DVD Videos

Giulio Cesare is one of Handel’s most fascinating and exquisite works.

It was brought to Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu under the direction of Herbert Wernicke, who produced a new adaptation including fragments of other Handel operas such as Rinaldo, Orlando and Tolomeo. This freely-interpreted and updated version does not seek to set the opera in a contemporary context but rather to reveal hidden aspects of the work: its psychology, its history and politics.

The orchestra is conducted by Michael Hofstetter and the title role is sung by the Italian-Spanish countertenor Flavio Oliver, who is one of the leading male sopranos in the world today. Singing opposite him in the role of Cornelia, Polish contralto Ewa Podlés explores the wide range of her warm, agile voice. Soprano Elena de la Merced and mezzo-soprano Maite Beaumont complete the cast. Both are excellent Spanish singers well known on the international scene.

Herbert Wernicke uses this concept to create a transverse encounter between different historical and artistic elements. His production merely transfers to the stage an idea, which Handel himself had shown in Giulio Cesare: disorder as a factor of emotional and cultural wealth.

Sound Format: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1

Picture Format: 16:9

DVD Format: 2 x DVD 9 / NTSC

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

Running Time: 216 mins

FSK: 0

Sets and Costumes by ANNA VIEBROCK

With „Alcina“ Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito show how modern Handel can be. The production is fascinating, definitive and full of eroticism. Helene Schneiderman is absolutely overwhelming as Ruggiero‘s fi ancée and the brilliant soprano Catherine Naglestad is more blissful than seductive. Directors Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito and conductor Alan Hacker rendered the baroque opera a fascinating masterpiece of sensuality and singing which fi lled the audience with enthusiasm at the premiere in Stuttgart.

In the 1734-1735 season Handel published both “Ariodante” and “Alcina” for the Covent Garden Theatre. The libretti of the two operas illustrate episodes from Orlando furioso (1516/32) by Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533). This marvellous epic poem, which makes free use of the handed-down images of the chivalrous world of medieval knights, was for several centuries the standard model for the genre of heroic-comic verse narrative as employed by Voltaire and Wieland and of which later echoes can be heard in the works of Byron, Musset and Pushkin.

Sound Format: PCM Stereo

Picture Format: 16:9

DVD Format: DVD 9, NTSC

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

Running Time: 159 mins

FSK: 6

Philippe Jaroussky, described by Germany’s Die Zeit as “the Apollo of countertenors’, stands out among his many talented contemporaries as much for the soprano-like beauty of his tone as for the elegance and insight of his interpretations and his adventurous and erudite approach to repertoire – whether unearthing neglected scores by little-known composers or venturing beyond the Baroque into the 19th and 20th centuries.

Established as one of Virgin Classics’ bestselling artists, Jaroussky, now aged 34, has been honoured three times in the Victoires de la Musique awards in his native France and has also received Germany’s most prominent music prize, the Echo Klassik. His diverse achievements are saluted in two new collections on Virgin Classics – the 2CD set “The Voice” and the DVD and Blu Ray “La Voix des rêves: Greatest moments in Concert”.

“LA VOIX DES RÊVES - Greatest Moments in Concert” (available on DVD & Blu Ray) features video footage from a number of occasions and venues – including items from a concert given among the crystal chandeliers of the splendid Galerie des Glaces in the palace of Versailles, and works by Handel and Vivaldi performed in another jewel of French Baroque architecture, the sumptuously decorated Chapelle de la Trinité in Lyon. Also included are exclusive interviews an array of fellow musicians: Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Emmanuelle Haïm, Christina Pluhar; Jérôme Ducros, Quatuor Ebène, Gautier Capuçon, Marie-Nicole Lemieux and Renaud Capuçon.

Jaroussky and his appeal were aptly summarised in a recent profile in the French magazine Balthazar: “Philippe Jaroussky alternates between opera and recitals, bringing his sensual, graceful voice and matinee idol looks, and this has made him a key star of classical music. But his recordings also reveal a skilled musicologist who has revived numerous forgotten artists like the castrato Carestini [and the composers] Johann Christian Bach and Caldara. Jaroussky simply glows. Anyone who has had the opportunity to meet him will find it hard to forget his enthusiastic conversation and his magnetic gaze.”

The singer made his passions clear in an interview with Crescendo magazine, revealing that “I don’t like being told I have the ‘voice of an angel’, because that would just mean that it sounds pretty and takes people out of themselves … I want to be able to evoke more human emotions too: sorrow, despair, jealousy.” Speaking to the leading French newspaper Le Monde, he went into more detail on his philosophy as a maturing singer: “Ten years into your career, you reach a certain level of purity in your approach. You are always set on improving – strengthening your high notes, your low notes, your projection or your expressivity – but you also accept what it means to be an artist.”

This is Priory’s ninth DVD/CD package – a series which has been described as “ the greatest in the history of recorded organ music”. A programme of music linked to the history of Chester and a full tour of the organ and its history is documented with an accompanying CD of the recital – (programme below). Another fantastic release which will undoubtedly sell a few thousand copies, like all previous volumes. Currently only available in PAL.

