"Actor: Australian Opera Chorus"

• Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor | DVD | (15/10/2001) from £33.73   |  Saving you £-8.74 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  In the annuals of music history Joan Sutherland's name will always be inextricably linked with the tragic heroine of Donizetti's dark romantic opera. It was the role which catapulted her to international stardom in 1959 and remained the perfect showcase for her remarkable vocal agility and acting ability throughout her career.

• La Boheme | DVD | (17/04/2003) from £23.25   |  Saving you £1.74 (7.48%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Recorded live at the Sydney Opera house this Australian Opera Production of Puccini's masterpiece was staged by the makers of the film 'Strictly Ballroom' with music under the direction of Julian Smith.

• Verdi: Il Trovatore -- Opera Australia | DVD | (05/06/2002) from £22.89   |  Saving you £2.10 (9.17%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Il Trovatore, Verdi's 1853 maelstrom of passion, infanticide, double-crossing and revenge, would be a mightily gamy affair if it didn't contain some of his finest arias, a cracker of a tenor's role and one of opera's most powerfully-written characters in the old gypsy woman, Azucena. Although Joan Sutherland, who plays the self-sacrificing lady-in-waiting Leonora in this 1983 Australia Opera production at Sydney Opera House, is the headline star, in truth the supreme assets of this recording are mezzo-soprano Lauris Elms' Azucena, a beautifully sung performance of haunted, wild-eyed sadness; and Sydney Nolan's wonderfully infernal sets, all purple and burnt ochre with suggestions of distorted faces. Sutherland came late to a part which allowed her to sing up a storm without taxing her rather stolid acting style. Her husband and musical director Richard Bonynge gives her the space to unleash some of Verdi's most fluidly opulent melodies--"D'amor sull'ali rosee" is a case in point--whose beauty is often at odds with the underlying horrors of the tale, based on a rather dodgy Spanish melodrama by Gutierrez. Sutherland has strong support from tenor Kenneth Collins as the doomed Manrico and Jonathan Summers as the vengeful Count. On the DVD: Il Trovatore on disc offers the inevitable shortcomings of a filmed for television performance: to the detriment of Nolan's designs (and the hard-pressed make-up team), the lighting doesn't translate well to video. Presented in 4:3 picture format, the quality is frequently murky. The PCM Stereo soundtrack also has its flat and fuzzy moments, particularly during chorus scenes ("Vedi! Le fosche notturne spoglie") when the orchestra drowns out the singing. But on the whole Sutherland et al sound great.--Piers Ford

• The Gondoliers - Gilbert And Sullivan | DVD | (03/04/2006) from £7.71   |  Saving you £7.28 (94.42%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Gilbert And Sullivan: Gondoliers

• The Mikado | DVD | (27/02/2006) from £17.41   |  Saving you £-2.42 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  The Mikado is the comedy classic in which W.S Gilbert's 'topsy-turvy' words meet with a supreme musical response from Sir Arthur Sullivan. This is the most widely-loved and by general agreement hilarious of the Savoy Operas set in a wonderfully make-believe Japan.Filmed at Sydney Opera House Australia.

• Turandot - Puccini | DVD | (27/02/2006) from £18.84   |  Saving you £-3.85 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  In the Imperial Palace of Peking the Emperor announces that any prince seeking to marry his daughter Turandot must first answer three riddles. Prince Calaf falls immediately in love with Turandot and successfully answers all three. However before the Prince marries Turandot he asks her a riddle of his own.

• Adriana Lecouvreur - Cilea | DVD | (27/02/2006) from £31.16   |  Saving you £-14.91 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Francesco Cilea's most popular work is based on the 1849 play by Eugene Scribe and Ernest Legouve. Adriana Lecouvreur is a star of the stage who could seemingly have any man she desires but when she falls hopelessly in love with the Count of Saxony she discovers he's already been promised to the Princess of Bouillon leading to a battle of wills between them.Filmed at Sydney Opera House Australia.