16:9, 1080i FULL HD

Subtitle Languages: IT (Original Language), GB, DE, FR, ES, JP, Korean

Running Time: 160 mins

Blu-ray Disc: 50 GB (Dual Layer)

FSK: 0

Region Code: Worldwide

Worldwide available

Requiring 38 soloists, chorus and large orchestra, "Palestrina", Hans Pfitzner's (1869-1949) "most important work" (Süddeutsche Zeitung), is a challenging opera to stage. Written in a lush late-Romantic idiom, the masterpiece weaves a fictitious tale around Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, one of the most important Renaissance composers and renovators of sacred music, who fears losing his creative powers and his role in society.

In Munich, the city in which it was given its world premiere in 1917, the Bavarian State Opera succeeded – director Christian Stückl, best known for his staging of the Oberammergau Passion Play and the Salzburg Festival's "Jedermann", transformed the monumental work into an optical pop art event.

Conductor Simone Young maintains a silky, organic orchestral texture, and expertly holds the reins of the many vocal and instrumental parts. Heading the many outstanding soloists are the imposing Christopher Ventris as Palestrina, Bayreuth regular Falk Struckmann and baritone Michael Volle.

Picture format Blu-ray: 1080i Full HD

Sound format Blu-ray: PCM Stereo, DTS-HD Master Audio

Region code: All (Worldwide)

Booklet notes: English, German, French

Running time: 197 mins Performance + 9 mins Bonus

Set Design by Raimund Bauer.

The opera Dialogues of the Carmelites is the only opera the French composer Francis Poulenc has ever written. It is based on the screenplay Die begnadigte Angst by Georges Bernanos. The material for the opera is based on actual historic events. Poulenc converges religion and revolution: The young Blanche de la Force who suffers from existential fear all life long, escapes into a convent hoping to conquer her paralysing fear of life and death. Even the walls of the convent cannot stop the French Revolution. The nuns of the Carmelite Order fail to resist it and accept to die in martyrdom. Fascinated by their constancy finally Blanche overcomes her angst and follows her sisters to the scaffold. This dramatic opera in three acts had its debut performance at La Scala in Milan in 1957. With its religious theme this opera takes a special position in the theatre of music in the 20th century. Poulenc's clear and insistent musical language is perfectly interpreted by conductor Simone Young and the Philharmoniker Hamburg. This production showcases big, vibrant voices from all age categories who are not only brilliant in singing but also in acting. Besides the great musical performance, the main reason for the huge success of the opera is stage director Nikolaus Lehnhoff. His simplistic stage design together with the mystic light installation this opera guarantees great listening and also an amazing viewing pleasure.

“…the sheer power of Lehnhoff’s final scene simply takes your breath away.” Hamburger Abendblatt

“It is remarkable how Lehnhoff succeeds in narrating the events of a two-and-a-half hour drama that is low on action without losing power or intensity.” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Sound Format: PCM Stereo, dts-HD Master Audio 7.1

Picture Format: 16:9

Resolution: 1080i FULL HD

Subtitle Languages: FR, GB, DE, ES, IT, JP

Running Time: 166 mins

Blu-ray Disc: 50 GB (DUAL LAYER)

FSK: 0

Stage direction and set design: Dmitri Tcherniakov

Costumes Elena Zaytseva, Lighting Gleb Filshtinsky

A passionate lover of the human voice, Francis Poulenc composed the Dialogues des Carmélites in 1953, using a libretto he himself had written from a screenplay by Georges Bernanos. The first ever performances in Munich, this production was entrusted to Dmitri Tcherniakov, whose worldwide reputation is underpinned by productions like Eugene Onegin and Macbeth at the Paris Opera and Don Giovanni at Aixen-Provence.

The superb international cast includes a fine Blanche de la Force in Susan Gritton and an excellent Madame de Croissy by Sylvie Brunet, who was favourably compared to Rita Gorr in the press. They are superbly backed up by Soile Isokoski, Susanne Resmark, Hélène Guilmette, Alain Vernhes and the fabulous Bernard Richter.

