Czech Opera Treasures on Supraphon

A note on the inside back cover of the booklets for these two releases announces that they are part of a new Supraphon series dedicated to “archive recordings of complete operas not yet available on CD.”

Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda at the Sferisterio Festival

A number of performances from the Sferisterio Opera Festival have been released in recent months.

Wagner: Die Meistersinger von N¸rnberg

Videos from the Bayreuth Festspiele typically feature the highest quality audio and video of any live performance documents.

Toscanini: In His Own Words

The back cover description of this Medici Arts DVD can fairly be called misleading, though not dishonest.

Giordano: Marcella

Although this DVD comes on the Naxos label, an earlier CD version of the same performance went under the Dynamic label, specialists in rare repertory.

Johann Strauss: Das Spitzentuch der Kˆnigin

Dear non-German speaking Opera Today reader — what’s your first guess as to the meaning of the biggest word in the title of this obscure Johann Strauss operetta?

Siegfried Wagner: Der Schmeid von Marienburg

Will the 22nd century still see the opera-loving world as fascinated by the ongoing saga of the Wagner family as the 20th did and the 21st does?

John Gay: The Beggar’s Opera

The only thing truly operatic in this work is the use of the word “opera” in the title.

Zandonai: Francesca Da Rimini

Besotted admirers of certain lesser-known operas of debatable merit sometimes include conductors, singers and opera house managers with the power to get their cherished rarity on stage.

Cecilia Bartoli: Maria

While the cover of this Decca two-DVD set mirrors that of Cecilia Bartoli’s 2007 CD, Maria, the contents are not identical.