Magic Moments of Opera

This is an update of my previous post, where I now offer my comments on each opera. This set seemed to be a good buy at $11/opera, which I purchased hoping that at least a few would be reasonable performances. Regarding the entire set, my only advice is to not hesitate and purchase the set. It is a super bargain, without a single "bad" opera.People ask me why I like opera. These performances are prototypical. A movie star needs to act well, but is rarely required to sing. When they do sing, nobody expects them to sing well. Think of Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music, or Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin in Paint Your Wagon--nice acting, but rather mediocre singing. Then you have the opera. The singing is extraordinarily complex and challenging. Yet, the acting is not mediocre, but quite well done. The demands on the opera singer far exceed that of the typical actor/actress.I am not a professional musician rating these operas, and I'm sure the professional would provide a different commentary on each opera than I offer. As a musician, I am so bad I can barely sing on tune. I can make it through Für Elise and Mozart's Andante Cantable on the piano, played the sousaphone in grade school band, I've listened to everything Robert Greenberg ever recorded for the Teaching Company, I've always loved music theory and music history, drool and get weepy over anything ever written by Bach, but never mastered anything musical. Yet, that doesn't distract me from considering opera to be one of the highest art forms available. I also cannot paint worth beans, but still have strong feelings when stepping into an art gallery. Opera gives me that same sense. I review these as opera for the discriminating but otherwise common man.★★★★ Georges Bizet - Carmen, live from the Wiener Staatsoper 1978, with Elena Obraztsova, Placido Domingo, Yuri Mazurok, Isobel Buchanan, Dirigent Carlos KleiberI'm not a Carmen fan, as the music is rather glitzy, reminding me of the soap music of Andrew Lloyd Weber. Yet, this performance is superlative, with excellent singing and staging. It's one of the better Carmen's that I've seen.★★★★★ Johann Strauss - Die Fledermaus, live from the Wiener Staatsoper 1980, with Bernd Weikl, Lucia Popp, Erich Kunz, Brigitte Fassbaender, Dirigent GuschlbauerThis production of the opera has been around awhile, but is worth watching, as it is performed in a light gala style. Besides the incomparable singing of Popp and Gruberova, the entire opera was well staged and acted, making it an enjoyable three hours of the best of Johann Strauss.★★★★★ WA Mozart - Die Zauberflöte , live from the Opera National de Paris, 2001, with Piotr Beczala, Dorothea Röschmann, Detlef Roth, Matti Salminen, Dirigent Ivan FischerThe opera is sung in German, but the presentation is in French. Staging, singing, acting, and filming are all superb. This is not my favorite Zauberflöte, but then, there are so many well done Magic Flutes, that how can one pick a favorite? I was amazed that they had the Queen of the Night performing rather complex acting, while singing an impossible aria. The three children also were totally superlative.★★★★ Ludwig van Beethoven - Fidelio, live from the Opernhaus Zürich, 2004, with Günther Groissböck, Alfred Muff, Jonas Kaufmann, Camilla Nylund, Dirigent Nikolaus HarnoncourtWell-performed opera, with superb singing, and enthusiastic directing from Hanoncourt. My only complaint is the near minimalistic sets. To me, it is an injustice to the performers to have them spend countless hours learning their parts, only to give them a set that took 10 minutes to construct and assemble. It is not right. True, Fidelio always has been a nightmare to stage, but surely the Swiss could do better than what they did. The camerawork, by the way, was superb, with views at a live opera that generally are only seen with non-live performances.★★★★★ Guiseppe Verdi - Aida, live from the Teatro Alla Scala 1985, with Maria Chiara, Luciano Pavarotti, Ghena Dimitrova, Juan Pons, Dirigent Lorin MaazelThis is an opera I've had on VHS tape, and so is nice to see in DVD format. The recording is clear, with superb sound. Pavarotti singing Celese Aida is almost as natural as the Beatles singing Strawberry Fields. The staging and props are quite lavish, Chiara is at her best, and the opera flows superbly. This is the best Aida production that I've seen so far, and defines what is the standard for this opera.★★★★ Jules Massenet - Werther, live from the Wiener Staatsoper 2005, with Marcelo Alvarez, Adrian Eröd, Alfred Sramek, Peter Jelosits, Dirigent Philippe JordanMassenet's music reminds me much of Puccini, and even the storyline of Die Leiden des Jungen Werthers is more fitting Italian opera than German or French. Yet, this is very well done. The staging is modern. I typically don't like revisionist staging or minimalistic staging, but the staging in this performance fits quite well. The singing is superb, and acting exceptional. The storyline of Werther is somewhat hokey. The last act has Werther singing for about 10 minutes after he shot himself, and lying on his deathbed. Nobody asks the opera to have a perfect storyline.★★★★★ Richard Wagner - Tannhäuser, live from the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden (2008) - 2 discs, with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Philharmonia Chor Wein, Robert Gambill, Camilly Nylund, Roman Trekel, Waltraud Meier, Dirigent Philippe JordanThis is a superbly performed Tannhäuser, with most remarkable performances for Elizabeth and Heinrich. Wagner's themselves are challenges, but to act and sing supremely is most notable here. I have only one complaint with the performance. The costumes were great but the prop for all three acts was horrid and irresponsible. As I complained before, considering the work that the singers and orchestra had to go through to make this opera a success, surely the stage designer could have been a bit more creative than a single spiral staircase for all the acts and scenes of the opera?★★★★★ Gioachino Rossini - The Barber of Seville, live from the Opera National de Paris (date?), with Joyce Didonato, Roberto Sacca, Dalibor Jenis, Carlos Chausson, Dirigent Bruno CampanellaI loved this production. The singing was superb, the sets were quite elaborate, acting was superb, and it flowed with a wonderful cohesion. I am generally not a Rossini fan, but would not hesitate to claim this to be one of the better Barbers ever recorded. Didonato had a most remarkable voice, but so di Sacca, Jenis and the other singers. If one had to have just one Barber of Seville, this is the one to have.★★★★ Giacomo Puccini - Tosca, live from the Arena di Verona 2006, with Fiorenza Cedolins, Marcelo Alvarez, Ruggero Raimondi, Marco Spotti, Dirigent Daniel OrenThis was an outdoor opera, which appeared to be filmed in the Coleseum in Rome, rather than the Arean di Verona. In any event, my experience with outdoor performances has usually been dismal, with poor sound and visual elements. This recording had neither, and the sound was superb as well as having meager, though superb sets. The singing and acting were both superlative, and the opera should have gotten 5 stars except for one thing. I am not crazy about the composition of the Tosca opera, and fault Puccini for coming up with an opera story and structure that really doesn't work well. The Verismo style of this opera leaves a emptiness to the final ending of the opera. This is a personal sentiment, and if one has no problem with the opera Tosca, then this is a very worthy opera to have in ones collection.★★★★ Richard Strauß - Elektra, live from the Wiener Staatsoper 1989, with Eva Marton, Brigitte Fassbaender, Cheryl Studer, Franz Grundheber, Dirigent Claudio AbbadoThis is a dark, forbodding opera, an opera oriented entirely around one person (Elektra), vowing revenge for the murder of her father by her mother. I will not recount the plot as it can be found elsewhere. The opera was produced here as darkly as Strauß wrote it. It is not exactly a "fun" opera to watch; you know you are not at a Mozart opera. The talent and vocal perseverence to produce this challenging and difficult opera are quite remarkable and would buy the opera a 5-star rating. My given rating relates to the fact that this type of opera is really not my cup of tea. Life may be depressing enough, and I don't need the opera to remind me of that.

