Browse: DVD Video, James Levine (conductor)
Rossini: L'Italiana in Algeri
Marilyn Horne (Isabella), Paolo Montarsolo (Mustafa), Douglas Ahlstedt (Lindoro), Allan Monk (Taddeo), Myra Merritt (Elvira), Diane Kesling (Zulma), Spiro Malas (Haly)
The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus, James Levine
Sparkily conducted by James Levine, Ponnelle's 1986 Met production goes for broad comedy rather than subtlety, but Marilyn Horne knows exactly how to sing Isabella, and receives strong buffo... — More…
Awards:
Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
James Morris (Hans Sachs), Ben Heppner (Walther von Stolzing), Karita Mattila (Eva), Thomas Allen (Beckmesser), Jill Grove (Magdalena), Matthew Polenzani (David), René Pape (Pogner), John Relyea (Nachtwächter)
Metropolitan Opera & Chorus, James Levine
Thank goodness for no quirky ideas...The singers are all outstanding, led by James Morris's warmly genial Sachs...and by Ben Heppner, who is an equally convincing Walther...Mattila not only looks... — More…
Awards:
Verdi: La Traviata
Recommended
Teresa Stratas (Violetta), Plácido Domingo (Alfredo), Cornell MacNeil (Giorgio Germont)
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, James Levine
Severely cut and rearranged, Zeffirelli's famous film suffocates under its own opulence; but Parisian and Provencal locations, Levine's rich conducting, Domingo and Stratas remain rewarding. — More…
Awards:
Strauss, R: Ariadne auf Naxos
Recommended
Deborah Voigt (Ariadne/Prima Donna), Natalie Dessay (Zerbinetta), Susanne Mentzer (The Composer), Richard Margison (Bacchus/The Tenor), Wolfgang Brendel (The Music Master), Waldemar Kmentt (The Major-Domo)
The Metropolitan Opera, James Levine, Laurie Feldman
...two prima donnas [Voigt and Mentzer] at the peaks of their careers having fun with the liveliest Elijah Moshinsky production I've seen...Dessay slips between complex human truth and the commedia... — More…
Awards:
Wagner: Parsifal
Waltraud Meier (Kundry), Siegfried Jerusalem (Parsifal), Kurt Moll (Gurnemanz), Bernd Weikl (Amfortas), Jan-Hendrik Rootering (Titurel), Franz Mazura (Klingsor)
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra & Chorus, James Levine
Puccini: Turandot
Éva Marton, Plácido Domingo, Leona Mitchell, Paul Plishka
Metropolitan Opera Chorus & Orchestra, James Levine
Verdi: Rigoletto
Louis Quilico (Rigoletto), Christiane Eda-Pierre (Gilda), Luciano Pavarotti (Duke of Mantua), Isola Jones (Maddalena), Ara Berberian (Sparafucile), Richard J. Clark (Monterone), Charles Anthony (Borsa), John Darrenkamp (Marullo);
Metropolitan Opera, James Levine
Dramatically we're back in the stone age...Musically there's much to admire...The vocalism is strong and occasionally outstanding. — More…
Puccini: Manon Lescaut
Sean Panikkar, Marcello Giordani, Dwayne Croft, Dale Travis, Tamara Mumford, Karita Mattila, Paul Plishka, Lisette Oropesa, Jennifer Black, Sasha Cooke, Ellen Rabiner, Bernard Fitch, James Courtney, Tony Stevenson & Richard Bernstein
The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Chorus and Ballet,...
…the spectacular Zeffirelli staging, now rather showing its age. It still makes a good frame… for Ramón Vargas's engaging Rodolfo, sung with ardour, and Gheorghiu's fine-toned but rather grand... — More…
Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen
Recommended
James Morris (Wotan/Der Wanderer), Hildegard Behrens (Brünnhilde), Siegfried Jerusalem (Loge/Siegfried), Ekkehard Wlaschiha (Alberich), Christa Ludwig (Fricka/Waltraute), Gary Lakes (Siegmund), Jessye Norman (Sieglinde), Kurt Moll (Hunding), Matti Salminen (Fafner/Hagen)
Metropolitan Opera...
None of the four video-recorded versions can be called ideal; but this Met cycle has plenty of strong points. It's the only one Wagner would have recognised – no small consideration. It's frequently... — More…
Awards:
Wagner: Das Rheingold
James Morris (Wotan), Siegfried Jerusalem (Loge), Ekkehard Wlaschiha (Alberich), Christa Ludwig (Fricka), Mari Anne Häggander (Freia), Birgitta Svendén (Erda), Heinz Zednik (Mime), Matti Salminen (Fafner), Jan-Hendrik Rootering (Fasolt)
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, James Levine
None of the four video-recorded versions can be called ideal; but this Met cycle has plenty of strong points. It's the only one Wagner would have recognised – no small consideration. It's frequently... — More…