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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | A ritualisation by Peter Sellars
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. “The long rehearsal period, the expertise of everyone involved and the authority of the solo singers: all this quickly becomes evident...All the soloists embody their roles to an engrossing degree of identification...this is a defiantly modern performance, one that exults in disturbance and the irony that arises from a deeply intimate staging within the round of the Berlin Philharmonie: appropriate in terms of architectural politics but jarringly opulent and public.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2012 “Some of Sellars's gestures...are searing, and the rapt attention of the audience leaps out of the screen...Padmore is a great Evangelist and this must be his greatest performance of the role...while the symbiosis entwining vocal and instrumental soloists leavens Simon Rattle's compelling musical direction. Ultimately, a St Matthew Passion even greater than the sum of its parts - and they were already pretty awesome to being with!” BBC Music Magazine, September 2012 ***** “It sounded like a risky undertaking...but the resulting “ritualization” of Bach’s oratorio, captured on DVD, is most riveting and moving. Mr. Sellars has the choirs and orchestras facing each other in the round, turning the Passion into a soul-searching dialogue between individual and society, man and God. Instrumentalists and singers, too, enter into communion with one another” New York Times, 23rd November 2012 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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This production of one of the late masterpieces of Massenet, 'Don Quichotte', in May 2010 from La Monnaie, was the last great role performed by the feted Belgian baritone, José van Dam. This very special context generates a real intensity, enhanced by the stage direction of Laurent Pelly and the expertise of Marc Minkowski in French opera repertoire, following numerous productions by Massenet, Debussy, Meyerbeer, Offenbach, Auber, Boieldieu, Gounod… The DVD includes a touching documentary on this production. José van Dam was born in Brussels. As a guest in the world’s leading opera houses, he has sung the title roles of countless operas but has become synonymous with Philip [Don Carlos] and Don Quichotte in particular. He has contributed to the success of many opera productions at La Monnaie, where he has also appeared in concerts and recitals. He also performs a vast concert, oratorio and song repertoire and has made many recordings. His cinema appearances include the title role in Gérard Corbiau’s 'Le Maître de musique' (The Music Teacher) and a brilliant Leporello in Joseph Losey’s 'Don Giovanni'. His interpretations have earned him numerous awards. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Montreal; the City of Berlin awarded him the honorary title of ‘Kammersänger’; the French Government has appointed him Commandeur des Arts et Lettres; and he has been ennobled by King Albert II of Belgium. “At almost 70, Van Dam's voice is not what it was, but his artistry is as consummate as ever. His relative vocal frailty only enhances a characerisation that is a masterclass in expressive understatement...this is both a profoundly moving take on Massenet's 'comedie heroique' and a treasurable souvenir of a great performer in his final role.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2012 ***** “This issue deserves particular praise because the central performance, on which so much of the opera hangs, was José van Dam’s farewell to the stage at La Monnaie...Van Dam is on very fine form here, clearly relishing the importance of the occasion. His gift for vocal flair is still there...Silvia tro Santafé is a very successful Dulcinée...Minkowski holds the whole evening together with charm, affection and his famous ear for detail” MusicWeb International, April 2013  BBC Music Magazine
DVD Choice - October 2012 |
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| |  | Nowak edition
