Donald McIntyre

"One of the most acclaimed Wagner productions of the postwar period, this electrifying, revolutionary Bayreuth staging of 'The flying Dutchman" catapulted the German director Harry Kupfer to international fame. Kupfer's psychologically acute production presents the entire story as a hallucination, in which Senta's yearning for the eternally wandering Dutchman sends her into a trance-like state."

A film about Patrice Chéreau's controversial centenary production of Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen" produced at Bayreuth 1976-1980. Includes excerpts from rehearsals, performances, and recording sessions interspersed with various commentary. Also includes a brief history of the Bayreuth Festival from its beginnings to the mid-1980s, including archival footage and photographs.

"The most dramatic piece that Berlioz ever wrote," is how conductor John Nelson describes La Damnation de Faust. The composer designated this thrilling hybrid of oratorio and opera a 'légende dramatique'. Following in the triumphant footsteps of Les Troyens, also recorded at the Auditorium Erasme in Strasbourg, this performance reunites Nelson and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg with singers Michael Spyres, Joyce DiDonato and Nicolas Courjal."--prestomusic.com....