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Can anyone advise me please as to which are the best sites, and their location:
1. to review the titles that are available
2. to purchase the DVDs
Follow Ups:
I haven't found a website devoted to operatic DVDs, or classical music DVDs in general for that matter. (I've love to start one, but just don't have the time.) But to see what's currently available, I'd recommend taking a look at Image Entertainment's site (click below). It's a little awkward, but you'll need to select Advance Search, and then select "Music" from the "Genre" field. You'll then get a listing of ALL music DVDs. You'll have to find an opera from the list and then select it. On the resulting page for that particular DVD, you'll see "Opera" listed as a "sub-genre"; select that link and voila--a new list of operatic DVDs will appear.Hope this helps.
(BTW, I've got quite a few operatic DVDs; if you want info on a specific one, I might be able to help.)
Russell
Russell, I'd like to take you up on your offer of providing info on specific operas. I'd be interested to know what you can tell me (us) about Tristan and Don Giovanni. What's out there, what's the best?
I believe there are only 2 Tristan DVDs available. I have the one on Kultur, which is a film of a live performance from Orange in 1973 with Nilsson and Vickers, Bohm conducting. Unfortunately, the quality of this DVD is flat-out terrible. (I've found a lot of Kultur's DVDs to be sub-par, actually.) The video image is fuzzy and indistinct, while the (mono) sound is very muffled. In all fairness, though, I also have this performance on a Japanese laser disc, and the Kultur DVD is actually very slighty better image-wise. The sound quality of the LD, however, is in stereo and much brighter (although light on bass) than the DVD. The other Tristan DVD is on Image, and is a more recent performance with Mehta conducting, and features Jon Fredric West and Waltraud Meier; I don't know anything else about it....I have seen 3 of the 5 available Don Giovanni DVDs and can highly recommend the Furtwangler on DG, which is from Salzburg in 1954, filmed concurrently with the live performances there. Strong cast and well conducted. I also have the Conlon-conducted version on Arthaus Music (Thomas Allen as the Don) and it's very good in all departments, but a notch below the Furtwanger, at least in terms of performance. I didn't like the Karajan on Sony at all (though at $24.95, it's the cheapest of the bunch)--I found his conducting very stodgy and the cast is less than ideal. Video quality is mediocre as well.
Russell, thanks for the info. I have heard similar reports of poor sound and production quality of the Kulture release of the Boehm Tristan, and so I've avoided it. I've been told that this is a great performance, however, and that there is a Japanese issue of this in great sound. I've even seen reviews, but I've been unable to track down a copy. This is probably just as well, since it supposedly sells for about $200 US... Anyway, will definitely check out the Furt Don Giovanni.
There is a Japanese DVD currently available of this performance. I just saw it on hmv.co.jp selling for 13,800 yen. (Their site is available in English and you'll need to do a keyword search on "Tristan".) It would be in NTSC, but I'm unsure whether it would be Region 1 compatible or not. (Many classical music JDVDs, all the ones from Universal (DG, Philips, etc.) for example, are Region 0.) If you're hesitant to order from HMV Japan, don't be--I've ordered many JDVDs from them with no trouble whatsoever. Their shipping costs tend to be high (they use FedEx to the US) but it's VERY fast.
towerrecords.com, dvdplanet.com, dvdempire.com al have many.
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