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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Recorded at the Lucerne Festival Hall, August 2004
Claudio Abbado is undeniably the supreme Mahler conductor of our time. He conducts the composer’s Fifth and most popular Symphony which became world-famous as the soundtrack to Visconti’s “Death in Venice” The Lucerne Festival Orchestra has set new standards in the field of classical music with the participation of great soloists at the orchestra’s first desks, e.g. clarinetist Sabine Meyer, oboist Albrecht Mayer, violist Wolfram Christ, cellist Natalia Gutman and the Hagen Quartet. Claudio Abbado is undeniably a supreme Mahler conductor and his best selling recordings with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra – symphonies No. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 (on Blu-ray No. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6) have already been released on EuroArts – have set new standards in interpretation of works by Gustav Mahler. Special Feature: Multi-Angle. The DVD includes the option to switch to the “Conductor Camera” and experience Claudio Abbado from the orchestra’s perspective. Picture format BD: 1080i Full HD - 16:9 Sounds formats BD: PCM 2.0, DTS HD Master Audio Region code: All Booklet notes: English, German, French Running time: 84 mins FSK: 0 “Lucerne's acoustically superb KKL hall has this handpicked orchestra sounding most impressive: so is the performance, in its supercharged way” BBC Music Magazine, December 2010 **** “the recorded sound of this Abbado-handpicked orchestra is something special. So is the playing, which has a full-throated, epic splendour from start to finish, under the unobtrusive command of Abbado's conducting.” Classic FM Magazine, December 2010 **** | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Claudio Abbado conducts Prokofiev, Berg & TchaikovskyLucerne Festival at Easter 2010
Five years after first conducting the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra in their Venezuelan home, Claudio Abbado continues his commitment to this stunning ensemble in this first joint audiovisual concert recording. Prokofiev’s extrovert Scythian Suite is a gift for the boundless energy of these young players, while the intricacy and anguish of Berg’s Lulu-Suite are an Abbado speciality, with soprano Anna Prohaska, in her Lucerne Festival debut, singing the heroine’s dazzling statement of self-justification. The concert ends with an impassioned account of Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique, his final symphony, one of the most moving works in music history. Picture Format Blu-Ray: HDCAM 1080/59,94 Sound Formats Blu-Ray: DTS HD Master Audio PCM Stereo Region Code: 0 (worldwide) Booklet notes: Songtexts in German Running Time: 111:45 Disc Format: BD 25 FSK: 0 “It's amazing the way Abbado brings the melodic writing to the fore in the very different worlds of the Prokofiev and the Berg Lulu Suite, crowned by Anna Prohaska's meaningful characterisation...As for Tchaikovsky's Pathétique, I challenge you to sit unshaken through the way Abbado nurtures string tone, body and vibrato from his Latin players.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2011 **** “Aided by superb camera work, we see him, gaunt but energised, bringing sophistication and élan to Prokofiev’s monster canvas, conjuring magic and fragrance from the Berg and driving the Pathétique to the edge of the abyss.” Financial Times, 14th January 2011 **** | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Mahler: Symphony No. 4Recorded live at the Concert Hall of the Culture and Convention Centre Lucerne, 21/22 August 2010
In Summer 2010 Claudio Abbado and his outstanding Lucerne Festival Orchestra performed another symphonic work by Gustav Mahler: the Symphony No. 4. Abbado combines the orchestral work (which features a solo soprano in the finale) with Mahler’s “Rückert-Lieder”. Soloist in both works is the Czech soprano Magdalena Kozena. Magdalena Kožená does not only make the “heavenly joys” resound in the final movement of Mahler’s fourth symphony. Before that, she devotes herself to the seraphic beauty and intimate simplicity of Mahler’s Rückert Lieder. Practically all the songs that Mahler composed prior to 1900 were based on texts from “Des Knaben Wunderhorn”, a collection of folk poems published by Clemens Brentano and Achim von Arnim. From then on, Mahler turned exclusively to a single poet - the Franconian orientalist and translator Friedrich Rückert. Mahler confessed that the poems moved him so deeply that he sometimes felt he had written them himself. In the transcendent final Lied, “Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen”, he also quoted a phrase from the Adagio of his 4th symphony. Asked what it meant, he said that it personified himself. Claudio Abbado is undeniably a supreme Mahler conductor and his best selling recordings with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra – symphonies No. 