CD-Charts Position 1
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Bryn Terfel - Don Giovanni - Mozart [2000] (NTSC)

starring: Renée Fleming, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Paul Groves, Hei-Kyung Hong, Sergei Koptchak
directed by: Gary Halvorson

Release Date March 14, 2005
This is one of the best versions of Mozart's masterpiece presently available in DVD. Its greatest attraction is obviously the presence of Renée Fleming and Bryn Terfel. Ms Fleming's interpretation of Donna Anna is truly exceptional: the candor and purity of her voice make a perfect expression of the pain and suffering of that noble woman who's father has been killed by the man who tried to rape her. Bryn Terfel is undoubtely a great singer, but he is not a credible Don Giovanni. His voice lacks that touch of evil that makes of the Don the seductor that everybody admires and fears at the same time, specially when he seduces Zerlina and sings below Donna Elvira's balcony. Mr. Terfel's physical appearance is the other factor that prevents us ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 2
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The Blu-ray Experience: Opera & Ballet Highlights [2008] (NTSC)

starring: Pamela Armstrong, Cecilia Bartoli, Alessandro Corbelli, Felicity Palmer, Anne Sofie Von Otter

Release Date October 27, 2008
This is one of the best versions of Mozart's masterpiece presently available in DVD. Its greatest attraction is obviously the presence of Renée Fleming and Bryn Terfel. Ms Fleming's interpretation of Donna Anna is truly exceptional: the candor and purity of her voice make a perfect expression of the pain and suffering of that noble woman who's father has been killed by the man who tried to rape her. Bryn Terfel is undoubtely a great singer, but he is not a credible Don Giovanni. His voice lacks that touch of evil that makes of the Don the seductor that everybody admires and fears at the same time, specially when he seduces Zerlina and sings below Donna Elvira's balcony. Mr. Terfel's physical appearance is the other factor that prevents us ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

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Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) -- Paris/Gardiner [1993] (NTSC)

starring: Rodney Gilfry, Hillevi Martinpelto, Bryn Terfel, Alison Hagley, Pamela Helen Stephen
directed by: Olivier Mille

Release Date October 15, 2001
This is the best Marriage of Figaro on DVD. Alison Hagley is splendid as Susanna. The Count is as good a count as one could wish. The madre/padre scene is intelligible, well-acted and wonderfully sung. All the cast are to be congratulated; Barbarina's aria is beautiful. Though the staging is stylised and minimal, it is worlds away from some of the modernist, ill-judged rubbish seen recently at Salzburg.

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

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Salome

starring: Catherine Malfitano, Bryn Terfel, Kenneth Riegel, Anja Silja, Robert Gambill
directed by: Hans Hulscher

Release Date February 24, 2003
A record of a live performance at the Royal Opera House of what was a truly remarkable production.

The simplicity of Luc Bondy's classical setting, beautifully lit, focuses the work almost totally (and as it should) on Salome herself. In Catherine Malfitano's performance there is a worthy star to hold the spotlight.

Her almost balletic movements through-out (culminating in the famous Dance of the Seven Veils)create a trance like feel for the characters' obsessions, as well as retaining the feel of a young girl. Her voice has hardened over the years but has tremendous dramatic and musical power - as well as the full range required for the part. There are many dramatically telling moments - not least when the Prophet unconsciously ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

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Renee Fleming And Bryn Terfel - Under The Stars [2003]

starring: Renee Fleming, Bryn Terfel, Welsh National Opera Cho And Orch

Release Date April 07, 2003
Nothing negative can be said about this disc apart from you are left wanting more. There is a real chemistry between Renee and Bryn and the quality of the singing throughout is superb, but most particularly in the duets - 'Not while I'm around' sends shivers. The scenery around the stage of the Faenol festival also adds to the presentation. Great photography, fabulous singing, what else could you ask for?

