"Actor: Vienna State Opera Chorus"

• Gounod: Faust | DVD | (10/07/2006) from £31.37   |  Saving you £-16.38 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Erich Binder conducts the Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper in Ken Russell's unconventional production of Faust. Filmed in Wiener Staatsoper 1985. Set and costume design by Carl Toms.

• L'Upupa Und Der Triumph Der Sohnesliebe - Henze | DVD | (06/12/2004) from £24.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Hans Werner Henze: L'UpupaUnd der Triumph der SohnesliebeEin deutsches Lustspiel in elf Tableaux aus dem ArabischenRecorded live at the Kleines Festspielhaus Salzburg 12-26 August 2003.

• Berg: Wozzeck | DVD | (15/11/2001) from £34.31   |  Saving you £-9.32 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The bleakness of Berg's operatic masterpiece Wozzeck is relatively easy to bring off: the plot, after all, tells of a man who is bullied, cuckolded and mocked by the society around him. What are harder to realise are the gallows humour and pitch-black comedy--and it's those qualities, along with the brilliant acting and edge-of-seat orchestral playing, that make this 1987 Vienna Staatsoper staging a stunning televisual operatic production. Everything works: the simple yet evocative sets translate effortlessly to the small screen, the pacing of the 15 short scenes is worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster and the singing is beautifully focussed. Baritone Franz Grundheber is vocally and dramatically outstanding as Wozzeck, cringing and shuffling around the stage in a bewildered hang-dog manner and yet never losing sight of the character's humanity. Hildegard Behrens (Marie) has rarely sounded better, and switches between Straussian lushness and spiky sluttishness with ease. The direction is also full of wonderful touches, such as Wozzeck squeezing the Captain's nose while he's shaving him (and making his voice sound like a kazoo), and the musicians of the on-stage band being fully integrated into the tavern scene. Ironic, emotionally rich, musically faultless--this one's got it all. On the DVD: the production works beautifully on DVD, and bar one or two moments in the second tavern scene (Act 3, Scene 3) the voices rarely move out of microphone range. There are subtitles in English, German, French and Spanish and four trailers for other Arthaus DVD operas, but no other special features. --Warwick Thomson

• Strauss: Die Frau Ohne Schatten (Opus Arte: OABD7104D) | Blu Ray | (26/03/2012) from £25.65   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress | DVD | (20/11/2001) from £22.39   |  Saving you £2.60 (11.61%)   |  RRP £24.99

  When this Salzburg Festival production of Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress hit the stage in 1996, the reviews in the British press were red hot. Unfortunately Peter Mussbach's staging, though it has moments of theatrical flair, doesn't translate smoothly to the small screen in this live recording: his grand visual metaphors--an aeroplane that never takes off and stage-hands in anti-Enlightenment monkey costumes--look somewhat pinched. But Sylvain Cambreling's pacy conducting and the central performances come across with 1,000-watt energy. Dawn Upshaw is outstanding as Anne Trulove, bringing as much careful detail to her acting as she does brilliance to her vocal technique; and her performance of the Act I aria and cabaletta, "No word from Tom ... I go, I go to him", must rank among the best ever recorded. Jerry Hadley, dressed as a mullet-haired "yoof" in heavy-metal T-shirt and jeans, doesn't quite have the clarity and vocal agility of, say, Philip Langridge as Tom Rakewell, but the amusing yobbishness of his acting suits his louder redder-blooded performance beautifully. Rich-voiced Jane Henschel is hilarious as Baba the Turk, and uses her large frame with dainty, tippy-toe comic effect. On the DVD: the production is judiciously directed by Brian Large: there are plenty of carefully placed reaction shots, unobtrusive camera movements and there's an overall sense of a highly charged live performance. The recording levels, though generally excellent, occasionally offer a muffled phrase or two. There are subtitles in English, German, French and Spanish but no other special features. --Warwick Thompson

• Don Giovanni - Mozart | DVD | (30/05/2005) from £33.73   |  Saving you £-8.74 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Riccardo Muti and an outstanding cast of singers were joined by the Vienna State Opera ensemble in a spirited and time-travelling interpretation of the eternal myth of Don Giovanni.

• Puccini: Turandot -- Vienna PO/Gergiev | DVD | (23/06/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Puccini's 'Turandot' as directed by David Pountney. His production is based on the idea of fear of civilisation: the fear that the fatal combination of rapid technological progress gradually spinning out of control and inhuman political systems poses a fundamental threat to all human values.