DVD Videos

“A magnificent account of Dvorák's lyrical Requiem, given in the sublime surroundings of St Vitus's Cathedral in Prague, including superb soloists.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2007 *****

“ENO's classic staging of Dvořák's dark fairy-tale receives a Freudian treatment in Pountney's evocative production. Elder conducts an excellent cast.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2006 ****

“The power-house regime of music director Mark Elder and stage director David Pountney at ENO created many imaginative productions, of which this Rusalka was among the finest. They set the fairytale opera in an Edwardian nursery full of toys, with the Watergnome as Rusalka's grandfather in a wheelchair and the watersprite first seen on a swing with her feet bound together, very much an Alice in Wonderland figure. The Witch is a wicked aunt, sinister in black as she pronounces her curses: when Rusalka chooses human form, she snarls: 'You'll be dumb for evermore!' The concept works well, with suggestions that it is all just a dream. Motivations, characterisation and storyline are clarified and the fantasy is intensified. In the title-role Eilene Hannan, with her clear, bright soprano, sings powerfully, and John Treleaven as the Prince shows no sign of strain, even if he does not cut a very romantic figure. Rodney Macann as the Watergnome tends to steal the show, his dark, incisive bass very characterful. Ann Howard is wonderfully menacing as the Witch, while the fluttering vibrato of Phyllis Cannan as the Foreign Princess adds to the exotic image (in Act 2, when most of the characters are dressed in white, she stands out in a crimson gown). The three Woodsprites are lively, and incidental characters are well taken.
Mark Elder draws warm incisive playing from the orchestra, adding to the dramatic impact and underpinning the moving final scene, when the Prince kisses Rusalka, knowing it will mean his death.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“'Deo Gratias' ('Thanks be to God'), Dvorák's final comment on his life, is an admirably direct and informative documentary, with plenty of illustrations of people and places, complemented by historic film.
The opening, shots of the 1969 moon landing, are a surprise, though we learn that, aptly, the New World Symphony was playing on Neil Armstrong's headphones as he stepped onto the lunar surface. Other points are less surprising but more revealing: reports from Dvorák's first music school were unflattering, for example, and his New York salary as director of the Conservatoire was 30 times higher than what he was getting at home.
The film contrasts the rapturous reception he received in England, and later in the United States, with the relative indifference and even hostility that greeted him in Germany, and covers the composition of key works, giving us an engaging portrait.
It's a pity that the musical items are single movements rather than complete works, but the selection is fair. The New World finale and the first movement of the Cello Concerto, with soloist Gustav Rivinius, are vintage recordings, but the brilliantly played Piano Concerto finale is recent.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010