"Actor: Samuel Ramey"

• Over The Garden Wall - Blu-ray | Blu Ray | (02/03/2020) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Somewhere, lost in the clouded annals of history, lies a place that few have seen. A mysterious place called The Unknown... where long-forgotten stories are revealed to those who travel through the wood. Two brothers named Wirt and Greg find themselves lost in The Unknown: a strange forest adrift in time. With the help of a shadowy Woodsman and a foul-tempered bluebird named Beatrice, they travel through the foggy land in hope of finding a way home.

• Bizet - Carmen (Levine, Metropolitan Opera) | DVD | (20/11/2000) from £16.05   |  Saving you £-2.06 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  George Bizet's opera 'Carmen' performed by the Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra. Conducted by James Levine.

• Over The Garden Wall - DVD | DVD | (02/03/2020) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Somewhere, lost in the clouded annals of history, lies a place that few have seen. A mysterious place called The Unknown... where long-forgotten stories are revealed to those who travel through the wood. Two brothers named Wirt and Greg find themselves lost in The Unknown: a strange forest adrift in time. With the help of a shadowy Woodsman and a foul-tempered bluebird named Beatrice, they travel through the foggy land in hope of finding a way home.

• Nabucco - Verdi | DVD | (07/02/2005) from £14.38   |  Saving you £5.60 (49.17%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Verdi - Nabucco

• Verdi - Don Carlo (Muti, Pavarotti, Ramey) | DVD | (03/05/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  This 1992 live recording of DON CARLO at La Scala Milano is directed by Franco Zeffirelli and features a highly prestigious cast. Luciano Pavarotti Samuel Ramey and Paolo Coni all figure largely throughout making this one of the greatest renditions of Verdi's works available.

• Massenet - Manon | DVD | (07/01/2008) from £15.56   |  Saving you £4.43 (28.47%)   |  RRP £19.99

  For their first-ever encounter in a staged opera Natalie Dessay as Manon and Rolando Villazn as des Grieux were the much-awaited highlight of Barcelona's Liceu season in June 2007 in David McVicar's beautiful stage production of Massenet's Manon. The DVD captures this outstanding production of Massenet's most popular and enduring opera which has since its creation in Paris in 1884 maintained an important place in the repertory.

• The Rake's Progress - Stravinsky | DVD | (01/08/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Recorded at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera 1975

• Rossini: Semiramide | DVD | (31/12/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Bel canto can be translated as "pretty singing", and that definition seems tailor-made for this production, which offers grace, charm, and a fine-tuned sense of style in abundance to compensate for its limited psychological and emotional impact. The four principal singers are all specialists in the bel canto style and this opera has played a key role in building their substantial reputations. For its sweeping musical imagination and technical wizardry, Rossini's epic about royal assassination and misdirected lust in the ancient Babylonian Empire deserves a place in any inclusive opera collection, and we are not likely to have a better video recording of Semiramide in the foreseeable future. June Anderson has an attractive appearance and sounds exactly right in the music's florid melodic lines. But she is not dramatically compelling as the wicked queen who had her husband killed and fell in love with a man who turned out to be her long-lost son, Arsace. Marilyn Horne rose to the highest levels of international fame in the role of that conflicted son, and her presence alone would be enough to give this video classic status. Her voice was a bit past its prime when this performance was recorded in 1991, but still there is no other voice quite like it, no other voice so suited to Rossini's heroic mezzo roles. Samuel Ramey is a close bass counterpart to Anderson: great tone, agile florid singing, and a rather wooden but visually appealing stage presence. Sanford Olsen has a small role and sings it near perfectly. James Conlon gets excellent musical results; John Copley's staging is massive and static. --Joe McLellan, Amazon.com

• Attila - Verdi | DVD | (22/10/2004) from £13.79   |  Saving you £-3.80 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Attila Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)Ricardo Muti conducts a fine cast in the powerful and atmospheric 1991 production of Verdi's ninth opera whose story of the heroic tussle between Ezio a Roman general and Attila the Nordic invader was written for the 1846 Teatro la Fenice season and premiered there to huge acclaim. Unlocked from the archives of RAI televvision this is a classic recording from one of the world's great opera houses.Sung In Italian

• Verdi - Macbeth | DVD | (22/10/2007) from £24.99   |  Saving you £-3.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £21.99

  Verdi Macbeth

• Mefistofele - Boito | DVD | (30/06/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  An exceptional performance of Arrigo Boito's 'Mefistofele' conducted by Maurizo Arena.

• Claudio Abbado In Rehearsal | DVD | (17/05/2002) from £21.58   |  Saving you £-1.59 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Claudio Abbado in Rehearsal has the eminent conductor rehearsing Verdi's Requiem Mass both at the La Scala Opera House and the church of San Marco in Milan where Verdi's choral masterpiece was first performed. This new performance was given in 1985 to mark the 200th birthday of the Italian national poet Alessandro Manzoni, with whom Verdi shared aspirations for a united Italy. The camera dwells a good deal on Abbado, whose concentration seems well nigh tangible as he raises his arms and throws out his chest to communicate the power of Verdi's music. Abbado takes much care with his soloists, gives strong leads, checking the reverberant acoustic of San Marco with a lift of the head during the thunderous "Dies Irae". We eavesdrop on a piano rehearsal with two of his soloists as he keeps the rather musically wayward mezzo on course and works with Samuel Ramey, his bass, to intensify his hushed delivery of "More stupebit" ("Death and nature stand aghast"). We also see Monserrat Caballe, who can float a note pianissimo like no other soprano, have an unexpected fit of the giggles when beginning her "Libera me". Some reservations in director Norbert Beilharz's treatment of the "Lux Aeterna" require comment. His concept of juxtaposing a well-dressed audience with pictures from tombstones and statues as a reminder of the transience of human life grows wearisome after a while, as does his commentary and translation of the Latin, already on screen as subtitles, which masks some of the most poignant music in the score. On the DVD: Claudio Abbado in Rehearsal has one major disappointment: the lighting. Neither the San Marco Church or the interior of La Scala is well lit. There are brief trailers for three other ArtHaus Musik productions, including a film about Callas and Abbado conducting the Mozart Requiem in a splendid baroque church in Salzburg where the brilliance of the picture, stunningly lit, really shows up the deficiencies of this film. To hear Abbado conduct the Verdi Requiem where everyone performs as though their lives depended on it, try the version he recorded with the Berlin Philharmonic in January 2001. --Adrian Edwards

• Teatro Alla Scala: Riccardo Muti's 50th Anniversary Concert | DVD | (06/02/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Gioachino Rossini1. Ouverture2. Coro e danze dell'Imeneo da: Mose in Egitto3. Preghiera: Dal tuo stellato soglio Mirella Freni - Luciana D'Intino - Vincenzo La Scola - Samuel Ramey.Giuseppe Verdi4. Sinfonia5. Va' pensiero da: I vespri siciliani6. Sinfonia7. Te DeumElizabeth Norberg-SchulzGiuseppe Verdi8. Finale II (La vergine degli angeli)Mirella Freni - Samuel RameyGiacomo Puccini9. Intermezzo10. In quelle trine morbideMirella FreniArrigo Boito11. PrologoSamuel RameyGiuseppe Verdi12. Va' pensiero