5/5 A must-have recording for anyone who loves fine singing
  by R. Altizer (Phoenix, AZ USA)
I first saw this concert broadcast in HDTV on the local cable outlet as part of its Friday night classical music series (since canceled, more's the pity) and immediately recorded it on my HD-DVR. When that failed, I bought the DVD (in SD, not HD).

This is a fabulous concert, with Bartoli and Terfel exhibiting mountains of style, personality, and virtuosity as they have a great time with the material. The concert was first released on DVD just before their 1998 appearance in the roles of Figaro and Susanna at the Met, and this concert's version of Le Nozze's opening duets through "Se vuol ballare" is IMHO much better than the staged version I saw on PBS (it was strangely dull, like Terfel's Don Giovanni there). But on the concert stage at Glyndebourne the interplay between Figaro and Susanna is a joy to behold; likewise the pair's charming "La ci darem." I personally love DaPonte's recitative text, and it was great to hear just as it should be dramatically stated. Terfel's Catalog Aria shows that he may be more suited to the cynical role of Leporello than that of the suave Don, though the Handel aria is more bluster.

Bartoli is an acknowledged mistress of Rossini roles, and even though I'm not a big fan of the composer, watching and hearing her could easily win me over.

This is a great disc to have in your collection, to see the young Terfel and the mature Bartoli give a masterful lesson on how Baroque and Classical music should be performed and enjoyed, by singer and audience alike.

5/5 Review of Cecilia and Bryn at Glyndebourne dvd
  by James L. Vendeland (Cleveland, Ohio)
If you enjoy the singing of Bryn Terfel and Cecilia Bartoli, then this dvd is a must for your collection! It is only a 90 minute concert but it is a superb collaboration between these 2 gifted singers. There are only 10 selections, 4 of which are by Mozart and the rest include songs and arias from Rossini, Haydn, Handel, and Donizetti. Cecilia Bartoli (perhaps second only to Marilyn Horne in the greatest-ever mezzo-soprano category) is magnificent in these selections. And Bryn Terfel is superb particularly in the Handel "Arm, arm ye brave". Also The London Philharmonic under the direction of Myung-Whun Chung perform well with these 2 wonderful vocalists.



5/5 Dolby TrueHD Sound and the HD Video Picture are Sumptuous
  by Jennifer Dodd
Two of today's best singers in glorious HD Video and the amazing sound of Dolby TrueHD.

These two can sing! I particularly enjoy the duets; they work so well together. One would need to be a determined "un-enjoyer" not to fall for this HD-DV.

Glyndebourne is such a magical place and this video and these two artists with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Myung-Whun Chung do it justice. What a joy!

If you have a a high quality receiver that decodes Dolby TrueHD, HDMI connections, a high end HD-DVD Player and HD-TV and you are a music enthusiast owning this concert is a must.Renee & Bryn: Under the Stars;Bryn Terfel Live in Concert;Bryn Terfel - We'll Keep a Welcome;Charlie Rose with August Wilson; Cecelia Bartoli (March 25, 1996);Cecilia Bartoli - Live in Italy;Cecilia Bartoli Sings Mozart and Haydn / Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Concentus Musicus Wien;Cecilia Bartoli - The Vivaldi Album / Il Giardino Armonico;The Salieri Album [Hybrid SACD]

1/5 HD-DVD has a problem!
  by William Gibbs
HD-DVD of Cecilia & Bryn at Glyndebourne has a serious problem!

Both my 3rd gen Toshiba players show:
Cannot play the disc.
Error Code: 408bc00c

deepdiver said the same of the HD-DVD disc on 3-18-08. (I got my 1st disc before him but have been busy and hadn't tried looking at it until 2 weeks ago.) So far, I've now gotten 2 discs of this from Amazon, and they're (Amazon) now (e-mail this morning) insisting that I take a 3rd one!!

I've an A35 and an A3 player, both w/the latest 2.0 firmware. I don't have Die Fledermaus, but I do have other Opus Arte HD-DVD discs (and no problems with them).

Better sound is my main reason for getting HD-DVD and Dolby TrueHD5.1 has been a winner over the 5.1 sound found on regular DVD video. (i.e. DD5.1 and sometimes also DTS5.1)

The only good news is that returning the box back to Amazon doesn't take much time, and only costs a couple pennies of adhesive tape (with reuse of a previously used incoming mailer). Aggravation is the big downside.

I also HATE that Amazon mixes reviews of HD-DVD together with DVD/VHS reviews, and assume they do the same with Blu-Ray, and wish that they'd at least stop doing that for Blue-Ray.

1/5 Another release with problems...
  by deepdiver (Seattle, Washington United States)
I have had a lot of expectations from this concert just to see that the disk is not played by the Toshiba HD-DVD even with the latest 2.0 firmware, same problem as with their other release, Die Fledermaus. I am more than sure that Opus Arte has not targeted the XBox 360 players with these releases (appears to work on that player) so I wonder on why no one in their QA tried to play it in a Toshiba before rushing the disk out in the market.
From what I can see the only advantage from the regular DVD would be the TrueHD; if you don't have the gear to decode that simply buy the regular version coming with Dolby 5.1 and save yourself money and the time required to return the box back to Amazon.