DVD Videos

Mendelssohn Unknown is the most complete and up-to-date documentary about Felix Mendelssohn ever made. The narrative structure is based on the original letters of Mendelssohn and his sister Fanny, combined with evocative period images.

The themes covered by the documentary include his training, his religious and cultural identity, his journey to Italy, his friendship with Bach, the Leipzig years, the fall into obscurity of his work following his death and the recent unearthing of many important unpublished works.

A blend of music and words will guide the public through Mendelssohn’s greatest masterpieces, illustrating their poetic background with images of the places that Mendelssohn himself experienced and recounted with his matchless art. With some of the most distinguished Mendelssohn specialists, including Riccardo Chailly, Steven Isserlis, Lang Lang, Kurt Masur, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Roberto Prosseda and Charles Rosen.

Bonus includes a concert of the famous pianist Roberto Prosseda in the awesome Teatro Olympico.

Picture format DVD: NTSC 16:9, Bonus 4:3

Sound format: PCM Stereo

Region code: 0

Booklet Notes: English, German, French

Original Language: Italian

Subtitles: English, German, French

Booklet Notes: English, German, French

Running Time: 54 mins, plus Bonus 45mins

“Solti’s energy, bordering on the electric, provided the dynamic force necessary to galvanise an orchestra and a city into realising its rightful place as a stellar international centre of commerce, industry and art. That was Solti’s gift to Chicago” (Gramophone).

Internationally renowned for his opera conducting as musical director of the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, particularly his interpretation of Wagner’s Ring cycle, Hungarian-born Sir Georg Solti was also a celebrated symphonic conductor.

Taking up the post as director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1969, Solti remembered his early performances with the CSO as “an absolute joy” and would remain with them for 22 years, leading them in their debut European tour – of which the concert on this recording was the first fixture.

Recorded in 1971, the film on this DVD is taken from the CSO’s appearance at the Edinburgh Festival in the same year: their first ever concert outside America. In a first filmed edition of this performance, Solti conducts the orchestra in Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture and Brahms’s Symphony No.1. His subsequent performances of the Brahms have been praised for their “dignity, energy and splendour”.

With his sometimes Samurai-like gestures, Solti summons tremendous power, elegance and clarity from the Orchestra, which includes such legendary instrumentalists as Dale Clevenger, Adolph ‘Bud’ Herseth and Frank Miller, and which led critic William Mann to write: “I am tempted to describe it as the United States” most completely accomplished orchestra’. Of his relationship with the CSO, Solti remarked: “It’s a marvellous thing to be musically happily married. I am, and I know.”

This is the first release of this material on DVD and is the first in a series of Solti/CSO releases to come from ICA Classics to celebrate Solti’s centenary.

Sound format: Enhanced Mono

DVD format: NTSC

Picture format: 4:3

Running time: 67’

Subtitles: French/German

Menu languages: English

Booklet languages: E/F/G

Region code: 0

Territory Restrictions: None

‘San Francisco Symphony at 100’ celebrates the orchestra’s centenary in style.

With Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas at the helm and featuring violinist Itzhak Perlman, the DVD also includes vignettes documenting the orchestra's origins and its first 100 years.

San Francisco Symphony at 100 documents the glorious festivities of the orchestra’s centenary year, celebrated at the orchestra’s extravagant 2011-12 season opening night gala concert. With Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas at the helm, the evening symbolised the orchestra’s heritage, its importance in the life of the city as well as the American and international musical landscape, and highlighted supreme American musicians as well as the virtuosic members of the orchestra. The programme opens and closes with two American compositional giants - Aaron Copland and John Adams. The great violinist Itzhak Perlman unleashes his virtuosity on Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto and the orchestra members shine in Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.

Interspersed are documentary vignettes - hosted by Amy Tan (author of the famed Joy Luck Club) - tracing the history of the Symphony which like a phoenix rose out of the ashes of the city’s devastating earthquake in 1906, revitalised San Francisco’s cultural life and quickly set the orchestra on the world’s musical stage.

Special Features

Documentary vignettes tracing the San Francisco Symphony’s history. Narrated by Amy Tan. Produced by Janette Gitler.

