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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | The Opera Gala - Live from Baden-Baden
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| |  | Recorded at the Felsenreitschule during the Salzburg Festival 2011
Patricia Petibon (Lulu), Pavol Breslik (The Painter/A Negro), Michael Volle∙(Dr. Schön/Jack the Ripper), Cora Burggraaf (Dresser/High_School Boy/Groom), Franz Grundheber (Schigolch), Thomas Piffka (Alwa), Thomas Johannes Mayer (An Animal Tamer/Rodrigo), Heinz Zednik (The Prince/The Manservant), Andreas Conrad (The Marquis), Martin Tzonev (The Theatre Manger/The Banker), Emilie Pictet (A Fifteen-year-old girl), Cornelia Wulkopf (Her Mother) Wiener Philharmoniker & Upper Austrian Jazz Orchestra, Marc Albrecht Vera Nemirova, staging Vera Nemirova’s challenging production of Berg’s operatic masterpiece Lulu won critical acclaim when first seen at the Salzburg Festival in 2010, and was successfully repeated in 2011, when the production was filmed for DVD. Supporting Nemirova’s powerful vision of corruption, decadence and death were the highly praised set designs by the young German artist Daniel Richter. Musically the production was led with style and assurance by the brilliant young German conductor Marc Albrecht, currently director of the Netherlands Opera. Singing Lulu with allure and passion was the lauded French soprano Patricia Petibon, whose charms gripped an outstanding cast of top European singers. Lulu is a very rarely performed work, which was also left unfinished by the composer. This performance includes the missing 3rd act, which was completed by Friedrich Cerha, winner of the Salzburg Music Award 2010. Picture format DVD: 1080i - 16:9 Sound formats DVD: PCM Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1 Region code: 2,3,4,5,6,8 Subtitles: English, French, German, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean Booklet notes: English, German, French Runnning time: 173 mins “The singing and acting of Patricia Petibon as Lulu is magnificent. She is that rare creature, a singer with the face and figure of a model...One does not have to wonder why men fall under her spell and even die of it...Almost all of the staging and costuming is dedicated to the service of this music. It is not necessary to suspend one's disbelief as so often happens in current opera staging: here one is gripped from beginning to the disturbing and bloody end.” MusicWeb International, August 2012 “Musically there is plenty to admire...Ultimately, it is Volle as Dr Schon and Jack the Ripper who impresses most...Petibon's background in early music may be thought to give her an unusual degree of vulnerability...After a cautious start, her performance gains conviction as it proceeds...this is one of those recordings that takes time to reach the dark, disturbed heart of Berg's most ambivalently poised and perturbing work” Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2012 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, in June 2009
Berg’s masterful and thought-provoking opera tells the gripping story of the rise and fall of an alluring, destructive but vulnerable woman, culminating in her death at the hands of Jack the Ripper. Christof Loy’s austere, minimalist production allows the complexities of the drama to unfold through the sumptuous, taut beauty of the score. Agneta Eichenholz and Michael Volle lead an all-star cast under Antonio Pappano. Philip Langridge took the role of the Prince, in his last stage appearance before his sudden death earlier this year. Recorded in High Definition and true surround sound. (Contains Scenes of Violence) “It is immaculately rehearsed and executed – one doesn't often see opera acted with such freedom and honesty and absence of flummery. And its unsparing analytic clarity forces one to confront the bitter truth about Lulu's inner life and the corruption and idiocy of the men who are infatuated by her. … Antonio Pappano's electrifying conducting is razor-sharp in the manner of Pierre Boulez, and the orchestral playing is magnificent. … Singing with an extraordinary grace and insouciance, Eichenholz manages to make this monster chillingly real and hauntingly beautiful.” The Telegraph Extra features: Cast gallery Interview with Antonio Pappano Interview with Agneta Eichenholz Running time 205 mins Region code All regions Video codec: AVC/MPEG-4 Disc size: BD50 Picture format 1080i High Definition / 16:9 Sound format 2.0 LPCM & 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio Menu language EN Subtitles EN/FR/DE/ES “Robin Lough's direction for the cameras is faithful to Loy's conception and the outstanding cast...Volle holds the stage as Dr Schön/Jack the Ripper; Eichenholz's Lulu ensnares and is also vulnerable...As presented here, Lulu is an emotional and musical roller-coaster.” International Record Review, July/August 2010 “Pappano has a firm grip of every nuance of the music, from the gossamer-like delicacy after the dialogue at the end of Act II to the various moments of wrenching, disturbing power.