Browse: Unitel (series)
Unitel was founded in 1966 with the aim of capturing the fascination of music on film, Unitel has become the world's leading producer of classical music programs for film, television and video.
Unitel's repertoire comprises more than 600 hours of programming; orchestral music, chamber music, operas, operettas, ballets and portraits of artists.
-
Strauss, R: Salome
RecommendedTeresa Stratas (Salome), Bernd Weikl (Jochanaan), Astrid Varnay (Herodias), Hans Beirer (Herodes), Wieslaw Ochman (Narraboth), Hanna Schwarz (Ein Page)
Wiener Philharmoniker, Karl Böhm
Stratas's sinuous child-woman comes close to the ideal in Friedrich's glitzy but unnerving film, strongly cast throughout and superbly conducted. — More…
Awards:
-
Penguin Guide, Rosette
-
-
Wagner: Tannhäuser (Dresden version)
RecommendedSpas Wenkoff (Tannhäuser), Gwyneth Jones (Elisabeth/Venus), Bernd Weikl (Wolfram), Hans Sotin (Hermann), Robert Schunk (Walther von der Vogelweide)
Bayreuther Festspiele, Sir Colin Davis
At last on DVD, a legendary staging which really did revitalise its subject. The staging's intensity, on a single stark rostrum, is supercharged by the committed, first-rate ensemble 1970s Bayreuth... — More…
Awards:
-
Building a Library, May 2013, First Choice on DVD (Dresden version)
-
Presto Favourites, Recommended Recording
-
-
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
René Kollo, Johanna Meier, Matti Salminen, Hermann Becht & Hanna Schwarz
Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele, Daniel Barenboim
For a supposedly 'difficult' opera, there's a fair choice of DVD Tristans… But this 1983 Bayreuth version, reappearing at last here on DVD, remains the finest. Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's staging... — More…
Awards:
-
BBC Music Magazine, December 2007, DVD Choice
-
Gramophone Magazine, November 2007, DVD of the Month
-
-
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake, Op. 20
RecommendedMargot Fonteyn & Rudolf Nureyev
Wiener Symphoniker & Mitglieder des Balletts der Wiener Staatsoper, John Lanchbery
Awards:
-
Penguin Guide, Rosette
-
-
Verdi: La Traviata
Anna Netrebko (Violetta), Rolando Villazón (Alfredo), Thomas Hampson (Germont), Helene Schneiderman (Flora), Diane Pilcher (Annina), Salvatore Cordella (Gastone), Paul Gay (Barone), Herman Wallén (Marchese), Luigi Roni (Grenvil)
Wiener Philharmoniker, Carlo Rizzi, Brian Large
One of the finest available versions of La traviata available on video. — More…
-
Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen
RecommendedDas Rheingold
Donald McIntyre (Wotan), Heinz Zednik (Loge), Hermann Becht (Alberich), Hanna Schwarz (Fricka), Matti Salminen (Fasolt), Fritz Hübner (Fafner), Carmen Reppel (Freia), Martin Egel (Donner), Siegfried Jerusalem (Froh), Helmut Pampuch (Mime), Ortrun Wenkel (Erda),...
Chéreau's Marxist-tinged, Industrial Revolution-set production was by no means greeted with universal enthusiasm when it made its debut at the 1976 Bayreuth Festival...By the time the production... — More…
Awards:
-
Building a Library, February 2008, DVD Choice
-
Presto Favourites, Recommended Recording
-
Grammy Awards, 25th Awards (1982), Best Opera Recording
-
-
Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro, K492
Hermann Prey (Figaro), Mirella Freni (Susanna), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Count), Kiri Te Kanawa (Countess), Maria Ewing (Cherubino), Paolo Montarsolo (Bartolo), Heather Begg (Marcellina), John van Kesteren (Basilio), Willy Caron (Curzio), Hans Krämer (Antonio), Janet Perry (Barbarina)
Wiener...
a visual treat, but having some solos delivered as interior monologues is distracting — More…
-
Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia
Teresa Berganza (Rosina), Hermann Prey (Figaro), Luigi Alva (Almaviva), Enzo Dara (Bartolo), Paolo Montarsolo (Basilio), Stefania Malagù (Berta), Luigi Roni (Fiorello)
Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala, Claudio Abbado
-
Lehár: Der Zarewitsch
Wieslaw Ochmann, Teresa Stratas, Birke Bruck, Harald Juhnke, Paul Esser & Lukas Amman
Symphonie-Orchester Kurt Graunke, Willy Mattes
Zarewitsch rhymes with 'Slavic kitsch'. Lehár's inconsequential piece of fluff about the romance between the heir to the throne and a Circassian dancer enjoys classy casting. — More…
-
Verdi: Rigoletto
Ingvar Wixell (Rigoletto/Monterone), Edita Gruberova (Gilda), Luciano Pavarotti (Il Duca), Victoria Vergara (Maddalena), Ferruccio Furlanetto (Sparafucile), Fedora Barbieri (Giovanna), Bernd Weikl (Marullo), Rémy Corazza (Borsa), Roland Bracht (Il Conte di Ceprano), Kathleen Kuhlmann (La Contessa...
It is truly memorable, with Pavarotti a Bacchus-like figure in the orgy scene...He acts the part of the Count as believably as if the latter's philosophy was his very own, and he sings gloriously... — More…