SHAKESPEARE

Hamlet – Shakespeare Concert Series [3 CDs]

Navona Records presents Hamlet: An Opera in Three Acts from Joseph Summer. In this installment of the Shakespeare Concert Series, composer Joseph Summer brings us along to Elsinore with The Bard’s classic play in an all new setting complete with the lyric integrity of Shakespeare’s words in a contemporary musical arrangement. Performed by Bulgaria’s State Opera Ruse orchestra, choir, and selected Bulgarian soloists. (Navona)

Shakespeare: Hamlet [DVD]

King Hamlet is dead. Poisoned by his brother Claudius who has married the king’s widow and has taken over the regiment in Denmark. Young prince Hamlet wants to avenge his father. This however drives the prince more and more into isolation. With Sandra Hüller as Hamlet, Johan Simons’ highly concentrated staging of Shakespeare’s classic play becomes a pleading for radical honesty. (Naxos)

1DVD# 8065 $22.99

3CD# NV6396

$14.99

Shakespeare: The Winter’s Tale [DVD]

Blanche McIntyre directs a new version of Shakespeare’s great play of the irrational and inexplicable. Set in a world of monsters, gods and natural disasters, travel from the stifling atmosphere of the Sicilian court to the unbuttoned joy of a Bohemian festival. (Opus Arte)

1DVD# OA 1352D

$24.99

Shakespeare Sonnets / Ashley Riches; Emma Abbate

Former Royal Opera House Jette Parker Young Artist baritone Ashley Riches, and rising star pianist Emma Abbate, perform a ravishing selection of previously unrecorded Shakespeare Sonnets by Italian composer Mario CastelnuovoTedesco. These songs contain all the wistful atmsophere of, and his obvious warmth for, his native Florence as well as his life-long obsession with William Shakespeare. (Resonus)

Shakespeare: Richard III [DVD]

Richard III is one of Shakespeare’s earliest works, first performed around 1593. But until this day the title character with his unbridled, single-minded, gleefully exhibited amorality has lost none of his fascination. Staged by Thomas Ostermeier at the Schaubühne Berlin this production is perfectly casted with a selected team and a compelling Lars Eidinger as Richard. (Naxos)

1DVD# THE08029 $22.99

Shakespeare’s Tempest / Michael Stern; Kansas City Symphony

Under the dynamic direction of Music Director Michael Stern, The Kansas City Symphony covers itself in glory with incidental music for The Tempest by Sir Arthur Sullivan and Jean Sibelius. This is the first high-resolution digital recording of the Sullivan (of Gilbert & Sullivan fame), and a masterful performance of the colorful Sibelius suites, including the seldom-heard Prelude. (Reference)

1CD# RR-115 $16.99

1CD# RES10141

$16.99

Songs for William Shakespeare / Sara Stowe

The finest songs from Shakespeare’s plays, from Johnson’s arrangement of ‘Where the bee sucks’ in The Tempest to Morley’s famous version of Feste’s song, ‘O mistress mine’, from Twelfth Night. Carefully researched and played on instruments of the period.

(Gift of Music)

Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Shakesperare Overtures, Vol. 1

1CD# GCDG1006

$16.99

Shakespeare in Song / Phoenix Bach Choir

“Where has this fabulous choir been all my life? I’ve heard several outstanding efforts from Robert Shaw protégé Charles Bruffy with his Kansas City Chorale, but I’ve never heard him at the helm of this brilliant Arizona group before. No choral strength you can name eludes them.”

– American Record Guide (Chandos)

1SACD# CHSA 5031 $19.99

1CD# 8572500

Shakespeare’s

That art of Shakespeare was a recurring fascination for Mario Castelnuove-Tedesco. In addition to two operas and numerous settings of songs and sonnets, he wrote 11 Shakespeare Overtures which here receive their first ever recording. These are some of the 20th century’s most dramatic and tuneful orchestral works, spectacular evocations of Shakespeare’s greatest plays. (Naxos)

$13.99

Stratford (Video tour) [DVD]

Enjoy this video tour of Stratford, the city that produced the greatest playwright in history. We are steered through each location under the guidance of our personable hostess who ornaments her in-depth knowledge of Stratford and its illustrious native son with the kind of tales that aren’t normally found in guide books. This is the first time ever that the Shakespeare Trust has allowed such detailed access. (ArtsMagic)

1DVD# MOB315598 $9.99