Peer Gynt ballet. Choreography and libretto by Edward Clug after the play in verse by Henrik Ibsen. Music by Edvard Grieg. Staged 2018 by Edward Clug and Miloš Isailović at the Wiener Staatsoper. Stars Jakob Feyferlik (Peer Gynt), Alice Firenze (Solveig), Eno Peci (Death), Zsolt Török (A Deer), Franziska Wallner-Hollinek (Åse, Peer’s Mother), Ioanna Avraam (Ingrid, the Bride), Nikisha Fogo (A Green-clad Woman), Isabella Lucia Severi (Little Helga, Solveig’s Sister), András Lukás (Dr. Begriffenfeldt), and dancers from the Wiener Staatsballet (Ballet Director Manuel Legris). See PS for more credits for dancers. Simon Hewett conducts the Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper and the Chorakademie und Extrachor der Wiener Staatsoper. Also features pianist Shino Takizawa, répétiteur and soloist of the Wiener Staatsballet. Set design by Marko Japelj; costume design by Leo Kulaš; lighting design by Tomaž Premzl. Directed for TV by Balázs Delbó. Released 2020, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: B
Ibsen’s Peer Gynt is an anti-apprentice-story play, written in verse, in which the anti-hero messes up in innumerable ways as he comes to complete ruin
Read MoreBrahms Double Concerto for Violin and Cello concert. Performed 2016 at the Semperoper Dresden. Christian Thielemann conducts the Staatskapelle Dresden. Features violinist Lisa Batiashvili and cellist Gautier Capuçon. Here is the program:
Brahms Double Concerto for Violin & Cello
Erwin Schulhoff— Zingaresca movement from Duo for Violin and Cello
Tchaikovsky Romeo & Juliet ‘Fantasy Overture’ (Third Version)
Liszt Les Préludes (Symphonic Poem No. 3)
Directed for TV by Beatrix Conrad. Released 2021, disc has 5.0 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MorePuccini Tosca opera to libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica. Directed 2019 by Margarethe Wallmann at the Wiener Staatsoper. Stars Karine Babajanyan (Floria Tosca), Piotr Beczaɫa (Mario Cavaradossi), Carlos Álvarez (Baron Scarpia), Sorin Coliban (Cesare Angelotti), Alexandru Moisiuc (The Sacristan), Wolfram Igor Derntl (Spoletta), Hans Peter Kammerer (Sciarrone), Ayk Martirossian (A Gaoler), and Maryam Tahon (A Shepherd). Marco Armiliato conducts the Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper and the Chor der Wiener Staatsoper (Chorus Master Martin Schebesta). Costume and set design by Nicola Benois. Directed for TV by Ella Gallieni. Sung in Italian. Released 2021, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
This Wallmann show premiered 63 years ago! The Vienna State Opera kept it going ever since to . . .
Read MoreWoodlands and Beyond… multimedia concert. Performed 2017 at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. Hélène Grimaud is piano soloist accompanied by images from Mat Hennek’s photo series “Woodlands and Beyond... “ shown on a large LED screen. All the music is about water. Inclusdes 8 short piano solos by Luciano Berio, Tōru Takemitsu, Gabriel Fauré, Maurice Ravel, Isaac Albéniz, Franz Liszt, Leoš Janáček, and Claude Debussy stitched together by 7 “Water Transition” chamber music pieces composed by Nitin Sawhney for this concert. The photographs from Hennek depict forests, water, and other nature images. Directed for TV by François-René Martin. Released 2020, disc has 5.0 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: D+
The Artists
Hélène Grimaud is a French A-list concert pianist who has performed classical music with top orchestras all over the world. Her partner in life is Mat Hennek, a German fine-art photographer. The couple live in upstate New York. Nitin Sawhney is a prodigious musician and composer . . .
Read MoreTeatro alla Scala Operas box set released 2021. Below are the discs. Four of the titles have already been reported on this website, and you can get more details by using the links provided:
We excluded Die Zauberflöte because it is a student production.
Read MoreMassenet Don Quichotte opera to libretto by Henri Caïn. Directed 2019 by Mariame Clément at the Bregenz Festival. Stars Gábor Bretz (Don Quichotte), David Stout (Sancho), Anna Goryachova (Dulcinée), Léonie Renaud (Pedro), Vera Maria Bitter (Garcias), Paul Schweinester (Rodriguez), Patrik Reiter (Juan), Elie Chapus (Chief of the Bandits), and Felix Defèr (A Man). Daniel Cohen conducts the Wiener Symphoniker and the Prague Philharmonic Choir (Chorus Master Lukáš Vasilek). Set and costume design by Julia Hansen; lighting design by Ulrik Gad; choreography for fight scenes by Ran Arthur Braun; dramaturgy by Olaf A. Schmitt. Directed for TV by Felix Breisach. Sung in French. Released 2020, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreJuan Diego Flórez - Mozart Arias concert. Performed 2019 at the Cuvilliés Theatre, Munich. Riccardo Minasi conducts the Orchestra la Scintilla. Directed for TV by Hans Hadulla; produced by Bernhard Fleischer. Sung in German and Italian. Released 2020, disc has 5.0 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Here is the all Mozart program:
“Un’aura amorosa” from Così fan tutte.
“Si spande al sole in faccia” from Il re pastore.
“Overture” from Don Giovanni.
“Dalla sua pace” from Don Giovanni.
“Il mio tesoro” from Don Giovanni.
