DVD Videos

Walter Felsenstein (1901–1975), founder and general director of the Komische Oper in Berlin, was one of the twentieth century’s greatest creative theatre directors, who played a hugely important role in the revival of opera as a theatrical art form. A brilliant artist who directed over 190 productions during the course of his career, he was equally committed to the works, their creators, the ensemble and the audience. This unique edition brings together 7 opera films in a rare documentation that offers an insight into the theatrical work of a man whose legendary productions fascinated international audiences for decades. The fi lms can now be experienced for the first time in carefully restored digital form. Felsenstein’s consistent development of the musical/visual language of opera film remains a source of inspiration even today. Opera on fi lm – opera as fi lm – however one describes them, his productions continue to astonish with their clarity and intensity. They will remain an invaluable artistic legacy for generations to come!

SPECIAL FEATURES ON DVD’S

Original manuscripts of Walter Felsenstein

Original staging piano reductions with audio examples

Drafts of the stage design, figurines, sketches & drawings

Historical audio material with speeches & interviews with Walter Felsenstein

Rehearsal film “Don Giovanni“ & newsreel footage ”The Tales of Hoffmann”

Footage of Felsenstein stagings 1945–1961

Script excerpts, conceptual scripts & picture galleries

Murray Perahia, nominated for artist of the year in the 2008 Gramophone Awards, has often been described as an aristocrat of the piano, with good reason. His commanding vision and his supremely polished virtuosity are complemented by a luminous intelligence and a poetic sensitivity, embracing equally the lyric and the epic. His career has recently been revitalised, after many years, with the new release on Sony/BMG of Beethoven Piano Sonatas and Bach Partitas.

"Each note was characterised by a singing tone whose weight and emotional colour was individually judged yet forming part of a massively conceived and controlled structure." The Guardian

The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra was founded by Daniel Barenboim and the late Edward Said. Consisting of young, highly talented Israeli and Arabian musicians, it was founded to increase the dialogue between young people in the Middle East and represent the peaceful collaboration of the two cultures. At a standard comparable to the most established orchestras, it combines tonal beauty and transparency with youthful expressiveness, passion and exuberance.

This technically brilliant and incredibly enthusiastic orchestra brings out all levels of Beethoven's 9th Symphony and we listen to Beethoven at his very best: exuberant, emotional, lucid, tender, clear, triumphant … simply magnificent! Needless to say, Daniel Barenboim conducts the outstanding singers Angela Denoke,Waltraud Meier, Burkhard Fritz and René Pape who contribute tremendously to this unforgettable concert The standing ovations are well deserved!

"The performance was radiant, teeming and magnificent." The New York Times

"We are an orchestra against ignorance." Daniel Barenboim

Karl Böhm, the Austrian conductor was respected and feared by his musicians as an uncompromising expert orchestral trainer. Seeing his precision and accuracy of interpretation, it comes as no surprise that he earned a PhD in law before turning to music. He was 100% dedicated to the musical work - and stamped his own personality, if necessary, to produce the very best musical performances. However, many musicians comment that he was their ‘beloved dictator’ who brought out the best just by looking at them.

"…he seems to have been able simply to render the orchestra alert and responsive(…). Whatever the explanation, it is clear that Böhm maintained the ability to make an orchestra responsive both to the most minute inflections of his baton and to the playing of their colleagues." The Guardian

"Even today, Karl Böhm is still Vienna's favourite conductor" Süddeutsche Zeitung

Karajan's star pupils dedicate this wonderful performance to their teacher as a celebration of his 100th birthday: A "triumph of remembrance," wrote Die Welt following this stirring concert given by the Berliner Philharmoniker under Seiji Ozawa and with Anne-Sophie Mutter as soloist. It left its audience hovering between hushed reverence and deafening exultation.The Golden Hall of Vienna's Musikverein was the dazzling venue for the live recording of this concert celebrating the 100th birthday of Herbert von Karajan. And there Karajan's 'Berliner' never sounded better, evoking "a time which self-confidently sought the private and subjective in music, and believed it could find them in the mirror of the works" (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung). It is a concert that commemorates Herbert von Karajan for the ages in a supremely moving manner.

"For Anne-Sophie Mutter the saying "Make every note count" becomes less a vague cliché and more a matter of fact. Her violin playing has an imagination, a curiosity and a near-endless reserve of psychic energy." The New York Times

+ BONUS: interviews with Mutter and Ozawa - includes many clips of Karajan's outstanding career.

