Produkt Der Deutsch Amerikanischen Freundschaft

This vivid film of Wagner's romantic opera succeeds in conveying what famously been called "the wind that blows out at you whenever you open the score", including Daland's boat anchoring against the Sandwike cliffs, the red-sailed phantom ship, and the ghost crew rising from the dead. "Scenes that recall classic horror films… Brilliantly successful" (Nürnberger Nachrichten). "Captures the work's essence" (Süddeutsche Zeitung). With a superb cast; conducted by Wagner authority Wolfgang Sawallisch.

Felsenstein’s Ritter Blaubart is accompanied by the music of French composer Jaques Offenbach and was performed to great critical acclaim in Paris in 1866. Opera reviewer Oscar Bie delightfully remarked: “How the music flourishes in soil like this. How the tragedy laughs, and how seriously the comedy takes itself. […] This is not opera, nor is it comedy, and only on occasions is it parody. No, this is something much more sublime altogether: it is that wonderfully shimmering realm, full of truth about life, which borders grand fates and all-conquering humour.” Felsenstein’s adaptation of this diversified opera affords countless opportunities for audiences to make associations, moments in which they are torn between laughter and abomination, but which all the while reveals an aptitude of theatrical magic one could only admire.

Wolfgang Wagner’s arrestingly beautiful production, filmed live at Bayreuth in 1981 and directed by Brian Large, features a stellar cast led by Eva Randova, Bernd Weikl and Siegfried Jerusalem. “A production and performance that showed the festival at its finest… Wolfgang Wagner’s Bayreuth production of his grandfather’s “farewell to the world” has “an unusual beauty and logic of its own… There is an air of magic and mystery about the staging… The performance was excellent… Horst Stein [conducted] a beautifully proportioned Parsifal.” (The New York Times)

Axel Köhler's production of "Der Freischütz" at the Dresden State Opera was described by Die Presse as 'a minor miracle in Dresden'. In the words of the Salzburger Nachrichten, Köhler 'scored a bullseye' with his sombre and satanic interpretation of Weber's Romantic opera about love, temptation, souls sold to the Devil, obsession and faith. According to the Financial Times, Christian Thielemann and the Dresden Staatskapelle conjured up a sense of 'mortal terror from the orchestra pit. […] Thielemann is in command of every detail. That makes for utterly gripping listening'.

Der Freischütz was first performed at the Königliches Schauspielhaus Berlin, on 18 June 1821, and enjoyed a tremendous success, heralding the breakthrough for German Romantic opera and its victory over the Italian bel canto. Richard Wagner was to continue the new musical-dramatic concept of Der Freischütz in his works. The opera soon became popular and was widely admired, including by Ludwig van Beethoven, Richard Wagner, Heinrich Heine and Hector Berlioz, who composed a recitative piece for a Paris performance in 1841. This recording is of Peter Konwitschny’s highly respected new production at the Hamburg Staatsoper in 1999, which benefited from the musical direction of Ingo Metzmacher.

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Beethoven's birth in 1970, German television took Fidelio into the studio and filmed the Deutsche Oper Berlin's production of the composer's only opera. Karl Böhm, well-known as a master conductor of this opera, leads an astonishing performance which emphasizes orchestral clarity and emotional depth. The conductor leads a strong cast headed by the glorious Gwyneth Jones and powerful James King in the starring roles. First time on DVD! "Gwyneth Jones sang a passionate Leonore…James King was a Florestan on the summit of his vocal expression." (Berliner Morgenpost)

Richard Wagner’s early opera “Rienzi” is stylistically closer to Meyerbeer and bel canto than to Wagner’s later masterworks. Yet even this early work – especially as presented in this recording – is “so fantastically beautiful that it takes one’s breath away” (Berliner Zeitung). And in this staging by Philipp Stölzl, who condensed the five-act opera into a little over two hours, “Rienzi” becomes a startlingly powerful and timeless parable of power and abuse. Though the story of the rise and fall of a charismatic leader and his totalitarian regime takes place in 14th-century Rome, Stölzl sets it somewhere in the recent past.

Nous ne sommes pas certains que les spectateurs de l’Opéra de Zurich aient éprouvé tout à fait le même plaisir que nous à la vue de cette production de Jonathan Miller. Car la réussite de cette captation doit beaucoup au travail de la réalisatrice vidéo Chloé Perlemuter qui, avec un dispositif volontairement réduit, a décidé d’épouser le regard du spectateur, furtif, parfois inquisiteur et parfois distrait. Quelques regards sur les chanteurs en coulisses, des cadrages audacieux, rompent la monotonie d’un spectacle assez statique où l’investissement se lit presque exclusivement sur les visages, ce que soulignent parfaitement de pertinents gros plans. La captation offre donc au travail minimaliste et pudique de Jonathan Miller une profondeur supplémentaire, comme elle offre d’autres perspectives au décor d’une sobriété monacale d’Isabella Bywater, également signataires de costumes chatoyants qui nous renvoient directement au siècle des Lumières.

“A performance simply crackling with excitement from the Wiener Staatsoper in 1978, conducted by Leonard Bernstein and featuring sublime performances from Gundula Janowitz as Leonore, René Kollo as Florestan, and Lucia Popp as Marzelline. The celebrated quartet, Mir ist so wunderbar, is nothing short of exquisite.” (James Longstaffe, Presto Classical)

In his autobiography Opera Years Rolf Liebermann wrote: “Of all the film versions of operas in which I was involved, my favourite has always been Wozzeck, mainly because the interpreters and location were so convincingly authentic.” And truly, this film adoption of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck, recorded in 1970, fascinated with its constantly developing tension from the first tone to the last accord. Indeed the cast could not has been any better than in this production: Toni Blankenheim as Wozzeck and Sena Jurinac as Marie. Clearly and precisely in picture and speech, this film can truly be considered a classic and is now available on DVD for the first time.