Ludwig, Christa

Wagner - Der Ring des Nibelungen / Levine, Metropolitan Opera (Complete Ring Cycle)

Herbert Von Karajan

First release in any format! Not just a biographical film,
Karajan uncovers the true, personal essence of the unique
artist behind the public figure, a portrait of a man who was
full of contradictions and remained a mystery until his death.
On the occasion of the 100th birthday of Herbert von
Karajan, Academy Award® nominee Robert Dornhelm
has mined the archives of Unitel, for more than two decades
the great conductor s production home, for previously
unreleased material including rehearsal footage, and
interviews with members of the Karajan family, plus such
music world luminaries and colleagues as Anne-Sophie
Mutter, Seiji Ozawa, Christian Thielemann, René Kollo,
Christa Ludwig, Brigitte Fassbaender, Gundula Janowitz,
Sir Simon Rattle, Mariss Jansons, Joachim Kaiser and
Helmut Schmidt.
The greater understanding of this legendary artist to be
experienced by seeing this film will certainly transfer to a
greater appreciation of his recordings, and is a must not only
for Karajan lovers, but for anyone who loves symphonic music.

Bernstein: Candide

Puccini - Madama Butterfly

Of all Puccini's major operas, the intimate tragedy of Madama Butterfly is least in need of elaborate staging and might therefore benefit most from the close scrutiny of film. The story is domestic, the setting Spartan, the incidental characters kept to a minimum. This 1974 version, however, demonstrates that Butterfly still needs a healthy injection of proscenium arch melodrama. Director Jean-Pierre Ponelle's production strives for realism but remains unfortunately studio-bound, having neither the benefit of location filming nor the heightened reality of an opera stage. The exterior is a perpetually fog-shrouded heath of indeterminate locale; the interior is cramped and unadorned. The setting is just too prosaic to contain the epic emotions of grand opera.

Thankfully, the cast is a superb one, headed by Plácido Domingo's rakish Pinkerton and Mirella Freni's rubicund Butterfly. Their singing is incomparable, as is Herbert von Karajan's musical direction of the Vienna Philharmonic. The singers mime to prerecorded music, which is occasionally disconcerting since when film demands close-ups, opera provides broad gestures. Musically, this Butterfly is impeccable. Visually it adds nothing that could not be seen to better effect in a stage version. --Mark Walker

Little Drummer Boy: Essay on Mahler by Leonard Bernstein

Wagner - Das Rheingold / Levine, Morris, Jerusalem, Ludwig, Metropolitan Opera (Levine Ring Cycle Part 1)

Popular Puccini [DVD Video]

Giuseppe Verdi - Falstaff (Herbert Von Karajan - His Legacy for Home Video)

Wagner - Gotterdammerung / Levine, Behrens, Jerusalem, Metropolitan Opera (Levine Ring Cycle Part 4)

Wagner - Die Walkure / Levine, Behrens, Norman, Metropolitan Opera (Levine Ring Cycle Part 2)

It's no surprise that the second opera in Wagner's epic Ring cycle, Die Walküre, is the one Deutsche Grammophon released first on DVD: it's by far the most popular of the four parts of The Ring, from the thrilling Act I love duet for its brother and sister lovers, Siegmund and Sieglinde, to the spectacular finale of the "Magic Fire Music," as the god Wotan puts his beloved but disobedient daughter Brünnhilde into a deep sleep (no jokes, please!), over four hours later. This 1990 Metropolitan Opera production, originally broadcast on PBS to great acclaim, has been stunningly transferred to digital disc.

Musically, of course, is where any worthy Ring earns its keep, and under James Levine, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra makes the most sumptuous Wagnerian sounds of any current orchestra, as the dazzlingly fresh-sounding "Ride of the Valkyries" makes abundantly clear. The ravishing music is not solely instrumental, of course; the principal cast--Gary Lakes (Siegmund), Jessye Norman (Sieglinde), Hildegard Behrens (Brünnhilde), and especially James Morris (Wotan)--more than handles the vocal and acting demands, even those long stretches of unbelievably difficult singing passages that Wagner demands. This Otto Schenk production has taken its lumps for its conventional approach to Wagner's mythic music-drama. But it's an easy first approach for newcomers, and it's actually a rarity nowadays--among countless deconstructionist approaches--that many Ring-lovers will enjoy Die Walküre in its original setting and context. --Kevin Filipski