Opera

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - The Royal Opera / Sir Colin Davis - Die Zauberflote / The Magic Flute
Stereo FLAC @ 24Bit48kHz: 1,6 GB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info | Genre: Classical, Opera
Label/Cat#: Opus Arte, BBC # OA BD7002 D | Country/Year: Uk & Europe 2008

It’s hard to find a version of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte that’s as well sung as this 2003 Covent Garden production. Led by the eminent Mozartian, Sir Colin Davis, orchestra and singers present a warm, often intense vision of the opera, not as the fairy tale it’s often taken for, but as a human drama of the passage from misguided beliefs to mature knowledge of self…

Franz Schreker - Irrelohe, Opera In 3 Acts
Beethoven Orchester Bonn / Stefan Blunier / Chor und Extrachor des Theater Bonn
SACD ISOs: 7,05 GB (Stereo + MCH DSD) | FLAC @ 24bit/88.2kHz: 2,09 GB | Full Artwork | 5% Rec. Info
Label/Cat#: MDG "Live" # 937 1687-6 | Country/Year: Germany 2011
Genre: Classical | Style: Opera, Late Romantic

…The vivid MDG recording is slightly distanced, so the volume needs to be increased considerably for its fine qualities to become evident. Balances between voices and orchestra are excellent, and for those listening in multi-channel the surround speakers have been used to great effect for the off-stage brass, distant bells and chorus in the Act 3 cataclysmic immolation of Irrelohe castle. There is no applause or audience noise but the movement of singers on the stage is clearly defined with very few extraneous sounds being captured by the microphones. This is the latest addition to the Schrecker discography and will be welcomed by all admirers of the composer and can be confidently recommended.

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.