DVD Videos

Lovingly restored, using the finest state-of-the-art technology, classic archive features great performances from legendary artists, offering a unique historical glimpse into our classical heritage. Sourced from the BBC Archive.

Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony is given an electrifying reading by the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of the great Leonard Bernstein.

His innate musicality and commanding presence is complemented by his unbounded energy, embracing the majestic properties of this great work.

As a bonus, this DVD offers an enthralling glimpse of Bernstein in rehearsal with the orchestra.

Picture format DVD: NTSC 4:3

Sounds formats DVD: PCM Stereo

Region code: 0

Original Languages: English

Subtitles: English, German, French

Booklet notes: English, German, French

Running time: 91 mins (40 mins performance, 51 mins interview)

German FSK: 0

The internationally renowned pianist Joaquín Achúcarro has been described as ‘the consummate artist’ and ‘the leading pianist from Spain’; he has won plaudits and prizes around the world.

In 2000 he was named ‘Artist for Peace’ by UNESCO in recognition of his extraordinary artistic achievements.

This DVD presents an evocative recital of Spanish-inspired music, given by Achúcarro in Madrid, and a triumphant performance of Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle, recorded in Berlin.

Including a note by Joaquín Achúcarro written for this release.

“I have only heard this sound from Rubinstein” Zubin Mehta

“There is something special with Achucarro. Very few musicians can extract this kind of sound from the piano” Sir Simon Rattle

Picture format: NTSC - 16:9

Sounds formats: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1

Region code: 0

Booklet notes: English, German, French

Running time: 27 mins (Berlin) + 75 mins (Madrid)

FSK: 0

Documentary by Frank Scheffer and Günter Wallbrecht.

In this colourful documentary East meets West at the Morgenland Festival Osnabrück 2009 Musicians from the Middle East encounter the Western tradition of music and showcase their own beautiful musical traditions, in a programme that interweaves concert recordings and rehearsal footage with in-depth interviews with the performers.

"Worldmusic" in the truest sense of the word.

Performances: three tracks of concerts recorded live at the Morgenland Festival, including a 35 mins performance of Alim and Fargana Qasimov.

Picture format DVD: NTSC 16:9

Sounds formats DVD: PCM Stereo

Region code: 0

Booklet notes: English, German, French

Original Language: German (Persian, English- German subtitled)

Subtitles: English, French

Running time: 110 mins (49 mins Documentary + Concert tracks: 18 mins Keivo, 35 mins Qasimov, 8 mins Aghili)

A film by Peter Rosen

Written by Bill van Horn and Solomon Volkov

This film is about the life of Khachaturian - a composer creating in the darkness of a tragic era. As we will see, like most Soviet citizens, he hid a complex private life behind a mask of Communist loyalty. Khachaturian was the President of the powerful Composer’s Union of the Soviet Union, and as a communist party functionary wielded great influence over the course of Russian music. However, he was also a comrade and personal friend to the dissident composers of the time – Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and others. This documentary shows the fine line a man had to tread between being a loyal party functionary on the one hand, and a fighter for artistic freedom on the other.

Bonus:

1) Mstislav Rostropovich playing Concerto-Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra (24 mins)

2) Documentary: Making "Khachaturian" (17 mins)

3) Khachaturian: Piano Concerto - Third Movement (9 mins)

Picture format DVD: NTSC 4:3

Sounds formats DVD: PCM Stereo

Region code: 0

Booklet notes: English, German, French

Original Languages: English, Russian

Subtitles: English, Russian, Deutsch, Français, Japanese

Running time: 83 mins (+ Bonus: 24 mins, 17 mins, 9 mins)

Of the world’s greatest pianists, perhaps only Claudio Arrau is as famous for his Brahms as he is for his Beethoven. His versions of the two epic Brahms Piano Concertos, one with Carlo Maria Giulini and the other with Bernard Haitink, are cherished landmark performances in every record collector’s library. As for his interpretation of the monumental Sonata No.3, there the revered master pianist truly outdoes himself. Today, no one else brings to the work the same powerful vision of romantic passion and depth of feeling allied to a transcendent virtuosity.

This historic performance was filmed in May 1984 when Maestro Arrau returned to play in Santiago, Chile, after an absence of 17 years. He was given a reception by his countrymen probably without equal.

Claudio Arrau has been playing the piano to great international acclaim for almost eighty years. From Tokyo to Berlin to Paris to London to New York, he has won the love and admiration of music-lovers around the world. He has built his career largely without the help of hype or hysteria. Arrau’s repertoire is larger than that of any other pianist of his time.

