Opera & Classical Music on Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

There seems to be very little, if anything at all, concerning Opera and Classical Music discussed on this forum.
How many members have purchased Blu-rays regarding this Genre?

Those titles I have purchased have all been visually stunning and with mostly excellent quality sound.

Discussions regarding outstanding and stunning Blu-ray transfers never bother to mention these discs.
I think it's time they did.

My small collection is somewhat centred around my favourite classical composer Richard Strauss.


My favourite version with Renee Fleming. staging on this version is not to my taste, but performance is ok.

What are your favourites regarding Composers, Artists and Disc qualities.
Do you accept those operas with new contemporary staging ( as a traditionalist I hate them)
Any Suggestions?

Doug.

Hi Doug
Do you have the fabulous Strauss 'Der Rosenkavalier' with Betty Blackhead and Herb von CashandCarrycan?
It's truly sumptous .. and as well as Betty, it's notable for a wonderful Sophie from Sena Jurinac. it's a British Blu ray from Park Circle.
My very favourite Blu ray though is the classic movie version of Don Giovanni by Joseph Losey, with Kirik, and Raimondi Ruggiero as the perfect Don, set in a landscape littered with Palladian villas.
Of recent finds, my favourite is an Opus Arte Blu ray of Puccini's Gianni Schicchi from Glyndebourne, with Alessandro Corbelli as a very effective Schicchi, a la Marx Bros, and a really clever affectionate and witty Sally Mathews as Lauretta.
I wish this was the full Trittico instead of just Schicchi .. but this is worth having by itself.
I have a few ballets too but wish the old Fontaine/Nureyev Swan Lake would find its way to Blu ray! Best ballet I have on Blu ray right now for performance and staging is Paris Opera's La Bayadere, in the Nureyev production.
Cheers

'Forgot to answer the Q about new contemporary stagings.
I don't mind updates (eg Gianni Schicchi) just as long as the designers and directors are absolutely true to the intent of the composer/choreographer.
So for instance I didn't mind Neil Armfield's take on the Ring Cycle last year .. quite enjoyed it in fact .. but though Simon Phillips' updating of Rossini's The Turk in Italy at the State Theatre last week was a total travesty .. a desecration of original intent.

I'm a Wagnerphile. I couple of my favorites...





Mehta's Ring is beautifully conducted and played and there really isn't a weak link in the singers. It's a very modern staging, but true to Wagner's stage directions. Eye popping and great sound.

The Glyndenbourne Meistersinger is updated to Wagner's time, but it works well. The last act is incredible! A relatively small stage, but they pack it full of chorus.

I'll look out for that Mehta Ring .. a very exciting conductor!
There are so many great opera productions in FILM not video which are crying out for blu ray release .. but if we're talking niche markets, this is distinctly a niche within a niche!
As I said earlier, I'd love that classic Swan Lake with Fonteyn and Nureyev.
But amongst operas, I'd trek across our State to find a Blu ray of my favourite Tosca, with Domingo and Raina Kabalvanska in the title-role. Absolutely compelling, and filmed in the original historic locations. Although I love Callas, the DVD excerpts of the second act is good enough quality considering the source material .. but this filmed Tosca would look marvellous. I had a singer-friend over one night, Joan Carden, who had sung the role often .. and she is a fierce critic. 'She knows how to do it', she said of Kabaivanska....

Anthony and Doug,
Betty Blackhead's version is indeed sumptuous (directed by Paul Czinner, Elisabeth Bergner's husband). I love Strauss, and the final trio of Rosenkavalier always moves me to tears (or aesthetic orgasms).
My wife and I just saw Das Rheingold live in Houston, staged by La Fura dels Baus. We'll get an annual installment. Interesting concept, but I must see it all before passing judgement.
My wife wants to see Die Meistersinger live at least once before she dies. We'll see; that's a tough one to mount around Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston, where we see most of our operas.
The 3D version of PINA convinced me that all ballet should be shot and viewed in 3D. Spatial depth is so important in ballet.
I won free tickets to this Saturday's MET opera HD broadcast of La Cenerentola, with Joyce DiDonato (who is singing this role for the very last time), and Juan Diego Florez.
My first operatic experience was at the MET: Die Frau ohne Schatten (Karl Boehm, Leonie Rysanek, James King, etc.). No knowledge of German or the plot; no surtitles. I was transfixed and my life changed forever.
Movies, opera, theatre and literature (I studied Medieval Comparative Literature: that's how I got into Wagner and The Ring). Everything connects.

