Editorial Product Review:Description:This opulent Royal Opera production by Oscar-winning film director John Schlessinger stars Kiri Te Kanawa in what 'deserves to be ranked…among her finest achievements'.(Financial Times).Also stars Anne Howells, Aage Haugland, and Barbara Bonney. Conducted by George Solti. Color, 197 minutes. Subtitles in English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese. :This Rosenkavalier is a nearly perfect combination of music, singers, staging, and conducting. It examines the whole spectrum of love from every perspective: youthful idealism, consenting adultery, predatory lechery, and autumnal regrets. Richard Strauss's music is exquisite; the emotional climate includes tenderness, sophistication, and sentimentality, ...
Editorial Product Review:Description:The first audio-visual recording of this essential opera, conducted by the composer. The only version to star Peter Pears, who originated the title role. Directed by Joan Cross, who originated the role of Ellen Orford.
Editorial Product Review:Description:Offenbach's extraordinary opera is performed here in this Covent Garden production by Placido Domingo, Luciana Serra, Agnes Baltsa and Ileana Cotrubas. The Royal Opera House Orchestra and Chorus are conducted by Georges Pretre. :This is as good a video of the traditional Tales of Hoffmann as we are ever likely to see. It alters the material Offenbach left when he died, but it is the Hoffmann that audiences have loved for decades in a brilliant all-star production. Plácido Domingo is vocally resplendent and theatrically convincing as the poet Hoffmann enduring one amorous ...
Editorial Product Review:Description:Stephen Medcalf's superb production opened on the 60th anniversary of the first performance at Glyndebourne, inaugurating the new opera house. 'One listened enthralled, as Haitink, Hagley and Finley lifted a loving, carefully prepared performance to greatness.' OPERA Mozart's comedy presents a scenario where society overcomes its differences - social, sexual, generational - through the exercise of the humane values of mutual understanding, respect and forgiveness. essential video:Mozart's immortal adaptation of Beaumarchais's satirical tale has always been a Glyndebourne staple, so it was appropriate that this delightfully traditional production of Le Nozze ...
Editorial Product Review:Description:The first film of any Britten opera. The only version to star Peter Pears, who originated the role of Captain Vere. A cast of distinguished British singers, under the baton of a young Charles Mackerras.
Editorial Product Review:Description:This DVD offers for the first time ever a sumptuous surround-sound experience of the college's annual Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, filmed in December 2000. Stephen Cleobury's choice of music for the service struck a careful balance between carols traditional and modern, rare and popular. This DVD release also includes a fascinating and rare black and white film of the 1954 service, effortlessly directed by Boris Ord. This DVD captures the magnificence of two carol services, almost fifty years apart, with stunning filming, incredible surround sound and fascinating archive extras and ...
Editorial Product Review:Description:Very likely the first film of Idomeneo, made at a time when the work was little known. Filmed at the Aldeburgh Festival, established by Britten and Pears. Britten used his own performing edition, sung in English. Each act begins with a spoken introduction by revered music historian John Warrack.
Editorial Product Review:Description:Very likely the first film of Idomeneo, made at a time when the work was little known. Filmed at the Aldeburgh Festival, established by Britten and Pears. Britten used his own performing edition, sung in English. Each act begins with a spoken introduction by revered music historian John Warrack.
Editorial Product Review: :This classic production of Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria ('The Return of Ulysses') from the 1985 Salzburg Festival updates the Renaissance orchestration to a distinctly modern sound but conveys the musical and dramatic power of Monteverdi's masterpiece with impressive impact. The new orchestration by one of the 20th century's most accomplished opera composers, Hans Werner Henze, was commissioned because existing manuscripts lack orchestral details. The effect is hybrid, but it works. Michael Hampe's staging focuses on the interactions of the characters without trying to create a realistic sense of period and environment. ...
Editorial Product Review:Description:This opulent production by Oscar-winning film director John Schlesinger marked the 25th anniversary of Sir George Solti's spectacular debut at Covent Garden conducting Der Rosenkavalier - an appearance that within months secured him a ten-year Music Directorship of Covent Garden. It also features Kiri Ti Kanawa's first performance in London of the role of Marschallin. Anne Howells gives a most sensitive performance as the 'Knight of the Rose'; Aage Huagland is the roguish Baron Ochs and the American soprano Barbara Bonney is '... an enchanting vulnerable Sophie, as lovely to hear...as she ...
On paper, the Mio DigiWalker P550 looks to be an attractive gadget for the mobile professional, combining the capabilities of a PDA and GPS into one device. However, its poor battery life and subpar navigation skills tell a different story.
Though it won't appeal to the masses quite yet, the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet is a nice, portable device for on-the-go Web browsing, and it has some worthy upgrades.
Diesel vehicles have nearly a 50-percent market share in Europe, thanks to tax incentives and diesel-friendly legislation across the EU. Diesels are so passé there that you can buy a BMW 730d and no one will think it odd that your luxury car burns oil. Pull up in a diesel 7-Series in America and people would leer at you like you've alighted from an amphibious vehicle reeking of saltwater and dead trout.
But now, thanks to the oft-reported combo of newly-raised CAFE standards, not-so-newly-raised gas prices, and the 50-state diesel engine, GM, Ford, and Chrysler are about to dip more than a hesitant toe into the diesel game. Chrysler offers a diesel in the Grand Cherokee, but soon all three automakers will offer diesels in their best-selling lineups of light trucks -- the Dodge Ram 1500 is expected to offer a 50-state diesel after 2009. Light trucks are being used to lead the charge since those buyers stand to gain the most with the least amount of (perceived) sacrifice.
Diesels currently have 3.2-percent of the American market. Some estimates put them at 15-percent by 2015. That's a huge leap, and diesel still has plenty of hurdles. Diesels will come with a cost premium over gasoline-engined cars. That should be easy enough to conquer -- incentives and some quick cost and longevity calculations should convince people of the benefit. The real hurdle is the nagging issue of perception. The plan will probably be to attack that with a price that makes the proposition unbeatable. Said Chrysler's director of environmental affairs, "If it's priced right, we can sell diesel here. Diesel can give you an immediate poke in fuel economy -- 20 to 40 percent. Not many technologies can deliver that today."
Diesel vehicles have nearly a 50-percent market share in Europe, thanks to tax incentives and diesel-friendly legislation across the EU. Diesels are so passé there that you can buy a BMW 730d and no one will think it odd that your luxury car burns oil. Pull up in a diesel 7-Series in America and people would leer at you like you've alighted from an amphibious vehicle reeking of saltwater and dead trout.