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Birgitte Christensen (Poppea), Jacek Laszczkowski (Nero), Tim Mead (Ottone), Marita Sølberg (Virtú/Drusilla), Patricia Bardon (Ottavia), Amelie Aldenheim (Amore), Ina Kringlebotn (Fortuna), Tone Kruse (Nutrice), Giovanni Battista Parodi (Seneca), Emiliano Gonzalez-Toro (Arnalta), David Fielder (Valetto), Magnus Staveland (Lucano) Orchestra of the Norwegian National Opera, Alessandro de Marchi Staged by Ole Anders Tandberg, adapted and filmed by Anja Stabell and Stein-Roger Bull in 2010 at the Norwegian National Opera. The Coronation of Poppea was the début production from critically acclaimed stage director Ole Anders Tandberg in the Norwegian Opera & Ballet, and he lets blood flow. TV directors Anja Stabell and Stein-Roger Bull reinforces the impact by letting blood’s bright color compete against black and white images. Poppea like you’ve never seen it before! Special packaging with a high quality slipcase. At the centre of events is the power-crazed Poppea. She aspires to the top level of the hierarchy and seduces Emperor Nero. He is totally captivated by Poppea and does everything possible to marry her, even if it leads to murder. A classic drama unfolds, where the struggle for power and riches paints an unattractive portrait of humankind. In this respect not much has changed since the opera was written 365 years ago. Picture format: NTSC - 16:9 Sound formats: PCM Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1 Region code: 0 Booklet notes: English, German, French Subtitles: Italian, English, German, French, Japanese, Nowegian Running time: 180 mins “It relentlessly portrays the leaders of the Roman Empire as violent, sex-mad adolescents...There is, though, some truly terrific singing here. Birgitte Christiansen (Poppea) is an amazingly assured musical presence, who can colour her voice to fit every occasion. Jacek Laszczkowski (Nero) is expressively menacing and lascivious by turn” BBC Music Magazine, June 2012 **** “How best to depict these grotesques for a 21st-century audience? Ole Anders Tandberg's solution is to put them in modern dress and to have them indulge in what the booklet-note calls 'frequent lashings of blood and sex'...as for the blood, for lashings read buckets. Jacek Lazczkowski plays Nero brilliantly as a complete psychopath...the best [singing] is from Tim Mead and Patricia Bardon.” Gramophone Magazine, June 2012 “[Tandberg] has created distinct individuals onstage in even the smallest roles...Few operatic portrayals have communicated sheer lust more convincingly than Jacek Laszczkowski's Nerone. He's also capable of terrifying nastiness...Christensen's Poppea and mezzo-soprano Patricia Bardon's Ottavia are in every way stunning...Tone Kruse (Nutrice) nearly steals the show with her boldly chesty contralto and fabulously earthy characterization.” International Record Review, June 2012 “Patricia Bardon's powerful voice makes a wonderful Ottavia...While the idea of making a TV production of an opera is certainly laudable, the choices in this production seem to be those that would push away many viewers. It seems as though everything in the direction and staging is designed to be an "effect", turning the characters into mere puppets.” MusicWeb International, July 2012 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Great Dancers of Our TimeRecorded at Theater am Halleschen Ufer, Berlin, Apollosaal, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin, September 2003
Music by Bach, Bruckner, Chopin, Massenet, Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Weber
Renowned dancers from the world of international ballet introduce and perform choreographies that are especially close to their hearts. The solo- or pas-de-deux-choreographies, the personal favorites of the great dancers, are recorded in a series of three productions (25', 26', 27'). The dancers introduce the choreographies to the audience in a few words. The dancers are the internationally well known star dancer Vladimir Malakhov, the pricewinner of the Nijinsky Award 2002 Lucia Lacarra and the Japanese prima ballerina Kiyoko Kimura. Choreographies by Michail Fokine, Renato Zanella, Marius Petipa, Uwe Scholz, Kenneth MacMillan and Val Caniparoli featuring music by Bach, Bruckner, Chopin, Massenet, Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Weber. Picture format: NTSC 16:9 Sound formats: PCM-STEREO, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1 Region code: 0 Subtitles: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish Booklet notes: English, French, German Running time: 78 mins | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Shadows in ParadiseHitler's Exiles in Hollywood
Music Performed by ensemble recherche, Martin Fahlenbock, Jaime González, Shizuyo Oka, Jean-Pierre Collot, Melise Mellinger, Barbara Maurer & Åsa Åkerberg Documentary by Peter Rosen Combining interviews with rare archival footage, Shadows in Paradise portrays the vibrant atmosphere of the Los Angeles German-speaking exile community during the 1930s and 1940s, revealing their struggles, frustrations and accomplishments. By 1939, 30,000 intellectuals and radicals were exiled from Europe; eighty percent of which were Jewish. The events of WWII forced many of the greatest minds of the 20th century into exile in the United States. The scores of émigrés who settled in Southern California, such as composers Arnold Schoenberg, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Ernst Krenek, Erich Zeisl, and Walter Arlen, writers Thomas Mann and Bertolt Brecht, and director Fritz Lang, briefly transformed the area into one of the capitals of world culture, and profoundly altered the horizons of American music, literature, and the arts. Picture format DVD: NTSC 16:9 Sounds formats DVD: PCM Stereo Region code: 0 Booklet notes: English, German, French Original Language: English Subtitles: German, French Running time: 55 mins “Famous exiles who fled Nazi Germany for California - Mann, Brecht, Schoenberg and Korngold among them - populate this haunting Peter Rosen study of cultural dislocation in which survival came at a cost.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2012 ***** | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Fauré: RequiemLive Recording
