Die Entführung aus dem Serail

Mozart Die Entführung aus dem Serail opera to libretto by Johann Gottlieb Stephanie after Christoph Friedrich Bretzner. Directed 2015 by David McVicar at Glyndebourne. Stars Sally Matthews (Konstanze), Edgaras Montvidas (Belmonte), Tobias Kehrer (Osmin), Mari Eriksmoen (Blonde), Brenden Gunnell (Pedrillo), Franck Saurel (Pasha Selim), and Jonas Cradock (Klaas). Other actors are Theo Affail, Stéphanie Bergé, Gemma McFarlane-Edmond, Xavier Monreal, Alexander Morelli, Adrian Richards, Sirena Tocco, and Daniel Vernan. Children are Kitty Horsman, Mia McGeorge, Jack McWilliams, Megan Morgan, Poppy-May Murfin, Thomas Stronghill, Brandon Lee Wilson, and Richart Van Zyl. Robin Ticciati conducts the Glyndebourne Chorus (Chorus Master Jeremy Bines) and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (Leader Kati Debretzeni). Designs by Vicki Mortimer; choreography by Andrew George, lighting by Paule Constable. Directed for TV by François Roussillon; sound supervised by Jean Chatauret; Executive Producer was George Bruell. Sung in German. Released 2016, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

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Here's news about high-definition video disc ("HDVD") recordings of opera, ballet, classical music, plays, fine-art documentaries, and paintings. In the journal below are independent (and hard-to-find critical) reports on hundreds of HDVDs. Pick the best titles for your excelsisphere.

Feb 25. We have just completed one of our most ambitious reviews: Einstein on the Beach opera, the surreal 4 and 1/2 hour cult legend. Kudos, encomiums, and accolades to Opus Arte for giving us this authoritative and weirdly fascinating recording, which we grade A+. Absorbing and learning Einstein is uniquely challenging. We try to help out by providing aids not included in the keepcase materials: an accurate libretto and a list of segments in the opera with correct Opus Arte time stamps. Good luck!

We have some other good grades with an A for the recent Met The Pearl Fishers (Les pêcheurs de perles) and a B- for an earlier The Pearl Fishers from Naples. Also, we recently gave an A- for the new Don Quixote from the Vienna State Ballet.