Glyndebourne’s pulsating new production of the Waltz King’s much-loved comic operetta, about a Viennese society which comes to life only after dark, includes outstanding performances from a cast led by Pamela Armstrong, Thomas Allen, Ragnar Ulfung and Hakan Hagegard with The Glyndebourne Chorus and London Philharmonic Orchestra under Vladimir Jurowski. Filmed in High Definition.

Par Lindskog, Pamela Armstrong, Thomas Allen, Lyubov Petrova, Malena Ernman, Hakan Hagegard, Ragnar Ulfung, Artur Korn, Udo Samel, Renee Schuttengruber
The Glyndebourne Chorus / London Philharmonic Orchestra / Vladimir Jurowski
Stage Director Stephen Lawless

Plus


Cast interviews with Thomas Allen, Pamela Armstrong, Håkan Hagegård, director Stephen Lawless and conductor Vladimir Jurowski
Feature on the building and architecture of Glyndebourne’s new opera house
BBC feature on the history of Waltz
Interactive Cast and Costume Design Galleries
28 page, full colour illustrated booklet in English, French and German


Reviews
‘Music director Vladimir Jurowski gives the bottle a good shake before popping his first cork with the overture. The London Philharmonic are on their toes. They need to be. First rule of operetta: don’t underestimate it; it doesn’t play itself. Jurowski knows that. He and the orchestra give this favourite old pop classic some serious attention The pace is racy, the articulation brilliant, the Viennesisms deftly in place ,the waltz fruity and uplifting. It’s a cracking start.’
The Independent

‘a beautifully produced and recorded DVD, the image glowing, the soundtrack…crisply clear.’
The Gramophone

‘…almost pure gold. With Vladimir Jurowski shaping the score with ravishingly subtle and sexy rubati, a strong cast is headed by Thomas Allen in superbly virile voice…’
The Independent

‘Stephen Lawless’s 2003 Glyndebourne production updates Die Fledermaus to c.1910. Filmed live, it’s a fresh, imaginative, colourful and, at times, genuinely funny affair boasting a strong, starry cast. Performed in German (English subtitles) with some newly written dialogue, it is as much a play with music as it is an operetta. Allen, Armstrong and Emman are on top form and Jurowski conducts with elegance and flair. Bonus features on the new theatre, the waltz and interviews with the cast.’
Classic fM

'Pamela Armstrong is a first-rate Rosalinde, soaring through the Czárdas with steely virtuosity. Malena Ernman is a fine Orlovsky, lighter-voiced than Brigitte Fassbaender on Kleiber’s classic DVD, but elegant and, with a Grieg-like moustache, unusually convincing – until she’s made to reveal herself as a woman, to Adele’s understandable dismay. Vladimir Jurowski’s conducting is brilliant. Clearly he reveres the score, delivering wit and waltzes with idiomatic Schwung that evades Domingo, for all his sprightliness, at Covent Garden, and, with some superb orchestral playing, a clarity of texture to rival Kleiber.’
The Gramophone

‘I can happily report that it is first-rate in all respects. The production is helped by the cutting-edge facilities of the new Glyndebourne Opera House built in the 1990s; the ingenious and striking revolving stage setting is a marvel… The London Philharmonic is conducted by very talented young (32) conductor (and the LPO's new principal guest conductor), Vladimir Jurowski. The director is Stephen Lawless, who has done a wonderful job…The costumes are gorgeous, the dancing spectacular, the sets sumptuous… It was good to see veterans Ragnar Ulfung and Hakan Hagegard singing wonderfully as Blind and Falke. Thomas Allen, who continues to be one of the most talented bass-baritones around, is superb as Eisenstein; he shows a comic side I'd never seen before…Petrova gets the most out of her soubrette role and Armstrong plays and sings the not-so-pure Rosalinda with zest and a rich sound…A triumph for all concerned. A hearty recommendation.’
amazon.com

Awards & Accolades:
Diapason d’Or (July/August)


CAT NO: OA 0890 D
FORMAT: NTSC
REGIONS: All Regions
PICTURE FORMAT: 16:9
LENGTH: 196 MINS
SOUND: DTS SURROUND / LPCM STEREO
SUBTITLES: EN/ES
RELEASED: 01/03/2004
NO OF DISCS: 2