Fauré was not drawn to compose a Requiem because of the death of a loved one, even though his mother had died during the early stages of composition and his father had passed away two years before. Fauré’s composition does not set his Requiem to the standard liturgical text, instead adding a lyrical Pie Jesu and transcendent Paradisum, and omitting the Dies Irae and Tuba Mirum. As a result the mood of the Requiem is relatively calm and peaceful and often referred to as a “lullaby of death”. Fauré’s unconventional composition has become a firm favourite in the repertoire. Paavo Järvi, new musical director of the Orchestre de Paris – one of the largest and most prestigious international orchestras – and has already gained a notable reputation as a conductor, including winning a Grammy award. Picture format DVD: NTSC 16:9 Sounds formats DVD: PCM Stereo Region code: 0 Subtitles: German, English, French Booklet notes: English, German, French Running time: 92 mins “Reiss sings [the Pie Jesu] with feeling, and with audible words.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2012 *** “This is an appealing concert that cleverly mixes the familiar with the unfamiliar and includes a well-known piece in an unfamiliar guise...Jarvi keeps the music flowing along nicely...The violas and cellos are wonderfully expressive throughout...Isabelle Soulard's video direction is pleasingly unobtrusive.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2012 “the expert choir's native French vowel sounds are a joy in themselves, [and] Eric Picard gives a mesmerising account of the haunting cello Elegie...If that wasn't enough, there follows a performance of the Requiem with the sensational Chen Reiss and Matthias Goerne the equal of any I have heard live or on disc...Unmissable.” International Record Review, June 2012 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Armonie dello SpiritoRecorded in the Basilica della Santa Casa, Loreto, April 7, 2011 and in the Basilica di San Lorenzo, Florence, April 9, 2011
Enrico Gatti (violin), Rossella Croce (violin), Sebastiano Airoldi (viola), Gaetano Nasillo (violoncello) & Luca Peverini (violoncello) Ensemble Aurora (playing on period instruments) The moving text of the “Stabat Mater” has been an inspiration to many composers from the Renaissance onwards. Luigi Boccherini, a virtuoso cellist and master of chamber music, composed this religious work with profound respect for the text and it’s identity. The quintet Ensemble Aurora that accompanies the solo soprano possesses all the qualities of balance and homogeneity common to the best chamber music works at the end of the Classical period – with an astonishing blend between voice and instruments. Featuring internationally renowned soprano and baroque music specialist Gemma Bertagnolli. This DVD is the first part of a series of sacred music from Italian Basilicas – with attractive pricing. | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Barenboim plays Schumann & Tchaikovsky
A new release of the series of Metropolitan Munich programs. Today Daniel Barenboim is internationally recognized and revered as an orchestral and operatic conductor, pianist, and a musical ambassador and also as a humanitarian. Partnering him is the remarkable conductor Sergiu Celibidache. “He was one of the greatest musicians I ever encountered”, says Barenboim. Sergiu Celibidache has been called a musical giant, a magician, a brilliant lion-tamer and an enfant terrible of classical music. He was a legend in his own lifetime, mesmerizing orchestras audiences and critics with his intensity and brilliance. Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1 is one of the most popular of his compositions and among the best known of all piano concerti. The Schumann concerto is no less influential with its influence heard in Grieg’s Piano Concerto. Both works show Barenboim at his consummate best. Picture format DVD: NTSC 4:3 Sounds formats DVD: PCM Stereo Region code: 0 Booklet notes: English, German, French Runnning time: 81 mins “These 1991 performances exchange surface excitement for a poetic probing of the music's deeper undercurrents, with spellbinding results. A triumph.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2012 ***** “every bit as compelling as these starry names might suggest. Speeds are generally on the stately side, but the adrenalin count and musical intensity is on such a high setting that I can't imagine anyone even noticing.” International Record Review, June 2012 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Claudio Arrau: The 80th Birthday RecitalRecorded at the Avery Fisher Hall, New York, 6 Feburary 1983
Fourth part of the successful 4-part Signature Performance Series. Claudio Arrau, one of the twentieth century’s greatest pianists, offered this concert at New York City’s Avery Fisher Hall in 1983 to celebrate his 80th birthday. To a capacity crowd, Arrau demonstrates how he earned this reputation, and why he still deserves it. A Herculean performance of two Beethoven sonatas, the ‘Waldstein’ and ‘Appassionata’, is followed by music of Debussy, Liszt and Chopin. In these six works, we see the truth of Arrau’s own words that ‘an interpreter must give his blood to the work interpreted.’ 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: 111 mins “Aristocratic pianism, remarkable from a man of 80, warmly embracing Beethoven's Waldstein and Appassionata Sonatas. Debussy's Reflets dans l'eau is a highlight.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2012 **** | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Luciano Pavarotti: PortraitA film by Esther Schapira. Made in 2010