AnthonyClarke said:

Hi Doug
Do you have the fabulous Strauss 'Der Rosenkavalier' with Betty Blackhead and Herb von CashandCarrycan?
It's truly sumptous .. and as well as Betty, it's notable for a wonderful Sophie from Sena Jurinac. it's a British Blu ray from Park Circle.

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No I don't have that version Anthony. What is the quality of the blu-ray like?

The version I've got features Anne Schwanewilms and the dresden state opera orchestra - It's an ok performance, but a really nice looking blu-ray.



The most unusual Blu-ray Opera disc I have is the 3D version of "CARMEN" with Christine Rice and Bryan Hymel.
The staging is lavish and the Blu-ray's 3D quality is very good. You really feel you are there.
Unfortunately performance falls a bit short of other versions available.




Anthony was that you dressed like Elvis at the State Theatre last week.

Doug.

the Rosenkavalier is a fab version ... you'd really like it. It's every bit as good as the original movie, which I remember seeing many years ago in an arthouse cinema here or in Sydney. A top transfer...No, I wasn't dressed as Elvis. Try Crash Craddock....Strangely enough, I do have that Carmen 3d blu ray .. but haven't opened it as I don't have 3d playback yet. I was thinking of waiting till one of those headsets is really well developed so I don't have to spring for a new projector as well as third blu ray player!

AnthonyClarke said:

... No, I wasn't dressed as Elvis. Try Crash Craddock.... Strangely enough, I do have that Carmen 3d blu ray .. but haven't opened it as I don't have 3d playback yet. I was thinking of waiting till one of those headsets is really well developed so I don't have to spring for a new projector as well as third blu ray player!

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Sorry Anthony I thought I read where that Opera you went to see featured Elvis lookalikes as part of a ridiculous modernisation.

The 3D certainly helps this otherwise average performance of "Carmen" (to be truthful I haven't bothered to watch it all the way through yet)
I think that "AIDA" is also available in 3D. (Though it's not a favourite of mine)

I've got 2 of those Sony 3D personal viewers. (I thought the newer model might be better, but it's much the same as the first one) They are very clumsy to fit around the head, but when you get them right they are awesome.
Those Cinerama smilebox discs look sensational on them. it's like sitting in a Cinerama theatre.

Doug.

Well, not exactly an Elvis look-alike, but certainly a 1950s sharpie look ... in fact, the sets and costumes were really good but surtitles had been 'modernised' to a really vulgar degree .. 'hot chick' and 'good sort' style of thing. The singing was just adequate ... the poor singers were probably put off by having to engage in mock copulation while singing .. poor Emma Mathews, usually very reliable, couldn't get on the note at times and I'm sure it was the production not her. My friend and long-time colleague Michael Shmith enjoyed it somewhat more than me though his review was quite critical at times....
I'll aim at one of those Sony 3d viewers just in case they ever get around to bringing myfavourite 3d movie out on Blu ray ... "'Kiss Me Kate' of course .. could there be another favourite? I am quite partial to Dial M for Murder too ... the realism makes Grace Kelly even more luscious than usual......

