"Director: Brian Large"

• La Fanciulla Del West - Puccini | DVD | (15/08/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Giacomo Puccini's 'La Fanciulla del West' a stage production by The Metropolitan Opera 1992.

• Strauss: Elektra | DVD | (03/07/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Richard Strauss's wildest and most passionate opera gets an almost ideal performance in this 1989 production with three great female singers at the height of their powers. Marton is terrifyingly unreasonable as Elektra, determined to mourn her dead father in the face of her mother who had him killed, and to hope and pray for the vengeance that her brother will one day bring. Told he is dead, her emotional collapse is equally total, and her eventual self-destructive dance of triumph is a bittersweet ecstasy of anger and joy. Studer gives the sometimes underplayed role of the normal, compromising "feminine" sister the weight and sympathy Strauss intended it to have. Fassbaender is electric as Clytemnestra, collapsing under the weight of her guilt and paranoia, but still scarily sexy and regal in her manipulation of those around her. Abbado's conducting is electric--from the opening "Agamemnon" chords to the final dying fall of Elektra's dance, he never puts a foot wrong or misjudges the pacing of this most difficult of opera scores. The DVD has subtitles in English, German and French. --Roz Kaveney

• Mozart: Cosi fan tutte | DVD | (30/06/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Mozart's third and final opera with librettist Lorenzo da Ponte, the hugely ambitious dramatic comedy Così fan Tutte (roughly translated as: "They're All Like That"), is brought passionately to life in a first-class production conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt and featuring one of the great starring roles for Cecilia Bartoli. Filmed live at the Zurich Opera House in February 2000 on a set which visualises the subtitle "The School for Lovers", the plot revolves around two army officers arguing about the fidelity of their brides, then setting out to test their chastity. Despite the often playful humour, this is not only psychologically telling music-making, but reveals Mozart exploring the structure of opera, discarding convention to mix large ensemble sections with arias for as many different combinations of singers as possible. With Liliana Nikiteanu attractively contrasted with Bartoli, and thoroughly convincing performances by Roberto Sacca (Ferrando) and Oliver Widmer (Guilelmo), this Così has a freshness and flow which, coupled with the timeless romantic themes, feels very contemporary. On the DVD: the presentation, which includes an interesting 22-minute behind-the-scenes documentary, is spread over two DVDs. There is a multi-language booklet minus libretto, though there is the option to watch with English subtitles. Given the difficult live stage lighting conditions the 16:9 anamorphically enhanced picture is as good as can be expected. There are both stereo and Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks, though the latter gives the voices a disconcertingly disembodied character, leaving the former to be preferred. The total running time is approximately 213 minutes, not 275 minutes stated on the packaging. --Gary S Dalkin

• Doors Mr Mojo Risin The Story Of L.A. Woman | Blu Ray | (23/01/2012) from £8.55   |  Saving you £8.44 (98.71%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Mr Mojo Risin is the story of the making of the Doors' last album with Jim Morrison L.A. Woman. 2011 is the 40th anniversary both of the album's release and of the death of Jim Morrison and this programme goes into detail of how the album came about, its recording and what was happening to the band at the time. The story is told through new interviews with the three surviving Doors: Ray Manzarek, Robbie Krieger and John Densmore plus contributions from Jac Holzman, founder of their label Elektra Records, Bill Siddons, who was their manager, Bruce Botnick, engineer and co-producer of the album and others associated with the Doors at this time. The show includes archive footage of the Doors performing both live and in the studio, classic photographs and new musical demonstrations from the Doors.

• New Year's Concert 2003 -- The Director's Cut | DVD | (17/02/2003) from £26.98   |  Saving you £-6.99 (-35.00%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Neujahrskonzert 2003 (New Year's Concert 2003)Part 1:Johann Strauss:Kaiser Franz Joseph I. - Rettungs-Jubel-MarschSchatz-WalzerNiko-PolkaScherz-PolkaJoseph Strauss:Delirien WalzerPele-Mele Polka schnellPart 2:Weber/Berlioz:Aufforderung zum TanzeJohann Strauss:Secunden-Polka francaiseHellenen-PolkaKaiser-WalzerBauern-PolkaLob der Frauen Polka MazurJohann Strauss Vater:Chineser-GaloppJohannes Brahms:Ungarischer Tanz Nr. 5Ungarischer Tanz Nr. 6Johann Strauss:Kronungslieder WalzerLeichtes Blut Polka schnellEncores:Johann Strauss:Furioso PolkaAn der schonen blauenDonau WalzerJohann Strauss Vater:Radetzky-Marsch

