DVD Videos

André Previn (b.1929) is often hailed as one of the world’s most versatile musicians. The recipient of ten Grammy awards for his recordings, he has conducted many of the world’s top orchestras, both in concert performances and in the studio.

All three of the performances on this DVD took place during Previn’s tenure as Principal Conductor of the LSO – the Prokofiev was filmed as part of the popular BBC television

series ‘André Previn’s Music Night’. This footage of Rachmaninov’s ‘The Bells’ documents the first Proms performance of this work in 1973, featuring three stellar British singers, Sheila Armstrong, Robert Tear and John Shirley-Quirk and a precise and energetic London Symphony Chorus.

The Penguin Guide describes Previn’s performance of ‘The Bells’ on EMI, recorded just two years after the performance on this DVD, as ‘powerful’ due to his ‘concentration on purely musical values [which] adds much as on the evocation of atmosphere’. Previn used the same three soloists.

This is the first DVD release of this material.

1DVD

Sound format: Ambient Mastering

Picture format: 4:3

Running time: 62’

Subtitles: n/a

Menu languages: English

Booklet languages: E/F/G

Region code: 0

Territory Restrictions: None

At the Berlin Waldbühne in 1995 Sir Simon Rattle conducted an ‚American Night‘ at the Berliner Philharmoniker‘s annual summer concert with works by Leonard Bernstein and George Gershwin.

What is the essence of American music? Bernstein gave his opinion at one of his ‚Concerts for young people‘:‚I don‘t think there is anyone in the whole world who wouldn‘t know immediately that Gershwin‘s music is American. It sounds American, smells of America, and when you listen to it you feel American.‘ With his ‚Rhapsody in Blue‘ Gershwin succeeded in devising a blend between swinging themes, blues and symphonic elements - ‚symphonic jazz‘.

The first performance was given at New York‘s Carnegie Hall on 12 February 1924. Gershwin was at the piano. It was a sensational success and induced many composers to follow similar stylistic paths, ultimately without any notable results. One exception is perhaps Leonard Bernstein, whose music often reveals jazz elements in his fondness for syncopations. George Gershwin‘s genius was at its most creative in the opera ‚Porgy and Bess‘. Spirituals, gospel, jazz, songs but also love duets in conventional operatic style alternate with one another. Although European orchestras performing outside the US at first found it difficult to adjust to jazz, this American folk opera rapidly became a success world-wide and to this day has not lost its fascination. Sir Simon Rattle was the ideal interpreter of this music for the musicians of the Berliner Philharmoniker. Together with them and an ensemble of first class soloists he earned enthusiastic applause at the Berlin Waldbühne.

Sound Format: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1

Picture Format: 4:3

DVD Format: DVD 9, PAL

Running Time: 85 mins

FSK: 0

Seldom has the genius of one man so influenced the musical conscience of his age. Leonard Bernstein triumphed as composer, conductor, writer and teacher.The spontaneous joy of his Broadway hits, the bold, spiritual quest of his orchestral works, his intensity and vitality as conductor, made Bernstein one of the central figures in 20th-century music. In Leonard Bernstein - Reflections, he discusses his Boston childhood, his musical growth at Harvard and the Curtis Institute and the influence of great masters like Reiner, Mitropoulos and Koussevitzky. He shares his feelings on the primacy of tonal music and speculates on the nature of the creative process. From Carnegie Hall, scene of his début, to the living room of his home and his private studio overlooking New York's Central Park, Reflections explores the artist's varied and colourful career. Released for the first time since its production 30 years ago, this film is a rare personal portrait of Leonard Bernstein, who triumphed as composer, conductor, writer and teacher, told through his own words. It brings a renewed appreciation of this gifted man and his far-reaching influence.

NTSC 4:3 PCM Stereo

DD 5.1, DTS 5.1 (Bonus)

Original language: English

Booklet Notes: French, German, English

Running time: 52 minutes + 20 minutes (Bonus)

Christa Ludwig is acknowledged as one of the twentieth century’s most explorative and complete vocal artists. Her professional singing career spanned five decades and, as a star of the international operatic stage, she made roles as diverse as Rosina, Dorabella, Cherubino, Leonore, Amneris, Eboli, Kundry, Ortrud, Clytemnestra and the Marschallin her own, excelling in soprano, mezzo and coloratura mezzo repertoire. She also established her reputation as a fine lieder singer. The intimate auditorium of the magnificent neo-baroque Volkstheater in Vienna was packed with a discerning and enthusiastic audience when Christa Ludwig gave a master class there. The intimate auditorium of the magnificent neo-baroque Volkstheater in Vienna was packed with a discerning and enthusiastic audience when Christa Ludwig gave a master class there. The young singers who took part – Valerij Serkin (tenor), Stella Grigorian (mezzo) and Marcus Pelz (baritone) – were all studying at an advanced level, with their sights set on fi nding success as professionals on the operatic stage. Christa Ludwig focused the time she spent with each singer on helping them to find the dramatic truth expressed in the aria of their choice and advising on how they could communicate this in their interpretation. The master class includes pieces by Beethoven, Bizet and Massenet and, at the end, the greatness of her art is recalled as she is seen singing Mistress Quickly in a production of Verdi’s Falstaff (1982).

“The Brass Ensemble, with their conductor, Thomas Clamor, were phenomenal…done with unbelievable panache and astonishing virtuosity.” The Guardian on the Proms Concert of the ensemble in August 2007

“The greatest voices of their day came together again on Friday evening. . . Domingo still works his magic . . . Netrebko symbolizes the combination of skill, charisma and naturalness . . . Villazón is the perfect masculine counterpart. . . Great opera needs protagonists like these” (Die Welt am Sonntag, Berlin)