Prices shown exclude VAT. (UK tax is not payable for deliveries to United States.)
See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Music is the language of the heart and soulA portrait of Mariss Jansons
This is the only available documentary about Mariss Jansons from his early career until present day. Jansons himself relates the story of his youth and education, historical footage shows the young maestro with his mentor Herbert von Karajan and taking his first steps towards an international career. Mariss Jansons is one of the leading conductors, performing with all the important orchestras in the world. Film maker Robert Neumüller observes Jansons in rehearsal for the New Year Concert with the Vienna Philharmonic, as well as working with the top orchestras he is currently heading, the Royal Concertgebouw and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. “Mariss Jansons is one of the best orchestra builders around.” The New York Times “No conductor has a more extraordinary story to tell than Mariss Jansons.” The Independent Running Time Total: 147 Minutes Documentary: 53 Minutes Concert: 94 Minutes BD: DTS-HD MA 5.1, PCM 2.0 “Most valuable is the footage of his father, conductor Arvid Jansons, and of his own early days as a Herbert von Karajan protege...Of Jansons's humanity and penetrating gifts as a conductor we hear heartfelt testimony from the pianist Lang Lang...the Mahler film fully displays Jansons's passionate physical engagement with the music.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2012 *** “The humility everywhere apparent points to the fact that, while much in Jansons's background would indicate musical success...that success was far from assured...The presumptions in the documentary are put well into practice in Mahler's Second Symphony...Jansons deploys his stage forces with such seamless attention to the score that Mahler's eruptions become part of a preconceived plan and not spontaneous outbursts for their own sake.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2012 “The preparation is scrupulous, featuring wonderful attention to detail. Every orchestral section displays immaculate intonation and ensemble, while the solos are always played with assuming virtuosity and the highest level of musicianship. The orchestra has always had a uniquely burnished sound that seems made for Mahler’s music.” MusicWeb International, December 2012 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
|
|
| |  | Pierre Boulez conducts Mahler
In celebration of the 150th anniversary of Mahler’s birth and just one month short of his own 85th birthday, composer-conductor Pierre Boulez marked his forty-five-year collaboration with the Cleveland Orchestra by directing this very special Mahler-only concert at Ohio’s splendid Severance Hall. Following the Adagio from the unfinished Tenth Symphony, he presented Twelve Songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn with soloists Magdalena Kožená and Christian Gerhaher, both much-sought-after opera and concert singers on the world’s leading stages. BONUS: Interview with Pierre Boulez Picture Format Blu-ray: FULL HD Sound Formats Blu-ray: DTS HD Master Audio PCM Stereo Region Code: 0 (worldwide) Running Time: 88:06 Disc Format: BD 25 FSK: 0 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
|
|
| |  | The Berliner Philharmoniker in Singapore (Blu-ray in 3D)Recorded live at Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, Singapore, 22 & 23 November 2010.
Spectacular filming, 3D Blu-ray release! The Berliner Philharmoniker, one of the worlds leading orchestras, and their Artistic Director Sir Simon Rattle, are highly acclaimed all over the world. Their 2010 tour concluded with their first visit to Singapore. The orchestra presents Mahler’s unique and breathtaking First Symphony and Rachmaninov’s late Symphonic Dances,. The Philharmonic’s beautiful rendering of Mahler’s homage to nature and Rachmaninov’s nostalgic ode to Russia is taken to a new level in this 3D recording using state-of-the-art video and audio technology. Join Sir Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker on a musical journey that takes the concert experience to a breathtaking new level – a feast for eyes and ears in 3D! Picture format Blu-ray: 1080i Full HD Sound format Blu-ray: PCM Stereo, DTS-HD Master Audio Surround Sound Region code: 0 Booklet notes: English, German, French Running time: 120mins Blu-ray case in slipcase + Sticker: plays on all Blu-ray players | 
| | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |  | Live Recording from The Opéra National De Paris, 2010
Choreography by Angelin Preljocaj Set Design by Claude Lévêque Costume Design by Olivier Bériot Choreographer Angelin Preljocaj draws inspiration from the founding theme of Siddharta for the original new work that he is offering the Paris Opera Ballet. He revisits the saga of the one who would become the Awakened One or Buddha, bringing a personal interpretation exploring the themes of new challenges, ordeals and sacrifi ces in the quest for an absolute. Moving beyond mere narrative, he reveals the torments and mysteries of a long inner journey riddled with pitfalls, uncertainties and doubts. Preljocaj shares his journey with two artists with strong personalities: Bruno Mantovani, the brilliant, young French composer and Claude Lévêque, the visual artist and scenographer, with his powerful ability to dream up new spaces for our time. “… there are standing ovations for Preljocaj and his collaborators …” The Observer Sound Format: PCM Stereo, dts-HD Master Audio 5.1 Picture Format: 16:9 Resolution: 1080i FULL HD Running Time: 100 mins Blu-ray Disc: 25 GB (Single Layer) FSK: 0 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |  | Jesús López Cobos conducts Mascagni & LeoncavalloRecorded live at the Teatro Real, Madrid, in February & March 2007.
Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro Real (Madrid Symphony Orchestra & Chorus), Jesús López Cobos (musical director) & Giancarlo del Monaco (stage director) Giancarlo del Monaco’s acclaimed new production elegantly intertwines Mascagni’s and Leoncavallo’s well-loved operas, masterpieces which brought new levels of realism into opera through their so-called verismo style. Jesús López Cobos directs a double cast of outstanding talent in a recording filmed with High Definition cameras and with true surround sound. ‘The success at the opening night made history, with a great explosion of audience delight at the end… Outstanding production by Giancarlo del Monaco, Lopez Cobos gives his best… A very high level cast … very potent Violeta Urmana, formidable Canio by Vladimir Galouzine … it is impossible to listen to a better “Ridi Paggliacio” today.’ La Razon Note: This Blu-ray Disc (BD) is not compatible with standard DVD players PICTURE FORMAT: 1080i
LENGTH: 201 Mins
SOUND: 2.0 & 5.0 PCM
SUBTITLES: EN/FR/DE/ES/IT
“That both these productions work is largely due to Jesús López Cobos's theatrically vital and style-sensitive conducting and two strong casts.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2007 **** “It is a genuine pleasure to welcome a new production of Cav and Pag that presents the contrasting tales of jealousy and infidelity with sincerity and dramatic flair. Giancarlo del Monaco and his designer, Johannes Leiacker, set Cavalleria in a stark townscape of white painted buildings and masonry, the black-clad Sicilian women silhouetted under the fierce sunlight. The Easter Hymn is made all the more tense by a parade of penitents dragging a cross. Violeta Urmana and Vincenzo La Scola are well paired as Santuzza and Turridu, their confrontation interrupted by the unusually attractive Lola of Dragana Jugovich. Marco di Felice conveys the terrible pain that Alfio feels on learning of his wife's affair – the fight between him and Turridu is played out onstage, the challenge taken up when a glass of wine is emptied on to the floor.
The great Viorica Cortez is a dignified Mamma Lucia. As Turridu's body is carried away at the end, the scene changes seamlessly into the opening of Pagliacci (the Prologue to which is sung from the stalls right at the start of the evening by Carlo Guelfi).
From the 1890s setting of Cav we have moved forward 50 years, and the travelling players arrive in a lorry, with posters for the show on the outside – the mood is a bit like Fellini's LaStrada. From the outset, this Pagliacci becomes a really painful story to watch. María Bayo is superb as Nedda, tough and wilful, but trapped by the overbearing Canio of Vladimir Galouzine.
His voice is very baritonal in quality, the high notes not always easily achieved, but what tremendous authority and passion he brings to the part; he really has it in him to become the leading dramatic tenor of our time. All the other parts are well cast and the crowd scenes are beautifully handled. Jesús López-Cobos leads the Madrid forces in a performance that could not easily be surpassed anywhere nowadays.