DVD specifications

Region: 0 (All Regions)

Rating: E (Exempt)

Picture Format: NTSC (all regions), widescreen, HD video

Sound format: Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1

Run time: 2:26:30

The Places

On a hill above the ancient town of Kulmbach stands the imposing 12th century Hohenzollern fortress of Plassenburg. Among various collections on display is the remarkable Tin Soldier Museum, with various figures and dioramas that recreate battles and mirror the great castle itself, with a variety of scenes from all periods of human history.

The Music

The March has an inevitable part to play in human history. Marco Polo remarked on the use of music by the armies of China to terrify the enemy before a battle. Military music, however, has a more precise purpose, whatever alarm it may strike into the hearts of those who hear it. Drums and trumpets may serve as useful signals, to advance or retreat, to eat or to sleep. The same instruments and their near relations may serve to keep an army moving together, and may serve to inspire feelings of bravery and patriotism. At the same time a march can provide a suitable accompaniment to an occasion of solemnity, a wedding, a funeral or a state ceremony. The music chosen for this tour offers a series of Marches by different composers, culminating in Mendelssohn’s Wedding March.

Video Format • NTSC / Colour / 4:3

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

Region Coding • No Region Coding

The brainchild of Neville Marriner, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields was founded in 1959, quickly becoming an example of the highest level of chamber musicianship in Britain, paving the way for the revival of Baroque performances.

Described by Denis Stevens as owning ‘more sense of style than all the chamber orchestras in Europe’, the Academy made a prolific number of recordings over the years, becoming the most recorded chamber orchestra in the world.

Having taken conducting lessons from Pierre Monteux, Marriner became known for his rhythmic and precise style, and was responsible for the refined string sound for which the Academy became famous.

Marriner’s rendition of Mendelssohn’s ‘Italian’ Symphony is energetic and committed, yet sensitively communicated. Rolfe-Johnson’s Proms performance of Britten’s Les Illuminations took place at the height of his career. He performed at the world’s major opera chouses (the Royal Opera House, La Scala, The Met) and with major orchestras (New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra), recording mainly for Hyperion. This performance is utterly convincing.

Beethoven’s Große Fuge is a performance of Marriner’s own arrangement for chamber orchestra. Their recording of Beethoven 3 is described in the Penguin Guide as having the impression ‘of weight and strength, coupled with a rare transparency of texture and extraordinary resilience of rhythm’.

The ‘interpretive skill and musicianship’ of Marriner and the ASMF, his ‘superb ensemble’ are described in the Penguin Guide featuring Marriner’s recording of the Handel Concerti grossi on Decca.

This is the first DVD release of this material.

Picture format: 4:3

Running time: 86’

Subtitles: n/a

Menu languages: English

Booklet languages: E/F/G

Region code: 0

Territory Restrictions: None

Music by Mendelssohn

The Places

Our tour of Italy starts in the countryside near Orvieto, moves to the Baths of Caracalla in Rome, then to Montalcino and its ancient abbey. We see the Tuscan landscape around Montepulciano, glimpse Siena and finally see something of the historic buildings of Florence.

The Music

As part of his Grand Tour of Europe, the young Felix Mendelssohn visited Italy in the autumn of 1830 and it was there that he began his Italian Symphony, completed in 1833 in Berlin and first performed in that year in London. His Violin Concerto in E minor was completed in 1844 and remains an essential element in any violinist’s solo repertoire.

Video Format • NTSC / Colour / 4:3

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

Region Coding • No Region Coding

Harry Christophers and The Sixteen join Simon Russell Beale for two special Christmas programmes that look beyond the familiar carols and festive songs to reveal two millennia of music and texts from across Europe.

Bonus Features include:

· Sacred Music Series One and An Easter Celebration DVD trailers

· 7 Bonus Audio Tracks taken from a selection of The Sixteen’s celebrated Christmas CDs

· Related Recordings by The Sixteen

· Artist Biographies and Images

A CHRISTMAS HISTORY

Simon Russell Beale takes a journey through Italy, Britain, Germany and Austria as he explores how the sound of Christmas has evolved in response to changing ideas about the Nativity. His story takes us through two millennia of music, from a fragment of papyrus preserving the earliest known piece of Christian music to the stories behind Hark! The herald angels sing, Silent Night and In the bleak midwinter, and the work of popular Christmas composer, John Rutter all performed by Harry Christophers and The Sixteen.

