Off The Bookshelf Offenbach: Les Contes d'Hoffmann -- Royal Opera House/Pretre [1981] (NTSC) Search DVD

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1.Bizet - Carmen (Levine, Metropolitan Opera) [1988] (NTSC) starring: Agnes Baltsa, Josep Carreras, Samuel Ramey, Leona Mitchell, Myra Merritt directed by: Brian Large November 20, 2000
Average Rating: >>More Details		Used Price: £12.81
A fantastic record of a live performance Broadcast from the Met in the late 1980's. As you would anticipate the production is both spectacular and overblown - complete with horses and a cast of 1000s. So much for a small tavern in Seville - this one would make the largest hotels look spartan. But the performance contains fantastic performances from all 4 principals. Mitchell is a sweet innocent, if slightly nervous Michaela on what was her Met debut; Ramey a flamboyantly virile, wonderfully sung Escamillo; Carreras is maybe not your ideal Don Jose, and can be wooden but sings beautifully throughout. However the real star is the great Agnes Baltsa - a hugely dramatic, fantastically sung performance at the peak of her career. Read More:

2.Vienna State Opera Gala 2005 - Gala Concert 50th Anniversary Of The Re-Opening starring: Vienna State Orchestra And Choir, Falk Struckmann, Michael Schade, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Seiji Ozawa January 30, 2006
Average Rating: >>More Details		Used Price: £9.49
On November 5, 2005 the Vienna State Opera held a gala to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the reopening on November 5, 1955 of the Opera after its destruction by Allied bombs in 1945 followed by the ten-year-long reconstruction. They pulled out all the stops and had a cast of stars (as well as current stalwarts of the Opera): five conductors (Ozawa, Gatti, Mehta, Thielemann and Welser-Möst) and such luminaries as Domingo, Baltsa, Gruberova, Hampson, Terfel and Kirchschlager, as well as the fabulous Opera chorus and the Vienna Philharmonic. The gala featured scenes from six of the seven operas given new productions in that 1955 season -- Don Giovanni, Der Rosenkavalier, Aida, Meistersinger, Frau ohne Schatten and Fidelio. The whole thing ... Read More:

3.Mahler - The Complete Symphonies/Das Lied Von Der Erde [2005] (NTSC) starring: Edda Moser, Judith Blegen, Gerti Zeumer, Ingrid Mayr, Agnes Baltsa directed by: Humphrey Burton October 17, 2005
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: £79.99 Off The Bookshelf's Price: £55.99 You Save: £24.00 (30%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: £55.98
Until this set of DVDs was released last year, those wanting to hear Bernstein's Mahler had the choice of the 1960s studio performances on Sony Classical or the 1990s live performances on Deutsche Grammophon. These Vienna performances, recorded between 1971 and 1976 are more consistent than the Sony and DG recordings and in some ways combine the best features of both sets. In particular, the DVD collection contains two of the best ever performances of the 8th and 9th Symphonies. The 8th Symphony gets off to an electrifying start and continues in this vein all the way through to the conclusion of the work. In between, Bernstein is sensitive to every mood of the symphony. This is undoubtedly a great performance. The DG set on CD includes ... Read More:

4.Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier -- Vienna/Von Karajan [1984] starring: Herbert Von Karajan, Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Kurt Moll, Agnes Baltsa directed by: Hugo Kach July 09, 2001
Average Rating: >>More Details		Used Price: £24.95
This is largely the cast of Karajan's second audio recording whcih almost but does not quite eclipse his classic 50's set with Schwarzkopf. I played this through a Sony DAVS500 on a normal TV and was absorbed from start to finish. The picture quality is good but some of the whole stage shots lack the last bit of detail that a later film would have given. The stage production is traditional and lavish, and the film production picks up details nicely. The sound quality on the Dolby Digital stereo option is very good but the non surround option is weaker. If you value the quality of performance and value for money above sound and picture (both of which are better than adequate but not state of the art) then you can't go wrong at £15/16 - buy it.

