Thomas Moser

Movies4

• Movie7.0

  Haydn’s Creation, the culmination of his life’s work, in a legendary 1986 performance conducted by Leonard Bernstein in the exquisite Baroque splendor of the Benedictine Abbey of Ottobeuren, Bavaria, now available on DVD for the first time. This spectacular performance also includes Bernstein’s spoken introduction to the performance —always an invaluable addition to any concert. This work, considered by many to be Haydn’s masterpiece, depicts the creation of the world as inspired by the texts of Genesis, the Book of Psalms and Milton’s Paradise Lost. Though deeply religious in conception, the oratorio gives a physical sense of the immensity of nature and the world’s creation. “The Creation gives us time to remember—and rejoice in— the purity and grace and fortitude of Nature, to restore our souls, to recover our moral strength, and to rediscover our power to praise”—Leonard Bernstein

  Haydn: The Creation (Bernstein)

  2009 · 1 votes

• Movie3.0

  MusicDrama

  David McVicar’s powerful Royal Opera House 2008 production of Strauss's opera – based on a play by Oscar Wilde – takes the controversial and disturbing film 120 Days of Sodom as its visual reference. The action is set in a debauched palace, which has suggestions of Nazi Germany. Strauss’s ravishing and voluptuous score adds to the sexual alchemy that is conjured by an international cast led by Nadja Michael in the title role.

  Royal Opera House: Salomé

  2008 · 3 votes

• Movie

  While a number of fine recordings of Moses und Aron exist, this unique DVD of the opera makes a staging of the work accessible, with a variety of camera angle, including a judicious mixture of close-ups and longer shots of the stage. The recording is all the more remarkable for its origins in a live performance, since audience sounds are almost negligible in the DVD. It is an exemplary presentation that merits attention for conveying the opera well. With the stage details intact, and the wide-angle shots planned to make the best use of the stagecraft, the Nickler production, prepared for television by Claus Viller, is a fine example of filmed opera. The sound is quite fine and brings across the nuanced direction of Daniele Gatti, whose efforts join the ranks of other fine interpreters of this work, including Pierre Boulez and Georg Solti.

  Moses und Aron

  Moses and Aaron

• Movie9.0

  MusicDocumentary

  Die Frau ohne Schatten

  1992 · 1 votes