"Director: Jonathan Miller"

• Mozart: La Clemenza di Tito | DVD | (19/02/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  The opera La Clemenza di Tito was composed only a few months before Mozart's death. As this period of his life is not particularly well-documented there are many legends surrounding this composition - some say that it was composed in just 18 days! This production is unique because the secco-recitatives proven to not be Mozart's own are not up to the standard of the main musical numbers and Franz Welser-Mst decided to replace them with abridged spoken dialogue. The Opernhaus Zrich has aimed to look forward with this production and fuel discussions about the possibilities of modern Clemenza performances. Director Jonathan Miller was inspired by Tolstoi and Tchechov and the Flemish painters for this production. They gave the appropriate down to earth feel which he wanted to achieve. Jonas Kaufmann has sung all of the great Mozartian tenor roles so his excellent Titus rounds up his repertoire extremely well.

• Strangers - The Complete Series 1 | DVD | (26/02/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Don Henderson stars as the eccentric police Detective DCI George Bulman in this gritty and violent series from the 1970's. Episodes Comprise: 1. The Paradise Set 2. Duty Roster 3. Silver Lining 4. Accidental Death 5. Briscoe 6. Right And Wrong 7. Paying Guests

• La Boheme | Blu Ray | (26/07/2010) from £20.85   |  Saving you £9.14 (43.84%)   |  RRP £29.99

  La Boheme is based on the masterwork by Giacomo Puccini itself based on a novel by Henri Murger. This latest production and direction by Jonathan Millar for the English National Opera was filmed at the London Coliseum in early 2009 and features a brand new English translation by Amanda Holden. Taken to Paris's depression era of the 1930's by Miller and designer Isabella Bywater a vision of realism as depicted in the films and photos of the peroid is captured.

• The Beggar's Opera - John Gay | DVD | (06/04/2009) from £28.12   |  Saving you £-22.13 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Beggar's Opera

• Handel: Tamerlano | DVD | (27/08/2014) from £22.35   |  Saving you £7.64 (34.18%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Handel's 1724 opera Tamerlano followed the success of his previous year's Giulio Cesare with another colourful historical costume drama. This time the setting is the court of "Timur the Tartar", who has just defeated the Turkish Sultan Bajazet at the battle of Angora. There are, naturally enough, romantic complications when both Tamerlano and his ally, the Greek Prince Andronico, fall in love with Bajazet's daughter Asteria. She, however, has plans to revenge her father's defeat. This production was directed by Jonathan Miller and staged in the intimate surroundings of the Goethe Theatre of Bad Lauchstadt as part of the 2001 Halle Handel Festival. Miller's sparse gold-draped sets, as well as the video direction, always lead the eye towards the singers and their splendidly decorative costumes. Mezzo Monica Bacelli looks a little too pretty beneath her moustache to be convincingly threatening as Tamerlano; soprano Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz is a full-blooded, perhaps overripe Asteria; and Thomas Randle tackles the very demanding tenor role of Bajazet. None of the voices are necessarily "authentic", but thanks to the musical direction of Trevor Pinnock--an experienced and sensitive Handelian--the performance always feels completely natural. In the pit Pinnock's English Concert are, as always, a delight. Anyone who has not yet discovered the sometimes arcane delights of Baroque opera will find much to encourage them here; seasoned opera seria buffs should not hesitate. On the DVD: Tamerlano comes handsomely packaged in a two-disc set with a colourful and informative booklet. The extra features put most other ArtHaus releases to shame. To begin with the "Score Plus" facility, which superimposes the score over the picture, will provide hours of joy (all DVD operas should have this as standard). There are subtitles in English, German, French or Spanish. There's a lengthy (40-minute) "Making of" documentary, which takes us behind the scenes with Jonathan Miller, Trevor Pinnock and their team at Sadler's Wells then in Halle. More material about the Handel Festival can be found in the "Interviews" section, the selection of "Historical Film Footage" from previous Festivals, and the illustrated "Interactive Chronolgy". The 16:9 picture is perfectly adequate, and the sound options are good PCM Stereo and Dolby 5.1. --Mark Walker

• Mozart - Die Entfuhrung Aus Dem Serail (Konig, Zurich Oo) | DVD | (05/06/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £22.99

  The opera Die Entfuhrung aus dem serail in three acts composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

• Die Zauberflote - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | DVD | (10/06/2002) from £10.00   |  Saving you £9.99 (99.90%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Mozart - Die Zauberflote (Welser-Most Miller)

• Le Nozze Di Figaro - Mozart | DVD | (28/11/2005) from £40.48   |  Saving you £-10.49 (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Zubin Mehta conducts a performance of Mozart's 'Le Nozze Di Figaro' recorded at the Teatro Comunale in Florence.

• Verdi - Nabucco (Frizza, Teatro Fenice) | DVD | (07/03/2005) from £22.29   |  Saving you £-2.30 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Nabucco was premired at Milan's La Scala on March 9th 1842. It met with enormous success crowned by as many as 75 performances at La Scala before the end of that year. With Nabucco Verdi finally found his own stance attaining linguistic and expressive means that in the space of a decade would make him the undisputed master of Italian opera theatres. The present interesting production staged at the Carlo Felice theatre in Genoa features young but already internationally renowned interpreters: Alberto Gazale as a solid and convincing Nabucco; Susan Neves as an Abigaille by the beautiful and powerful vocal means; Orlin Anastassov as a greatly authoritative Zaccaria which lets foresee for him a radiant career