CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

Arnold Schoenberg - Moses und Aron

starring: Franz Grundheber, Thomas Moser, Ildiko Raimondi, Daniele Gatti, Peter Jelosits
directed by: Reto Nickler

Release Date May 29, 2007
On the music performance: This is a sweeping performance. The conductor Daniele Gatti is well versed in verismo, and it shows. The orchestra of Wiener Staatsoper is most responsive to the demanding score. Both Grundheber as Moses and Moser as Aron seize every possibility for lyrical expression. The double choruses carry out the mission impossible by singing almost all notes in pitch. (If you have ever sung a 12-tone music, then you'd understand what I mean.) Overall, it is quite satisfying.

There are only minor reservations I have on the musical performance. The orchestral playing emphasizes in emotional sweep rather than the clarity of the polyphony linear structure. It's therefore not as easy to hear every note as in Pierre Boulez's ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 2
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Weber - Der Freischutz

starring: Gottlob Frick, Arlene Saunders, Edith Mathis, Franz Grundheber, Tom Krause
directed by: Rolf Liebermann

Release Date January 30, 2007
This must be the worst performance of any opera I have seen. Costumes of the fifties, actors crawling on the floor. The arrogance of those directors who think they can improve on masterpieces. If it wouldn't be for the music I would burn this CD. Yuck.

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

Mozart - Die Zauberflote

starring: Nicolai Gedda, Cristina Deutekom, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Edith Mathis, Hans Sotin

Release Date November 21, 2006
This is a wise and delightful production, caring both for Mozart's solemnity and his comedy; in ways it feels like Bergman's Magic Flute, only lacking his cinemographic imagination. The cast is excellent; all the major performers singing both movingly and very well. The innocence of Edith Mathis' Pamina, the forthrightness and innocence of Gedda's Tamino, the calm wisdom of Sotin's Sarastro, and the humane comedy of Workman's Papageno all shine. Fischer-Diskeau's performace as the Speaker is a bonus here. Horst Stein's conducting is fine, if not extraordinary, and Peter Ustinov's staging the best I have seen other than Bergman's and less self-indulgent than Bergman's.

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

Mozart - Die Zauberflote

starring: Rene Pape, Diana Damrau, Paul Groves, Franz Grundheber, Christian Gerhaher
directed by: Pierre Audi

Release Date January 09, 2007
I've read so many bad reviews of the M/22 productions, I was totally surprised by this one. I loved it!!! The cast was super; the singing glorious! The special effects, colorful, modern art scenery and costumes were perfect for an otherworldly fantasy opera. I think this production would please Mozart!

I particularly enjoyed Genia Kuhmeier as Pamina and Diana Damrau as the Queen of the Night. I was not familiar with any of the cast except Paul Groves, whom I admire, and everyone else was a very pleasant surprise. I didn't think anyone could equal Natalie Dessay as the Queen of the Night, but Diana Damrau's performance was right on par. That is my highest compliment.

This production has everything. I recommend it!

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CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

Offenbach - Orpheus in der Unterwelt

starring: William Workman, Franz Grundheber, Elisabeth Steiner, Toni Blankenheim, Regina Marheineke
directed by: Rolf Liebermann

Release Date January 30, 2007
Offenbach's 'Orpheus in the Underworld' is by some considered to be his best operetta. Certainly it marked an advance in his oeuvre from the little one-acters he had done before. It retells the story of Orpheus and Eurydice with rather broad references to then-current 1858 Paris society. And it was a smash success, enough so that Offenbach was able to build a grandiose house -- Villa Orpheus -- on its proceeds. The music from this sparkling operetta is probably best known by most from the adaptation of many of its tunes by Manuel Rosenthal for the ballet 'Gaîté Parisienne' from which a popular suite has been excerpted.

This DVD is a 1971 color film made by the redoubtable Rolf Liebermann when he was the head honcho at the Hamburg Opera and is one of the first ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

Menotti - Help, Help, The Globolinks

starring: Edith Mathis, Arlene Saunders, Franz Grundheber, Raymond Wolansky, William Workman

Release Date February 27, 2007
Help! Help! The Globolinks is a novelty opera with some good Menotti music in it. This German production was not up to the Houston Grand Opera presentation in 1972. The Hamburg State Opera staging featured two or three well-known singers, including Franz Grundheber. The movement of the globolinks was not particularly well-done.