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 have already been released on EuroArts – have set new standards in interpretation of works by Gustav Mahler. Picture format DVD: NTSC 16:9 Sounds formats DVD: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1 Region code: 0 Subtitles: English, German, French Booklet notes: English, German, French Running time: 88 mins FSK: 0 “There are innumerable incidental beauties from all sections: the woodwind nothing short of sublime, the brass tactfully reticent, the strings perhaps most remarkable of all with their radiant pianissimos...Kožená sings with consummate technical control and intellectual understanding...Here is profoundly affecting artistry which for once lives up to the hype.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2011 “The most remarkable thing of all is the sense of intimacy that he achieves: this is Mahler conducting of the greatest insight, matched by playing of the highest quality, matched by pacing of the highest quality...I can't think of any other filmed performance of this symphony that I'd rather hear and watch...This is a DVD to cherish.” International Record Review, March 2011 “there's no-one...who lifts the phrases so beguilingly (and without a baton) as does Abbado. You'll never see a first movement done with bigger smiles or more wide-eyed wonder, nor the poco adagio heaven inflected as artistically as here from the master's goodlooking love-in orchestra, filmed with ingenuity as always by Michael Beyer's camera team.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2011 **** | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Mahler: Symphony No. 4Recorded live at the Concert Hall of the Culture and Convention Centre Lucerne, 21/22 August 2010
In Summer 2010 Claudio Abbado and his outstanding Lucerne Festival Orchestra performed another symphonic work by Gustav Mahler: the Symphony No. 4. Abbado combines the orchestral work (which features a solo soprano in the finale) with Mahler’s “Rückert-Lieder”. Soloist in both works is the Czech soprano Magdalena Kozena. Magdalena Kožená does not only make the “heavenly joys” resound in the final movement of Mahler’s fourth symphony. Before that, she devotes herself to the seraphic beauty and intimate simplicity of Mahler’s Rückert Lieder. Practically all the songs that Mahler composed prior to 1900 were based on texts from “Des Knaben Wunderhorn”, a collection of folk poems published by Clemens Brentano and Achim von Arnim. From then on, Mahler turned exclusively to a single poet - the Franconian orientalist and translator Friedrich Rückert. Mahler confessed that the poems moved him so deeply that he sometimes felt he had written them himself. In the transcendent final Lied, “Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen”, he also quoted a phrase from the Adagio of his 4th symphony. Asked what it meant, he said that it personified himself. Claudio Abbado is undeniably a supreme Mahler conductor and his best selling recordings with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra – symphonies No. 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 have already been released on EuroArts – have set new standards in interpretation of works by Gustav Mahler. Picture format BD: 1080i Full HD - 16:9 Sounds formats BD: PCM 2.0, DTS HD Master Audio Region code: All Subtitles: English, German, French Booklet notes: English, German, French Running time: 88 mins FSK: 0 “there's no-one...who lifts the phrases so beguilingly (and without a baton) as does Abbado. You'll never see a first movement done with bigger smiles or more wide-eyed wonder, nor the poco adagio heaven inflected as artistically as here from the master's goodlooking love-in orchestra, filmed with ingenuity as always by Michael Beyer's camera team.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2011 **** “There are innumerable incidental beauties from all sections: the woodwind nothing short of sublime, the brass tactfully reticent, the strings perhaps most remarkable of all with their radiant pianissimos...Kožená sings with consummate technical control and intellectual understanding...Here is profoundly affecting artistry which for once lives up to the hype.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2011 “The most remarkable thing of all is the sense of intimacy that he achieves: this is Mahler conducting of the greatest insight, matched by playing of the highest quality, matched by pacing of the highest quality...I can't think of any other filmed performance of this symphony that I'd rather hear and watch...This is a DVD to cherish.” International Record Review, March 2011 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Cecilia Bartoli: Sospiri (Prestige Edition)
