Naxos Audiovisual Division September 2022

Of our seven new audiovisual releases this month, three are devoted to Italian operatic masterpieces by Monteverdi, Cilea and Verdi, while drama (in German) from Deutsches Theater Berlin’s production of Schiller’s Maria Stuart contrasts with The Royal Shakespeare Company’s presentation of the Bard’s comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor. The Royal Ballet showcases the dazzling talent of principal dancer Vadim Muntagirov, and Ariane Mnouchkine’s iconic film Molière is resurrected in both DVD and Blu-ray formats to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the French playwright’s birth.


2.110733 (DVD)
[Naxos]

Claudio MONTEVERDI (1567–1643)
L’Orfeo
Favola in musica in five acts and a prologue
Libretto by Alessandro Striggio

Luciana Mancini, Marianne Beate Kielland, Mezzo-sopranos
Sara Mingardo, Contralto • Salvo Vitale, Bass
Marc Mauillon, Furio Zanasi, Baritones
La Capella Reial de Catalunya • Le Concert des Nations
Jordi Savall, Conductor • Pauline Bayle, Stage director

Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo was premiered in 1607 and is the oldest opera still performed today. The narrative is based on the Greek legend of Orpheus who, armed only with the weapons of music and love, descends into Hades in an attempt to bring his lost bride Eurydice back to the living world. The opera’s dramatic power is brought to life in this acclaimed production conducted by the great Monteverdi expert and interpreter Jordi Savall. Filmed at the Opéra Comique in Paris L’Orfeo features a virtuoso cast with the service of text and music always at its core.

Also available in Blu-ray Video (NBD0152V)


2.110737 (DVD)
[Naxos]

Francesco CILEA (1866–1950)
Adriana Lecouvreur
Opera in four acts
Libretto by Arturo Colautti
based on Adrienne Lecouvreur
by Eugène Scribe and Ernest-Wilfrid Legouvé

Maria José Siri, Soprano • Ksenia Dudnikova, Mezzo-soprano
Martin Muehle, Paolo Antognetti, Tenors
Alessandro Spina, Bass • Nicola Alaimo, Baritone
Orchestra e Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino
Daniel Harding, Conductor • Frederic Wake-Walker, Stage director

Francesco Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur was inspired by the real-life story of a celebrated actress at the Comédie-Française who was much admired by Voltaire. Hailed as a masterpiece, the opera was triumphantly staged in cities around the world after its premiere in 1902. The dramatically effective narrative is a passionate love triangle filled with intrigue and complicated plot twists set in the gallant 18th century. Its subtle ironies and gorgeous cantabile style of music provide a perfect vehicle for the star cast in this stunning production from the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

Also available in Blu-ray Video (NBD0153V)


DYN-37937 (DVD)
[Dynamic]

Giuseppe VERDI (1813–1901)
Gustavo III
(Un Ballo in Maschera)
Melodramma in three acts – Libretto by Antonio Somma

Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini
Coro del Teatro Regio di Parma
Roberto Abbado, Conductor • Jacopo Spirei, Director on a project by Graham Vick

The composition of Un Ballo in Maschera caused Verdi many problems. What began as an opera called Gustavo III was subject to censorship by the Neapolitan and Roman authorities, so its libretto, location and title all changed. The subject, however, is still the murder of Riccardo (Gustavo) at the masked ball, couched in a musical language in which the seriousness of Italian opera is infused with French vivacity. The opera’s structure is carefully symmetrical in the great terzets, and the themes of duty, pleasure, drama and humour are rendered with masterful clarity.

Also available in Blu-ray Video (57937),
Disc and Streaming (CDS7937.03)


OA1353D (DVD)
[Opus Arte]

William SHAKESPEARE (1564–1616)
The Merry Wives of Windsor

Hedydd Dylan • Sarah Finigan • Bryony Hannah • Richard Katz
Joshua Lacey • Forbes Masson • Anne Odeke • Jude Owusu
Pearce Quigley • Anita Reynolds • Boadicea Ricketts • Dickon Tyrrell • Zach Wyatt
Elle While, Director

Double-meanings, disguises and dirty laundry abound as Sir John Falstaff sets about improving his financial situation by wooing Mistress Page and Mistress Ford. But the ‘Merry Wives’ quickly cotton on to his tricks and decide to have a bit of fun of their own at Falstaff’s expense…

The Merry Wives of Windsor is the only comedy that Shakespeare set in his native land. Drawing influences from British 1930s fashion, music and dance, this production celebrates women, the power and beauty of nature, and with its witty mix of verbal and physical humour, rejoices in a tradition that reaches right down to the contemporary English sitcom.

