Opera

• England Cricket's Greatest Matches | DVD | (17/03/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  The ultimate collection of England's most memorable test perfomances from over 35 years of cricket

• 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.

• Le Corsaire | DVD | (21/06/2000) from £29.68   |  Saving you £-4.69 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  A story of love between a young girl sold by a slave trader and a pirate who is sentenced to death for stealing her away.

• Powder Her Face | DVD | (12/12/2005) from £26.98   |  Saving you £-6.99 (-35.00%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A performance of Thomas Ades first opera Powder Her Face. The story follows the Duchess of Argyll as she looks back at her life. Ades' brilliant score incorporates skewed imitations of the popular music of her prime: tangos tea dances and Cole Porteresque songs. The fifteen strong orchestra consists of clarinets saxophones brass strings accordion and percussion an emsemble similar to the dance bands of yesteryear. Adapted and filmed specially for television in stu

• Il Trittico | DVD | (22/03/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Puccini's trio of mini masterpieces Il Trittico features a melodrama (Il Tabarro) a sentimental piece (Suor Angelica) and finally a comedy (Gianni Schicchi). These three one-act operas feature some of Puccini's most beautiful music. Puccini's passionate and ruggedly realistic opera Il Tabarro is a tale of deception and murder along the banks of the Seine. Suor Angelica is the story of Sister Angelica who was born a princess but had an illegitmate son and so was banished to a co

• Prokofiev: The Love for Three Oranges (L'Amour des Trois Oranges) | DVD | (12/03/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The production of this DVD - which involved top-ranking artists to direct perform and provide the musical accompaniment - was recorded in 1989 at the Opera National de Lyon. The outstanding quality of the production is evidenced not least by the recording made as part of the series of live performances and rated by Gramophone magazine as record of the year in 1990. Directed by Louis Erlo (assisted by Alain Maratrat and with set design by Jacques Rapp and costumes by Ferdinando Bruni) the wit and speed of the opera come across strongly in the transfer of the medium of DVD (video direction by Jean-Francois Jung). Kent Nagano directs the performance led by Gabriel Bacquier (the King of Clubs) Jean-Luc Viala (the Prince) Georges Gautier (Truffaldino) Catherine Dubosc (Ninetta) and a host of other outstanding artists.

• Verdi: Otello -- La Scala/Muti | DVD | (19/09/2003) from £9.98   |  Saving you £15.01 (150.40%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Riccardi Muti conducts a performance of Otello at the La Scala Theatre before the start of a three year renovation project.

• Salome | DVD | (09/09/2002) from £20.00   |  Saving you £17.99 (89.95%)   |  RRP £37.99

  A one-act production performed at The Royal Opera House Covent Garden with Maria Ewing in the lead role ably supported by Michael Devlin and Kenneth Riegel. The Orchestra of The Royal Opera House is conducted by Edward Downes. Directed by Derek Bailey. English subtitles.

• Les Troyens - Hector Berlioz | DVD | (05/09/2002) from £8.28   |  Saving you £22.97 (327.21%)   |  RRP £29.99

  The gates of Troy are open again after a ten-year siege. The Greek troops appear to have departed the battlefield - their fleet of ships having disappeared over the horizon. Rejoicing at such an unexpected victory the Trojen citizens pour out of their city to take a look at what the Greeks appear to have left behind: a giant wooden horse which they take to be an offering to pallas Athene. The only one among them not to be lulled into the general festive spirit is Cassandra who has seen Hector's ghost wandering the city ramparts with a look of foreboding about him - she senses impending disaster. Nobody pays any heed to her warnings however least of all her suitor Coroebus who tries in vain to soothe her with a tender serenade. In the presence of King Priam and Hecuba his queen the Trojens thank the gods for their safe release. But a shadow is cast over the festivities with the appearance of Hector's widow Andromache and their son Astyanax her silent mourning a memorial to those sacrificed in the long years of fighting.

• Fedora - Giordano | DVD | (13/09/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Italian composer Umberto Giordano's opera 'Fedora' has all of the qualities of a thrilling murder mystery. On this Bel Canto Society release of an impassioned 1998 performance soprano Mirella Freni lends her remarkable voice to the title role and tenor Sergei Larin provides powerful support.

