Handel: Orlando

The Blu-ray disc is technically superb, with highly detailed images, deep black levels and excellent contrast. Once again, the color palette is intentionally unusual, but quite natural looking and robust as employed throughout. The audio content is also first-rate; while I wasn't equipped to take advantage of the DTS HD Master Audio 7.1 offering, the down-sampled 5.1 version gave an ample impression of being present for the proceedings at the Zurich Opera House. And the musicians were superb; William Christie is the perfect conductor for this baroque repertory. While opera discs typically don't offer much in terms of bonus features, this one did offer a selection of trailers for other available Art Haus Musik titles. Some of the trailers looked really interesting, particularly the Wagner Tannhauser, which was very visually striking!

While I'm personally not a huge fan of Baroque opera repertory, real fans of Handel's Orlando will be hard-pressed to find a more visually stylish or well-sung version. Recommended.

Price: $47.98