C Major
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Special offer. Schubert: Fierrabras D 796
Michael Schade (Fierrabras), Julia Kleiter (Emma), Benjamin Bernheim (Eginhard), Dorothea Röschmann (Florinda), Markus Werba (Roland), Georg Zeppenfeld (Charlemagne), Marie-Claude Chappuis (Maragond), Manuel Walser (Brutamonte)
Wiener Philharmoniker, Ingo Metzmacher
...the Vienna Philharmonic supplying focused playing under Ingo Metzmacher, and several worthwhile principal performances, especially from Georg Zeppenfeld’s firm Karl, Michael Schade’s engaged... —
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Special offer. Weber: Der Freischütz
Andreas Schager (Max), Camilla Nylund (Agathe), Daniela Fally (Ännchen), Alan Held (Kaspar)
Wiener Staatsoper, Tomáš Netopil, Christian Räth
The pick of the cast, vocally, is soprano Camilla Nylund, who brings ample, shining tone and a finely sustained line to Agathe’s two solos. —
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Special offer. Verdi: Il Corsaro
Bruno Ribeiro (Corrado), Andrea Papi (Giovanni), Irina Lungo (Medora), Luca Salsi (Seid), Silvia dalla Benetta (Gulnara), Gregory Bonfatti (Selimo), Angelo Villari (Un eunoco/Uno schiavo)
Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Regio di Parma, Carlo Montanaro
It's simple but stylish and lavishly costumed...Silvia Dalla Benetta...quite steals the show as Gulnara...Plenty of good music and piratical heroics make this traditional staging eminently watchable. —
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Special offer. Verdi: Falstaff
Ambrogio Maestri (Falstaff), Barbara Frittoli (Alice Ford), Meg Page (Judith Schmid), Mistress Quickly (Yvonne Naef), Massimo Cavalletti (Ford), Eva Liebau (Nannetta), Javier Camarena (Fenton), Peter Straka (Dr. Cajus), Martin Zysset (Bardolfo), Davide Fersini (Pistola)
Orchester der Oper Zürich...
the conductor starts apparently quite steadily. But this lack of a certain flick and bounce is compensated for by the focus of Daniele Gatti...places on Verdi's radically forward-looking orchestration...The... —
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Rudolf Buchbinder plays Mozart Piano Concertos Nos. 20, 21& 27
Rudolf Buchbinder (piano & conductor)
Staatskapelle Dresden
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Giuseppe Verdi: Don Carlo
José Carreras (Don Carlo), Agnes Baltsa (Eboli), Fiamma Izzo d'Amico (Elizabeth), Ferruccio Furlanetto (Philipp II), Piero Cappuccilli (Rodrigo), Matti Salminen (Grand Inquisitor), Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsoperchor, Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan
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Karajan and Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin (violin)
Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Symphoniker, Herbert von Karajan
an electrifying performance by a rejuvenated Berlin Philharmonic at the peak of its powers; it is also a visually stunning record of a masterclass in virtuoso conducting...[The bonus-feature]... —
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The Stuttgart Ballet in John Cranko's Romeo and Juliet
Stuttgart Ballet & State Theatre Suttgart Orchestra, James Tuggle
With idiomatic playing from the State Theatre Stuttgart Orchestra under James Tuggle and discrete yet expert video direction by Michael Beyer, this release will be of the greatest interest to... —
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These are well-balanced stereo recordings, surprisingly not originally recorded multi-channel. Video is excellent usually focusing on Bernstein. —
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Special offer. Strauss, R: Elektra
Ingela Brimberg (Elektra), Susanna Levonen (Chrysothemis), Ingrid Tobiasson (Klytaemnestra), Thomas Lander (Orestes), Magnus Kyhle (Aegisthus)
Norrlands Operan's Symphony Orchestra, Rumon Gamba
This is more than the souvenir of a showy occasion…and its sheer hallucinatory power holds the watcher —
