Moniuszko: Halka [Blu-ray]

At Theater an der Wien Stanislaw Moniuszko's Polish national opera Halka is performed by a superb cast including Corinne Winters ("devotedly"), Piotr Beczala ("vocally outstanding") and Tomasz Konieczny ("his acting is piercing") (Der Standard). With libretto by young Polish poet Wlodzimierz Wolski, the opera is widely considered to be one of Moniuszko's greatest operas, and in fact was described by noted musicologist Carl Dalhaus as "The Polish national opera." The Polish leading team, above all director Mariusz Trelinski, puts the plot into a supercooled crime aesthetic. The ORF Radio Symphonie-Orchester Wien under the baton of Lukasz Borowicz plays with perceptible delight. "A gripping opera evening" (Wiener Zeitung).