Since Peter Zadek arrived from theatre world to produce his first opera, Mozart{u2019}s {u201E}Le nozze di Figaro2 ({u201E}The marriage of Figaro2) in Stuttgart in 1983, he has been in demand as an opera director too {u2013} with good reason, as our new DVD video makes clear. Zadek{u2019}s production of the opera, which combines Brecht{u2019}s text with Kurt Weill{u2019}s music, was recorded at the 1998 Salzburg festival. The opera was one of the greatest successes of its day when it originally opened in 1931, and ran for over fifty performances. Its songs, most of all {u201E}O moon of Alabama2, are still great hits today. In the 1998 Salzburg production they were interpreted by a top{u2013}notch ensemble of singers under the direction of Dennis Russell Davies: the title roles were sung by such renowned artists as Catherine Malfitano, Gwyneth Jones and Jerry Hadley.