No-one did more to expand the audience for opera than the tenor Luciano Pavarotti – the King of the high C. He reconnected an elite art-form with popular audiences throughout the world, through his unashamed enthusiasm for life and his unique ability to communicate to vast crowds through the simple medium of his magnificent voice, allied to great music. This fascinating documentary film takes the viewer behind the scenes of both Pavarotti’s personal life and his appearances at the great opera houses of the world, to create a unique portrait of a great and well-loved musician. The magic of his voice, but also his charm and personality, enthusiastic Millions of people around the world, including many that had never before inspiring for Opera. The appearance of the 3 tenors in the World Cup in Italy live on television in 1990 remains unforgettable – also a lot of open air concerts like Hyde Park in London or Central Park in New York. Picture format: NTSC - 16:9 Sounds formats: PCM Stereo Region code: 0 Original Language: German Subtitles: English, French, Japanese Booklet notes: English, German, French Running time: 93 mins (58 mins Documentary + 35 mins Bonus) “the whole thing, well sourced, briskly edited and judiciously paced, is an engaging, easy-listening kind of watch, neither hagiography nor hatchet job. Future Pavarotti documentaries will doubtless ask more penetrating questions...but as a portrait of a man who loved food and women just as much as he did music, it's an accomplished piece of work.” Gramophone Magazine, April 2012 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Barenboim plays Brahms
Brahms’s two piano concertos are from opposite ends of his creative years... The first work evinces a titanic struggle, while the second is warmer and rounder, but no less passionate, and shows Brahms at his consummate best. Today Daniel Barenboim is internationally recognized and revered as an orchestral and operatic conductor, pianist, and a musical ambassador and also as a humanitarian. Partnering him is the remarkable conductor Sergiu Celibidache. “He was one of the greatest musicians I ever encountered”, says Barenboim. This is a new release of the series of Metropolitan Munich programs. Picture format DVD: NTSC 4:3 Sounds formats DVD: PCM Stereo Region code: 0 Booklet notes: English, German, French Runnning time: 111 mins “These performances were filmed in 1991, when Sergiu Celibidache was in his 80th year and he and Daniel Barenboim interpretatively at the height of their powers...Celibidache and Barenboim produce a very monumental D minor...Great warmth, but also extreme clarity of sound and instrumental balance, distinguishes Barenboim and Celibidache's view of the B flat Concerto” BBC Music Magazine, May 2012 **** | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Berliner Philharmoniker: Yutaka SadoRecorded live from the Philharmonie, Berlin, May, 20th 2011
This production is a Charity Concert for the victims of the Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster from March 11th 2011. The profit generated will be donated to a special section of the Japanese Red Cross Society (JRCS), which was especially founded for earthquake victims: “Japan: Earthquake and Tsunami”, and will therefore be distributed directly among the population affected. Immediate help for the Japanese people in need is thus guaranteed. With this concert Yutaka Sado makes his Philharmonic debut and will be the first Japanese to conduct the renowned orchestra since Seiji Ozawa several years ago. Critics have unanimously hailed Yutaka Sado as one of the most enthralling and charismatic conductors of the new generation. The long-time assistant of Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa was awarded the most important conductor’s prizes, e.g. the Premier Grand Prix at the 39th International Conducting Competition and the Grand Prix du Concours International L. Bernstein Jerusalem. Picture format DVD: NTSC 16:9 Sounds formats DVD: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1 Region code: 0 Subtitles: English Booklet notes: English, German, French Running time: 107 mins (91 mins concert + 16 mins bonus) “[Sado] digs unostentatiously deep in both the fluid and monumental aspects of this concert, given to raise funds for the Japanese earthquake and tsunami disaster. Much in the two chosen works is both complementary and appropriate...A short interview with Sado tells us little; but what he achieves in performance is unquestionably beyond words.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2012 **** “I like Takemitsu best when there's rigorous tension put between his soft-focus, stylised figurations...Here the balance is perfect...After Takemitsu, Shostakovich's urgent 'listen to this' message, each harmonic sidestep loaded with interference, is a shock. I like the dynamic detail Sado lavishes on the first movement...And another sound reason to buy this DVD: all proceeds will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross to help victims of the 2011 tsunami.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2012 **** “a performance of alluring poise. Some may find the seamless tonal blend and peerless technical accomplishment over-manicured (even counter-productive) bearing in mind the music's historical context, but taken on its own terms one can hardly help but be galvanized by its supreme expertise.” International Record Review, June 2012 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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