• Luciano Pavarotti - A Rare And Intimate Evening With Pavarotti | DVD | (17/10/2005) from £4.99   |  Saving you £10.00 (200.40%)   |  RRP £14.99

  You are welcomed to a rare and wonderful performance that has never been previously available in the UK. Recorded in 1987 this is Pavarotti at his very finest. This concert is unique as Pavarotti performs classic songs with only his piano accompaniment giving an intimate feeling between the great legend and his audience. In this personal setting the viewer gets a rare insight into the great tenor's art form. Featuring his most popular classics such as.... Caro Mio Ben Angus Dei A

• Canterbury Tales - the Wife of Bath | DVD | (29/09/2008) from £6.73   |  Saving you £-1.74 (-34.90%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Beth Craddock is a TV actress who still believes in Mr. Right even after a number of failed marriages. But is her dashing co-star Jerome her soulmate despite their large age difference.

• Britten: Death In Venice | DVD | (28/02/2001) from £22.15   |  Saving you £2.84 (12.82%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Britten's last opera, Death in Venice will always be associated with the two voices for which the major parts in it were written. It is the achievement of Robert Tear and Alan Opie, in this magisterial performance by Graeme Jenkins with the Glyndebourne touring company, to produce telling performances that are entirely separate from our memories. Tear's Aschenbach is more bull-like than Peter Pears' moralist dreamer; his drift into sentimental eroticisation of the boy Tadzio upsets him as much for the weakness it reveals as for the collapse of his virtue. Alan Opie is as much of a virtuoso as John Shirley-Quirk in the multiple roles that culminate in the corrupting voice of Dionysus--the hotelier who persuades Aschenbach to stay, the barber who gives him a toupee and paints his face, the street entertainer, the rake who flirts with sailors; the otherworldly counter-tenor of Michael Chance is spookily right as Apollo. The scenes for dancers manage to be at once dreams of the erotic and plausible adolescent sea-side wrestling; the direction by Stephen Lawless and Martha Clarke manages to capture the mistiness of the piece from which fate and strangeness suddenly emerge. On the DVD: The DVD has subtitles in German, French and Spanish, as well as an acoustic which brings out the subtleties of Britten's string, brass and percussion in this difficult work. --Roz Kaveney

• Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust | DVD | (15/05/2000) from £26.98   |  Saving you £-1.99 (-8.00%)   |  RRP £24.99

  This imaginative staging of Berlioz's dramatic symphony for chorus, soloists and orchestra relies heavily on the moving of massed choirs across a large stage. It has vivid lighting effects--rather too many of them using strobes--and monolithic multi-purpose sets, in particular a revolving glass drum which functions both as cinema screen and rostrum for singers, so that the final ride to Hell, for example, is sung by Mephistopheles and Faust above a cavalcade of projected horses, like the inside of a zoetrope. The three main soloists have voices on a scale that can compete with these flashy production values--White and Kasarova, in particular, sing at a level of intensity that would swamp anything less; the climactic seduction trio has rarely been sung so well or with such an overpoweringly polymorphous eroticism. Cambreling marshals his forces effectively, giving full rein to the work's showstoppers like the "Hungarian March" but not neglecting the subtler less kinetic Gluckian side of Berlioz's vocal writing. The DVD has subtitles in English, German and Dutch, and menus in those languages, as well as French, Italian, Spanish and Swedish. --Roz Kaveney

• 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.

• Il Turco In Italia - Rossini | DVD | (21/01/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  A performance of Rossini's opera performed by the Zurich Opera House Chorus and Orchestra and the Supernumerary Association; conducted by Franz Welser-Most.

• The Maid Of Orleans - Bolshoi Opera | DVD | (30/01/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Tchaikovsky opera The Maid of Orleans is not often performed and recordings are rare. This production at The Bolshoi Opera was recorded to commemorate the centenary of Tchaikovsky's death in 1893. The Maid of Orleans is famous for its magnificent crowd scenes processions court ceremony and battle scenes. Boris Pokrovsky's vintage Bolshoi staging with magnificent sets by Valery Levental potently mixes realism and symbolism in this story of Joan of Arc. The Bolshoi Opera's all-Russian cast is enhanced by the exceptionally talented soprano Nina Rautio in the title role. Her interpretations are notable not only for her outstanding voice technique and emotional commitment but also for her exquisite musicianship

• 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.

• Macbeth - Verdi | DVD | (18/02/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Giuseppe VerdiMacbethFrom the Glyndebourne Festival Opera 1972Opera in Four Acts

• Relic Hunters | DVD | (21/04/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99