Bach, J S: | Mass in B minor, BWV232: Kyrie eleison Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Myung-Whun Chung | Bellini: | Ah, non credea mirarti (from La Sonnambula) with Juan Diego Flórez Orchestra La Scintilla, Alessandro de Marchi Casta Diva (from Norma) | Caldara: | Quel buon pastor son io | Duruflé: | Requiem, Op. 9: Pie Jesu Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Myung-Whun Chung | Fauré: | Requiem: Pie Jesu Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia & Coro dell'Accademia Nazionale Di Santa Cecilia, Myung-Whun Chung | Franck, C: | Panis Angelicus with Cinzia Maurizio, Luigi Piovano & Daniele Rossi | Giacomelli: | Sposa non mi conosci (from Merope) | Gounod: | Ave Maria Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Myung-Whun Chung | Handel: | Ombra mai fu (from Serse) Lascia la spina (from Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno) Les Musiciens du Louvre, Marc Minkowski | Mascagni: | Tutto tace with Luciano Pavarotti London Voices & Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, Riccardo Chailly | Mendelssohn: | Infelice | Mozart: | Voi che sapete (from Le nozze di Figaro - Vienna version) Wiener Philharmoniker, Claudio Abbado La ci darem la mano (from Don Giovanni) with Bryn Terfel Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Myung-Whun Chung Vesperae Solennes de Confessore, K339: Laudate Dominum Coro dell'Accademia Nazionale Di Santa Cecilia & Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Myung-Whun Chung | Persiani: | Cari Giorni Orchestra La Scintilla, Adam Fischer | Rossini: | Una voce poco fa (from Il barbiere di Siviglia) International Chamber Soloists & Orchestra La Scintilla, Adam Fischer Fac, ut portem Christi mortem from Stabat Mater Wiener Philharmoniker, Myung-Whun Chung | Vinci, Leonardo: | Cervo in bosco (from Il Medo) Il Giardino Armonico, Giovanni Antonini | Vivaldi: | Gelido in ogni vena (from Il Farnace, RV711) Il Giardino Armonico, Giovanni Antonini |
Cecilia Bartoli is loved the world over for vocal fireworks and spectacular coloratura, but she is also adored for her spine-tingling pianissimi and her ability to shape endless, velvety phrases. For the first time, this product will focus on the irresistibly sensual side of Cecilia Bartoli's art. It has been conceived as a popular “mood” or lifestyle compilation — presenting quieter arias showcasing Cecilia's vocal beauty, sensuality and emotion. “Sospiri” is designed to present this most accessible aspect of Cecilia Bartoli's art to the broadest popular-classical market. “Sospiri” will contain favourite arias by Mozart and Handel, bel canto jewels by Bellini and Rossini and treasures by Vivaldi as well as music which Cecilia Bartoli has “rediscovered” on her recent record-breaking solo albums. For Cecilia’s existing fans, the Prestige Edition includes a previously unreleased aria and world premiere recording of Vinci’s Cervo in bosco, one of Farinelli’s calling-card arias. Both formats include a new interpretation of Rosina's aria Una voce poco fa, from Il Barbiere di Siviglia - the dazzling aria of young love, the role in which Cecilia Bartoli first shot to international stardom. She infuses this new interpretation with all her knowledge of the baroque and classical tradition on which Rossini’s music was founded, her experience of period practice and critical reading of the manuscripts, together with a playfulness and variety of colors which she has acquired over the years. On this track recorded during the Maria sessions Cecilia Bartoli is accompanied by a fantastic period practice orchestra, Orchestra La Scintilla. The Prestige Edition also includes several duets, two popular ones: Mozart’s Là ci darem la mano with Bryn Terfel and Mascagni’s Tutto tace (Cherry duet) with Luciano Pavarotti and features a very original one with Maxim Vengerov: Mendelssohn’s Ah, ritorna, an excerpt from the rarely performed concert aria Infelice! This beautiful album will be available in two CD formats. 2CD Prestige Edition (NOT limited edition) in luxurious gift packaging; includes a special bonus CD showcasing earlier recordings of Cecilia Bartoli with best-loved sacred classics by Bach, Mozart, Fauré and more. This bonus Sacred Arias CD is a real rarity in the discography of Cecilia Bartoli, and it makes the 2CD Prestige Edition a MUST HAVE item for the gift season “she attacks the music with punch and personality. The pieces have been well-chosen to demonstrate her extraordinary range...Even if she plays second fiddle to Pavarotti in the Cherry Duet from Mascagni's L'amico Fritz, she distinguishes herself here, too” BBC Music Magazine, January 2011 **** | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Mahler: Symphony No. 1Recorded live at the Concert Hall of the Culture and Convention Centre Lucerne, 12 August 2009
