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• Masters of Cinema - Judex/Nuits Rouges | DVD | (25/08/2008) from £39.79   |  Saving you £-14.80 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Judex (1963): The magical rarely seen Judex directed by the great Georges Franju (Eyes Without a Face) was largely unappreciated at the time of its release in 1963. This lyrical and dreamlike picture a putative remake of Louis Feuillade's own 1916 Judex is as evocative of the silent master's own works as it is the later films of Jean Cocteau and Salvador Dali. A French reviewer wrote in 1963: The whole of Judex reminds us that film is a privileged medium for the expression of poetic magic. Starring the magician Channing Pollock the divine Edith Scob and the mesmerising Francine Berg'' Judex concerns a wicked banker his helpless daughter and a mysterious avenger. It plays like a fairy tale one in which Franju creates a dazzling clash between good and evil eschewing interest in the psychological aspects of his characters for unexplained twists and turns in the action. The beautifully controlled imagery superbly rendered by Marcel Fradetal's black-against-white photography animates a natural world and the spirits of animals all at war with a host of diabolical forces. Franju's Judex and Nuits Rouges both paid overt homage to the surreal silent serial-works of Feuillade. Scripted in collaboration with Feuillade's grandson Jacques Champreux these films evince the same poetic magic that made the art of that earlier master a cause c''l''bre not only for the Surrealist movement but also for the world renowned Cin''math''que Fran''aise. It was the Cin''math''que (co-founded by the legendary Henri Langlois with Franju) that helped resurrect the reputation of Feuillade decades after he'd slipped out of the public consciousness. Nuits Rouges (1973): Nuits Rouges [Red Nights] released in the UK as Shadowman was the second Franju Champreux meditation upon the films of Feuillade. It aggressively escalates a pulp atmosphere steeped in shocking turns of events to an even more vertiginous level. Here the object of pursuit is the fabled treasure of the mythical order of the Knights Templar which the filmmakers use as the jump-off point for staging a series of fantastic set-pieces. As the Fant''mas-esque arch-criminal (known only as The Man Without a Face played by Jacques Champreux himself) violently pursues the treasure the action intensifies amongst a cadre of post '68 bohemians the Paris police bureau and a cult of cowled conspirators. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Georges Franju's two most mindbending films on DVD in the UK for the first time.

• Rodelinda - Glyndebourne Festival Opera | DVD | (05/09/2005) from £35.79   |  Saving you £-17.80 (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Handel wrote his Italian opera Rodelinda at the height of his musical powers and it is considered to be one of his greatest with music of astonishing power and beauty. This highly praised production filmed in 1998 was the first ever staging of a Handel opera by the Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Jean-Marie Villegier's stylish production sets Handel's tale of royal exile and fidelity in the silent movie era. Starring Anna Caterina Antonacci in a glamorous portrayal of Rodelinda an

• The Medium - Menotti | DVD | (30/08/2002) from £31.22   |  Saving you £-6.97 (N/A%)   |  RRP £22.99

  Menotti - The Medium (Schippers Powers Alberghetti Dame)

• Macbeth - Verdi | DVD | (29/08/2005) from £34.55   |  Saving you £-4.56 (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Carlos Alvarez takes the title role in the first of Verdi's Shakespearean operas with Maria Guleghina as the manipulative wife whose desire to gain the Scottish throne drives her husband to murder and leaves both with blood on their hands. Bruno Campanella conducts the Symphony Orchestra and Chorus of the Gran Teatre del Liceu in the 2004 recording of Phyllida Lloyd's powerful production first staged at London's Royal Opera House.

• Die Fledermaus - Johann Strauss | DVD | (06/12/2004) from £33.73   |  Saving you £-8.74 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Strauss: Die Fledermaus (2 Discs)

• Il Barbiere Di Siviglia | DVD | (17/04/2003) from £33.73   |  Saving you £-8.74 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Mozart - Il Barbiere Di Siviglia (Bartoli Kuebler)

• Beatrice Di Tenda - Bellini | DVD | (29/09/2003) from £35.81   |  Saving you £-5.82 (-19.40%)   |  RRP £29.99

  A performance of Bellini's Beatrice Di Tenda which tells a story of unrequited love. The Zurich Orchestra and Chorus are conducted by Marcello Viotti.

