The Left-Hander — HDVDARTS

Rodion Shchedrin The Left-Hander opera to libretto by the composer. Directed 2013 by Alexei Stepanyuk at the Mariinsky. Stars Andrei Popov (The Left-Hander), Edward Tsanga (Ataman Platov), Vladimir Moroz (Alexander I & Nicholas I), Kristina Alieva (The Flea), Maria Maksakova (Princess Charlotte), and Andrei Spekhov (English Under-Skipper). Valery Gergiev conducts the Mariinsky Orchestra & Chorus. Set design by Alexander Orlov; costume design by Irina Cherednikova; lighting design by Alexander Sivaev. Directed for TV by Anna Matison. Sung in Russian. 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.