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PUCCINI: La Boheme (complete opera), C Major Blu-ray (2016)

PUCCINI: La Boheme (complete opera), C Major Blu-ray (2016)

by | Oct 6, 2016 | DVD & Blu-ray Video Reviews

It’s hard to divorce this release from recent events. PUCCINI: La Boheme (complete opera), Blu-ray (2016) Performers: Daniela Dessì (Mimì)/ Fabio Armiliato (Rodolfo)/ Alessandro Luongo (Marcello)/ Alida Berti (Musetta)/ Federico Longhi (Schaunard)/ Marco Spotti (Colline)/ Angelo Nardinocchi (Benoit/Alcindoro)/ Ugo Tarquini (Parpignol)/ Marco Simonelli (Sergente dei doganieri)/ Jacopo Bianchini (Un doganiere)/ Orchestra and Choir of the Puccini Festival Torre del Lago/ Valerio Galli Director: Ettore Scola Studio: C Major 736204 2014 Video: 16:9 HD 1080i, color Audio: PCM stereo 2.0, DTS-HD MA 5.1 Subtitles: Italian, German, English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Japanese No region code Length: 123 min. Rating: **** There is something particularly pathetic, in Act 3 of this production, hearing Mimi utter the words “Alas, I am dying.” For the magnificent soprano playing her, Daniela Dessi, died just a couple of months ago in August from colon cancer that she had just begun receiving treatment for, and the opera world is still in shock from the news. She had promised to be back on stage in October, so something obviously went horribly wrong between prognosis and treatment. Her husband and longtime singing partner, and the Rodolfo in this production, Fabio Armiliato, messaged: ‘A short, horrible and incomprehensible illness has […]

VERDI: Aida (complete opera) – Anja Harteros (Aida)/ Other soloists/ Orch. & Chorus of Santa Ceclia/ Pappano – Warner Classics (3)

VERDI: Aida (complete opera) – Anja Harteros (Aida)/ Other soloists/ Orch. & Chorus of Santa Ceclia/ Pappano – Warner Classics (3)

by | Apr 14, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

A twenty-first Aida to set the stage and the bar very high. VERDI: Aida (complete opera) – Anja Harteros (Aida)/ Jonas Kaufmann (Radames)/ Ekaterina Semenchuk (Amneris)/ Ludovic Tezier (Amonasro)/ Erwin Schrott (Ramfis)/ Marco Spotti (Il Re)/ Paolo Fanale (Messaggero)/ Eleonora Buratto (Sacerdotessa)/ Orch. and Chorus of the Dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecelia/ Antonio Pappano – Rhino/ Warner Classics 0825646106639 (3 CDs), TT: 145:36 ****: This Aida rocks! Big, bold statement these days I know, and we all have our favorites from the past—Price 1 (Leinsdorf), Price 2 (Solti), Tebaldi (Karajan), just to name a few of my favorite stereo recordings. But honor is due to Warner for putting out a studio effort in this day and age of concert-only recordings (and we must be grateful for them), and assembling a cast, while not perfect, still only on the south side of sensational. And while audiophiles will no doubt squeak at the lack of surround sound, what we have is broad and impactful, with lots of breathing room around the singers, and believe me, in this opera they need it. I won’t delve into the history of Aida—that’s easy enough to find, and the story isn’t all that complicated, love and […]

Audio News for April 12, 2016

by | Apr 12, 2016 | Audio News

Classical Artists Speak to the Audience –  A change has happened in the classical music world – more and more artists speak directly to the audience about the music they are about to play. Audiences love this; they get more of a sense of the artists as people. The idea of maintaining an aura of mystery onstage is going away, but not all musical artists are comfortable speaking directly to the audience. Our culture has become less formal and this is part of all that. Many conductors now do this at orchestral series concerts. Nokia Offers $60,000 VR Camera – Nokia sold its cellphone business to Microsoft in 2014 and are making a hardware comeback with an eight-lensed virtual reality camera that shoots videos that few people can watch today. To do a VR video with it, a filmmaker typically has to put seven of the cameras on a rig, with the lenses all pointing in different directions. This model is meant to be sold or rented to professional filmmakers, but Nokia hopes to introduce  cheaper versions later for hobbyists. Something like the Google Cardboard glasses would be required to view the VR products. Denon New S Series AVRs – […]