DVD Videos

With Krakow‘s glorious St. Mary‘s Church as the setting, the world-acclaimed Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra performs a concert to both commemorate the orchestra‘s 1882 founding and reaffirm the cultural life of a reborn European community.

Featuring Bernard Haitink as guest conductor, the concert‘s repertoire features soprano Christine Schäfer performing two pieces by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the brilliant „Allelujah“ from the motet Exsultate, jubilate followed by the richly introspective „Et incarnatus est“ from the C minor Mass.

Also featured is renowned pianist Emanuel Ax, who performs the Second Concerto by Poland‘s most beloved native composer, Frédéric Chopin. The concert concludes with the Berlin Philharmonic‘s performance of Robert Schumann‘s radiant Spring Symphony.

Sound Format: PCM STEREO, DD 5.1

Picture Format: 16:9

DVD Format: DVD 9, PAL

Running Time: 95 mins

FSK: 0

A curious notion: the Berliner Philharmoniker as guest performers at the State Opera Unter den Linden. Daniel Barenboim, as both the host and the conductor of the concert, had invited the ensemble to perform in the historically distinguished setting of the opera.

The varied programme started with Beethoven‘s blithe Eighth Symphony, which deservedly no longer counts as one of Beethoven‘s lesser symphonic works. This was followed by a rare gem of Romantic music: the concert piece for four horns and orchestra Op. 86 by Robert Schumann, in which the solo quartet interacts with the orchestra as a concertino group. This imaginatively arranged three-part concert piece - brimming with vitality, catchy melodies and wit - was composed in 1849, seven years before Schumann‘s death. As performing the piece calls for consummate skill in all of the instrument‘s manifold playing techniques, it is regarded as a daunting and highly complex task among horn players. Perhaps that explains why the attractive composition is only presented so seldom.

The next item on the programme was Franz Liszt‘s symphonic poem „Les Préludes“ - with an entirely instrumental performance of Richard Wagner‘s „The Ride of the Valkyries“ that was yet redolent of the Valkyrie‘s wild Hoyotoho cry, the impassioned opera conductor brought his concert with the Berliner Philharmoniker to a perfect close.

Sound Format: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1

Picture Format: 16:9

DVD Format: DVD 9, PAL

Running Time: 76 mins

FSK: 0

For a significant number of people, she is simply the greatest pianist of our time. No matter what repertoire she plays, she sounds, as they say, “in her element”. Indeed, her playing is entirely lacking in vanity, yet never remotely anonymous. Nor can one even speak of “Argerich’s Beethoven” – or “Argerich’s anything else”, for that matter, since her playing of every work – of every theme or section within a work – is conceived so intensely from within that it doggedly resists categorization. Interestingly, though not perhaps surprisingly, the same variety of approach is evident in the way she plays the piano. To speak of “Argerich’s technique” is again to oversimplify. She has this technique and that technique and any number in between. What they all have in common is their naturalness, their visible “fitness for function”. Her interpretations are united by the effortlessness and pure joy of her music making and her individual approach to each work, each situation and each audience.

Sound Format: PCM Stereo,DD 5.1, DTS 5.1

Picture Format: 16:9

DVD Format: DVD 9, NTSC

Running Time: 87 mins

FSK: 0

Set & Costumes by WILLIAM ORLANDI

The latest release in the Arthaus series of DVD recordings from the prestigious Opéra National de Paris is a production of Sergei Prokofiev’s wonderful surrealist fairy-tale opera The Love for Three Oranges. This is the opera that was played all over the world long before Prokofiev’s other mature works became well known. The opera’s fantastic story is particularly well loved, and the famous march, which exists in many arrangements and has been widely used as a symphonic concert piece.

Staged in the large Opéra Bastille, it is a colourful theatrical feast, directed by Gilbert Deflo. Carlo Gozzi’s original 18th Century play L’amore delle tre Melarance uses characters from the Commedia del Arte and incorporates fairy tale elements into the old theatre form to create popular theatre. This mixture attracted Prokofiev as it provided for a spectacle. He looked for stylised characters, pure entertainment, speed, rhythm and power, and he found melodic gestures and instrumental colours to match the characters or visual images. Deflo’s staging takes up this spirit. His production is pure theatre - his characters employ body language derived from the Commedia dell’arte and he uses elements of popular theatre. Conducted by 20th century specialist Sylvain Cambreling and sung in the original French version by superb singer-actors, this production presents a stage performance set in perfect harmony with Prokofiev’s inventive music.

