CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

Verdi - Otello / Domingo, Fleming, Morris, Croft, Levine, Moshinsky, Metropolitan Opera

starring: Plácido Domingo, Renée Fleming, James Morris (IX), Jane Bunnell, Richard Croft (II)
directed by: Brian Large

Release Date April 13, 2004
This is probably the best "Otello" on DVD. Placido Domingo has some moments in which his voice sounds forced, particularly in "Si, pel ciel", but on the whole, the production is excellent, with great, exciting conducting by James Levine, a very good and believable Iago in James Morris, and a really good Cassio and Emilia.
The true star of the production, however, is Renee Fleming, who is simply spectacular as Desdemona. She sings like an angel, with wonderful expression and some ravishing pianissimi. Definitely the best Desdemona I've ever heard.
The staging is very lush and the costumes gorgeous, but I really can't understand why the old Met production, which was beautiful, wasn't kept on for a few more years. I'm sure there are ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

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

starring: Siegfried Jerusalem, Hildegard Behrens, James Morris (IX), Heinz Zednik, Birgitta Svendén
directed by: Brian Large

Release Date November 12, 2002
I RECOMMENDING THIS EDITION OF WAGNER'S MUSIC -Wagner: Complete Operas


Label: Membran / Documents Catalog #: 223053
Composer: Richard Wagner
Performer: Franz Klarwein, Luise Willer, Viorica Ursuleac, Georg Hann, Hans Hotter,
Karl Ostertag, August Seider, Karl Paul, Margarete Bäumer, Marianne Schech,
Otto von Rohr, Benno Kusche, Eleanor Steber, Josef Greindl, Hans Braun,
Hermann Uhde, Astrid Varnay, Wolfgang Windgassen, Bodo Brinkmann, Tiny Peters,
Ortrun Wenkel, Wolfgang Neumann, Carla Pohl, Zlatomira Nikolova, Frode Olsen,
Gabriele Maria Ronge, Edward Cook, Malcolm Smith, John Wegner, Simon Yang,
Wilja Ernst-Mosuraitis, Hans ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

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

starring: Hildegard Behrens, James Morris (IX), Jessye Norman, Christa Ludwig, Gary Lakes
directed by: Brian Large

Release Date November 12, 2002
Sieglinde is gloriously sung by Jessye Norman, but perhaps we must accept the heft of her physical presence as a legacy of the old tradition for operatic sopranos, so different from the nubile divas who reign today. James Morris acts well but suffers frequent reproach for being vocally past his prime; however, in this performance i find that he uses the voice he has to excellent effect, with flawless musicianship. The scenery and stage direction are stodgy, but again, this is the old tradition for the Metropolitan Opera, not the theater-savvy regime of its present general director. Deutsche Grammophon's audio and video here are somewhat below the standards of their present-day products, but acceptable.

What is unacceptable are the English ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

Donizetti - Anna Bolena / Bonynge, Sutherland, Morris, Canadian Opera Company

starring: Joan Sutherland, James Morris (IX), Judith Forst, Janet Stubbs, Gidon Saks
directed by: Lotfi Mansouri

Release Date March 13, 2001
When this film began, I thought I was going to love it because the cinematography of landscape and castles added so much to the overture. The baritone sang next, and he was quite good. Then came Anna Moffo, looking positively anorexic, her good looks practically a thing of the past due to, I presume, excessive dieting. Worse, she struggled with her high notes, and her high D's and E-flat were little short of strained screams--very unpleasant to listen to. What a pity this film was not made 10 years earlier! Moffo was only 39 here, but her high notes told differently.
The tenor, though quite good looking, was merely adequate.
Several large cuts were made in the opera, the biggest being cutting the entire scene of Lucia with the chaplain. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

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

starring: James Morris (IX), Siegfried Jerusalem, Ekkehard Wlaschiha, Christa Ludwig, MariAnne Häggander
directed by: Brian Large

Release Date November 12, 2002
Das Rheingold is my favorite of all of Wagner's Ring. An opera such as this (especially an opera by Wagner in general) is not meant to be experienced by DVD alone. If one watches this, one has to keep in mind the limits of stage filming and recording. The echo of the singers' voices can be heard a few times, and in some cases they sound as if they're way off into the distance even if they're just barely off of the stage, due to limits of microphones. But I cannot judge them or blame them for this: This was only 1990, recent yet at the same time old for sound quality.

