Graham Vick reviews

Rossini’s last and most ambitious opera was staged in August 2013 at the festival in Pesaro named after the town’s most famous son. It’s a piece that seems to be coming back into fashion, partly due to a generation of singers who can tackle its challenging roles, most notably that of the initially reluctant Swiss patriot, Arnold, here magnificently sung by Juan Diego Flórez despite its plethora of nigh-on impossible high notes.

The grandly tragic figure of the enslaved Turkish sultan Bajazet in Handel’s 1724 opera is a recent departure for Plácido Domingo, and one that could be supposed to lie outside his comfort zone. So it says much for his artistry and intelligence that he makes such a significant success of it in this filming of Graham Vick’s 2008 Madrid production.