Michael Harding

Volume 3 continues with the same intention as Volumes 1 and 2 - that is to transform the learning of magic through the medium of DVD. Over the last year, Michael Vincent has broken new ground in merging the DVD medium with his dynamic teaching style.

“Hunter’s Bride” is a film opera based on the romantic opera “Der Freischütz” by Carl Maria von Weber. Dreams and hopes of young people are told in this exquisite fairy tale. Max and Kaspar, both hunters, fight side by side in the Napoleonic Wars, as well as each other to conquer Agathe’s love. European cultural history becomes visible in an opulent historical panorama and one of the most beautiful pieces of music. The pictures of Norwegian director of photography Harald Gunnar Paalgard give a spatial dimension to the unique sound of the London Symphony Orchestra, which recorded in the legendary Abbey Road Studios. Performed by renowned opera soloists – Juliane Banse, Michael König, Michael Volle, René Pape – the film opera was a huge public success in European theatres. Filmed on 35mm film on original locations in Germany, the film opera dramatises the enchanted tale with stunning images, and surround-sound revives the music for the eyes and the ears of the audience.

This is the original, somewhat longer version of the opera, for which director Sven-Eric Bechtolf created, in place of Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s adaptation of Molières Le bourgeois gentilhomme, a fascinatingly entertaining intermezzo in which theatre, dance and the masterly music of Richard Strauss form an impressive unity. “It incorporates elements of Molière’s play and text from the later prologue, with which he and Strauss salvaged their hybrid flop to produce the masterpiece we know today,” wrote The Sunday Times. “In the abstract, it might sound ­rarefied, but on the Salzburg opera stage, it proved entrancing.” TheNew York Times reported, “Jonas Kaufmann was spectacular as Bacchus growing improbably stronger as his relatively brief stint progressed. Emily Magee was scarcely less impressive in the demanding longer role of Ariadne. And Elena Mosuc managed Zerbinetta’s vocal pyrotechnics with aplomb.”