"Actor: Roland Bracht"

• Verdi - Rigoletto | DVD | (12/06/2006) from £16.05   |  Saving you £0.94 (5.86%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Filmed on location in Italian Renaissance landmarks including the Castello di San Giorgio in Mantua the Piazza Duomo in Cremona and the Teatro Farnese in parma Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's lavish production of Rigoletto captures all the tenderness and tragedy of Verdi's heartbreaking drama. Luciano Pavarotti in his formidable prime is the dashing dissolute Duke of Mantua who seduces fair innocent Gilda - a virtuoso performance by Edita Gruberova - away from her protective father the hunchback court jester Rigoletto sung and acted with indelible pathos by Ingvar Wixell.

• La Clemenza Di Tito - Mozart | DVD | (03/01/2006) from £4.99   |  Saving you £25.00 (501.00%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Commissioned for the coronation of Leopold II in Prague Mozart's last opera is a deep humane reflection on relationships power and forgiveness. With the composition of some of the most beautiful passages in his oeuvre Mozart has succeeded in giving this opera seria both a noble sobriety and transparent instrumentation to which this commanding production by the Hermann partnership does full justice on all levels. Susan Graham's most extraordinary Sesto and Christoph Pregardien's Superb Tito set the standard for this riveting Opera National de Paris Performance conducted by the outstanding Sylvain Cambreling.

• Der Freischutz | DVD | (05/07/2004) from £16.18   |  Saving you £1.81 (11.19%)   |  RRP £17.99

  In this production by the German artist Achim Freyer Weber's classic German opera is set in the style of a 19th century fairy tale but with the events in the plot seen through 20th century eyes. A blend of rustic humour a dash of the supernatural and the eventual triumph of good over evil Der Freioschutz has becomea much-loved work with international opera audiences.

• Verdi: Rigoletto -- Vienna/Chailly | DVD | (12/06/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

• Mozart: Die Entfuhrung Aus Dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio) -- Stuttgart/Zagrosek | DVD | (02/04/2001) from £22.89   |  Saving you £2.10 (9.17%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Mozart's first operatic hit Die Enfuhrung aus dem Serial ("The abduction from the seraglio") was a singspiel, a forerunner of the musical comedy with spoken dialogue between the musical numbers. In this beautifully sung, imaginatively staged production from the Stuttgart Opera House the director Hans Neuenfels splits each character by placing an actor at every singer's side who not only takes over his role for the spoken dialogue but also interacts with his singing double and other characters in the opera. Sometimes the pairing brings a sparring match between actor and singer, adding a further dimension to the drama, at other times the conductor of the orchestra becomes involved, as when Belmonte, the Spanish nobleman, directs him to cue the orchestra for his first aria. The production, in modern dress with each character clearly delineated by the costume designer, takes a few minutes to warm up while we address the director's concept. Osmin, the keeper of the harem is a tattooed thug with a sidekick to match. The aristocratic Konstanze, who has been abducted and imprisoned under him, and her intended Belmonte are in fashionable black, while their two servants are the object of much merriment. The spoken role of the Pasha adds a dramatic frisson to the plans for the abduction. His entry with his retinue walking toward the audience on a raised platform holding stakes topped out with severed heads is a riveting piece of theatre. So too is the final appearance of the ensemble. But as ever with Mozart there's a human dimension to this tale. The close up camerawork shows the Pasha's reactions and those of Konstanze to his advances as she reveals in a moving aria how she loves another man from whom she was cruelly parted. In Act Two the double duet of reconciliation between Konstanze and Belmonte, Blonde and Pedrillo as they question each others' constancy not only brings a sublime quartet but a heart stopping scene of filmed opera as the camera catches the couples' feet moving toward one another as they embrace in an intimate dance. The continuation here of the action into Act Three without a break (as with the earlier acts) brings a plus factor in dramatic continuity where there would be another interval in the opera house. Aside from one momentary lapse from Belmonte in his last aria, the singing throughout this production, like the orchestral playing under Lothar Zagrosek, matches any version on CD now on the market. On the DVD: We have the customary choice of subtitles, cues for the musical numbers and a short commentary accompanying a still of the principal characters in the opera.--Adrian Edwards

• Wagner: Das Rheingold -- Stuttgart/Zagrosek | DVD | (24/11/2003) from £35.82   |  Saving you £-10.83 (-43.30%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The First part of Wagner's magnum opus comes to dvd this month with a starkly contemporary feel. For the first time in the history of the ring cycle each of Rheingold's four sections was given to a different stage-director providing an exciting range of varying perspectives with a unified theme. Without a winged helmet in sight this unique production casts Wotan as a coolly calculating businessman with his wife a director on the board. The whole was directed by Joachim Schlomer an

• Wagner - Gotterdammerung (Zagrosek, Staatsoper Stuttgart) | DVD | (01/04/2008) from £22.54   |  Saving you £12.45 (35.60%)   |  RRP £34.99