at LUCERNE FESTIVAL in Summer 2011 “Abbado’s approach to the music of Bruckner is soft and songlike, at times tense and urgent, but constantly filled with warmth of feeling” – not only the Neue Zürcher Zeitung is full of praise when Claudio Abbado and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra play Bruckner. Their interpretation of his awe-inspiring Fifth Symphony reflects the composer’s burgeoning powers and exquisite compositional artistry. As The Guardian poetically states: “The composer himself, one suspects, might have leapt to embrace Abbado as an ideal interpreter.” Picture Format DVD: NTSC 16:9 Sound Formats DVD: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1, PCM Stereo Region Code: 0 (worldwide) Running Time: 80:33 min Disc Format: DVD-9 FSK: 0 “This performance curtails the silences in the interests of the Italian conductor Claudio Abbado’s linear approach...This is Bruckner sunny side up, lending a molto espressivo bloom to the string cantilenas in the opening movement and a con amore sparkle to the brass chorales. The orchestra, combining old friends and young talents, radiates a fabulously chamber-musical quality.” Financial Times, 2nd June 2012 **** “Abbado keeps the music on the move; textures are full rather than thick...Abbado himself is invariably the main focus of attention and he's wonderful to watch: theatrical posing and outsize gestures are evidently foreign to his nature...The players vary in age and appearance: no stiffening dress-code clamps down with unwarranted formality, just well-dressed men and women totally into the business of making great music. And boy, do they deliver!” Gramophone Magazine, August 2012 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Jascha Heifetz: God's FiddlerA film by Peter Rosen
Not since Paganini had there been such a magician on the violin. We see never-seen-before vintage filmed performance clips and home movies of Jascha Heifetz and learn that he was the first truly modern violin virtuoso, the man about whom Itzhak Perlman said, “When I spoke with him, I thought, ‘I can’t believe I’m talking with God’.” This film portrays an artist for whom only perfection would do. A musical ‚wunderkind’ who went on to set the standards for nearly a century. We get to know through home movies and personal family photos taken from 1903-1987, a prestigious concert artist so well known in popular culture, his name became shorthand for greatness, for everyone from Jack Benny to The Muppets to Woody Allen. Filmed in Vilna, Lithuania, Saint Petersburg, Russia, and in the Heifetz Studio in Los Angeles, this documentary re-creates a life that spanned the 20th Century, a life that both influenced the period, and was affected by its turbulent times. We hear from all the great violinists of his generation, and from many of his former students who are still alive, that Heifetz was a legendary but mysterious figure whose story embodies the dual nature of artistic genius: the paradox of how a mortal man lives with immortal gifts – gifts he must honor, but which extract a lifelong price. Is the man and the artist the same person? What is the price each pays? And who was the man behind the music? Picture format DVD: NTSC 4:3 Sounds formats DVD: PCM Stereo Region code: 0 Original language: English Subtitles: German, French, Spanish Booklet notes: English, German, French Running time: 88 mins “Amazingly, this is the first film to tell the story of Jascha Heifetz, for many the greatest violinist in history...no one has produced anything to match this or, indeed, assembled such a vast array of Heifetz material. It's unmissable.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2012 “Unmissable expose on the so-called 'violinist of the century', including rare newsreel footage, home movies, expert comment, and most importantly, the incendiary virtuosity of an artist whose effortless poise under supreme technical pressure remains a thing of wonder.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2012 ***** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Recorded live at the Salzburg Festival, July 2011
Already brimming with symbols and transformations, the epic fairytale recounted by Strauss and his librettist Hofmannsthal in Die Frau ohne Schatten acquires a further allegorical dimension in Christoph Loy’s inventive production for the Salzburg Festival. The central character, the Empress – half-spirit, half-human, and unable to bear children until she finds a shadow – here becomes a young soprano who makes a voyage of personal and professional discovery as she records the opera. A superb cast fulfils the complex vocal and dramatic demands of the piece while Christian Thielemann and the Vienna Philharmonic rise gloriously to the challenges of Strauss’s most ambitious and splendid operatic score. Premiere recording of this production. Christian Thielemann’s first opera performance at the Salzburg Festival. First opera from Salzburg Festival to be released on Opus Arte. Extra features include 'Christian Thielemann rehearses 'Die Frau Ohne Schatten', and cast gallery. Running time: 220 minutes Subtitles: EN/FR/DE/ES Sound format: 2.0LPCM + 5.1(5.0) DTS “Evelyn Herlitzius and Wolfgang Koch inject drama as a couple experiencing marital difficulties...[the Empress] is central throughout, compellingly acted and luminously sung by the marvellous Anne Schwanewilms...Holding it all together are the clearly articulated text and a magic carpet of sound that's down with assurance by Christian Thielemann...Orchestral detail has tremendous clarity and the documentary extra includes pithy insights from cast and crew” BBC Music Magazine, July 2012 **** “Loy's Personregie works well for nearly every singer...The VPO under Christian Thielemann is impeccable...[Thielemann] brings a perceptive though-line to this vast structure, and he cares as much about intimacy as about grandeur...The stand-out onstage is Michaela Schuster (Nurse), vocally magnificent and revelling in her characterization...Schwanewilms's Empress embodies dignified feminine beauty and dignity...her pristine timbre eminently suits the role.” International Record Review, June 2012 “As an exercise in demonstrating a director’s power, it’s strangely impressive; as a way of experiencing the opera, it’s persistently, excruciatingly frustrating.” Opera | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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Bernard Richter (Atys), Stéphanie d’Oustrac (Cybèle), Emmanuelle de Negri (Sangaride), Nicolas Rivenq (Célénus), Marc Mauillon (Idas), Sophie Daneman (Doris), Jaël Azzaretti (Mélisse), Paul Agnew (Le Sommeil) & Cyril Auvity (Morphée) Danseurs Compagnie Fêtes galantes & Les Arts Florissants, William Christie (conductor) & Jean-Marie Villégier (director) 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. “Lully's music shines and dances in the hands of the now-veteran William Christie and his superbly understanding singers and players, but what will astonish those who doubt the drama of baroque opera is the sheer emotional power of the plot. The filming is formal rather than fluid. A triumph of postmodern authenticity.” The Observer, 19th February 2012 “this visually sumptuous production will satisfy the most diehard traditionalist. It's true that the sets and costumes are far removed from ancient Phrygia; but they do evoke the time of Louis XIV, Lully's patron. Bernhard Richter finds plenty of passion as Atys...Chorus, orchestra and conductor are first-class.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2012 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Music Makes a City - An American Orchestra's Untold StoryDocumentary Chronicling Largest Classical Music Commissioning Project in American History
Directed by Owsley Brown III and Jerome Hiler “A singular harmonic convergence is recounted in Music Makes A City, Owsley Brown III and Jerome Hiler’s enlightening documentary about how Louisville, KY., became a locus for contemporary music in the mid-20th century. In striking synchronicity, a mayor, a conductor, and a robust postwar generation of composers intersected to make the city a hub for visionary composition” New York Times On May 23, Music Makes a City, will be released on DVD. The feature-length documentary film tells a tale of civic aspiration, cultural ingenuity and how Louisville, Kentucky became the world's unlikely capital of new music in the 1950s. According to Sedgwick Clark, of MusicalAmerica.com, “anyone interested in classical music should see this uplifting story of American ingenuity at its best.” In 1948, a small, struggling, semi-professional orchestra in Louisville, Kentucky began a novel project to commission new works from contemporary composers around the world. The project grew far beyond anyone's expectations. In 1953, the orchestra received an unprecedented $400,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to commission 52 compositions a year for three years. The new works were to be performed in weekly concerts and recorded for sale by subscription. The architect of this ambitious artistic venture was Louisville Mayor Charles Farnsley who had a deep love of cultural expressions of all kinds as well as boundless enthusiasm and an inexhaustible bank of new ideas. Farnsley, professing to be guided by the philosophical principles of the Chinese sage Confucius, found a willing partner for his plans in Robert Whitney, the young conductor who had arrived in Louisville in 1937 to lead the fledgling orchestra. Over the years, nearly every living composer of note would be commissioned and recorded by the Louisville Orchestra. Music Makes a City is a wonderful weave of archival footage and anecdotes from veteran Louisville musicians and civic figures. The film features interviews with some of the project’s key participants: iconic American composers Ned Rorem, Lukas Foss, Chou Wen-chung, Harold Shapero and Elliott Carter – the last of whom gave an extensive interview (at the age of 100) expressly for the documentary, recalling his experience of composing for Louisville a piece that remains one of his most popular: 1955's Variations for Orchestra. Runing time 100 minutes + over 2 hours of features with composers, musicians and related personalities. “The narrative begins slowly...but once the commissioning programme begins (1947), you're happily in the film's grip...Suavely produced, the film's value is magnified by the two hours of DVD extras, including further reminiscences from the American musicians and composers. Carter is very good-humoured; Schuller is sensible. Best of all is the garrulous Harold Shapero - a rising neo-classical star in the 1940s” BBC Music Magazine, December 2011 ****/* “Owsley Brown III and Jerome Hiler’s film is a delight – an unfussy, informative documentary with a fascinating narrative. There are no dramatic reconstructions, no trendy graphics; the only vaguely contemporary note is having Louisville’s Will Oldham (better known as Bonnie Prince Billy) narrating...And do watch the bonus footage of Elliott Carter on the bonus DVD; I can only hope that I’ll be as articulate should I ever reach 100.” The Arts Desk, 29th October 2011 “an interesting tale that unfolds at a leisurely pace...[The] music provides an almost continuous soundtrack, with some lengthier excerpts illustrated by sensitively edited footage of the Ohio River.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2011 BBC Music Magazine DVD Choice - December 2011 |
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John Mark Ainsley (Captain Vere), Jacques Imbrailo (Billy Budd), Phillip Ens (Claggart), Iain Paterson (Mr Redburn), Matthew Rose (Mr Flint), Darren Jeffery (Lieutenant Ratcliffe), Alasdair Elliott (Red Whiskers), John Moore (Donald), Jeremy White (Dansker), Ben Johnson (Novice), Colin Judson (Squeak) & Richard Mosley-Evans (Bosun) The Glyndebourne Chorus & London Philharmonic Orchestra, Mark Elder (conductor) & Michael Grandage (director) Glyndebourne has a proud association with the operas of Benjamin Britten, however until 2010 had never staged Billy Budd. The all-male opera with a libretto co-written by EM Forster, is based on the battle between pure good and blind evil, and is set on a British man-‘o-war ship. Michael Grandage, Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse, chose this work to make his long-awaited operatic debut. Sir Mark Elder returned to conduct, marking the 100th opera production in his illustrious career. This remarkable 2 disc set is available for the price of one. Extra features: Introducing Billy Budd Designs on Billy Budd Running time 200 mins Region Code All regions Picture format 16:9 Anamorphic Sound format 2.0LPCM + 5.1(5.0) DTS Menu languages EN Subtitles EN/FR/DE/ES “none of the camera’s interventions disturb the sweep of Michael Grandage’s carefully realistic production...you’re still sucked inside the drama, especially if you watch on a widescreen TV...[Imbrailo] is as ardent and puppyish as you could wish...the London Philharmonic revel in the baleful drums, salty woodwinds, and dark beauty of Britten’s score. On DVD as much as in the opera house, this is a Billy Budd to remember.” The Times, 29th April 2011 **** “[Elder paces] the developing tragedy with airily lyrical detail and brooding, ominous power. John Mark Ainsley' s plangent, dark-toned tenor and intense diction show us a more neurotic Vere than usual, ridden with doubts and anxieties...Phillip Ens's Claggart maintains a chilly calm, sadistic philosopher rather than snarling bully...[Imbrailo's Billy] is no plaster saint but gauche, hyperactive and open-hearted...this is the most compelling Billy Budd on video.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2011 ***** “Truly, we live in a golden age of great opera recordings where a performance of Britain’s masterpiece -- perhaps his greatest operatic achievement outside Peter Grimes -- can be set down in an edition as exemplary as this. Singing, staging and recording are all non-pareil.” london24.com, 17th June 2011 “Elder's unerring sense of theatre puts him absolutely at one with the stage in every episode. He's clearly the guiding spirit of this Billy Budd. The production has been directed with laudable unobtrusiveness by Michael Grandage. Everything is executed with the utmost sensitivity, and there are some telling original touches...Video director Francois Rousillon does exceptional work here, with the precision of HD a constant pleasure. Opus Arte's recorded sound is superb” International Record Review, July/August 2011 “Jacques Imbrailo fields just the right youthful lyric baritone and sings Billy's solo below decks beautifully. John Mark Ainsley gets to the heart of Vere, every close-up showing an artist immersed in his role, and Phillip Ens sings gravely as a Claggart who seems sadly resigned to his lot, rather than an active force of destruction.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2011 “the realisation of the decks of a man-o’-war seem even more claustrophobic than it was at Glyndebourne. The casting is immaculate, the choral singing is overpowering, and you can almost feel the salt spray flying off Mark Elder’s magnificent conducting.” The Telegraph, 2nd December 2011 BBC Music Magazine DVD Choice - July 2011 |
