What opera have you purchased recently?

[Amfortas]

. . . she is a pale Nordic blonde . . .

She's gorgeous, and heart-wrenching, in this. (Sorry, finally got around to ordering the DVD, so it's on my mind).

[tyroneslothrop]

pale Nordic blonde

Actually, Baltic. But on second thought, Baltic blonde just doesn't have the same ring as Nordic blonde, so- as you were...

[Soave_Fanciulla]

She's gorgeous, and heart-wrenching, in this. (Sorry, finally got around to ordering the DVD, so it's on my mind).

Oh yes, this is a very cool production. Charlotte the bored suburban housewife. Now if only Marcello Alvarez was as gorgeous (he's best covered with a lot of beard).

[Dark_Angel]

Instead of buying the complete Levine 40 MET boxset, I purchased the two DVD sets I wanted most inside (on sale now at MET website) The Don Carlo is a real prize with Troyanos as Princess Eboli





Look at this scence from Elektra, surprise Behrens is great here......

[tyroneslothrop]

Pre-ordered from Amazon:

(Vienna, 1962)

[Dark_Angel]

Rossini fun x 3

[Amfortas]

Oh yes, this is a very cool production. Charlotte the bored suburban housewife. Now if only Marcello Alvarez was as gorgeous.

I've made this point before, but . . . it even sort of works for me having Alvarez as a less-than-Kaufmann-like heartthrob. Within the context of Andrei Serban's production, staged as a Douglas Sirk-style 1950's melodrama, it comes off as a tale about a repressed, desperate American housewife-to-be falling for the rather cheap and blatant charms of a smarmy European gone more than a bit to seed (no offense to our friends across the Atlantic!).

For me, it has the effect of making the story even more pathetically about *her*: the tragedy of Charlotte.

[Luiz Gazzola (Almaviva)]

I've made this point before, but . . . it even sort of works for me having Alvarez as a less-than-Kaufmann-like heartthrob. Within the context of Andrei Serban's production, staged as a Douglas Sirk-style 1950's melodrama, it comes off as a tale about a repressed, desperate American housewife-to-be falling for the rather cheap and blatant charms of a smarmy European gone more than a bit to seed (no offense to our friends across the Atlantic!).

For me, it has the effect of making the story even more pathetically about *her*: the tragedy of Charlotte.

If Elina Garanca can plausibly fall in love with Marcello Alvarez, then there is hope. Maybe Anna Netrebko will fall in love with me.

[Amfortas]

If Elina Garanca can plausibly fall in love with Marcello Alvarez, then there is hope. Maybe Anna Netrebko will fall in love with me.

Only if you're cheap, blatant, and smarmy enough (the gone-to-seed I take as a given).

[tyroneslothrop]

[Dark_Angel]

I normally listen to Verdi Requiem on CD set, but I got this DVD just for subtitles so I know what they are actually singing.

Pre-order on RLD, super low Amazon Prime price locked in.......

[tyroneslothrop]

Pre-order on RLD, super low Amazon Prime price locked in.......

I usually pre-order stuff because it is a "fire and forget" thing and I like having every day be Christmas when I check my mailbox.

However, when I am ordering DVDs and CDs that are already available, I usually will check RAREWAVE-IMPORTS, Classical Music Superstore, -importcds, beaches_entertainment, and MovieMars, which sell their wares in the Amazon Marketplace, and find they are cheaper even after postage is added.

[Luiz Gazzola (Almaviva)]

I usually pre-order stuff because it is a "fire and forget" thing and I like having every day be Christmas when I check my mailbox.

However, when I am ordering DVDs and CDs that are already available, I usually will check RAREWAVE-IMPORTS, Classical Music Superstore, -importcds, beaches_entertainment, and MovieMars, which sell their wares in the Amazon Marketplace, and find they are cheaper even after postage is added.

Not always. I also use Classical Music Superstore, importcds, and particularly MovieMars, but with the Prime Amazon membership, it is not uncommon that the Amazon price beats them, and certainly Amazon is much faster to deliver. But yes, particularly MovieMars works well for me because they are based in North Carolina so they deliver to my home just a couple of days later than Amazon Prime would, and yes, sometimes even with the shipping costs and taxes they beat Amazon's price. The key is to always check the Marketplace vendors before clicking on that Buy button. Presto Classical based abroad often has sales and their shipping costs to the USA are very low, so, sometimes *they* beat everybody in the American market. When I'm not in a rush to receive my product, I often buy from them - it usually is only a good deal when they have a sale, but the thing is, they often do have sales, and those can slash their prices by 50% or even more, making their final price very competitive.

Now, if there is one operation that truly sucks, is Barnes & Noble. I don't know how they still survive. Their website is confusing, their prices are high, their shipping is slow, so, it's practically never a good deal to buy a CD or DVD from them, so I wonder who does it. Pretty much I only buy from them when I get a B&N gift card from someone for my birthday or something, and of course I thank the giver, but think to myself "darn, why couldn't he/she give me an Amazon gift card instead?"

Borders went kaput. Barnes & Noble is bigger but I wonder when Amazon will kill them. I don't understand the CEO of this company. It should be more than clear by now that Amazon does a much better job selling stuff online, so why do they persist with their higher prices and slower shipping, and don't do anything to match their main competitor?

For us, consumers, it would be good if Barnes & Noble and Amazon truly competed for our dollars, it might bring down overall prices, but instead, B&N just allows Amazon to run unchallenged. I would like to understand their philosophy. They're the only people who could compete with Amazon, so why don't they?

[tyroneslothrop]

Not always. I also use Classical Music Superstore, importcds, and particularly MovieMars, but with the Prime Amazon membership, it is not uncommon that the Amazon price beats them, and certainly Amazon is much faster to deliver. But yes, particularly MovieMars works well for me because they are based in North Carolina so they deliver to my home just a couple of days later than Amazon Prime would, and yes, sometimes even with the shipping costs and taxes they beat Amazon's price. The key is to always check the Marketplace vendors before clicking on that Buy button. Presto Classics based abroad often has sales and their shipping costs to the USA are very low, so, sometimes *they* beat everybody in the American market. When I'm not in a rush to receive my product, I often buy from them - it usually is only a good deal when they have a sale, but the thing is, they often do have sales, and those can slash their prices by 50% or even more, making their final price very competitive.

Like your case with Presto Classics, when one is not in a rush and wants to save money, it also makes sense to check eBay. Even when postage is taken into account (compared with free postage via Amazon Prime), eBay can be significantly cheaper for new CDs and DVDs then Amazon itself or any Amazon marketplace vendor.

As an example, here is just one of the deals I see on eBay now:


versus Amazon:


So in this real-life example, I'd save 51% buying this same new DVD off of eBay than anything I could get off of Amazon.

[Soave_Fanciulla]

If you are buying outside the US, Presto Classical is a very good company. Slow shipping to the US is often offset by earlier new release dates. I sometimes buy from Amazon UK but not Amazon US as their shipping costs of US$13 per DVD is daylight robbery

I like supporting Presto as well as they are a dedicated classical music company and take the time to provide quality information about their releases.