Off The Bookshelf The Taming of the Shrew [1976] (REGION 1) (NTSC) Search DVD

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1.Puccini - Tosca [1985] starring: Hildegard Behrens, Plácido Domingo, Cornell MacNeil, James Courtney, Italo Tajo directed by: Kirk Browning October 09, 2006
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: £19.99 Off The Bookshelf's Price: £19.97 You Save: £0.02 ( 0%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: £14.99
Visually, this is a real feast! However, there is much to be desired musically. Behrens is slightly coy, and her voice is not rich enough for the part: she is so much better suited to Strauss and Wagner. MacNeil is great - really menacing - but at 63 years of age, his sense of pitch fails unless he is following an orchestral line. Domingo's strengths as Cavaradossi are well known, and he does not let us down here. The conducting is exemplary, the orchestra magnificent. I very much enjoyed watching the video - I had had it for years, and never given it a viewing. But in the final analysis, I feel a younger, surer Scarpia and a more Italianate Floria are needed.

2.Turandot - Puccini - NTSC edition [1988] (NTSC) starring: Eva Marton, Plácido Domingo, Leona Mitchell, Paul Plishka, Hugues Cuenod directed by: Kirk Browning September 15, 2003
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: £19.99 Off The Bookshelf's Price: £13.98 You Save: £6.01 (30%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: £10.00
Eva Marton is wonderful in the title role, both in acting and singing. Particulary in act 2 scene 2, where she subtly conveys the reactions she recalls in act 3. Watch her face when Calaf tries to kiss the hem of her robe. Placido Domingo is also effective, showing Calaf's arrogance and selfishness convincingly. Leona Mitchell is heartbreaking as Liu, her unrequited devotion shining through in her voice and acting. The Mandarin makes the most of his moment, turning what is basically plot exposition into a rabble rousing speech designed to fire up the peasants while the Emperor is portrayed as being weighed down by guilt at allowing Turandot to make her terrible bargain. The scenery is magnificent, from the crowded ... Read More:

3.Donizetti - Lucia Di Lammermoor (Bonynge) [1982] starring: Joan Sutherland, Alfredo Kraus, Pablo Elvira, Paul Plishka, Ariel Bybee directed by: Kirk Browning November 21, 2005
Average Rating: >>More Details		Off The Bookshelf's Price: £19.99 Prices subject to change. Used Price: £37.73
Eva Marton is wonderful in the title role, both in acting and singing. Particulary in act 2 scene 2, where she subtly conveys the reactions she recalls in act 3. Watch her face when Calaf tries to kiss the hem of her robe. Placido Domingo is also effective, showing Calaf's arrogance and selfishness convincingly. Leona Mitchell is heartbreaking as Liu, her unrequited devotion shining through in her voice and acting. The Mandarin makes the most of his moment, turning what is basically plot exposition into a rabble rousing speech designed to fire up the peasants while the Emperor is portrayed as being weighed down by guilt at allowing Turandot to make her terrible bargain. The scenery is magnificent, from the crowded ... Read More:

4.Puccini - Manon Lescaut [1980] starring: Renata Scotto, Plácido Domingo, Pablo Elvira, Renato Capecchi, Philip Creech directed by: Kirk Browning April 10, 2006
Average Rating: >>More Details		Off The Bookshelf's Price: £22.97 Prices subject to change. Used Price: £109.85
'Manon Lescaut' has fared pretty well on DVD, but nothing comes close to this classic Metropolitan performance of 1980. This was my first encounter with opera, on television or stage, and of course I feared that it wouldn't hold up this second time around, now that I'm so much the wiser. But it shines as magnificently as ever. The young Levine really gets his teeth into the Italian melodrama, and the orchestra plays beautifully. Granted, Menotti's direction opts for tradition and decent representation, and the sets in their drabness is very much of their time too. But the drama, the singing! The well-rounded, molten, Italianate sounds that the young Domingo emits are what opera is all about. That and his total involvement with the part. And to me ... Read More:

5.Luciano Pavarotti And Joan Sutherland - An Evening With Pavarotti And Sutherland [1987] starring: Ferruccio Furlanetto, Leo Nucci, Luciano Pavarotti, Joan Sutherland, Ariel Bybee directed by: Kirk Browning March 03, 2008
Average Rating: >>More Details		Off The Bookshelf's Price: £17.97 Prices subject to change. Used Price: £14.11
'Manon Lescaut' has fared pretty well on DVD, but nothing comes close to this classic Metropolitan performance of 1980. This was my first encounter with opera, on television or stage, and of course I feared that it wouldn't hold up this second time around, now that I'm so much the wiser. But it shines as magnificently as ever. The young Levine really gets his teeth into the Italian melodrama, and the orchestra plays beautifully. Granted, Menotti's direction opts for tradition and decent representation, and the sets in their drabness is very much of their time too. But the drama, the singing! The well-rounded, molten, Italianate sounds that the young Domingo emits are what opera is all about. That and his total involvement with the part. And to me ... Read More:

