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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Live Recording From The Grosses Festspielhaus, Salzburg Festival, 2010
Set by Raimund Bauer With Richard Strauss’ Elektra, the Salzburg Festival delivers a thoroughly impressive new production that the Vienna daily Kurier calls the “best new opera production of 2010”. Reaping acclaim are the top-quality vocalists as well as the mighty stage set and the sensitive direction of Nikolaus Lehnhoff. Portraying Elektra is Swedish soprano Iréne Theorin, who injects astonishing dramatic power into her role. “Impressive in every respect”, wrote the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung about her role debut here. Internationally acclaimed Wagner singer Waltraud Meier also gives her spectacular, commanding stage debut here as Klytämnestra. They are complemented by an outstanding Eva-Maria Westbroek as Chrysothemis, and a forceful René Pape as Orest. Nikolaus Lehnhoff’s many years of experience on the world’s greatest stages are clearly visible in his direction of the singers: moving about a sinister, forbidding set bathed in suggestively changing lighting, the vocalists are treated as stage actors, whose expressive gestures are captured with particular vividness and immediacy by the camera. Leading the Wiener Philharmoniker is Daniele Gatti. Alternating between late 19th-century lyricism and early 20th-century excess, he clearly emphasizes the dual conflicts at the heart of the work. “Nikolaus Lehnhoff’s new production of ‘Elektra’ ends with a stroke of genius that arrives with a shock.” Financial Times Sound Format: PCM Stereo, dts-HD Master Audio 5.1 Picture Format: 16:9 Resolution: 1080i FULL HD Subtitle Languages: DE, IT, GB, FR, ES, JP Running Time: 109 mins Blu-ray Disc: 25 GB (Single Layer) FSK: 6 “Here's a treat for Expressionism junkies...dominated by Theorin's extraordinary heroine, a Brunnhilde gone seriously to seed, a real tour de force of concentrated energy, vocal stamina and dramatic power, who occupies most of the very well-made film in close-up. Daniele Gatti gets marvellous sounds from the Vienna Philharmonic, all the score's fever and neurosis but also its tenderness... There's really not a weak link here” Opera Now, Summer 2011 ***** “Elektra's Freudian creepiness constantly attracts sensationalist productions, so it's a pleasure to report just how fine this 2010 Salzburg staging is. Daniele Gatti's conducting is powerful enough, but never loses sight of the score's eerie lyricism and sombre glow, which Nikolaus Lehnhoff's staging embodies to atmospherically...Among Elektras on DVD this, along with Karl Böhm's historical performance, must rank among the best; and on Blu-ray it is superb.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2011 *****  BBC Music Magazine
DVD & Blu-ray Choice - October 2011 |
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| |  | Recorded live at Glyndebourne, Lewes, Sussex on 1st August and 6th August 2007.
Note: This Blu-ray Disc (BD) is not compatible with standard DVD players Glyndebourne’s celebrated production of Nikolaus Lehnhoff’s Tristan und Isolde is a supremely intelligent achievement; gravely beautiful, haunting and meditative, it is deeply reflective rather than visceral, fortified by Roland Aeschlimann's stunningly effective set, a womb-like space through which the protagonists move like gods. Conductor Jirí Belohlávek mirrors Lehnhoff's approach in his sophisticated plumbing of the score's depths, with every shift in texture carefully laid bare by an inspired London Philharmonic Orchestra. Nina Stemme's Isolde and Robert Gambill's Tristan, both gloriously lyrical, are matched by superb performances from René Pape as the betrayed and vulnerable King Marke and Bo Skovhus as Kurwenal, deeply touching in his helpless devotion to Tristan. This High Definition recording of a production of uncommon intimacy reveals the opera's music and drama in a new light. Picture: 1080i High Definition / 16:9 Sound: 2.0 & 5.0 Dolby TrueHD Video codec: AVC/MPEG-4 Disc size: 2 x BD50 Subtitles: EN/FR/DE/ES/IT Menu language: EN Region code: All regions Running time: Approx 358 mins Bonus material: Illustrated synopsis & cast gallery Do I hear the light? - a film by Reiner E. Moritz Artist biographies. ‘On the set’ - a slide show of the set being built. ‘Trimborn on Tristan’ – a talk by Richard Trimborn ‘I don’t think that I have ever witnessed a more perfect realisation of a Wagner opera than this superb Tristan und Isolde. …[Jirí Belohlávek] is scrupulous with the score, and takes his time over it: the pauses and silences are immense and there is no factitious attempt to whip up excitement by speeding. …a great and unforgettable occasion’ The Daily Telegraph “A performance realised to Glyndebourne's highest standards - the chorus and stage brass are Bayreuth-level, the casting immaculate (they can all really sing these parts) and Belohlávek's conducting balanced with a Goodall-like attention to the filigree detail of Wagner's new-wave scoring” Gramophone Magazine, August 2008 “Stemme's fiery Irish princess is even finer than on the Domingo CD… Gambill's burly Tristan projects a darker, more resigned intensity… Pape's black-voiced Marke rightly dominates the stage… Karneus is a passionate, lusciously sung Brangäne. Lehnhoff's Glyndebourne production doesn't outclass Daniel Barenboim's magnificent video... But those looking for a Tristan with warmth and immediacy will find it certainly shares Barenboim's benchmark recommendation.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2008 ***** “I don’t think that I have ever witnessed a more perfect realisation of a Wagner opera than this superb Tristan und Isolde. …[Jirí Belohlávek] is scrupulous with the score, and takes his time over it: the pauses and silences are immense and there is no factitious attempt to whip up excitement by speeding. …a great and unforgettable occasion” The Telegraph “a performance realised to Glyndebourne's highest standards – the chorus and stage brass are Bayreuthlevel, the casting immaculate (they can all really sing these parts), and Belohlávek's conducting balanced with a Goodall-like attention to the filigree detail of Wagner's new-wave scoring.