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2010 *** “[Loy] wants us to work hard, to forget chasing any scent or taint of voyeurism...while Pappano is keen to bring clarity, both in his conducting and his talking...Like many productions now staged with an eye to DVD release, the 16:9 shape of the stage and intimacy of gesture certainly make more sense now than they did in the theatre...Will Hartmann is a wonderfully open, naive Painter, a Schubertian young Wanderer” Gramophone Magazine, July 2011 | | | 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 “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 **** “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 **** | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Salzburg Festival Opening Concert 2011
Top cast with Pierre Boulez, Wiener Philharmoniker, Dorothea Röschmann and upcoming soprano Anna Prohaska. After two works by Mahler’s pupil Alban Berg, featuring Röschmann and Prohaska, the main event of the concert is Gustav Mahler’s Das klagende Lied – a “great spectral opera for the mind’s eye” (Wiener Zeitung) The Salzburg Festival is regarded by many as the world’s most renowned music festival. Running Time Total: 95 minutes Picture 16:9, HD Sound BD: dts-HD MA 5.0, PCM Stereo Subtitles G, E, F, Sp, Kor., Chin. | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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‘A mix of futurism à la Metropolis, fantasy à la Batman and quotes from Piranesi’s Carceri, juxtaposed in the form of photo montages, enhanced with … robots, a helicopter, a shark and the winged vehicle of a pop star Pope’, was how the Neue Zürcher Zeitung described this astonishing Salzburg Festival production of Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini. The high-calibre cast, headed by Burkhard Fritz as the temperamental Renaissance artist and the 26-year-old Latvian soprano Maija Kovalevska as Teresa, the woman with whom he tries to elope, is conducted by Valery Gergiev who “pulled out all the stops. He whips the Vienna Philharmonic into a delirium similar to that which possibly took hold of the composer” (Der Standard). This is French grand opera at its fast-paced and spectacularly-staged best. HIGH DEFINITION 1080i 60 PCM Stereo. DTS-HD 5.1 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Recorded live at the Théâtre Musical de Paris/ Châtelet, October 2003.
Susan Graham (Didon), Anna Caterina Antonacci (Cassandre), Renata Pokupic (Anna), Gregory Kunde (Énée), Ludovic Tézier (Chorèbe), Nicolas Testé (Panthée), Laurent Naouri (Narbal), Mark Padmore (Iopas), René Schirrer (Priam/Mercure), Topi Lehtipuu (Hylas) Monteverdi Choir, Choeur du Théâtre du Châtelet & Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, Sir John Eliot Gardiner (conductor) & Yannis Kokkos (stage director) Sir John Eliot Gardiner conducts the Monteverdi Choir, Choeur du Théâtre du Châtelet and Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique in a landmark recording of Berlioz's towering opera. A tragic tale of love and fate, war and peace and the intertwined destinies of two cities, the opera is based on Virgil's imperial vision of the founding myth of Rome. The American tenor Gregory Kunde as Aeneas and the Italian soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci lead an international cast in this stunning production. Bonus features: Cast gallery. Illustrated synopsis. Documentary: The Trojans, a masterpiece revived – includes interviews with Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Yannis Kokkos, Susan Graham, Anna Caterina Antonacci, Gregory Kunde and others. “...a performance that is now the best available on DVD. …an unforgettably dramatic experience… a superb authentic instrument performance… The magnificent high-definition recording does it ample sonic and visual justice.” Gramophone Running time 5 hours Region code All regions Video codec: AVC/MPEG-4 Disc size: 2 x BD50 Picture format 1080i High Definition / 16:9 Sound format 2.0 PCM & 5.0 DTS-Master Audio Menu language EN Subtitles EN/FR/DE/ES/IT “Les Troyens hasn't fared well on DVD, but this superb authentic-instrument performance of October 2003 from the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, equals Sir Colin Davis's pioneering original. Orchestrally it's everything we've come to expect from Gardiner's Berlioz, his tempi swift and dynamic, sharing the composer's delight in complex rhythmic interplay, yet always propelling the drama. Passages like Andromache's entrance and Hector's ghost nevertheless have their proper gravitas and sombre hues against the brighter shades of Carthage. Colour is the great gift of the period instruments, revealing a wide range of sonorities, and creating a sense of freshness and discovery.