6.Producers' Showcase Festival Of Music - Vol. 1 [1956] starring: Charles Laughton, Marian Anderson, Jussi Björling, Zinka Milanov, Mildred Miller directed by: Kirk Browning September 24, 2007
Average Rating: >>More Details		Off The Bookshelf's Price: £27.99 Prices subject to change. Used Price:
'Manon Lescaut' has fared pretty well on DVD, but nothing comes close to this classic Metropolitan performance of 1980. This was my first encounter with opera, on television or stage, and of course I feared that it wouldn't hold up this second time around, now that I'm so much the wiser. But it shines as magnificently as ever. The young Levine really gets his teeth into the Italian melodrama, and the orchestra plays beautifully. Granted, Menotti's direction opts for tradition and decent representation, and the sets in their drabness is very much of their time too. But the drama, the singing! The well-rounded, molten, Italianate sounds that the young Domingo emits are what opera is all about. That and his total involvement with the part. And to me ... Read More:

7.Rigoletto - Verdi [1977] (NTSC) starring: Plácido Domingo, Cornell MacNeil, Ileana Cotrubas, Justino Díaz, Isola Jones directed by: Kirk Browning August 09, 2004
Average Rating: >>More Details		Off The Bookshelf's Price: £21.97 Prices subject to change. Used Price: £10.99
This performance is typical fare from the Met from the past 30 years - big names in semi-naturalistic settings in a fairly routine production. The singing is good - but not great - from all the cast; Cornell MacNeil may play Rigoletto with conviction, but it comes across as pantomimic, a comic book portrayal with little subtlety or shading of character. His voice is belted out at a constant forte, which becomes rather wearing, particularly when he occasionally sings off the note. Domingo's youthful Duke is superficial but copes well with the set pieces. Cotrubas' rather mature Gilda is charming but lacks the youthful sparkle the role really needs to be convincing. All the supporting roles are adequately taken, most notably Isola Jones as Maddalena. ... Read More:

8.Big Blonde [1980] (REGION 1) (NTSC) starring: Sally Kellerman, Victor Griffin, Harris Laskaway, Trey Wilson, Jess Osuna directed by: Kirk Browning October 29, 2002
Average Rating: >>More Details		Used Price: £9.51
Dorothy Parker's 1929 short story, transformed into a stage play under the direction of Kirk Browning in 1980, loses much of its impact in the transformation. Though the script, written by Ellen M. Violett, stays close to the action of the story, the sense of time and place--the Roaring Twenties in New York--is lost in this production. Parker wrote this story with mordant humor and malicious wit, presenting a free-spirited model who married, suddenly discovered that she loved being a housewife, lost her husband when she lost her excitement, and descended into alcohol, drugs, and eventually a suicide attempt (as in her own life). Parker's sense of irony and her implied criticism of women who allow themselves to be victims create a bleak short story, to some ... Read More:

9.Zubin Mehta - Mozart: Bassoon Concerto; Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra; Dvorak: Carnival Overture, Sym No.8 (Los Angeles Philharmonic) [1977] (NTSC) starring: Zubin Mehta directed by: Kirk Browning September 29, 2008
Average Rating: >>More Details		Off The Bookshelf's Price: £22.99 Prices subject to change. Used Price: £11.54
Dorothy Parker's 1929 short story, transformed into a stage play under the direction of Kirk Browning in 1980, loses much of its impact in the transformation. Though the script, written by Ellen M. Violett, stays close to the action of the story, the sense of time and place--the Roaring Twenties in New York--is lost in this production. Parker wrote this story with mordant humor and malicious wit, presenting a free-spirited model who married, suddenly discovered that she loved being a housewife, lost her husband when she lost her excitement, and descended into alcohol, drugs, and eventually a suicide attempt (as in her own life). Parker's sense of irony and her implied criticism of women who allow themselves to be victims create a bleak short story, to some ... Read More:

10.The Taming of the Shrew [1976] (REGION 1) (NTSC) starring: Raye Birk, Earl Boen, Ron Boussom, Barbara Dirickson, Bobby R. Ellerbee directed by: Kirk Browning July 30, 2002
Average Rating: >>More Details		Used Price: £26.87
Dorothy Parker's 1929 short story, transformed into a stage play under the direction of Kirk Browning in 1980, loses much of its impact in the transformation. Though the script, written by Ellen M. Violett, stays close to the action of the story, the sense of time and place--the Roaring Twenties in New York--is lost in this production. Parker wrote this story with mordant humor and malicious wit, presenting a free-spirited model who married, suddenly discovered that she loved being a housewife, lost her husband when she lost her excitement, and descended into alcohol, drugs, and eventually a suicide attempt (as in her own life). Parker's sense of irony and her implied criticism of women who allow themselves to be victims create a bleak short story, to some ... Read More:

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