DVD + Blu-Ray:
Critics' Choice - Handel: Saul

Glyndebourne’s Saul stole the summer of 2015 and had critics raving.

The Opus Arte Critics’ Choice series is a diverse range of titles, featuring some of the most acclaimed recordings in the label’s catalogue at a very special price. In this series we celebrate many famous classics while also revisiting some of the more innovative, original and perhaps less well-known productions that the label has long been renowned for showcasing. All the new Critics' Choice releases contain the beautifully designed, original artwork and colour booklets which, along with a new unique cover design uniting all the titles, makes them ideal for collectors.

Glyndebourne’s Saul stole the summer and had critics raving. The Guardian (★★★★) applauded ‘virtuoso stagecraft’ from director Barrie Kosky in his debut production there, calling the show ‘a theatrical and musical feast of energetic choruses, surreal choreography and gorgeous singing’. For The Independent, which ranked it amongst five top classical and opera performances of 2015, there was ‘no praise too high’ for the cast. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Ivor Bolton sparkles from the pit with period panache, and designer Katrin Lea Tag’s ‘exuberant costumes’ (The Times ★★★★) set the Old Testament story in Handel’s time, with a witty twinge of the contemporary.

"Musically this evening is well-nigh flawless." (The Independent ★★★★★)

"There is nothing safe about this show. It's a knockout that brings the work blazingly alive and transforms bewigged pieties into high human drama." (The Daily Telegraph ★★★★★)

Genre Opera
Composer George Frideric Handel
Production Company Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Orchestra / Band Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Conductor Ivor Bolton
Stage Director Barrie Kosky
Sets Katrin Lea Tag
Recording location Glyndebourne Festival Theatre, Glyndebourne
Production year 2015
Soloists Christopher Purves, Iestyn Davies, Lucy Crowe, Sophie Bevan, Paul Appleby, Benjamin Hulett, John Graham-Hall