region code Archive
RAMEAU: Dardanus (complete opera), Blu-ray (2016)
Rameau is always worth seeing as well as hearing, even in a piece as whacky as this. [This is our free drawing for October!] RAMEAU: Dardanus (complete opera), Blu-ray (2016) Performers: Reinoud Van Mechelen (Dardanus)/ Gaëlle Arquez (Iphise)/ Karina Gauvin (Venus)/ Florian Sempey (Anténor)/ Nahuel Di Pierro (Teucer, Isménor)/ Katherine Watson (Un Songe/ Amour)/ Etienne Bazola (Berger)/ Virgile Ancely (Un Songe)/ Guillaume Gutiérrez (Un Songe)/ Ensemble Pygmalion/ Raphaël Pichon Producer: Michel Fau Studio: Harmonia mundi/PIAS 9859051.52 2015 Video: 16:9 HD 1080i fir 16:9 Audio: PCM stereo 2.0, DTS-HD MA 5.1 Subtitles: German, English, French No region code Length: 3 hr. 12 min. 24 sec. Bonus: Dardanus: Behind the Scene (Blu-ray only), 20 min. Rating: **** Dardanus is opera number six out of the composer’s 30-odd creations in the genre. The court of Louis XV was a gaudy, irascible time for spectacular productions—the kitsch present in this age is something that many directors have attempted to avoid or at least soften. Not here. This production embraces it as a legitimate and even beautiful expression of style that so marked the transitional time between Rameau and Lully, rivals at the time, but more exacerbated by their followers. In fact, after the 1739 […]
BACH: St. John Passion (A ritualisation by Peter Sellars) – DVDs & Blu-ray (2014/16)
An unsettling visual version of questionable value, but high musical marks. BACH: St. John Passion (A ritualisation by Peter Sellars) – DVDs & Blu-ray (2014/16) Performers: Mark Padmore (Evangelist)/ Camilla Tilling (sop.)/ Magdalena Kožená (mezzo)/ Topi Lehtipuu (tenor)/ Christian Gerhaher (bari.)/ Roderick Williams (Jesus)/ Berliner Philharmoniker/ Rundfunkchor Berlin/ Simon Rattle Director: Peter Sellars Studio: Berliner Philharmoniker BPHR140031, 2014 (2 DVDs and Blu-ray disc) Video: 1080i Full HD for 16:9 (Blu-ray) Audio: PCM Stereo, DTS 5.1 (DVDs), 2.0 PCM, DTS-HD MA 5.1 (Blu-ray) Subtitles: German, English, French, Spanish, Japanese, Korean No Region Code Length: Concert: 135 mins, Extras: 52 mins. (in Hi-Def on Blu-ray) Digital Concert Hall: 7-Day Ticket for the Berliner Philharmoniker’s video streaming service Rating: *** This is the BPO’s second Sellars foray of this type into Bach, the first being the St. Matthew Passion a few years back. What type, you ask? Well, a dramatization of the passion. And I’m a long way from being convinced about it, despite the slobbering European press and other predictable quarters hailing it as “revelatory”. Perhaps I am simply being overly-religious in my sentiments; I have always found that the Bach passions speak very well for themselves, with a simplicity and directness […]
VERDI: Don Carlo (complete opera) (2014)
Kaufmann and company do the 2013 Salzburg Festival proud.
UNSUK CHIN: Alice in Wonderland (complete opera), Blu-ray (2013)
Clever, creative, and broadly esoteric, the whole thing is wrecked by the camera.
“Siddharta”, Blu-ray (2011)
An interesting, if somewhat confusing traversal of the making of the Buddha.
GOUNOD: Faust (complete opera), Blu-ray (2014)
The concept is good, but the visuals don’t make it easy to watch.
R. STRAUSS: Salome (complete opera), Blu-ray (2014)
Not bad at all, but I am still waiting for a really superb Salome.
KYONG MEE CHOI: The Eternal Tao (complete opera), (2014)
It’s difficult to know what to make of this very static experience, because we are not afforded the best possible presentation.
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
