It’s taken from late July 2022 to move from 600 video disk reviews in the archive to 700 (though how many of the 700 are actually still available is anyone’s guess!).  That’s almost exactly 3 recordings per month which sounds about right.  So it’s picked up again after a slowdown during/after the pandemic.

Most of the statistics remain essentially unchanged.  For example, “language of performance” hasn’t changed much at 38% Italian, 25% German, 16% French and 11% English.  Even “century of composition” hasn’t shifted though there are now 30 21st century works in the list.  The same is true of “location of performance”. The leaders are still Salzburg (55), Royal Opera House (54), Glyndeboune (51) and Paris (46) withy no-one else topping 40.  As far as I can see the only major impact of (subscription) streaming services is that the Met is pretty much out of the disk market.

The only real changes are in date of recording and technology.  381/700 recordings were made in 2010 or more recently (95 since 2020 even though earlier recordings are still trickling out).  92 out of the last 100 recordings are Blu-ray.  Pretty much the only time DVD figures is when the only source is Toronto Public Library.  There’s no sign of 4K UHD making inroads.

The top works are all by Mozart with 15 Don Giovannis, 13 Marriage of Figaro, 12 Magic Flutes of assorted flavours and 11 Così.  Nothing else manages more than 9 (Carmen) with 7 each for Wozzeck, Peter Grimes, Elektra, Ariadne auf Naxos and The Coronation of Poppea.  Unsurprisingly this makes Mozart top composer with 73 followed by Wagner (47), Verdi (40), Rossini (36) and Strauss (34).

So despite the rise of free streaming services like Operavision and subscription ones like Met on Demand the video disk; basically Blu-ray now, is still an important vehicle for major opera houses and festivals.