Angel Luis Ramírez, deserves high praise for capturing Del Monaco's intense staging so well.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
|
|
| |  |
| | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
|
|
| |  | Live Recording from The Teatro Regio di Torino 2008
Barbara Frittoli (Thaïs), Lado Ataneli (Athanaël), Alessandro Liberatore (Nicias), Maurizio Lo Piccolo (Palémon), Nadežda Serdyuk (Albine), Eleonora Buratto (Crobyle), Ketevan Kemoklidze (Myrtale), Daniela Schillaci (La Charmeuse), Diego Matamoros (Servant) Orchestra And Chorus of The Teatro Regio di Torino, Gianandrea Noseda NOTE: This Blu-ray Disc is not compatible with standard DVD players Directed, Set Design and Costumes by Stefano Poda. Thaïs, a mature work by the composer Jules Massenet on the libretto by Louis Gallet, it is based on the novel of the same name by Anatole France. The new production of this rarely performed work is the result of more than a year of close collaboration between the forces of the Theatre and Stefano Poda, responsible, for the first time in Italy, for the direction, choreography, sets, lighting and costumes. On the podium, Gianandrea Noseda, who, seduced by the dramatic force and modernity of the orchestral writing, conducts Thaïs for the first time; a debut also for the protagonist Barbara Frittoli, who has chosen the Regio to make her debut in this difficult role. Georgian baritone Lado Ataneli gives an impressive study of the monk Athanaël. Purified of the anticlerical excesses of Anatole France’s original novel, the libretto by Louis Gallet retains the sensual charge, and above all, the irony which, though remaining underplayed, contributes to keeping alive a subject that has possible references to the contemporary world. The taste for the orient that characterised French culture during the nineteenth century had become, by the end on the century, a truly dominant theme in literature, painting and theatre. In Thaïs, which had its debut in 1894, exoticism becomes the vehicle of a trend which is explicitly decadent, containing themes typical of fin-de-siècle art, i.e. the contrast between sacred and profane, transgression and the figure of the femme fatale. The story, which stands out against the background of Alessandria in Egypt in all its opulence and refinement, culture and indolence, presents us with the crossed destinies of Athanaël, a Cenobite monk whose missionary zeal borders on fanaticism, and Thaïs, a famous courtesan who, worried about the transience of her beauty, lets herself be convinced to search immortality in the love of God. Sound Format: PCM Stereo, dts-HD Audio Master 7.1 Picture Format: 16:9 Resolution: 1080i FULL HD Menu Language: GB Blu-ray Disc: 50 GB (Dual Layer) Subtitle Languages: IT, GB, DE, FR, ES, JP Running Time: 139 mins FSK: 0 Region Code: 0 “Any version of this opera, no matter how impressive the settings, stands or falls on the two main protagonists and their series of duets. Frittoli is taxed by the high-lying phrases of the mirror aria, "Dis-moi que je suis belle", in Act 2, but rises to the challenge of "L'amour est une vertu rare"... Ataneli gives a strong performance but the highly stylised nature of the staging doesn't allow for much subtlety of expression. Gianandrea Noseda conducts with... sensitivity for Massenet's style” Gramophone Magazine, January 2010 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
|
|
| |  | Live Recording from The Nationaltheater München, 2010
World Premiere Recording on Blu-ray! Giovanni Simone Mayr‘s „Medea in Corinto“ is „the most absolutely amazing opera discovery in decades“ (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung). A triumph for the Bavarian State Opera, the work was staged with a roster of top vocalists headed by Nadja Michael and Ramon Vargas in a production crafted by one of the leading directors of our time, Hans Neuenfels, and with a musical director in demand all over the world, Ivor Bolton. Born near Ingolstadt, Germany, in 1763, Mayr moved to Italy around 1787 and became one of the most important composers of Italian opera between Mozart and Rossini. He also taught many reputable composers, such as Donizetti. Written at the dawn of romanticism and the bel canto era, his main works unite stylistic characteristics of Viennese classicism with Italian melodic exuberance. „Medea in Corinto“ was premiered in Naples in 1813. Although his works are largely forgotten today, they were played by all major theaters in Europe during his lifetime. Based on the ancient tragedy of Medea, who kills her children in a mad act of blind revenge