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| |  | Carlos Kleiber: I am Lost to the World
Carlos Kleiber, the eccentric and reclusive conductor has achieved cult status in music circles and has built a loyal fan base. The film uncovers some of the mysteries and tries to clear up preconceptions of one of the most elusive conductors: what were the real reasons he cancelled that often? It sheds light on the relationships with his family, including his father and mother, traces the developments of his career and covers the ‘mythologizing’ that started during the lifetime of the maestro. Carlos Kleiber has always been a major mystery to the world and probably even to himself too. He disposed to close the door to his closest family circle for any biographers and his children indeed respect his wish. This is why the filmmaker had to do his research amongst the conductor’s musical companions, collaborators and friends. The film includes never seen before film footage, interviews with Ricardo Muti, Otto Schenk, Dr. Otto Staindl, friend and attending physician of Carlos Kleiber, members of the Wiener Philharmoniker, the Münchener Philharmoniker and the Berliner Philharmoniker. Many of them own letters or small notepads by Kleiber, documentary reproductions, photographs or private video copies of rehearsals and concerts. In addition to this, his rare records are milestones and extracts of them will certainly be included in the film. Video director Georg Wübbolt Running Time Total: 60 minutes Picture 16:9, color/bw Sound PCM Stereo Subtitles German version and English spoken version Subtitles: French, Spanish, Japanese “Georg Wübbolt's I am Lost to the World includes a rare radio interview with Kleiber and emphasises the destructive/inspirational relationship with his famous conductor father Erich.” Gramophone Magazine “In some musical ways a miracle, in other personal ways a monster, Kleiber was the greatest conductor of our age. This sober documentary comes on the heels of another, Traces to Nowhere, by Eric Schulz (with testimony from the conductor's sister): orchestral players explain his hold over them, and there is an electrifying rehearsal sequence from Tristan in Bayreuth.” The Observer, 8th May 2011 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Alfred Brendel On Music - Three LecturesA film by Mark Kidel
Three Lectures 1. “Does Classical music have to be entirely serious?” 2. “Musical Character (s) as exemplified in Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas” 3.“Light and Shade of Interpretation”
The 2 DVD-set of legendary pianist and one of the greatest musical thinkers of our age, Alfred Brendel contains 3 lectures, which he illustrates on the piano with musical excerpts from Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Handel, Schubert and more. On January 5th 2011 Brendel celebrated his 80th birthday. Presented specifically to be recorded audio-visually, these lectures were held in rooms of the Salzburg Festival. Thanks to their successful blend of music and theory, they are informative and entertaining not only for experts but also for all lovers of music with an interest in deepening their understanding of the subject. Brendel is still performing these lectures all over the world. Running Time Total: 224 minutes (each lecture is ca. 75 minutes long) Picture 16:9, colour Sound PCM Stereo, DTS 5.0 Subtitles English (original language) Subtitles: E, F, G, Sp, I, Kr, Ch, Jp “Thoughts range from the philosophical to the finer points of interpretative detail that make key viewing for pianists” BBC Music Magazine, October 2011 *** “Best of all is the third lecture (DVD 2, one hour 18 mins), "Light and shade of interpretation", which at least uses the visual medium by projecting scores. The illustrations range from (uncredited) orchestral recordings of Wagner and Schubert to a few bars from Handel's Hercules sung by the endearingly eccentric lecturer” Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2011 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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