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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Recorded 2011 The Arts Centre, Melbourne
Richard Alexander (The Mikado), Kanen Breen (Nanki-Poo), Taryn Fiebig (Yum-Yum), Mitchell Butel (Ko-Ko), Warwick Fyfe (Pooh-Bah) & Jacqueline Dark (Katisha) Opera Australia Chorus & Orchestra Victoria, Brian Castles-Onion (conductor) & Stuart Maunder (director) Designer: Tim Goodchild Choreographer: Carole Todd Lighting Designer: Derek Coutts Perhaps the most widely-loved and hilarious of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Savoy Operas, this classic production by Opera Australia creates a fantastical, imaginary Japan. With amazingly detailed sets, lavish costumes and a fabulous cast astutely directed by Stuart Maunder, this comic operetta sparkles from beginning to end. The music is pure joy, with an amazing performance drawn from Orchestra Victoria by the superb conductor Brian Castles-Onion. “If it's colour you want, Opera Australia's 1985 production of The Mikado, revamped in 2004, has it in spades...But if you're after reasonable taste and G&S traditions subtly tweaked, look away...Goodchild's designs scream for attention, especially in the Blu-ray edition (very crisp and bouncy).” BBC Music Magazine, September 2012 ** “Stuart Maunder’s production is fast-paced and much detailed carefully planned stage business holds the audience’s attention...All characters sing superbly and the vocal numbers are a joy to listen to...The contribution by the musical director and the orchestra was first class. A new and fresh version of the overture has been substituted for the traditional one.” MusicWeb International, June 2012 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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Scott Hendricks (König Roger), Olga Pasychnik (Roxane), John Graham-Hall (Edrisi), Hartmann (Der Hirte) Wiener Symphoniker, The Katowice City Singers’ Ensemble– Camerata Silesia, Polish Radio Choir Krakow & Childrens Chorus Musikhauptschule Bregenz, Sir Mark Elder (conductor) & David Pountnay (stage director) The first King Roger on DVD and Blu-ray! Rediscovery of Szymanovski´s masterpiece from 1926. The opera resonates Late- Romanticism and Expressionism, Richard Strauss and Richard Wagner. Recorded at the Bregenz Festival, 2009 “I cannot imagine a better performance than Bregenz's new version.” The Telegraph Running Time Opera: 89 min BD: DTS 5.1, PCM Stereo Subtitles English, French, German, Spanish, Katalan Booklet English, German, French “Pountney ditches the original Palermo setting in favour of severe abstraction, but fills the stage with unusually detailed and gripping action...Boasting a rich baritone, Scott Hendricks is a magnificent Roger, played as if on the verge of a nervous breakdown...Under Mark Elder, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra's playing is taut yet richly-charged.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2010 ***** “as vividly evocative as any traditional production might be...The sturdy baritone of Scott Hendricks suits the title-tole well, and Will Hartmann sings strongly as the Shepherd...In Szymanowski's mystical and exotic score Mark Elder gets good playing from the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2010 “Unleashing Mark Elder on Szymanowski's score, which takes opulence to the brink of hyperventilation, is taking the horse to water...[The choirs] deliver their considerable role with authentic vernacular and sustained power. Their idiomatic prowess extends to the Wiener Symphoniker...[Elder] guides them intuitively to the lush high points but doesn't oversaturate textures elsewhere.” International Record Review, November 2010 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Recorded live at the Het Muziektheater, Amsterdam, on 13th and 18th November 2008.