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

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Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem [1997]

starring: Barbara Bonney, Bryn Terfel, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Eric Ericson Chamber Choir, Swedish Radio Choir
directed by: Claudio Abbado

Release Date March 01, 2004
It is really difficult to find anything substantial to criticise about this recording. Abbado handles the wonderful Berlin Phil and the two excellent choirs superbly with only the Barenboim recording in Chicago matching the opening Selig Sind. Terfel is stunning (without score). The only slight niggle is some of the camera work. The director seems to have a penchant for panning along the back of the hall behind the (rather substantial) pillars which is both pointless and distracting. However this can be easily overlooked in a performance of this quality.

CD-Charts Position 7
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Oedipus Rex - Stravinsky

starring: Philip Langridge, Jessye Norman, Min Tanaka, Bryn Terfel, Harry Peeters
directed by: Julie Taymor

Release Date June 13, 2005
This is a film based on an unnerving but seductive production of Stravinsky's Neoclassical opera/oratorio Oedipus Rex, given only twice to launch the Seito Kinen Festival in 1992. The production confronts us with brilliantly conceived and staged image upon image, with the huge chorus (80 singers and 20 dancers) deployed around the vast set of sculpted wooden slats over a huge pool of water. The chorus - absolutely central to this `opera' - are in mud make-up and torn clothes emphasising the diseased decay of Thebes, at times presenting them like the `living dead' or statues come to life. Placed in blocks they are - as Stravinsky wanted - `monumentalised' and eerie.

This is even more the case with the soloists. Stravinsky had wanted them to ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

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Bryn Terfel - Live In Concert [2003]

starring: Bryn Terfel

Release Date March 12, 2008
This is a film based on an unnerving but seductive production of Stravinsky's Neoclassical opera/oratorio Oedipus Rex, given only twice to launch the Seito Kinen Festival in 1992. The production confronts us with brilliantly conceived and staged image upon image, with the huge chorus (80 singers and 20 dancers) deployed around the vast set of sculpted wooden slats over a huge pool of water. The chorus - absolutely central to this `opera' - are in mud make-up and torn clothes emphasising the diseased decay of Thebes, at times presenting them like the `living dead' or statues come to life. Placed in blocks they are - as Stravinsky wanted - `monumentalised' and eerie.

This is even more the case with the soloists. Stravinsky had wanted them to ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

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Puccini - Gold [2008]

starring: Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, Mirella Freni, Christa Ludwig, Bryn Terfel

Release Date April 07, 2008
This is a film based on an unnerving but seductive production of Stravinsky's Neoclassical opera/oratorio Oedipus Rex, given only twice to launch the Seito Kinen Festival in 1992. The production confronts us with brilliantly conceived and staged image upon image, with the huge chorus (80 singers and 20 dancers) deployed around the vast set of sculpted wooden slats over a huge pool of water. The chorus - absolutely central to this `opera' - are in mud make-up and torn clothes emphasising the diseased decay of Thebes, at times presenting them like the `living dead' or statues come to life. Placed in blocks they are - as Stravinsky wanted - `monumentalised' and eerie.

This is even more the case with the soloists. Stravinsky had wanted them to ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

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Vienna State Opera Gala 2005 - Gala Concert 50th Anniversary Of The Re-Opening

starring: Vienna State Orchestra And Choir, Falk Struckmann, Michael Schade, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Seiji Ozawa

Release Date January 30, 2006
On November 5, 2005 the Vienna State Opera held a gala to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the reopening on November 5, 1955 of the Opera after its destruction by Allied bombs in 1945 followed by the ten-year-long reconstruction. They pulled out all the stops and had a cast of stars (as well as current stalwarts of the Opera): five conductors (Ozawa, Gatti, Mehta, Thielemann and Welser-Möst) and such luminaries as Domingo, Baltsa, Gruberova, Hampson, Terfel and Kirchschlager, as well as the fabulous Opera chorus and the Vienna Philharmonic. The gala featured scenes from six of the seven operas given new productions in that 1955 season -- Don Giovanni, Der Rosenkavalier, Aida, Meistersinger, Frau ohne Schatten and Fidelio. The whole thing lasted over three ... Read More: