St. John Passion — HDVDARTS

Bach St. John Passion oratorio. Ritualised (directed) 2014 by Peter Sellers at the Philharmonie in Berlin. Stars tenor Mark Padmore (Evangelist), baritone Christian Gerhaher (Pilatus/Petrus), baritone Roderick Williams (Jesus), soprano Camilla Tilling, mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kozena, tenor Topi Lehtipuu (Arias), and bass Thomas Quasthoff. Sir Simon Rattle conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Rundfunkchor Berlin (Chorus Master Simon Halsey). Music has runtime of 135 minutes and there is a 52-minute bonus extra with Peter Sellers in conversation with Simon Rattle. Directed for video by Daniel Finkerhagel and Alexander Lück. Released 2014, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Package also has 2 DVDs, an extensive booklet, and a 7-day digital concert voucher. Grade: NA

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Here's news about high-definition video disc ("HDVD") recordings of opera, ballet, classical music, plays, fine-art documentaries, and paintings. In the journal below are independent (and hard-to-find critical) reports on hundreds of HDVDs. Pick the best titles for your excelsisphere.

Feb 25. We have just completed one of our most ambitious reviews: Einstein on the Beach opera, the surreal 4 and 1/2 hour cult legend. Kudos, encomiums, and accolades to Opus Arte for giving us this authoritative and weirdly fascinating recording, which we grade A+. Absorbing and learning Einstein is uniquely challenging. We try to help out by providing aids not included in the keepcase materials: an accurate libretto and a list of segments in the opera with correct Opus Arte time stamps. Good luck!

We have some other good grades with an A for the recent Met The Pearl Fishers (Les pêcheurs de perles) and a B- for an earlier The Pearl Fishers from Naples. Also, we recently gave an A- for the new Don Quixote from the Vienna State Ballet.