Opus Arte

Started by Hector, May 31, 2007, 06:21:11 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Hector

Does anyone know this DVD company?

Apparently, it has 140 titles, so, DVD collectors must have the odd one or two, at least, I would have thought.

The reason I ask is that it has just been acquired by the ROH.

Therefore, could be the only one of the big opera houses marketing their own DVDs.

Great!

karlhenning

We've got two Opus Arte DVDs, Monteverdi's  L'Orfeo with Le Concert des Nations and Jordi Savall and Astor Piazzolla In Portrait.

71 dB

I have Rameau's "Les Indes galantes" and "Les Boréades". Both are superb!

Spatial distortion is a serious problem deteriorating headphone listening.
Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
and less tiresome in headphone listening.

My Sound Cloud page <-- NEW Jan. 2024 "Harpeggiator"

Steve

I own an excellent boxed-set of three of Verdi's most popular operas-

Namely:

Falstaff
Il trovatore
Rigoletto

Consistent quality.  :)

beclemund

I wonder how the purchase will affect the availability of performances from other opera houses that Opus Arte was licensed to distribute on DVD... I'm sure this is a good thing for the ROH, but it may be a bad thing if we lose out on the variety and quality of products we're used to seeing from Opus Arte.
"A guilty conscience needs to confess. A work of art is a confession." -- Albert Camus

Mark

No opera DVDs here, but I have Christopher Nupen's 'Portrait of Jacqueline Du Pre' and the BBC Films production 'Eroica', which are both Opus Arte releases. The sound and picture quality on the second of these discs is outstanding, which I'd imagine bodes well for future opera and other musical releases.

Incidentally, didn't Opus Arte recently release the very first HD-DVD classical title ... a high-def 'Swan Lake', I believe?

Anne

#6
On Opus Arte I have Rachmaninov's The Miserly Knight from Glyndebourne, Handel's Julius Caesare from Glyndebourne, Verdi's Attila from La Scala, And Berlioz' Les Troyens w/Gardiner.

Les Troyens and The Miserly Knight are in high definition.  I don't have equipment for HD and can't say anything about it.

Hector

Quote from: beclemund on May 31, 2007, 12:17:43 PM
I wonder how the purchase will affect the availability of performances from other opera houses that Opus Arte was licensed to distribute on DVD... I'm sure this is a good thing for the ROH, but it may be a bad thing if we lose out on the variety and quality of products we're used to seeing from Opus Arte.

Good point.

It seems the previous owner will now manage the company at arms-length from the opera house.

Looks like a win-win to me ;D

Siedler

Opus Arte DVDs are quality-wise the best ones in the opera DVD category, I've understood the performances have been filmed in HD so the image quality is very good. The releases contain also interesting extras, interviews with the cast etc.
They also released the first classical HD-DVD, I think it's Swan Lake from Paris Opera.
I'm not sure about the news of the new owner, lets hope ROH will keep up the high quality of the releases!

head-case

Quote from: Anne on May 31, 2007, 04:15:21 PM
On Opus Arte I have Rachmaninov's The Miserly Knight from Glyndebourne, Handel's Julius Caesare from Glyndebourne, Verdi's Attila from La Scala, And Berlioz' Les Troyens w/Gardiner.

Les Troyens and The Miserly Knight are in high definition.  I don't have equipment for HD and can't say anything about it.

They can claim to have used a high definition camera, since they released in on DVD (rather than HD-DVD or Blu-Ray) the picture available to the consumer is not high definition, no matter what equipment you have. 

karlhenning

Quote from: karlhenning on May 31, 2007, 06:28:09 AM
We've got two Opus Arte DVDs, Monteverdi's  L'Orfeo with Le Concert des Nations and Jordi Savall and Astor Piazzolla In Portrait.

Here.

Lobby

Some background that others might find interesting:

About three years ago, Sony installed permanent Hi Definition cameras in the Royal Opera House as well as an editing suite.  The claim at the time was that this would enable the Opera House to record all of its productions with a view to eventually marketing them. 

It was also claimed that this would make it easier for the BBC to record and show operas and ballets from Covent Garden without the additional expense of installing and removing large cameras for each show.  To date the BBC has been reasonably good at recording productions, but less good at showing them (they often turn up on a minority digital channel months or years after they were recorded).

The Covent Garden press release about its purchase of Opus Arte stated that there were over 40 Opera House productions ready for release to add to the 140 titles already released by Opus Arte.  If these are indeed the opera and ballet productions from the last three years, then this is great news. 

The Covent Garden press release also confirmed that Opus Arte would continue to release material from other houses and that, to this end, they intended to enter into deals with other houses; so that would really appear to be a win-win situation.

Finally, and has already been mentioned, the Opus Arte discs are usually first rate; very high quality pictures and sound and often very good productions.  Unlike many other opera DVDs, they often include interesting extras too.  They also intend to release HD-DVD and Blue Ray discs in the future as well.

Jon

bhodges

Jon, great to have you back!  (And with an amusing avatar and Wilde quote as well!  :D

This all sounds wonderful.  Installing the HD cameras permanently is the smartest idea I've heard -- why not record everything, if only for archival purposes?  But the reality is that by recording a lot, they'll capture the great stuff when it happens.  Now if only the Metropolitan Opera would take this big hint...

--Bruce

Anne

Bruce:

"Now if only the Metropolitan Opera would take this big hint..."

Bruce, my sentiments exactly.

Jon,

Thanks for the update.  Much appreciated.  I am a Pavarotti, Sutherland, Horne fan.  How many times did they sing alone or together (I an thinking of the night at the Met when Pavarotti wowed the crowd with his nine high "C's" in Daughter of the Regiment .  Oh! To have had a DVD of that!

Hector

Quote from: Lobby on June 07, 2007, 08:45:40 AM
Some background that others might find interesting:

About three years ago, Sony installed permanent Hi Definition cameras in the Royal Opera House as well as an editing suite.  The claim at the time was that this would enable the Opera House to record all of its productions with a view to eventually marketing them. 

It was also claimed that this would make it easier for the BBC to record and show operas and ballets from Covent Garden without the additional expense of installing and removing large cameras for each show.  To date the BBC has been reasonably good at recording productions, but less good at showing them (they often turn up on a minority digital channel months or years after they were recorded).

The Covent Garden press release about its purchase of Opus Arte stated that there were over 40 Opera House productions ready for release to add to the 140 titles already released by Opus Arte.  If these are indeed the opera and ballet productions from the last three years, then this is great news. 

The Covent Garden press release also confirmed that Opus Arte would continue to release material from other houses and that, to this end, they intended to enter into deals with other houses; so that would really appear to be a win-win situation.

Finally, and has already been mentioned, the Opus Arte discs are usually first rate; very high quality pictures and sound and often very good productions.  Unlike many other opera DVDs, they often include interesting extras too.  They also intend to release HD-DVD and Blue Ray discs in the future as well.

Jon


That adds to what I have read.

ROH, apparently, intends to do a Met. and broadcast performances to selected cinemas. The mind boggles if anyone has ever attended any of the dreadful multiplexes that litter the UK where entrances are clogged with fast food outlets, which means you sit with your feet in a sea of litter and God-knows-what-else surrounded by munching, belching, slurping fellow members of the audience (although, not necessarily the human race as some of us know it)!

However, It was comments on Opus Arte itself I was, really seeking and I thank you for that, as I do not invest in DVDs but may be enticed by my local opera house productions.