DVD Videos

András Schiff is one of the great interpreters of Bach and a firm advocate of playing Bach's keyboard works on the piano. As soloist he has performed and recorded many of Bach's major keyboard works, and his recitals fill concert halls throughout the world.

In this masterclass, András Schiff works with a student on Bach's Second Partita for Keyboard, one of a set of six and the last group of keyboard suites Bach composed. As with the earlier French Suite and the English Suite, the Partitas consist of a series of dance movements but Bach's skill and originality have now elaborated the hitherto straightforward dance forms and given them a richly polyphonic, almost orchestral texture. In 1731 these Partitas were collectively published as Clavier-Übung ("Keyboard Exercise").

Student: Nasrin Rashidova

Maxim Vengerov is recognised as one of the world's most exciting and brilliant violinists. His exceptional talent emerged when he was very young. He gave his first recital at the age of five and went on to win First Prize in the Junior Wieniawski Competition when he was ten years old, confirming his promise as a violinist of rare talent. Still in his mid-thirties he is now acknowledged throughout the world as one of the great musicians of our time. He is also an outstanding teacher and is Professor of Violin at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Perceptive, entertaining and always sensitive to the individual personality and ability of his pupils, he has an extraordinary ability to convey his insights into the music and inspire his students.

In this masterclass, he works on the first two movements from Bach's First Sonata for Solo Violin.

Zakhar Bron is known the world over as one of the greatest of all violin teachers and an inspiring performer. Among his students were some of the best known violinists of today like Vadim Repin and Maxim Vengerov. Professor Bron has taught at the Royal Academy in London, the Conservatory of Rotterdam, the Musikhochschule Lübeck and the Escuela Superior de Musica "Reina Sofia" in Madrid where he still teaches.

In this masterclass he works on Bach's Chaconne for Solo Violin, considered a pinnacle of writing for solo violin and one of the most challenging pieces in the repertoire.

In Russian with simultaneous English translation

The programme of this concert, recorded at one of Austria‘s finest baroque monasteries, is dedicated to the works which Johann Sebastian Bach wrote for Advent, two of his finest cantatas and his Magnificat. The performances of these three works are excellent. Not only are the choir and orchestra of the quality one expects from a conductor such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt, but the soloists including Christine Schäfer and Ian Bostridge are all top-notch as well. A must-have disc for collectors of Bach DVDs.

Sound Format: PCM Stereo, DD 5.0, DTS 5.0

Picture Format: 16:9

DVD Format: DVD 9, NTSC

Subtitle Languages: DE, GB, FR, ES, IT

Running Time: 82 mins

FSK: 0

The first two performances on this DVD feature David Oistrakh in one of his favourite performing partnerships, with his son, violinist Igor Oistrakh. The Bach concerto for two violins formed the duo’s first foreign engagement whilst the Mozart was performed two years later in a sell-out performance at the Royal Albert Hall. Kirill Kondrashin, one of Oistrakh’s preferred conductors, directs the Brahms concerto, which has all the warmth and confidence one would expect from a classic Oistrakh recording.

The ICA Classics Legacy series presents a collection of historic performances by some of the world’s greatest artists. These performances are released on DVD for the first time, incorporating rare archive footage that has been expertly and lovingly restored.

1DVD

Sound format: LCPM mono

Picture format: 4:3

Running time: 94’

Subtitles: n/a

Menu languages: English

Booklet languages: E/F/G

Region code: 0

Territory Restrictions: None

Kenneth Gilbert, the master makes his points in soft-spoken fashion; Olivier Baumont, his student, rejoinders and argues!

Teaching is a practice essential to his condition as a soloist. students Renaud Capuçon, Thierry Huchin, Mary Scheuble

Recorded live at the Philharmonie Berlin on 11th April 2010

It is no surprise that Sir Simon would one day tackle this most comprehensive of Bach’s compositions in view of his much applauded interpretation of the St. John Passion in 2006. The Berliner Morgenpost wrote at the time: “A performance of this musical calibre renders superfluous all questions about authenticity and historical performance practice. At the Philharmonie Sir Simon Rattle and his orchestra performed the St. John Passion [...] with highly concentrated and flawless beauty devoid of any distorting indulgence.”

German daily Die Welt hailed this performance of the St. Matthew Passion as “Simon Rattle’s Easter miracle,” and The Guardian in the UK wrote: “I challenge you not to be an emotional wreck by the end of it: the singers, especially Mark Padmore as the Evangelist, give the performance of their lives; Sellars sensitively connects the Passion story with the performances and the audience, without distorting Bach’s drama; and Rattle and his players are collectively raised to spooky, spiritual levels of inspiration.”

Both the double-disc DVD and Blu-ray editions contain booklets with introductory texts, biographies and photos. Bonus footage includes a conversation between Peter Sellars and Simon Halsey, conductor of the Rundfunkchor Berlin.

Subtitles: English, German, French, Spanish and Japanese

Running time: 195 mins (concert); 51 mins (bonus feature)

Picture format: NTSC

Audio formats: PCM Stereo

Dolby Digital 5.1

DTS 5.1

Please Note: JAPAN - Due to contractual reasons I'm afraid we are not allowed to sell this product to customers in Japan.

This 2012 recording of the most influential and wide spread oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach features the Hungarian conductor Iván Fischer, a visionary in his field, with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. The double choir is the essential musical aspect on which Iván Fischer’s interpretation of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion is based. Only by consistently seizing on that duality will all the complementary layers stand out as they should. He describes this essential fundamental aspect as follows: “You can’t do the St. Matthew in an unreligious way. The only approach is from a deep, universally religious feeling.”

The internationally renowned tenor Mark Padmore is brilliant as the Evangelist, Peter Harvey gives a moving interpretation of Christ. Together with Ingeborg Danz, Renate Arends, Maria Espada, Barbara Kozelj, Peter Gijsbertsen and Henk Neven and the Netherlands Radio Choir they carry the audience through an affecting performance of this masterwork.

PCM Stereo, DD 5.0

Running Time: 174 mins

Subtitle Languages: DE (Original Language), GB, FR, ES, JP

Directed by Bruno Monsaingeon

A new release from the series of Metropolitan Munich programs.

Classified as EuroArts "Recorded Excellence", with high historical value and special pricing.

This selection of some of Bach’s most perennially popular keyboard music admirably demonstrates the many varied facets of the composer’s fertile imagination.

These performances exemplify perfectly the thoughtful and persuasive approach that András Schiff adopts when playing Bach.

Deep pathos is contrasted with witty humour, serenity is paired with fleetness of foot, and all these emotions prove that this brilliantly expressive musician is as ‘unique and unequalled’ today as he was when his first biographer, J.N. Forkel, wrote so eloquently about him more than two centuries ago.

Picture format DVD: NTSC 4:3

Sound format DVD: PCM Stereo

Region code: 0

Booklet notes: English, German, French

Runnning time: 54 mins