The opening in Houston had featured a Houston Police Department cruiser racing onto the stage with lights flashing and sirens wailing. That is a tough act to follow.

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

Wagner - The Flying Dutchman (Der Fliegende Hollander) / Backman, Behrens, Grundheber, Savonlinna Opera Festival

starring: Hildegard Behrens, Franz Grundheber, Matti Salminen
directed by: Ilkka Bäckman

Release Date June 29, 2004
What is the point of buying a DVD if you can't enjoy what you SEE as well as hear? I liked what I heard well enough, but visually, the production is stupid. The costuming is simply awful! Senta, for example, wears a silk and velvet dress (for spinning?!?) As has been mentioned in other reviews, the constant scenes of a pen and ink drawing of the Dutchman's ship superimposed over waves every time nobody is singing are more than annoying. The scenes of the (Finland's Olavinlinna)castle grounds at other points during the opera obviously have nothing to do with the story. The camera work is especially awful. Extreme close-ups of chorus members are pointless and the close-ups of main cast members are a mistake because of the heavy make-up they wear. Why the director decided ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

Strauss - Der Rosenkavalier

starring: Adrianne Pieczonka, Angelika Kirchschlager, Miah Persson, Franz Hawlata, Franz Grundheber
directed by: Robert Carsen

Release Date October 31, 2006
What to make of this production of "Rosenkavalier"...I bought it a couple of years ago, watched it once, and promptly gave it away. This was a most depressing treatment of a beloved opera I have yet seen. I don't mind modern "takes" on old classics, but this was just disheartening. The producers looked like they spent a good deal of money in the sets--particularly the spectacularly oversized first act where you got to see not only the Marschallin's bedroom, but the antechamber as well as the private room from which Ochs entered. However the bedroom soon became an eyesore since it was dominated by this deep red that just swallowed everything (maybe I am exaggerating but that's what I remember the most). The second act was more interesting, but it was set in what seemed to be Faninal's ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

Lortzing - Zar und Zimmermann

starring: Lucia Popp, Hans Sotin, Franz Grundheber, Raymond Wolansky, Peter Haage
directed by: Rolf Liebermann

Release Date January 30, 2007
Not a great work, Zar und Zimmermann is nonetheless an entertaining opera. In the hands of Rolf Liebermann, it's actually a delight. The young and nubile Lucia Popp is, as always, marvelous. In fact, all the singing is quite good.

The highlight of the entire production is the hilarious choral directing scene. If you have ever sung in a choir, you'll be in stitches. The usually somber Hans Sotin is in wonderful voice and is very funny as the simpleton mayor-cum-choral director. This famous scene is outstanding - the chorus acts and sings extremely well. But it's Hans Sotin who makes the entire performance memorable with his satirical and exaggerated spoof of the archetypal choir director. I watched that one scene many times over and for that alone this DVD was a good investment. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

Alban Berg - Wozzeck / Adolf Dresen · Claudio Abbado - F. Grundheber · H. Behrens · Vienna State Opera

starring: Franz Grundheber, Walter Raffeiner, Philip Langridge, Heinz Zednik, Aage Haugland
directed by: Brian Large

Release Date August 21, 2001
Wozzeck is one of my favourites operas, a work which I know in some of the most important performances: Bohm (DG), Boulez (CBS/Sony), Dohnanyi (Decca), Barenboim (Teldec), Abbado (DG)... I'm sorry about this is not, from the musical point of view, one of the best available.

The stage direction is good, a very objective work, in a high correspondence with Berg's words, very appropriate for a first watching of this opera, because you can know exactly what's happening, it's not the typical modern stage in which the action take place in a different context than the work and words talk about. So, from the visual point of view is a very clear, interesting and well designed version. It's well shot in video, putting together different takes of faces, full bodies, the full stage and even some takes ... Read More: