DVD Videos

DVD + CD

The Dialogos ensemble presents a highly original DVD. Here, far from the traditional filming of a staged performance, Alpha and Katarina Livljanic offer a genuinely cinematographic work based on the epic poem of the Croatian writer Marko Marulic. Musically speaking, this project comes into the category of a ‘reconstruction’, inspired by listening to and studying Dalmatian Gregorian and Glagolitic sources from the time of Marulic and by melodies of oral tradition. In this research, it was necessary to study the most archaic layers of what is known as Glagolitic chant. This repertory, curiously sung in the local vernacular even though it belonged to the Roman rite, was preserved in manuscriptswritten in the Glagolitic alphabet used in medieval Croatia. The archaic beauty of the text is fabulously illustrated here by images of incredible aesthetic refinement. For lovers of fine sound recordings, Alpha offers as a bonus CD the audio version of the project as realised at the time of filming.

1 DVD (Subtitles: French, Croatian, German, English - Time: 66’, not including making of - PAL) + 1 CD Bonus - DVDpack

Andre Rieu’s series of concerts from Sao Paulo broke a record for the number of consecutive concerts by one artist by performing thirty nights in a row. Live in Brazil, is a recording of one of those concerts, moving away from Strauss’s Vienna to the fun-filled fiesta atmosphere of South America.

World famous tenor Christoph Prégardien continues his series of recordings for Challenge Classics of Schubert song-cycles, with what many consider to be the composer’s greatest work in the genre “Winterreise”. As with previous critically acclaimed releases in the series the pianist is Michael Gees. This DVD release features video of a performance of the work as well as the documentary “Winterreise, Der dritte Weg” (Winterreise, the third way), which presents interviews with Prégardien and Gees and behind-the-scenes footage of the studio recording process.

DVD specifications:

Region code: 0 (region free)

Rating: E (exempt)

Picture format: 16:9, NTSC (region free)

Sound format: Stereo Dolby Digital 2.0, Surround Dolby Digital 5.1

A film by Norbert Beilharz

This Documentary shows Claudio Abbado as he is rehearsing Giuseppe Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with world-famous singers Montserrat Caballé, Cecilia Gasdia, Lucia Valentini-Terrani, Peter Dvorsky, Chris Merritt , Samuel Ramey and the Choir and Orchestra of the Scala di Milano.

It documents rehearsals in at three different locations: the church of San Marco in Milan, the main stage at Teatro alla Scala and in one of the rehearsal rooms of the opera house, recorded in 1985.

An opportunity to see and directly compare the performances of the well acclaimed sopranos Montserrat Caballé and Cecilia Gasdia and the tenors Peter Dvorsky and Chris Merritt.

Director Norbert Beilharz is a worldwide renowned specialist for classical music documentaries.

DVD release comes right in time for the 80th Anniversary Celebrations of Claudio Abbado in June 2013 and will be accompanied by two further EuroArts June releases: Claudio Abbado Anniversary Box (Item. No.: 2059588 and the Abbado Beethoven Box (Item No.: 2057374)

Special Packaging: Digipak with hotfoil embossing + Sticker 8Oth Anniversary Edition

Picture format DVD: NTSC 4:3

Sound format DVD: PCM Stereo

Region code: 0

Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish

Booklet notes: English, French, German

Running time: 119 mins

Recorded live at Philharmonie Berlin on 21 June 2010.

The Süddeutsche Zeitung summed up this highly acclaimed performance of Bruckner's monumental Fifth Symphony by saying: “Both Bruckner’s belief in God, as it majestically wells up out of the chorale of the Fifth, and his deeply tragic world view, collide with one another in Barenboim’s interpretation”. The operatic experience of the conductor was almost tangible, revealing the “sheer dramatic instrumental battle between Bruckner’s God and the Devil – between heaven and hell – without betraying Bruckner’s unerring sense of striking proportions.” The release of this “contrapuntal masterpiece” (as Bruckner, not without pride, referred to this work) is part of Daniel Barenboim’s Bruckner cycle with the renowned Staatskapelle Berlin.

Picture Format DVD: NTSC 16:9

Sound Formats DVD: PCM Stereo

Dolby Digital 5.1

DTS 5.1

Region Code: 0 (worldwide)

Running Time: 76:49 min

Disc Format DVD: DVD-9

Is it really possible to stage Wagner’s Ring on a single day? The composer’s great-granddaughter, Katharina Wagner, who now runs the Bayreuth Festival, was keen to stage Cord Garben‘s abridged version of the cycle at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, but in the event things turned out rather differently.

When she and her team arrived at the Colón, they found that the rehearsal conditions were not what they were expecting, and so she decided that the task should be entrusted to a different director. Valentina Carrasco took over at short notice and together with the singers and the set and costume designers she staged the Ring in a seven-hour version never previously seen and all on a single day!

The documentary provides a thrilling and visually memorable account of the long journey taken by this version from its inception to the first night.