• New Year's Concert 2009 | DVD | (09/02/2009) from £12.98   |  Saving you £3.01 (23.19%)   |  RRP £15.99

• Verdi - La Traviata | DVD | (12/11/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  A lavish period production of Verdi's best -loved opera featuring two of today's most celebrated stars - American soprano Renee Fleming and Mexican tenor Rolando Villazon. The tragic love-story of the courtesan Violetts and her young admirer Alfredo Germont is set to some of the most popular in all opera, including the irresistible Brindisi (Drinking Song) and Violetta's thrilling Act One finale Sempre Libera. For this performance, filmed live in Los Angeles, the role of Alfredo's father is sung by the great Verdi baritone Renato Bruson.

• Don Carlo - The Royal Opera | DVD | (24/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Set in France and Spain in the second half of the sixteenth century Don Carlo tells the story of the political and amorous rivalry between Philip II of Spain and his son Don Carlo. Luchino Visconti's magnificent and definitive Royal Opera production of Verdi's Don Carlo was first seen in 1958 and is seen here in a staging by Christopher Renshaw filmed in 1985. The Visconti sets recreate the forest of Fontainebleau the monastery of San Yuste and Don Carlo's dark underground prison with equal effectiveness. The superb cast is led by Ileana Cotrubas as a tender and touching Elisabetta the fine lyric tenor Luis Lima in the title role and the great baritone Giorgio Zancanaro as Rodrigo. The conductor is Bernard Haitink.

• New Year's Concert 2004 | DVD | (09/02/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  The New Year's Concert recorded in Vienna featuring the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Riccardo Muti. The theme of this concert is Johann Strauss Father and Sons and celebrates the two hundredth anniversary of the elder Johann Strauss' birth.

• Mozart Gala from Salzburg | DVD | (18/08/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Critical acclaim for this high-point of Mozart Year 2006 - a microcosm of the Salzburg Festival's celebrations, with arias and orchestral works performed by some of the world's finest Mozart singers and the Vienna Philharmonic under Daniel Harding

• La Boheme | DVD | (30/11/1999) from £37.20   |  Saving you £-18.74 (-101.50%)   |  RRP £18.46

  One way to use the DVD format for opera is to provide a video format with a clear picture and sumptuous sound and let a good performance speak more or less for itself. Severini's La Boheme comes with a minimum of trimmings--subtitles in English, French and German; even a short account of the performance history is relegated to text in a booklet. The live performance has real theatrical presence, even to the extent that, at times, the vocal and orchestral subtleties get lost in wild applause. Pavarotti's Rodolfo was, in 1988, as plangently lyrical as ever and Freni's care-worn Mimi is a deeply touching and musical performance; Pacetti is a beefy full-blooded no-nonsense Musetta--the waltz song and ensuing duet with Marcello is for once the Broadway show-stopper it ought to be. Of the supporting roles, though, perhaps the most moving is Ghiaurov's Colline--his farewell to his old coat is a short passage of deep pathos which he has rarely sung as well as he does here. --Roz Kaveney

• Doors Mr Mojo Risin The Story Of L.A. Woman | DVD | (23/01/2012) from £14.99   |  Saving you £-1.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Mr Mojo Risin' is the story of the making of the Doors' last album with Jim Morrison L.A. Woman. 2011 is the 40th anniversary both of the album's release and of the death of Jim Morrison and this programme goes into detail of how the album came about, its recording and what was happening to the band at the time. The story is told through new interviews with the three surviving Doors: Ray Manzarek, Robbie Krieger and John Densmore plus contributions from Jac Holzman, founder of their label Elektra Records, Bill Siddons, who was their manager, Bruce Botnick, engineer and co-producer of the album and others associated with the Doors at this time. The show includes archive footage of the Doors performing both live and in the studio, classic photographs and new musical demonstrations from the Doors.

• L'Upupa Und Der Triumph Der Sohnesliebe - Henze | DVD | (06/12/2004) from £24.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Hans Werner Henze: L'UpupaUnd der Triumph der SohnesliebeEin deutsches Lustspiel in elf Tableaux aus dem ArabischenRecorded live at the Kleines Festspielhaus Salzburg 12-26 August 2003.

