DVD Videos

“Some found Peter Hall's staging… too dark and serious, but for me it was an invigorating evening. …Vladimir Jurowski… draws highly polished and brilliant playing from the LPO of one of Rossini's greatest scores. …presenting a down-and-out Don Magnifico - dirty to his fingernails - works well when you have such a strong singing-actor as Luciano Di Pasquale. Ruxandra Donose is winning in the title role…” BBC Music Magazine, May 2006 *****

“This is a truly marvellous performance on all counts - staging, conducting and singing. Sir Peter Hall… manages to breathe new life into the routines without ever slipping over into farce, while exploring each character in some depth. The sense of an ensemble on top form is underlined by Vladimir Jurowski's exacting, pellucid and vivid interpretation, so that the music, like the libretto, is presented afresh. The superb cast has no weaknesses and many strengths, Ruxandra Donose may not have the idiomatic Italian timbre of Cecilia Bartoli... but she is the more consistent singer, using her wide range and rich tone to startling effect. Her youthful (24-year-old) partner, Russian tenor Maxim Mironov, proves an ideal Ramiro, fluent in every aspect of his role and delivering its appreciable demands in a light, pliant voice of delicate beauty.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2006

“This is a performance that meets the Glyndebourne gold standard… Hall has decided to keep it real and produced something understated, sensitive and thus deeply pleasurable.” The Telegraph

“Emilio Sagi's production of Rossini's comedy starts off in black and white, with a hefty moon gleaming down on the streets of old Seville, and ends in colour, with the triumphant lovers lifting off in a balloon. …it's a fun-packed affair… in a staging that respects the spirit and often the letter of the original. Musically, it's an equally scrupulous edition, with conductor Gianluigi Gelmettie presiding over a first-rate chorus and orchestra and delectable principals.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2006 ****

“Ponnelle's film of his La Scala staging is so imaginative and musically refined that it triumphs over the dubbing. Von Stade is an achingly beautiful Cinderella, Araiza a romantic Prince.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2006 *****

“A monochrome 1950s stage broadcast, sung by an amazing cast; in German, but a classic nevertheless. Glyndebourne's is recommendable, but this is history.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2006 *****

“On stage Le Comte Ory is indestructibly funny and jam-packed with musical treats. And the French director Jérôme Savary gives it the Glyndebourne 'works' with mechanical cows and sheep safely grazing cut-out hills behind the castle where Countess Adèle has walled herself up with her ladies until their menfolk return from the crusades. Marc Laho as the sex-obsessed Ory may not be as sweet toned as a Rossini tenor should be, and Jane Shaulis's Ragonde, companion to the Countess, is more agile with her wimple than vocally, but both know how to flirt for laughs... Diane Montague is in fine voice as Ory's love-lorn page Isolier, and Annick Massis's Adèle, the object of his affections, has a real feel for Rossini at his tenderest... The young Glyndebourne chorus mug for their lives and make the very best of the music... Glyndebourne always brought out the best in Andrew Davis who conducts like a natural born Rossinian. Brian Large directs the video with his customary self-effacing good taste.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2005