All Euro-trash. This is a revisionist, Euro-trash version. I've previously seen and reviewed the version of Tannhäuser, which is also included in this set. That was the worst Euro-trash I've ever seen and is an absolute disgrace. You can read that review at http://www.amazon.com/Wagner-Tannhauser-Gambill/product-reviews/B001OBT3DO/ref=cm_cr_dp_see_all_btm?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending.On second viewing, I still hold that the Werther production leaves much to be desired. The plot/character changes, as well as bringing the venue into modern times, do nothing good, for this opera. While El'na Garan'a’s voice is excellent, it does not save this pitiful production.Update, re Elektra: The more I see of this collection, the less I like it. Initially, this appeared to be a traditional production but, on viewing it, it is nothing more than another “euro-trash-style” “interpretation” of what the composer intended. This “interpretation” is not art but artsy. When are these “directors” going to get it? If they want a different opera, then they should write one but, as I suspect they already know, no one would come, to see their “art.” However, when they’re billed in the opera’s original name, not everyone will look too closely, before buying tickets. Once they’ve been seated and “treated,” it’s too late.Based on what I've seen, so far, I've downgraded my oroinal 3 stars to two. Now, I downgraded it, further, to the minimum of 1 star. As for the rest of the operas included, I'll adjust this review, as I view them. More to follow, as I view the performances.Update, re Die Fledermaus: I’m not a fan of comedic opera, especially not of any type of slapstick comedy and this has never been one of my favorite operas. Now, having said that, I must admit that, although comedic, sometimes slapstick, this opera’s presentation was not only viewable but enjoyable. I found myself actually appreciating the athletic prowess and subtlety of the drunken jailer, executing his Chaplinesque climbs, falls, slips and trips. The quality of the singing was first rate, the staging was traditional and the costuming was traditional. I’m keeping this one.Update, re Tosca: The more I see of this collection of "magic moments" of opera, the less I like it. I’m among the fortunate, who were able to see Callas’ 1964 performance of Tosca, live, at the Met (yes, I’m an old guy). The recording of that performance was released, sometime after that but only in black and white and only on VHS. Consequently, the audio and video qualities of that recording were not great. However, Callas’ acting and singing owned that role, for many years. Her personality and that of Tosca were so similar that she didn’t have to act, to make it seem real. Since then, I’ve seen many and varied performances of Tosca, some of which were excellent, others not worth the price of admission. Tosca is one of my favorite operas but this presentation is not. While the costuming is period-correct and the quality of the singing is first rate, the stage setting is minimalist, with irrelevant statuary, such as a huge hand and a female bust, plus a brace of cannon, within the church. The stage is outdoors and is riddled with flying insects, the quantity of which are so high as to continuously interfere with one’s viewing of the performances. On top of that, the quality of the audio is about what one might expect at a high school performance. There was so much over-modulation of the voices and music, at times, that it was horrible to listen to the static it caused. Lastly, they changed the ending. As those who are familiar with this opera know, Tosca commits suicide, at the end, by jumping off the roof of the prison building. In this version, she climbs a 20 foot tall female bust, (the same one which was in the church but, now, is, miracle-like, on the prison roof), at the top of which bust she finds a large, gold cross, which she holds aloft, a la the Statue of Liberty, at which point the video fades to black. If you’re looking for an excellent, traditional and high quality recording of Tosca, get the EMI Classics recording, number 50999 4 04063 9 8, with Angela Gheorghiu (as Tosca), Jonas Kaufman (as Cavaradossi) and Bryn Terfel (as Scarpia). You can read my review of that performance, at http://www.amazon.com/Puccini-Tosca-Royal-Opera-House/product-reviews/B008K7RGA2/ref=cm_cr_pr_btm_link_next_3?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=recent&reviewerType=all_reviews&formatType=all_formats&filterByStar=all_stars&pageNumber=3.Update, re Barber of Seville: What can I say, other than it’s the first time I’ve seen this opera performed, in Arab garb, in the desert. This production is more akin to something which might be titled “The Three Stooges go to the desert, to find a barber.”Update, re Fidelio: This is another “modern” approach, to an opera which does not need “modernizing.”Updates, re: Aida, Carmen and Magic Flute First Aida: The original production, from which this Aida recording was made, was, no doubt, excellent, given the cast. However, it appears that someone went out of his/her way, to find a film version of this performance, which fil was in poor condition, then transferred it, warts and all, to a DVD copy. How can I be sure it was a film copy, originally? The graininess and streaks run vertically, as the do only in old, poor quality film. The video and audio were so bad as to be unwatchable, including audio and video dropouts. Carmen: This is another washout copy but, apparently, this time, from an old, worn-out VHS tape. Poor audio, poor video. Magic Flute: The quality of this audio and video are very good, not excellent. However, this production is a joke. Magic Flute is a light, musical opera, when performed properly. This rendition has turned it into a farcical disaster of major proportions. The performers are, at best, hammy and the costuming is almost embarrassing.