• Various Composers - Metropolitan Opera Gala (Levine) | DVD | (07/11/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Metropolitan Opera Gala Live Recording (selections): Metropolitan Opera House New York 27 April 1996.Highlights from: Les Pecheurs de perles - Louise - The Ghosts of Versailles - Don Pasquale - Rusalka - Andrea Chenier - Faust - Romeo et Juliette - Giuditta - L'amico Fritz - Cosi fan tutte - Le nozze di Figaro - Don Giovanni - Les Contes d'Hoffmann - La Perichole - Die Fledermaus - Der Rosenkavalier - Samson et Dalila - Eugene Onegin - Un ballo in maschera - Don Carlo - Ernani - I lombardi - Luisa Miller - Rienzi Tannhauser - Tristan und Isolde - Die Walkure - Gotterdammerung - Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.

• Wagner - Gotterdammerung (Boulez, Altmeyer, Jones) | DVD | (11/07/2005) from £9.93   |  Saving you £16.32 (188.24%)   |  RRP £24.99

  In 1976 French director Patrice Chereau's centenary staging of Wagner's Ring cycle unleashed the greatest scandal in Bayreuth Festival history but by the end of its last performances in 1980 this epoch-making production was acclaimed with an hour and a half of thunderous applause.

• Beethoven - The Piano Concertos - Vladimir Ashkenazy/London Symphony Orchestra | DVD | (13/08/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  The acclaimed BBC films of Vladimir Ashkenazy playing all five Beethoven Piano Concerts- with Bernard Haitink conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Filmed at London's Royal Festival Hall in March and April 1974, these classic performances of essential piano repertoire are available for the first time on home video. Also includes performances of Beethoven's overtures Leonore Nos.2 and 3 and Egmont, as well as a complete performance of his Symphony No. 8.

• Die Zauberflote - Mozart | DVD | (29/08/2005) from £40.48   |  Saving you £-10.49 (-35.00%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's expert direction of this Mozart masterpiece from the 1982 Salzburg Festival provides a feast of colour drama and wit featuring the supreme talents of Edita Gruberova Ileana Cotrubas and Peter Schreier with James Levine at the podium.This production of Mozart's Magic Flute from the Salzburg Festival received enormous and unanimous approval when it was premiered in Salzburg on July 29 1978. Endless applause on the night and an unusual state of accord from the international press quickly gave this staging legendary status with each soloist receiving individual acclaim.Recorded live at the Felsenreitschule Salzberg 21 August 1982.

• Mehta - New Year's Concert 2007 | DVD | (22/01/2007) from £14.98   |  Saving you £2.01 (13.42%)   |  RRP £16.99

  No other conductor enjoys so many ties to the Wiener Philharmoniker as Zubin Mehta, one of the orchestra's few honorary members. For this year's New Year's Concert, his fourth, he has chosen a programme of familiar favourites and novelties including the intoxicating waltz Wo die Zitronen bluh'n.Recorded live in Vienna, Musikverein, 1 January 2007.Track listing:1. Opening Credits.2. Johan Strauss II - Zivio!3. Josef Strauss - Flattergeiser.4. Moulinet-Polka.5. Joseph Hellmesberger Jr. - Elfenreigen.6. Josef Strauss - Delirien.7. Johann Strauss I - Einzugs-Galopp.8. Johann Strauss II - Waldmeister-Ouverture.9. Josef Strauss - Irenen-Polka.10. Johann Strauss II - Wo die Zitronen bluh'n.11. Eduard Strauss - Ohne Bremse.12. Johann Strauss II - Stadt und Land.13. Josef Strauss - Matrosen-Polka.14. Dynamiden.15. Johann Strauss I - Erinnerungen an Ernst.16. Furioso-Galopp.Encores:17. Joseph Hellmesberger Jr. - Leichtfussig.18. New Year's Address.19. Johann Strauss II - An der schonen, blauen Donau.20. Johann Strauss I - Radetzky-Marsch.

• Ariadne Auf Naxos: Staatskapelle Dresden (Thielemann) | Blu Ray | (04/06/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  NOTICE: Polish Release, cover may contain Polish text/markings. The disk DOES NOT have English audio and subtitles.

• Donizetti: Lucrezia Borgia | DVD | (22/04/2002) from £37.78   |  Saving you £-2.79 (-8.00%)   |  RRP £34.99

  A 1980 Royal Opera House production of Donizetti's opera. Conducted by Richard Bonynge and directed by John Copley.