BONUS: Documentary “How to fall in love with three oranges” - interviews with singers, conductor and director explain the music, the staging and their own approach to the roles.

Sound Format: PCM Stereo, DD 5.0, DTS 5.0

Picture Format: 16:9

DVD Format: DVD 9, NTSC

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

Running Time: 116 mins + 30 mins (Bonus)

FSK: 0

Set & Costumes by CHRISTIAN SCHMIDT

Ariadne auf Naxos is one of many beautifully crafted operas created by Richard Strauss and his librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal. In the compelling production from the Zurich Opera, recorded on this DVD, Christoph von Dohnány leads a particularly strong cast of singer-actors in a thrilling interpretation of the work.

Ariadne is sung by the American soprano Emily Magee, who has received worldwide praise for her performances in works by both Wagner and Strauss. The German-born Italian tenor Roberto Saccà, who is regarded as one of the leading lyric tenors of his generation, takes the part of Bacchus. Both made their role débuts under Christoph von Dohnányi’s subtle yet sensual leadership, and both were acclaimed for their vocal radiance, subtle handling of the text and the care that they lavished on the technical aspects of their parts. The critics were also captivated by the rest of the brilliant cast: Elena Moşuc (Zerbinetta) lightly mastered the incredible heights of her role, Michael Volle was a vocally resplendent Music Master and Michelle Breedt a touching Composer. An entertaining and intelligently crafted production of one of the key operas exploring the intertextuality that occurs between “real life” and what today would be called “virtual reality”.

Sound Format: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1

Picture Format: 16:9

DVD Format: DVD 9, NTSC

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

Running Time: 127 mins

FSK: 0

Stage Design by MICHAEL LEVINE

When Canadian opera director Robert Carsen produced his intense and cogent staging of Francis Poulenc’s compelling opera Les Dialogues des Carmélites at the Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam in 2001, it impressed audiences and critics alike, and also gained the interest of Riccardo Muti, then musical director of La Scala in Milan. He arranged for the production to be staged by the famous Milanese opera company. Muti himself conducted Orchestra and Chorus of the Scala and a superb, handpicked cast of singers.

German soprano Dagmar Schellenberger, who received much critical acclaim for this, her debut at La Scala, takes the role of the young aristocrat Blanche who, during the French Revolution, seeks salvation from her terror in a convent. The action takes place in Paris and Compiègne between 1789 and 1794 and highlights the impacts of the Revolution and later Robespierre’s Reign of Terror on religious institutions. Following a decree dissolving all the country’s religious houses, the Carmelite nuns take a vow of martyrdom and sing their way to the scaffold. The last to die is Blanche, together with Soeur Constance, her close friend in the convent, sung by the American soprano Laura Aikin.

American mezzo Barbara Dever gave her debut at La Scala in this production in the role of the assistant prioress Mother Marie. The production was particularly notable for the participation of Anja Silja as Madame de Croissy, and this recording allows us to experience one of the greatest singing actresses of our times.

Sound Format: LPCM Stereo, DD 5.1

Picture Format: 16:9

DVD Format: DVD 9, NTSC

Subtitles: GB, DE, FR, ES, IT

Running Time: 149 mins

FSK: 6

Set Design & Costumes by TIMOTHY O’BRIEN, TAZEENA FIRTH

From the Vienna State Opera Arthaus presents a timeless document of great opera. Lorin Maazel and a dream cast of distinguished singers, among them the young Eva Marton and José Carreras in his mid-thirties, perform a celebrated staging of Puccini’s Turandot.

Puccini’s last opera tells the story of the battle of the sexes against an exotic backdrop. The work tells the story of the beguilingly beautiful and cold yet seductive Chinese princess, Turandot. The opera is characterized by the tension it creates between the denial of love and secret affection, between self-sacrifice and obsession with sacrificial victims, and between cold cruelty and pure love.

The performance was received with unanimous enthusiasm. Lorin Maazel scored a great personal success with audience and critics alike with passion, authority and brilliance in his conducting. The applause at the end of the performance lasted three-quarters of an hour and was directed not only at Maazel, but also at the team of wonderful singer-actors. The Hungarian soprano Eva Marton brought to the title role what one critic described as “a voice of gleaming metal in which one senses the beautiful woman lying in wait to defeat her opponent but is also aware of her fears of man in general.” Appearing alongside her as Calaf was José Carreras whose “unprecedented intensity” and “priceless tenor voice” were once again at the fore. Katia Ricciarelli was no less acclaimed in her role as “the best of all possible Liùs”.

