The Opera Gala: Live from Baden-Baden [DVD] [2008] [2007]

You don't have to be an operatic afictionado to like this one. It is, in the main, a succession of popular operatic pieces, some arias, some duets, with a couple of quartets slung in for good measure, and sung by four of today's finest artists. Hear the opening duet, 'Mira, o Norma' from Elina Garanca and Anna Netrebko and you feel that you are in for a treat - and indeed you are. It is almost impossible for me to pick out the best of the performances as all are so good. I suppose if I were asked for my favourites, I would certainly opt for the Norma duet, and then possibly 'Casta Diva' also by Nebtrebko, and the Rigoletto quartet by all four artists, but probably I am only picking these out because they are all particular favourites of mine. Garanca looks gorgeous, first in blue and then red, and Nebtrebko looks equally gorgeous in gold and then silver. I feel I have to mention Netrebko wowing the audience with 'Meine Lippen' from Giudetta. She sings thsi beautifully, and then suddenly kicks off her shoes and shows that she is no mean dancer either. So far I have written about the women. What of the men? Well, Ramon Vargas and Ludovic Tezier are both fine singers. I liked particularly Vargas in the excerpt from Luisa Miller and Tezier singing from Don Carlo. But, as I have already said, there is not a bad performance on this DVD. The orchestra is ably conducted by Marco Armiliato. Another DVD 'The Berlin Concert' issued the year before is of a similar format, and in fact five of the same items appear on both DVDs. However, apart from Netrebko who sings on both, the artists are all different. So go for this, even if you already have the earlier one - you won't be disappointed.

Last year I purchased 2 opera concerts from Germany, each featuring Anna Netrebko. My first purchase was the truly excellent `The Berlin Concert' which was performed at the Waldbuhne open air auditorium. If you only purchase one disc it ought to be that one - absolutely superb! This disc is not quite in that league but it has much to enjoy, nonetheless.There are similarities and also some duplication of the more popular numbers. However, there are sufficient attractions to justify these duplications and this disc also contains a welcome selection of works by Bellini - including Netrebko's Casta Diva from Norma. Gelanca is superb in her rendition of the famous coloratura aria from Rossini's La Cerenentola.Generally speaking Netrebko is a little less coquettish than her performance in the Berlin Concert. From a personal perspective I prefer her less serious mode and the infectious joy that emanated from that performance. However, she does let her hair down when she sings Meine Lippen from Lehar's Giuditta. This performance is simply amazing as she demonstrates that she is a very accomplished dancer as well as a charismatic singer. I'm not sure which performance came first but I also remember a similar dance routine when she sang at a recent Last Night of the Proms. Of the 2 versions this is the one to watch!I disagree with the reviewer who criticised the Video quality. On the Blu-ray disc the video quality is excellent and all the cameras were high definition. Perhaps he bought a standard dvd - not blu-ray? The audio quality is also extremely good. I thoroughly recommend this disc.

I have enjoyed this concert in general terms but found the previous Waldbuhne concert to be even more enjoyable.To my mind this concert suffers from two main problems: The first problem is a fundamental lack of variety in the pacing with a large proportion of slow items. The Waldbuhne concert, by way of example, shows that this need not be the case with far more variety throughout.The other problem for me on this disc is the 'performance' by Tezier. It is important in vocal music for the performer to communicate - with the character being sung to, the audience or both. Tezier does very little of any of these. Throughout his items the camera clearly shows his eyes focussing inwards to himself and not outwards to others. In this important regard I also find the four singers featured on the Waldbuhne concert to have far more interactive personalities both with each other and also with the large open-air audience.Returning to this current disc, all three of the other soloists communicate well with each other as appropriate. My favourite singer on this occasion is Garanca followed closely by Vargas and Netrebko.The orchestra plays well and is sympathetically conducted by Marco Armiliato. The imaging is crisp with good colour rendition. The camera work is supportive of the singers and the music. The sound is good and is presented in DTS-HD 5.1 and stereo.For those who warm to this group of singers and the chosen repertoire this will be a clear 5 star issue although I personally have some reservations as above. For those reasons I will stick to a more cautious 4 stars.