Directed by Elle While (Hamlet, As You Like It), this production stars Olivier Award⁠-⁠nominated Bryony Hannah (Call the Midwife, The Children’s Hour) as Mistress Ford, Sarah Finigan (Suffragette, Upstart Crow, Globe on Tour) as Mistress Page, and Pearce Quigley (Detectorists, Hamlet, As You Like It) as Falstaff. The Windsor Locals appear courtesy of Soldiers’ Arts Academy, London Bubble and Clean Break.

Spoken in Shakespeare’s English.


OA1359BD [4-DVD Boxed Set]
[Opus Arte]

The Art of Vadim Muntagirov

The Royal Ballet
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840–1893)
The Sleeping Beauty

Marianela Nuñez • Vadim Muntagirov • Kristen McNally • Claire Calvert
Koen Kessels, Conductor • Marius Petipa, Director

Jules MASSENET (1842–1912)
Manon

Sarah Lamb • Vadim Muntagirov
Martin Yates, Conductor • Kenneth MacMillan, Director

Léo DELIBES (1836–1891)
Coppélia

Marianela Nuñez • Vadim Muntagirov • Gary Avis • Christopher Saunders
Barry Wordsworth, Conductor • Ninette de Valois, Director

Adolphe ADAM (1803–1856)
Giselle

Marianela Nuñez • Vadim Muntagirov • Itzia Mendizabal
Barry Wordsworth, Conductor • Marius Petipa, Director

One of the finest dancers of his generation, Vadim Muntagirov has twice won the Best Male Dancer at the Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards as well as Dance Europe’s Outstanding Dancer Award and the prestigious Benois de la danse.

Since joining The Royal Ballet in 2014, he has excelled in many of ballet’s most celebrated lead roles, as well as proving his skills as a sensitive partner to some of The Royal Ballet’s most revered stars. This special collection brings together four of his most show-stopping performances.

In The Sleeping Beauty, Muntagirov’s elegant classicism shines as Prince Florimund, and in Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon, his heartfelt characterisation brings eloquent depth to the impassioned pas de deux between Manon and Des Grieux. Described as ‘technically thrilling’ (The Guardian), Muntagirov’s performance as Count Albrecht makes the quintessential Romantic ballet Giselle powerfully resonant today. In delightful contrast, his cheeky performance in Coppélia reveals a wonderful flair for comedy.

Also available in Blu-ray Video (OABD7306BD)


THE08078 (DVD)
[Die Theater Edition]

Friedrich von SCHILLER (1759–1805)
Maria Stuart
Staged by Anne Lenk

Judith Oswald • Sibylle Wallum • Camill Jammal • Cornelia Gloth • David Heiligers
Julia Windischbauer • Franziska Machens • Enno Trebs • Alexander Khuon
Jörg Pose • Caner Sunar • Paul Grill • Jeremy Mockridge
Andreas Morell, TV Director

Mary, Queen of Scots, is taken prisoner and sentenced to death by her cousin, the Queen of England. But Mary remains a figure of light even inside her prison cell. She is able to count on her loyal followers. The result is an intrigue woven into the male-dominated fabric of politics and religion in which the protagonists are caught between love and the desire for power: a blame game couched in impressively clear language.


BAC703 (DVD)
[BelAir Classiques]

René CLEMENCIC (1928–2022)
Molière
A film by the Théâtre du Soleil
Written and directed by Ariane Mnouchkine

Philippe Caubère • Joséphine Derenne • Brigitte Catillon • Claude Merlin
Jean-Claude Bourbault • Françoise Jamet • Marie-Françoise Audollent • Louba Guertchikoff
Serge Coursan • Daïna Lavarenne • Lucia Bensasson • Nicole Félix
Rémy Charpentier • Norbert Journo • Clémence Massart • Jonathan Sutton
Armand Delcampe • Odile Cointepas • Jean Dasté • Jean-Claude Penchenat • Roger Planchon

With 120 actors, 600 participants, 1300 costumes, 220 sets and after two years of work, this film tells the fascinating story of Molière, and of his century, in four hours. How did this young boy, born in 1622 to an upholsterer and a loving mother that he was to loose too soon, become the prodigious actor, and univerally acclaimed author so well, and yet so little known? From his childhood to his death, we follow Molière and his travelling companions, in their joy, misery and glory throughout a savage yet refined XVIIth century France, sharing their first theatrical adventures, their successes and failures, their valiant struggles and moments of cowardice.

This familiar and spectacular saga where the devout clash with the libertine, and famished peasants with wigged courtesans, is about the life of an honest man who exhausts himself in an unceasing struggle to practise his art in a century filled with repression and violent hypocrisy.

Also available in Blu-ray Video (BAC803)



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