Sound Format: PCM Stereo

Picture Format: 4:3

DVD Format: DVD 9, NTSC

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

Running Time: 139 mins

FSK: 0

Set Design by WILLIAM DUDLEY

Arthaus releases on DVD another gem from the archives of Austrian Television. The outstanding production of Verdi’s Masked Ball at the Salzburg Festivals 1989 and 1990 was Herbert von Karajan’s legacy to the Festival. Supported by a cast of superlative actor-singers in opulent scenery, Sir George Solti agreed to conduct the opera at short notice after Karajan’s unexpected death in 1989.

The production had been expected to be a highlight in Karajan’s series of Verdi operas at Salzburg. Karajan’s celebrated ability to unite a cultivated sound with dramatic effects was known to create extraordinary and highly acclaimed opera events.

For Un ballo in maschera Karajan planned something unusual: He would not set the opera in colonial Massachusetts, as the censors had forced Verdi to do when he was composing the work, but in Stockholm in the 1790s at the court of King Gustav III of Sweden, as Verdi had originally conceived his work. Together with the film director John Schlesinger and his stage team, Karajan developed a concept that promised theatrical splendour equal to the musical excellence that the conductor and the handpicked cast of singers would surely provide in collaboration with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. But this was not to be: stage rehearsals had already begun for the opening performance of the 1989 festival when Karajan died on 16 July. Therefore it was extraordinarily lucky that a conductor of Sir Georg Solti’s standing, was prepared to undertake the task just a week before the premiere, and with the whole world watching. He and the staging by Hollywood film director John Schlesinger was acclaimed by audience and press alike.

Sound Format: PCM Stereo

Picture Format: 4:3

DVD Format: DVD 9, NTSC

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

Running Time: 145 mins

FSK: 0

Mirella Freni is one of the most remarkable soprano singers in the world of opera. She has been winning over audiences for half a century with her ever fresh and youthful vocals and with a voice quality which remains undiminished.

The portrait shows Mirella Freni during masterclasses in her hometown of Modena; in an extended interview, filmed in the Teatro Comunale, Freni speaks about her extraordinary career. One of her first performances with Luciano Pavarotti in Puccini’s “La Bohème” is shown. Interviews with colleagues and friends such as famous tenor Plácido Domingo and conductor Herbert von Karajan as well as Freni’s greatest stage performances, private pictures and rare material from the archive complete the portrait.

„I am really touched by this movie. I feel honoured by its sensitive presentation of my life, my career, my work as a teacher and my feelings about all these aspects.“ Mirella Freni

„It was always most enjoyable to sing with her. I remember our joint performances with a lot of pleasure and also a certain melancholy.” Plácido Domingo

„(...) an artist who did everything she could to remain as she was. A simple human being with a big heart.” Herbert von Karajan

Sound Format: PCM Stereo

Picture Format: 16:9

DVD Format: DVD 9, NTSC

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

Running Time: 58 mins

FSK: 0

The stout Sir John Falstaff has financial problems. To refill his empty pockets he strives for amorous affairs with Alice and Meg, the wives of the rich citizens Ford and Page. The two ladies might even have consented, had they not received identical love letters. So they decide to play a trick on him. At the same time Alice exposes her husband’s chronic jealousy. In the end, Nannetta, the Fords’ daughter, is allowed to marry for love against her father’s plans. Finally, a nightly masquerade in Windsor park brings out the moral of the story: „Tutto nel mondo è burla – All the world’s a burlesque“.

Towards the end of his operatic work, Giuseppe Verdi succeeds in a brilliant comedy of characters with philosophical wisdom and sparkling musical wit. The libretto of Arrigo Boito is based upon William Shakespeare’s comedy „The Merry Wives of Windsor“ and scenes from „Henry IV“. Bernd Weikl’s witty production shows the simultaneity of tragedy and comedy. The opera’s motto „All the world’s a burlesque“ is also reflected in the stage design of Thomas Doerfler and in the costumes of Julia Holewik. Both set and clothes are inspired by Shakespeare’s theatre, the Italian tradition of „Commedia dell’ arte“ and the world of circus.

Sound Format: PCM Stereo

Picture Format: 16:9

DVD Format: DVD 9, NTSC

Subtitle Languages: IT (Original Language), GB, DE

Running Time: 118 mins

FSK: 0