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Our audiovisual releases this month again feature magnificent stage works in world-leading performances: Fromental Halévy’s five-act grand opera La Juive (‘The Jewess’) enjoys a contemporary staging by Oper Frankfurt; Verdi’s intensely dramatic opera Macbeth is made available for the first time in an audiovisual release of the French version; and a triple bill from The Royal Ballet spotlights the pioneering genius of Frederick Ashton, the company’s founding choreographer.
![HALÉVY, F.: Juive (La) [Opera] (Frankfurt Opera, 2024) (NTSC)](https://cdn.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/2.110781.jpg "HALÉVY, F.: Juive (La) [Opera] (Frankfurt Opera, 2024) (NTSC)")
[Naxos]
Fromental HALÉVY (1799–1862)
La Juive
Opera in five acts (1835)
Libretto by Eugène Scribe
John Osborn • Gerard Schneider
Sebastian Geyer • Danylo Matviienko • Simon Lim
Chor der Oper Frankfurt
Extrachor der Oper Frankfurt
Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester
Henrik Nánási • Tatjana Gürbaca
Fromental Halévy’s five-act grand opera La Juive (‘The Jewess’) is one of the most popular operas of the 19th century, captivating audiences ever since its debut at the Opéra de Paris in 1835. Set in the 15th century and full of pageantry, the subject is the forbidden love between a Christian man and a Jewish woman, and the tragedy that ensues. Oper Frankfurt’s contemporary staging won great acclaim, with Ambur Braid being lauded for her ‘luminous soprano’ as the heroine Rachel, and ‘vocal phenomenon’ John Osborn heralded in the role of her father Éléazar as ‘immensely moving’.
Also available on Blu-ray Video (NBD0190V)
![VERDI, G.: Macbeth [Opera] (1865 French version) (Teatro Regio di Parma, 2024) (NTSC)](https://cdn.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/DYN-38063.jpg "VERDI, G.: Macbeth [Opera] (1865 French version) (Teatro Regio di Parma, 2024) (NTSC)")
[Dynamic]
Giuseppe VERDI (1813–1901)
Macbeth
Melodramma in four acts – French version, Paris 1865
Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, drawn from Shakespeare
Michele Pertusi • Luciano Ganci
Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini
Coro del Teatro Regio di Parma
Roberto Abbado • Pierre Audi
Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies, telling the story of a power couple galvanised by witchcraft and superstition, and obsessed by a craving to conquer the throne by force, even by murder. This French version of Verdi’s opera takes us into a sphere of decorum and decency that hides monsters capable of the worst atrocities, portrayed in some of the composer’s most blood-curdling and intense passages of music. A genuine rarity on stage, this 2024 production of the French version was acclaimed for its powerful vocal performances and fine acting.
Also available on Blu-ray Video (DYN-58063)
![ASHTON, F.: Scènes de ballet / A Month in the Country / Rhapsody [Ballets] (Royal Ballet, 2022) (NTSC)](https://cdn.naxos.com/sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/OA1396D.jpg "ASHTON, F.: Scènes de ballet / A Month in the Country / Rhapsody [Ballets] (Royal Ballet, 2022) (NTSC)")
[Opus Arte]
Igor STRAVINSKY (1882–1971)
Scènes de ballet
Fryderyk CHOPIN (1810–1849)
A Month in the Country
Sergey RACHMANINOV (1873–1943)
Rhapsody
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Emmanuel Plasson
This collection celebrates the masterful artistry of The Royal Ballet’s Founder Choreographer, Frederick Ashton, with three defining works. A pioneer of 20th-century dance, Ashton brought elegance, innovation and emotional depth to the stage, shaping the identity of British ballet for generations.
Scènes de ballet distils classical technique into a striking study of form and symmetry. Ashton gracefully reimagines Turgenev’s play A Month in the Country as a one-act ballet where all the drama unfolds in the family’s living room upon the arrival of a dashing young tutor. Rhapsody, created for Mikhail Baryshnikov and Lesley Collier, blends virtuosic movement with lyrical beauty, set to Rachmaninov’s sweeping score. Together, these works offer a vivid portrait of Ashton’s genius.
Also available on Blu-ray Video (OABD7331D)