• Offenbach: La Belle Helene -- Zurich/Harnoncourt | DVD | (25/09/2000) from £34.31   |  Saving you £-9.32 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Offenbach's operetta La Belle Hélene, which pokes fun at the Parisian upper class of a century and a half ago through tales of ancient Greece, requires a leap of imagination on behalf of today's audience that this production only partly succeeds in reconciling. On musical grounds we're on sure footing. Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducts the chorus and orchestra of the Zurich Opera House with his customary flair for precise and taut rhythms and an appreciation of the composer's wit and the good tunes that are a-plenty. His multi-national cast headed by Vesselina Kasarova as Helen of Troy and Deon van der Walt as her lover Paris are excellent and among the smaller parts there's a lively and stylish performance from Liliana Nichiteanus as Oreste. The video direction by Hartmut Schroder and the superb sound obtained from the relatively intimate Zurich Opera House, a delightful setting for this operetta, are further assets. The production alas is unenlightening and perpetrates an over-the-top style that seems to be synonymous with Offenbach. The backdrop, a pink concave awning is hideous. The costumes by designer Jean-Charles de Castelibajac are silly: Paris is dressed in lederhosen and looks a twerp, Calchac, the high priest wears a Ku Klux Klan hat and Helen at one point looks as though she'll take to absailing. Kasarova suggests the lure of Helen in her voice but a beauty she's not. So it's left to Harnoncourt who joins the company at the curtain call with a twinkle in his eye and a nifty side step and his superb orchestra to remind us what might have been. --Adrian Edwards

• La Traviata | DVD | (31/01/2003) from £34.18   |  Saving you £-7.93 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The role of Violetta in la Traviata is one which Verdi might well have composed with Anna Moffo in mind. Possessing a singular beauty of voice and appearance the soprano succeeds brilliantly in fulfilling the composer's difficult musical and dramatic demands. It is especially fortunate that Miss Moffo's celebrated portrayal has been captured in Mrio Lanfranchi's cinematic treatment a sumptuously beautiful and emotionally powerful film.

• Die Zauberflote - Mozart | DVD | (29/08/2005) from £40.48   |  Saving you £-10.49 (-35.00%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's expert direction of this Mozart masterpiece from the 1982 Salzburg Festival provides a feast of colour drama and wit featuring the supreme talents of Edita Gruberova Ileana Cotrubas and Peter Schreier with James Levine at the podium.This production of Mozart's Magic Flute from the Salzburg Festival received enormous and unanimous approval when it was premiered in Salzburg on July 29 1978. Endless applause on the night and an unusual state of accord from the international press quickly gave this staging legendary status with each soloist receiving individual acclaim.Recorded live at the Felsenreitschule Salzberg 21 August 1982.

• Donizetti: Lucrezia Borgia | DVD | (22/04/2002) from £37.78   |  Saving you £-2.79 (-8.00%)   |  RRP £34.99

  A 1980 Royal Opera House production of Donizetti's opera. Conducted by Richard Bonynge and directed by John Copley.

• Aida | DVD | (21/05/2004) from £34.55   |  Saving you £-4.56 (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Daniela Dessi Elisabetta Fiorillo Fabio Armiliato Juan Pons and Roberto Scandiuzzi lead the cast in the renowned period production filmed in 2003 against the historic paper trompe-l'oeil sets painted between 1936-45 by Josep Mestres Cabanes the last representative of the old Catalan school of stenography.

• Parsifal - Wagner | DVD | (29/03/2005) from £41.65   |  Saving you £-5.40 (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Nikolaus Lehnoff's visionary staging of Wagner's opera for ENO.

