I would certainly be tempted by the Donald Runnicles / Hildegard Behrens
My current copies...
John Pritchard / Ileana Cotrubas, Frederica von Stade, Christa Ludwig, Elisabeth Soderestrom, Siegried Nimsgern, Kiri Te Kanawa, Ruth Welting
and a video which I can't find which has Colin Davis conducting and with Anja Silja as the witch
I see it on Amazon and Ebay, not cheap, but you mean you own it and can't find it (I guess).
But I do have two DVDs of Hansel and Gretel:
Solti with Fassbender, Gruberova, Prey, Dernesch, Jurinac, which I bought with purpose and,
Welser-Most with an unknown (to me) cast that I got for $2 at a library sale. Haven't watched either yet, and am behind 18 operas (three are Meistersingers!) on my DVD watching with an entire Ring cycle on DVD coming in the mail. But that is all the more reason, since the Ring cycle is not here yet, to start the first Hansel and Gretel tonight!
On CD I have the classic version by Karajan and also a very good stereo one by Tate. Both have superb casts and no-one will be disappointed with them.
On DVD I have the version n English with Blegen and von Stade. It is in English but is delightful.
It is important to realise that this opera is written for children. Modern producers who see in it dark references to child abuse, etc, are simply missing the point. Avoid such. It is a sanitised fairy tale to entertain children and those of us who are old enough again for fairy stories.
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