Due to its inferior recording (though it was probably the best available at the time), none of the singers' incredible voices were given justice. Only sometimes did some singers shine due to their ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

Giacomo Puccini - La Bohème / Franco Zeffirelli · James Levine - T. Stratas · R. Scotto · J. Carreras · MET

starring: Teresa Stratas, Josep Carreras, Renata Scotto, Richard Stilwell (III), Allan Monk
directed by: Kirk Browning

Release Date August 04, 1999
I have both of the Metropolitan Opera DVDs of la Boheme and consider this the finer production, Carreras and Stratas are not only vocally excellent they look the part. Renata Scotto is perfect as Musetta. In the other copy she plays Mimi and Pavarotti is Rodolfo. They are just too healthy to be dying of TB or look like a starving playwright. That copy I would rate as 4 stars.

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

Wagner - Siegfried / Levine, Jerusalem, Behrens, Morris, Metropolitan Opera (Levine Ring Cycle Part 3)

starring: Siegfried Jerusalem, Hildegard Behrens, James Morris (IX), Heinz Zednik, Birgitta Svendén
directed by: Brian Large

Release Date November 12, 2002
If you are interested in seeing this by all means buy it and forget those yahoos with their negative reviews. I have the first three operas of the Ring Cycle and hesitated on buying the third because of some of the opinions stated here but it is wonderful. And I will buy the fourth. I watch it on my 37" HDTV and feel like I'm sitting in the first row of the Met and enjoy them all immensely. So a big raspberry to those cynical reviewers and a big hand for Levine and company. You give so much joy.

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

Verdi - Macbeth / Sinopoli, Bruson, Zampieri, Deutsche Oper Berlin

starring: Renato Bruson, Mara Zampieri, James Morris (IX), Dennis O'Neill (II), David Griffith (VIII)
directed by: Brian Large

Release Date April 10, 2001
It is not often that I enjoy watching an opera on DVD from beginning to end, but this one offered truly a unique experience. Filmed during live performances, one has a sense of being part of a live event. The production is somewhat conservative but visually impressive and always stimulating. Sinopoli's conducting is totally electric and one forgives the occasional excursions of the camera away from the stage to the conductor's face which appears to animate everything else. Tragic but not altogether hard to believe that this fascinating conductor would be dead of a heart attack a few years later.

Zampieri - a real comet; she came, dazzled and disappeared. I have no knowledge of any singer who could perform Lady Macbeth like her today.Vocally her performance is stunning. A tight voice, highly ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

Wagner - Die Walkure / Levine, Behrens, Norman, Metropolitan Opera

starring: Hildegard Behrens, James Morris (IX), Jessye Norman, Christa Ludwig, Gary Lakes
directed by: Brian Large

Release Date June 19, 2001
Sieglinde is gloriously sung by Jessye Norman, but perhaps we must accept the heft of her physical presence as a legacy of the old tradition for operatic sopranos, so different from the nubile divas who reign today. James Morris acts well but suffers frequent reproach for being vocally past his prime; however, in this performance i find that he uses the voice he has to excellent effect, with flawless musicianship. The scenery and stage direction are stodgy, but again, this is the old tradition for the Metropolitan Opera, not the theater-savvy regime of its present general director. Deutsche Grammophon's audio and video here are somewhat below the standards of their present-day products, but acceptable.

What is unacceptable are the English subtitles for most of Act 3 (on Disk 2). They are hopelessly ... Read More: