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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Opera Night 2007Famous Arias From Rossini, Verdi, Massenet, Giordano, Orff, Puccini, Donizetti, Bellini & Lehár
Live from the Deutsche Oper Berlin for The German Aids Foundation
Running Time: 122 min
Picture Format: 16:9
Sound Format: PCM Stereo
Menu Languages PAL: D, GB
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| |  | Libretto by Salvatore CammaranoDirector: Arnaud Bernard / Sets: Alessandro Camera and Video director: Tiziano Mancini
Darina Takova (soprano), Giuseppe Sabbatini (tenor), Alexander Vinogradov (bass), Damiano Salerno (baritone), Ursula Ferri (contralto), Arutjun Kotchinian (bass), Luca Favaron (tenor) & Elisabetta Martorana (soprano) Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro La Fenice, Maurizio Benini Subtitles: Italian and English. Filmed at the Teatro La Fenice, Venice, Italy, May 2006 “This mediocre opera needs stronger atmosphere than it gets in this strangely monumental staging for a domestic drama. The singing and conducting is strong, but it is more convincing to just listen than to watch.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2009 **** | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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Live Performance, October 13, 1961, Tokyo Bunka Kaikan “They don’t make ’em like this any more. Nor should they, really, as performing styles have changed. But as an example of what increasingly seems a golden age of Verdi-singing, this is almost as good as it gets. Even the less exalted names, Tucci and Protti (he so dull in the studio, thrilling live), show just why they were so popular at the time...The black-and-white picture is often fuzzy, the camera angles primitive, the production values antiquated, but here is a precious document demonstrating full-blooded Italian opera in its last years.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2008 | | | This item is currently out of stock at the UK distributor. You may order it now but please be aware that it may be six weeks or more before it can be despatched. |
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| |  | Stage Director: Barrie Kosky
Bruce Martin (Zaccaria), Rosemary Gunn (Fenena), Jeannie Kelso (Anna), Anson Austin (Ismaele), Elizabeth Connell (Abigaille), Jonathan Summers (Nabucco), John Brunato (Gran Sacerdote), Christopher Dawes (Abdallo) The Australian Opera Chorus & State Orchestra of Victoria, Carlo Felice Cillario Filmed at the State Theatre, Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne, Australia, May 7th, 1996.
PICTURE FORMAT: 4:3
LENGTH: 135 Mins
SOUND: STEREO
SUBTITLES: EN
“Jonathan Summers…was in wonderful voice and gave a performance of rich intensity and dramatic power.” The Australian | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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Recorded - Arena di Verona, Italy 2007 “There is a good sense here of the fitness of things, and of their grandeur too. As the camera roves and observes the great arena before the show begins, one becomes probably more aware of its size than if one were there in person with the milling crowds trying to find a seat. For a roof there is the spacious firmament on high, and onstage a structure that might have been designed to fill the Tate Modern. Then, as the opera unfolds, Verdi's music fills the auditorium and merely human voices rise to their almost superhuman task.
Vocally, and perhaps dramatically, the opera is dominated by Abigaille, an outsize soprano whose music makes harder demands upon voice and technique than almost any comparable role in opera. Guleghina is the Abigaille of our time: powerful, intense, wide of range, agile in passagework, and when need arises capable of softness.
If she were completely steady and if her timbre had an Italianate vibrancy and variety of coloration she would be ideal. As Nabucco, the veteran Nucci comes through with impressive authority and stamina, the middle of his voice still rich and ample. The High Priest, Zaccaria, the third major character, has one of the great bass roles in the Verdi repertoire: finely sung here by Carlo Colombara, firm, sonorous and noble in bearing.