against her faithless husband, the work deals with timeless subjects. Medea, a powerful woman whose fierce independence and passion strike fear in the hearts of men, is an outsider who is rejected by society. Director Hans Neuenfels stages this tragedy of betrayed love, lust for power and murderous hatred as a fascinating socio-political thriller - the ever controversial director interweaves scenes of gripping brutality into the action. As Medea, soprano Nadja Michael – „one of the most celebrated German sopranos of our day“ (Die Welt) – breathes fire into her role and dominates the stage with her coloraturas. On a par with Michael is Mexican tenor Ramón Vargas as Giasone, Medea‘s ex-husband. The vigorous early-music specialist Ivor Bolton – who conducted epoch-making Handel performances in Munich – plumbs the depths of Mayr‘s rich score. Is „Medea in Corinto“ one of the first chapters in a Mayr renaissance? BONUS: Making of // interviews with the cast and production team // rehearsal and backstage footage // about the life and work of Giovanni Simone Mayr Sound Format: PCM Stereo, dts-HD Master Audio 5.0 Picture Format: 16:9 Subtitle Languages: IT (Original Language), GB, DE, FR, ES, JP, Chinese, Korean Resolution: 1080i FULL HD Running Time: 151 mins + 48 mins (Bonus) Blu-ray Disc: 50 GB (Dual Layer) FSK: 12 “Bolton conducts a performance in which there is no relaxing of the story of these unsavoury folk...[Michael] is on good vocal form, powerful on high and even using an occasional touch of chest-voice: probably retained from her time as a mezzo. There is venom but also a freedom that enables her to deal effectively with quicker flights. Her acting conveys Medea's anger, envy and desire for retribution.” International Record Review, November 2011 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
|
|
| |  | Le SongeRecorded at The Grimaldi Forum Monaco, 2009
Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo Based on the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Choreography & Film by JEAN-CHRISTOPHE MAILLOT Music by FELIX MENDELSSOHN, DANIEL TERUGGI, BERTRAND MAILLOT Scenography by ERNEST PIGNON-ERNEST Costumes by PHILIPPE GUILLOTEL Plunge headlong into the colourful fantasy and enchantment of a Shakespeare classic, gorgeously reinterpreted by Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo -- under the Presidency of H.R.H. the Princess of Hanover. Gorgeous dancing – and wildly imaginative sets and costumes – bring to vivid life the ecstatic, elegant eroticism in Shakespeare‘s classic fantasy. Internationally acclaimed choreographer Jean-Christophe Maillot, brilliantly unites theatre, dance, and music (including Mendelssohn‘s captivating score) in a fairytale world of mischievous sprites and mortals. Hapless humans entangled in the net of their own unconscious impulses create a dream-like comedy surfi ng on the wings of the maddest desires. This visually stunning ballet interweaves small dances, theatrical scenes, expressive mime and even circus acts, telling a captivating story with the aid of larger-than-life mythical characters. The crowd of characters is carried along in a noisy, comic, acrobatic dance, daring to make joyful jokes, perform immodest, naughty tricks, displaying cheekiness, and frivolous eroticism. One of the great merits of the ballet comes from the artists themselves, who bring exuberant enthusiasm and superior acting and dancing skills to their roles. „Maillot has gained a reputation for challenging the dance establishment...with a passion for something new.“ The New York Times “… the Ballets de Monte-Carlo could not have dreamed of anything better than this animal-inspired Songe which awakens their passions.” Libération Sound Format: PCM Stereo, dts-HD Master Audio 4.1 Picture Format: 16:9 Resolution: 1080i FULL HD Running Time: 101 mins Blu-ray Disc: 25 GB (Single Layer) FSK: 6 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
|
|
| |  | Choreography - George Balanchine
Patricia Barker, Paul Gibson, Seth Belliston, Lisa Apple, Julie Tobiason, Ross Yearsley, Jeffrey Stanton & Timothy Lynch Pacific Northwest Ballet & BBC Concert Orchestra, Stewart Kershaw This Blu-ray Disc (BD) is not compatible with standard DVD players.
PICTURE FORMAT: 1080i
LENGTH: 94 Mins
SOUND: DOLBY SURROUND / LPCM STEREO
SUBTITLES: N/A
“Pacific Northwest Ballet’s presentation of Balanchine’s Midsummer Night’s Dream [blew my mind] this evening. … Wonderful Balanchine choreography, excellent dancing and a terrific production.” Ballet Magazine | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
|
|
| |
|