The effect is sometimes rawer, sometimes more classical, but almost always more complex and dramatic than the homogenised modern sound.
Gardiner's singers, too, could hardly be more committed. Anna Caterina Antonacci is a fiery Cassandra, superbly classical-looking, so wrung and tormented that some moments of strain scarcely matter. Gregory Kunde tackles Aeneas with ringing tone, looks and acts pretty well, and brings a welcome bel canto touch to the gorgeous duet. Susan Graham, though, needs no caveats: a radiant Dido, queenly yet youthful, lyrical and lighter-toned than Janet Baker, but in her final despair no less tragically moving. Other roles are generally excellent. The mostly youthful chorus sounds marvellous, and is a constant force in Yannis Kokkos's moderately modern production.
The stage is plain and bare, capped by a reflector in which most of the décor appears: an Italian Renaissance cityscape for Troy, and the Horse only as a menacing head. Carthage is a classical vision of white walls and blue sea with stylised ships. The Trojans wear the inescapable greatcoats the brutal Greeks, inevitably, American combat gear, and the Carthaginians vaguely North African whites and pastels. This is a mostly straightforward, lively staging which lets characters and drama speak for themselves, and so works well on screen. The magnificent high-definition recording does it ample sonic and visual justice.
For anyone who loves Les Troyens, this is a revelatory and essential performance.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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Daniela Barcellona (Didon), Lance Ryan (Énée), Elisabete Matos (Cassandre), Giorgio Giuseppini (Panthée), Gabriele Viviani (Chorebe), Stephen Milling (Narbal), Eric Cutler (Iopas), Dmitri Voropaev (Hylas), Zlata Bulicheva (Anna), Askar Abdrazaov (Priam), Oksana Shilvoa (Ascagne) Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana & Cor de la Generalitat Valenciana, Valery Gergiev After the very successful Ring from Valencia, here is another spectacular staging by La Fura dels Baus, this time conducted by Valery Gergiev. This monumental opera complete with ballets, large choruses and orchestral set pieces was recorded at Valencia’s Palau de les Arts in 2009. Great singers: Daniela Barcellona as “breathtaking Dido” (Opernglas), Lance Ryan, Elisabete Matos. Only one other Blu-ray in the market available. Staged by La Fura dels Baus Bonus Making of (21 minutes) Total: 261 minutes (Opera ´240 + ´21 Bonus ´) English, German, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean BD: DTS-HD MA 5.1, PCM Stereo "Ancient myth meets Star Wars, and the eye is constantly engaged with images ranging from space-age technology to details of soccer uniforms." The New York Times "This is a worthy and compelling, glittering version of a sublime work." International Herald Tribune “while Padrissa's computer projections and airborne acrobats achieve memorable visions, he underproduces the human element. Embattled Troy is a dystopian ruin under nuclear dustclouds, the robotic Trojan Horse unleashing, like an internet 'Trojan', computer breakdown...Padrissa makes the only real stab I've seen at Berlioz's spectacular scenario for the Royal Hunt...Gergiev relishes the score's exotic colours.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2011 **** “The cast in Valencia has its strengths, prime among them the proud, brassy mezzo of Daniela Barcellona as Dido...Elisabete Matos is a properly intense Cassandra, and Lance Ryan as an Aeneas visiting from another planet, ray gun in hand, balances the lyrical and heroic sides of the role nicely...Gergiev rouses the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valencia to some energetic playing.