Charles Workman, Sarah Castle, Stephen Richardson, Nancy Allen Lundy, Zhang Jun, Tania Kross, Stephen Bryant & Mu Na Netherlands Chamber Orchestra & Cappella Amsterdam, Tan Dun (musical director) & Pierre Audi (stage director) Note: This Blu-ray Disc (BD) is not compatible with standard DVD players In ‘Marco Polo, an opera within an opera’, composer Tan Dun portrays the Venetian explorer’s travels to the Far East as a journey of both inner and physical discovery, a voyage depicting spiritual experiences as well as a geographical expedition. At the same time the work, on a libretto by Paul Griffiths, can be seen as a compositional adventure of the composer himself, unifying the various cultural worlds he occupies: a blend of Western avant garde and Oriental traditions. Pierre Audi’s mythical staging and Jean Kalman’s fabulous set design complement the composer’s own musical direction, forging the dazzlingly versatile soloists, the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra and Capella Amsterdam to a stunning symbiosis of elements across time and space, a true testimony to cultures intertwined in globalisation. Tan Dun’s Marco Polo was, for me, a multi-dimensional experience which went beyond my expectations and indeed overwhelmed my senses… Here was an opera of our generation: a fusion of elements across time and space, a true testimony to the way our worlds have become intertwined in the globalisation process.’ Anne Ku, Bonjournal.com Bonus material: Illustrated synopsis. Cast gallery. Documentary: The Music of Tomorrow – includes interviews with the creative team and principle cast members. PICTURE FORMAT: 1080i LENGTH: Approx 156 Mins SOUND: 2.0 & 5.0 PCM SUBTITLES: EN/FR/DE/ES/IT/NL | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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Set & Costume Design - Michael Levine Lighting - Jean Kalman Choreographer - Serge Bennatham This is a star-led performance of one of the most popular romantic operas with the unrivalled pairing of Fleming and Hvorostovsky as the doomed lovers. Their onstage chemistry, emotional singing and outstanding acting make this a truly special and unique production. Thousands of movie-goers watched this production live in cinemas across Europe and the US in February 2007, when the production and the singing of the central characters met with great critical acclaim. Valery Gergiev, Russia's greatest living conductor, leads Russia's classic opera, with a thrilling account of Tchaikovsky's most intense and passionate score. Robert Carsen, described in the International Herald Tribune as 'one of the most sought-after stage directors on the operatic scene' creates an evocative and striking staging. Anne Midgette, reviewing this production in the New York Times, wrote, 'this remains one of the most extraordinarily beautiful stagings I've seen.' “Luxuriously cast but staged with restraint, Robert Carsen's production as revived by Peter McLintock has already reached wide audiences through the Met's live screenings. For one, Onegin really is central to the drama… Hvorostovsky's hero, always elegant in his long phrases, shows a human face to the rejection of the young and impressionable Tatyana and sensitively underlines the notion, heightened by Tchaikovsky's short duet of asides, that the senseless duel with his best friend Lensky might be stopped at any moment. ...Fleming comes into her own in the final blaze of passion, a truly cinematic scene between two charismatic stars. ...Gergiev conjures limpid but always well projected woodwind solos in the first act and powerful bass lines to emphasise lurking tragedy. He's also an inspiring presence in the short behind-the-scenes documentary.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2008 **** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Recorded live at De Nederlandse Opera, June & July, 2011
