DVD Videos

World Premiere Recording.

Pergolesi’s first opera “La Salustia” is filled with emotions and dramatic elements. It portrays the battle of two women, their struggle for power and justice. Further, it is the story of failing deceitful plots and mistrust.

Salustia is the strong empress, wife of the Roman emperor Alessandro, whose mother-in-law Giulia would rather see dead than accept as ruler. Strangely however, it is Salustia who saves Giulia from her own death more than once. She fights not only for her own justice – ruling together with her love Alessandro – but also for justice amongst all the other battling parties. At the end she is rewarded for her moral strength. The drama around the unbreakable Salustia takes its course in the setting of ancient Rome. Young French director Juliette Deschamps, known for various opera productions in Jesi, made the old story come alive on a stage that suggests an ancient palace with large windows, later on the coliseum. The cast features well-loved Pergolesi interpreters such as Serena Malfi, Laura Polverelli or Vittorio Prato. The Accademia Barocca de I Musici Italiani, well-known for productions in historic performance practice, are led by Corrado Rovaris. This is a world premiere recording of one of the very few Salustia-productions that exist worldwide.

Sound Format: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1 (DVD)

Format: DVD 5 + DVD 9, NTSC, 50 GB (Double Layer)

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

Running Time: 185 mins

FSK: 0

Set and Costume Design by LESLIE TRAVERS

WHY JENUFA?

We can talk about a moving drama set to wonderful music, or constantly recall the tragic realities of our own time, honour killings being among them. Not long ago this was a controversial work by a composer from the European margin. Today this opera about strong yet vulnerable women, seemingly bearers of their own repression, is recognized as one of the great masterpieces in the opera repertoire. It was created by a radical young female playwright, who preferred to write about other peoples‘ lives rather than her own, and a male composer, passionate up to old age about new aspects of man and human existence. Why does one want others to be hit by Jenufa – a tragedy of “ordinary human beings” that affects deeply, beyond historical and cultural differences? A strong music drama of unsentimental compassion – how could one not want to share it with as many people as possible?

Sound Format: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1

Picture Format: 16:9

DVD Format: DVD 9, NTSC

Subtitle Languages: GB, DE, FR, Svenska

Running Time: 121 mins

FSK: 0

World Premiere Recording.

Libretto by Wolfgang Rihm after Friedrich Hölderlin’s translation of Sophokles “Oedipus der Tyrann” and texts by Friedrich Nietzsche and Heiner Müller As one of the most versatile and best-known contemporary German composers, Wolfgang Rihm has always impressed and shocked with the powerful expressiveness of his music. And his “Oedipus”, originally commissioned by the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 1987 has lost nothing of its musical impact over the years. Rihm’s opera – in an impressive production by the intendant and principal director at the time, Götz Friedrich, with baritone Andreas Schmidt (at the start of his international career) in the title role – was praised by audiences and critics alike. Schmidt was subsequently not only much in demand as a performer of the classical repertoire and a lieder recitalist but also gained a reputation for his interpretations of works by other contemporary composers ranging from Hans Werner Henze to Peter Ruzicka.

The literary figure of Oedipus – the man who unknowingly killed his father and fathered four children with his mother, thereby fulfi lling the prophecy of the oracle – is a staple of western culture. The process by which he develops towards eventual recognition of his guilt is a painful one. In the end, Oedipus punishes himself in a theatrical gesture by gouging out his eyes. With its exploration of the theme of guilt and responsibility it is a legend that never fails to fascinate – and is ideal material for the operatic stage.

Sound Format: PCM Stereo

Picture Format: 4:3

DVD Format: DVD 9, NTSC

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

Running Time: 105 mins

FSK: 0

Set Design by ERICH WONDER

Nadja Michael conquers La Scala!

In Nadja Michael, we have a singer in the title role who, with her effortlessly appealing depth and great volume, not only satisfied all vocal requirements for the diabolic soprano part, but also left nothing to be desired in terms of her acting and dancing.

The magnificent stage presence of Nadja Michael is shown in every emotional turn put to music, even if it is merely a breath, wraithlike precision or mastery of singing. The audience highly acclaimed Nadja Michael’s outstanding performance!

Since its first performance hundred years ago Salome is a well-established part of the operatic repertoire of the most important opera companies throughout the world.

Sound Format: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1

Picture Format: 16:9

DVD Format: DVD 9, NTSC

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

Running Time: 108 mins

FSK: 12

The grand opera Die Hugenotten was one of the greatest operatic successes of the 19th century, and its creator was hailed as the foremost composer of his time. Yet today, he is largely forgotten by the opera-going public and his works lie gathering dust in opera house repertories around the world.

