opera

What to give the opera fan who seemingly has every CD? To judge from my relatives' attempts, it can be pretty hard sledding. But the proliferation of DVD performances—mainly live productions, but some designed specifically as movies—might make the task easier. Opera DVDs are also a good gift for those just getting into the art form and wanting to know more before plunking down cash on tickets. Here are three fine choices, tied in with productions that Philly's local companies will be offering in the next few months:

1. Mozart's Marriage of Figaro would be almost everybody's nominee for greatest opera ever written: sublime music and a surefire comic plot. John Eliot Gardiner's stylish, immaculately played version on Archiv stars (on either side of the class war) Bryn Terfel and American "bari-hunk" Rodney Gilfry, an impressive singing actor who makes his Opera Company of Philadelphia debut in February in the brand new work the company has co-sponsored, Richard Danielpour and Toni Morrison's Margaret Garner. OCP goes on to stage Figaro in May around the delightful sopranos Christine Brandes and Mary Dunleavy.

2. Due to its length and musico-dramatic complexity, Richard Wagner's Ring of the Nibelungen wouldn't suit an operatic newbie. But consider its prologue, Das Rheingold: two compact hours of spectacular orchestral effects and an easy, mythic storyline even boasting some humor. Giants, dwarves, lightning, a magic ring—sound familiar? (No Orcs, though.) For the whole Ring I'd advise the brilliant Chereau/Boulez set from Bayreuth, but for sampling I'd counsel the traditionally picturesque Met's Rheingold (Deutsche Grammophon), with terrific work from James Levine's orchestra and the "world standard" Wotan of Academy of Vocal Arts alumnus James Morris. AVA will display its current budding Wagnerians in its piano-accompanied Rheingold in February.

3. Curtis will honor one of its most famous products, Leonard Bernstein, with a studio staging of his 1952 Trouble in Tahiti in February. Tom Cairn's 2001 BBC film gives the jazzily up-tempo but hauntingly sad opera the full Todd Haynes treatment, with 1950s-style Technicolor enveloping the lives and dreams of the suburban couple at its heart.