"Actor: Jonathan Summers"

• R. Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier - Royal Opera House/Solti | DVD | (23/02/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Strauss' dazzling opera Der Rosenkavalier set in 1740's Vienna combines farce romance and a world of weary acknowledgement of getting older. It features some of the most gorgeous music ever written for the female voice.

• Simon Boccanegra - DVD Live from the Royal Opera House | DVD | (29/11/2010) from £19.00   |  Saving you £2.99 (15.74%)   |  RRP £21.99

  Pl'cido Domingo's triumphant return to his baritone roots (his first debut with the Mexican National Opera in 1959 was as a baritone) is captured in this stunning 2-DVD set of the Royal Opera House's 2010 production of Verdi's Simon Boccanegra. Domingo is joined by Mariana Polavskaya Joseph Calleja Ferruccio Furlanetto Jonathan Summers and Lukas Jakobski in this Antonio Pappano conducted performance directed by Elijah Moshinsky. The Simon Boccanegra release features exclusive bonus material including a Back Stage with Pl'cido Domingo featurette and an interview with director Moshinsky. There is an additional audio function which features introductions to each of the opera's scenes (in English with subtitles).

• 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

• 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.

• Verdi: La Traviata (Sydney Opera House 2013) (Emma Matthews/ Gianluca Terranova/ Opera Australia Opera and Ballet Orchestra/ Brian Castles-Onion/ Francesca Zambello) (Opera Australia: OPOZ56030BD) | DVD | (15/10/2012) from £32.38   |  Saving you £-2.39 (-8.00%)   |  RRP £29.99