BRITTEN Death in Venice (complete opera), Blu-ray (2010/13)
Conductor: Bruno Bartoletti
Performers: Martin Miller (Gustav von Aschenbach)/ Scott Hendricks (The Traveller et al)/ Razek-François Bitar (Voice of Apollo)/ Alessandro Riga (Tadzio)/ Danilo Palmieri (Jaschui)/ Sabrina Vianello (Strawberry and Newspaper Seller)/ Liesbeth Devos (Lace Seller). Venice Theater Orchestra and Chorus
Director: Pier Luigi Pizzi
Studio: Dynamic 55608 [Distr. by Naxos]
Video: 16:9 1080i color
Audio: DD 5.1, PCM 2.0, DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: German, English, French, Spanish, Italian
Length: 155 minutes
Rating: ****
This might be the shortest review I have ever written. Everything you need to know is here in my review of the original DVD release. Dynamic has now seen fit to offer it in Blu-ray format, with an updating of the sound to DTS 5.1. The picture is obviously better though the DVD wasn’t bad, and I do prefer the DTS sound, which is generally true in all operas I have covered. Death in Venice is not an easy opera to stage, and even more difficult to fully appreciate, and this production does it about as well as any. If this interests you, you have a Blu-ray deck, and you like the best quality picture and sound, then this new release is for you.
—Steven Ritter
