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John Eliot Gardiner, Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique - Berlioz: Les Troyens (2003)

Posted By: Vilboa
John Eliot Gardiner, Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique - Berlioz: Les Troyens (2003)

John Eliot Gardiner, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique - Berlioz: Les Troyens (2003)
NTSC 16:9 (720x480) | Français (LinearPCM, 2 ch) | (DTS, 5 ch) | 6.06 Gb+6.33 Gb+6.99 Gb (3xDVD9) | 312 min
Classical | Opus Arte | Sub: Deutsch, English, Espanol, Francais

Sir John Eliot Gardiner conducts the Monteverdi Choir, Choeur du Théâtre du Châtelet and Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique in a landmark recording of Berlioz's towering opera. A tragic tale of love and fate, war and peace and the intertwined destinies of two cities, the opera is based on Virgil's imperial vision of the founding myth of Rome. The American tenor Gregory Kunde as Aeneas and the Italian soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci lead an international cast in this stunning production.

Laurent Naouri, Opera Rara Chorus, The Halle, Sir Mark Elder - Donizetti: Le Duc d’Albe (2016)

Posted By: tirexiss
Laurent Naouri, Opera Rara Chorus, The Halle, Sir Mark Elder - Donizetti: Le Duc d’Albe (2016)

Laurent Naouri, Opera Rara Chorus, The Halle, Sir Mark Elder - Donizetti: Le Duc d’Albe (2016)
EAC | FLAC (image+.cue, log) | Covers Included | 01:33:18 | 414 MB
Genre: Classical, Opera | Label: Opera Rara | Catalog: ORC54

This is a relatively new venture for the outstandingly imaginative recording outfit that is Opera Rara. The label's fifty-fourth recording sees them venturing on an uncompleted work by Donizetti, the composer they love the most. The composer had decamped from Naples to Paris when the censors, on the king’s personal instructions, banned his opera Poliuto.

Stephane Denève, Symphony Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu - Offenbach: Les Contes d'Hoffmann (2014)

Posted By: Vilboa
Stephane Denève, Symphony Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu - Offenbach: Les Contes d'Hoffmann (2014)

Stephane Denève, Symphony Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu - Offenbach: Les Contes d'Hoffmann (2014)
NTSC 16:9 (720x480) | Français (LinearPCM, 2 ch) | (Dolby AC3, 6 ch) | 5.29 Gb+7.01 Gb (2xDVD9) | 183 min
Classical | Erato | Sub: Francais, English, Italiano, Deutsch, Espanol, Catalan

Warner Classics & Erato DVD catalogue already contains several characteristically stylish and imaginative productions by the French opera director Laurent Pelly: Offenbach’s La Vie Parisienne and La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein, Massenet’s Cendrillon, Donizetti’s La Fille du régiment, Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande and Handel’s Giulio Cesare. The last three all star Natalie Dessay, and now she and Pelly are reunited once again, this time for Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann, staged at Barcelona’s Liceu opera house in early 2013.

Marc Minkowski, Les Musiciens du Louvre - Offenbach: La Belle Hélène (2000)

Posted By: Vilboa
Marc Minkowski, Les Musiciens du Louvre - Offenbach: La Belle Hélène (2000)

Marc Minkowski, Les Musiciens du Louvre - Offenbach: La Belle Hélène (2000)
PAL 16:9 (720x576) | Français | LinearPCM, 2 ch | Dolby AC3, 5 ch | DTS, 5 ch | 7,65 Gb (DVD9) | 127 min
Classical | Arthaus Musik | Sub: English, Deutsch, Francais, Italiano, Espanol

Staged and costumed by Laurent Pelly, with sets by Chantal Thomas and choreography by Laura Scozzi, this production of La Belle Hélène never forgets for one moment that Offenbach’s parody of the origins of the Trojan war -clearly recognisable in his day as a satire on the moral laxity of Second Empire high society- is, above all, a supreme manifestion of his comic genius. From start to finish it combines a musically superb performance with a stream of visual humour that flows from Pelly’s core idea that the action all takes place in the imagination of a sleeping, sex-starved, suburban housewife. Dame Felicity Lott is magnificent as the woman who gets into bed beside her somnolent old husband and dreams of being the most beautiful woman in the world, entangled in amorous adventures with the virile young Paris, tastily portrayed by Yann Beuron. And just as dreams do not respect the normal limitations of logic, time and place, so her nighttime fantasies combine the everyday with the mythical, and muddle up Greece, ancient and modern.

