DVD Videos

Designer Mark Thompson

Light design Nigel Levings

Lakmé, Delibes greatest opera, is performed by Opera Australia in all its oriental glory. Starring the exquisite coloratura soprano Emma Matthews as the innocent girl priestess Lakmé, and superb tenor Aldo Di Toro as the love-struck Gerald, the story tackles religion and cross-cultural love against a backdrop of British rule in India in the mid-19th century.

French conductor Emmanuel Joel-Hornak brings out the full depth of the lush, dramatic score, with familiar high points being the beautiful renditions of the well-known Flower duet and Bell Song. Dominica Matthews adds her rich voice as Mallika and Stephen Bennett is darkly dominating as Brahmin priest Nilakantha, Lakmé’s father, while Roxane Hislop is a consumate Mistress Bentson.

Set and costume designs by Mark Thompson fill the stage with rich colour, atmosphere and exoticism, complemented by Nigel Levings’ warm lighting. This restudied production, originally conceived by Adam Cook, is skilfully directed by Roger Hodgman.

Three of the ballet world’s most popular and enduring works are showcased here by prima ballerinas Nadia Nerina and Margot Fonteyn.

Originally titled ‘Chopiniana’, Les Sylphides uses the music of Chopin to create a short ‘romantic reverie’, which though Romantic in style, demands technical brilliance from its dancers. Nerina – once described by Time Magazine as ‘the company’s most polished virtuoso’ – and her colleagues capture the work perfectly.

Swanilda is a role coveted by ballerinas as the character is rarely offstage and the dancer has ample opportunity to display her technical and theatrical abilities. In this performance of Coppélia, Nerina’s sunny personality and comedic skills are in abundance. She is ably supported by her co-star Robert Helpmann, one of the greatest mime artists in ballet.

The version of Coppélia on this DVD is the first of producer Margaret Dale’s adaptations for the BBC; her other productions included Giselle, Ashton’s La Fille mal gardée and John Cranko’s Onegin and were watched by audiences of more than one million.

The final film features arguably ballet’s greatest partnership, Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev.

Though stylistically they seemed to be opposites, when they danced together their technique and temperaments blended seamlessly. This extract from the 1962 Giselle is rare sample of one their earliest collaborations.

ICA Classics’ previous DVD release featuring Nadia Nerina (ICAD5030) has received great critical acclaim, notably in the Financial Times (‘essential viewing’) and in the New Yorker (‘buried treasure’).

Sound format: Enhanced Mono

DVD format: NTSC

Picture format: 4:3

Running time: 96’

Subtitles: n/a

Menu languages: English

Booklet languages: E/F/G

Region code: 0

Territory Restrictions: None

‘Luckily for all of us, it wasn’t enough for Leonard Bernstein to compose music and conduct orchestras. He felt equally compelled to talk about music – to try and explain what made it tick, what made it good, and what made it affect us in all the ways that music does. The other piece of good luck was that Leonard Bernstein and television came along at the same time. They were born for each other.’ (Jamie Bernstein)

The films on this DVD are taken from the ‘Symphonic Twilight’ series of TV programmes made in the mid-Sixties that were the brainchild of Humphrey Burton, then the newly appointed Head of Music and Arts Programmes for the BBC.

In his booklet notes for this DVD, Burton reveals himself to have been instrumental in bringing Bernstein the conductor to the wider British public, who knew him foremost as the composer of West Side Story. In 1965 Burton persuaded Bernstein to conduct the LSO at the Royal Albert Hall and the resulting Mahler 8 was a spectacular occasion, broadcast to the nation.

The following year, they put together these programmes, filmed specifically for the new television audience. The works Bernstein chose to record are twentieth-century orchestral masterpieces, for which he is known to be a champion. His recordings of Sibelius’s Fifth Symphony for CBS Records and Deutsche Grammophon were acclaimed by critics worldwide, and his interpretation of The Rite of Spring in 1959 elicited an enthusiastic ‘Wow!’ from Stravinsky himself! They are accompanied on this DVD by an in-depth interview, given here as a bonus and subtitled in French and German.

Sound format: Enhanced Mono

DVD format: NTSC

Picture format: 4:3

Running time: 83’

Subtitles: F/G

Menu languages: English

Booklet languages: E/F/G

Region code: 0

Territory Restrictions: None

‘The point of Britten’s conducting was never how he looked when doing it; instead it was about the sheer musicality he brought to the task…’

(Paul Kildea). The revelatory films presented on this DVD feature Britten with his favoured English Chamber Orchestra performing at two very different times of his life, with equal value.

Filmed at Christmas 1964, the main programme of Mozart’s Symphony No.40 and Britten’s own Nocturne shows a man in his prime. The Mozart was a particular favourite of Britten’s and his admiration for it certainly comes across in the performance. This DVD release is a major addition to his discography as the symphony was previously only available on LP.

The footage is modern in its approach and captures Britten close-up in a way that had not been seen before.

In the Nocturne, we see and hear Peter Pears in fresh voice, performing one of many pieces that were written for him, and which Britten and Pears had recorded four years previously. With this DVD we are able to see the closeness between composer and performer. An original review of the piece in Gramophone comments:

‘I cannot think of any settings of English words more imaginative than these of Britten’s.’

The bonus is a colour film from mid-1970, with Britten at home in Snape Maltings for a gala re-opening of the concert hall, performing Mendelssohn’s ‘Scottish’ Symphony. The physical difference is clear to see, though all his trademarks are still in evidence and the quality of the music remains undiminished. It is of particular interest as it is the only known recording of this work with Britten.