Excellent selection of productions with long list of great performers. Good value. I do wish there had been more printed material maybe even librettos.

For the beginning opera geek, this is a good way to start enjoying the shows. I like to watch the productions, and the on-screen translations help me keep up with the story line.

I am still in the process of working my way through collection, 1st five very enjoyable so far - may add more later. It compliments the la scala collection very well.

This is probably the best collection in terms of price.I love all 10 DVDs. I strongly recommend to buy this collection if you are the beginner of opera.

Opera lovers should consider this collection. It's well worth the small price for the number and quality of the operas! A bargain.

What a fantastic buy form Amazon. You can'tbeat hearing and seeing these superstars overand over again. Bravo, Brava!

Memorable moments at the opera stages!Fantastic!

Nous sommes satisfaits de cette commande, la qualité des enregistrements (son) est variable en fonction probablement de l'ancienneté, certains DVD ne sont qu'en simple stéréo.

buon prodotto con alcune anche se vecchie edizioni veramente interessanti con ottimi cantanti,e ottimi direttori,alcuni allestimenti molto buoni ,tutti con sottotitoli varie lingue compreso italiano(cosa rara),esclusa chissà perchè Aida senza sottotitoli in italiano.

Bona recopilació! El format igual el fa molt plàstic i agradable a la vista, pel que fa a tenir-lo a l'estanteria