John Rawnsley

1982 revival of 1974 John Copley production.

Pudsey the cheeky London stray dog is quite happy being a lone ranger, looking out for number one, until he meets siblings Molly, George and Tommy. After losing their father, their mother Gail is moving the family to the sleepy village of Chuffington and Pudsey tags along, to the dismay of their landlord, Mr Thorne, and his cat Faustus. As Pudsey starts to settle in with the family and realises what he was missing when he was alone, he stumbles across Thorne's evil plan, and he determines to save them and the whole village.

Since its debut in 1934 the Glyndebourne Festival has put a focus on Mozart operas and developed a great competence in staging them. Mozart s operas seem to be made for the small but fine opera house in Glyndebourne and it's not surprising that the 1977 Don Giovanni, one of Mozart's great masterpieces, was a huge success. This production is conducted by Bernard Haitink, who holds the opinion, that no other composer had more opera in his blood than Mozart. It has been proven, for example, that Mozart had no overture for Don Giovanni until the evening before the premiere in Prague and wrote it down in just one night. Like the premiere's success of the opera in Prague in 1787 the Glyndebourne's version staged by Peter Hall was praised by audience and critics alike: We witness a lively and wide-awake ensemble piece that has easily survived all these decades, and still manages to teach many directors the art of playing theatre.

La Fanciulla del West, Puccini's penultimate opera is based on a play by David Belasco set at the height of the notorious California gold rush. The composer took three years to complete the work, which, for him, marked a new stylish departure. With more modern harmonic combinations and local melodies, Puccini pieced together a far larger canvas than anything he had tackled before. In this recording, Piero Faggioni's highly detailed staging is matched by Ken Adam's superbly atmospheric sets. Carol Neblett sings the role of Minnie "The Girl of the Gold West," Placido Domingo is as ignitable as ever in the role of Dick Johnson, alias the bandit, Ramirez, and Silvano Carroli sings the sinister sheriff, Jack Rance. Conducted by Nello Santi.

Rigoletto, hunchbacked jester, plans to take revenge on his master, the Duke of Mantua. Teatro de la Zarzuela 1989

Live from Glyndebourne 1981