CD-Charts Position 1
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, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

Wagner - Tristan und Isolde

starring: Daniel Barenboim, Johanna Meier, Rene Kollo, Matti Salminen, Hanna Schwarz
directed by: Jean-Pierre Ponnelle

Release Date August 14, 2007
Having heard and read so much praise I expected much more from the Ponnelle/Barenboim "Tristan und Isolde" from the Bayreuth Festival of 1981. For one thing, the DVD's video quality is extremely disappointing. Darkness is extremely grainy. Even bleeding most of the color out the video, the quality is that of early VHS which is not good.

Ponnelle's direction and designs are overly quirky and the sets are extremely ugly looking. The opening scene with Isolde on the floor with a cape spreading out covering most of the stage and wearing a ridiculous looking crown (which she rips up after the Narration and Curse) set the tone for most of the balance of the performance, which is a series of misfires better known as opera singers behaving badly. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

Wagner - Parsifal

starring: Siegfried Jerusalem, Bernd Weikl, Eva Randova, Hans Sotin, Leif Roar
directed by: Horst Stein

Release Date September 11, 2007
The visuals overall are excellent. So is the conducting. If you're only going to see Parsifal once, this is a good one. With two caveats I describe below.

Siegfried Jerusalem is not nearly as bad here as he was later in the same role and also as Siegfried. I actually enjoyed watching him this time. His shiny, almost brassy top suits him well in this role. And you don't need to be big and loud to play it convincingly, his violence all takes place off stage.

There are two great vocalists in the cast and they are Hans Sotin and Matti Salminen. Each a world-class demonstration example of a very different type of bass. Sotin purrs with extraordinary lightness and depth, like a cello but richer, and Salminen booms like the biggest ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

Mozart - Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute)

starring: Matti Salminen, Julia Kleiter, Christoph Strehl, Ruben Drole, Eva Liebau
directed by: Martin Kusej, Nikolaus Harnoncourt

Release Date February 12, 2008
As one who owns 15 different interpretations of this opera I find this one musically the best. Iagree with everything everyone else has said including the fact that Harnoncourt is the supreme star of the performance ... his interpretation of the music is ... in my opinion ... prerfection.

BUT there is one exception I have to make in my review ... THE THREE BOYS ... they were the VERY BEST EVER!!!! No one has eulogised over their stunning performances.

Each of their three very different voices blends to give a sublime harmony culminating in the sublime quartet contrasting with the female soprano of Parmina.

Buy this and you will never listen to any other interpretation. It would be wonderful to have a CD version of this

David ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

Monteverdi - L'Orfeo, L'Incoronazione di Poppea, Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria (Boxset)

starring: Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Trudeliese Schmidt, Eric Tappy, Rachel Yakar, Matti Salminen
directed by: Jean-Pierre Ponnelle

Release Date March 13, 2007
Of all the operas that Claudio Monteverdi wrote, only three survive. In the late 1970s the Zurich Opera performed all three, staged by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, directed by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. They were filmed and later shown on PBS. I had all three on Betamax tape ... but no longer have a Betamax player. Finally, they have come out on DVD.

I can't praise these productions highly enough. Musically and dramatically they are at the top of the tree. Particularly memorable are the performances of Philippe Huttenlocher in ORFEO, Paul Esswood and Alexander Oliver in POPPEA, Werner Hollweg, Simon Estes, and Arley Reece in ULISSE. But the moments that I looked forward to the most, as I finally slid the DVD into my computer, were some of Ponnelle's bits of "business," as ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
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 7
Average Rating:

Mozart - Die Zauberflote

starring: Dorothea Roschmann, Piotr Beczala, Matti Salminen, Desiree Rancatore, Uwe Peper
directed by: Benno Besson

Release Date November 20, 2007
I was intrigued about the references to special effects in the two reviews already posted and, as these are features I like to see in movies as well as opera I decided to go ahead and get this version of The Magic Flute. I have had the version from The Metropolitan Opera House for many years and acquired the Covent Garden version as soon as it became available. It immediately became a great favorite of mine and I was impressed by the performances of Simon Keenlyside, Dorothea Roschmann and none more so that Diana Damrau as the Queen of the Night.
I have had the opportunity to view this latest version several times and think that in almost all respects it is a more interesting and enjoyable interpretation to see. I love the clarity of the orchestra, the clever and artistic stage-sets, the special ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

Wagner - Der Fliegende Holländer

starring: Simon Estes, Matti Salminen, Lisbeth Balslev, Graham Clark, Anny Schlemm
directed by: Woldemar Nelsson, Harry Kupfer

Release Date June 14, 2005
This performance should be titled: "The Story of the Sea Captain Who Sells his Daughter."

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

Wagner - Der Ring des Nibelungen / Pierre Boulez, Bayreuth Opera (Complete Ring Cycle, Parts 1-4)

starring: Peter Hofmann (II), Matti Salminen, Elisabeth Glauser, Marga Schiml, Carmen Reppel
directed by: Brian Large

Release Date October 11, 2005
This Bayreuth centennial production of Wagner's Ring is historically one of the most celebrated and scandalous in the entire history of the festival. It's strengths and weaknesses have been well documented for over thirty years, from the controversial staging by a young filmmaker to the consistancy (or lack of) of the cast.

Although the cast is a group of some of the best Wagnerians at time, it is sometimes painfully obvious that not every generation has a Nilsson/Flagstad/Melchior caliber of singer, but over all the music is served well. Gwyneth Jones in particle was inconsitant vocally, her upper register at times sounding worn, flapping in the breeze uncontrollably. On a good day however, she could sing like an absolute goddess. Here she is NOT a goddess, but her high notes don't flap either....at ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

Ambush

starring: Peter Franzén, Irina Björklund, Kari Heiskanen, Taisto Reimaluoto, Kari Väänänen
directed by: Olli Saarela

Release Date April 23, 2002
In ordering this movie, I was hoping to see something in the scale of "Cold War". That expectation was soon to be misconceived as the movie's opening 15 minutes was much less than expected. "A big sweeping war Epic" it was not. "Packed with rousing battle scenes" hmmm..No!! The only large battle scene, if you could call it that, was at the end.

The movie was however well shot and well acted. It was let down by the weak plot and very average attempt at portraying the Finnish Army struggle against a superior numbered force. It showed nothing of the expertise of Finnish troops defending their own country and there knowledge of local terrain that was a distinct tactical advantage to them against the Russians.

I was not impressed with this movie, it could have been so much more.