"Actor: Bernadette Manca di Nissa"

• Rossini: Tancredi | DVD | (22/06/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Tancredi was the work on which Rossini's reputation as a composer of tragic operas rested, just as L'Italiana in Algeri ("The Italian Girl in Algiers") had been his first comic masterpiece. Inevitably, given the opera seria conventions within which he was working, it can seem terribly static nowadays--this is a work whose stage action consists almost exclusively of entrances and exits, and of characters emoting in various combinations--but when the emotions are as powerful as those here it hardly matters. The breeches part of Tancredi is one of Rossini's most powerfully lyrical: Bernadette Manca de Nisa is especially moving in the famous aria "Di Tanti Palpiti". The heroine Amenaide, wrongfully accused of treason, has the most to do emotionally, and Maria Raul is suitably touching, collapsing decorously to the floor as a way of conveying extremes of shame or incredulous hurt. Ildebrando D'Arcangelo does what he can with the stiff villain, Orbazzano. In some ways, the star of the performance is Raul Giménez in the unpromising role of Amenaide's much-deceived father Argirio, combining authority with pain and making both highly musical. Throughout, Gianluigi Gelmetti's intelligent conducting of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra makes the delicate sides of the scoring matter most:he has learned from original instrument performances how to bring out the plangency of Rossini's woodwind writing.On the DVD: The DVD has no additional features except for subitles in Italian, French, German, English and Spanish and menus in French, Spanish, German and English. The sound is presented perfectly adequately but unexcitingly in PCMstereo and the picture ratio is 4:3. --Roz Kaveney

• Verdi - Falstaff / Graham Vick, Bernard Haitink, Royal Opera House | DVD | (10/10/2001) from £24.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The Graham Vicks production of Falstaff opened the new Covent Garden Royal Opera House, and 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, gets almost everything out of the fast and furious comic sections. --Roz Kaveney On the DVD: The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound is powerful and filled with detail, capturing the excitement of the performance and the atmosphere of the Royal Opera House superbly. The anamorphically enhanced 1.77:1 widesceen image is very clear, and while given the source inevitably not up to the highest feature film standards, is among the best live classical titles yet released on DVD. The bold colours are particularly well realised, though the red lighting of the Garter Inn scenes causes the image to falter a little. There are optional subtitles in English, French and German. These are presented directly over the picture and would be easier to read had they been a little larger, or outlined in some way. The special features consist of a brief synopsis by James Naughtie, taken directly from the original television broadcast, a minute-long "comment" by conductor Bernard Haitink and short but interesting interviews with Bryn Terfel and director Graham Vick. Finally there is a nine-minute episode from the series of short BBC films, Covent Garden Tales on the 1999 modernisation of the Royal Opera House. --Gary S Dalkin

• Falstaff - Giuseppe Verdi | DVD | (04/11/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The present recording was made at a performance in Busseto Verdi's birthplace in the Emilia Romagna region. There in 2001 a whole series of events marked the 100th anniversary of the composer's death. This Falstaff performance along with Aida staged by Franco Zeffirelli constituted the high point of the impressive anniversary celebrations. The small 328-seat Teatro Verdi built in Verdi's lifetime provided the ensemble of La Scala Milan under its principal conductor Riccardo Muti with a particularly captivating backdrop and the mainly young singers including 31-year-old shooting star Ambrogio Maestri in the title role exciting young tenor Juan Diego Florez as Fenton and internationally acclaimed Barbara Frittoli as Alice - gave superb performances.

• Pergolesi's Lo Frate 'nnamorato | DVD | (26/08/1998) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £22.36