Don Giovanni (Kwiecien)

Mozart Don Giovanni opera to libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte. Directed 2014 by Kasper Holten at the Royal Opera House. Stars Mariusz Kwiecien (Don Giovanni), Alex Esposito (Leporello), Alexander Tsymbalyuk (Commendatore), Malin Byström (Donna Anna), Antonio Poli (Don Ottavio), Véronique Gens (Donna Elvira), Elizabeth Watts (Zerlina), Dawid Kimberg (Masetto), and Josephine Arden (Donna Elvira's Maid). Nicola Luisotti conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House (Concert Master Sergey Levitin) and the Royal Opera Chorus (Chorus Director Renato Balsadonna). Piano continuo Nicola Luisotti; harpsichord continuo Paul Wingfield; cello continuo George Ives. Set design by Es Devlin; video designs by Luke Halls; lighting design by Bruno Poet; choreography by Signe Fabricius; fight direction by Kate Waters; casting by Peter Mario Katona. Directed for TV by Jonathan Haswell. Sung in Italian. Released 2014, 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.