Marc Minkowski, Orchestre de l’Opéra National de Lyon, Grenoble Chamber Orchestra - Offenbach: Orphée aux Enfers (2002/1997)

Posted By: Vilboa
Marc Minkowski, Orchestre de l’Opéra National de Lyon, Grenoble Chamber Orchestra - Offenbach: Orphée aux Enfers (2002/1997)

Marc Minkowski, Orchestre de l’Opéra National de Lyon, Grenoble Chamber Orchestra - Offenbach: Orphée aux Enfers (2002/1997)
PAL 16:9 (720x576) | Français | LinearPCM, 2 ch | Dolby AC3, 6 ch | (DTS, 6 ch | 7,82 Gb (DVD9) | 123 min
Classical | TDK | Sub: English, Deutsch, Espanol, Francais, Italiano

In the role of Eurydice, Natalie Dessay begins at once with a display of vocal and verbal pyrotechnics, which are then taken up by Yann Beuron as Orpheus. Together they give us an idea of the developments to follow. Dancers and singers melt into a unit. The stage setting and an unconventional choreography sparkle with inventiveness. When Pluto, for example, arrives on skis from the underworld onto Mt. Olympus and Offenbach quotes the famous can-can right in the middle of Pluto’s aria, it seems to be a parody of his own work. The production offers a wealth of material for modern interpretations of this operetta full to the brim with ironic sideswipes at morality and immorality.

Friedemann Layer, Orchestre National de Montpellier - Christian Joseph Lidarti: Esther (2003)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Friedemann Layer, Orchestre National de Montpellier - Christian Joseph Lidarti: Esther (2003)

Friedemann Layer, Orchestre National de Montpellier - Christian Joseph Lidarti: Esther (2003)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 544 Mb | Total time: 1 h 59 min | Scans included
Classical | Label: Accord | # 476 1255 | Recorded: 2003

Cet enregistrement, comme les mémorables Fées du Rhin d'Offenbach, chef-d'oeuvre de l'édition 2002 où Friedemann Layer était déjà au pupitre, fait partie de la série consacrée aux oeuvres "redécouvertes", si l'on peut dire, par René Koering à travers le Festival de Radio France-Montpellier dont on saluera au passage la programmation courageuse et originale.

Marc Minkowski, Les Musiciens du Louvre - Christoph Willibald Gluck: Armide (1999)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Marc Minkowski, Les Musiciens du Louvre - Christoph Willibald Gluck: Armide (1999)

Marc Minkowski, Les Musiciens du Louvre - Christoph Willibald Gluck: Armide (1999)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 600 Mb | Total time: 79:19+60:09 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Archiv Produktion | 459 616 2 | Recorded: 1995

‘Perhaps the best of all my works’, said Gluck of his Armide. But this, the fifth of his seven ‘reform operas’, has never quite captured the public interest as have Orfeo, Alceste, the two Iphigenies and even Paride ed Elena. Unlike those works it is based not on classical mythology but on Tasso’s crusade epic, Gerusalemme liberata. No doubt Gluck turned to this libretto, originally written by Quinault, to challenge Parisian taste by inviting comparison with the much-loved Lully setting. Its plot is thinnish, concerned only with the love of the pagan sorceress Armide, princess of Damascus, for the Christian knight and hero Renaud, and his enchantment and finally his disenchantment and his abandonment of her; the secondary characters have no real life.

William Christie, Les Arts Florissants - Jean-Philippe Rameau: Les Paladins (2005)

Posted By: ArlegZ
William Christie, Les Arts Florissants - Jean-Philippe Rameau: Les Paladins (2005)

William Christie, Les Arts Florissants - Jean-Philippe Rameau: Les Paladins (2005)
NTSC 16:9 (720x480) | Francais (LinearPCM, 2 ch) | (DTS, 5 ch) | 204 min | 5,25+7,51 Gb (2xDVD9)
Classical | Label: Opus Arte | Sub: Deutsch, English, Espanol, Francais, Italiano | Recorded: 2004

Inspired by a fable by La Fontaine, Rameau produced perhaps his most brilliant music for his penultimate great work, blending reality and the surreal on several levels. This passionate new production by José Montalvo stunningly choreographed by Montalvo and Dominique Hervieu, sets new standards in entertainment, charm and ingenuity. The sharp and spectacular multimedia staging does full justice to Rameau's dazzling burlesque, confirming Olivier Rouvière's statement that ‘Les Paladins' is the last laugh of a witty 77-year old composer’. Recorded live in 2004 at the Paris Théâtre du Châtelet in true surround sound, both the virtuoso cast and Les Arts Florissants are in top form, clearly enjoying themselves in the masterful hands of William Christie.