• Berg: Wozzeck | DVD | (15/11/2001) from £34.31   |  Saving you £-9.32 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The bleakness of Berg's operatic masterpiece Wozzeck is relatively easy to bring off: the plot, after all, tells of a man who is bullied, cuckolded and mocked by the society around him. What are harder to realise are the gallows humour and pitch-black comedy--and it's those qualities, along with the brilliant acting and edge-of-seat orchestral playing, that make this 1987 Vienna Staatsoper staging a stunning televisual operatic production. Everything works: the simple yet evocative sets translate effortlessly to the small screen, the pacing of the 15 short scenes is worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster and the singing is beautifully focussed. Baritone Franz Grundheber is vocally and dramatically outstanding as Wozzeck, cringing and shuffling around the stage in a bewildered hang-dog manner and yet never losing sight of the character's humanity. Hildegard Behrens (Marie) has rarely sounded better, and switches between Straussian lushness and spiky sluttishness with ease. The direction is also full of wonderful touches, such as Wozzeck squeezing the Captain's nose while he's shaving him (and making his voice sound like a kazoo), and the musicians of the on-stage band being fully integrated into the tavern scene. Ironic, emotionally rich, musically faultless--this one's got it all. On the DVD: the production works beautifully on DVD, and bar one or two moments in the second tavern scene (Act 3, Scene 3) the voices rarely move out of microphone range. There are subtitles in English, German, French and Spanish and four trailers for other Arthaus DVD operas, but no other special features. --Warwick Thomson

• The Reichsorchester - the Berlin Philharmonic | DVD | (28/01/2008) from £39.77   |  Saving you £-19.78 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  From the years 1933 to 1945, financed by the German Reich and answerable directly to the Reich Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda, the Berlin Philharmonic was not only Germany's flagship orchestra; it also became an ambassador for the National Socialist regime, particularly on foreign tours.First-hand accounts delivered by contemporary witnesses, as well as a wealth of previously unevaluated archive material, provide a highly authentic glimpse into the period under the swastika.

• Paisiello: Nina | DVD | (19/05/2003) from £33.21   |  Saving you £-8.22 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Live recording of Giovanni Paisiello's opera 'Nina' which follows the tale of a woman traumatised by the death her lover Lindoro.

• Vincenzo Bellini - Norma | DVD | (28/08/2006) from £32.38   |  Saving you £-2.39 (-8.00%)   |  RRP £29.99

  In Guy Joosten's ingenious production of Bellini's masterpiece, Norma is about more than just beautiful singing. It becomes a layered, timeless drama in which Norma is the archetypal successful woman struggling to retain her dominant but vulnerable position. Hasmik Papian's lyrical and intense interpretation of the title role accentuates the striking similarity between a Druid high priestess and a modern opera diva. Conductor Julian Reynolds guides the brilliant cast, choir and Netherlands Chamber Orchestra to great heights, providing a refreshing new take on the chef d'oeuvre of bel canto.

• Khovanshchina | DVD | (29/03/2004) from £36.43   |  Saving you £-6.44 (-21.50%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Modest Mussorgsky's opera 'Khovanshchina' performed by the Vienna State Opera and Chorus and the Slovak Philharmonic Chorus from Bratislava; conducted by Claudio Abbado.

• Verdi: Falstaff -- Royal Opera House | DVD | (20/11/2000) from £30.24   |  Saving you £-5.25 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  This Graham Vicks production of Falstaff opened the new Covent Garden Royal Opera House, but was not to everybody's taste; the garish primary colours of the costumes, especially Falstaff's unusually hideous get-ups, go several steps beyond the Breughelian effect Vicks intended. The staging is effective--the complicated counterpoint of the ensembles is reflected in unobtrusive blocking that keeps the vocal lines clear and separate, especially in the final fugue. Bryn Terfel's Falstaff is a memorable creation, self-mocking and self-aggrandising at the same time--so much so, in fact, that he almost does not need the vast prosthetic body he has to wear for the part. Desiree Rancatore is an admirably sweet-toned Nanetta; Bernadette Manca di Nissa an appropriately sardonic Mistress Quickly; Roberto Frontali as Ford, in his Act 2 scena, perfectly distils and parodies every jealousy aria ever written, including Verdi's own. Haitink's conducting is exemplary in the lyrical passages, and gets almost everything out of the fast and furious comic sections. --Roz KaveneyOn the DVD: The disc comes with act introductions by James Naughtie, interviews with Haitink, Terfel and Graham Vicks and a documentary about the reaction of the stage-hands to the new building. It has scene selection and subtitles in English. --Roz Kaveney

• War And Peace - Prokofiev | DVD | (01/04/2004) from £32.38   |  Saving you £-2.39 (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  A performance of Prokofiev's opera at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. Valery Gergiev conducts the Kirov Opera Orchestra. Sung in Russian.