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2011 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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Following the success of the enlightening first series of Keeping Score, MTT and SFS return with three further programmes that combine one-hour documentaries with live concert performances. The new programmes explore the music and stories behind the music. Each of the three DVDs in Keeping Score Series 2 features a documentary episode - with MTT guiding us through the composers’ perspectives and influences - coupled with a live concert performance of each work. The programmes are designed to engage and entertain viewers of all levels of musical background. With outstanding production values, they are released on DVD and Blu-Ray HD formats, making SFS the first orchestra to distribute its product on Blu-Ray disc. Was Hector Berlioz writing music to get over his obsession with his distant love, Harriet Smithson? Was this symphony his way of saying goodbye, or even seeking revenge? Or was it instead his impassioned valentine to a woman he could not forget? In 1827, Berlioz saw Harriet Smithson for the first time, playing Ophelia in a production of Hamlet. Hopelessly smitten, he turned his entire life upside down to meet her. Frantic months turned into years when he suddenly heard rumors about Harriet and another man. Believing himself cured, he wrote a ‘fantastic’ symphony complete with a special theme, the idée fixe, to represent his former obsession. | | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
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| |  | Lionel Bringuier & Nelson Freire Live at the Royal Albert Hall
Leading Chopin interpreter Nelson Freire is the soloist in Chopin’s lyrical and brilliant Second Piano Concerto. On the podium the young French conductor Lionel Bringuier makes his Proms debut conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra and gives a sizzling performance of Roussel’s Symphony No.3 and of Ravel’s score for the ballet 'Daphnis et Chloé' - Suite No 2. Chopin wrote his concerto at the age of 19 while crazily in love with an opera singer, but it's the work itself which is the object of adoration for soloist Nelson Freire who describes himself as having something of a 'crush' on the piece after first hearing it as a teenager. The three other works on the programme chart French music over a century of changing musical tastes, beginning in 1844 with Berlioz's vivid evocation of a swashbuckling pirate adventure in his overture 'Le corsaire'. By 1912 the tides of modernism influenced Ravel's lavishly scored, pastoral ballet Daphnis and Chloë, with its famous opening soundscape of dawn breaking over the forest canopy, and by the 1930s Roussel's Third Symphony reflected the trends of neo-classicism. "It was around the beginning of the second movement of Albert Roussel's Third Symphony that the playing of the BBC Symphony Orchestra – under the outstanding 23-year-old French conductor Lionel Bringuier, making his Prom debut – moved into top gear. From that point on, the orchestra's awareness of its own sound, collectively and individually, became heightened to an unusually compelling degree. The playing stayed on this exalted level until the end of the concert, which closed with Ravel's second Daphnis and Chloé suite...shaped with a certainty of direction that never compromised the music's inherent sensuousness. It provided a sensational climax to the evening." George Hall, The Guardian 13/8/2010 Recorded live at the Royal Albert Hall, 08/2010, Running time 95 min. Booklet: French, German, English Image 1BD25, Colour 16/9, 1080i Full HD Sound PCM Stereo, DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 “the least flashy of virtuosos, [Freire] conjures up a phenomenal palette of colours by the most economical means. I would urge anyone to hear this performance with Bringuier...You can sense even the oldest, most cynical hands in the band responding to his charismatic direction with enthusiasm...All in all, a tremendous concert.” Gramophone Magazine, June 2013 “If it was a bold idea to invite this young French conductor to the BBC Proms, it was surely madness to film the concert. But thank goodness the BBC and innovative label BelAir took the chance, as this is a model of filmed music-making. Bringuier’s rapport with the orchestra (and with soloist Nelson Freire here on scintillating form) is immediately evident. Thoroughly recommended” Classical Music, May 2013 “Bringuier's evident penchant for chamber-like clarity reaps rewards in a taut yet genial reading [of the Roussel]...In the midst of their annual Proms marathon, these performances have a start of season freshness...Freire's playing is heartfelt, but with a lightness of touch and apparent effortlessness that is the product of true virtuosity” BBC Music Magazine, July 2013 *****  BBC Music Magazine
DVD/Blu-ray Choice - July 2013 |
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Gramophone Awards 2005
Gramophone Magazine