William Christie, Les Arts Florissants - Jean-Philippe Rameau: Les Boreades (2004)

Posted By: ArlegZ
William Christie, Les Arts Florissants - Jean-Philippe Rameau: Les Boreades (2004)

William Christie, Les Arts Florissants - Jean-Philippe Rameau: Les Boréades (2004)
NTSC 16:9 (720x480) | Francais (LinearPCM, 2 ch) | (Dolby AC3, 6 ch) | 218 min | 6,42+7,50 Gb (2xDVD9)
Classical | Label: Opus Arte | Sub: Deutsch, English, Espanol, Francais | Recorded: 2003

It's possible to recreate everything about an eighteenth century opera except the audience,’ says director Robert Carsen in a documentary included with this DVD. ‘My work is for modern audiences.’ And how…In this brilliant production, Carsen goes to the heart of the drama…Michael Levine's stylised, bold designs allow the story to unfold with gripping clarity and, remarkably, some of the spectacular set-pieces (especially the storm in Act III) work even better on DVD than in the theatre itself. Barbara Bonney is vocally and dramatically stunning as Alphise…Conductor William Christie responds to Rameau's varied and colourful score with élan, and Édouard Lock's choreography – a version of classical ballet deconstructed and then pumped with amphetamines – is breathtaking.

Bertrand de Billy, ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien - Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande (2009)

Posted By: Vilboa
Bertrand de Billy, ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien - Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande (2009)

Bertrand de Billy, ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien - Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande (2009)
NTSC 16:9 (720x480) | Français | LinearPCM, 2 ch | DTS, 5 ch | 6.09+4.13 Gb (DVD9-DVD5) | 163 min
Classical | Virgin | Sub: English, Francais, Deutsch, Italiano, Espanol

Soprano Natalie Dessay leaves the dizzy heights of Bellini’s Amina, Donizetti’s Marie and Massenet’s Manon to inhabit the more discreet emotional and vocal world of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande with a cast of fellow francophones.
“There’s more to life than top notes,” Natalie Dessay has said. She has, of course, made her reputation with the florid, stratospheric heroines of Romantic French and Italian opera, but in this new DVD from Vienna she portrays a heroine who presents few opportunities for vocal display, but many for subtle characterisation – Debussy’s Mélisande. Dessay had sung the role just once before, in concert in Edinburgh in 2005. Pelléas et Mélisande is full of ambiguity and its vocal lines closely reflect Maurice Maeterlink’s often enigmatic text. A few unaccompanied, ballad-like phrases are the closest Mélisande gets to an aria.

Marc Minkowski, Les Musiciens du Louvre - Jean-Philippe Rameau: Dardanus (2000)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Marc Minkowski, Les Musiciens du Louvre - Jean-Philippe Rameau: Dardanus (2000)

Marc Minkowski, Les Musiciens du Louvre - Jean-Philippe Rameau: Dardanus (2000)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 723 Mb | Total time: 78:49+76:54 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Archiv Produktion | # 403 476-2 | Recorded: 1998

The story of rival factions, divine interventions, and love triumphing over obstacles political and personal clearly inspired some of Rameau's most adventurous musical evocations (just one example might be the fascinating harmonic language he uses to depict a magician commanding an eclipse). It's this spirit of daring experiment that Rameau expert Marc Minkowski relishes throughout this magnificent, high-octane, deftly tailored account. He fires the authentic-instrument group Les Musiciens du Louvre into his customary whiplash speeds, which are just perfect for the air of martial excitement that prevails, while the many dance-centered numbers have a muscular grace. The result in general is some of his best work to date on disc, with a special emphasis on the through line of the score.

