John Dobson

Movies5

• Movie5.0

  Music

  Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London on 2 June 1992.

  Salomé

  1992 · 4 votes

• Movie7.3

  Music

  Live from ROH 1985. Giordano's Andrea Chenier is one of the greatest of verismo operas, full of heart-stopping big tunes and powerful emotional situations. If it is not as well-known as it should be, it is because in summary it sounds a little too like Puccini's Tosca: there is a tussle between political opponents over a woman, an attempt to save a condemned man, a tenor aria about writing poetry on the eve of execution. The difference is that Gerard (Giorgio Zancanaro) is not a villain like Scarpia, he is an idealist whom the French Revolution has betrayed as much as it has his rival the poet Chenier (Placido Domingo). His temptation to abuse his power to seduce the virtuous Maddalena (Anna Tomowa-Sintow) is a momentary one, though its consequences are terrible. There is a streak of post-Wagnerian decadence in much of this--Maddalena is at least as much in love with death as she is with Chenier, and the final love duet has a deeply sinister aspect. -- From Amazon.co.uk

  Andrea Chénier

  1985 · 3 votes

• Movie7.0

  MusicComedy

  After the Viennese premiere, the Fledermaus (the bat) conquered the world. It is one of the few operettas that are regularly performed at the major opera houses such as the Metropolitan Opera, the Scala Milan, the Vienna State Opera and the Royal Opera House Convent Garden in London. John Cox directed this lavishly equipped production by Julia Trevelyan Oman initially in London in 1977. On New Year's Eve 1990, this staging offered the luxurious ambiance for the farewell to Joan Sutherland from her London audience. The singer had admired them since her first great success at this prestigious opera house in the fifties. The rushing feast in the second act reached its climax with its stormy cheered performance and the commitment of her friends and colleagues Luciano Pavarotti and Marilyn Horne, with whom she often stood together on the stage.

  Die Fledermaus

  1990 · 1 votes

• Movie9.0

  Music

  A 1985 performance of Luchino Visconti's 1958 staging for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Bernard Haitink memorably directs a superb cast that includes Ileana Cotrubas at the height of her powers and Luis Lima, unequalled in his tortured introspection, in the title role. (5-act version, sung in Italian)

  Don Carlo

  1985 · 1 votes

• Movie8.3

  MusicTV Movie

  Live performance, new production season 1984-5. BBC 2 Television relay on 30 March 1985 of performance of February 11.

  Der Rosenkavalier

  1985 · 3 votes