Opera on DVD

Started by uffeviking, April 08, 2007, 12:54:48 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

Wendell_E

Quote from: marvinbrown on July 12, 2008, 01:31:26 AM
  Dubbed  ??? ?? How could it be dubbed? It's from the Bayreuther Festpiele, if anything it should be a live performance, am I mistaken?

  marvin

I think he means lip-synched.  Yes, it is a live performance, and a pretty good one as I recall. 
"Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience." ― Mark Twain

yashin

Sorry, i meant lip-synched in the Ponnelle mode.

Good to see La Rondine is due for release on DVD.  See a few clips of this are on youtube...search for La Rondine at La Fenice, Venice.

Any news on the Copenhagen Ring? I was hoping to buy this but as i have 3 other complete rings on DVD (Liceu, Amsterdam and Stuttgart) do i need another :-)

scarpia

Quote from: Wendell_E on July 12, 2008, 05:37:18 AM
I think he means lip-synched.  Yes, it is a live performance, and a pretty good one as I recall. 

Judge for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETTgybOtFXk


bhodges

Six Metropolitan Opera live broadcasts are to be released on DVD by EMI, including Peter Grimes and the highly imaginative Hansel and Gretel (originally from the Welsh National Opera).  The UK release date is September 16.  Here is the story on Gramophone.

--Bruce

yashin

Well, i managed to get my hands on some great DVDs recently.

La Boheme- with Massimo Pisapia and Norma Fantini.  Strange set- large, open-air i think. The set is actually a palatte with the colours flashing-red for the fire in act 1 -reminded me of the kids game where you press the colours flash and you have to press them! There is no set as such-just a large screen as a backdrop which changes to show the rooftops over paris, the red of Marcello's paining and a starry night. Singing is good, Pisapia sings well as Rodolfo and Norma Fantini can't be faulted either.  Acting is a little exaggerated and 'broad strokes' rather than any detail-the sort of stand and deliver of old but maybe it was a large open air arena.  The curtain calls between each act which seems popular in Italy can interrupt the viewing somewhat.  Did not grip me as some La Boheme's have done despite the singing.  I don't think this is the La Boheme of one's dreams - i will still hold onto the La Scala (?) DVD.


Drasko

Is anyone familiar with Gergiev's Khovanshchina DVD on Immortal label? It's been offered for rather reasonable price by MDT at the moment.

http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/product//IMM950014.htm

Brünnhilde forever

That is a production in traditional style and with Vladimir Galusin in the cast it has to be good!

I have the Khovanshchina performance at Barcelona, also with Galusin, but it is a contemporary production on the Opus Arte label. It's up to your taste in productions, old or new, both are good musically, but since I prefer new ones, I kept the Barcelona and sold the Gergiev.

If you remember Mime in practically every Ring production, Graham Clark, you'll be surprised to see him as the Scribe in the Barcelona performance!

Drasko

Quote from: Brünnhilde forever on October 16, 2008, 07:26:19 PM
That is a production in traditional style and with Vladimir Galusin in the cast it has to be good!

Thanks, Lis :-*

I'll be getting it then, some customers on japanese sites were objecting to picture quality, but I'm not very picky about that.

Wanderer

#448
Has anyone heard this Eugene Onegin (with Mattei/Samuil/Gubanova/Kaiser/Furlanetto/VPO/Barenboim) from last year's Salzburg Festival?  It sounds ravishing (terrible acting, though).

Final Scene 1

Final scene 2

Letter Scene 1

Letter Scene 2


PS. I still haven't figured out how to insert videos using the flash feature.

Wendell_E

Quote from: Wanderer on November 01, 2008, 01:44:54 AM
Has anyone heard this Eugene Onegin (with Mattei/Samuil/Gubanova/Kaiser/Furlanetto/VPO/Barenboim) from last year's Salzburg Festival? 

Lis wrote about it in her Peter Mattei Trilogy thread.
"Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience." ― Mark Twain

Brünnhilde forever

A deep sigh! Wendell, that's the story of my forum life, spending time to write a fairly decent review and it's overlooked. Thank you for your promotion!  :-*

As to Wanderer's critic of the acting in this ravishing production: Watching the entire opera, not just blips, anybody who is unhappy with the acting will change his/her mind. The acting of Peter Mattei is the best Onegin I have seen. Tatyana is still young but her voice more than compensates for the lack of some stage experience. And the scene between Gremin and Onegin can't be topped!

Wanderer

Quote from: Brünnhilde forever on November 01, 2008, 06:03:01 AM
As to Wanderer's critic of the acting in this ravishing production: Watching the entire opera, not just blips, anybody who is unhappy with the acting will change his/her mind. The acting of Peter Mattei is the best Onegin I have seen. Tatyana is still young but her voice more than compensates for the lack of some stage experience. And the scene between Gremin and Onegin can't be topped!

I really hope so, dear Brünnhilde, as I'm planning to buy this (the singing - and Barenboim's conducting - are so good!).  8)
I have to say, those clips didn't enthrall me visually which could be the director's fault; the final scene, at least, when compared to the one from the Hvorostovsky/Fleming/Gergiev production seems to me positively awkward.
It's good to read the protagonists are good actors in their respective roles, though. What matters to me most is the interpretation so I'd  probably get this anyway, but it's always good to be able to enjoy opera DVDs audio-visually.

stridonolassu

Quote from: marvinbrown on July 12, 2008, 01:31:26 AM
  Dubbed  ??? ?? How could it be dubbed? It's from the Bayreuther Festpiele, if anything it should be a live performance, am I mistaken?

  marvin

A belated clarification: This 1978 Tannhäuser is "live" in that it is being sung as it is being videotaped.  There's no lip-synching.  However, while most "live" opera videos are edited by putting together clips from different perfomances in the run, all videos from Bayreuth up until this summer have been recorded without a theater audience.  The "live" element is therefore taken out as it would be in a studio CD recording.  This past summer festival's Meistersinger marked the first time cameras were accomodated in a way that allowed for a true "live" taping with a theater audience present during an actual performance (not one done for a video release only).  A DVD of this 2008 performance, available live in July over the internet for a high price, has been promised for release.

