"Actor: Felicity Palmer"

• Gaetano Donizetti - La Fille du régiment / Dessay, Florez, Palmer, Corbelli, French, Campanella, Pelly (Royal Opera House 2007) | DVD | (21/04/2008) from £14.25   |  Saving you £-0.26 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Laurent Pelly staged this new production and how the singers were perfectly cast. They gave Donizetti's opera a new life at the Royal Opera House

• Janacek: Kat'a Kabanova -- Glyndebourne | DVD | (26/01/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Kát'a Kabanová, Janácek's 1921 tragedy, is proof if any were needed that tales of personal oppression and turmoil will always make fine raw material for opera composers. Janácek took Ostrovsky's tumultuous drama of infidelity , The Storm, and created a compelling piece in which his music heightens the relationship between the troubled landscape of Kát'a's inner mind and the elements doing battle outside. In 1988, this Glyndebourne Festival production successfully distilled the heroine's wretched journey from put-upon wife and daughter-in-law to suicide via the ecstasy of a forbidden love affair into 100 minutes of intensely emotional operatic drama. At its heart, Janácek's unique tonal score underlines a powerful, almost naturalistic dialogue and exposes the impact of Kát'a's experiences on her escalating self-destruction. Felicity Palmer's Kabanicha--the mother-in-law from hell and the real instrument of Kát'a's downfall--is curiously remote and muted rather than the domineering figure of fear that we might expect. But the singing, particularly by Nancy Gustafson (tremendously affecting and emotionally convincing in the title role) and Ryland Davies as Kát'a's weak husband Tichon, is outstanding. Gustafson's performance alone makes this essential viewing for anybody with a passion for the great modern soprano roles. On the DVD: Sadly the only additional features are trailers for Seven Gates of Jersualem and The Damnation of Faust. The sound quality (PCM stereo) is more than fair, but inevitably the film of the production is constrained by the design: the stylised set is either very light or very dark and we don't get as close as we'd like to the characters in what is, after all, a disturbingly intimate piece. Arthaus Musik's booklet meets the expected high standards of information and background. --Piers Ford

• Handel - Rodelinda | DVD | (21/01/2008) from £16.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (47.09%)   |  RRP £24.99

• The Blu-ray Experience: Opera & Ballet Highlights | Blu Ray | (27/10/2008) from £5.40   |  Saving you £-0.41 (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Features performance extracts from Verdi's IL TROVATORE, Tchaikovsky's SWAN LAKE, Mozart's THE MAGIC FLUTE, Puccini's LA BOHEME and GIANNI SCHICCHI, Bizet's CARMEN, Mendelssohn's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, Strauss' DIE FLEDERMAUS, Rameau's ZOROASTRE, Bellini's NORMA, and Balanchine's JEWELS.

• Gianni Schicchi - Puccini | DVD | (30/05/2005) from £16.37   |  Saving you £3.62 (18.10%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Alessandro Corbelli takes the title role in Annabel Arden's whirlwind production of Puccini's compact opera in which the scheming Gianni Schicchi retrieves for himself the spoils of a disinherited family to pave the way for his daughter to marry her love.

• Tchaikovsky: Pique Dame (The Queen of Spades) | DVD | (21/01/2002) from £20.02   |  Saving you £6.23 (33.21%)   |  RRP £24.99

  This Glyndebourne production of Pique Dame ("The Queen of Spades") received rave reviews when it appeared in 1992 due to its claustrophobic intensity and powerful acting, and these qualities help it to transfer to DVD with great success. Graham Vick's direction ensures that the story is told clearly and simply but includes a wealth of telling details: the pastoral scene from Act 2, for example, uses the boys from the opening chorus as comical sheep and the effect is enchanting. But there are much darker undertones too: Richard Hudson's slanting, angular designs produce a disorientating atmosphere which mirrors Herman's increasing mental deterioration with uncanny precision. There is a brilliant stroke of visual assonance when the Countess returns to haunt Herman and all the furniture from her death scene appears on the roof. The singing is generally good, though Yuri Marusin's voice may not be to everyone's taste; sometimes he sounds like he's shouting, and his frequent lack of vibrato produces a piercing, uncomfortable effect. Nancy Gustafson is a fine Lisa, however, and Dimitri Kharitonov (Yeletsky) is heartbreaking in the famous "Ya vas lyublyu" ("I love you") aria. For overall better singing but a more plodding production, try the 1992 Kirov recording, but for spine-tingling drama this is the one to go for. On the DVD: Pique Dame on disc has subtitles in English, German, French and Spanish. The camerawork captures the odd angularity of the designs and gives an excellent account of a fast-paced, powerful production.--Warwick Thomson

• Orpheus In The Underworld | DVD | (21/02/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Eurydice is married to Orpheus but has started an affair with a local shepherd called Aristaeus. However Aristaeus is really Pluto in disguise and he becomes so besotted with Eurydice that he lures her to a field where she is bitten by a snake. He then reveals his true identity and whisks her away to Hades so they can be together. Orpheus now a free man is happy about this new situation until his mother insists he rescues Eurydice from Hades. Meanwhile King Of The Gods Jupiter ha

• Wish You Were Here | DVD | (19/05/2014) from £8.45   |  Saving you £4.54 (53.73%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Kieran Darcy-Smith directs this mystery drama starring Joel Edgerton and Felicity Price. When Alice (Price) and her husband Dave (Edgerton) decide to get away from it all before the birth of their third child, they invite Alice's sister Steph (Teresa Palmer) and her new boyfriend Jeremy (Antony Starr) to join them. A relaxing holiday is not what's in store for the group however, when a night of drinking, dancing and drug-taking leads to Jeremy's disappearance. As fragments of the previous nig.

• Leaving Home - Orchestral Music in the 20th Century Vol. 1 | DVD | (29/04/2005) from £12.25   |  Saving you £7.74 (38.70%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Written and presented by Sir Simon Rattle the foremost British conductor of our day this series forms a fascinating introduction to and overview of the music of the twentieth century. Simon Rattle leads viewers on an exhilarating journey through the music of our time explaining the chief musical developments from Mahler to the present day. Each programme is illustrated with evocative imagery archive film and photographs and the featured music is set within the broader context of

• Leaving Home - Orchestral Music In The 20th Century - Vols. 1 To 7 | DVD | (27/02/2006) from £142.54   |  Saving you £-42.55 (-42.60%)   |  RRP £99.99

  Box Set Volume 1-7A conducted tour by Sir Simon Rattle and the City of Birmingham OrchestraThe entire 7-CD Leaving Home series is released in a boxed set this month available at a special price.A remarkable diversity of expression developed - not all of the difficult or discordant variety commonly associated with modern music. The range is wide and this series samples the work of over thirty composers discovering new and challenging sounds as well as some unexpectedly familiar music. It present an extraordinary kaleidoscope of orchestral images full of contrasts and surprises.