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Ernst Theo Richter (Monsieur Jourdain), Veronica Cangemi (Singer), Doris Lamprecht (Shepherd/Dryad), Brigitte Fournier (Shepherdess/Naiad), Virginie Pochon (Echo), Margaret Price (Ariadne), Sumi Jo (Zerbinetta), Thomas Mohr (Harlequin), Markus Schafer (Brighella), Steven Cole (Scaramuccio), Alfred Kuhn (Truffaldino) & Gosta Winbergh (Bacchus) Orchestre de l’Opéra National de Lyon, Kent Nagano “It is high time we had the chance to hear the artistic collaboration that Strauss and Hofmannsthal originally intended. For Strauss enthusiasts this excellent set is self-recommending. For those wanting to broaden their operatic outlook, it offers much to discover and delight.” Gramophone Magazine | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Deborah Voigt (Ariadne/Prima Donna), Natalie Dessay (Zerbinetta), Susanne Mentzer (The Composer), Richard Margison (Bacchus/The Tenor), Wolfgang Brendel (The Music Master), Waldemar Kmentt (The Major-Domo), James Courtney (A Lackey), Mark Schowalter (An Officer), John Fiorito (A Wigmaker), Tony Stevenson (The Dancing Master), Nathan Gunn (Harlekin), John Nuzzo (Brighella), Eric Cutler (Scaramuccio), John Del Carlo (Truffaldin), Joyce Guyer (Najade), Jossie Pérez (Dryade) & Alexandra Deshorties (Echo) The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus, James Levine (conductor) & Laurie Feldman (stage director) Production Elijah Moshinsky Set and Costume Designer Michael Yeargan Lighting Designer Gil Wechsler Recorded in 2003 at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, this sumptuous production of Ariadne auf Naxos presents divas Deborah Voigt and Natalie Dessay in the contrasting roles which embody the opera’s themes. Two of today’s reigning sopranos – Deborah Voigt and Natalie Dessay – embody the contrasting philosophies at the heart of Ariadne auf Naxos: the deserted princess Ariadne, a ‘one-man woman’ who believes in loyalty unto death, and the flirtatious comedienne Zerbinetta, who takes a more pragmatic attitude to love and to life. This recording from the Metropolitan Opera dates from 2003. The noble, soaring lines of Ariadne gave Voigt a major breakthrough in 1991, when she sang the role in Boston, and it subsequently became her signature role. Zerbinetta exemplifies the dizzy coloratura characters which first made Dessay’s reputation. Two reviews from the New York Times evoke the first night of Elijah Moshinsky’s production in 1993, and the performance a decade later that is commemorated on this DVD. “...two prima donnas [Voigt and Mentzer] at the peaks of their careers having fun with the liveliest Elijah Moshinsky production I've seen...Dessay slips between complex human truth and the commedia dell'arte character...[Voigt] reveals a talent for Dickensian comedy...altogether a great version to win new lovers to this gorgeous work.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2010 ***** “[Voigt's] singing is full, weighty and rises to the climactic heights of the final duet...The most engaging portrayal comes from Natalie Dessay as Zerbinetta. As well as hitting all the notes (albeit with some vinegary tone), Dessay gives the character three dimensions, adding extra depth with her wide-eyed vulnerability...James Levine takes his time in the pit - but how many opera orchestras play this score with such high-quality indulgence?” Gramophone Magazine, July 2011 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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Deborah Voigt (Ariadne/Prima Donna), Natalie Dessay (Zerbinetta), Anne Sofie von Otter (Der Komponist), Ben Heppner (Bacchus), Stephan Genz (Harlekin), Sami Luttinen (Truffaldin), Christoph Genz (Brighella), Ian Thompson (Scaramuchio), Christiane Hossfeld (Najade), Angela Liebold (Dryade), Eva Kirchner (Echo), Romauld Pekny (Haushofmeister) Staatskapelle Dresden, Giuseppe Sinopoli Initially designed to be a play with music, it quickly became apparent to Strauss and his librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal that what was intended as an after-dinner entertainment would require an opera company to perform it. So, in 1916, a 30-minute ‘divertissement’ became a 90-minute opera, with a newly composed prologue. Set in the house of ‘the richest man in Vienna’, it concerns the struggles of a young composer to arrange a performance of his new opera for the guests his master has invited to the house. His opera is about Ariadne on the island of Naxos, and all the backstage chaos and bitching and scratching among performers and the domestic staff is wonderfully portrayed by Strauss. The mutual hostility between the Major-Domo and the composer is exquisite. The prologue is followed by the opera proper, and the marvel of the orchestration is especially notable – with just 36 players playing some of Strauss’s most sumptuous music. ‘Any opera house in the world would think themselves fortunate to assemble this cast … A landmark in the history of the gramophone … this really does triumph over them all.’ Gramophone | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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Lotte Schädle, Hildegard Hillebrecht, David Thaw, Jess Thomas, Claudia Hellmann, Reri Grist, Georg Stern, Gerhard Unger, Lisa Otto, Gerd Feldhoff, Gerhard Unger Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Karl Böhm, stage direction by Günther Rennert Recorded 1965 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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Anna Tomowa-Sintow (Ariadne), Agnes Baltsa (Der Komponist), Kathleen Battle (Zerbinetta), Gary Lakes (Bacchus), Hermann Prey (Musiklehrer), Urban Malmberg (Harlekin), Barbara Bonney (Najade), Helga Müller-Molinari (Dryade), Dawn Upshaw (Echo), Kurt Rydl (Truffaldin), Otto Schenk (Haushofmeister) Wiener Philharmoniker, James Levine | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Live Recording from The Zurich Opera House, 2006
Ariadne auf Naxos is one of the many beautifully crafted operas created by Richard Strauss and his librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal. In this compelling production – directed by Claus Guth – Christoph von Dohnányi leads a particularly strong cast of singer-actors in a thrilling interpretation of the work. Ariadne is sung by the American soprano Emily Magee, who has received worldwide praise for her performances in works by both Wagner and Strauss. The German-born Italian tenor Roberto Saccà, who is now regarded as one of the leading lyric tenors of his generation, takes the part of Bacchus. Exploring the essence of the piece, Claus Guth and his designer Christian Schmidt worked with the binary opposites that are posited on every level of the work and that seem to be so clear-cut: on the one hand, there is the reality of the prologue and, on the other, the artificiality of the opera. An entertaining and intelligently crafted production of one of the key operas exploring the intertextuality that occurs between “real life” and what today would be called “virtual reality”. Sound Formats: PCM Stereo, DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 Picture Format: 16:9 Resolution: 1080i FULL HD Subtitle Languages: DE (Original Language), GB, FR, ES, IT Running Time: 127 mins Blu-ray Disc: 50 GB (Dual Layer) FSK: 0 | 
| | | Scheduled for release on 3 June 2013. Order it now and we will deliver it as soon as it is available. |
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Filmed live in Baden-Baden by the veteran director Brian Large, Renée Fleming makes her debut in the role of Ariadne together with fellow key Strauss interpreters Sophie Koch and Christian Thielemann, following on from their Rosenkavalier triumph. Thielemann conducts the Staatskapelle Dresden, the orchestra to whom Strauss dedicated his Alpine Symphony and which premiered Feuersnot, Salome, Elektra, Der Rosenkavalier and Daphne. Fleming's voice might have been made for Ariadne and she achieved a great personal triumph in this production: “The chief glory of the evening was hearing Renée Fleming, the Straussian soprano par excellence, making her role debut as Ariadne… As the possessor of what is, possibly, the most beautiful soprano voice in the world, she put her vocal treasures in the service of an empathic, nuanced interpretation of the role. From the creamy top, through a rich, warm middle, to the bewitching, darker colours of her lower register, Fleming poured her magnificent sound into Strauss’s enchanting melodic arcs, animating the sadness, vulnerability, and desire of the bereft princess...” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung |
