"Actor: Wolfgang Brendel"

• Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg | DVD | (24/11/2000) from £98.99   |  Saving you £-69.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  This glorious 1995 production of Wagner's festival opera highlights the central debate about the artist, his inspiration and the academic rules that have to be worked with, or around, by setting it not in the Middle Ages so much as in a high-Victorian world of frock coats and cravats. Wolfgang Brendel's impressive performance as Hans Sachs has both the authority of the great poet trying to make everyone understand the virtues of good sense and a middle way, as well as the emotional appeal of a man whose decision to make Eva's choice between him and Walther is for once a real struggle: Brendel plays him as a man young enough to be a credible rival to the young minstrel-knight. Gosta Windbergh in turn brings real passion not only to the "Prize Song" itself but to the whole opera, not least to the aristocratic/bohemian distrust of the bourgeois world of the master singer for which Sachs ends up rebuking him. Schulte's performance as Beckmesser conveys the meanness and pettiness without buying wholly into the viciousness with which Wagner humiliates his comic villain and through him all of his own enemies. Conductor de Burgos manages to keep the massive scale of this longest of comic operas human and humane--this never becomes a sinisterly intense or vast performance. --Roz KaveneyOn the DVD: This two-disc set comes equipped with scene selection and subtitles in German, French and English, as well as menus in those languages and Spanish. --Roz Kaveney

• Strauss: Arabella | DVD | (16/04/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Like most of his later operas, Richard Strauss' Arabella ends with a meltingly lovely duet. But then criticising Strauss for composing melodically enduring operas is as pointless as lambasting Vermeer for painting only exquisite interior scenes. Those who say Strauss never improved on Rosenkavalier may be right but when such beguiling sounds kept coming from his music for the next 30 years of his life, there shouldn't be any quibbles. Arabella is, in a nutshell, the story of a woman who cannot make up her mind about a suitor. Taped at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1994 under the baton of conductor Christian Thielemann, this production features Kiri Te Kanawa in the title role; her acting is mediocre but vocally she never forces anything and at least sounds like the perfect Arabella. Wolfgang Brendel does well with Mandryka, who finally ends up with Arabella and Marie McLaughlin makes a sympathetic younger sister to the heroine as Zdenka. Otto Schenk's production is sturdily conservative, the video transfer is acceptable if unspectacular and the sound mix is CD-quality. --Kevin Filipski, Amazon.com

• Mozart - The Magic Flute | DVD | (14/11/2005) from £18.99   |  Saving you £-2.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  With Wolfgang Sawallisch leading a starry cast featuring Lucia Popp Kurt Moll and Edita Gruberova this acclaimed 1983 live recording of August Everding's classic production of The Magic Flute is Mozart at his most inventive and inviting.

• Strauss - Der Zigeunerbaron | DVD | (12/05/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Johann Strauss - Der Zigeunerbaron.

• Saint-Saens: Samson et Dalila -- San Francisco Opera | DVD | (11/06/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Saint-Saens' Samson et Dalila is here realised in a lavish 1981 San Francisco Opera production with Placido Domingo in his prime. Significantly expanded from the famous Bible story of the Jews under the Philistine yoke, and recast in late-19th century romantic terms, the opera was close to the composer's heart: Saint-Saens began work in 1859 but did not complete his score until 17 years later. While elements of the originally planned more formal oratorio remain, Samson et Dalila nevertheless develops considerable dramatic and orchestral power, with Domingo giving a performance worthy of a great tragic hero. Likewise, mezzo-soprano Shirley Verrett brings complex characterisation to the temptress Dalila, offering a performance of such seductive intelligence that her scenes with Domingo spark with electrifying force. Equally fine support comes from Wolfgang Brendel as Samson's nemesis, the High Priest of the pagan god Dagon. Director Nicolas Joel knows when to emphasise the spectacle of the stage production or focus on more intimate personal drama, though it is the latter which is best served in a small screen version somewhat diminished by early 1980s TV technical standards. That aside, this is music drama with the grip of a psychological thriller and is unlikely to disappoint those looking for a feast of fine singing. On the DVD: Samson et Dalila on disc has good if occasionally a little harsh PCM stereo. The 4:3 picture is somewhat soft and prone to blurring, evidencing all the problems of live concert material shot on video. There are optional multi-language subtitles, trailers for two further ArtHaus releases and a booklet with chapter details, cast list, notes on the composer, opera, production and performers, and a detailed synopsis.--Gary S Dalkin

• Strauss: Die Fledermaus -- Bavarian State Opera | DVD | (19/03/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99