DVD Videos

This DVD, centered on the dazzling German soprano Diana Damrau, complements a ravishing recital with a fascinating documentary.

In March 2013, Damrau achieved “a daring victory” (in the words of the New York Times) when the Metropolitan Opera witnessed her first-ever performances of Verdi’s La traviata. In recent years she has made the transition from glittering, stratospheric roles such as Mozart’s Queen of the Night and Strauss’ Zerbinetta to lyrical heroines of greater emotional complexity, such as Gilda in Rigoletto, Adina in L’elisir d’amore and Lucia di Lammermoor. A series of triumphs at the Met have made her a favourite singer in New York – as she is in other leading opera houses around the world.

In the documentary, Diana Damrau – Diva Divina, the soprano explains that, when she was just 12 years old, it was La traviata (in Franco Zeffirelli’s lavish 1982 cinematic version) that inspired her to make a career in opera. The documentary, directed by Beatrix Conrad, follows Damrau over the course of nine months, covering operatic performances and rehearsals in Geneva, New York, Paris and Munich, recitals, recordings and the arrival of her first child, Alexander.

The recital, filmed at the impressive Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden, pairs Damrau with the French harpist Xavier de Maistre in an exquisite selection of songs by Schumann, Fauré, Debussy and Strauss. Among the best-loved items in the programme are: Schumann’s ‘Widmung’; both Fauré’s and Debussy’s settings of Verlaine’s poem ‘Clair de lune’; Fauré’s ‘Après un rêve’; a harp arrangement of Debussy’s piano Arabesque No 1; Strauss’ ‘Morgen‘ and ‘Ständchen’ and, among the encores, the famed Bach-Gounod ‘Ave Maria’.

In the course of 2013, Damrau and de Maistre will also perform together in concert seasons in Washington D.C., Paris, Geneva, Lyon, Reykjavik, Hamburg, Munich and London and at festivals in Menton, Gstaad, Schwarzenberg and Grafenegg.

Reviewing the performance in Baden-Baden – for which the audience joined Damrau and de Maistre on the stage, rather than being distanced from them in the expansive auditorium – the Badische Neueste Nachrichten wrote of Damrau as a recitalist “whose vocal material and abilities as a storyteller approach perfection”, while the Badisches Tagblatt said:” Damrau’s diction is a pleasure, her vocal flexibility amazing. She sings phrases with ample breath, while her nuanced shadings create subtle changes of mood from song to song.” Die Rheinpfalz described the “gentle, sometimes ethereal tones of the harp” as being in perfect harmony with the “exceptionally subtle and detailed vocal art of the soprano … particularly exceptional are the delicate tracery and colours of Diana Damrau’s singing. Her shaping and accenting of the text is meticulous, her phrasing is of great sensitivity and her dynamics are richly nuanced, yet her song performances are never mannered, rather always full of lyrical feeling.”

Robert Wilson [director, lighting, design]

Giuseppe Frigeni [co-director]

Frida Parmeggiani [costumes]

Heinrich Brunke [lighting]

Naïve present Debussy's fascinating opera in the legendary staging by Robert Wilson. Eternity, minimalism, enigma, all those elements ideally connect to the unique atmosphere in Debussy's music.

Stéphane Degout and Elena Tsallagova lead an outstanding cast including Anne Sofie von Otter, Vincent Le Texier, Franz Joseph Selig…

‘Georg Solti is the hero of the British archive releases produced by ICA Classics.’ (Diapason)

In October 2012 music-lovers celebrated the centenary year of ‘one of the world’s greatest conductors’ (The Independent). This concert – a rare gem from the BBC archives – shows

Sir Georg Solti at the height of his powers with his favourite orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, of which he was music director from 1969 to 1991, in an alliance that was revered among audiences and critics alike.

Released for the first time on DVD, this concert is the last in Sir Georg Solti and his beloved CSO’s European tour in 1985. The Chicago Tribune wrote in January of that year, ‘He (Solti) and the CSO are firmly established as the most leonine team in symphonic music today, and that team has had everyone roaring from Stockholm to Zurich.’ Solti himself wrote: ‘My term as musical director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was the happiest time in my professional life.’ The programme on this DVD features Mozart’s Symphony No.39, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.4, and an encore of Fêtes from Debussy’s Nocturnes – all performed with the flair, passion and majestic artistry for which Solti was famed.

His interpretation of Mozart has been hailed as arguably one of the greatest in history. ‘There are certain composers on whose work Solti has stamped his mark with a distinction that has never been equalled, nor probably ever will be, so that his conduit of their intentions has become integral to the experience of listening to them.’ (The Observer)

The booklet note for this release is written by Humphrey Burton, who directed the cameras for the BBC at London’s Royal Festival Hall on the 2 February 1985 – the concert from which this DVD is taken. His first-hand, unique insight and behind-the-scenes information provide a fascinating glimpse into the inner workings of the concert, the CSO and the maestro.

Sound format: Enhanced Mono

DVD format: NTSC

Picture format: 4:3

Running time: 83’

Subtitles: n/a

Menu languages: English

Booklet languages: E/F/G

Region code: 0

Territory Restrictions: None

Conducted by Grammy award winning Paavo Järvi the Orchestre de Paris exquisitely performs three landmark pieces of orchestral music.

