Mozart: Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute) -- Metropolitan Opera/Levine | DVD | (24/03/2003)
from £16.69
| Saving you £0.30 (1.80%)
| RRP A performance of Mozart's 'The Magic Flute' by puppet theatre.
Wagner - Das Rheingold (Boulez, Mcintyre, Schwarz) | DVD | (11/07/2005)
from £15.04
| Saving you £1.95 (11.50%)
| RRP In Patrice Chereau's illuminating violent Bayreuth production of Das Rheingold Wotan wears the brocade coat of feudal times while the Rhine seems to be a reservoir with modern-day power station. Yet as Chereau says it could also be many other things ... perhaps a mythological presence the mythology of our time ... The gods' ascent to Valhalla (is) a defiant flight into the future.
Wagner - Der Ring Des Nibelungen (Boulez) | DVD | (11/07/2005)
from £113.44
| Saving you £-48.45 (N/A%)
| RRP Working closely with video director Brian Large Chereau re-rehearsed his staging for the films taped at that time to recreate the experience on screen and to preserve career-defining performances from the original cast headed by Donald McIntyre Gwyneth Jones and Manfred Jung.
Janacek - From The House Of The Dead | DVD | (17/03/2008)
from £6.30
| Saving you £8.95 (177.58%)
| RRP Leos Janacek: From The House Of The Dead, performed by various performers and conducted by Pierre Bouelz.
Wagner: Das Rheingold -- Metropolitan/Levine | DVD | (14/10/2002)
from £19.99
| Saving you £-3.00 (N/A%)
| RRP It takes a certain amount of forethought if Das Rheingold is to be more than a series of special effects scenes, though moments like the appearance of the giants through the mist or Alberich's transformations need to be as thrilling as they are here. As always in his Wagner, and perhaps especially in this very traditional 1990 Metropolitan Opera production of the Ring cycle, James Levine keeps to the forefront the underlying humanity of Wagner's gods and monsters. In the first scene, for example, he brings out the thoughtless, callous frivolity of the Rhine maidens as they precipitate the events of the four operas by taunting the gnome Alberich: it helps that they swirl around, green and gold, in a convincing representation of the bottom of the Rhine, but the emotions are the point. Ekkehaard Wlaschiha is a convincingly menacing Alberich partly because Levine brings out his vulnerability as well as his evil temper. James Morris is splendid as the younger less care-worn Wotan and Siegfried Jerusalem as Loge enjoys the sarcasm of his cynical commentary on Wotan's aspirations. The smaller parts have luxury casting: Matti Salminen as Fafner and Christa Ludwig as Fricka, for example. On the DVD: Das Rheingold comes with a photo gallery of the Metropolitan Opera production and with menus and subtitles in German, French, English, Spanish and Chinese. Disappointingly though it is presented in American NTSC format with standard TV 4:3 visual ratio. But it does have an excellent clear acoustic in all three of its audio options: PCM stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1. --Roz Kaveney
![Wagner: Siegfried [1976]](/pictures/1028626.jpg)
Wagner: Siegfried | DVD | (15/10/2001)
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| Saving you £N/A (N/A%)
| RRP 
Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier -- Vienna/Kleiber | DVD | (03/09/2004)
from £16.96
| Saving you £-0.71 (N/A%)
| RRP The epic grandeur of Der Rosenkavalier stems not just from its immense length (over three hours) but from the all-too-human complexity of its characters--each of whom is smitten with someone else--and the endless stream of graceful melodies the composer conjures. After the tonality-stretching dissonance of Salome and especially Elektra, Strauss moved onto a different musical path here: the music's sheer gorgeousness has given this most heartbreaking of 20th-century operas its pride of place in the repertory. For this 1994 performance at the Vienna Opera House, conductor Carlos Kleiber leads a committed reading of the buoyant score that savours every note. The three leads are superb singer-actresses who get full marks for embodying Strauss's most richly romantic creations: Felicity Lott (the Marschallin), Anne Sophie von Otter (Octavian) and Barbara Bonney (Sophie) also offer a truly entrancing final trio, one of the great scenes in all opera. The stereo sound mix is solid, as is the video transfer. --Kevin Filipski, Amazon.com
Wagner: Siegfried -- Metropolitan/Levine | DVD | (14/10/2002)
from £19.19
| Saving you £2.80 (14.59%)