5.Bruckner: Symphonies 8 & 9; Te Deum [1985] by: Anton Bruckner starring: Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Agnes Baltsa, David Rendall, José van Dam, Wiener Philharmoniker February 04, 2008
Average Rating: >>More Details		Off The Bookshelf's Price: £24.99 Prices subject to change. Used Price: £13.99
To mark the 100th anniversary of Herbert von Karajan Deutsche Grammophon continues the exploration of its video catalogue and unearthing these remarkable Bruckner concerts from 1978/79 with the Wiener Philharmoniker is a more than welcome event. What I find amazing about these filmed documents is that they disprove more than anything the complaints often laid against Karajan as the inhuman control freak. Here is a conductor, in the autumn of his career, entirely on top of his game, serving as the most dedicated guide through these fascinating works, obtaining magnificent results from one of the finest orchestras of the day. Karajan knows as none else to blend sense of architecture with orchestral detail and transparency. His Bruckner may not always be the ... Read More:

6.Les Contes D'Hoffmann [1981] starring: Plácido Domingo, Luciana Serra, Agnes Baltsa, Ileana Cotrubas, Claire Powell directed by: Brian Large September 08, 1997
Average Rating: >>More Details		Used Price: £0.99
Placido Domingo leads an all round excellent cast. The singing is of a very high standard, and it is very well staged and produced. I would recommend this to any opera lover, even if they are unfamiliar with this work.

7.Jose Carreras And Friends [1991] starring: Jose Carreras, Katia Ricciarelli, Ruggero Raimondi, Agnes Baltsa April 05, 1993
Average Rating: >>More Details		Used Price: £2.00
Placido Domingo leads an all round excellent cast. The singing is of a very high standard, and it is very well staged and produced. I would recommend this to any opera lover, even if they are unfamiliar with this work.

8.Mozart: Cosi fan tutte [2000] starring: Cecilia Bartoli, Liliana Nikiteanu, Agnes Baltsa, Roberto Saccà, Oliver Widmer directed by: Brian Large June 30, 2001
Average Rating: >>More Details		Used Price: £14.98
The small scale opera hourse in Zurich helps to enhance the intimacy of the opera, which is, to my mind, Mozart's greatest opera. Bartoli is in top form but sometimes I found Harnoncourt's pacing a little too hurried. This is not a classic, one does not come back time and time again for a top uo but it is nonetheless very enjoyable.

9.Mahler - Symphonies Nos. 7 and 8 (Bernstein, Wiener Po) [2005] starring: Agnes Baltsa, Judith Blegen, Ingrid Mayr, Edda Moser, Hermann Prey directed by: Humphrey Burton October 24, 2005
Average Rating: >>More Details		Off The Bookshelf's Price: £24.99 Prices subject to change. Used Price: £117.62
This is the first instalment of Bernstein's DVD Mahler that I have seen and I am not disappointed. In the past, his audio recordings have grated on me but I think these live 1970s performances catch him at his best. A hugely energetic presence on the rostrum, he makes Rattle seem low key, winking and grinning at the orchestra, jumping for joy and shaking his ass. The diference between DVD listening and CD listening is that one can get rather distracted by the visual element, so that the quality of the musicmaking is eclipsed by camera moves and the conductor's antics, but if you like what you see, so what. I'd say both performances were top-draw, and if watched sparingly, Bernie's high spirits shouldn't outstay there welcome. Newcomers to mahler ... Read More:

10.Offenbach: Les Contes d'Hoffmann -- Royal Opera House/Pretre [1981] (NTSC) starring: Plácido Domingo, Luciana Serra, Agnes Baltsa, Ileana Cotrubas, Claire Powell directed by: Brian Large September 22, 2003
Average Rating: >>More Details		Off The Bookshelf's Price: £19.99 Prices subject to change. Used Price: £12.61
Placido Domingo leads an all round excellent cast. The singing is of a very high standard, and it is very well staged and produced. I would recommend this to any opera lover, even if they are unfamiliar with this work.

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