Picture format DVD: NTSC 4:3

Sounds formats DVD: DD 2.0

Region code: 0

Original language: English

Subtitles: German, French, Spanish

Booklet notes: English, German, French

Running time: 110 mins

FSK: 0

Three of the most important artists of our time here present three of the most important cycles of variation for piano ever composed.

Daniel Barenboim, Yefim Bronfman and András Schiff recorded the monumental works in very personal performances.

Because of its outstanding importance for the history of classical music in Central Europe the German critic of the 19th century called often just these three composers » the three B «.

This is the first release of a series of Metropolitan Munich programs.

Picture format DVD: NTSC 16:9

Sounds formats DVD: PCM Stereo

Region code: 0

Booklet notes: English, German, French

Running time: 170 mins

FSK: 0

The Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau (1903 - 1991) was at the height of his career, when he recorded this recital in 1070/1977. He was known for his interpretations of a vast repertoire spanning from the baroque to 20th-century composers, especially Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Brahms and Debussy.

He is considered one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century.

It has been said that the best way to enjoy Arrau’s records is to imagine yourself there in the concert hall while he is playing. Now, thanks to the Beethovenfest performances presented here, which were filmed in Bonn in 1970 and 1977, it becomes virtually possible for us to do just that. In these fine performances, Arrau appears to make the piano breathe and sing.

Picture format DVD: NTSC 4:3

Sounds formats DVD: PCM Stereo

Region code: 0

Booklet notes: English, German, French

Running time: 190 mins (DVD1: 85 mins; DVD 2: 105 mins)

FSK: 0

Claudio Arrau has been playing the piano to great international acclaim for almost eighty years. From Tokyo to Berlin to Paris to London to New York, he has won the love and admiration of music-lovers around the world. He has built his career largely without the help of hype or hysteria. Arrau’s repertoire is larger than that of any other pianist of his time. He is known universally as “The Emperor”.

Although he has performed everywhere in the world except China, there is one country that is especially dear to Arrau’s heart: and that is his native Chile. His triumphant return to Chile in 1984 after an absence of 17 years was an event of national importance, ranking with Franz Liszt’s return to Hungary. In this program, we’ll join Maestro Arrau as he returns to the land of his birth. And we’ll also go back and trace the events in the life of this extraordinary artist. And finally, we’ll hear Maestro Arrau perform his signature work, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-Flat Major, the “Emperor” Concerto.

This programme includes a 40-minute documentary tracing Arrau's life and career.

Picture format DVD: NTSC 4:3

Sounds formats DVD: DD 2.0

Region code: 0

Subtitles: English, German, French, Spanish

Booklet notes: English, German, French

Running time: 85 mins

FSK: 0

A Film by Andy Sommer

written with Catherine Sauvat

Director Andy Sommer is known for his sensational musical documentaries on the immortals Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Berlioz. Today he tackles the mythical Gustav Mahler, proposing a cinematic autopsy of the many facets of this musical genius, who was at once composer, orchestra conductor and opera house director.

The film proposes to make the autopsy of this genius composer and takes us on a journey to the heart of Mahler’s world, going beyond the legends and clichés, and drawing on the latest research to create a portrait that brings us as close as possible to the man Mahler really was.

The film includes the participation of prominent Mahlerian personalities, as Henry-Louis de la Grange, paired with a visually spectacular, accessible dramatisation directly related to Mahler’s music and images inspired by 1900 Vienna’s enduring modernity and “Nature” which always plaid a special role in the Mahler’s inspiration.

The film continues its ‘autopsy’ of the man beyond his death, retracing interpretations of his music by different orchestra conductors up to the present day: from Bruno Walter, Willem Mengelberg to Leonard Bernstein… and from Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez to Daniele Gatti, Daniel Harding and Jonathan Nott.

Picture format DVD: NTSC 16:9

Sounds formats DVD: PCM Stereo

Region code: 0

Booklet notes: English, German, French

Original Language: French

Subtitled language versions: English, German, French

Running time: 90 mins

The “Internationales Beethovenfest Bonn 1970” brought numerous world-famous performers to Bonn on the occasion of the the two-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Bonn's greatest musical son, Ludwig van Beethoven..

A principal visitor to that year's festival was the influential Viennese pianist Friedrich Gulda. He performed in both the classical and jazz fields. His greatest classical inspiration was Beethoven, so it is fitting that he chose the 'Hammerklavier' Sonata to celebrate Beethoven's birthday. He is also well known for his famous Bach and Mozart performances.

Picture format DVD: NTSC 4:3

Sounds formats DVD: PCM Stereo

Region code: 0

Booklet notes: English, German, French

Running time: 79 mins

FSK: 0