Classical and Opera DVD's??? (1 Viewer)

[Travis Kolesar]

A friend of mine just loaned me his Boulez Ring. Hopefully I'll get a chance to start watching them this next week.
Naxos is also distributer for Arthaus Music dvd, of which I have one disc of Sinopoli conducting Strauss' Eine Alpensymphonie performed by the Staatskapelle Dresden. Very nice disc. There are others in the series that look rather appealing, including a performance of Poulenc's Dialouge of the Carmelites.
EMI also released a handfull of quadrophonic recordings from the 70's on dvd-a (the also have a DD 4.0 version on the disc). I picked up Messiaen's Turangalila-symphonie, and while it's far from my favorite recording of it, it's stil quite enjoyable. Plus it's in a modern anologue of quadrophonic, which is really cool.

 

[Brandon H]

I recommend:

1. La Boheme - The Metropolitan Opera, James Levine conducting, produced by Franco Zefferelli, on Pioneer Classics

2. Turandot - Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Zubin Mehta conducting, on RCA Victor Red Seal

3. La Traviata - The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Sir Georg Solti conducting, on Decca

I'm just deginning an opera DVD collection, but am pleased with the above.

 

[andrew markworthy]

I would love to know if someone has seen Wagner's ring cycle on DVD. Conducted by Pierre Boulez.

I've not seen the DVD, but I have seen the production. If it's any help, I've made some notes below:

(a) the music is taken at a fairly fast (for Wagner!) rate. I seem to recall the vinyl sets took up a couple of fewer LPs than Solti's.

(b) the singing is pretty good - not perhaps overall up to the legendary Solti set, but unless you are really a Wagner fanatic, then it won't disappoint.

(c) the production either fascinates or repels. It's set in a sort of bizarre industrial revolution meets Middle Earth type place. The designer is making some clever points with this, provided you know something of Wagner's own life and the background to the making of The Ring.
Personally I love it (far more than 'traditional' versions), but I know others who cannot stand watching it.

 

[Daniel J]

the production either fascinates or repels. It's set in a sort of bizarre industrial revolution meets Middle Earth type place. The designer is making some clever points with this, provided you know something of Wagner's own life and the background to the making of The Ring.

That's cool in some respects, but if I'm going to buy a seven-disc set, I'd like to have the opera as Wagner wrote it, not a clever modification.

 

[John Watson]

Disney's DVDs of FANTASIA and FANTASIA 2000 feature classical pieces, and often spectacular visuals...

 

[Seth_S]

Universal Music owns the largest video library out of any of the other major labels, yet they have been reluctant to bring anything out on DVD (in Europe and the US they've only released opera recordings).
Some highlights of what they have released:
Mozart: Le Nozzi di Figaro - John Eliot Gardiner/English Baroque Soloists
Mozart: Cosi Fan Tutte - John Eliot Gardiner/English Baroque Soloists
Wagner: Der Ring Des Nibelungen - Levine/MET
Wagner: Der Ring Des Nibelungen - Boulez/Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele
If you're looking for orchestral music, Universal Music Japan has opened up the flood gates. They're released over 150 DVD-video recordings of orchestral music. They can be easily ordered at www.hmv.co.jp

 

[andrew markworthy]

That's cool in some respects, but if I'm going to buy a seven-disc set, I'd like to have the opera as Wagner wrote it, not a clever modification.

The music isn't changed at all, so in that sense it's not a 'modification'. The trouble is that operas have to alter their staging. The original productions at Bayreuth if they were re-staged today would look ridiculous, because our expectations of what constitutes a 'good production'have changed. In any case, the production isn't *that* odd - I'd advise renting/borrowing a copy of Das Rheingold and deciding for oneself before dismissing it.

 

[Seth_S]

The Solti set is a matter of taste. First off, you either love or loath Solti. Next, there was way too much manipulation going on by Culshaw in the control room. Szell was supposed to conduct the first complete stereo Ring, but sadly that fell through and he never got around to the Ring Cycle later in his life.

Hopefully EMI will release Sawallisch's '89 cycle on DVD.