PICTURE: 16:9, HD

SOUND: PCM STEREO, DTS 5.0

RUNNING TIME: 93 MINS

SUBTITLES: ENGLISH, GERMAN, FRENCH, SPANISH, KOREAN, JAPANESE

AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE

Staged by Massimo Gasparon

The next instalment in C Major’s Tutto Verdi project is the Teatro Regio di Parma production of Un ballo in maschera.

The cast is led by Francesco Meli who has performed extnsively at the world’s biggest opera houses. He is supported by Kristin Lewis and Elisabetta Fiorillo.

PICTURE: 16:9, HD

SOUND: DVD: DTS 5.1, PCM STEREO

RUNNING TIME: TOTAL: 146 MINUTES (OPERA: 136 MINUTES, BONUS: 10 MINUTES)

SUBTITLES ITALIAN (ORIGINAL LANGUAGE), ENGLISH, GERMAN, FRENCH, SPANISH, CHINESE, KOREAN, JAPANESE; BONUS: ENGLISH, ITALIAN

AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE

C Major presents the next instalment in their Tutto Verdi project with the Teatro Regio di Parma production of La forza del destino.

The cast features Dimitra Theodossiou – a frequent performer at La Scala and Opera Zurich – alongside Vladimir Stoyanov and Mariana Pentcheva,

Stefano Poda –the production’s director – has also worked in some of the most renowned theatres across the world.

PICTURE: 16:9, HD

SOUND: DVD: DTS 5.1, PCM STEREO

RUNNING TIME: TOTAL: 190 MINUTES (OPERA: 179 MINUTES, BONUS: 11 MINUTES)

SUBTITLES: ITALIAN (ORIGINAL LANGUAGE), ENGLISH, GERMAN, FRENCH, SPANISH, CHINESE, KOREAN, JAPANESE BONUS: ENGLISH, ITALIAN

AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE

The Mariinsky label releases its second opera DVD & Blu-ray, Prokofiev’s 'The Gambler'. Filmed in the historic Mariinsky Theatre in 2010, it stars celebrated Russian tenor Vladimir Galuzin and bass Sergei Aleksashkin, and is conducted by Valery Gergiev. It is of fundamental significance that under Gergiev’s baton the Mariinsky Orchestra and opera company have performed all of Prokofiev’s symphonies, concerti and operas on numerous occasions.

Georgian director Temur Chkheidze, who also presented the Mariinsky’s last production in 1996 and directed the opera with critical success at the Metropolitan Opera in 2001, gives a fresh look to Prokofiev’s first opera.

Set in the fictional town of Roulettenburg in the mid-19th Century, 'The Gambler' is a four-act opera that displays the dramatic highs and lows involved in the game of chance. At the centre of the story is Alexei, who is in love with The General’s step-daughter, Pauline. All of the characters fall victim to the temptation of gambling, each one consumed by the obsession and greed that drives them.

Vladimir Galuzin, who plays the role of Alexei, is indisputably one of the world’s leading dramatic tenors, known for his unrivaled stentorious voice and extremely vivid characterisations of some of the most demanding roles. A Mariinsky soloist since 1990, he is much in demand internationally, performing regularly during the last two decades as a guest of most of the world’s most prominent opera houses, concert halls and festivals. The role of The General is played by Russian bass Sergei Aleksashkin. Three-time recipient of the Golden Sofit, St Petersburg’s most prestigious theatre prize, Sergei has been a Mariinsky Theatre soloist since 1989, singing title roles in Mussorgsky’s 'Boris Godunov' and Glinka’s 'Ruslan and Lyudmila'.

DURATION 2 hours 35'

Recorded at the Mariinsky Theatre, June 2010

Performed in Italian: subtitles in Russian, English, Japanese, German and French

This release is the first complete recording of all of Cage’s works for organ, plus 4’33” (on this DVD version only).

The organ is ideally suited to Cage’s aesthetic — its multitude of stops make it the ultimate prepared instrument. The fact that sound emanates from a number of pipes placed at discrete locations in space nicely accords with Cage’s idea of the separation of sounds in space. And it represents vast possibilities that could be released as sound through the use of chance operations. For this reason Cage’s organ music occupies a small but quite important place within his output.

For Some of 'The Harmony of Maine' Cage selected 18th-century American hymns by Billings, Law, and Belcher and altered them by extending certain tones and removing others through chance operations so as to attenuate the functional harmony underlying them. Here and there, melodic fragments from the original hymns remain. The 1978 and 1987 works were written for the German organist Gerd Zacher, an important champion of new music.

American organist Gary Verkade, a student of Gerd Zacher, is on the faculty of the Musikhögskola in Piteå, Sweden. He has appeared at major festivals and concerts throughout Europe and the USA. Verkade was one of the registrants in the first German performance of Some of 'The Harmony of Maine'. The DVD allows the listener to enjoy the sounds of the spectacular organ and its acoustic in surround sound while viewing Tim Chu’s painterly films of the organist with the up to six registrants needed for some of the pieces.

Includes booklet with trilingual notes by Rob Haskins.

DVD BONUS:

– Gary Verkade discusses performing Cage on the organ, how “chance” is applied to the performances and gives musical examples (31 minutes)

Performance of 4'33"

Dedicated stereo and 5.1 surround mixes.