DVD Videos

This documentary, like its companion, "Masters of the Keyboard, The Next Generation Vol. I", combines conversation and brilliant solo performances by promising artists featured at the Miami International Piano Festival.

Karl Ancerl leads the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in a rehearsal and performance of Smetana's The Moldau.

Hermann Scherchen rehearses his own orchestration of Bach's The Art of the Fugue with the CBC Toronto Chamber Orchestra.

Though Marilyn Horne is known mostly for her virtuosic operatic roles, she is a superb recitalist who can scale her powerful voice down to the more intimate requirements of the recital stage. In 1981, she appeared at Milan’s La Scala opera house in a recital consisting of music by Italian, German, Spanish, French and American composers. Horne was in particularly superb form that evening, partnered brilliantly by Martin Katz at the piano. 93 minutes, color, mono.

Renata Tebaldi’s numerous appearances on television made her unique among her contemporaries. Four complete operatic performances as well as televised concerts and guest appearances on major variety programs in the U.S. and abroad have made their way to home video. The soprano’s glowing physical presence made her a natural for the TV cameras while the sumptuousness of her voice asserted itself through even the flimsiest of television speakers.

Tebaldi made three appearances on the Bell Telephone Hour between 1959 and 1967. As collected here, the six arias demonstrate the soprano at the height of her powers in five of her greatest roles. (Though Tebaldi never performed Cavalleria Rusticana on stage, she did make a stunning studio recording of the opera.) The two Butterfly arias from 1959, radiantly sung, are amongst Tebaldi’s first TV appearances, taken from a program that also holds the distinction of being one of the earliest extant color telecasts. By 1967, Tebaldi was clearly comfortable in the spinto-dramatic repertoire with an awesome use of the chest register in the Cavalleria and Gioconda arias. This collection will delight the myriad fans of one of this century’s most beloved divas.

This program is a visual and musical hymn of praise to what Andrés Segovia describes as "the pride, strength, and reverence of the Spanish soul." That soul is exhibited through the remarkable music of Spanish composers: Issac Albéniz, Manuel de Falla, Enrique Granados, and Federico Moreno Torroba; and a gifted group of painters: El Greco, Goya, and Velásquez. Filmed at Madrid's El Prado featuring performances by Andrés Segovia, Victoria de los Angeles and Alicia de Larrocha.

Filmed in July 1961, Mme. Lehmann guides students of the Music Academy of the West through arias and scenes from Der Rosenkavalier, Le Nozze di Figaro, Lohengrin, Der Freischütz, and Fidelio. Includes Lehmann’s invaluable demonstration/performance of the Marschallin’s Monologue from Der Rosenkavalier. Bonus selection: a rare 21-minute interview in which Lehmann discusses her life and career (CBC, 1963), including her associations with Bruno Walter, Richard Strauss, Giacomo Puccini, and others. 114 minutes. Playable in all regions.

Gala 1984 operatic concert organized by the George London Foundation for Singers. Bonus material includes excerpts from London's Bell Telephone and CBC telecast appearances, as well as excerpts of his role as Scarpia in VAI's Tosca, with Renata Tebaldi.

127 minutes, color, stereo with optional English subtitles. Playable in all regions.

54 minutes, color, stereo, optional English, French, German, and Italian subtitles.

This sparkling 1956 telecast of Verdi’s comic masterpiece presents a rare opportunity to see Giuseppe Taddei in his most celebrated role. Production by Herbert Graf.

Optional subtitles in English, French, and German. Black and White, 118 minutes. Region 0 encoding, playable worldwide.