C Major
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Special offer. Verdi: Nabucco
Leo Nucci (Nabucco), Bruno Ribeiro (Ismaele), Riccardo Zanellato (Zaccaria), Dimitra Theodossiou (Abigaille), Annamaria Chiuri (Fenena), Alessandro Spina (Il Gran Sacerdote di Belo), Mauro Buffoli (Abdallo), Cristina Giannelli (Anna)
Teatro Regio di Parma, Michele Mariotti
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Schumann at Pier2
A concert film by Christian Berger
The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Paavo Järvi
This is the sort of set that makes me grateful that classical recordings are still being made. As a refresher course in Schumann symphonies, you won't find anything better...I can't imagine... —
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Handel: Messiah
Susan Gritton (soprano), Cornelia Horak (soprano), Bejun Mehta (countertenor), Richard Croft (tenor), Florian Boesch (baritone)
Ensemble Matheus & Arnold Schoenberg Choir, Jean-Christophe Spinosi
there are some penetrating ideas lurking behind the underlying premise, which in essence orbits around the moral, theological and familial fallout surrounding a suicide...the singing blazes... —
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Special offer. Dvořák: Rusalka, Op. 114
Kristine Opolais (Rusalka), Klaus Florian Vogt (The Prince), Gunther Groissbock (Vodnik), Janina Baechle (Jezibaba), Nadia Krasteva (The Foreign Princess)
Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Tomáš Hanus (conductor) & Martin Kušej (stage director)
Whatever reservations one might have about the production, the performance as a whole is remarkable. The cast has clearly bought into the producer's concept and they deliver a devastating ensemble... —
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Special offer. Wagner: Die Walküre
Peter Seiffert (Siegmund), Petra Maria Schnitzer (Sieglinde), Matti Salminen (Hunding), Jennifer Wilson (Brünnhilde), Juha Uusitalo (Wotan), Anna Larsson (Fricka)
Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, Zubin Mehta
…this is the most exciting staging I've seen - slightly recalling Cirque du Soleil, perhaps, except that here the spectacle is wholly and intelligently at Wagner's service. Scenery combines... —
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Special offer. Verdi: Aida
Tatiana Serjan (Aida), Rubens Pelizzari (Radames), Iain Paterson (Amonasro), Iano Tamar (Amneris), Kevin Short (Re), Tigran Martirossian (Ramfis), Ronald Samm (Messaggero), Elisabetta Martorana (Sacerdotessa)
Vienna Symphonic Orchestra, The Katowice City Singers’ Ensemble– Camerata Silesia,...
The culture clash of the two communities comes across in some vivid images...The final minutes of the opera, in which Aida and Radames are borne skywards in a flying chariot, are truly breathtaking...Rizzi... —
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Putting the music aside for one moment, consider the pinpoint precision of its visuals: we see the sumptuous gold decorations of Dresden's restored Semperoper; the golden polish (plus the odd... —
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Kinshasa Symphony
The awarded film about a symphony orchestra in the Congo
Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste, Armand Diangienda
it's the 'Ode to Joy' that drives the film forward as singers and musicians sweat to master Beethoven's great clamour. Beyond that, we see the people's lives, their city and their country -... —
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Salzburg Festival Opening Concert 2011
Anna Prohaska (soprano), Dorothea Röschmann (soprano), Anna Larsson (contralto) & Johan Botha (tenor)
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra & Chorus State Opera Vienna, Pierre Boulez
a beautifully shaded performance [of the Mahler] by Boulez and a superb cast —
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Special offer. Verdi: Il Trovatore
Claudio Sgura (Il Conte di Luna), Teresa Romano (Leonora), Mzia Nioradze (Azucena), Marcelo Alvarez (Manrico), Deyan Vatchkov (Ferrando), Cristina Giannelli (Ines), Roberto Jachini Virgili (Ruiz)
Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Regio di Parma
Large symbols...make an effective home for a serious Il Trovatore, precisely paced and balanced by Yuri Temirkanov...Especially notable is his handling of what one might term 'old' Verdi orchestral... —
