DVD Video, Deutsche Grammophon (label)
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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... — More…
Awards:
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Building a Library, May 2013, First Choice on DVD (Dresden version)
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Presto Favourites, Recommended Recording
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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:
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2018
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Presto Recording of the Week, 27th July 2018
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International Opera Awards, 2019, Nominated - Complete Opera Recording
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2019, Winner - Audio-Visual Production
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If the programme sounds familiar, the reality is anything but. The first movement of Beethoven’s Sonata Op. 2 No. 3 emerges spacious and unhurried…The Op. 119 Bagatelles are an even greater... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2020
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Presto Recording of the Week, 8th May 2020
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BBC Music Magazine, August 2020, Instrumental Choice
2 CDs + DVD Video
$25.50 -
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Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer
John Lundgren (Dutchman), Asmik Grigorian (Senta), Georg Zeppenfeld (Daland), Eric Cutler (Erik), Marina Prudenskaya (Mary)
Bayreuth Festspiel, Oksana Lyniv, Dmitri Tcherniakov
Lyniv’s conducting is superb in terms of pacing and tonal weight and balance...Grigorian and Zeppenfeld sing as fluently and fearlessly as they act. — More…
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, September 2022, Blu-ray of the Month
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International Classical Music Awards, 2023, Nominated - Video: Opera
Blu-ray + DVD Video
$24.50 -
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Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
James Morris (Hans Sachs), Ben Heppner (Walther von Stolzing), Karita Mattila (Eva), Thomas Allen (Beckmesser), Jill Grove (Magdalena), Matthew Polenzani (David), René Pape (Pogner), John Relyea (Nachtwächter)
Metropolitan Opera & Chorus, James Levine
Thank goodness for no quirky ideas...The singers are all outstanding, led by James Morris's warmly genial Sachs...and by Ben Heppner, who is an equally convincing Walther...Mattila not only... — More…
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, June 2005, DVD of the Month
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Verdi: Otello
RecommendedPlácido Domingo (Otello), Renée Fleming (Desdemona), James Morris (Iago), Richard Croft (Cassio), Charles Anthony (Rodrigo), Alexander Anisimov (Lodovico), Jane Bunnell (Emilia), Christopher Schaldenbrand (Un Araldo), Ted Lambrinos (Monatano)
The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus, James...
It is good to have so telling a reminder on DVD of Placido Domingo's masterly assumption of the role of Otello...[Fleming was] then at her freshest and purest, yet also with power, looking and... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Favourites, Recommended Recording
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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:
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BBC Music Magazine, December 2007, DVD Choice
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Gramophone Magazine, November 2007, DVD of the Month
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Bizet: Carmen
RecommendedElina Garanča (Carmen), Roberto Alagna (Don José), Teddy Tahu Rhodes (Escamillo), Barbara Frittoli (Micaela), Keith Miller (Zuniga), Elizabeth Caballero (Frasquita), Sandra Piques Eddy (Mercedes), Earle Patriarco (Dancaire), Keith Jameson (Remandado), Trevor Scheunemann (Morales)
Metropolitan...
...everyone on stage, from stars to comprimarios and children (authentically underfoot), crackles with individual life, ideal on video... Garanča's clean-cut Baltic mezzo and fresh good looks... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 23rd August 2010
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Gramophone Magazine, November 2010, DVD of the Month
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Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin
RecommendedMariusz Kwiecien (Onegin), Anna Netrebko (Tatyana), Piotr Beczala (Lensky), Oksana Volkova (Olga), Alexei Tanovitski (Gremin)
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Chorus and Ballet, Valery Gergiev (conductor) & Deborah Warner (director)
Netrebko convincingly projects the teenage Tatiana's inwardness and sensitivity...Beczala, bookish and intense as Lensky, is deeply moving during the humiliating party scene and duel...Gergiev's... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2014
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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:
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Building a Library, February 2008, DVD Choice
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Grammy Awards, 25th Awards (1982), Best Opera Recording
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Presto Favourites, Recommended Recording
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