I’ve noticed that most of the opera dvds get very negative reviews on Netflix. I’m not sure if that is because Netflix has a poor selection of opera dvds or that the people who write up the reviews are the type to be hypercritical.
Anyway, give me your suggestions for operas on dvd. Ideally, I’d like to be able to rent them from Netflix, but if Netflix doesn’t have it, that’s OK too.
I usually don’t care for ‘updated’ versions of operas. If the opera is supposed to be set in Ancient Greece, I don’t like to see it set in Nazi Germany!
I like most periods, with a special love for baroque operas and Mozart.
I’ve loved all the Metropolitan Opera dvds that I’ve watched.
I know absolutely nothing about opera on DVD, but just so this thread doesn’t go completely un-responded-to, I’ll recommend the classic The Abduction of Figaro.
I don’t know about which DVDs are good, but I have always made the assumption that people are critical of opera DVDs because it’s just not immersive. You’re watching on a small screen and the acoustic of your home aren’t as good as an opera hall.
That said, I really didn’t like the NY Met’s Peter Grimes (but I think I just may not like that opera) or the Turandot with Placido Domingo and Eva Marton (although, again, I just don’t like Turandot).
The new NY Met La Cenerentola was good when broadcast in HD, and I have a feeling that they use the HD transmission for making the DVD.
If it is ever released, the 2010 production of Carmen was…well, it was hot. Steamy. My friend and I call it opera porn.