Author: James Sohre

Exactly what makes this entertaining, handsome video of Dmitri Hvorostovsky and RenÈe Fleming in concert an “odyssey”?

Luciano Pavarotti died in September 2007, just short of his 72nd birthday and only a few years after his last performance at the Metropolitan Opera, in Tosca.

“Historically Informed Performance” sure has a nice ring — not only does the acronym capture the trendiness of the movement (“HIP”), but one has to admire the subtle put-down the term encapsulates.

Some opera masterworks are admirable more than lovable — a distinction usually best revealed by the number of performances the work gets.

As long as one keeps in mind that historical value is not the same as aesthetic quality, this DVD of early 1960’s live German TV performances of two short Gian Carlo Menotti operas makes for fascinating viewing.

Love and Death is the name of one of Woody Allen’s earlier films, one built around parodies of Tolstoy and other Russian 19th century literary giants.

What better way for the long-reigning director of the Vienna State Opera, Ioan Holender, to celebrate the end of his time in the post than with a lengthy gala featuring such stars as Gergely NÈmeti, Roxana Constantinescu, Krassimira Stoyanova, and Keith Ikaia-Purdy?

Frederick Delius counts among those many composers whose reputations rely on their orchestral efforts, but who dearly wanted to make a lasting contribution to the opera repertory.

As a rule the celebrated incomplete operas of the repertory eluded completion due to the untimely death of the composer.

Opera companies around the world — though relatively few in the United States — cannot resist the temptation to stage Sergei Prokofiev’s first major opera.