Kent Nagano with the Dialogues literally at his fingertips – he recorded a landmark version some years ago – is at the helm of the Bavarian State Opera Orchestra and Chorus.

Subtitles : Fr, Eng, Ger, Spa

Colour 1080i HD, 16/9

PCM Stereo, DTS HD Master Audio

First release on Blu-ray.

This production from 2009 is staged by young up-and-coming director Dmitri Tcherniakov, who worked at Bolshoi, Mariinsky, Opera de Bastille, La Scala, and various opera houses in Germany.

The opera is based on the famous novel “The Gambler” by Dostoyevsky

Note: This Blu-ray Disc (BD) is not compatible with standard DVD players.

Prokofiev’s enchantingly surreal commedia dell’arte masterwork is turned into a spectacular triumph of total theatre in this vital production from the Amsterdam Muziektheater. De Nederlandse Opera has chosen to use the more flexible French libretto of the 1921 premiere, a pertinent choice which has the advantage of accentuating the aesthetic common ground shared by Prokofiev and Les Six. Stéphane Denève’s brilliant musical direction inspires outstanding performances from the soloists and the superb Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, enhanced by the smart, blockbusting staging of Laurent Pelly and the exquisite sets of Chantal Thomas, which propel this feverish fable to great heights.

Bonus material/features:

Cast gallery & Illustrated synopsis

Introduction including interviews with main members of the cast and the artistic team

‘A wonderful spectacle… A masterful staging of Prokofiev’s Love for three oranges from DNO. … Seldom have we seen such a successful synthesis of music, image and wit on the operatic stage.’ Het Parool

Alessandro Corbelli takes the title role in Annabel Arden’s whirlwind production of Puccini’s compact opera, in which the scheming Gianni Schicchi retrieves for himself the spoils of a disinherited family to pave the way for his daughter to marry her love.

Recorded live at Glyndebourne Opera House, Sussex, UK, on 11th July 2004.

Note: This Blu-ray Disc (BD) is not compatible with standard DVD players.

Plus:

Rachmaninov’s The Miserly Knight – The complete opera, also directed by Annabel Arden and conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, as performed alongside Gianni Schicchi as a double bill at Glyndebourne on 11th July 2004.

PICTURE FORMAT: 1080i

LENGTH: 162 Mins

SOUND: 2.0 & 5.1 PCM AUDIO

SUBTITLES: EN/FR/DE/ES/IT

NOTE: This Blu-ray Disc is not compatible with standard DVD players.

World Premiere Recording On Blu-ray Disc.

Set and Costume Design by Maurizio Balò

A fake death, a perverse woman and a pure woman, a man torn between them, a murder: the story of Edgar, Giacomo Puccini’s second opera, is full of dramatic turns of events. Arthaus Musik presents this powerful and tragic opera now in a version which was count for lost for nearly 120 years.

For the first time the original version in four acts of Edgar by Giacomo Puccini was staged at the Teatro Regio in Turin in 2008. Thanks to the rediscovery of the manuscript score, after 119 years since the first and only performance in Milan in 1889 and after numerous versions condensing the opera in three acts, it will be again possible to experience the original opera that Puccini wrote. It was only when the American Puccini expert Linda B. Fairtile began reconstructing the original orchestration of the almost 40-minute final act that the composer’s granddaughter, Simonetta Puccini, came up with the intact score. José Cura, acclaimed all over the world for his intense interpretations, is Edgar. His rich and brilliant tenor voice, together with his fascinating stage presence, make him one of the most charismatic and sought-after artists in the world. With him, two prima donnas, two artists of great charm and with skyrocketing careers: the Italian soprano Amarilli Nizza and the Russian mezzo-soprano Julia Gertseva.

Sound Format: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1

Picture Format: 16:9

Resolution: 1080i FULL HD

Menu Language: GB

Blu-ray Disc: 50 GB (Dual Layer)

Subtitle Languages: IT, GB, DE, FR, ES, Japanese

Running Time: 157 mins

FSK: 0