"Actor: Isabel Rey"

• Under Suspicion | DVD | (10/09/2007) from £5.60   |  Saving you £10.39 (185.54%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman star in this crime mystery about a police captain investigating an attorney’s claim that he stumbled across the body of a twelve year old girl while walking his dog.

• Faust: Love Of The Damned | DVD | (27/01/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  John Jaspers (Mark Frost) is just a regular guy whose life is changed forever by the sadistic murder of his girlfriend. Mad with grief and vowing revenge he meets the enigmatic cult leader M (Andrew Divoff) who offers him all the power he needs to get payback. The price? His immortal soul. Reborn as the demonic Faust Jaspers is soon on the vengeance trail. But his hellish alter ego is totally out of control. All it wants to do is kill and it's not satisfied by a few criminals. As t

• Under Suspicion | DVD | (23/07/2001) from £5.51   |  Saving you £9.74 (229.18%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman star in this crime mystery about a police captain investigating an attorney’s claim that he stumbled across the body of a twelve year old girl while walking his dog.

• Mozart: Don Giovanni -- Zurich/Harnoncourt | DVD | (12/03/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  In this Zurich Opera House staging of Mozart’s darkly comic cautionary fable Don Giovanni the lighting and stage design keep the characters shaded in half-shadow: even Zerlina’s wedding feels like a subdued affair here, and the Don’s banqueting room is a suitably gloomy venue for the Stone Guest’s climactic visit for a spot of dinner and damnation. Both this staging and video director Brian Large’s filming play no tricks with the audience’s expectations, opting for a largely traditional presentation of this tragedy of swaggering bravado, cuckolded lovers and revenge from beyond the grave. Nikolaus Harnoncourt brings all the sensitivity of his historically informed approach to the orchestra pit. Heading a very strong cast are Rodney Gilfry, defiantly strong-voiced but also haughtily handsome as the seducing Don, and Cecilia Bartoli, a mercurial presence as Donna Elvira. Their scenes together crackle and fizz, even when Bartoli’s extremely ripe vibrato contrasts a little uncomfortably with Harnoncourt’s authenticity. Liliana Nikiteanu makes for a pretty, naïve Zerlina, convincingly torn between her Masetto (Oliver Widmer) and the animalistic attraction of the Don. Laszlo Polgar’s Leporello is wheedling and base, but still the inheritor of his master’s charisma; Isabel Rey and Roberto Sacca are solid as the colourless moralists Anna and Ottavio; while Matti Salminen’s powerful Commendatore isn’t expected to do anything more than stand still and declaim. Overall this is an excellent musical performance, unexceptionally staged. On the DVD: Don Giovanni on disc has a good 24-minute "Behind the Scenes" feature, including interviews with Cecilia Bartoli, Harnoncourt, Gilfry and Isabel Rey. There’s also a trailer for other ArtHaus releases. The 16:9 picture sometimes struggles to bring definition to the dimly lit sets; sound though is crisp and clean PCM stereo or Dolby 5.1. There are subtitles in five languages. --Mark Walker

• Mozart: La Finta Giardiniera | Blu Ray | (27/04/2009) from £21.95   |  Saving you £8.04 (26.80%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Finta Giardiniera (La)

• King Arthur - Purcell | DVD | (29/08/2005) from £28.93   |  Saving you £6.06 (20.95%)   |  RRP £34.99

  A dramatic opera in five acts.A performance from the Salzburger Festspiele recorded live at the Felsenreitschule 24-28 July 2004.

• Faust: Love of the Damned | DVD | (09/05/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  There are some contracts you shouldn’t sign...Witness the terrible fate of man who sells his soul the devil for a shot at revenge in Faust, another twisted slice of raw imagination from Brian Yuzna (Society, Beyond Re-Animator).John Jaspers was an artist and a happy man until some thugs snuffed out his girlfriend... Now he’s been driven near insane with the need for vengeance. Aid comes in form of “M”, a mysterious figure who offers him the help he needs for a price... His mortal soul. Jaspers is transformed into a horned demon whose only emotions are the need to slay and the drive to murder.Out of control and out of his mind, the demonic Jaspers cannot be stopped until his lust for the kill is satisfied and those who wronged him have been ripped to bloody pieces...

• Don Pasquale - Donizetti | DVD | (10/09/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Donizetti: Don Pasquale - Juan Diego Florez

• Mozart: Le Nozze Di Figaro (Teatro Real: TR97001BD) | Blu Ray | (31/01/2012) from £32.38   |  Saving you £-2.39 (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  From the opening notes of the overture to the final curtain, Emilio Sagi's classic, triumphant production fully brings to life all the elegant wit and theatricality of Mozarts comic masterpiece. Leading baritone Ludovic T�zier shines as the lustful Count Almaviva who attempts to obtain the favours of Figaros bride-to-be, Susanna (Isabel Rey), while Luca Pisaroni gives a feisty performance as Figaro. Conductor Jes�s L�pez Cobos masterfully captures the enchanting score. A witty yet profound ta...