| RRP James Levine makes Siegfried, sometimes the problem child among the four operas of Wagner's Ring cycle, attractive and interesting. He is aware of the darker side of some of the comic scenes--the seemingly benevolent dwarf Mime carries the weight of Wagner's many prejudices--but manages to keep them uneasy rather than positively sinister thanks to the finally judged performance of Heinz Zednik. Siegfried Jerusalem is admirable as Siegfried, full of boyish enthusiasm during the reforging of the sword, and of authority in his confrontations with the dragon and with Wotan. (The dragon itself is, as so often, an unfortunate compromise between realism and stylisation.) James Morris is extraordinary in Wotan's scenes here, his combination of injured pride and relieved joy when Siegfried demonstrates, by shattering his spear, that Wotan has entirely lost control of events is exemplary. This is an opera whose many and various scenes are all preludes to its emotional core: the love duet which comes when Siegfried awakens Brunnhilde. Jerusalem and Hildegard Behrens convey both the innocence and the ardor of this duet; while Levine gets extraordinary playing from the Metropolitan Opera orchestra throughout, but especially here, where a chamber-like delicacy applies to much of the music. On the DVD Siegfried on this disc is a recording of the 1990 Metropolitan Opera production and comes with both menus and subtitles in German, French, English, Spanish and Chinese as well as a picture gallery. Awkwardly it is presented in (American) NTSC format not PAL, and the visual ratio is standard TV 4:3. Better is the choice of sound formats--PCM Stereo, Dolby Digital and DTS digital--which provide a spacious acoustic that gives proper weight to the climaxes, and an appropriate delicacy to Wagner's subtler passages. --Roz Kaveney
Franz Lehar - Das Land Des Lachelns (Ebert) | DVD | (19/09/2005)
from £15.04
| Saving you £4.95 (24.80%)
| RRP 1974 film version of Franz Lehar's operetta Das Land Des Lachelns famous for the song 'Dein ist mein ganzes Herz'.
Giordano - Andrea Chenier (Santi) | DVD | (19/09/2005)
from £15.37
| Saving you £1.62 (9.50%)
| RRP Political intrigue during the French Revolution and the fate of a woman desired by two men are the focal points of Giordano's gripping drama Andrea Chenier. Placido Domingo sings the title role with great passion and tenderness in this acclaimed 1981 Vienna State Opera production; Gabriela Benackova portrays the hero's beloved Maddalena.
Berg: Wozzeck | DVD | (15/11/2001)
from £34.31
| Saving you £-9.32 (N/A%)
| RRP The bleakness of Berg's operatic masterpiece Wozzeck is relatively easy to bring off: the plot, after all, tells of a man who is bullied, cuckolded and mocked by the society around him. What are harder to realise are the gallows humour and pitch-black comedy--and it's those qualities, along with the brilliant acting and edge-of-seat orchestral playing, that make this 1987 Vienna Staatsoper staging a stunning televisual operatic production. Everything works: the simple yet evocative sets translate effortlessly to the small screen, the pacing of the 15 short scenes is worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster and the singing is beautifully focussed. Baritone Franz Grundheber is vocally and dramatically outstanding as Wozzeck, cringing and shuffling around the stage in a bewildered hang-dog manner and yet never losing sight of the character's humanity. Hildegard Behrens (Marie) has rarely sounded better, and switches between Straussian lushness and spiky sluttishness with ease. The direction is also full of wonderful touches, such as Wozzeck squeezing the Captain's nose while he's shaving him (and making his voice sound like a kazoo), and the musicians of the on-stage band being fully integrated into the tavern scene. Ironic, emotionally rich, musically faultless--this one's got it all. On the DVD: the production works beautifully on DVD, and bar one or two moments in the second tavern scene (Act 3, Scene 3) the voices rarely move out of microphone range. There are subtitles in English, German, French and Spanish and four trailers for other Arthaus DVD operas, but no other special features. --Warwick Thomson
Wagner - Siegfried (Boulez, Bayreuther Festspiele) | DVD | (11/07/2005)
from £21.41
| Saving you £3.57 (19.38%)
| RRP The opera Siegfried.
Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen -- Complete | DVD | (15/10/2001)
from £N/A
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| RRP ![Wagner: Das Rheingold [1980]](/pictures/1012996.jpg)
Wagner: Das Rheingold | DVD | (15/10/2001)
from £3.54
| Saving you £22.71 (996.05%)
| RRP 
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