This is the first release of this material on DVD.

Sound format: Enhanced Mono

DVD format: NTSC

Picture format: 4:3

Running time: 67’

Subtitles: n/a

Menu languages: English

Booklet languages: E/F/G

Region code: 0

Territory Restrictions: None

A Film by Paul Smaczny & Günter Atteln.

Founded in 1212 the St. Thomas Choir Leipzig is one of the most famous and prestigious boys' choirs in the world. This documentary accompanies “Die Thomaner”, aged between 9 and 18 years old, over a period of one year. Their unique world, from motets to boarding school and the football pitch, is distinguished by success, pressure to perform, doubt, pride, homesickness, and friendship. The film charts the breadth of the boys' experience from the classroom to traveling on tour to South America.

BONUS

Two tracks from Johann Sebastian Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion” performed by the choir for which it was written - St. Thomas Boys Choir - in St. Thomas Church, Leipzig, where the composer worked and is buried.

Nr. 1 Chor: »Kommt, ihr Töchter, helft mir klagen«

Nr. 39 Arie (Alt): »Erbarme dich«

Picture Format DVD: NTSC 16:9

Sound Formats DVD: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0

Region Code: 0 (worldwide)

Running Time: 113:35 min

Running Time Bonus: approx. 14 min

Disc Format: DVD-9

Designer Carl Freidrich Oberle

Light design Nigel Levings

Don Giovanni, a libertine, a rake with a devil-may-care attitude, is portrayed magnificently by Teddy Tahu Rhodes in this Opera Australia production, where he first appears on stage in a costume where less is definitely more! Charismatic and sexy, Rhodes’ acting and singing are magnificent. His misused servant, Leporello, is played by Conal Coad, who skilfully promotes the opera’s comic elements whilst delivering a thumping bass full of drama.

The classic stage designs of Carl Friedrich Oberle form the backdrop to the drama of Don Giovanni’s last day on earth, before he is hurled in to Hell’s flames by the Commendatore, Daniel Sumegi, whose basso profundo is befittingly momentous.

Rachael Durkin (Donna Anna), Jacqueline Dark (Donna Elvira), Taryn Fiebig (Zerlina), Henry Choo (Don Ottavio) and Andrew Jones (Masetto) all deliver superlative singing as Mozart’s enthralling music flows from the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, adeptly guided by the baton of Mark Wigglesworth. A triumphant production from the director, Göran Järvefelt.

Resplendent in his powdered wig and 18th-century garb, Maestro Handel (aka Director of the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir Ivars Taurins) leads Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir, a stellar cast of soloists — soprano Suzie LeBlanc, countertenor Daniel Taylor, tenor Rufus Müller, and baritone Locky Chung — and a mass audience choir made up of more than 1000 Tafelmusik fans as they perform Handel's baroque masterpiece. A Toronto tradition beloved by thousands, Tafelmusik’s annual Sing-Along Messiah has become a revered family ritual for many Torontonians over the past 25 years. Toronto’s largest sing-along event, Tafelmusik’s Sing-Along Messiah sells out every year, and participants are genuinely moved by the experience of joining their voices with hundreds of others to make music. This film was originally telecast by Bravo! and produced by the award-winning 90th Parallel Productions. Ivars Taurins received a Gemini Award nomination for his role in this film.

BONUSES: The DVD booklet lists the website where enthusiastic DVD audiences can download the sing-along choruses so that they can sing along with Herr Handel at home! DVD includes five bonus audio tracks of Tafelmusik Chamber Choir performing music by Handel, Bach, Vivaldi and Mondonville.

Total Time DVD: 1:06:45 plus 5 Audio Bonus Tracks

Recording Date: January 2010

Picture Format: NTSC 0

Sound Format: Stereo AC3

Paderewski always dreamed of composing an opera. He could not have anticipated, however, that the realization of his dream – the opera Manru – would be the crowning achievement of his compositional career. It is the first Polish music drama, undoubtedly inspired by Wagner’s music (which Paderewski himself admitted) and yet thoroughly original. Based on Polish folklore it tells the story of love, in which the gypsy (Manru) runs of with the peasant girl (Ulana).

By releasing the DVD “BirdCage: 73'20.958" for a composer”, WERGO presents another highlight among the releases marking the composer's 100th birthday:

The legendary film collage, created in 1972 on commission of WDR and SWR on the occasion of the 60th birthday of John Cage and premiered at the Donaueschingen Music Festival, paints an extraordinary picture of Cage the Artist, of his musical and extra-musical thinking, his character and his remarkable oeuvre. The cinematographic composition, which is released here in the unabridged original version for the first time, was realisd by the composer and writer Hans G Helms in collaboration with Cage himself.

Helms assembled various film materials into a special kind of mosaic: Historical flashbacks, biographical milestones and music recordings are complemented by original commentaries of the composer's contemporaries, companions and friends, such as Carolyn Brown, Phillip Corner, Merce Cunningham, Teeny Duchamp, Don Gillespie, Doris Hays, Frederik Rzewski, Grete Sultan, Margaret Tan, David Tudor, and Paul Zukofsky. The twittering of birds – symbol of the aesthetically unintentional and basic material of Cage's tape composition “BirdCage” – runs like a thread through the film, forming its musical basis.