Old-style analyses of the music used to talk about the 'glance' motif. Lehnhoff's staging deploys a series of heartbreaking glances: Stemme's Isolde when Karnéus's Brangäne tells her she's taken the love draught, Stemme again when Tristan arrives in Act 2, Pape's Marke as he sees the lovers together and, at BrokebackMountain-level, Skovhus's Kurwenal as he cradles Gambill's Tristan then breaks away, half in fear of his lord's death, half in fear of his feelings for him. In fact, has a Tristan ever been so deeply loved by his lady and squire as here, or felt so wretched at betraying his king? And is Skovhus actually the greatest Kurwenal yet recorded? Roland Aeschlimann provides a geometrically attractive whorl of a standing set, concentric wooden circles telescoping towards a constantly varied horizon: a ship, a spaceship, everywhere, nowhere – perfect. The lighting (Robin Carter and Aeschlimann) has a genuine physical presence and seems to reinvent the colour blue. At the point of Isolde's almost belated arrival in Act 3, a surreal, Ingmar Bergman-like atmosphere permeates events: she arrives from behind on high as a figure of death and wraps him in a black cloak, while Skovhus's poignant Kurwenal gets a non-realistic, Brechtian centre-stage for his fights and death” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Solti Centenary ConcertLive recording from Symphony Center, Chicago, 2012
Hosted by Valerie Solti The Solti Centenary Concert in Chicago celebrated Sir Georg Solti’s 100th birthday on October 21, 2012, featuring the World Orchestra for Peace. This unique ensemble owes its existence to the vision of its founder, Sir Georg Solti, who believed passionately in peace and the power of music and musicians to be ambassadors for peace. Charmingly hosted by Solti’s widow, Lady Valerie Solti, and featuring soloists such as Angela Gheorghiu and René Pape as well as members of the Georg Solti Accademia, this memorable evening presents musical highlights, all of which played a significant role in Solti’s life and career. Besides excerpts from Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte and Don Giovanni or Verdi’s La Traviata and Rigoletto, this concert finds lovely musical moments in the 'Adagietto' from Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, Strauss’ Don Juan and Bartók’s masterful Concerto for Orchestra. Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever as the encore closes the performance with a smash. Conductor Valery Gergiev was a good friend of his advisor Georg Solti. Together with Lady Valerie Solti and the World Orchestra for Peace he carries on Solti’s vision and maintains his memory. Special Bonus Feature: “Solti’s Vision”, a film about the World Orchestra for Peace Sound Format: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1, dts-HD Master Audio 5.1 Picture Format: 16:9, 1080i FULL HD Subtitle Languages: DE, FR / DE (Bonus) Running Time: 112 mins + 21 mins (Bonus) FSK: 0 Worldwide available | 
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| |  | Salzburg Opening Concert 2010
The opening concert of the Salzburg Festival, for many regarded as the world’s most renowned music festival, is by tradition a high-profile event. In 2010 the Festival celebrated its 90th anniversary and the 50th anniversary of the Great Festival Hall. Barenboim, in 2010 also celebrated his 60th anniversary onstage, excelled as a soloist and conductor of Beethoven’s lyrical Fourth Piano Concerto. Bruckner´s poignant Te Deum is performed by a quartet of world-class singers. Running Time Total: 90 minutes BD: dts-HD MA 5.1, PCM Stereo Bruckner Te Deum: G, E, F, Sp, Korean, Chinese “there is no doubting the powerful authority that characterizes Barenboim's direction of Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto from the keyboard. Perhaps rather unexpectedly, the magic really starts with a reading of Boulez's Notations I-IV and VII (finishing with II), whose intoxicating allure and expressivity is strongly reminiscent of the kind of sound Karajan generated in his classic Second Viennese School recordings of the 1970s.” International Record Review, January 2012 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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BBC Music Magazine Awards 2012
Building a Library