From the Drottningholm Court Theatre 1991 Conductor Arnold Östman worked with producer Michael Hampe on this production of Idomeneo. The opera boasts a series of superbly expressive pieces and was described by Einstein as “one of those works that even a genius of the highest rank, like Mozart, could write only once in his life”. It is set in Crete in the aftermath of the Trojan Wars. (Sung in Italian)
Die Entführung aus dem Serail
From the Drottningholm Court Theatre 1990: Set in the exotic seraglio of the Pasha Selim, the story revolves around the rescue of the lovely Constanze by her lover Belmonte – a tale of love, bravery and forgiveness. In this work, Mozart breaks new ground in introducing dramatically rounded characters with recognisably human feelings and weaknesses. The work influenced and changed the nature of opera throughout Europe.
This charming production from Drottningholm does full justice to Mozart’s score. Arnold Östman’s deliberate conducting combined with Carl Friedrich Oberle’s design demonstrates that this really is “an eternal masterpiece of music drama by a youthful, exuberant composer who suddenly found his individual voice and style in the field of opera with this particular work” (Opera now). Sung in German.
Die Zauberflöte
From the Drottningholm Court Theatre 1989: The international bass Laszlo Polgar joins a strong Scandinavian cast, including Stefan Dahlberg, Petteri Salomaa and Mikael Samuelsson, for this production, directed by Göran Järvefelt and conducted by Arnold Östman. Their authentic staging of the opera, held to be Mozart’s artistic – and philosophical testament, has an atmosphere of naive enchantment and was hailed as “…revelatory …liberating in the sense that it released the opera from the assumptions of the twentieth century” (The Independent). (Sung in German)
La gazza ladra
This Cologne Opera production, one of Rossini’s most brilliant compositions, was directed by Michael Hampe and boasts a star-studded cast with Ileana Cotrubas, Carlos Feller, David Kuebler and Alberto Rinaldi.
Rossini’s opera is a perennial favourite and tells the story of a servant girl, accused of stealing a silver spoon. She is brought to trial by the Justice of the Peace, whose advances she has repulsed, and is condemned to death. Tragedy turns to comedy when, just before the execution is due to take place, it is discovered that the real thief is a magpie.
Bruno Bartoletti conducts this lively and colourful production, designed by o Pagano.
La clemenza di Tito
From the Drottningholm Court Theatre 1987: For his last opera, written for the coronation of Leopold II as King of Bohemia in 1791, Mozart used a formal opera seria libretto by Metastasio, but at ist heart are intimate scenes of intense emotional conflict. This recording shows the producer “Järvefelt at his best… the whole evening – authentic but bristling with theatrical life – was a shining example of everything Drottningholm stands for” (Financial Times). (Sung in Italian)
Rusalka
David Pountney’s landmark English National Opera staging of Dvorák’s haunting fairy tale opera left critics and audiences spellbound. The production is set in a Victorian nursery where an adolescent girl, on the brink of sensual awakening, dreams of first love. Her story is that of Rusalka the wood nymph who, like Hans Christian Andersen’s Little Mermaid, sacrifices all for a love destined to be betrayed. High above the stage Rusalka dreamily swings as the picturesque gives way to the surreal. Influenced by Jung and Freud, Magritte and Delvaux and magically realised in the designs of Stefanos Lazaridis, Pountney’s Rusalka succeeds in creating a fairy tale to enchant the most hardened modern audience.
David Pountney states that Rusalka is about “a typical initiation into social and sexual experience” – the evolution from a child to young woman. He conjures up an enchanted world of repression and surreal fantasy. The set is spacious, gleaming white and full of archetypal symbols including a rocking horse, wardrobe, furniture which slides about, dolls that dance, floorboards that open to reveal a pool with a swing high above it. The effect produces a dreamworld which teeters on the edge of a nightmare. Sung in English.
Aida
Luciano Pavarotti heads an exceptional cast in this spectacular live recording from La Scala, Milan, with Ghena Dimitrova, Maria Chiara, Nicolai Ghiaurov and Juan Pons, all in peak form. Luca Ronconi’s magnificent production of Verdi’s much-loved masterpiece was a triumphant success, with Mauro Pagano’s monumental settings capturing perfectly the imposing grandeur of the land of the Pharaohs and the ochre hues of the desert. Lorin Maazel conducts.
Madama Butterfly
From the Teatro alla Scala, Milan 1986 Japanese producer Keita Asari cast two of the Far East’s leading singers in Puccini’s coveted female roles, and collaborated with Japanese designers to create this exquisitely oriental staging of Puccini’s much-loved opera, which was hailed as a triumph by the Italian press and public alike. (Sung in Italian)
Der Rosenkavalier
“The best of the best assembled on stage,” wrote Germany’s leading newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung after the premiere of Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. Indeed, it would be hard to find a more ideal cast for this late-Romantic Rococo pastiche anywhere in the world. As the Marschallin, stellar soprano Renée Fleming uses her velvety tones and autumnal shadings to complement the youthfully lyrical and dynamic voice of Sophie Koch as her young lover Octavian. Diana Damrau’s Sophie enhances the trio’s sparkle with her ethereal high notes. Next to Franz Hawlata as a swaggering Baron Ochs and the always impressive Franz Grundheber as Faninal, the Baden-Baden production rounds off its male leads with international tenor star Jonas Kaufmann as the “Italian Singer.” Leading his Münchner Philharmoniker, acclaimed Romantic specialist Christian Thielemann revels in Strauss’s lustrous melancholy and obtains a rarely heard transparency from the brass and woodwinds.
Turandot
Whether through its phenomenal acoustics or breathtaking architecture, Valencia’s spectacular Calatrava opera house “Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía” – itself a work of art – seems to bring out the best of all who gather there to celebrate artistic creation. And this production of Puccini’s “Turandot” is no exception! Internationally acclaimed Chinese filmmaker Chen Kaige (1993 Golden Palm in Cannes for Farewell My Concubine) delivers an opulent background for the fairy-tale story of the Chinese Princess Turandot, who will marry only a prince of royal blood who can solve her three riddles. With a wealth of sumptuous costumes and palace sets designed and produced in China, Kaige’s staging provides a compellingly authentic accent to Puccini’s exotic orchestral palette.