Latest releases reviewed

DONIZETTI: MARIA STUARDA Soloists: Carmela Remigo, Sonia Ganassi, Joseph Calleja. Coro del Circuito Lirico Regionale Lombardo, Fondazione Orchestra Stabile di Bergamo "Gaetano Donizetti". Conductor: Fabrizio Maria Carminati Dynamic ***

Donizetti wrote three operas on the great Queens of the Elizabethan period and each of them has an excellent soprano role. This work, focusing on the battle of wills between Mary, Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I, has the additional benefit of its libretto being based on a Schiller play; dramatically it is probably the strongest of the three. Its great climactic scene is a confrontation between the two Queens (which, in fact, never happened) where Mary denounces Elizabeth as being a bastard and so seals her own fate. The highlight of this production from Bergamo, Donizetti's birthplace, is some lovely singing from Joseph Calleja as Leicester. The two queens sing with conviction, but lack the regal dignity essentaial to their parts. Staging and conducting are adequate, but the main attraction is the graceful singing of Calleja. www.dynamic.it

Colman Morrissey

YES 9012 Live Warner Music Vision **

We all have to start somewhere, and this 1984 documentary of the UK progressive rock titans (who, judging by the audience adulation in Edmonton, Canada, were still able to pack in the crowds) was the directorial debut of one Steven Soderbergh, future creator of sex, lies and videotape and Traffic. In the early 1980s, Soderbergh was a young director for hire, and to his credit he makes everything look reasonably decent as he intercuts conventional live show footage with (dated) special effects. It's the extras that create a giggle, however: all the band members look like barmaids from old editions of Coronation Street - big, blowsy, bouffant hair. Band interviews are cracking fun, too, with Jon Anderson spouting all manner of Spinal Tapisms from start to finish. Grumpy old man Rick Wakeman is, sadly, absent from the lunacy. www.yesworld.com

Tony Clayton-Lea