DVD Video
-
Wagner: Parsifal
RecommendedJonas Kaufmann (Parsifal), Katarina Dalayman (Kundry), Peter Mattei (Amfortas), René Pape (Gurnemanz), Evgeny Nikitin (Klingsor), Rúni Brattaberg (Titurel), Maria Zifchak (Stimme)
Orchestra, Chorus and Ballet of the Metropolitan Opera, Daniele Gatti, Francois Girard (dir.)
Kaufmann is the Parsifal we've all been waiting for...Matching his agonies are those of Peter Mattei's Amfortas and Katarina Dalayman's lustrous, secure Kundry, while the relaxed, minimal gestures... — More…
Awards:
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 17th February 2015
-
Gramophone Awards, 2015, Finalist - Opera
-
Presto Favourites, Recommended Recording
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2014
-
Diapason d’Or de l’Année, 2014, Winner - Opéra
-
-
Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana & Leoncavallo: Pagliacci (DVD)
RecommendedJonas Kaufmann (Turiddu), Liudmyla Monastyrska (Santuzza), Ambrogio Maestri (Alfio), Annalisa Stroppa (Lola), Stefania Toczyska (Mamma Lucia), Jonas Kaufmann (Canio), Maria Agresta (Nedda), Dimitri Platanias (Tonio), Alessio Arduini (Silvio), Tansel Akzeybek (Beppe)
Staatskapelle Dresden, Sachsischer...
We have plenty of the thrilling, untrammelled and ringing sound that the tenor is capable of at his best...Happily, Kaufmann’s outstanding central performances are well matched, both musically... — More…
Awards:
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 18th March 2016
-
Gramophone Magazine, May 2016, DVD/Blu-ray of the Month
-
Gramophone Awards, 2016, Shortlisted - Opera
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2016
-
-
Berlioz: Les Troyens
RecommendedBryan Hymel (Énée), Eva-Maria Westbroek (Didon), Anna Caterina Antonacci (Cassandre), Fabio Capitanucci (Chorebe), Hanna Hipp (Anna), Brindley Sherratt (Narbal), Ed Lyon (Hylas), Ji-min Park (Iopas)
Royal Opera House, Sir Antonio Pappano, Sir David McVicar
It's powerful in all senses, not least Antonio Pappano's conducting, which is dramatically hard-driven but not without atmosphere, making the love music luminously sensuous...The huge cast is... — More…
Awards:
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 7th October 2013
-
BBC Music Magazine, January 2014, DVD Choice
-
Gramophone Awards, 2014, Finalist - Opera
-
-
Rossini: La donna del lago
Joyce DiDonato (Elena), Juan Diego Florez (Giacomo V), John Osborn (Roderigo), Daniela Barcellona (Malcolm), Oren Gradus (Douglas)
The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Michele Mariotti, Paul Curran (dir.)
Florez is his usual exuberant self, throwing off top notes casually and deserving his Niagaras of applause...DiDonato as the much sought-after heroine is, as always, in tremendous form, not... — More…
Awards:
-
BBC Music Magazine, January 2016, Opera Choice
-
Opera, March 2016, Recording of the Month
-
-
Igor Stravinsky/Pyotr Tchaikovsky: Mavra/Iolanta
RecommendedMirjam Mesak (Iolanta), Long Long (Vaudémont), Boris Prýgl (Robert), Markus Suihkonen (King René), Oğulcan Yilmaz (Ibn-Hakia); Anna El-Khashem (Parasha), Freddie de Tommaso (Vassili), Noa Beinart (Mother/Marta)
Opernstudio der Bayerischen Staatsoper, Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Axel Ranisch,...
[Mesak] makes an entirely convincing Iolanta, poised between innocence and experience, and singing with blazing conviction opposite Long Long’s lyrically ardent Vaudémont. — More…
Awards:
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 16th December 2022
-
Opus Klassik Awards, 2023, Nominated - Young Talent (Mesak & Ioffe)
-
-
Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
RecommendedGerald Finley (Hans Sachs), Anna Gabler (Eva), Johannes Martin Kränzle (Beckmesser), Marco Jentzsch (Walther), Topi Lehtipuu (David), Michaela Selinger (Magdalene), Alastair Miles (Pogner)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, The Glyndebourne Chorus, Vladimir Jurowski, David McVicar
McVicar's staging stokes the glow of Meistersinger's humane heart...and above all he reminds us that this is an opera about youth and self-discovery. Gerald Finley's pivotal Sachs relish[es]... — More…
Awards:
-
BBC Music Magazine, December 2012, DVD Choice
-
Presto Favourites, Recommended Recording
-
-
Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov
Recommended1869 version
Bryn Terfel (Boris), Kostas Smoriginas (Andrey Shchelkalov), John Graham-Hall (Shuisky), Ain Anger (Pimen), David Butt Philip (Gregory), John Tomlinson (Varlaam), Rebecca de Pont Davies (Hostess)
Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Antonio Pappano, Richard Jones
I am very grateful that we have a well-made recording of this production, which allows us at last to see the 1869 version as an independent work of art that makes sense in its own terms, a... — More…
Awards:
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2023, Shortlisted - DVD/Blu-ray of the Year
-
International Classical Music Awards, 2024, Nominated - Video Opera
-
-
Delibes: Lakmé
Sabine Devieilhe (Lakmé), Frederic Antoun (Gérald), Stephane Degout (Frédéric), Ambroisine Bré (Mallika), Pygmalion, Raphaël Pichon, Laurent Pelly
Pichon conducts the Pygmalion ensemble and choir with dash and urgency, the period instruments adding a litheness to the textures – there is no room for false sentimentality. Pelly goes for... — More…
Awards:
-
Gramophone Magazine, January 2024, DVD/Blu-ray of the Month
-
-
Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
RecommendedMichael Volle (Hans Sachs), Klaus Florian Vogt (Walther von Stolzing), Johannes Martin Kränzle (Beckmesser), Anne Schwanewilms (Eva), Daniel Behle (David), Wiebke Lehmkuhl (Magdalene), Günther Groissböck (Pogner)
Bayreuth Festival, Philippe Jordan, Barrie Kosky
In Barrie Kosky’s spirited but uneven 2017 staging of Wagner’s comedy there are splurges of ideas…The performances of the cast are of a high standard dramatically and mostly musically. Volle... — More…Awards:
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 27th July 2018
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2018
-
International Opera Awards, 2019, Nominated - Complete Opera Recording
-
Opus Klassik Awards, 2019, Winner - Audio-Visual Production
-
-
Rossini: L'Italiana in Algeri
RecommendedCecilia Bartoli (Isabella), Edgardo Rocha (Lindoro), Ildar Abdrazakov (Mustafà), Alessandro Corbelli (Taddeo), Rebeca Olvera (Elvira), Rosa Bove (Zulma), José Coca Loza (Haly)
Ensemble Matheus, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Moshe Leiser & Patrice Caurier
If this was, indeed, Bartoli’s first Isabella, it was worth the wait…Nowadays she’s a consummate comedienne whose work looks especially well on film. As for her singing, one would be hard-pressed... — More…
Awards:
-
Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2019, DVD/Blu-ray of the Month
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 9th August 2019
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2019
-
International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Video Performance
-