+Bonus Extra 56 mins: A concert filmed by multicameras on 8 April 2001 at The Bouffes du Nord in Paris. Beethoven's Great Fugue was filmed during this concert but is shown in the documentary only.

The Artemis Quartet appeared in a motion picture early in its career, playing in an EMI production in 1996 as guests of the Alban Berg Quartet in Bruno Monsaingeon's feature-length documentary named after Schubert's quartet of the same name – Death and the Maiden. Five years later the Artemis Quartet once again performed in another film by the renowned director. Monsaingeon's 2001 documentary on Beethoven's Grosse Fuge Op.133: Strings Attached is at the same time an impressive portrait of the Artemis Quartet and illustrates how the Quartet live and work together. At the 2008 Gramophone Awards, the Artemis Quartet were awarded the Chamber Award for their recording of the Piano Quintets by Brahms and Schumann with Leif Ove Andsnes.

“Contemporary music used to be a Cinderella at the Wigmore Hall, cropping up only when a particular performer had an enthusiasm for it. But the management now clearly wants to put the Wigmore on the map as a place to hear new music. The boldest initiative so far has been to build a series of five concerts round the music of the young German composer Jörg Widmann, who's barely known in this country. On the evidence of Wednesday night's concert, given by the Artemis Quartet, they've picked a winner…After the interval they returned for Schubert's Death and the Maiden quartet. Some quartets try to capture this piece's tragic quality by being utterly unbending. These players wisely went the other way. By letting the music breathe in the first three movements, they made the grim fateful onrush of the finale seem all the more electrifying.” Rating **** The Daily Telegraph

Region Code: NTSC 0

Subtitles: F, E

Booklet: F, GB, D

Disc Format: 1 DVD 9

No of Discs: 1

Run Time: 56 mins + 56 mins Bonus

Released: 2009-01-01

The Places

Northern Italy has been ruled by various powers over the centuries. The Southern Tyrol, seen here, retains much of its Austrian past, with some regions predominantly German-speaking and others Italian. Scenes are shown of the Dolomites, the strangely shaped rock formations, a typical castle and mountain lakes. There are also views of the neighbouring Swiss-Italian canton of Ticino.

The Music

Music for the tour is by Beethoven, with his Violin Concerto, written and first performed in Vienna, and one of his two Romances for solo violin and orchestra, independent pieces perhaps intended as slow movements for another concerto that was never completed.

Booklet Notes: English, German, French

Thunderous applause and loud cries of "bravo" greeted the première of Beethoven's Fidelio at the inaugural performance of the first opera season in Valencia's new Palau de les Arts. With this spectacular production directed by Pierluigi Pier'Alli, Valencia has put itself back on the map of the international opera world. Dominating the activity on stage are two of today's most distinguished German singers,Waltraud Meier and Peter Seiffert, who have left their mark above all on Wagner interpretation, and the great Finnish bass Matti Salminen who stamped his forceful character on his role as the jailer Rocco.

"Everything she does is unforgettable…" The Guardian (Waltraud Meier)

At the Salzburg Mozartwoche in 2000, the Hagen Quartett excelled in Beethoven's very last String Quartet, first performed only after the composer's death, a highly demanding and very complex work. For Mozart's famous Clarinet Quintet, written for his gifted friend Anton Stadler, they joined forces with the phenomenal clarinetist Sabine Meyer, who "enhances the dazzling splendour of the quartet with a warm and graciously noble voice", as an Austrian newspaper wrote. The Hagen Quartett is regarded internationally as one of the foremost string quartets, praised for their unique, finely nuanced timbre and the engaging immediacy of their ensemble playing.

Martha Argerich proves once again her great pianistic technique in a wave of virtuosity, performing emblematic works of the greatest composers ever.

Martha Argerich has long been hailed as one of the greatest and most uniquely imaginative pianists. She is most admired for the pure joy of her music-making and her individual approach to each work, each situation and each audience.

The Verbier Festival, held each summer in the Swiss Alps, has developed over eighteen years into one of the most important classical music festivals in Europe, bringing together great musical talent and dedicated music lovers alike from across the globe.

Martha Argerich celebrates her 70th birthday on the 5 June 2011.

Picture format DVD: NTSC 16:9

Sounds formats DVD: PCM Stereo

Region code: 0

Booklet notes: English, German, French

Running time: 87 min

FSK: 0