DVD Videos

The Glyndebourne Festival is a quintessentially English summer event. The world’s most acclaimed artists, conductors and directors excel in producing top-flight performances every year and this latest collection offers the choice of three such classic opera productions.

Running time 9 hours 53 mins approx

Region Code All regions

Picture format 16:9 Anamorphic

Sound format 2.0LPCM + 5.1(5.0) DTS

Menu languages EN

Subtitles:

La Cenerentola EN/FR/DE/ES/IT

Così fan tutte EN/FR/DE/ES/IT

Die Fledermaus EN/FR/DE/NL/ES

Arthaus presents Rossini’s popular comic opera, La Cenerentola, in a staging from the opera house in Naples. The operatic re-telling of this much loved fairy-tale centres on Cinderella’s honesty and integrity, and on her willingness to forgive others, and to encourage those around her to be equally tolerant.

Paul Curran’s production presented to rapturous acclaim in Genoa in May 2006, finds a rather unusual setting for this moral tale. He sets the story in the year 1912, in his own words, “because I wanted to draw attention to social conflicts, and this was a period when class differences were very real”. The 20th century setting works well as the social differences become immediately palpable for modern audiences, lending the main theme of forgiveness and reconciliation even more prominence. However, the comic side of the opera does not go missing and the clown-like choreographies for the duets, trios etc. dramatises the absurdities of the “bad” characters’ behaviour.

Making his operatic début in Genoa with this production, conductor Renato Palumbo used Alberto Zedda’s critical edition of Rossini’s work. He was praised in the Italian press for his “rapid, clearly-defined interpretation of the score”, “rhythmically precise and fluidly lyrical at the same time”.

A cast of established singers is led by Sonia Ganassi, who as developed a reputation as a leading exponent of Rossini’s self-possessed mezzo heroines. La Repubblica found her singing “mature and authoritative, with some quite wonderful moments”, while the singing of Sicilian tenor Antonino Siragusa was described as “limpid and technically fl awless”.

Sound Format: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1

Picture Format: 16:9

DVD Format: 1 x DVD 5 + DVD 9, NTSC

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

Running Time: 169 mins

FSK: 0

Major stars of the international opera stage come together with the Chor und Orchester of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, under the internationally acclaimed conductor Donald Runnicles, in this opera gala in aid of the German AIDS Foundation.

Highlights from operas by Rossini, Verdi, Meyerbeer, Wagner, Delibes, Sartori are performed by world-class musicians from around the globe.

Heading the star-studded line-up were established artists of the calibre of Adrianne Pieczonka, Vivica Genaux and Simone Kermes, while the younger generation is represented by tenors Francesco Demuro, Antonio Poli and Teodor Illincai, as well as the exciting soprano Kristin Lewis and mezzo-soprano Anna Smirnova. The result was truly an evening to remember.

Picture format DVD: NTSC 16:9

Sound format DVD: PCM Stereo

Region code: 0

Booklet notes: English, German, French

Runnning time: 75 mins

Rossini was 24 years old when in 1816 he wrote his seventeenth and most famous opera The Barber of Seville in an astonishing three weeks. Michael Hampe’s humorous direction of his 1988 live performance at the Schwetzingen SWR Festival stands out with its fast tempo that makes for a highly exuberant production. Ezio Firgerio’s appealing stage and Mauro Pagano’s colourful costumes heighten the comic effect. The musical direction of conductor Gabriele Ferro strikes a beautiful balance between a vibrant orchestral performance and a superb ensemble of singers. The irresistible Cecilia Bartoli as Rosina leads a cast that also includes David Kuebler, Gino Quilico and Carlos Feller.

“This is an effective, straightforward traditional performance under Gabriele Ferro, with Cecilia Bartoli in excellent voice, making this an irresistible production which should be in every collection.” Classical London

Sound Format: PCM Stereo

Picture Format: 4:3

DVD Format: DVD 9 / NTSC

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

Running time: 185 minutes

The Biblical story of Belshazzar’s hubristic arrogance set against the valour of the young warrrior-leader Cyrus provided the 20-year-old Rossini with a dramatic story with West-Eastern resonances which still speak to us today. For the title role of Cyrus, Rossini wrote what would be his longest-ever contralto role, to which the great Rossini singer Ewa Podles is both naturally attracted and ideally suited. She is partnered by two young American stars of Rossini singing, Jessica Pratt and Michael Spyres, and a conductor-scholar, Will Crutchfield, of immense experience and sympathy.

World-premiere filming of this Rossini masterpiece.

Rossini was only 20 when he wrote Ciro in Babilonia.

Stage director Davide Livermore sets the action in the 1920s, with period black-and-white film inserts.

Features Ewa Podles as Ciro.

From the Rossini Festival at Pesaro, Italy – the only festival devoted exclusively to the works of the composer.

Extra features include: Cast gallery.

Running time: 165 minutes

Subtitles: EN/FR/DE/JP/KR

Sound format: 2.0LPCM + 5.1(5.0) DTS

Poul Ruders' opera Selma Jezková (sung in English) is based on Lars von Trier's film Dancer in the Dark and follows the heart-wrenching story of Selma, a poor factory worker with failing eyesight who sacrifices her life to ensure that her son receives an eye operation.

The opera is a dark and compelling story of fate; a highly evocative and epic performance yet also intensely distilled with a duration of just 70 minutes. In this DVD production of the 2010 Copenhagen première performance, the forces of the Royal Danish Opera are directed by Kasper Holten and framed by Christian Lemmerz' grand Gothic set design.

Conductor Michael Schønwandt commands the podium and the demanding title role is sung by Ylva Kihlberg, to whom Poul Ruders has dedicated the role.

Region Code: 0

Sung in English

Subtitles in English, German and Danish

Duration: c. 73 min + c.47 min bonus material

Bonus material: Documentary ‘From cradle to the grave’ - the making of Selma Jezková

Sound formats: Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1

From the 2007 Miami International Piano Festival comes a rare performance by the distinguished American composer Frederic Rzewski of his most famous work, The People United Will Never Be Defeated!, 36 Variations on the Sergio Ortega song ¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!

65 minutes, Color, Stereo, All regions.