DVD Videos

DVD: NTSC 4:3,

PCM Stereo, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1,

Region code: 0,

Original language: German,

Subtitles: Eng, Ger, Fr, Spanish

Alfred Brendel was the most outstanding exponent of Schubert's piano music until his retirement last year: a man capable of bringing it to vibrant life but also serving its poetic intensity and intellectual depth.The series, shot in 1976/1977, has never been shown since and therefore each volume embodies a document of historical importance. Each piece is introduced by Alfred Brendel himself, throwing light on its compositional substance and revealing his own relationship with these masterpieces, and complete performances under studio conditions.

"If I belong to a tradition it is a tradition that makes the masterpiece tell the performer what he should do and not the performer telling the piece what it should be like, or the composer what he ought to have composed." Alfred Brendel

DVD: NTSC 4:3,

PCM Stereo, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1,

Region code: 0,

Original language: German,

Subtitles: Eng, Ger, Fr, Spanish

Alfred Brendel was the most outstanding exponent of Schubert's piano music until his retirement last year: a man capable of bringing it to vibrant life but also serving its poetic intensity and intellectual depth.The series, shot in 1976/1977, has never been shown since and therefore each volume embodies a document of historical importance. Each piece is introduced by Alfred Brendel himself, throwing light on its compositional substance and revealing his own relationship with these masterpieces, and complete performances under studio conditions.

"If I belong to a tradition it is a tradition that makes the masterpiece tell the performer what he should do and not the performer telling the piece what it should be like, or the composer what he ought to have composed." Alfred Brendel

NTSC · 16:9, PCM stereo

Region code: 0, FSK: all audiences

Booklet notes: English

Running time: 100 mins

For the 15th Verbier Festival, which took place from July to August 2008, Medici Arts filmed the majority of the concerts in the Salle Medran (2000 seats) and the Verbier Church (500 seats). Some of the best performers in the world of classical music came together including Martha Argerich, Nikolai Lugansky and rising star Yuja Wang in this 'best of' the 2008 festival.

Bruno Monsaingeon has dedicated a great part of his life to directing movies about the greatest musicians of our times (Gould, Richter, Menuhin, Oïstrakh…), sharing with us his passionate vision of artists. His last movie, which has already won awards in several festivals, is an intimate portrait of the non-conformist pianist Piotr Anderszewski. Somewhere between documentary and fiction, this rail-road-movie's setting is a winter journey through Poland to Budapest, on a train in which the pianist has taken his grand piano with him… In this movie, Piotr Anderszewski gives us his most inner thoughts and doubts about music and this special train ride through the land of his childhood, revealing his true nature, generous but tormented. A brilliant film by Bruno Monsaingeon, utterly poetic and deeply emotional, inviting us to join the journey. Polish-Hungarian pianist Piotr Anderszewski is widely regarded as one of the most exciting pianists of his generation. Since first coming to public attention at the 1990 Leeds Piano Competition, he has become a familiar figure on the international concert platform, recognised for the intensity and originality of his interpretations. His solo engagements in 2009 include recitals at Carnegie Hall, Chicago's Symphony Center, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and the Royal Festival Hall, London.There will be further recitals in Rome, Cologne, St Petersburg and Paris.

Region Code: NTSC 0

Picture Format: NTSC 16:9

Sound Formats: PCM-STEREO

Subtitles: English, French, German, Polish

Disc Format: DVD9

Number of Discs: 1

Run Time: 83 mins

Released: 2009-06-01

The only DVD of Grigory Sokolov, an exceptional artist, famously reclusive, is once again available. In the 40 years since the 16-year-old Sokolov was awarded first prize at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1966, the world has been blessed with what one American critic recently called "a kind of pianism, musicianship and artistry one thought had vanished forever". Championed at a young age by Emil Gilels and a prominent figure on the Russian music scene since his early teens, Sokolov has gained an almost mythical status amongst music-lovers and pianophiles throughout the world. Sokolov has amazed everyone again and again with the enormous breadth of his repertoire and his huge, almost physical musical strength. Visa problems have again made Italy-based Russian pianist Grigory Sokolov cancel a London booking. After last year's Barbican concert was called off at short notice came the news that he would not be visiting the Royal Festival Hall on 29th April as planned.