Opera on DVD and Blu-ray site for collectors: http://stridonolassu.googlepages.com


Brünnhilde forever

#453
Great list, stridonolassu! Thanks for posting and also a friendly welcome to our opera room. Not too busy, I agree, maybe your presence here will change it.  ;D

T.C. used to keep us informed of new issues, but he hasn't been here too long!  :'(

Brünnhilde forever

Coincidence? MDT notified me a few minutes ago that they mailed me Die Walküre now released. It's the opera on the list stridonolassu generously provided us with.

I do look forward to seeing and hearing Willard White as Wotan. I first 'met' him on a DVD of  Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust, performed during the 1999 Salzburger Festspiele. His Méphistophélès was a wicked, yet loveable creature, and of course he could sing spendidly, almost as good as José Van Dam did in the Solti concert performance.

I wanted to discover more about Willard White and fortunately ArtHaus issued the DVD of Verdi's Falstaff with White as a Sir John without pillows stuffed up is shirt, just his normal average male human figure. It's a Herbert Wernicke production and should be in any opera lover's collection.

T-C

#455
Great site, stridonolassu. I discovered it some months ago, and I use it now regularly.
Keep on the good work!


Dear Brunnhlide,

Yes, it's been some time that I have written here. I am glad to know that I am not forgotten...

Congratulation for your new Walkure acquisition. Actually, I saw part of this production on TV and was not especially impressed, but one should watch an opera production in its entirety to give an opinion, so I will wait for your review...

Are you, as I am, an admirer of the young and very talented French opera director Laurent Pelly? For me, some of the greatest hits on DVD are his productions (with conductor Mark Minkowski) for Offenbach's greatest operettas: La Belle Hélène, La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein and Orphée aux Enfers.

This month, Virgin Classics is offering a new Laurent Pelly Offenbach production on DVD: La vie parisienne from Lyon. MDT is offering this DVD for only £7.45!!

More opera DVDs from Virgin this month: Tristan und Isolde from La Scala with Waltraud Meier, Daniel Barenboim and Patrice Chéreau. A 3-DVD set for only £12.34.

La Vie Parisienne   

Tristan und Isolde


bhodges

T-C, how nice to see you here again!  And I am also a fan of Laurent Pelly, although I have only seen one production so far, La Fille du Régiment, which sold me completely (and I'm not even that much of a Donizetti fan). 

Thanks for the heads-up on that Tristan with Meier.  I like her enormously and will probably have to get that at some point. 

--Bruce

marvinbrown

Quote from: stridonolassu on November 04, 2008, 02:03:35 AM
A belated clarification: This 1978 Tannhäuser is "live" in that it is being sung as it is being videotaped.  There's no lip-synching.  However, while most "live" opera videos are edited by putting together clips from different perfomances in the run, all videos from Bayreuth up until this summer have been recorded without a theater audience.  The "live" element is therefore taken out as it would be in a studio CD recording.  This past summer festival's Meistersinger marked the first time cameras were accomodated in a way that allowed for a true "live" taping with a theater audience present during an actual performance (not one done for a video release only).  A DVD of this 2008 performance, available live in July over the internet for a high price, has been promised for release.

Opera on DVD and Blu-ray site for collectors: http://stridonolassu.googlepages.com



  Thank you for the clarification stridonolassu and welcome to the forum  :)! I am glad to hear that the DVD recordings from Bayreuth are actually sung  :)!  The trouble I have faced with dubbed recordings in the past is that the visual and audio aspects are not synchronized properly- I can tell that the sound is not matching the lip movements  >:(

  Thanks for posting a link to the site.  I find myself forever looking for that perfect DVD staged recording of Tristan und Isolde, my favorite opera in the entire operatic repertoire.  Hopefully I will find that recording one day  :-\....some day  ???!  The Berg/Decker DVD recording featured in the web site is foreign to me, I will have to check it out  :).

  marvin

karlhenning

Quote from: T-C on November 04, 2008, 09:57:23 PM
Yes, it's been some time that I have written here. I am glad to know that I am not forgotten...

Delighted to see you again, TC!

T-C

Thank you, Bruce and Karl !

Bruce,

Laurent Pelly's production of La Fille du Régiment, with the winning team of Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Flórez is a smash hit. Luckily, we have it on DVD !

But each and every one of Pelly's filmed opera productions that are available on a commercial DVD is worth watching:

Rameau – Platee
Prokofiev – L'Amour des Trois Oranges
Donizetti – La Fille du Régiment
Offenbach – La Belle Hélène
Offenbach – La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein
Offenbach – Orphée aux Enfers

Pelly is really outstanding in all kinds of comic operas. But this year, he will direct at the Vienna state opera, Debussy's masterpiece Pelléas et Mélisande with Natalie Dessay, her husband Laurent Naouri and the young and excellent French baritone Stephane Degout. This is really intriguing!