Browse: DVD Video, Wagner (composer)
Wagner: Parsifal
Recommended
Jonas Kaufmann (Parsifal), Katarina Dalayman (Kundry), Peter Mattei (Amfortas), René Pape (Gurnemanz), Evgeny Nikitin (Klingsor), Rúni Brattaberg (Titurel), Maria Zifchak (Stimme)
Orchestra, Chorus and Ballet of the Metropolitan Opera, Daniele Gatti, Francois Girard (dir.)
Kaufmann is the Parsifal we've all been waiting for...Matching his agonies are those of Peter Mattei's Amfortas and Katarina Dalayman's lustrous, secure Kundry, while the relaxed, minimal gestures... — More…
Awards:
Offer, Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Recommended
Michael Volle (Hans Sachs), Klaus Florian Vogt (Walther von Stolzing), Johannes Martin Kränzle (Beckmesser), Anne Schwanewilms (Eva), Daniel Behle (David), Wiebke Lehmkuhl (Magdalene), Günther Groissböck (Pogner)
Bayreuth Festival, Philippe Jordan, Barrie Kosky
In Barrie Kosky’s spirited but uneven 2017 staging of Wagner’s comedy there are splurges of ideas…The performances of the cast are of a high standard dramatically and mostly musically. Volle... — More…
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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…
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Offer, Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen
Recommended
Das Rheingold
John Tomlinson (Wotan), Graham Clark (Loge), Günter von Kannen (Alberich), Linda Finnie (Fricka), Matthias Hölle (Fasolt), Philip Kang (Fafner), Eva Johansson (Freia), Bodo Brinkmann (Donner), Kurt Schreibmayer (Froh), Helmut Pampuc (Mime), Birgitta Svendén (Erda),...
If a cycle is going as well as the Harry Kupfer/Daniel Barenboim Ring was, the super-test of Götterdämmerung brings out the best in everyone… Barenboim manipulates his orchestra with Furtwänglerian... — More…
Awards:
Offer, West-Eastern Divan Orchestra at the BBC Proms
Martha Argerich (piano), West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim
A remarkable and memorable evening’s music-making. [Argerich’s] recording of Liszt’s First Piano Concerto made nearly a half-century ago set new standards…Here her scintillating articulation... — More…
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Wagner: Lohengrin
Piotr Beczała (Lohengrin), Anna Netrebko (Elsa), Tomasz Konieczny (Friedrich von Telramund), Evelyn Herlitzius (Ortrud), Georg Zeppenfeld (Heinrich), Derek Welton (Der Heerrufer des Königs)
Staatskapelle Dresden, Sächsischer Staatsopernchor Dresden, Christian Thielemann
Beczała looks well, his basically lyrical tenor assumes adequate power and ring, but he never achieves the vital otherworldly aura of great Swan-Knights…Netrebko, no ingénue now, sings a passionate... — More…
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Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
Stephen Gould (Tristan), Evelyn Herlitzius (Isolde), Georg Zeppenfeld (König Marke), Iain Paterson (Kurwenal), Raimund Nolte (Melot), Christa Mayer (Brangäne)
Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, Christian Thielemann, Katharina Wagner
Katharina Wagner now gets a novel focus on Tristan und Isolde by stripping the work, its characters and its settings almost entirely of Romantic illusions and pretensions...The concentrated acting... — More…
Awards:
Wagner: Lohengrin
Jonas Kaufmann (Lohengrin), Anja Harteros (Elsa), Wolfgang Koch (Telramund), Michaela Schuster (Ortrud), Christof Fischesser (König Heinrich), Evgeny Nikitin (Herald)
Bavarian State Opera, Kent Nagano
Without question, the musical performance is very good, and in the case of the title role, sung by Jonas Kaufmann, I would say it is perfect, and easily the best account of this tricky role I... — More…
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Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
René Kollo, Johanna Meier, Matti Salminen, Hermann Becht & Hanna Schwarz
Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele, Daniel Barenboim
For a supposedly 'difficult' opera, there's a fair choice of DVD Tristans… But this 1983 Bayreuth version, reappearing at last here on DVD, remains the finest. Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's staging... — More…
Awards:
Offer, Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen
Recommended
Das Rheingold
Donald McIntyre (Wotan), Heinz Zednik (Loge), Hermann Becht (Alberich), Hanna Schwarz (Fricka), Matti Salminen (Fasolt), Fritz Hübner (Fafner), Carmen Reppel (Freia), Martin Egel (Donner), Siegfried Jerusalem (Froh), Helmut Pampuch (Mime), Ortrun Wenkel (Erda),...
Chéreau's Marxist-tinged, Industrial Revolution-set production was by no means greeted with universal enthusiasm when it made its debut at the 1976 Bayreuth Festival...By the time the production... — More…
