Wagner Das Liebesverbot opera to a libretto by the composer. Directed 2016 by Kasper Holten at the Teatro Real. Stars Manuela Uhl (Isabella), Christopher Maltman (Friedrich), Peter Lodahl (Lucio), Ilker Arcayürek (Claudio), David Alegret (Antonio), David Jerusalem (Angelo), María Miró (Mariana), Ante Jerkunica (Brighella), Isaac Galán (Danieli), María Hinojosa (Dorella), and Francisco Vas (Pontio Pilato). Ivor Bolton conducts the Chorus and Orchestra of Teatro Real (Chorus Master Andrés Máspero). Sets and costumes by Steffen Aarfing; choreography by Signe Fabricius; video design by Luke Halls; lighting by Bruno Poet. Directed for the screen by János Darvas. Released 2017, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

Schönberg Gurre-Lieder (or Gurrelieder) "opera" based on a medieval Danish legend. Directed (staged) 2014 by Pierre Audi at the Dutch National Opera. Stars Burkhard Fritz (Waldemar), Emily Magee (Tove), Anna Larsson (Waldtaube), Markus Marquardt (Bauer), Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke (Klaus Narr), and Sunnyi Melles (Narrator). Marc Albrecht conducts the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, the Chorus of the Dutch National Opera (Chorus Master Thomas Eitler), and Kammerchor des Chorforum Essen (Chorus Master Alexander Eberle). Set and costume design by Christof Hetzer; lighting design by Jean Kalman; video by Martin Eidenberger; dramaturgy by Klaus Bertisch; directed for the screen by Misjel Vermeiren. Released 2017, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio. Grade: NA

Two short operas directed as a double feature by Annabel Arden at Glyndebourne in 2004.

1. The disc starts with  the Puccini Gianni Schicchi to a libretto by Giovacchino Forzano. Stars Matilda Leyser (Buoso Donati, the deceased, a mute and motionless role), Alessandro Corbelli (Gianni Schicchi, an upstart newcomer to Florence), Sally Matthews (Lauretta, Schicchi's sexy daughter), Massimo Giordano (Rinuccio, Lauretta's boyfriend and member of the Donati family), Felicity Palmer (Zita, head of the Donati family), Marie McLaughlin, Ricardo Novaro, Massimo Giordano, Luigi Roni, Olga Schalaewa, Adrian Thompson, and Maxim Mikhailov (other Donati family members), Viacheslav Voynarovskiy (the Doctor), Richard Mosley-Evans (the Notary), as well as James Gower and Robert Davies (witnesses to the will).

2. Next comes Sergei Rachmaninov's The Miserly Knight to a libretto by the composer. This libretto was taken wholesale with minor changes from a poem by Alexander Pushkin by the same name. Stars Matilda Leyser (mute role), Sergei Leiferkus (The Baron, an old knight, the miser), Richard Berkeley-Steele (Albert, son of the Baron), Maxim Mikhailov (a Servant), Viacheslav Voynarovskiy (Money Lender), and Albert Schagidullin (the Duke).

I list Matilda Leyer first in the casts above because she is the only character to appear in both operas. She is an aerialist. In Gianni Schicchi her only action is to take a bow. In The Miserly Knight, she loots the show.

Vladimir Jurowski conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Set designs by Vicki Mortimer; costumes by Nicky Gillibran; lighting by Paule Constable; TV direction by Francesca Kemp. Released 2008, disc has 5.1 PCM sound. Grade: A-

Wagner Lohengrin opera to libretto by the composer. Directed 2006 by Nikolaus Lehnhoff at the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus. Stars Klaus Florian Vogt (Lohengrin, Knight of the Grail, son of Parsifal), Solveig Kringelborn (Elsa von Brabant, daughter of the ruler of Brabant), Hans-Peter König (Heinrich der Vogler, King of Germany), Tom Fox (Friedrich von Telramund, Count of Telramund), Waltraud Meier (Ortrud, a pagan sorceress, wife of Friedrich), Roman Trekel (King's Herald), Markus Ahme, Volker Neitmann, Dominik Hosefelder, Michael Dries (Brabantine nobels), Pei-Min Yu, Sharona Applebaum, Marie-Lys Langlois, Corinne Marquet (Pages) and Thore Vogt (Duke Gottfried, Elsa's brother). Kent Nagano conducts The Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester of Berlin, the EuropaChorAkademie Mainz (rehearsed by Joshard Daus), and the Chorus of the Opéra national de Lyon (rehearsed by Alan Woodbridge). Sets by Stephan Baunfels; costumes by Bettina Walter; lightiing by Duane Schuler; choreography by Denni Sayers; TV direction by Thomas Grimm; produced for TV and BD  by Ferenc van Damme with executive producer Hans Petri. Released 2009, this 4-hour show on 2 discs has PCM 5.1 sound. Grade: A+

Giacomo Puccini La Bohème opera to libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica. Directed 2006 by Giancarlo del Monaco at the Madrid Teatro Real. Stars Inva Mula (Mimì), Aquiles Machado (Rodolfo), Laura Giordano (Musetta), Fabio Maria Capitanucci (Marcello), David Menéndez (Schaunard), Felipe Bou (Colline), Gonzalo Fernández de Terán (Parpignol), Juan Tomás Martínez (Benoit), Alfredo Mariotti (Alcindoro), Federico Gallar (Customs Seargent), Mario Villoria (Customs Officer), and Francisco Pardo (Street Seller). Jesús López Cobos conducts the Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro Real (Chorus Master Jordi Casas Bayer) and the Children's Chorus of the Comunidad de Madrid (Chorus Master José de Felipe).  Design of set and costumes by Michael Scott; lighting by Wolfgang von Zoubek; directed for TV by Robin Lough. Disc has 5.0 PCM sound. Grade: A

Starving artists share a cold garret in Paris. Spurning work and creature comforts, they, and the women who love them, are called "Bohemians." From left to right, our four Bs are the musician Schaunard (David Menéndez), the painter Marcello (Fabio Maria Capitanucci), the philosopher Colline (Felipe Dou), and the poet Rodolfo (Aquiles Machado). It's Christmas. Schaunard has stumbled into a bit of money and the 4 plan a rare treat, dinner at cafe Momus in The Latin Quarter!