Die Hugenotten was performed at the opening of the new Covent Garden Opera in London in 1858. However, it was a performance at the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1890 which went into the history books. In the German translations by Ignatz Franz Castelli (1837 Vienna) and Charlotte Birch-Pfeiffer (1838 Munich), the conflict between Catholics and Protestants was heavily disguised; a new version was created by Gustaf Gründgens and Julius Kapp in Berlin in 1932.

John Dew’s modern production, conducted by Stefan Soltesz, caused somewhat of a sensation when it was first performed in 1987 at the Deutsche Oper, Berlin. Giving the period and content of the work new reference points, his staging becomes almost oppressively contemporary: he sets the opera in divided Berlin, where the wall is a symbol of the separation of the two German states. Angela Denning, Lucy Peacock, Richard Leech and Martin Blasius fascinate with their wonderful voices and impressive acting.

Sound Format: PCM Stereo

Picture Format: 16:9

DVD Format: DVD 9 NTSC

Subtitle Languages: GB, FR, ES, JP

Running Time: 156 mins

FSK: 0

Cosi fan tutte was one of the lesser-played great Mozart operas well into the 20th Century. In the festivals of South-English Glyndebourne, however, this work – which was initially criticised because of its “amorality” – has a long tradition. It was played when the festival had its debut in 1934 and was the first opera staged after the Second World War.

This engaging and witty production from 1975 is conducted by John Pritchard and has been singled out by many Mozart connoisseurs for its colourful set, fabulous costumes, and abundance of humour in its character portrayals. The problems, the protagonists have to deal with, seem to be so up-to-date, that it’s hard to believe, that Cosi fan tutte is not a contemporary work.

The moral of Mozart’s dramma giocoso is clear: fidelity in women is like an Arabian phoenix; everybody says it exists, nobody knows where. Leaving this defamatory statement aside, Così fan tutte is Mozart’s most beautiful ensemble opera ever written and a magnificent example of his wit at work.

With sterling performances from Helena Doese, Sylvia Lindenstrand, Anson Austin and Thomas Allen, and careful remastering, this production is a real highlight.

Sound Format: PCM Stereo

Picture Format: 4:3

DVD Format: DVD 9 NTSC

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

Running Time: 158 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

Written in 1797, Cherubini's faithful version of Euripides' ancient tragedy is one of the most savage and powerful works of the opera repertoire, relating the cruel vengeance of a wounded woman for whom infanticide seems to be the only solution to her humiliation in love. As a continuation of Gluck's music, Cherubini's work is of boundless emotion, at once a refined, terrifying and desperate portent of a tragic outcome.

Three years after the creation of 'Médée', Krzysztof Warlikowski and Christophe Rousset were reunited at La Monnaie for this memorable production. The spoken dialogue, has been modernised here in the Polish stage director's interpretation: dialogues being rewritten in contemporary French and with contemporary candour. Warlikowski reconstructs Médée as a contemporary, postmodern patchwork in which the 18th century musical numbers are just one element among others in a nearly-new work. As usual with Warlikowski, there are videos: 50s and 60s home videos of happy marriages, happy families, happy schoolkids accompanied by pop songs of the period – Oh Carol, (I am but a fool) being an example. The chorus are the period bourgeoisie, in superbly reproduced 60s costumes and hairstyles. Médée and Jason are strictly contemporary: she, at first as Amy Winehouse: the signature black hair, tattoos, eyeliner, black patent dress),he with long, heavy dreadlocks bunched down the back of his dinner jacket (and tattoos, once he is down to his vest).

The themes are marriage and separation, motherhood and children, the symbols are Médée as a dangerous, unconventional outsider (Amy Winehouse); as the Virgin Mary: as a weary modern mother folding her sons’ bloodstained pyjamas and putting them in a drawer at the end before, in absolute silence, walking off and slamming the metal door behind her.

Ariane et Barbe-bleue makes its premiere on Blu-ray.

Stéphane Denève is universally acclaimed for his interpretation of French repertoire.

This is the twelfth release from the Liceu-Opus Arte partnership.

Dukas's opera Ariane et Barbe-bleue, based on Maeterlinck's symbolist version of the classic tale, sees free spirit Ariane become the sixth wife of the infamous Barbe-bleue, who gives his new bride seven keys to seven doors, but prohibits the use of the last. Ariane discovers an array of glittering jewels behind the first six doors, but a terrifying reality awaits her as she unlocks the seventh.

José van Dam is cast as the villainous Barbe-bleue, while taking on the immensely demanding role of Ariane - who does not leave the stage throughout the entire opera - is American soprano Jeanne-Michèle Charbonnet.

Running time: 120 minutes

Subtitles: EN/FR/DE/ES/IT/CA/JP

Sound format: 2.0LPCM + 5.1(5.0) DTS

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