DNO presents a new production of Händel's last Italian opera, Deidamia, staged by the American David Alden. No known literary source has been linked directly to this opera, which is set at the time of the Trojan War. After an oracle has predicted the death of Achilles at Troy, Achilles disguises himself as a woman and takes refuge at the court of Lycomedes, whose daughter Deidamia falls in love with the young Greek. Amorous developments and tricks of disguise expose the truth and Achilles is forced to take his place at the side of his countrymen in the battle against the Trojans. Comedy and tragedy are bedfellows in this opera, and the title role in particular covers the entire expressive spectrum, from flirtatious love song to heartfelt lament.

Premiere of this opera on DVD & Blu-ray.

Performed by Concerto Köln, a period instrument orchestra.

This latest release demonstrates the breadth of productions performed by De Nederlandse Opera.

Running time: 208 minutes

Subtitles: EN/FR/DE

Sound format: 2.0LPCM + 5.1(5.0) DTS

Sets Design by Paul Steinberg

Costume Design by Buki Shiff

Ethereal music, a fairytale plot, beguiling sets and spectacular special effects – all these combined to make Rinaldo in every sense the Baroque multimedia event par excellence.

In his modern staging, producer David Alden has resorted to all kinds of magic tricks. The mourning Almirena, for example, is suspended like a paralysed mermaid in a neon-blue water tank for her aria “Lascia ch’io pianga”. Armida constantly struggles to make her obstinate pet Hydra see reason, and no expense is spared on the stylishly artistic dance interludes. The characters move in an ironic blend of Twenties look, trendy club scene and ‘sacro’ kitsch.

Unsurprisingly, opera-goers were quick to latch onto such a glittering and star-studded production. Indeed, there can be no doubt that the American David Daniels is the undisputed star of this Munich production, even alongside the other famous names on the cast list. The young conductor Harry Bicket directs the musical action from the harpsichord and “from the depths of the orchestra pit at the Bavarian State Opera conjures up mini-marvels of his own.” (Opera Now)

Sound Format: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1

Picture Format: 16:9

DVD Format: DVD 5 + DVD 9, NTSC

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

Running Time: 164 mins

FSK: 0

The Places

The scenes shown all breathe an air of peace and tranquillity. Starting with an evening landscape in Bohemia, we move to a lake in the Tyrol, to the Museo Vela, with its gesso figures, Bavarian craftsmen fashioning glass and the Corniche near Cannes, in the South of France. Other scenes include the ancient Chapel of St Sixtus at Eygalières, the Church of St Jakob at Tramin, night in Madrid, and a nocturnal view of Seville, the whole culminating in the great Basilica of St Mark in Venice.

The Music

The music chosen, like the scenes it accompanies, suggest the calm of night. There are movements from Handel and Telemann, from concertos by Mozart for horn and for flute, and a Chopin Prelude. There is a Spanish element in the music of two French composers, Bizet and Massenet, and an air of nostalgia evoked in Fauré’s Pavane.

Video Format • NTSC / Colour / 4:3

Audio Format • DTS 5.1 / Dolby Digital 5.1 / PCM Stereo 2.0

Region Coding • No Region Coding

A showcase for – and a love letter to – a century of amazing music” is how the creator of The Enchanted Island, Jeremy Sams, described this spectacular operatic pasticcio of music by Handel, Vivaldi, Rameau, Purcell and others. Premiered at the Metropolitan in New York on New Year’s Eve 2011, it stars Joyce DiDonato, David Daniels, Danielle de Niese and Plácido Domingo, and is conducted by William Christie.

New Year’s Eve 2011 brought the world premiere at New York’s Metropolitan Opera of a spectacular and star-studded opera, The Enchanted Island. With a story based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, it was not the work of contemporary composer, but instead drew on works by figures of the Baroque era – Handel, Vivaldi, Rameau, Purcell, Campra, Ferrandini, Leclair and and Rebel. Devised by the British writer, librettist and translator Jeremy Sams, the piece revived the 18th century tradition of the pasticcio, taking arias from a variety of different sources and setting them to a new libretto.

If the work itself was an exotic hybrid, the cast comprised thoroughbreds. The leading roles were assigned to Joyce DiDonato as the sorceress Sycorax, David Daniels as the magician Prospero, Luca Pisaroni as Sycorax’s son Caliban and Danielle de Niese as Prospero’s spirit aide Ariel, while, making a special appearance as King Neptune and rising from the watery depths of the ocean to the bubbling strains of Handel’s Zadok the Priest, was the indefatigable Plácido Domingo. Meanwhile, a cornucopia of rising talent filled the roles of the opera’s six young lovers – Lisette Oropesa, Layla Claire, Elizabeth DeShong, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Paul Appleby and Elliot Madore – while the conductor was that established master of baroque opera, and an essential figure in the Virgin Classics catalogue, William Christie.