Both of Stravinsky’s ballet scores and Debussy’s L’Après-midi d’un faune are well suited for a DVD recording. The wildly varying moods under Järvi’s expert guidance are superbly caught in this high quality production.

The orchestra undertake international tours and aims to reach all genres of people. Järvi became the Music Director at the beginning of the 2010/11 season, and after just seven months his contract was extended to the end of 2016.

Set Design by Rolf Glittenberg

A staging of Claude Debussy’s only completed opera, Pelléas et Mélisande, recorded live at the Zurich Opera House. The opera’s premiere in Paris in 1902 brought the new century to the stage. It came quietly, introducing a new female figure that provided the visual artists of l’art nouveau with a fascinating alternative to such femmes fatales as Oscar Wilde’s Lulu and Frank Wedekind’s Salome.

Debussy (1862-1918) adapted a dreamlike libretto by the Belgian playwright and poet, Maurice Maeterlinck (1862-1949) and in the music retained the symbolic quality of the mysterious, almost static fairytale. Conductor Franz Welser-Möst and director Sven-Eric Bechtolf have become one of the leading partnerships in contemporary music theatre. The characters are impressively enacted by Rodney Gilfrey and Isabel Rey in the title roles.

Occasionally placed in wheelchairs that hint at emotional as well as physical inadequacies and frequently doubled by puppets, Debussy’s protagonists are kept at a distance in their subconscious dream world. Franz Welser-Möst conducts a performance that is clear, well structured, unsentimental and attuned to the alertness and pioneering spirit of a score that even today has lost none of its radiance. The designer Rolf Glittenberg set the work in a remote operatic universe that is both greyish white and ice cold.

Sound Format: PCM Stereo, DD 5.0, DTS 5.0, dts-HD Master Audio 7.1

Picture Format: 16:9

Format: DVD 5 + DVD 9, NTSC

Subtitle Languages: FR (Original Language), GB, DE, IT, ES

Running Time: 161 mins

FSK: 0

Region Code: 0

Worldwide available, excluding Japan

Music by Ravel, Offenbach, Chabrier, Fauré, Debussy, Saint-Saëns and Godard

Gustavo Dudamel, Gramophone magazine’s "Artist of the Year" 2011 and Grammy award winner 2012, leads the classical summer live and TV event of 2012: The Summer Night Concert with the Vienna Philharmonic.

The concert takes place on June 7th in the gardens of Schönbrunn Palace. Last year’s Summer Night Concert was a huge success.

In 2012 a total of 62 countries on five continents will share in the spectacle, including a BBC4 broadcast in the UK.

This year the main theme is Dances and Waves, a programme showcasing symphonic and operatic highlights.

For more than 50 years, Menahem Pressler was the driving force of the legendary Beaux Arts Trio, giving 6.000 performances until the trio stopped concertizing in 2009. Menahem Pressler is now returning to a solo career.

During this recital filmed at Paris’ Cité de la Musique 2011, Menahem Pressler plays two of the most imposing works in the piano repertoire: Beethoven’s penultimate sonata and Schubert’s last sonata which both require unusual emotional involvement from the performer.

Menahem Pressler is the last representative of a pianistic tradition directly connected with the great German and French piano schools: he studied with several pupils of the illustrious Ferruccio Busoni but also received valuable advice from Robert Casadesus or Paul Loyonnet who opened the world of Ravel and Debussy to him.

“Pressler’s ability to give all the voices prominence while simultaneously isolating the melody was amazing. His fingers still retain a youthful facility.” The Washington Post

Picture format DVD: NTSC 16:9

Sound formats DVD: PCM Stereo

Region code: 0

Booklet notes: English, German, French

Running time: 88 mins

Fourth part of the successful 4-part Signature Performance Series.

Claudio Arrau, one of the twentieth century’s greatest pianists, offered this concert at New York City’s Avery Fisher Hall in 1983 to celebrate his 80th birthday. To a capacity crowd, Arrau demonstrates how he earned this reputation, and why he still deserves it.

A Herculean performance of two Beethoven sonatas, the ‘Waldstein’ and ‘Appassionata’, is followed by music of Debussy, Liszt and Chopin. In these six works, we see the truth of Arrau’s own words that ‘an interpreter must give his blood to the work interpreted.’

Picture format DVD: NTSC 4:3

Sounds formats DVD: PCM Stereo

Region code: 0

Original language: English

Subtitles: German, French, Spanish

Booklet notes: English, German, French

Running time: 111 mins

The Places • The tour opens with views of the Camargue, the marshy region near Arles with its wild life. Views of the Côte d’Azur are intercut with glimpses of the Munich Glyptothek with its collections of Roman and Greek statuary. Near Arles is the ancient Abbey of Montmajour and the fortified monastery and Abbey on Saint-Honorat, one of the Iles de Lérins. In Arles we see the Roman theatre and necropolis and, at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, the remains of the ancient Gallo-Greek town of Glanum.

The Music • Music for the tour includes Debussy’s evocative Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, two Gymnopédies by Erik Satie and Ravel’s two suites from his ballet Daphnis et Chloé, followed by his Introduction and Allegro for Harp, Flute, Clarinet and String Quartet.

Video Format • NTSC / Colour / 4:3

Audio Format • DTS 5.1 / Dolby Digital 5.1 / PCM Stereo 2.0

Region Coding • No Region Coding