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Filmed live in Baden-Baden by the veteran director Brian Large, Renée Fleming makes her debut in the role of Ariadne together with fellow key Strauss interpreters Sophie Koch and Christian Thielemann, following on from their Rosenkavalier triumph. Thielemann conducts the Staatskapelle Dresden, the orchestra to whom Strauss dedicated his Alpine Symphony and which premiered Feuersnot, Salome, Elektra, Der Rosenkavalier and Daphne. Fleming's voice might have been made for Ariadne and she achieved a great personal triumph in this production: “The chief glory of the evening was hearing Renée Fleming, the Straussian soprano par excellence, making her role debut as Ariadne… As the possessor of what is, possibly, the most beautiful soprano voice in the world, she put her vocal treasures in the service of an empathic, nuanced interpretation of the role. From the creamy top, through a rich, warm middle, to the bewitching, darker colours of her lower register, Fleming poured her magnificent sound into Strauss’s enchanting melodic arcs, animating the sadness, vulnerability, and desire of the bereft princess...” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung |
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Gundula Janowitz (Ariadne), Agnes Baltsa (Komponist), James King (Bacchus), Edita Gruberova (Zerbinetta), Erich Kunz (Haushofmeister), Walter Berry (Musiklehrer), Barry McDaniel (Harlekin), Kurt Equiluz (Scaramuccio), Manfred Jungwirth (Truffaldin), Gerhard Unger (Brighella), Hilda de Groote (Najade), Axelle Gall (Dryade) & Sona Ghazarian (Echo) Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper, Karl Böhm Many productions at the Vienna State Opera can claim to be model interpretations of the works in question, and this is certainly true of the new production of Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos that opened in November 1976. The production is still in repertory after thirty-five years, and a number of the singers who took leading roles in the 1976 production have continued to appear in Vienna over the years and in some cases over the decades. As Zerbinetta, for example, Edita Gruberova was heard more than ninety times at the State Opera alone, mostly in this 1976 production. The brilliance of her coloratura singing and the subtlety of her characterisation made her a popular favourite with press and public alike. Many of the members of the 1976 audience must have suspected that in the brief duet between Gruberova and Baltsa they were hearing two of the leading bel canto exponents of later years, making it all the more gratifying to be able to recapture that moment now on CD. The roles of Ariadne and Bacchus were taken by Gundula Janowitz and James King, by this date in their careers both fully established in their roles. With casting like this, the difficult final scene in the opera with its ‘miracle of transformation’ does indeed become the culmination of the evening. Janowitz, with her laser-sharp accuracy, has already triumphed in Ariadne’s great laments and James King has mastered the terrors of the god’s brief entrance scene. King sang this role over a period of three decades, fully equal to the demands of the part and entirely worthy of being immortalised on disc. Who, finally, can compete with Karl Böhm on the conductor’s podium in terms of his long experience of Ariadne? The first night flowed along with an ideal balance between stage and pit, the smallest of the secondary roles were convincingly cast: this was due above all to a great conductor intimately familiar with Strauss’s music. “Agnes Baltsa is a pert, ultra-stylish Composer...Trusting in his fine male cast, Bohm (in what one may call 'late style') allows the Harlequin accompaniments to become very bar-room - apt, and he's always there to pick them up after showtime. Finally, there's James King's Bacchus, in good form and seeming to have gone even further with his personal investigation of how best to vocalise this not always grateful role.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2012 “82-year-old Karl Bohm infuses the entire performance with astounding energy...Ariadne's womanliness and glowing passion are palpable here, with Janowitz offering a degree of expressive detail I had not expected...The men do very well...Of course, the show belongs to Gruberova in what was to become her signature role...She has more than sufficient charm and delicacy while also being able to convey the two sides of Zerbinetta” International Record Review, March 2012 | | | Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days. |
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