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Il Trovatore

Luciano Pavarotti brings his spectacular voice and artistry to one of the most famous of all tenor roles—Manrico, the ardent troubadour, trapped in an impossible situation by forces beyond his control. The sensational Dolora Zajick, only days after her Met debut, gives an incandescent performance as the demented gypsy Azucena, thirsting for revenge against Count Di Luna (Sherrill Milnes). Eva Marton is the passionate Leonora, desired by both Manrico and the Count, and James Levine brilliantly leads the Met’s orchestra and chorus in some of Verdi’s best-known music.

Il Trovatore

8.0 1988
Cavalleria rusticana

Franco Zeffirelli directs these two legendary La Scala productions telling tragic tales of jealousy. Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana features performances by Elena Obraztsova, Plácido Domingo, and Renato Bruson. Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci stars Teresa Stratas, Plácido Domingo, and Juan Pons. Both are conducted by George Pretre. This production of Pagliacci earned director Franco Zeffirelli the coveted Emmy as Best Director in the category of Classical Music Programming.

Cavalleria rusticana

8.5 1982
Die Fledermaus

Most opera houses ring in the New Year with Johann Strauss Jr.'s most popular operetta--the festiveness of which is appropriate for the occasion--and this December 31, 1983, Covent Garden performance follows suit. An exceptional cast--led by Hermann Prey and Kiri Te Kanawa as the couple whose marriage survives the comic indiscretions of three long acts--obviously has as much fun as the audience. Plácido Domingo leads the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House through its paces with panache. Prince Orlofsky's Act II party is always a splendid opportunity to pull out all the stops with surprise "guests," and this performance makes the most of its chance: entering the proceedings to sing one of his tailor-made chansons, "She," is French crooner Charles Aznavour, who is followed by dancers Merle Park and Wayne Eagling, their delightful pas de deux flashily choreographed by Sir Frederick Ashton.

Die Fledermaus

8.2 1984
Grimpeur Étoile

In 1984, climbing virtuoso Patrick Berhault gave a night climbing demonstration with Nico Ivaldo in Finale Ligure, Italy. This close and spontaneous connection with the audience, the silence followed by the cheers of the crowd with each move, amplified the climbers' sensations, creating a powerful feeling that gave them a state of flow. This idea of ​​climbing dance took root and culminated in the film "Star Climber," composed of parodic vignettes retracing the history of climbing through the ages. Berhault, by turns a Cro-Magnon man, a Zulu in a trance, a troubadour climber accompanied on the flute by Catherine Destivelle, a Buster Keaton trying to climb his beautiful woman's wall, as Blues Brothers, Berhault and Robert Cortijo push the dial on rock 'n' roll 10 meters above the ground solo on the facade of a building at the crossroads of West Side Story and a Terry Gilliam film.

Grimpeur Étoile

10.0 1989
The Court of the Pharaoh

In the early Spanish Civil Post-war, in Madrid, during the most hard times of the Franco dictatorship, a group of second-rate players try to get out of their wretched lives taking advantage of the artistic caprices of the son of a rich man who supports the regime. They try to stage a Pre-war 'zarzuela' (a sort of Spanish operetta), 'La Corte Del Faraón', which ironically, thirty years later, is too obscene for the regime censorship. They finally manage to perform the 'zarzuela' but end up in the police station where they confirm that justice depends on which side are you on

The Court of the Pharaoh

5.6 1985
Aida

La Scala went all out for its 1986 production of this grandest of grand operas, with a strong cast and, most important for a video recording, a larger-than-life staging. The Triumph Scene in Act II is by no means Aida's only attraction, but it is the part that makes the strongest and most lasting impression and it is the visual and musical climax of this production. Stage director Luca Ronconi brings on a procession to dwarf all processions: looted treasures, heroic statuary, miserable captives struggling under the lash of whip-bearing slave drivers. On par with these visuals is Lorin Maazel's first-class performance of the popular Grand March with the outstanding La Scala chorus and orchestra. In Act III, the contrasting tranquility of the Nile Scene also gets a visual treatment to match the music's qualities.

Aida

6.7 1985
Pagliacci

The story is set in southern Italy and recounts the tragedy of Canio, the lead clown (or pagliaccio in Italian) in a commedia dell'arte troupe, his wife Nedda, and her lover, Silvio. When Nedda spurns the advances of Tonio, another player in the troupe, he tells Canio about Nedda's betrayal. In a jealous rage Canio murders both Nedda and Silvio. Although Leoncavallo's opera was originally set in the late 1860's, Zeffirelli's production is updated to the period between World War I and World War II.

