Derek Bailey

Live from Glyndebourne Festival 1995. Yakov Kreizberg conducting the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Directed for the stage by Deborah Warner.

Live from Glyndebourne 1994. The first production to be filmed Live in Glyndebourne´s new opera house May 1994. The Marriage of Figaro is a continuation of the plot of The Barber of Seville several years later, and recounts a single “day of madness” in the palace of the Count Almaviva near Seville, Spain. Rosina is now the Countess; Dr. Bartolo is seeking revenge against Figaro for thwarting his plans to marry Rosina himself; and Count Almaviva has degenerated from the romantic youth of Barber into a scheming, bullying, skirt-chasing baritone. This follows the Count trying to obtain favours from Susanna, Figaro’s bride to be, under the nose of the Countess.

Billboards is a ballet created by the Joffrey Ballet featuring the works of Prince. The premiere was on Wednesday, January 27, 1993, at Hancher Auditorium, University of Iowa, Iowa City. No new music was used, although Prince contributed a special extended ten minute orchestrated version of "Thunder" from the Diamonds and Pearls album. A video of the performance was released on VHS in February 1994, and on Laserdisc format.

La Traviata was recorded at what was one of Venice's most exquisite 18th-century opera houses, La Fenice, tragically destroyed by fire in 1996, and now rebuilt. This glorious house is where La Traviata was premiered in 1853. In this memorable performance, Slovak soprano Edita Gruberova takes the leading role of Violetta, the tragic heroine, persuaded by Alfredo's father, Giorgio, to sacrifice her happiness with Alfredo for the sake of family honor.

This set has Edita Gruberova singing in top form, all her scooping cast aside, which one finds in abundance in her Lucia under Richard Bonynge. Here, however, she makes ravishing use of those bits of tone that only she can produce: those instances of coloratura and dramatic legato with little asides and small florishes of style that suggest her intelligent approach and her high degree of musical involvement in this role. She does this in her I Puritani and her Anna Bolena, less so in Roberto Deveraux and Maria Stuarda(both sets). Listen to Addio del passato and the Sempre Libra...ravishing, yes, but there are again those nuances learned from Callas that she makes her own. A very singualr perform,ance, and extremely moving with its detail and cry for pity throughout..from the start even. Neil Schicoff is excellent, not an unworthy Alfredo at all! His is a great lyric tenor voice that should have been in the top line.

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

J.R.R.T.: A Study of J.R.R. Tolkien is a 1992 documentary, narrated by Judi Dench, produced to celebrate the centenary of J.R.R. Tolkien's birth. It is sometimes called "J.R.R. Tolkien: A Portrait" and "J.R.R. Tolkien - An Authorized Film Portrait". It features archive footage and audio recordings of J.R.R. Tolkien, and interviews with three of his children Priscilla, John, and Christopher. It also includes interviews with Baillie Tolkien, Robert Murray, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, Rayner Unwin, Tom Shippey, and Verlyn Flieger.

Dubbed ‘La Stupenda’ thirty years ago by an Italian critic, Dame Joan Sutherland and her husband Richard Bonynge talk at length about her distinguished singing career and their life together in opera. The film combines documentary, archival material and performance to present a unique retrospective of those years. Affectionate contributions from some of their close friends and colleagues, including Luciano Pavarotti, Marilyn Horne, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and fellow Australian Sir Sidney Nolan, add to a celebration of Dame Joan’s singular talent.

Home video featuring The London Philharmonic performing music from Dragon Quest IV: Michibikareshi Monotachi, conducted by composer Koichi Sugiyama.

Beethoven's opera Fidelio.

Mussorgsky's quintessential Russian opera is captured live on stage in this performance by the Bolshoi Opera featuring Rimsky-Korsakov's revised vision and starring Evgeny Nesternko and Vladislav Piavko.

Opera at La Scala Milan

La Scala went all out for its 1986 production of this grandest of grand operas, with a strong cast and, most important for a video recording, a larger-than-life staging. The Triumph Scene in Act II is by no means Aida's only attraction, but it is the part that makes the strongest and most lasting impression and it is the visual and musical climax of this production. Stage director Luca Ronconi brings on a procession to dwarf all processions: looted treasures, heroic statuary, miserable captives struggling under the lash of whip-bearing slave drivers. On par with these visuals is Lorin Maazel's first-class performance of the popular Grand March with the outstanding La Scala chorus and orchestra. In Act III, the contrasting tranquility of the Nile Scene also gets a visual treatment to match the music's qualities.

In a breach of promise case, the Learned Judge and Jury are somewhat smitten by the pretty Plaintiff's charms, and the Defendant is hard pressed to explain that indeed he loved this girl once, but fell in love with another. Despite his suggestion that he marry both women, the Learned Judge has his own solution... he will marry the Plaintiff himself!