CD-Charts Position 1
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 ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

Puccini - Madama Butterfly

starring: Mirella Freni, Plácido Domingo, Christa Ludwig, Robert Kerns, Michel Sénéchal
directed by: Jean-Pierre Ponnelle

Release Date June 14, 2005
From the David Belasco play to Puccini's opera to Schonberg's Miss Saigon, there are many faces of Madame Butterfly. But none is any more exquisite than that of Mirella Freni-- especially as she sings the near-perfect aria, "Un bel di" and the Flower Song duet with Suzuki. However, Ponnelle, who staged and directed the film version, made Placido Domingo as Lt. Pinkerton a little too caddish for my taste. This version seems to resemble a faded memory that speaks not to the intellect but to the heart. It certainly deserves a place in any opera collection.

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

Mozart - Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro)

starring: Hermann Prey, Mirella Freni, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Kiri Te Kanawa, Maria Ewing
directed by: Jean-Pierre Ponnelle

Release Date June 14, 2005
A strange mix of beautifully performed music and a director's view trying to create a burlesque atmosphere where it does not belong. Conducted by the great classicist conductor and Mozart specialist Karl Bohm and sung by an excellent cast (with some pluses and minuses, of course), this production is worth collecting if you are willing to ignore some of the director's visualizing solutions.

Leading the cast is Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, as always bringing a very nuanced and sophisticated interpretation of the Almaviva role, the likes of which you will not find with others. Every word is emphasized differently, he uses various voice colors and effects to accent the intricacies of Mozart's music. One example is how he darkens "felice un servo ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

Rossini - Il Barbiere di Siviglia

starring: Hermann Prey, Teresa Berganza, Luigi Alva, Enzo Dara, Paolo Montarsolo
directed by: Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, Claudio Abbado

Release Date June 14, 2005
This is a wonderful production. It is obviously not a live performance; this means the singers get a chance to finely hone their singing and acting. Alva is a great actor, and makes his romantic interest shine through in his singing. Berganza also gives depth to her character, and her voice is lovely. This version is my favorite and is full of humour, even in the great choreography.

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

Monteverdi - L'Orfeo

starring: Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Philippe Huttenlocher, Trudeliese Schmidt, Dietlinde Turban, Francisco Araiza
directed by: Jean-Pierre Ponnelle

Release Date March 13, 2007
This version is one of the best orfeos i've ever seen. The scenery and vestuary are gorgeous and the singers are fabulous. Fernando Arauza is marvelous.

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

Rossini - L'Italiana in Algeri

starring: Marilyn Horne, Paolo Montarsolo, Allan Monk, Douglas Ahlstedt, James Levine
directed by: Jean-Pierre Ponnelle

Release Date March 13, 2007
Rossini's "Italian Girl in Algeria," which premiered in Venice in 1813, is simply a shocking vestige of unenlightended ethno-religio-political denigration of our fellow monotheists, the Mahometans of the 'corsair' states of North Africa, the descendents of highly cultured and scientifically advanced preservers of ancient Greek wisdom and true founders of everything worth smelling in Europe after its looong Dark Ages, ahem! The Turkish Bey of Algiers, a distinguished civil leader of the Ottoman Empire, is portrayed first as a rapacious tyrant and then shown degenerating into a hapless simpleton, slave to his passion for a captive Italian feminist. The fact that basso Paolo Montarsolo sings and acts this egregious role with utterly dazzling vocal technique and side-splitting ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 7
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 8
Average Rating:

Mozart - Idomeneo (remastered)

starring: Luciano Pavarotti, Hildegard Behrens, Frederica von Stade, Ileana Cotrubas, John Alexander
directed by: Jean-Pierre Ponnelle

Release Date April 11, 2006
Ever since the passing of the Pav, I have been obtaining as many of his outstanding performances on DVD that I can. This one is absolutely superb!

Am still looking for his La Fille du Regiment with Sutherland and not finding it.

But, this DVD I can highly recommend for opera lovers and Pavarotti lovers.

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

Mozart - La Clemenza di Tito / Tatiana Troyanos, Eric Tappy, Carol Neblett, Catherine Malfitano, Kurt Rydl, James Levine

starring: Eric Tappy, Tatiana Troyanos, Carol Neblett, Anne Howells, Kurt Rydl
directed by: Jean-Pierre Ponnelle

Release Date April 11, 2006
The main reason I purchased this video was for the collection I am making for all Tatiana Troyanos' work. She died of ovarian cancer in 1993 and is greatly missed. Her artistry should be held up along with Enrico Caruso, Maria Callas and Luciano Pavarotti.

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

Mozart - Cosi fan Tutte

starring: Edita Gruberova, Delores Ziegler, Teresa Stratas, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Luis Lima
directed by: Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, Nikolaus Harnoncourt

Release Date May 09, 2006
Mozart - Cosi fan TutteWhen I decide to get a DVD I always read the reviews and I am glad that I select this version for this opera.
Sometimes,when you see an opera very far from the stage you don't see much of the acting, but with the DVD production this is very important as also the singing ,for this particular performance It is very convincing.
This is a very beautiful video.