La
Gran Scena Opera Company of New York VHS
La
Traviata (1968) VHS
~ G. Verdi
Barber
of Seville:La Traviata VHS
~ Maestro's Company
A
Pavarotti Valentine (1984) VHS
~ Luciano Pavarotti
Bizet
- Carmen / Brock, Farrar, Olympia Chamber Orchestra (1915) VHS
DeMille saw "Carmen" as the ideal role for Farrar's first film, but
due to the enormous fee requested for the opera's libretto, he adapted
the original story by Prosper Merimee, which had fallen into the public
domain. So, this film version, while basically telling the same story,
differs somewhat from the Bizet opera. Amazon.com
Donizetti
- Lucrezia Borgia. 1977 VHS
Description Dame Joan Sutherland and tenor Alfredo Kraus star in Donizetti's
tale of sixteenth century opulence and decadence. Joan Sutherland is unquestionably
the unsurpassed Lucrezia of all-time, and this production at Covent Garden
showcases her incomparable coloratura technique. Bel canto specialist Richard
Bonynge conducts The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House in this historic
performance.
Eileen
Farrell: An American Prima Donna (1969) VHS
~ Eileen Farrell
Renata
Scotto: Prima Donna in Recital (1984) VHS
~ Renata Scotto
Operafest
(1984) VHS~ Clamshell packaging
~ Freni
First
Ladies of the Opera - Birgit Nilsson, Leontyne Price, Joan Sutherland,
Renata Tebaldi (The Bell Telephone Hour) (1967) VHS
~ First Ladies of the Opera
Bell
Telephone Hour Telecasts, 1961-1964: Birgit Nilsson (2000) VHS
~ Birgit Nilsson
Bellini
- Norma / Bonynge, Sutherland, Troyanos, Canadian Opera Company
(1981) VHS~ Subtitled in English
~ V. Bellini
Joan
Sutherland in Concert (1969) VHS
~ Joan Sutherland
Joan
Sutherland: The Age of Bel Canto (1963) VHS
~ Joan Sutherland
The
Maestro's Company, Vol. 2: Rigoletto & Hansel and Gretel (1989)
VHS
~ Maestro's Company
Mozart
- Don Giovanni / Siepi (1954) VHS
~ W.A. Mozart
Rosalyn
Tureck - Live at the Teatro (1992) VHS
~ Rosalyn Tureck
Wanda
Landowska: Uncommon Visionary (1997) VHS
~ Wanda Landowska
Andrea
Bocelli - A Night in Tuscany VHS ~ Clamshell packaging
~ Andrea Bocelli
Andrea
Bocelli - Tuscan Skies (Cieli di Toscana) (2001) VHS
~ Andrea Bocelli
Andrea
Bocelli - Sacred Arias: The Home Video (2000) VHS
~ Andrea Bocelli
Handel's
Messiah (1982) VHS
~ G.F. Handel
Gilbert
& Sullivan - Iolanthe (1987) VHS
From a 1984 performance (live, but with many voices dubbed) at Canada's
Stratford Festival comes this version of Iolanthe, the Gilbert and Sullivan
operetta in which the residents of Fairyland confront the House of Lords.
A work in its authors' most whimsical vein, Iolanthe combines satire with
fantasy, acid humor with voluptuous melodies, in the improbable way that
G&S could pull off so skillfully.
Stratford's production places the story within a frame--a 19th-century
theater company's performance of Iolanthe. The device doesn't serve much
purpose, except to imply the director's uncertainty that audiences can
swallow this material without mediation. That anxiety shows in the production's
overwrought style. The performers try hard, though: The distinguished contralto
Maureen Forrester, while not exactly funny as the Queen of the Fairies,
is as game as can be, letting herself be flown in on a swing and dressed
up as the god Mars. As the Lord Chancellor, Eric Donkin is amusing but
restrained, perhaps laboring to keep up with the ferocious lyrics he has
to get through.
Productions of Gilbert and Sullivan these days often include rewritten
lyrics and dialogue; this one is loaded with them. The extent of the updating
will alarm some viewers, but it's wholly in the spirit of the piece, since
Gilbert's script is full of topical allusions that he wouldn't have expected
to be meaningful more than a century later. Many of his political asides
have, of course, been replaced with Canada-specific references, which will
be of only limited value to non-Canadians. --David Olivenbaum - Amazon.com |
Opera:Two to Six VHS
~ Joan Sutherland
Out of Print - Try Used Movies
Voice of Firestone: Robert Merrill in Opera and Song (1955) VHS
~ Robert Merrill
Out of Print - Try Used Movies
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