Of the others, Fabio Sartori deserves mention, physically somewhat cumbersome, vocally fullbodied and incisive. Chorus and orchestra do the arena and its 2007 season credit, and the conductor, Daniel Oren, is well in control of his far-flung forces. The production team also wins its way through to grateful acknowledgment, despite the initial ill-will created by the blocks of scaffolding which suggest nothing more biblical than the local Ikea store in its early stages of construction. It has its uses, which include doing duty for the banks of the Euphrates, from which the Israelites sing (most beautifully) their immortal 'Va, pensiero'.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 “There is a good sense here of the fitness of things, and of their grandeur too. Guleghina is the Abigaille of out time: powerful, intense, wide of range, agile in passagework, and when need arises capable of softness. As Nabucco, the veteran Nucci comes through with impressive authority and stamina... Chorus and orchestra do the arena and its 2007 season credit.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2008 “[Nucci is] commanding as an unforgettable Nabucco. Maria Guleghina does not quite match him, but she is vocally strong as Abigaille...the special effects work well enough, and the whole performance is well held together by Daniel Oren and the magnificent singing of the Verona Chorus.” Penguin Guide, 2010 edition *** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | New Year’s Concert in St Petersburg
Directed for video by Chloé Perlemuter, Produced by François Duplat “The concert is a typical Gergiev blockbuster, with two first-rate soloists, all of Harold in Italy… and a vivid balance between colourful Russian scores and music by western composers associated with St Petersburg. The brand-new concert hall can't compare visually with the neoclassical Hall of Columns, but the sound has plenty of detail.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2008 **** | | | Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days. |
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Renée Fleming (Violetta), Rolando Villazon (Alfredo) & Renato Bruson (Germont), Suzanna Guzmán (Flora), Ania Alkimova (Annina), Daniel Montenegro (Gastone), James Creswell (Grenvil), Philip Kraus (Baron Douphol), Lee Poulis (Marchese d'Obigny) Chorus and Orchestra of the Los Angeles Opera, James Conlon "My music was played, I came in and my eye's met Renée's eyes. That gorgeous look. I became Alfredo and all I wanted to do was melt Violetta's heart with the fire of my soul." Rolando Villazón Recorded: LA Opera 2006 “Fleming comes showcased here in Marta Domingo's ultra-conventional production: efficient and lavish, it offers no insights yet causes no offence. Fleming moves convincingly from feistiness to fragility, and brings vocal glamour to each of the musically contrasting Acts. She and Rolando Villazón's fresh and dark-toned Alfredo create an on-stage chemistry that is not lost on the appreciative audience.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2008 **** “The Los Angeles performance moved me more than any other Traviata has done in years… Fleming with one of the most lovely voices to be heard in the part…” Gramophone Magazine, April 2008 “[Fleming's] warm, vibrant quality makes its mark from her very first phrase...Bruson [is] well past his prime as a singer but patrician in manner and still refulgent in the centre of his voice...Conlon conducts levelheadedly” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 “Fleming is an ideal Violetta, singing radiantly, and Rolando Villazon is both ardent and rich-toned, never coarse. Their two personalities strike sparks off each other, yet their voices blend rapturously. Renato Bruson, too, is splendid, making a dignified and strong character of Germont Senior...Brian Large, as usual, covers the action with his cameras very perceptively” Penguin Guide, 2010 edition **** | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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“One of the Met's nights of stars, with a comparatively trim Pavarotti in great voice; only Leona Mitchell slightly below par. The sets and the playing are almost too sumptuous for this early raw work.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2008 **** “A quartet of major voices was on hand to fill the leading roles... Naturally, they gave fans of sheer vocalism a great deal to cheer about during the evening... Mr. Pavarotti gave a splendid full-throated performance... He was also a sensitive partner in the many ensemble numbers... Miss Mitchell filled the house gloriously... Mr. Milnes was a dominating force... Mr. Raimondi gave his usual solid performance, musically and dramatically... James Levine's conducting had plenty of passion and momentum” New York Times “While all four solo performances are superb, one has only to sample the finale to Act I to discover what an electrifying team they make...If Pavarotti dominates by the sheer ardour of his singing, overall this is a totally gripping performance, unlikely to be surpassed on DVD.” Penguin Guide, 2010 edition **** | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Corelli & Tebaldi - Live in Tokyo, 1973Director: Mario Martone
Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Tadashi Mori This exciting Dynamic DVD features the complete recording of the critically acclaimed concert given by International superstars Franco Corelli and Renata Tebaldi at the NHK Auditorium in Tokyo on 21st November 1973. This concert includes no less than five encores. “Her voice is so smooth and beautiful….sung with the beauty of tone and directness one associates with Tebaldi…. A much loved artist.” Gramophone Magazine | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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