Olga Savova (Madame Larina), Krassimira Stoyanova (Tatjana), Elena Maximova (Olga), Nina Romanova (Filipjevna), Bo Skovhus (Jevgeni Onjegin), Andrej Dunaev (Vladimir Ljenski), Mikhail Petrenko (Vorst Gremin), Peter Arink (Petrovitsj), Roger Smeets (Zaretski), Guy de Mey (Monsieur Triquet) & Richard Prada (Zapevalo) The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Mariss Jansons (conductor) & Stefan Herheim (stage director) Described by Tchaikovsky as ‘lyric scenes’, Eugene Onegin receives a spectacular reinterpretation from the Norwegian director Stefan Herheim. His productions create controversy and excitement around Europe, and here he takes Pushkin’s story of illusion, disaffection and frustrated love, and places the protagonists – world-weary Onegin and naïve, passionate Tatyana – in a triple temporal perspective, referencing the theatrical present, the period of the work’s composition, and the pageant of Russia’s history. Mariss Jansons, renowned for his mastery of Tchaikovsky’s symphonies, conducts this performance from Amsterdam’s Muziektheater. ‘Put too much steam into Tchaikovsky’s score and it wilts. Be too shy and retiring, on the other hand, and the tragic momentum evaporates. Jansons sets us on a simmer and gradually turns the heat to boiling. It is magisterially paced, stunningly played and, seemingly effortlessly, Jansons captures every aching nuance. […] Herheim’s innovations are often throbbingly acute (and sometimes wickedly funny).’ The Times Extra features: Cast gallery 30-Minute Documentary Film Running time 151mins Region Code All regions Picture format 16:9 Anamorphic Sound format 2.0LPCM + 5.1(5.0) DTS Menu languages EN Subtitles EN/FR/DE/IT/ES “Forget any sense of intimacy in Tchaikovsky's lyrical scenes in this Eugene Onegin; director Stefan Herheim's approach is one of kaleidoscopic excess...No doubt about it, though, this is musically world-class. Mariss Janson's conducting, very imposing in the big moments...accords with the broad brushstrokes of Herheim's production. But the singers are vocally near ideal. Krassimira Stoyanova's Tatyana is thrillingly secure as well as vulnerable” BBC Music Magazine, May 2012 *** “Herheim sees the opera as a representation of memories...I suspect that this would be impossible to follow if you didn't know the opera beforehand...it's hard not to get caught up in the sheer chutzpah of the production...[Stoyanova] sails through the Letter Scene with plenty of fire...Star of the evening is the conductor Mariss Jansons. It's clear from the documentary that he loves the work..and he plays it with a rhythmic vitality” International Record Review, May 2012 “Characters not only invade each other's memories but appear in fantasy form...Still, this isn't a Regie-Theater free for all...Herheim directs so many keen moments of character interactions that there's no danger of the opera lapsing into simplistic cliches...what a treat to hear an appealing, soft-grained version of [Skovhus's] voice in the title-role...what linguistic authority and depth of soul [Stoyanova] brings to the character!” Gramophone Magazine, July 2012 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Paleau De Les Arts Valencia, 2011
Kristine Opolais (Tatyana), Lena Belkina (Olga), Artur Rucinski (Onegin), Dmitri Korchak (Lensky), Günther Groissböck (Gremin),Margarita Nekrasova (Filipyevna), Helene Schneiderman (Larina), Emilio Sanchez (Triquet), Toni Navarrate (Guillot), Aldo Heo (Captain), Simon Lim (Zaretsky) Orquestra De La Comunitat Valenciana & Cor De La Generalitat Valenciana, Omer Meir Wellber In his first year as Music Director of Valencia’s Palau de les Arts, the exciting young conductor Omer Meir Wellber has scored a triumph with Tchaikovsky’s beloved opera Eugene Onegin. Film maker Mariusz Trelinski’s timeless production consists of a series of surrealist tableaux of great suggestive beauty. Omer Meir Wellber leads a superb young cast headed by Artur Rukiński as Onegin and Kristīne Opolais as Tatyana. Picture: 16:9, HD BD: DTS-HD MA 5.1, PCM 2.0 Running Time: 155 minutes Subtitles: English, German, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Japanese Available worldwide excl. USA and POLAND “The stand-out onstage, Dmitry Korchak...sing with impeccable style, looks handsome and can fill an empty stage with personality...Rucinski is velvet-voiced...but until Act 3 the singing is frustratingly uninflected...Opolais is exceptionally committed dramatically, not quite compensating for singing that, although pristine in tone, remains oddly anonymous” International Record Review, May 2013 | 
