Les Contes D'Hoffmann

Among DVDs of "Hoffmann" currently available, this is the only one that even begins to stand comparison with the superlative Powell and Pressburger film (whose ideas it occasionally borrows). Olivier Py's baroque imagination, which sometimes leads him into self-indulgence and incoherence, is well suited to bringing out this opera's darkness and he does an excellent job

Le Comte Ory

Glyndebourne's intimate opera house provides the perfect setting for Rossini's third French opera, a sparkling medieval comedy of lust and chastity.