I am a real big fan of Classical musik. I live in Munich and am lucky to have the Bayerische Staatsoper and the Bayerische Rundfunk orchestra. About half on my DVDs/BR are classical. Due to lack of T I M E and will write more. My first opera at Bayreuth was the Parsifal but sad to say it was not filmed. I recommend the. The first ring cycle by I believe Chereau/Boulez was very good. I hope that Riemen's LEAR done here in Munich will comeout but it hasn't yet. I will hopefully give more details later.
Many (or all) of the Ponnelle things are very good such as the Monteverdi cycle. I am not a great fan of these operas but the productions are great.
Most of my operas are NOT BR but reguler.

Thanks for establishing this thread Doug, long overdue. Unlike you I am not a traditionalist but I do appreciate good music. I have a few blu-rays which fit into the opera/classical genre.

My two favourite classical/opera concert blu-rays are The Berlin Concert (live from the Waldbuhne) and The Opera Gala (live from Baden-Baden). The sound dynamics are different as one is an outdoor concert and the other in a concert hall. The picture and sound on both are absolutely superb, definitely reference quality.

I also have Jules Massenet Manon (live from the Berlin Staatsoper). This like the previous two are Deutsche Grammophon.

My other one is the blu-ray of the film La Boheme by Robert Dornhelm. This is different to a stage performance being a feature film. The singing and some of the voices are dubbed and I know that this is not to everybody's taste but I think it works well.

One other blu-ray I have which, although I am not sure it fits this thread, is also exceptional, is the 25 year anniversary concert of The Phantom of the Opera. I saw this show in London many years ago and didn't enjoy it much. This performance is very good and Sierra Boggess is delightful as Christine.

One thought, isn't it odd that the original Three Tenors concert from Rome is not available on blu-ray.

Keith Cobby said:

One thought, isn't it odd that the original Three Tenors concert from Rome is not available on blu-ray.

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Outside of the audio, there's not much Blu-ray could do with that. Its old SD tape from the 80s.

Further to my earlier post mentioning The Phantom of the Opera, there was an article in The Daily Telegraph by John Suchet (August 2013) considering whether West Side Story could be categorised as an opera and also Porgy and Bess. Sometimes it feels like there is a fine line between musical theatre and opera. When you hear Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazon sing 'Tonight' (the only song in English from The Berlin Concert) it sounds as operatic as anything by Puccini or the other great opera composers.

I'm more of an opera traditionalist, so I don't care much for the current trend of modernizing opera settings. These types of productions are often more about the directors themselves than what the composers intended (IMO). I can stand a change to a different period if the point of the opera still comes across. So, I don't have a whole lot of operas on Blu-ray.

What I do have on Blu:

Carmen (Royal Opera, Antonacci, Kaufmann)
La Boheme (Royal Opera, Gersmava, Ilincai)
Tosca (Royal Opera, Gheorghiu, Kaufmann, Terfel)
La Traviata (La Scala, Gheorghiu)
Don Pasquale (Met, Netrebko)
Turandot (Met, Guleghini, Giordani)
Der Rosenkavalier (Fleming, Koch, Damrau)

Also:

The Opera Gala from Baden-Baden,
Beethoven The Nine Symphonies (Thielemann, VPO)
Mahler 2nd Symphony (Chailly, Leipzig Gewandhaus)

I probably have more on DVD.

Moving away slightly from opera, I do love Oscar Hammerstein's adaptation of 'Carmen' as 'Carmen Jones', with such great acting and singing .. and how amazing to hear Marilyn Horne as a lyric soprano instead of mezzo!
I am amazed at how much great stuff from the past still languishes unseen and unheard on Blu ray .. Zefferilli's Traviata should be out. I was going to add the Domingo//Migenes Carmen to that list but I just checked and see it's on sale at Amazon ... I'd better pick it up right now!
And yes, A BIG THANK YOU TO DOUG for starting this thread.

Zefferelli's Traviata would be fantastic on blu-ray!

Don't forget Lossey's Don Giovanni. Spectacular sound, wonderful performances and great cinematography and direction.

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By the way, I got this Rigoletto because it was just ten bucks, but I really enjoyed it. It's a bit of a "shirtsleeves staging" but it's good.

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Doggone! I really hate the image attachment BS in this forum!