CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

Bernstein: Candide

starring: Jerry Hadley, June Anderson, Christa Ludwig, Adolph Green, Nicolai Gedda
directed by: Leonard Bernstein, Humphrey Burton

Release Date October 10, 2006
Bernstein died shortly after this Candide was recorded in London, and it's as if the old master has put everything that made him really good into this - humor (especially the jokes about himself are nice), integrity, and, especially, passion. The music's great too, but the extra treat is the introduction he gives. Absolutely great.

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

Krystian Zimerman: Chopin/Schubert

starring: Krystian Zimerman
directed by: Humphrey Burton, Horant H. Hohlfeld

Release Date August 12, 2008
Krystian Zimerman interpretations of these pieces are simply superlative and unique, I really wanted to watch this recital for so long, I knew Deutsche Grammophon Japan released this DVD some years ago but I could not find it at that time, now that it has just been re-released I am so happy I could finally add this fantastic performance to my collection.
The film is beautifully done with perfectly chosen camera angles and is a real pleasure to watch, the audio is perfect (DTS 5.1) and the picture quality is very good indeed (the recital took place in 1987), believe me that this DVD is an instant classic in every piano DVD collection.
This is the first time I see Krystian Zimerman playing on video, I was expecting a great recital but this ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

Johann Strauss - Die Fledermaus / Domingo, Te Kanawa, Prey, Royal Opera Covent Garden

starring: Kiri Te Kanawa, Hermann Prey, Dennis O'Neill (II), Hildegard Heichele, Paul Crook
directed by: Humphrey Burton

Release Date October 14, 2003
Although the performance dates from the 1980s the DVD is visually and technically quite satisfactory. The DVD I ordered suffered from two or three brief interruptions. It was a gift to a relative and I wasn't able to determine whether the problem was with the disc or the player. The performances were all first-rate. Domingo took the orchestra at a very fast clip in the more "technical" portions of the Overture, but it was musically still quite appropriate. I particularly enjoyed the occasions where the spoken dialog switched over briefly to English. The ad libed "entertainment" at Prince Orlovsky's party was very good, but I've seen better. It was a bit inclined for a British audience.

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

Berg - Lulu / Davis, Schafer, Bailey, Kuebler, Harries, Schone, Bardon, Glyndebourne

starring: Christine Schäfer, Kathryn Harries, Neil Jenkins, Donald Maxwell, Jonathan Veira
directed by: Graham Vick (II), Humphrey Burton

Release Date January 13, 2004
Just a word for other folks who watch opera as they do operetta or Broadway musicals, for the gratification of the thing in itself. Deeper meanings, musical technicalities, the place of this opera in the history of opera, are all significant attributes...but not for us.
Having just finished watching this version of Lulu, I would say that the story is hackneyed, the setting design at best doesn't help the production, there was some weakness in the initial singing of the lead, but, when all is said and done, it was a gripping production marked by excellent performances which, as I suggested, seemed to suffer little from the ambiance of the set.
I would not argue for or against the musical commitments of Berg, by now you will know whether you ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

Verdi - La Traviata / Gheorghiu, Lopardo, Nucci, Solti, Covent Garden (Special Edition with Highlights CD)

starring: Angela Gheorghiu, Frank Lopardo, Leo Nucci, Leah-Marian Jones, Gillian Knight
directed by: Humphrey Burton, Peter Maniura

Release Date June 14, 2005
I was hoping for the definitive Traviata and was disappointed. Angela Gheorghiu is an excellent actress, and she more than looks the part. But this is not just a drama, but an opera. She has a naturally beautiful voice, but she has a too-fast, nervous vibrato which bothered me throughout the film. I thought she might settle down, but it was worse in the death scene than in the beginning. She also has the bad habit of opening her mouth too wide on some vowels--I don't mean on the top notes, but on middle tones. This sometimes makes her singing somewhat uncomfortable to watch.
I have always liked Frank Lopardo, but he was not in particularly good voice the night of this recording.
Leo Nucci, sadly, was simply past his prime and sounded it. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

A Gala Christmas in Vienna

starring: Plácido Domingo, Sarah Brightman, Helmut Lotti, Richard Cocciante, Stephen Mercurio
directed by: Humphrey Burton

Release Date November 24, 1998
Sorry, all you negative reviewers out there, but for MY money LOTTI, COCCIANTE and conductor MERCURIO present themselves as THREE COOL DUDES, along with DOMINGO and BRIGHTMAN as frosting on the (Christmas) cake! A command performance, one and all. (The kid's choir, charming in its scrubbed innocence, ain't bad either.) Buy it!

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

Bernstein in Paris: Berlioz Requiem

starring: Leonard Bernstein
directed by: Humphrey Burton

Release Date March 28, 2006
At long last Kultur has released on DVD this 1975 film of the Grande Messe des morts as performed in Les Invalides, Paris, by combined orchestras and choruses under the direction of Leonard Bernstein. The film has not been digitally remastered, which is a shame, but all in all this is the best of the (few) DVD versions ever released and it ranks among the best of all the recorded versions of this massive yet transparent masterpiece by Hector Berlioz. Indeed, Bernstein led the same forces in a post-concert recording that has been brilliantly remastered and available in several SONY CD releases. I wouldn't be without either the DVD or the CD version.

Leonard Bernstein's highly energetic, passionate manner of conducting was often criticized as being over the ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

Monteverdi - Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria / William Christie, Les Arts Florissants, Adrian Noble (Aix-en-Provence Festival)

starring: Kresimir Spicer, Marijana Mijanovic, Cyril Auvity, Joseph Cornwell, Bertrand Bontoux
directed by: Humphrey Burton, Adrian Noble

Release Date February 24, 2004
LAF and William Christie always perform very good .
Marvellous staging and singers !!!!

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

Mozart - Requiem

starring: Arleen Augér, Cecilia Bartoli, Vinson Cole, René Pape, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
directed by: Georg Solti, Humphrey Burton

Release Date June 15, 2004
This is a great performance in which one can see the smoothness of the sound flowing from the smoothness of Solti's motion.

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

The Leonard Bernstein Concert Boxed Set

starring: Leonard Bernstein, Gwyneth Jones, James King (IV), Shirley Verrett, Lucia Popp
directed by: Humphrey Burton

Release Date October 25, 2005
As I went through music school in the eary fifties I was confronted with "Lenny". Now at 72 I still have this pleasure. There are people in the NYP that are legendary as are the performances. This set will give me a huge amount of pleasure for what ever time I have left. It is a wonderful historical document but most of all a tribute-legacy that people will be wondering about many years in the future. Bob Allshouse from the Dana school of Music 1952-57