“Like a cry of Nature”: thus the expression mark that opens Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony – and the programme of the Festival 2009 which takes up Nature as its guiding theme. Mahler, in the First Symphony, shaped the “cry of nature” into a musical vision of an entire human life in four stages – from a spring-like upsurge of feelings through desire and suffering, to the end of earthly existence and the entrance into Paradise. The opening treats listeners to a spectacular début as the twenty-two-year-old Chinese pianist Yuja Wang plays Sergei Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto. In her Lucerne appearances she displays the full range of her artistry as Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto demands not only lyricism and intimacy but brilliance and virtuosity. Claudio Abbado has realised a dream with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. The orchestra consists of an exclusive ensemble of handpicked musicians like Kolja Blacher and Sebastian Breuninger, Natalia Gutman, Clemens Hagen and Jens Peter Maintz. Claudio Abbado is undeniably a supreme Mahler conductor and his best selling recordings with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra – symphonies No. 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7 (on Blu-ray No. 1, 2, 3 and 6) have already been released on EuroArts – have set new standards in interpretation of works by Gustav Mahler. Picture format BD: 1080i Full HD - 16:9 Sounds formats BD: PCM 2.0, DTS HD Master Audio Region code: All Booklet notes: English, German, French Running time: 79 mins FSK: 0 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Recorded live at the Concert Hall of the Culture and Convention Centre Lucerne, 21 August 2003
Claudio Abbado has realised a dream with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. The orchestra, an exclusive ensemble of handpicked musicial stars, opens up new dimensions in the interpretation of symphonic music with exceptional soloists. The line-up includes such luminaries as Ilya Gringolts and Sabine and Wolfgang Meyer, alongside members of the world’s great orchestras. The cellos section alone boasts Natalia Gutman, Clemens Hagen and Valentin Erben. Claudio Abbado is undeniably a supreme Mahler conductor and his best selling recordings with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra – symphonies No. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 9 have already been released on EuroArts – the symphonies have set new standards in interpretation of works by Gustav Mahler. “It’s different having best friends together. Everyone is there to enjoy making music, to take pleasure, to play with enthusiasm, with passion. They are prepared to do any crazy thing I ask them for the sake of the music. To fly, to walk through fire.” Claudio Abbado Picture format BD: 1080i Full HD - 16:9 Sounds formats BD: PCM 2.0, DTS HD Master Audio Region code: All Subtitles: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian Booklet Notes: English, German, French Running time: 86 mins FSK: 0 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Recorded live at the Concert Hall of the Culture and Convention Centre Lucerne, 10 August 2006
The imposing experience of Mahler’s No. 6 is captured live in a performance of awesome silences and towering climaxes with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and Claudio Abbado. Claudio Abbado has realised a dream with his new Lucerne Festival Orchestra. The orchestra, an exclusive ensemble of handpicked orchestral musicians, opens up new dimensions in the interpretation of symphonic music with exceptional soloists such as violinist Kolja Blacher, cellist Natalia Gutman and clarinettist Sabine Meyer filling the first desks. Claudio Abbado is undeniably a supreme Mahler conductor and his best selling recordings with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra – symphonies No. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 9 have already been released on EuroArts – they have set new standards in interpretation of works by Gustav Mahler. “It’s different having best friends together. Everyone is there to enjoy making music, to take pleasure, to play with enthusiasm, with passion. They are Aprepared to do any crazy thing I ask them for the sake of the music. To fly, to walk through fire.” Claudio Abbado “Has there ever been a suaver, more transparent Mahler performance or one in which everything stays so beautifully in tune? ... Abbado’s music-making is a celebration of the purest joy.” The Gramophone Magazine Picture format BD: 1080i Full HD - 16:9 Sounds formats BD: PCM 2.0, DTS HD Master Audio Region code: All Booklet notes: English, German, French Running time: 89 mins FSK: 0 “It would be easy to make a journalistic meal out of the way a drained Abbado holds his hand on his heart in the everlasting-seeming half minute's silence at the end of this Mahler Six. But there's not a hint of emotional excess about this awe-inspiring performance, draining only by virtue of its total concentration and bewildering armoury of tonal beauties. ...the range of shots is unerring and keeps the cowbells out of sight as something other-worldly in an already supernatural performance.