“Overture” from Le nozze di Figaro.
Ich baue ganz auf deine Stärke” from Die Entführung aus dem Serail.
“Misero! O sogno . . . Aura, che intorno spiri,” a concert aria.
“Overture” from La clemenza di Tito.
“Se all’impero” from La clemenza di Tito.
Overture” from Idomeneo.
Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön” from Die Zaumberflöte.
“Fuor del mar” from Idomeneo.
Read MoreVictoria ballet. Choreographed and directed by Cathy Marston. Music by Philip Feeney with additional orchestration by John Longstaff. Performed and recorded 2019 at the Northern Ballet. Stars Abigail Prudames (Victoria), Joseph Taylor (Albert), Pippa Moore (Older Princess Beatrice), Miki Akuta (Young Princess Beatrice), Mlindi Kulashe (John Brown), Sean Bates (Liko), Filipo di Vilio (Benjamin Disraeli), Riku Ito (Lord Melbourne), Gavin McCaig (William Gladstone & Uncle Leopold), Minju Kang (Victoire), and Matthew Topliss (Conroy). Jonathan Lo conducts the Northern Ballet Sinfonia. Set and costume design by Steffen Aarfing; lighting design by Alastair West; dramaturgy and scenario by Uzma Hameed. Directed for TV by Ross MacGibbon. Released 2020, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: B+
The Northern Ballet, located in Leeds, England, primarily focuses on narrative works; they bill themselves as the world’s leading company of ballet artists who also act.
Read MoreSalzburg Festival 100th Anniversary box set with ten operas. You can get more details for each title by using the links provided:
Read MoreBruckner Symphonies 1-9 Box Set. All of Bruckner’s symphonies performed at 4 different venues by the famous Staatskapelle Dresden conducted by the famous Christian Thielemann. Grade for the box: D+.
The musical performances of these symphonies are excellent as is the sound. If the price drops below, say, $80, this becomes competitive with CD boxes of these symphonies, which can be had for $40 to $60. The video aspects of the box would become irrelevant—just play the discs in pure audio mode.
But if you are interested in good video of classical music, all the titles in this box comprise a colossal disaster and utter waste of the human spirit. No one has even begun the task of making high-quality Blu-ray recordings by one orchestra of all the Bruckner symphonies.
We found evidence of DVDitis for all of the titles in this box. We did extensive reviews with screenshots
Read MoreThe Bach Project: Cello Suites concert. Performed 2019 at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Athens. Yo-Yo Ma plays all six Cello Suites by Bach. Directed for TV and produced by Bernhard Fleischer. Released 2020, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreLA Phil 100 gala concert. Performed 2019 at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Gustavo Dudamel, Zubin Mehta, and Esa-Pekka Salonen conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Here is the program:
Wagner, Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Ravel, La Valse
Lutosławski , Symphony No. 4
Stravinsky, The Firebird Suite (1919 Version)
Bjarnason, From Space I Saw Earth (World premiere performance)
Also features The Los Angeles Philharmonic - The Tradition of the New, a documentary by Laszlo Molnar. Concert recording directed for TV by Michael Beyer. Produced by Bernhard Fleischer. Released 2020, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreThomas Larcher Das Jagdgewehr (“The Hunting Gun”) opera to a libretto by Friederike Gösweiner after the novel Ryōjū by Yasushi Inoue. Directed 2018 by Karl Markovics at the Brergenz Festival. Stars Sarah Aristidou (Shoko), Giulia Peri (Midori), Olivia Vermeulen (Saiko), Robin Tritscher (The Poet), and Andrè Schuen (Josuke Misugi). Michael Boder conducts the Ensemble Modern and the Schola Heidelberg (Chorus Master Walter Nussbaum). Set and costume design by Katharina Wöppermann; lighting design by Bernd Purkrabek; sound design by Norbert Ommer; dramatic advisor was Olaf A. Shmitt. Directed for TV by Felix Breisach. Sung in German. Released 2020, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreWagner Der Fliegende Holländer opera to a libretto by the composer. Directed 2019 by Paul Curran at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Stars Thomas Gazheli (The Dutchman), Marjorie Owens (Senta), Mikhail Petrenko (Daland), Berhnard Berchtold (Erik), Annette Jahns (Mary), and Timothy Oliver (Daland’s Steerman). Fabio Luisi conducts the Orchestra e Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Coro Ars Lyrica (Chorus Masters Lorenzo Fratini and Marco Bargagna). Set design by Saverio Santoliquido; costume design by Gabriella Ingram; lighting design by David Martin Jacques; video design by Otto Driscoll. Directed for TV by Tiziano Mancini. Sung in German. Released 2020, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Read MoreKit Armstrong Plays Wagner - Liszt - Mozart recital. Performed 2019 at the Margravial Opera House Bayreuth. Here is the program:
Wagner Piano Sonata in A flat major WWV 85
Liszt Au bord d’une source (On the Edge of a Spring)
Liszt Sonetto No. 123
Liszt Aux Cypres de la Villa d'Este (To the Cypresses of the Villa d’Este)
Liszt Les Jeux d’eaux à la Villa d'Este (The Water Games [Fountains] at the Villa d'Este)
LIszt Piano Sonata in B minor
Liszt Transcription from Mozart’s “Ave verum corpus motet”
Mozart Fantasy in C minor
Mozart Suite in C major Allemande
Directed for TV by Bernhard Fleischer. Released 2021, disc has 5.0 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: B+
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