Pagliacci

4.3 1987
Bolero

The film follows four families, with different nationalities (French, German, Russian and American) but with the same passion for music, from the 1930s to the 1960s. The various story lines cross each other time and again in different places and times, with their own theme scores that evolve as time passes. The main event in the film is the Second World War, which throws the stories of the four musical families together and mixes their fates. Although all characters are fictional, many of them are loosely based on historical musical icons (Édith Piaf, Josephine Baker, Herbert von Karajan, Glenn Miller, Rudolf Nureyev, etc.) The Boléro dance sequence at the end brings all the threads together.

Bolero

6.9 1981
Carmen - Glyndebourne Festival Opera

Don José is a guard who begins an affair with the tempestuous Carmen. He is imprisoned and loses his job, then flees with her to the mountains. When the relationship starts to break down José refuses to acknowledge it and will not leave, even when he gets news that his mother is dying. Carmen, meanwhile, has taken up with the bullfighter Escamillo. Bizet's most famous opera is brought to the Glyndebourne Festival Opera by Sir Peter Hall, with Maria Ewing and Barry McCauley heading an international cast.

Carmen - Glyndebourne Festival Opera

8.0 1985
Public Telephone

Téléphone is a great success story in French rock: 300,000 albums sold in 1979. The group was born on December 16, 1976, at a surprise concert at the American Center in Paris. Four instrumentalists, four self-taught, four musicians untroubled by the successive waves of fashions from across the Atlantic and the Channel: Jean-Louis Aubert, singer and songwriter; Louis Bertignac, guitarist; Richard Kolinka, drummer; Corinne Marienneau, bassist. From titles: “Métro c'est trop”, “La bombe humaine”, “Crache ton venin”... Portraits and interviews, trances and crowd-pleasers at the Palais des Sports and the Fete de l'Humanité, a look behind the scenes. Jean-Marie Périer, with seven cameras in hand, now captures the phenomenon in a feature-length film. Camera movements, editing on a giant triple screen and Dolby Stereo sound all serve to highlight the quartet's harmony and vitality.

Public Telephone

6.7 1980
Cantos Aztecas

“Cantons Aztecas” are provocative and mystical poems written by an Aztec prince more than 900 years ago. Set to music composed and conducted by Lalo Schifrin, it features Placido Domingo as principal soloist, a 100-piece orchestra, a 120-piece choir and four soloist. Recorded live at the Pyramid of the Moon of Teotihuacan and sung in the original languages of the Aztecs nahuatl, Cantos Aztecas is a thrilling experience. Personnel includes: Placido Domingo (vocals); Lalo Schifrin (conductor); Marsha Felix, Conchita Julian, Nikita Storojev (vocals); Mexico Philharmonic Orchestra & Chorus.

Cantos Aztecas

NR 1988
Urgh! A Music War

Urgh! A Music War is a British film released in 1982 featuring performances by punk rock, new wave, and post-punk acts, filmed in 1980. Among the artists featured in the movie are Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), Magazine, The Go-Go's, Toyah Willcox, The Fleshtones, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, X, XTC, Devo, The Cramps, Oingo Boingo, Dead Kennedys, Gary Numan, Klaus Nomi, Wall of Voodoo, Pere Ubu, Steel Pulse, Surf Punks, 999, UB40, Echo & the Bunnymen and The Police. These were many of the most popular groups on the New Wave scene; in keeping with the spirit of the scene, the film also features several less famous acts, and one completely obscure group, Invisible Sex, in what appears to be their only public performance.

Urgh! A Music War

7.4 1981
Paroles et musique

When Peter, Margaux's American writer husband, leaves Paris in a funk and heads home, she finds herself the single parent of two near teens. She also gets a new assignment at work: to find, sign, and promote new rock singers. She discovers a duo, Jeremy and Michel, and jump-starts their music careers. Jeremy is attracted to the older Margaux, asserts himself with her, befriends her children, and neglects Michel and their music. The kids go to New York to be with their father Peter, freeing Margaux to respond to Jeremy. Does that relationship have any future? And what of the musical duo?

Paroles et musique

5.1 1984