The sumptuous production, designed by Julian Crouch and blending 18th-century theatrical techniques with advanced video projections, was by Phelim McDermott.

Handel is the dominant figure among the composers enlisted by Jeremy Sams, and The Enchanted Island repurposes numbers from his operas (including Alcina, Ariodante, Partenope, Semele, Tamerlano and Teseo), his oratorios (Hercules and Judas Maccabaeus) and his cantatas.

The New York Times described the opera as an ”inventive concoction” and a “fanciful, clever and touching pastiche”, while the Associated Press found it “irresistibly entertaining. It's a light-hearted romp with enough fizz to send a dozen champagne corks popping.” Among the praise for the singers, the New York Times spoke of David Daniels’ “transfixing blend of melting sound and forceful delivery and the Financial Times described how “Joyce DiDonato cackled, curled and soared with virtuosic flair in the bitchy-witchy spasms of Sycorax”; the Wall Street Journal felt that “the best moments came from Ms DiDonato, a tragic heroine adrift in a sea of comedy.”

Jeremy Sams, writing about The Enchanted Island in The Guardian in January 2012, a couple of weeks after its premiere, said: “On New Year's Eve, we opened at the Met. The production, by Phelim McDermott, is sumptuous, and the cast quite simply the finest in the world. As for the piece, well, many New Yorkers have taken it to their hearts. Purists have been suitably and predictably outraged. My only hope is that it should be seen for what it is: a showcase for – and a love letter to – a century of amazing music.”

Renée Fleming and Andreas Scholl lead a superb cast in Stephen Wadsworth’s celebrated production of Handel’s Rodelinda from the Metropolitan Opera – based on the "Live in HD" transmission to cinemas worldwide.

The title role is unique in featuring no less than eight magnificent arias. Renée Fleming’s triumph in the first run of the production was hailed by The New York Times, "Ms Fleming draws on every resource of her artistry in this portrayal: luminous sound, exquisite ornamentation, floating high notes, emotional volatility."

Playing opposite her is Decca Classics countertenor star, Andreas Scholl, as King Bertarido, assumed dead, but returning to reclaim his throne and his queen.

The handsome period production sets the drama of public and private passion in the Milan of Handel’s own time – majestically presented in the set designs of Thomas Lynch and the lavish costumes of Martin Pakledinaz.

Giulio Cesare, the most popular of Handel’s operas, is named after the great Roman emperor, but its most memorable character is Cleopatra. In this production by Laurent Pelly from Paris’ splendid Palais Garnier, the role of the Egyptian queen is assumed for the first time by Natalie Dessay, described by the Telegraph as “a supreme vocal enchantress”.

Giulio Cesare is the opera that, over the quarter century, has led the vigorous revival of interest in Handel’s works for the stage. Now in the repertoire of theatres around the world, it offers a dazzling array of dramatic situations and moods – with music to match – and the seductive and captivating character of Cleopatra exemplifies its (to quote Shakespeare) “infinite variety”.

Natalie Dessay chose to make her stage debut in the role of the Egyptian queen at Paris’s Palais Garnier, an opera house of legendary splendour and beauty and, seating an audience of less than 2,000, well suited to the intimacy of baroque opera. Dessay had already recorded all the character’s arias for Virgin Classics with conductor Emanuelle Haïm (catalogue number 5099990787225), who was also in charge of the performances at the Palais Garnier in early 2011. “Every note is as clear and lustrous as a freshly polished crystal chandelier,” said the Toronto Star of the soprano’s recorded performance, while the Telegraph (UK) enthused that “Dessay proves a supreme vocal enchantress”.

She proved a svelte physical enchantress, too, in the staging by Laurent Pelly – who, notably, directed Dessay in the sparkling production of Donizetti’s La Fille de régiment that was seen in London, New York and Vienna and released on DVD by Virgin Classics (catalogue No. 5099951900298). His witty and stylised conception of Handel’s opera was described thus by the Wall Street Journal: “The curtain opens on the vast storeroom of an Egyptian museum, stuffed to the rafters with statuary and paintings, crates and frames. As a guard reads his newspaper, a statue of Julius Caesar comes alive – plaster gray from top to toe, including his Roman soldier's garb. Caesar bursts into song, and sculpted heads and busts aligned on storage shelves follow suit, singing along in chorus. We're off into the wacky world of director Laurent Pelly's new production of Handel's 1724 Giulio Cesare at the Paris Opéra ... there is never a dull moment.” The newspaper went on to praise the excellence of the cast: “not just the stellar Ms. Dessay but also counter-tenor Lawrence Zazzo as Caesar, mezzo-soprano Varduhi Abrahamyan as Cornelia and especially mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard as Sesto”.

In The Sunday Times (UK), Hugh Canning, an enthusiast for Handel’s operas, wrote that: “At the end of Act II, Cleopatra has one of Handel's most sublime arias, the great G minor lament ‘Se pietà di me non senti’, and Dessay sang it as well as I have ever heard in the theatre. She is an artist who understands the synergy of notes and text.”