"Director: Peter Hall"

• Carmen - Glyndebourne Festival Opera | DVD | (24/10/2005) from £24.28   |  Saving you £-6.29 (-35.00%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Bernard Haitink conducts Maria Ewing and Barry McCauley in an interpretation of Bizet's Carmen. Maria Ewing's electric portrayal of the gypsy Carmen is one of the finest in recent memory. Her dark alluring looks and feline grace are exactly suited to playing the hot-blooded Spanish temptress who charms men with her sensuous wild spirit. Peter Hall's production filmed in 1985 reveals Bizet's opera as a torid drama of passion blood and squalor with sets by John Bury that capture the earthy warmth of Spain in an unglamorised view of the factory girls of Seville. Barry McCauley is a thrilling Don Jose Micaela is sung by Marie McLaughlin with Bernard Haitink conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

• Simon Boccanegra | DVD | (05/07/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Verdi's gritty political drama of 14th century Grnoa is a tale of family feuding political intrigue and ultimate reconciliation. Simon Boccanegra is an underrated opera with a majestic and stirring score. This elegant production was a major highlight of the 1998 Glyndebourne Season.

• Never talk to Strangers | DVD | (04/10/2010) from £8.07   |  Saving you £-2.08 (-34.70%)   |  RRP £5.99

  A criminal psychologist with a brilliantly incisive mind Dr Sarah Taylor (Rebecca De Mornay) is coolly in control of her life - until she embarks on a passionate affair with Tony Ramierez (Antonio Banderas) a charming stranger whose fiery combination of innocence and danger succeeds in breaking through Sarah's emotional walls. As a new life unfolds for her a series of increasingly disturbing events threaten to destroy it - and Sarah finds herself searching for the stranger behind the face she though she knew..

• Aida / La Traviata | DVD | (03/02/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Aida: La Scala went all-out for this 1986 production of Aida, the grandest of grand operas, with a strong cast and--most important for a video recording--a larger-than-life staging. The Triumph Scene in Act 2 is by no means this Aida's only attraction, but it is the part that makes the strongest and most lasting impression, and is the visual and musical climax of the production. On par with the visuals is Lorin Maazel's first-class performance with the outstanding La Scala chorus and orchestra. The soloists have a variety of strengths that outweigh a few small weaknesses. Luciano Pavarotti sings one of his signature roles in superb voice, but his weight problems are visually evident and detract from his impact as the dashing hero Radames. Maria Chiara has moments of vocal imperfection but gives a dramatically compelling performance. Ghena Dimitrova sings powerfully and the supporting cast is excellent throughout. --Joe McLellanLa Traviata: Performances of La Traviata stand or fall to an unusual extent on their principal soprano; the first thing that needs saying about this Glyndebourne performance is that Marie McLaughlin has all of the attributes needed for a role that is fundamentally a virtuoso one, no matter how emotionally involving it is as well. The point about Violetta is that she is, with absolute authenticity, all of the things she becomes in the course of the opera--the febrile socialite and yearning love of Act 1, the quiet domesticated woman of Act 2 who sacrifices her love for Alfredo to precisely the family values he has talked her into espousing, the dying penitent of Act 3. Walter McNeil is an impressive poetic Alfredo in whose successful courtship we can believe. Brent Ellis is solidly powerful as his father Germont--the duet in which he talks Violetta into renouncing his son and comes to value what he is destroying is one of the high points here, as it should be. Bernard Haitink conducts impressively. --Roz Kaveney