Prices shown exclude VAT. (UK tax is not payable for deliveries to United States.)
See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Bach - Brandenburg Concertos
Never before released on DVD and, to the dismay of fans, long unavailable – these glorious Bach pieces are conducted by period instrument pioneer, Nikolaus Harnoncourt as only he can. Harnoncourt, a notable cellist, performs in two concertos and on gamba in one. Vocalists Perry, Holl, and Schreier sing with distinction. 5.1 DTS Surround Sound makes clear they revel in the acoustics of the visually magnificent Baroque library of Wiblingen Monastery. “Highly accomplished playing from all the Concentus Musicus” (Gramophone) Harnoncourt warns, “If we lose contact with the great works of Bach, we lose our contact with humanity.” This DVD makes staying in touch with this gift pure joy. | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |  |
“Karajan's attempt to film his Salzburg Ring in a studio in Munich with a new soundtrack… stalled after one episode - and there's a reason. All Karajan's opera films are stilted attempts by a musician who should have stayed at his conducting desk instead of working in an area of representation about which he seemed to understand a little. This Rheingold is by some way the worst of these films.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2009 “Karajan as stage director supervises an evocatively traditional production...Karajan as ever is masterly in his control of his forces, making this an exceptionally enjoyable version of the Vorabend of the Ring cycle.” Penguin Guide, 2010 edition **** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |  | Alte Universität Wien, 1982
The performance on this DVD was the high point of a festival organized by the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna to mark the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth. This recording was filmed on 31st of March – Haydn’s birthday – in the Great Hall of the Old University. “A lithe and well shot performance, given in the hall where Haydn made his last public appearance. Among the soloists, Berry and Schreier are outstanding.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2007 **** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |  |
| | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |  | Classical Music and Cold WarMusicians in the GDR
A film by THOMAS ZINTL In 1945, after the war had ended, the world split into East and West in political terms. The frontier between the two blocs cut straight through Germany and quickly became a dividing line between contrasting cultural systems. In the Soviet occupation zone, major opera houses and concert halls rose again from the ruins and long-established orchestras and choirs were revived. Once the GDR had been founded, the Socialist Unity Party took over responsibility for cultural affairs and quickly developed the idea of a nation of culture-loving working people in deliberate contrast to their portrayal of „Americanized, western capitalists softened by endless consumption“. Together with sport, classical music was used to advertise the merits of the GDR. Like all other areas of art it was instrumentalized for ideological purposes, and its protagonists - provided they displayed the necessary talent and were not regarded with suspicion by the state security service - often enjoyed extraordinary privileges. This combination of art and dictatorship created an environment in which music-making of world quality was able to flourish. Through case studies of individuals who lived under the system, the documentary explores the fates of both the privileged and the non-privileged, and delivers insight into the influence of the political system on artistic life. The film includes interviews with contemporary witnesses both from GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). Sound Format: PCM Stereo Picture Format: 16:9 DVD Format: DVD 5, NTSC Audio Language: DE Subtitles: IT, GB, FR, ES, JP Running Time: 52 mins FSK: 0 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
|
|
| |  | Live Recording from From The Salzburger Festspiele, 1982
Edita Gruberova (Königin der Nacht), Peter Schreier (Tamino), Christian Boesch (Papageno), Ileana Cotrubas (Pamina), Edda Moser (Erste Dame), Ann Murray (Zweite Dame), Ingrid Mayr (Dritte Dame), Martti Talvela (Sarastro), Horst Hiestermann (Monostatos), Gudrun Sieber (Papagena) Wiener Staatsoper, James Levine Directed, Set & Costume Design by JEAN-PIERRE PONNELLE This production of Mozart’s Magic Flute received enormous and unanimous approval, when it was premiered in Salzburg. Endless applause on the night and an unusual state of accord from the international press where enthusiastic reviews soon gave this staging the status of a legend. Of course, none of that would have had the same appeal if it had not been in accord with Mozart’s music, performed quite un-theoretically, with perfect blend of lightness and pathos, humour and profundity, by James Levine and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; nor would it all have worked without a truly Festival-worthy cast of singers whose strengths were perfectly balanced and every single one of whom – right down to the members of the chorus – was totally committed to the work. Sound Format: PCM Stereo Format: 4:3 DVD Format: DVD 5 & DVD 9 / NTSC Subtitle Languages: DE, GB, FR, ES, IT Running Time: 189 mins FSK: 0 “Delivered with energy and great expertise” BBC Music Magazine, February 2011 *** “From the start, with James Levine at his most brilliant and perceptive as conductor, it struck an ideal medium between the pantomime element and the weightier implications of the Masonic background...it makes ideal entertainment on film.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition | | | This item is currently out of stock at the UK distributor. You may order it now but please be aware that it may be six weeks or more before it can be despatched. |
|
|
| |  | Live Recording from The Alte Universität, Vienna, 1982
This March 1982 performance of The Creation took place in the Great Hall of the Old University in Vienna - precisely where, on 27 March 1808, the composer had appeared for the last time in public to attend a gala performance of this work under the direction of Antonio Salieri. The concert brought together a number of leading artists: the Collegium Aureum is a loose association of German and Austrian soloists and chamber musicians internationally renowned for their performances on period instruments, while the Arnold Schoenberg Choir continues to be regarded as one of the finest choirs in Europe. The parts of Gabriel, Uriel and Raphael are taken by three of the most eminent and supremely well-qualified singers of their day, soprano Arleen Augér, tenor Peter Schreier and bass Walter Berry, while the German baritone Roland Hermann and the Austrian soprano Gabriele Sima are sheer luxury casting in the roles of Adam and Eve. With his lively temperament, the Austrian conductor Gustav Kuhn ensures that the performance is not only true to the spirit of the original but has a tension and a vitality all of its own, guaranteeing that the performance was an overwhelming experience for all who were present on this occasion. Spirit, sound, space and time come together here to create a coherent whole. Bonus: Documentary on the work and the occasion. Sound Format: PCM Stereo Picture Format: 4:3 DVD Format: DVD 9, NTSC Subtitle Languages: DE, GB, FR, ES, IT Running Time: 114 mins & 18 mins (Bonus) FSK: 0 “it is quite electrifying, but in the right way. Gustav Kuhn, with his lively temperament, conducts with an ideal combination of zest and depth of feeling...The soloists are unsurpassed on record.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
|
|
| |  | A Performance for Children
Live Recording from The Felsenreitschule Salzburg, 1982 Concept and Script: Christian Boesch Based on a staging by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle The Magic Flute had been the sensation of the season in 1978. It received enormous and unanimous approval, endless applause on the night and brought on an unusual state of accord in the international press, where enthusiastic reviews soon gave the staging legendary status. Christian Boesch became one of the progenitors of this movement when he created a new version of Mozart’s popular opera, in which Papageno becomes the storyteller. He worked with director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle to develop a concept that presents Mozart’s wondrous mystery play – based on the Salzburg Festival production 1978 – in such a way that it encourages young audiences to relate to the genre and exposes them to the magic inherent in this particular work. This DVD captures the incomparable atmosphere of the fi rst ever staging of The Magic Flute for Children. Sound Format: LPCM Stereo Picture Format: 4:3 DVD Format: DVD 9, NTSC Subtitle Languages: GB, DE, FR Running Time: 106 mins FSK: 0 “Delivered with energy and great expertise” BBC Music Magazine, February 2011 *** “From the start, with James Levine at his most brilliant and perceptive as conductor, it struck an ideal medium between the pantomime element and the weightier implications of the Masonic background...it makes ideal entertainment on film.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
|
|
| |  | A Ballet by John Neumeier
Peter Schreier (Evangelist and tenor arias), Bernd Weikl (Jesus), Mitsuko Shirai (soprano), Marga Schiml (alto) & Franz Grundheber (bass) Hamburg Ballet, St.-Michaelis-Orchester, St.-Michaelis-Chor, Knabenchor Hannover & Knabenchor St. Michaelis, Günter Jena Live Recording from Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, 2005. Choreography, Staging, Scenography by John Neumeier. “I am both Christian and a Dancer” 'John Sebastian Bach‘s Matthew Passion has deeply moved me. Bach‘s musical incarnation of the Passion in both its general and personal aspects created the need in me to fi nd a choreographic equivalent. I am both Christ and a dancer. My whole life, all my thought and feeling are the dance, and choreography is my real language. That is why I have attempted to express my own religious convictions and experiences in choreographic terms and to organize them in artistic form. In my entire career as a choreographer, I have never known a period in which I enjoyed such complete harmony with the dancers, as I have enjoyed throughout the creation of the St. Matthew Passion. It was a period of learning from one another, of experiencing instinctively together the emotion of text and music, of positive cooperation and concentration. Even if this ballet had never got beyond rehearsals and had never been performed, the process of its creation will remain the most profound experience of my working life.' John Neumeier „One‘s imagination can feast on this ballet and its implications, one can become personally involved, but it is difficult if not impossible to imagine any other company performing it. It is the unique expression of this man and this company he has forged.“ Dance Magazine BONUS: Includes a Multi-Angle-View Sound Format: PCM Stereo Picture Format: 16:9 DVD Format: 1 x DVD5, 2 x DVD9, NTSC Running Time: 211 mins FSK: 0 “Neumeier, who bows out here as Christ-like dancer, sees this as his finest achievement. Balletomanes may agree; music lovers might be baffled by choreographed Bach.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2011 *** | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
|
|
| |  | Karl Böhm Conducts Schubert
Subtitles: Latin (Mass), German, English, French, Spanish “An uncommonly weighty performance of the great C major Symphony, but Böhm carries it off, while the E flat Mass, a late work, sounds most convincing in this heartfelt interpretation in austere and beautiful surroundings.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2006 **** | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
|
|
| |
|
Building a Library