Marc Minkowski, Les Musiciens du Louvre - Jean-Philippe Rameau: Hippolyte et Aricie (2011)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Marc Minkowski, Les Musiciens du Louvre - Jean-Philippe Rameau: Hippolyte et Aricie (2011)

Marc Minkowski, Les Musiciens du Louvre - Jean-Philippe Rameau: Hippolyte et Aricie (2011)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 808 Mb | Total time: 56:05+57:13+54:07 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Archiv Produktion | # 477 9393 | Recorded: 1994

Hippolyte et Aricie was Rameau's first surviving lyric tragedy and is perhaps his most durable, though you wouldn't know it from the decades we had to wait for a modern recording. Now there are two: this one, conducted by Marc Minkowski, and William Christie's version on Erato. Choosing between the two is tough. Minkowski uses a smaller and probably more authentic orchestra, and with the resulting leaner sound, the performance has more of a quicksilver quality accentuated by Minkowski's penchant for swift tempos. His cast is excellent. The central lovers in the title are beautifully sung by two truly French voices, soprano Véronique Gens and especially the light, slightly nasal tenor of Jean-Paul Fourchécourt. In the pivotal role of the jealous Phèdre, Bernarda Fink is perfectly good but not in the exalted league of Christie's Lorraine Hunt. So there's no clear front-runner, but anyone interested in French Baroque opera must have at least one.

William Christie, Les Arts Florissants - Jean-Philippe Rameau: Hippolyte et Aricie (1997)

Posted By: ArlegZ
William Christie, Les Arts Florissants - Jean-Philippe Rameau: Hippolyte et Aricie (1997)

William Christie, Les Arts Florissants - Jean-Philippe Rameau: Hippolyte et Aricie (1997)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 940 Mb | Total time: 57:26+59:23+65:53 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Erato | # 0630-15517-2 | Recorded: 1995

“Christie's love-affair with Hippolyte informs every note of this mesmerising performance, transporting the listener from enchanting pastoral scenes to ominous, Stygian shores.” BBC Music Magazine

Marc Minkowski, Les Musiciens du Louvre - Jean-Baptiste Lully: Phaëton (1994)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Marc Minkowski, Les Musiciens du Louvre - Jean-Baptiste Lully: Phaëton (1994)

Marc Minkowski, Les Musiciens du Louvre - Jean-Baptiste Lully: Phaëton (1994)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 739 Mb | Total time: 64:47+69:35 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Erato | # 4509-91737-2 | Recorded: 1993

Phaeton was first produced not at the Palais-Royal Theatre in Paris but modestly at Versailles in January 1683. In the spring of that year it transferred to the Palais-Royal and was well enough thought of to enjoy revivals at regular intervals into the early 1740s. Indeed, rather as Atys became known as the ''King's opera'' and Isis as the musicians', Phaeton acquired its sobriquet, ''the opera of the people''. Among the many attractive airs ''Helas! Une chaine si belle'' (Act 5) was apparently a favourite duet of Parisian audiences, while ''Que mon sort serait doux'' (Act 2), another duet, was highly rated by Lully himself. In 1688 Phaeton was chosen to inaugurate the new Royal Academy of Music at Lyon where, as Jerome de la Gorce remarks in his excellent introduction, it was so successful ''that people came to see it from forty leagues around''. The present recording is a co-production between Erato and Radio France, set up to mark the occasion of the opening of the new Opera House at Lyon.

Sebastien Rouland, Chœurs et Orchestre de l'Opera de Lyon - Offenbach: La vie parisienne (2008)

Posted By: Vilboa
Sebastien Rouland, Chœurs et Orchestre de l'Opera de Lyon - Offenbach: La vie parisienne (2008)

Sébastien Rouland, Chœurs et Orchestre de l'Opéra de Lyon - Offenbach: La vie parisienne (2008)
NTSC 16:9 (720x480) | Français (LinearPCM, 2 ch) | (DTS, 5 ch) | (Dolby AC3, 5 ch) | 7.61 Gb (DVD9) | 135 min
Classical | Virgin Classics | Sub: Francais, English, Deutsch, Italiano, Espanol

After La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein, and La Fille du régiment, Virgin Classics develops its DVD catalogue with yet a new stage production by renowned director Laurent Pelly (his 3rd for the label) accompanied by his assistant Agathe Mélinand who again adapted the dialogues as in the other productions. Filmed in Lyons during the performances (18th December – 1st January 2008) the production and the cast re-enacted in our moderns times the satirical portrayal of Parisian life in the Second Empire. The performances were a hit: Laurent Pelly brought to Offenbach’s operetta all the gusto and humour the subject calls for – his staging is wild and frenzied. La Vie parisienne was Offenbach's first full-length piece to portray contemporary Parisian life, unlike his earlier period pieces and mythological subjects. It became one of Offenbach's most popular operettas.