The Cure: Trilogy (Live In The Tempodrom Berlin November 2002) is a double live album video by The Cure, released on two double layer DVD-9 discs, and later on a single Blu-Ray disc. It documents The Trilogy Concerts, in which the three albums, Pornography (1982), Disintegration (1989) and Bloodflowers (2000) were played live in their entirety one after the other each night, the songs being played in the order in which they appeared on the albums…
No opera composer of the Baroque era invested his stage works with more imaginative orchestral music than Jean-Philippe Rameau. The adventurous wind orchestration, rhythmic drive and variety, and complex interplay of voices found in his interludes, dances, and preludes are immediately striking to modern ears in a way that only the dedicated orchestral works of other Baroque masters can match (think Handel's Royal Fireworks Music, for example).
Händel’s La Resurrezione is an oratorio for Easter. It was first performed on Easter Sunday 1708 in Rome. The libretto was written by Carlo Sigismondo Capece. The events related in the story are those of the period between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, when Christ ‘descended into Hell’ to redeem the souls of the patriarchs and prophets who had prepared for His coming. The events in the underworld are set out in series of lively exchanges between an Angel and Lucifer. Meanwhile, the story as seen on earth is related through the conversations of three mortal characters, Mary Magdalene, Mary Cleophas and St John the Evangelist. The two planes of the drama are united when the Angel appears to the women at the sepulchre and announces the Resurrection to them.
Bellini's rare opera "La Straniera" was created under great time pressure and therefore can not develop the dramatic effect, as does "Norma". Also, the libretto is not the best. Nevertheless, there is a lot of magic, rousing music, so that the purchase is worthwhile especially for the lover. Performance from 1969 benefits above all from a young Montserrat Caballe, who simply gives everything. The sound is not perfect, a bit dull and blurry in the heights, but still audible in any case.
The compositions of this Italian organist were predominantly written in the dramatic vein. Operas dominated his work. Torri served as a master of the chapel for the Margrave of Beyreuth, probably traveled in Italy for about five years, and then found service with Max Emanuel in 1689. During the Wars of Spanish succession the Munich court traveled to many different places in Europe. Torri was usually in the company of Max Emanuel. The court eventually returned to Munich in 1715 and Torri acceded to the position of Hofkapell-Director. It was not until 1732 that he became the Hofkapellmeister. The operas which Torri composed, including "Gli oracolo di Pallade e di Nemesi," "Briseide," and "Amadis aus Griechenland" were in the style of Scarlatti.
Vivacious, young soprano Marie McLaughlin is magnificent as the ill-fated courtesan Violetta in this passionate production of Giuseppe Verdi's timeless classic, directed by the internationally renowned Sir Peter Hall and conducted by one of music's all-time greats, Bernard Haitink. Walter MacNeil brings to striking life the role of Violetta's lover, Alfredo, and Brent Ellis shines as Alfredo's father, Germont. Set in 19th century Paris, this moving story of doomed love and its dramatic deathbed reconciliation remains one of Verdi's most popular operas.