• Monteverdi: Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria -- Zurich/Harnoncourt | DVD | (10/01/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Klaus-Michael Gruber's austere staging of Monteverdi's Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria ("Ulysses' Return") gives the impression of a sun-drenched ancient Greek island by the simplest of means: a bleached white wall against a dazzling sky-blue backcloth. It is an ideal setting for conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt's pared-down reading of the score (fewer "authentic" rasps and rattles than 25 years ago) and Vesselina Kasarova's intense, restrained performance of Penelope, all the more powerful for being held back. For example, her repeated cry of "Torna!" ("Return to me!")--an excuse for much hand-wringing on the part of some mezzos--rarely rises above mezzo-forte here. Dietrich Henschel is equally impressive as Ulisse, and uses his rich, flexible voice with inventiveness: he handles the moment of recognition with his son Telemaco (the outrageously handsome Jonas Kaufmann) beautifully. There are some off-the-rail moments to the staging which might not appeal to English theatrical tastes: Penelope's suitors are presented in a rather silly puppet show and the comedy scenes with Iro (Rudolf Schasching) fall flat. But it doesn't prevent the final moments of reconciliation and recognition reaching powerful heights. On the DVD: Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria is presented in 16:9 ratio and has PCM Stereo or Dolby Digital 5.1 sound options. There are subtitles in Italian, German, English, French and Spanish. A handsome, well-lit production is rendered on the small screen with as much subtle shading as possible by video director Felix Breisach, and falls very easily on the eye. --Warwick Thompson

• Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) -- Zurich/Harnoncourt | DVD | (29/04/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt's approach to Le Nozze di Figaro is certainly historically informed, but both his musical direction and this Zurich Opera production as a whole lack a certain lightness of touch. In such a deliciously comic work it should be permissible to have fun. Harnoncourt's tempos seem rather too conservative; while the low stage lighting keeps the revolving sets shaded in half-shadow for much of the time. The result is a tad claustrophobic, both musically and visually. There are many compensations, however. Though Harnoncourt may be a little over-cautious, what's lost in joie de vivre is gained in clarity and nuance. Similarly, the singers have plenty of space to enunciate and cherish every rolling phrase. Although Carlos Chausson makes an appealing everyman character as Figaro, he and everyone else must perform (sometimes literally) in Rodney Gilfry's domineering shadow. Gilfry's Alamaviva is a swaggering counterpart to his Don Giovanni, with the same almost overwhelming sexual presence and charisma; no wonder, then, that Eva Mei's Countess is so jealous, or that Isabel Rey's Susanna seems genuinely attracted despite her better judgment. The ensemble cast are uniformly delightful and, unusually, are all good actors: when the Count and Countess squabble, Gilfry and Mei really work themselves into a fine passion. The set and costuming are both of indeterminate period: the Count carries a shotgun to shoot Liliana Nikiteanu's errant Cherubino, and there are deckchairs in the garden, but the ladies' costumes are cut to reveal authentically 18th-century heaving bosoms. In all, this is a Figaro distinguished by a strong cast and fine singing, but hampered a little by the staging. An airier alternative is the more traditional Glyndebourne production. On the DVD: Le Nozze di Figaro from Zurich is presented in three vivid sound options: LPCM Stereo, Dolby 5.1 or DTS 5.1. Picture is 16:9. The subtitling is occasionally unnecessarily repetitive (Figaro's "Piano, piano, piano" takes up a big chunk of the screen as: "Not so fast, not so fast, not so fast" and so on) and inadequately proofread ("Forgeive me...Falsce one" [sic]). --Mark Walker

• Pelleas Et Melisande - Debussy | DVD | (01/04/2006) from £29.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  A wonderful array of stars including Rodney Gilfry Isabel Rey and Laszlo Polgar is assembled for this production of Debussy's only finished full-length opera. This production was created by the German actor and stage director Sven-Eric Bechtolf who belongs to the most celebrated stage actors in Germany Switzerland and Austria.

• Mozart: Le Nozze Di Figaro (Teatro Real: TR97002DVD) | DVD | (31/01/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  From the opening notes of the overture to the final curtain, Emilio Sagis classic, triumphant production fully brings to life all the elegant wit and theatricality of Mozarts comic masterpiece. Leading baritone Ludovic T�zier shines as the lustful Count Almaviva who attempts to obtain the favours of Figaros bride-to-be, Susanna (Isabel Rey), while Luca Pisaroni gives a feisty performance as Figaro. Conductor Jes�s L�pez Cobos masterfully captures the enchanting score. A witty yet profound tal...

• Debussy: Pelleas Et Melisande (Live Recording From The Zurich Opera House 2004) | Blu Ray | (14/12/2009) from £40.48   |  Saving you £-10.49 (-35.00%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Live recording from The Zurich Opera House 2004