‘Perhaps the best of all my works’, said Gluck of his Armide. But this, the fifth of his seven ‘reform operas’, has never quite captured the public interest as have Orfeo, Alceste, the two Iphigenies and even Paride ed Elena. Unlike those works it is based not on classical mythology but on Tasso’s crusade epic, Gerusalemme liberata. No doubt Gluck turned to this libretto, originally written by Quinault, to challenge Parisian taste by inviting comparison with the much-loved Lully setting. Its plot is thinnish, concerned only with the love of the pagan sorceress Armide, princess of Damascus, for the Christian knight and hero Renaud, and his enchantment and finally his disenchantment and his abandonment of her; the secondary characters have no real life.

This is probably Mozart’s least interesting opera–if indeed it is an opera at all. Composed at the end of 1771 in honor of the 50th anniversary of Salzburg’s Archbishop Schrattenbach, its performance was cancelled due to the archbishop’s sudden death. Mozart re-dedicated it to the new archbishop (Colloredo). There is still doubt as to whether it was ever performed. It’s in one act of just under two hours and is concerned with the Roman general Scipio, who in a dream is made to choose between the godesses Fortune and Constancy to guide him through life. Needless to say, he chooses Constancy over luck, and we don’t care.

L’arbore di Diana (The Tree of Diana), which was staged at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in 2009, is a two-act opera buffa by the composer Vicent Martín i Soler with a libretto by the famous Lorenzo Da Ponte. The opera focuses on the temptation and joy of falling in love. Though the plot includes features borrowed from the pastorale and erotic comedy, it also had political intentions and endorsed the abolition of convents and monasteries decreed by the emperor.

Otto Schenk’s opulent production, conducted masterfully by Christian Thielemann, provides a perfect setting for Strauss’s bittersweet comedy of true love and mistaken identity. The great Kiri Te Kanawa is radiant as Arabella, the daughter of an impoverished aristocrat who must marry a wealthy man to save her family. Wolfgang Brendel sings Mandryka, the landowner from the provinces who wins her over with his honesty and genuine charm in the midst of Viennese society.

A live performance from the Teatro Lirico “Giuseppe Verdi” of Trieste under the direction of conductor Paolo Arrivabeni. Cast features Daniella Barcellona, Charles Workman, and Daniela Pini.

World Premiere - this is the first ever recorded performance of Rossini’s La Gazzetta.
The Nobel Prize-winning writer Dario Fo applies his inventive genius to Rossini's comic opera in its premiere DVD release. Recorded in 2005 under the musical direction of Maurizio Barbacini, Fo's production brings fresh vitality and colour to the story of Lisetta, and of her father's attempts to find a husband for her through an advertisement in the newspaper La Gazzetta.

‘Semele’ is presented in Robert Carsen’s stylish modern dress production, originally seen in London, and most recently staged at the Zurich Opera in 2007. The drama tells of the ambition of the beautiful mortal, Semele, who, not satisfied with being Jupiter’s mistress, strives with fatal results to supplant Jupiter’s wife, Juno. Conceived as an oratorio but nowadays presented as a stage drama, it is a superb vehicle for all the principals, not least the substantial title role, which includes such popular arias as ‘Endless pleasure’ and ‘Myself I shall adore’.