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Misha Didyk (Hermann), Emily Magee (Lisa), Lado Ataneli (Count Tomsky), Ludovic Tézier (Prince Yeletsky), Elena Zaremba (Polina), Ewa Podles (Countess), Mikhaïl Vekua (Chaplitsky), Francisco Vas (Chekalinsky) & Claudia Schneider (Masha) Symphony Orchestra and chorus of the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Michael Boder (conductor) & Gilbert Deflo (director) Obsessive in gambling and in love, the soldier Hermann is the protagonist of Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame, based on a story by Pushkin. He is smitten with the aristocratic Lisa and fixated on learning the winning secret of ‘the three cards’ from her grandmother, the Countess, played by iconic contralto Ewa Podles. This opulent production from Barcelona’s Liceu captures St Petersburg in the era of Catherine the Great, while the house’s Music Director Michael Boden conducts a large and impressive cast. Extra features: Cast Gallery Running time 183 mins Region Code All regions Picture format 1080i High Definition Sound format 2.0LPCM + 5.1(5.0) DTS Menu languages EN Subtitles EN/FR/DE/ES/CA “[Didyk] cuts a fine figure on stage: tall, blond, physically agile, he sings the role of the poor lunatic gambler well. His voice is laser-like in focus and has the familiar Slavic edge...Ataneli's Tomsky is a fine interpretation, his bright voice standing up well...[Podles] is in full control of her considerable resources, the voice booming when it must and scaled back for her lovely ballad” International Record Review, September 2011 “Misha Didyk is both vocally strong and physically striking; his acting is suitably neurotic and ‘on the edge’...[Podles] just about steals every scene she’s in. The part is often sung by veteran mezzos somewhat past their prime, so it’s refreshing to hear it so well sung by a rich contralto and so well acted.” Opera Britannia, 30th October 2011 **** | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Recorded live at the Teatro Real, Madrid in July 2006.
Plácido Domingo (Vidal Hernando), Nancy Herrera (Luisa Fernanda), José Bros (Javier Moreno), Mariola Cantarero (Duchess Carolina), Raquel Pierotti (Mariana) Chorus & Orchestra of the Teatro Real (Madrid Symphony Orchestra & Chorus), Jesús López Cobos (conductor) & Emilio Sagi (stage director) Note: This Blu-ray Disc (BD) is not compatible with standard DVD players Plácido Domingo heads an internationally renowned cast in Emilio Sagi's stylish new production for Madrid's Teatro Real of Moreno Torroba's enduring Zarzuela, whose story itself is set in the Spanish capital. Jesus Lopez Cobos conducts the Chorus & Orchestra of the Teatro Real. ‘The production at the Teatro Real in Madrid was a top-of the-range version… Vidal is a peach of a role for Domingo: his voice easily commands its baritone range and he dominates the action, convincingly heroic in voice and figure and still able to project a greying virility in the style of Sean Connery. Nancy Herrara as Luisa and Jose Bros as Javier gave fine support.’ The Independent Bonus material/features: Illustrated synopsis & cast gallery. Interviews with: • Plácido Domingo • Emilio Sagi • Jesús López Cobos PICTURE FORMAT: 1080i
LENGTH: 132 Mins
SOUND: 5.1 & 2.0 PCM
SUBTITLES: EN/FR/DE/ES/IT
“…Emilio Sagi's elegant, minimal and warm-hearted staging gives it a full-scale operatic stylishness that is captured vividly for disc… Torroba's score pours enticing melody over traditional dance rhythms… Under Jesús López Cobos it sparkles with woodwind and percussion colour. Nancy Herrera's eloquent mezzo shines in heartfelt duets with both José Bros - a fluent, suave tenor... and... Domingo, who typically paces himself to intensify along with the drama.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2007 **** | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, 23 & 26 February 2011
Eva-Maria Westbroek (Anna Nicole), Alan Oke (Old Man Marshall), Gerald Finley (The Lawyer Stern), Susan Bickley (Virgie), Jeremy White (Daddy Hogan), Loré Lixenberg (Cousin Shelley), Peter Hoare (Larry King), Rebecca de Pont Davies (Aunt Kay), Dominic Rowntree (Older Daniel), Allison Cook (Blossom), Andrew Rees (Doctor), Grant Doyle (Billy) & Wynne Evans (Mayor); John Parricelli (guitar), John Paul Jones (bass guitarist), Peter Erskine (drummer) Royal Opera Chorus & Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Antonio Pappano (conductor) & Richard Jones (director) In a tragic-comic take on the extremes of celebrity culture, composer Mark Anthony Turnage, librettist Richard Thomas and director Richard Jones add Anna Nicole Smith to opera’s gallery of bad, sad girls. A pneumatic Playboy model who married an octogenarian billionaire, she achieved grotesque fame before her destitute, drugriddled death. With its jazz-coloured score and Eva-Maria Westbroek’s starry performance, this is, as the New York Times said: “an engrossing outrageous, entertaining and, ultimately deeply moving opera”. "...It's a tremendous show...shocking it isn't; stunning it is!" The Independent Contains very strong language and scenes of a sexual nature Extra features: Cast gallery Illustrated synopsis Behind the scenes feature including artist interviews Running time 120 mins approx Region Code All regions Picture format 1080i High Definition / 16:9 Sound format 2.0LPCM + 5.1(5.0) DTS Menu languages EN Subtitles EN/FR/DE/ES “The six camera operators get in close enough for us all to appreciate the visual brilliance of Richard Jones’s direction and Miriam Buether’s colourfully absurd sets. Better yet, the cameras offer extra chances for the Dutch soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek to warm and tenderise Anna Nicole’s rollercoaster life...The camera’s scrutiny also helps appreciation of Gerald Finley. Always an eloquent stage performer, he’s unsettlingly plausible as Stern” The Times, 12th August 2011 *** “this is an opera that demands to be seen in its full wide-screen glory...On DVD, the opera is worryingly compelling. The more Turnage and his librettist, Richard Thomas, pile one cringe-making scene upon another, the harder it is to look away...the whole cast is excellent...all bolstered by a vivid musical performance under Pappano...As it stands, the opera is a salacious expose and not much more - a compelling one none the less” Gramophone Magazine, November 2011 “a slick satire on the superficiality of American popular culture...Eva-Maria Westbroek gives a gutsy central performance” Financial Times, November 2011 “such pulsing energy and raucous humour in a brassy, vivid score that is perfectly matched to its trailer-trash subject...Nobody...could fail to admire Richard Jones’s flamboyantly inventive staging or Eva-Maria Westbroek’s brave and sassy performance in the title role of the rags-to-riches girl who married a billionaire and met a tragic end.” The Telegraph, 2nd December 2011 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Zemlinsky: Der Zwerg (The Dwarf)Live Recording from The Los Angeles Opera, 2008
Los Angeles Opera, James Conlon (conductor) & Darko Tresnjak (director) Set Design by Ralph Funicello The first fully-staged productions of the LA Opera House ground breaking Recovered Voices project, highlighting the works of composers affected by the Holocaust. A double bill of one-act operas: Viktor Ullmann’s Der zerbrochene Krug, taken from a comedy by the Romantic German poet Heinrich von Kleist, and Alexander Zemlinsky’s Der Zwerg, based on Oscar Wilde’s powerful tragedy The Birthday of the Infanta. The music of Alexander Zemlinsky and Viktor Ullmann remained buried for decades in the wake of the destruction wrought by the policies of the Nazi regime. Dozens of composers and thousands of compositions are still largely unknown to musicians and lovers of classical music and opera. “Full recognition of their works and genius still awaits Alexander Zemlinsky and Viktor Ullmann, more than sixty-five years after their deaths. Their works, in their very different ways, are powerful, vibrant, life-affirming and tragic in turn. They pulsate with the complexity of the human condition. Their lives and personal histories were tragic, but their music transcends it all. It is for us to appreciate their story in its full historic and artistic context.” James Conlon Sound Format: PCM Stereo, dts-HD Master Audio 5.1 Picture Format: 16:9 Resolution: 1080i FULL HD Subtitle Languages: DE, GB, FR, ES, IT, JP Running Time: 122 mins Blu-ray Disc: 25 GB (Single Layer) FSK: 0 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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