Fidelio — HDVDARTS

Beethoven Fidelio opera (1814 version) to libretto by Joseph Ferdinand von Sonnleithner, Stephan von Breuning, and Georg Friedrich Treitschke. Directed 2015 by Claus Guth at the Salzburg Festival. Stars Adrianne Pieczonka (Leonore), Jonas Kaufmann (Florestan), Tomasz Konieczny (Don Pizarro), Hans-Peter König (Rocco), Olga Bezsmertina (Marzelline), Norbert Ernst (Jaquino), and Sebastian Holecek (Don Fernando). Franz Welser-Möst conducts the Wiener Philharmoniker and the Konztertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor (Chorus Master Ernst Raffelsberger). Set and costume design by Christian Schmidt; dramatic advisory by Ronny Dietrich; lighting design Olaf Freese; sound design by Torsten Ottersberg; video design by Andi A. Müller. Directed for TV by Michael Beyer. Sung in German. Released 2016, disc has 5.1 dts Digital Surround 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.