"Actor: Olga Borodina"

• Boris Godunov - Mussorgsky | DVD | (05/08/2002) from £17.29   |  Saving you £-2.30 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  The legendary Russian film director Andrei Tarkovsky helmed his one and only opera in 1983 with this famed production of Mussorgsky's 'Boris Godunov'. Staged at London's famed Royal Opera House the staging features Robert Lloyd giving a masterful performance in the title role. Conductor Valery Gergiev known primarily for his fine work leading St. Petersburg's Kirov Opera takes the baton.

• Tchaikovsky: Pique Dame (The Queen of Spades) | DVD | (24/03/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  In terms of vocal power, lyrical beauty and idiomatic authenticity, the casting for this 1992 live recording of the Kirov production of Pique Dame ("The Queen of Spades") could hardly be bettered. Gegam Grigorian (Herman) hits his fearsome, anguished high notes with the accuracy of a laser and Maria Gulegina (Liza) has a voice the size of the QEII but uses it with great subtlety--her opening duet with Pauline floats like gossamer, and her declarations of love for Herman at the end of Act 1 are spine-tingling. Kirov superstars Sergei Leiferkus (Tomsky) and rich-toned Olga Borodina (Pauline) also sound divine. In the pit Valery Gergiev renders every nuance of Tchaikovsky's score with clarity, and drives the strings to produce an almost unbearably tense atmosphere of foreboding; Herman's manslaughter of the Countess is preceded by shallow, haunted phrases which rise and fall like a beating heart. It isn't all rosy, however. The production comes from the traditional old Kirov "stand-and-sing" tradition and is somewhat static. The characters don't interact with much detail or generate much chemistry, and the chorus moves in unwieldy blocks. For a more gripping production (though not quite as well sung) try the Glyndebourne performance. But for sheer musical pleasure, you won't find anything to beat this. On the DVD: Pique Dame doesn't feature particularly inventive camerawork, though it does give a good solid account of the production. The sound recording captures all the most important moments with clarity, though just occasionally singers stray away from the microphones. There are subtitles in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Chinese, and some trailers for other Universal Music DVDs. --Warwick Thomson

• Cilea - Adriana Lecouvreur | Blu Ray | (02/04/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Samson Et Dalila - Saint-Saens | DVD | (09/08/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  A production of the Saint-Saens opera performed by the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus. Conducted by the esteemed James Levine.

• The Great Singers of Russia - Vol 2 | DVD | (23/02/2004) from £9.99   |  Saving you £15.00 (150.15%)   |  RRP £24.99

  A video series of epic proportions documenting Russia's illustrious vocal tradition over the course of the 20th century. Hosted by soprano Ljuba Kazarnovskaya the videos feature interviews with Ivan Petrov Irina Arkhipova and Joan Dornemann and extensive performance segments includingIvan petrov - FaustZurab Andzhaparidze - RigolettoIrina Arkhipova - Carmen (with Mario del Monaco)Galina Vishnevskaya - AidaYuri Mazurok - Un Ballo in MascheraBella Rudenko - LakmeEvgeni Nesterenko - Prince IgorElena Obrazrsovas - Carmen; Don CarloVladimir Atlantov - Pagliacci; ToscaMakvala Kasrashvili - Un Ballo in MascheraOlga Borodina - Il Barbiere di SivigliaDmitri Hvorostovsky - Il Barbiere di SivigliaLjuba Kazarnovskaya - Song of Zemphira La Traviata; Salome

• Cilea: Adriana Lecouvreur -- Teatro alla Scala | DVD | (05/05/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  When Adriana Lecouvreur makes her entrance in the first act of Francesco Cilea's opera to the strains of her characteristic sweeping melody and chides her admirers that she is only 'the humble maidservant of the creative spirit the echo of human drama her modest desire for self-effacement conceals one of the essential truths of this and many of the operas of Cilea's Italian contemporaries: their unswerving focus on one remarkable woman. Like Tosca or Madama Butterfly Adriana is the character at the very centre of the action the one who draws all the audience's sympathies. Unsurprisingly when the historical figure Adrienne Lecouvreur of the Comedie-Francaise returned to theatrical life in 1849 as the subject of a play by the dramatist Eugene Scribe and his collaborator Ernest Legouve the role became associated with such legends of the stage as Sarah Bernhardt and Eleonora Duse. And in her musical incarnation at the hands of Cilea the part has similarly been something of a vehicle for great singing actresses.

• Cilea: Adriana Lecouvreur | DVD | (02/02/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Adriana Lecouvreur