Produkt Der Deutsch Amerikanischen Freundschaft

The controversial 1995 Salzburg/Paris co-production of Der Rosenkavalier received a well-deserved revival at the Baden-Baden Festival in 2009. Now on DVD, Herbert Wernicke’s 15-year-old approach turns out to be curiously middle-of-the-road.
Wernicke’s fascination with mirrors proves fruitful here, creating a giant Rorschach test, fractured and multiplied on a vast scale, to provide a riveting visual framing of the artifice and actuality of the work, interweaving drama and comedy, male and female, youth and maturity, pretence and reality, that makes it all appear indissolubly tied together.

“One of Böhm's last operatic assignments, he accompanies his fine cast with huge wisdom. Gruberova and Talvela are outstanding. August Everding's production, adventurous for 1980, is now a delight to look at” (BBC Music Magazine). “the performance has a winning glow, with an excellent cast of soloists. Edita Gruberova as Konstanze is at her freshest…[Grist's Blonde] is a charming and characterful assumption, most of all when confronting the powerful Osmin of Martii Tavela” (Penguin Guide).

Ariadne auf Naxos is one of many beautifully crafted operas created by Richard Strauss and his librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal. In the compelling production from the Zurich Opera, recorded on this DVD, Christoph von Dohnányi leads a particularly strong cast of singer-actors in a thrilling interpretation of the work. Ariadne is sung by the American soprano Emily Magee, who has received worldwide praise for her performances in works by both Wagner and Strauss. The German-born Italian tenor Roberto Saccà, who is regarded as one of the leading lyric tenors of his generation, takes the part of Bacchus. Both made their role débuts under Christoph von Dohnányi’s subtle yet sensual leadership, and both were acclaimed for their vocal radiance, subtle handling of the text and the care that they lavished on the technical aspects of their parts.

The 1970 film version of Richard Wagner’s opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is based on a staging by the director Leopold Lindtberg, for which Herbert Kirchhoff designed the set and Rudolf Heinrich the costumes. Leopold Ludwig conducts the Chorus of the Hamburg State Opera and the Philharmonic Hamburg State Orchestra. A quick glance at the cast list of this film production of Die Meistersinger reveals the surprising fact that the vocal protagonists – all stars of international reputation – were almost all associated with the Hamburg State Opera ensemble. This production fascinates by its appealing classical staging, the brilliance of the whole cast and the great camera shots, which are only could be realised in a studio production like this and with the result, that the audience finds itself placed amidst the scene.

Superb Bayreuth performance in starkly effective staging, despite a mediocre video transfer. Hofmann is an ideal hero, Armstrong a touching if overparted Elsa, and Roar and Connell sturdy villains. (BBB Music Magazine)

The unrivalled Bayreuth Centenary Ring by Boulez/Chéreau sent ripples through art and society even before the curtain was lifted. Leaflets were distributed, signatures were collected and musicians left the orchestra pit in disgust, all because of disagreements over the bold new interpretation of Wagner's Ring Cycle by conductor Pierre Boulez. The festival hired 31-year-old film and theatre director Patrice Chéreau, a relative unknown. Chéreau's submitted concept for the multi-part, many hours long Ring Cycle had fitted on a single typewritten page. Once hired, he had just four months to prepare the monumental dramatic work.

The unrivalled Bayreuth Centenary Ring by Boulez/Chéreau sent ripples through art and society even before the curtain was lifted. Leaflets were distributed, signatures were collected and musicians left the orchestra pit in disgust, all because of disagreements over the bold new interpretation of Wagner's Ring Cycle by conductor Pierre Boulez. The festival hired 31-year-old film and theatre director Patrice Chéreau, a relative unknown. Chéreau's submitted concept for the multi-part, many hours long Ring Cycle had fitted on a single typewritten page.

Richard Wagner - Der Fliegende Hollander (2005) [DVD] {Deutsche Grammophon}
DVD9 -> 7.18 Gb | All Regions | NTSC 4:3 | Deutsch (LinearPCM, 2 ch / DTS, 6 ch) | ~ 135 min | ISO Image
Subs: German, English, French, Spanish, Chinese
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 89 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1986, 2005 Deutsche Grammophon / Universal | 0440 073 4041
Classical / Opera

First-time release on DVD! This legend of a Dutch sea captain cursed to sail the earth unendingly, only coming ashore once every seven years to seek the selfless love of a woman, featured themes that would be of enduring interest to Wagner: the theme of a wanderer in search of redemption reappears several times in his later Ring des Nibelungen; that of redemption through a woman's act of self-sacrifice appears both in Tannhäuser and the Ring; and that of a pre-destined and unbreakable love is central to both the Ring and Tristan and Isolde. In this and several other ways the composition of Der Fliegende Holländer foreshadowed the events of the composer's development as a mature composer.

The unrivalled Bayreuth Centenary Ring by Boulez/Chéreau sent ripples through art and society even before the curtain was lifted. Leaflets were distributed, signatures were collected and musicians left the orchestra pit in disgust, all because of disagreements over the bold new interpretation of Wagner's Ring Cycle by conductor Pierre Boulez. The festival hired 31-year-old film and theatre director Patrice Chéreau, a relative unknown. Chéreau's submitted concept for the multi-part, many hours long Ring Cycle had fitted on a single typewritten page. Once hired, he had just four months to prepare the monumental dramatic work.