"Sokolov, although a well-kept secret, is for many the greatest pianist alive today. Youthful celebrities with fast fingers, designer gear and slick photos pall beside such gigantic artistry, for Sokolov is a pianistic Dostoyevsky, his music-making vast in scope, visionary and revelatory, squeezing out every last drop of meaning." Jessica Duchen, International Piano Sept/Oct 2006

"There can be few virtuosi with fingers to touch his" The Sunday Times

Region Code: NTSC 0

Picture Format: NTSC 16:9

Sound Format: PCM-STEREO

Disc Format: DVD9

No of Discs: 1

Run Time: 123 mins

Released: 2009-06-01

An exceptional concert from Brazil: the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo proves its position as one of the most important orchestras in Latin America. Conducted by charismatic Maestro John Neschling since 1997, the orchestra is defined by its emblematic interpretations of Latin American music.With São Paulo Samba, the orchestra grips the listener with an electrifying selection of Brazilian and Latin American classics, including works by Alberto Ginastera, Astor Piazzolla, Heitor Villa-Lobos and João Bosco. The famous Banda Mantiqueira and celebrated singer Mônica Salmaso complement the show. Bonus interview with John Neschling

The Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival, held every year for two weeks in September, is renowned for an exceptional repertoire as well as unique meetings with first ranking soloists who do not usually meet each other on one stage in other frameworks.The Festival has achieved incredible success among Israeli audiences with concerts performed to packed halls. Medici Arts presents the highlights of the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival 2008. Elena Bashkirova, the artistic director, says: "Our festival has grown into an internationally acclaimed event".

Bonus: Documentary about the Festival behind the scenes

In 2003, after a career spanning nearly forty years, Julia Varady discreetly retired from the public stage. She now dedicates her time to teaching.While for most great singers the transition from performing to teaching generally follows signs of vocal deterioration, Julia Varady's voice is still dazzling. She sings out in full voice during her classes, with the same intensity and generosity of spirit that made her one of the very finest lyric sopranos of our time. A must for all lovers of the art of singing!

The documentary combines scenes from the master class with personal statements by Julia Varady talking about her life and way of teaching and scenes from a performance of Mozart arias with her husband Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau conducting.

Bonus: Complete master class with Julia Varady (110 mins)

"Julia Varady can lay claim to be the most versatile, committed and technically assured lyric-dramatic soprano of the 20th century's final quarter…" Gramophone

Region Code: NTSC: 0

Picture Format: NTSC: 16:9

Sound Formats: DD 2.1

Subtitles: F, GB, D

Booklet: F, GB, D

Disc Format: DVD 9

No of Discs: 1

Run Time: 56 mins + 110 mins (Bonus)

Released: 2009-05-01

Filmed during the 60th Festival d'Aix-en-Provence 2008 Mozart left his Singspiel Zaide unfinished, but its wonderful music is most definitely still worth performing. No director is better suited to staging this tale of slavery and love than Peter Sellars, who is famous for the tremendous passion with which he confronts political and intercultural questions in his productions and interprets classical operas in altogether convincing ways? "In Zaide", Sellars insists, "Mozart was attempting to construct a musical and dramatic bridge between Europe and the Muslim world, replacing the 'menace' perceived on both sides with mercy and compassion."

"Along with the music come Sellars' thoughts,brilliant and extremely sensitive" Le Monde

The Nobel Prize Concert 2008 was a world-class event featuring a marvellous array of performers: Sir John Eliot Gardiner, one of today's most respected conductors, his legendary Monteverdi Choir with the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as an ensemble of dazzling and renowned soloists.

Bonus: Interview with Sir John Eliot Gardiner about the concert and repertoire and Nobel Prize Laureates talking about their relationship with music.

"This version seems to me superior in almost every respect to the others cited above. Karajan's smooth surface irons out much of the diversity of feeling in the music (DG), and Harnoncourt's reading (Teldec), though it has strong and thoughtful things in it, often seems unnaturally striving for effect. The new record seems to me one of the best that Gardiner has made for a long time and may be confidently recommended."Gramophone [Mozart Mass in C minor, Philips, 1988]