The opening with the opening choir "Kommt, ihr Töchter" immediately sets the tone; not a quick-played waltz, but imposing and wide-set, like the start of a great human drama. Richter exceeds 11 minutes with this tempo. Only the version by Otto Klemperer is even slower. But unlike Klemperer, here in the rest of the MP we are not dealing with a somewhat stately approach, but with a sharply profiled and dramatic one!

La Fura dels Baus, famous for their opening ceremony of the Olympic games in Barcelona and opera stagings in Salzburg, Ruhrtriennale, etc., use in Rheingold 3D computer projections that evoke computer games, organic structures built of athletic performers that recall the "Cirque du soleil". “Uusitalo is a commanding, mellifluous Wotan and although Jennifer Wilson's Brünnhilde is relatively unnuanced dramatically, she sings strongly and sensitively…The youthful Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana obediently and expertly delivers the plushy textures and stagey rhetoric Mehta requires” (Gramophone).

La Fura dels Baus, famous for their opening ceremony of the Olympic games in Barcelona and opera stagings in Salzburg, Ruhrtriennale, etc., use in Rheingold 3D computer projections that evoke computer games, organic structures built of athletic performers that recall the "Cirque du soleil". From Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, Valencia, 2007.
Incl. world-class Wagner singers such as Salminen, Kapellmann, Mayer and promising young talents that include John Daszak (Loge) and Juha Uusitalo (Wotan), whom the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung hailed as a new "Number One among the opera gods."

Thunderous applause and loud cries of “bravo” greeted the première of Beethoven’s Fidelio at the inaugural performance of the first opera season in Valencia’s new Palau de les Arts. With this spectacular production directed by Pierluigi Pier’Alli, Valencia has put itself back on the map of the international opera world. Dominating the activity on stage are two of today’s most distinguished German singers, Waltraud Meier (Leonore) and Peter Seiffert (Florestan), who have left their mark above all on the Wagner interpretation of our time. And the great Finnish bass Matti Salminen stamped his forceful character on his role as the jailer Rocco.

The second part of Patrice Chéreau's epoch-making Bayreuth "Ring" is a radical re-imaging of "Die Walküre", unprecedented in its psychological penetration. "This Wagnerian drama", says Chéreau, "which is at once classical theatre and domestic comedy, enables us to interpret the myths in terms that are both anecdotical and sublime … With Wagner one is dealing with a drama tuned virtually white-hot by the music." "Nothing ever seen before on television has given a better insight into Wagner's genius." (The New York Times)

Wolfgang Wagner’s arrestingly beautiful production, filmed live at Bayreuth in 1981 and directed by Brian Large, features a stellar cast led by Eva Randova, Bernd Weikl and Siegfried Jerusalem. “A production and performance that showed the festival at its finest… Wolfgang Wagner’s Bayreuth production of his grandfather’s “farewell to the world” has “an unusual beauty and logic of its own… There is an air of magic and mystery about the staging… The performance was excellent… Horst Stein [conducted] a beautifully proportioned Parsifal.” (The New York Times)

Die aufnahmetechnisch hervorragendste, die erste digitale 'Ring'-Produktion: Dynamische Expansion, Brillanz des Klangbildes, instrumentale Qualität und Präzision des Zusammenspiels sind vermutlich nicht zu übertreffen. Die Staatskapelle Dresden erweist sich etwa den Wiener und Berliner Philharmonikern bei Wagner als gleichwertig. Janowski, ein vorzüglicher Musiker, ist als Koordinator von Orchester und Sängern, als Disponent des Gesamtklanges außergewöhnlich gut. Gleiches gilt für Schreiers Loge, die auffallendste Einzelleistung.

The highlight of the 2013 Salzburg Festival in Giuseppe Verdi’s bicentennial year, Don Carlo is conducted by Antonio Pappano and stars Jonas Kaufmann in the title role. “With Antonio Pappano in the pit, Jonas Kaufmann and Anja Harteros brought to their interpretations of the leading role rapturous arcs of phrasing and tone that we have not heard for a generation. Verdi's music can weather mediocrity and still provide audiences with enjoyment … but here he was truly honoured as he would have wished.” (The Telegraph)

The overwhelming success of the Prague performance of Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) in December 1786, led to the commissioning of a new opera. Mozart and his librettist Lorenzo da Ponte turned to the Don Juan theme, making this promising material the basis for their new opera. In the spring of 1787 Mozart began to compose it in Vienna, and was able to complete it in Prague by the autumn of the same year. Don Giovanni received its first performance, under the composer’s personal direction, on 20 October 1787 at Prague’s Count Nostitz National Theatre.

This 2006 production from the Zurich Opera is a traditional one by Nicolas Joël in veteran Ezio Frigerio's wonderfully evocative, highly coloured sets. Then Adám Fischer in the pit leads a remarkably strong yet subtle account of the score, which – when played and sung like this – is once more revealed as one of Verdi's greatest masterpieces. Four of the principals easily surpass their DVD rivals. Stemme offers a deeply considered, expressive and superbly sung Aida, one for whom the work's vocal perils do not seem to exist. Add to that acting that goes to the heart of the matter, and one is left breathless in admiration after so many sopranos not truly fitted to the part. Licitra has done nothing better than his Radames here. At last fulfilling his potential, he sings the role with an open-hearted sincerity and a heroic voice up to the part's exigent demands.

For some reason, Daniel Barenboim's recordings of the Mozart-Da Ponte masterpieces have been overlooked. All three have splendid casts - and among them, this may be the least spectacular, but it is nonetheless a wonderful performance. Joan Rodgers has a gorgeous voice, and sings Zerlina with radiant and womanly warmth - no voce infantile here, thank the gods. It's a pity she hasn't recorded more. She is, fortunately, in Barenboim's two other Mozart-Da Ponte operas, singing her heart out as Susanna and Despina. Furlanetto has an interesting take on the role of the Don. He usually sings Leprello, but here he sings the part of Don Giovanni with a rather unique interpretation.

La Fura del Baus, famous for their opening ceremony of the Olympic games in Barcelona and opera stagings in Salzburg, Ruhrtriennale, etc., use in their groundbreaking Ring 3D computer projections that evoke computer games, organic structures built of athletic performers that recall the "Cirque du soleil". “Ryan is a formidable stage-presence in both these music dramas…[He] can fine down the sound to spin a properly lyrical thread, and in his dying salutation to Brünnhilde rounds off a performance remarkable not just for its tireless stamina but for its musical and dramatic sensitivity.” (Gramophone).

La Fura dels Baus, famous for their opening ceremony of the Olympic games in Barcelona and opera stagings in Salzburg, Ruhrtriennale, etc., use in Rheingold 3D computer projections that evoke computer games, organic structures built of athletic performers that recall the "Cirque du soleil". “Uusitalo is a commanding, mellifluous Wotan and although Jennifer Wilson's Brünnhilde is relatively unnuanced dramatically, she sings strongly and sensitively…The youthful Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana obediently and expertly delivers the plushy textures and stagey rhetoric Mehta requires” (Gramophone).