Faustus

Eugen D'Albert - Der Golem: Opera in 3 Acts
Mark Morouse / Beethoven Orchester Bonn / Chor des Theater Bonn / Stefan Blunier
2xSACD ISO: 6,53 GB (Stereo + MCH DSD) | FLAC @ 24bit/88.2kHz: 1,96 GB | Full Artwork | 5% Rec. Info
Label/Cat#: MDG "Live" # 937 1637-6 | Country/Year: Germany 2010
Genre: Classical | Opera, Early 20th Century

…The opera is very much worth hearing—and owning (though I wish MD&G had supplied an English translation of the libretto). The performances are for the most part on target. (…) So I guess this must be a qualified recommendation, but a recommendation nonetheless, given the quality of D’Albert’s music.

Eugen D'Albert - Der Golem: Opera in 3 Acts
Mark Morouse / Beethoven Orchester Bonn / Chor des Theater Bonn / Stefan Blunier
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 467 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: MDG "Live" # 937 1637-6 | Country/Year: Germany 2010
Genre: Classical | Opera, Early 20th Century

…The opera is very much worth hearing—and owning (though I wish MD&G had supplied an English translation of the libretto). The performances are for the most part on target. (…) So I guess this must be a qualified recommendation, but a recommendation nonetheless, given the quality of D’Albert’s music.

Lekce Faust / Faust - by Jan Svankmajer (1994). DVD5(cust.)

A very free adaptation of Marlowe's 'Doctor Faustus', Goethe's 'Faust' and various other treatments of the old legend of the man who sold his soul to the devil. Svankmajer's Faust is a nondescript man who, after being lured by a strange map into a sinister puppet theatre, finds himself immersed in an indescribably weird version of the play, blending live actors, clay model animation and giant puppets.

Hans Werner Henze - Complete Violin Concertos
Torsten Janicke, violin / Magdeburg Philharmonic Orchestra / Christian Ehwald
2x CD | EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 331 MB | Full Artwork: 134 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: MDG "Scene" # 601 1442-2 | Country/Year: Germany 2005
Genre: Classical | Style: Contemporary

"Hans Werner Henze has written three violin concertos so far, separated in his output by gaps of 23 and 26 years. As you'd expect, they are very different pieces stylistically, and hearing them in succession provides a revealing map of the trajectory Henze's evolution has followed in his orchestral music. However, it's the two most widely separated works here that have the most similarities, suggesting how, in some important respects over the last half-century, he has come full circle. (…) The result is arguably one of the strongest of Henze's works from the 1970s; certainly that is how it seems in this very impressively controlled performance from Torsten Janicke and the Magdeburg Philharmonic." ~The Guardian

…The great saving aspect of this performance surprisingly comes from Russian soprano Marina Poplavskaya, who identifies herself totally with the role both vocally and dramatically.
Her King Thule ballad, the Jewel Song, her duets with Faust and the last scene are all delivered with great aplomb, and she really looks the part with a stunningly pure looking stage presence.
This production isn't appealing, with a French grand opera being cut to the bare bones, but it could have been much worse. The conducting is fine, and generally speaking on the musical side this is a sterling piece, though there are significant cuts and the Walpurgis Scene is non-existent. By A. F. S. Mui