Author: James Sohre

A medieval tale of ill-starred love, in three very long acts, with questions of loyalty to a king and one title character urging another to drink from a cup of poison…

JÈrÙme Savary, director of this December 2007 Semperoper Dresden production of Leh·r’s Die Lustige Witwe, expresses a view in the booklet essay that many others will probably share: “What I like most of all about The Merry Widow is its music, which is literally bursting with colours, gyrating movements and sensuality…”

The Kurt Weill-composed operetta Arms and the Cow premiered in 1935 under the title A Kingdom for a Cow, according to Erwin Berger’s booklet essay for this DVD of a 2007 VolksOper Vien staging of David Pountney’s production.

Some opera aficionados who take a look at the contents of this two-CD Fritz Wunderlich collection from Profil might shake their heads in bemused wonder: the German lyric tenor as Turridu, let alone Pinkerton and Rodolfo?

The CEO of the Ravenna Festival, one Cristina Mazzavillano Muti, understandably takes top billing at the top of this DVD booklet’s three – count ’em, 3! – pages of credits for the Festival, not counting the single page of credits for the production of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale itself.

A sticker on the cover of the Decca DVD Jessye Norman a portrait describes the contents as “An intimate new film portrait of the great soprano.”

The first solo operatic recital from the great German bass RenÈ Pape bears a title that serves as an homage to an esteemed predecessor, George London.

A traditional production of Mozart and Schikaneder’s singspiel Die Zauberflˆte can go for charm, fantasy, and enjoyable camp. It can also turn trite and cloying.

The title of Anna Netrebko’s most recent recital disc apparently springs from the musical selections’ ability to prompt memories in the singer.