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2007 ***** “Has there ever been a suaver, more transparent Mahler performance or one in which everything stays so beautifully in tune? ... Abbado’s music-making is a celebration of the purest joy.” Gramophone Magazine | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Introducing Mahler Symphony No. 5
Host: Jeremy Barham A completely new way of experiencing and enjoying the great works of music from the Baroque to the Modern Period – thanks to a new series of audio-visual concert guides, Masterpieces of Classical Music. Each release includes extensive documentation and a complete performance of the work or works in question. Famous masterpieces from the standard repertoire of the greatest international orchestras are brought closer to the viewer through first class concert broadcasts (Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker, Gewandhaus Orchester…) in a timely visual style. Each part includes 27 mins introductory feature + full concert performance! The Symphony No. 5 by Gustav Mahler is arguably the best known Mahler symphony. The musical canvas and emotional scope of the work are huge. Herbert von Karajan said once that when you hear Mahler's Fifth, “you forget that time has passed. A great performance of the Fifth is a transforming experience.” The English lecturer and musician Jeremy Barham introduces the work at the piano and reflects on the secrets of the composition. Picture format DVD: NTSC 16:9 Sounds formats DVD: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1 Region code: 0 Booklet notes: English, German, French Running time: 30 mins (documentary) + 74 mins (performance) FSK: 0 “Lucerne's acoustically superb KKL hall has this handpicked orchestra sounding most impressive: so is the performance, in its supercharged way.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2010 **** “the recorded sound of this Abbado-handpicked orchestra is something special. So is the playing, which has a full-throated, epic splendour from start to finish, under the unobtrusive command of Abbado's conducting.” Classic FM Magazine, December 2010 **** | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Berliner Philharmoniker in JapanLive Recording from The Suntory Hall Tokyo, 1994
The Berlin Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado applauded by an ecstatic Japanese audience, with a programme of Russian favourites. Mussorgsky together with Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Cesar Cui, Aleksandr Borodin and Mily Balakirev formed the „mighty handful“, later known as „The Five“. This group of Russian composers saw it as their mission to dedicate their creative activity wholly to national Russian music based on folk songs. The present performance by the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Claudio Abbado of „A Night on the Bare Mountain“ - in the original version by the composer – also exists in a completely reworked version by Rimsky-Korsakov with a more conventional instrumentation. „The Firebird Suite“ is one of Stravinsky‘s most successful compositions, existing in three versions. The second version, from 1919, to be heard in the present recording, calls for a mid-sized orchestra (including percussion, harp and piano). The suite from 1919, probably the most frequently performed version, contains only seven numbers from the original 19 in the two-act ballet version. The 4th and 5th Symphonies were written ten years apart during a period in which Tchaikovsky found himself at the pinnacle of his popularity but also during a phase of inner development and doubt concerning whether he had come to the point of „composer‘s block“. It took Tchaikovsky about four weeks to sketch his 5th Symphony and another three weeks for the instrumentation. The premiere in Moscow in 1888, which he himself conducted, was only moderately successful. Nowadays, however, the work counts among Tchaikovsky‘s most beloved compositions. Sound Format: PCM STEREO, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1 Picture Format: 16:9 DVD Format: DVD 9, PAL Running Time: 97 mins FSK: 0 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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