DVD Videos

“A performance realised to Glyndebourne's highest standards - the chorus and stage brass are Bayreuth-level, the casting immaculate (they can all really sing these parts) and Belohlávek's conducting balanced with a Goodall-like attention to the filigree detail of Wagner's new-wave scoring.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2008

“Stemme's fiery Irish princess is even finer than on the Domingo CD… Gambill's burly Tristan projects a darker, more resigned intensity… Pape's black-voiced Marke rightly dominates the stage… Karneus is a passionate, lusciously sung Brangäne. Lehnhoff's Glyndebourne production doesn't outclass Daniel Barenboim's magnificent video... But those looking for a Tristan with warmth and immediacy will find it certainly shares Barenboim's benchmark recommendation.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2008 *****

“I don’t think that I have ever witnessed a more perfect realisation of a Wagner opera than this superb Tristan und Isolde. …[Jirí Belohlávek] is scrupulous with the score, and takes his time over it: the pauses and silences are immense and there is no factitious attempt to whip up excitement by speeding. …a great and unforgettable occasion” The Telegraph

“The filming of each act begins annoyingly with a Star Wars storyline pan-in on the words 'Tristan und Isolde', 'Act 2' etc, using up the preludes. After that, however, comes a performance realised to Glyndebourne's highest standards – the chorus and stage brass are Bayreuthlevel, the casting immaculate (they can all really sing these parts), and Belohlávek's conducting balanced with a Goodall-like attention to the filigree detail of Wagner's new-wave scoring.
Old-style analyses of the music used to talk about the 'glance' motif. Lehnhoff's staging deploys a series of heartbreaking glances: Stemme's Isolde when Karnéus's Brangäne tells her she's taken the love draught, Stemme again when Tristan arrives in Act 2, Pape's Marke as he sees the lovers together and, at BrokebackMountain-level, Skovhus's Kurwenal as he cradles Gambill's Tristan then breaks away, half in fear of his lord's death, half in fear of his feelings for him. In fact, has a Tristan ever been so deeply loved by his lady and squire as here, or felt so wretched at betraying his king? And is Skovhus actually the greatest Kurwenal yet recorded? Roland Aeschlimann provides a geometrically attractive whorl of a standing set, concentric wooden circles telescoping towards a constantly varied horizon: a ship, a spaceship, everywhere, nowhere – perfect. The lighting (Robin Carter and Aeschlimann) has a genuine physical presence and seems to reinvent the colour blue. At the point of Isolde's almost belated arrival in Act 3, a surreal, Ingmar Bergman-like atmosphere permeates events: she arrives from behind on high as a figure of death and wraps him in a black cloak, while Skovhus's poignant Kurwenal gets a non-realistic, Brechtian centre-stage for his fights and death.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Nicolas Joël's… cleverly circumvents the traditional imagery by setting the action at roughly the time of composition (1870-1), in the… context of the scramble for Africa. The exoticism of Aïda is preserved, yet the characters (costumed by Franca Squarciapino) are brought closer to 'home'. It helps that Zurich's excellent cast play their roles with such dramatic and musical conviction, a rare combination in Aïda. Making her debut in the title role, Nina Stemme... gives a beautiful and touching performance.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2007 *****

“At last an Aida on DVD that can hold its head high and surpass its lesser rivals. Last year's production from the Zürich Opera is a traditional one by Nicolas Joël in veteran Ezio Frigerio's wonderfully evocative, highly coloured sets. Stemme offers a deeply considered, expressive and superbly sung Aida, one for whom the work's vocal perils do not seem to exist. Add to that acting that goes to the heart of the matter, and one is left breathless in admiration... Licitra has done nothing better than his Radames here. He and Stemme make their Act 3 duet the highlight it should be.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2007

“This 2006 production from the Zurich Opera is a traditional one by Nicolas Joël in veteran Ezio Frigerio's wonderfully evocative, highly coloured sets. Then Adám Fischer in the pit leads a remarkably strong yet subtle account of the score, which – when played and sung like this – is once more revealed as one of Verdi's greatest masterpieces.
Four of the principals easily surpass their DVD rivals. Stemme offers a deeply considered, expressive and superbly sung Aida, one for whom the work's vocal perils do not seem to exist. Add to that acting that goes to the heart of the matter, and one is left breathless in admiration after so many sopranos not truly fitted to the part. Licitra has done nothing better than his Radames here. At last fulfilling his potential, he sings the role with an open-hearted sincerity and a heroic voice up to the part's exigent demands.
He and Stemme make their Act 3 duet the highlight it should be.
D'Intino, an experienced Amneris, sings her role with intense feeling allied to a mezzo of generous proportions. The demands of her Act 4 scena are fully met, and she storms off to a well earned burst of applause. Stemme and Licitra give the final scene with the utmost sensibility. Salminen remains a force to be reckoned with, but Pons – as Amonasro – no longer is the baritone he once was, although dramatically he is up to the part.
The showpiece close to Act 2 is the one comparative disappointment, not offering the frisson it ought to. And here Andy Sommer's video direction is uncertain, too often dividing the screen into three for no discernible purpose, but he directs the principals with a deal of senstivity.
So this is the DVD Aida we have long awaited.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Pountney's unfussily direct handling of the tragic side of the drama plays to his cast's strengths. Compared to his colleagues here, the late Salvatore Licitra may not have been the stage's most natural actor but...a terrific passion carries all before it....And Nina Stemme's Leonora? A hugely well-acted assumption of the role, with (in the 'Pace! Pace, mio dio' scena) the uncanny presence and vocal fury offered by Price, Barstow or Freni.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2012

“Dramatically convincing, [Alvarez] broods darkly and his burnished baritone, although not ringing out as freely as one would wish, is powerful...Stemme is an involving Leonore, with a lovely rich lower and mid-register tone, but she is strained and variable above the stave...Krasteva throws herself into cowgirl Preziosilla with gusto, although her fruity mezzo noticeably lacks a trill...Mehta conducts effectively.” International Record Review, February 2012