Blu-ray Sale - Up to 40% off

Designer: Tim Goodchild

Choreographer: Carole Todd

Lighting Designer: Derek Coutts

Perhaps the most widely-loved and hilarious of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Savoy Operas, this classic production by Opera Australia creates a fantastical, imaginary Japan. With amazingly detailed sets, lavish costumes and a fabulous cast astutely directed by Stuart Maunder, this comic operetta sparkles from beginning to end. The music is pure joy, with an amazing performance drawn from Orchestra Victoria by the superb conductor Brian Castles-Onion.

Sony Classical is proud to announce the release of the DVD and Blu-ray Lang Lang - Liszt Now, the companion video component to the star pianist’s latest recording project Liszt: My Piano Hero, which has stormed the world’s classical and pop album charts.

The content is split into two main components:

LIVE AT THE ROUNDHOUSE – 60-minute live concert from iTunes Festival

THE ART OF BEING A VIRTUOSO – 71-minute documentary following Lang Lang’s global celebrations of Franz Liszt’s anniversary

Also included is a 55-minute bonus feature - a musical and visual journey based on the projections used at the iTunes Festival concert

Liszt Now presents the stunning 60-minute live concert from London’s Roundhouse, recorded at the iTunes festival in May 2011. Dynamically filmed with twelve HD cameras with specially created video projections on LED screens, the concert offers a spectacular multimedia experience, featuring ten of Franz Liszt’s finest solo piano pieces.

In addition to the film of the concert, Live at the Roundhouse, the product also includes a 71-minute documentary, The Art of Being a Virtuoso. Captured over a period of five months, the film offers a unique insight into the life and mind of a modern virtuoso, following Lang Lang closely through Asia, the USA and Europe. THE ART OF BEING A VIRTUOSO links Lang Lang and his hero, Franz Liszt, painting a portrait of two exceptional men who made their childhood dreams come true and ascended to the ranks of the greatest musicians the world has ever known. An imaginative encounter between the virtuosos LANG LANG and his piano hero FRANZ LISZT, two remarkable musical prodigies and classical music’s biggest stars.

Carlo Tommasi (designer)

Patrice Cauchetier (costumes)

Francine Lancelot, Béatrice Massin (choreography)

William Christie: "There were a number of important moments in the history of the Arts Florissants, but there's one moment that obviously stands out - and that's the moment when we produced Atys." Christie had been approached by the director of the Paris Opera, Massimo Bogianckino, to think about putting on a Lully opera. Christie was advised by the Opéra-Comique's Thierry Fouquet that Quinault's libretto for 'Atys' would demand an extraordinary stage director - Jean-Marie Villégier took this role and he, together with Christie, created 'Atys'. The production marked the renaissance of Baroque Opera in France.

The American philanthropist Ronald P. Stanton has funded this 2011, Opera Comique production that has been described as 'one to see before you die', and it is clear that the magic of this show is still intact. Villégier has concentrated the tragedy in a unique backdrop of black marble, marked by furniture from the State Apartments of Versailles, and sumptuous costumes designed by Patrice Cauchetier with graceful choreography by the late Francine Lancelot revived by Béatrice Massin. The fabulous musicians and choir of Les Arts Florissants and the Jardin des Voix need no introduction here.

Last, but not least, we have the powerfully-projected Atys of Bernard Richter, admired mezzo, Stephanie d'Oustrac as Cybele, rival to the vibrant Sangaride, sung by soprano Emmanuelle de Negri. Discover this masterpiece of Lully magnified by the combined talents of William Christie and Jean Marie Villégier.

George Balanchine (choreography)

Before emigrating to the West, George Balanchine studied in St Petersburg and was a member of The State Academic Theatre, now known as the Mariinsky. Jewels dates from late in his career as a choreographer, and was premiered at the New York City Ballet in 1967. Although it did not receive its first performance at the Mariinsky until 1999, it has since become a core part of the company’s repertoire.

This performance was filmed by Brian Large at the Mariinsky Theatre and features many of the Mariinsky’s most well-known dancers alongside conductor Tugan Sokhiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra. Also included is an interview with the Artistic Director of the Mariinsky Theatre, Valery Gergiev. Jewels consists of three acts: Emeralds, Rubies and Diamonds, featuring music by Fauré, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky respectively. There is a stark contrast in composition and style for each of the three acts, linked only by the dancers’ dazzling costumes encrusted with coloured gems corresponding to the title act.

For the opening act Emeralds, the dancers appear in long green tulle skirts. The demure choreography is reminiscent of the 19th -century French school in its languid and flowing appearance and is set to the music of Gabriel Fauré. The playful second act Rubies is accompanied by Stravinsky’s Capriccio for piano and orchestra. Full of character and wit, its striking angular poses bring to mind the modern New York scene. Diamonds evokes the classical era of Imperial Russia and the dancers, dressed in flat white tutus, sparkle along to the last three movements of Tchaikovsky’s Third Symphony.

The Mariinsky Ballet (formerly known as the Kirov) is probably the world’s greatest ballet company with an astonishing heritage and home to many of the most celebrated dancers. The ballet tours regularly, as well as performing throughout the year in St Petersburg.

“the greatest dance troupe in the world” Financial Times

“Balanchine’s 1967 creation is a dazzling stylistic potpourri of pure dance ... a spectacular sight and a fitting climax to a great evening” The Times

Bonus features: interview with Valery Gergiev

BD25 (ALL REGIONS)

1080i HD 16:9

Stereo 2.0 – Dolby Digital

Surround 5.1 – DTS HD Master Audio

DURATION 94 MIN APPROX

Valery Gergiev is widely recognised as the greatest modern interpreter of Tchaikovsky’s music and the Mariinsky holds a peerless reputation in the repertoire. Together they deliver definitive interpretations of Tchaikovsky’s most popular symphonies. These acclaimed performances were filmed at Salle Pleyel in Paris during January 2010, directed by Andy Sommer.

The themes of fate and death pervade Tchaikovsky’s final symphonies. The composition of the Fourth Symphony coincided with the breakdown of Tchaikovsky’s marriage and a failed suicide attempt, yet he considered it to be his greatest. In contrast he believed his Fifth to be flawed and uninviting, yet today this heartfelt work is widely regarded as one of his finest. The subject of fate is further instilled in the Sixth Symphony, premiered shortly before Tchaikovsky’s death. It was posthumously entitled ‘Pathétique’ by his brother and is a deeply melancholic work, full of dynamic extremes and an inherent sense of finality.

Additional bonus features interview with Valery Gergiev. Tommy Pearson - director.

BD 50 ALL REGIONS, 1080i HD 16:9

5.1 DTS HD Master Audio

DURATION 150 MIN APPROX

A film by Bill Morrison

Music by Simon Christensen

Tributes-Pulse is an art movie created by the American filmmaker Bill Morrison (b. 1965) and the Danish composer and percussionist Simon Christensen (b. 1971) in close collaboration. Christensen originally conceived of the project as a tribute to four American composers, Charles Ives, Conlon Nancarrow, Steve Reich and Trent Reznor. Christensen explains, “I chose these composers because they have opened my ears to a particular way of dealing with pulse and they have all made music that really matters to me.” According to him, all four of them were pivotal in shaping his own musical aesthetic.

The project is comprised of four movements, respectively corresponding to each composer. The idea of “Pulse” is explored in both the music and the film. Using exquisitely deteriorating nitrate-based archival film, Morrison weaves a story from the remnants of disparate narratives. The four sections correspond visually to the four elements as a frontier for Man - Water, Earth, Fire and Air.

Genre: Art movie

Running Time: 65 minutes

Region code: 0