"Actor: Michael Volle"

• Strauss; Salome | DVD | (01/09/2008) from £23.57   |  Saving you £6.42 (21.40%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Salome, composed by Richard Strauss. Performed by The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House and conducted by Philippe Jordan.

• Johann Strauss: Simplicius -- Zurich Opera/Welser-Most | DVD | (21/02/2003) from £6.07   |  Saving you £18.92 (311.70%)   |  RRP £24.99

  This is a superb performance of excellent, long-forgotten music. Simplicius was lost for more than a century, but when it was recovered (including a few patches for missing parts), the Zurich Opera House welcomed it back with a production worthy of a historic event. Johann Strauss II, like most comic geniuses, had a lifelong wish to produce something deeply serious. Parts of Simplicius come close to that goal, but then a delectable tune in 3/4 time pops up and we are back in the realm of the waltz king, enjoying it all the more because of the contrast. In both styles, the music is wonderful and Franz Welser-Most conducts with exactly the right touch. The absurdist set designs of Johann Engels and the stage direction of David Pountney sometimes call Hieronymus Bosch to mind. This production puts detailed plot summaries on the screen during the overture and at other strategic point--a good idea because the plot is complicated and slightly absurd. It is set during the Thirty Years War and is full of hidden identities, unreasonable rules and sudden plot twists. Besides various tangled love pairings, and the idiocies of war, the plot centres on the figure of Simplicius, a holy simpleton like Candide or Parsifal, and his comic encounters with the realities of love and war. The story is full of colourful characters, all sung and acted with distinction. Michael Volle is a hermit who has raised his son Simplicius (Martin Zysset) in isolation from humanity until, at age 20, he is abducted by soldiers and comes into contact with reality. Other vivid performances are given by Rolf Haunstein as a rather absurd general, Elizabeth Magnuson as his silly daughter, Oliver Widmer as an astrologer, and Louise Martini as Schnappslotte, who sells liquor to the soldiers. Martina Jankova steals the show as her daughter Tilly, and Liliana Nikiteanu makes much of a small role as a Swedish spy. --Joe McLellan

• Schubert - Fierrabras (Welser-Moest) | DVD | (24/09/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Fierrabras - Libretto By Josef Kupelwieser - Live From The Opernhaus Zurich.

• Richard Strauss: Salome (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden 2008) | Blu Ray | (01/06/2010) from £25.65   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Beatrice Di Tenda - Bellini | DVD | (29/09/2003) from £35.81   |  Saving you £-5.82 (-19.40%)   |  RRP £29.99

  A performance of Bellini's Beatrice Di Tenda which tells a story of unrequited love. The Zurich Orchestra and Chorus are conducted by Marcello Viotti.

• Wagner - Die Meistersinger Non Nurnberg | DVD | (07/03/2005) from £3.26   |  Saving you £13.99 (699.50%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Richard WagnerDie Meistersinger Von NurnbergOper in drei Akten.

• Die Gezeichneten - Schreker | DVD | (03/07/2006) from £26.98   |  Saving you £-1.99 (-8.00%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Franz Schreker's Die Gezeichneten a performance from the Salzburger Festspiele recorded live at the Felsenreitschule 26 July 2005.

• Weber: Hunter's Bride | DVD | (02/09/2013) from £21.58   |  Saving you £-1.59 (-8.00%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Hunter's Bride is a film opera based on the romantic opera Der Freisch�tz by Carl Maria von Weber. Dreams and hopes of young people are told in this exquisite fairy tale. Max and Kaspar, both hunters, fight side by side in the Napoleonic Wars, as well as each other to conquer Agathe's love. European cultural history becomes visible in an opulent historical panorama and one of the most beautiful pieces of music. The pictures of Norwegian director of photography Harald Gunnar Paalgard give a sp...

• Hunter's Bride | Blu Ray | (04/09/2013) from £20.10   |  Saving you £2.88 (16.83%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Hunter's Bride is a film opera based on the romantic opera Der Freisch�tz by Carl Maria von Weber. Dreams and hopes of young people are told in this exquisite fairy tale. Max and Kaspar, both hunters, fight side by side in the Napoleonic Wars, as well as each other to conquer Agathe's love. European cultural history becomes visible in an opulent historical panorama and one of the most beautiful pieces of music. The pictures of Norwegian director of photography Harald Gunnar Paalgard give a sp...

• Legacy Of Evil | DVD | (03/03/2003) from £6.98   |  Saving you £-0.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Based on a true story. A man becomes plagued by nightmares and trances. He finds himself possessed by a demon which is trying to destroy his family...

• Strauss: Ariadne Auf Naxos | Blu Ray | (03/06/2013) from £32.38   |  Saving you £-2.39 (-8.00%)   |  RRP £29.99

  ARTH 108045; ARTHAUS MUSIK - Germania; Classica Lirica

• Puccini - La Boheme (Welser-Moest, Zurich Opera House Orch.) | DVD | (19/02/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Puccini based his opera La bohme on the autobiographical novel ""Scnes de la vie de Bohme"" by Henri Murger. The novel reminded him of his own bohemian existence as an impoverished student at the conservatory in Milan. During the composition process Puccini learned that Ruggero Leoncavallo was also working on turning the novel into an opera and writing his own libretto for it. The two composers swiftly became rivals but Puccini managed to finish his opera first which premiered over a year before Leoncavallo's version. The way in which Puccini managed to combine comedy and tragedy in this opera is superb and Franz Welser-Mst's conducting aims to really bring out the libretto. The Belgian director of this production Philippe Sireuil was heavily inspired by Aki Kaurismki's film version of Henri Murger's novel ""Scnes de la vie de Bohme"". Kaurismki's great melancholic sensitive and totally unpretentious cinematic impressions led Sireuil to picture the state of a ""carefree poverty"" in which the bohemian students live on the edge of society. Stage designer Vincent Lamaire has been working closely with Sireuil for years and the key aspect in the set design for both of them was to place the characters in completely realistic surroundings. Furniture and props are only used very sparingly.

• Wagner: Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg | Blu Ray | (01/11/2010) from £28.55   |  Saving you £1.44 (5.04%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Maestri Cantori Di Norimberga (I) / Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg

• 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.

• Wagner: Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg | DVD | (01/11/2010) from £28.55   |  Saving you £1.44 (5.04%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Maestri Cantori Di Norimberga (I) / Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg (2 Dvd)

• Strauss - Ariadne Auf Naxos | DVD | (31/12/2007) from £24.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Richard Strauss - Ariadne Auf NaxosRecorded live at the Opernhaus Zurich, December 2006

• Strauss: Ariadne Auf Naxos | Blu Ray | (01/06/2009) from £40.48   |  Saving you £-10.49 (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  TDK OPAAN (Blu ray); TDK - EUROPA; Classica Lirica

• 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