A CHORAL CHRISTMAS

Simon Russell Beale introduces a programme of choral music for Christmas from across the centuries, featuring performances of some of the works featured in the accompanying documentary. Harry Christophers and The Sixteen, perform music including J.S. Bach's harmonisation of the medieval carol In dulci jubilo, A spotless rose by Herbert Howells and the Christmas text O magnum mysterium, set as a motet by Tomás Luis de Victoria.

Access to the publicly broadcast BSO concerts from this era has been extremely difficult even for researchers. This series of DVDs will make these performances available for the first time since they were broadcast.

Munch launched the BSO into television in 1955. He was an immensely popular conductor and well suited to being filmed.

This material represents some of the earliest televised concerts with the Boston Symphony and Charles Munch, and has been restored using the greatest care and state-of-the-art techniques. It is of exceptional musical interest and rare historic value.

Munch recorded Mendelssohn’s Symphonies Nos 3, 4 and 5 with the BSO on RCA.

Characteristically lively renditions, Munch’s interpretations of both symphonies are energetic and precise with excellent articulation from the BSO.

With Mozart’s Masonic Funeral Music as a bonus track – a new addition to his discography – this DVD is another fine example of a first class orchestra under one of its most charismatic Music Directors.

Two Munch/BSO DVDs from ICA Classics’ first set of releases have been awarded the Diapason d’Or in France’s Diapason magazine.

1DVD

Sound format: Ambient Mastering

Picture format: 4:3

Running time: 70’

Subtitles: n/a

Menu languages: English

Booklet languages: E/F/G

Region code: 0

Territory Restrictions: None

Based on the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Choreography & Film by JEAN-CHRISTOPHE MAILLOT

Music by FELIX MENDELSSOHN, DANIEL TERUGGI, BERTRAND MAILLOT

Scenography by ERNEST PIGNON-ERNEST

Costumes by PHILIPPE GUILLOTEL

Plunge headlong into the colourful fantasy and enchantment of a Shakespeare classic, gorgeously reinterpreted by Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo -- under the Presidency of H.R.H. the Princess of Hanover.

Gorgeous dancing – and wildly imaginative sets and costumes – bring to vivid life the ecstatic, elegant eroticism in Shakespeare‘s classic fantasy.

Internationally acclaimed choreographer Jean-Christophe Maillot, brilliantly unites theatre, dance, and music (including Mendelssohn‘s captivating score) in a fairytale world of mischievous sprites and mortals. Hapless humans entangled in the net of their own unconscious impulses create a dream-like comedy surfi ng on the wings of the maddest desires. This visually stunning ballet interweaves small dances, theatrical scenes, expressive mime and even circus acts, telling a captivating story with the aid of larger-than-life mythical characters. The crowd of characters is carried along in a noisy, comic, acrobatic dance, daring to make joyful jokes, perform immodest, naughty tricks, displaying cheekiness, and frivolous eroticism. One of the great merits of the ballet comes from the artists themselves, who bring exuberant enthusiasm and superior acting and dancing skills to their roles.

„Maillot has gained a reputation for challenging the dance establishment...with a passion for something new.“ The New York Times

“… the Ballets de Monte-Carlo could not have dreamed of anything better than this animal-inspired Songe which awakens their passions.” Libération

Sound Format: PCM Stereo, DD 4.1

Picture Format: 16:9

DVD Format: DVD 9, NTSC

Running Time: 101 mins

FSK: 6

Choreography by George Balanchine

Restaged by Patricia Neary, Sara Leland

Set & Costume Design by Luisa Spinatelli

The DVD shows a recording of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the famous Balanchine choreography, which made the ballet such a popular staple with companies all over the world.

Danced by three star-dancers in the main roles and a company that ranks among the best in the world, it guarantees first class entertainment.

George Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the summery counterpart to his Christmassy Nutcracker: Its youthful charm and light esprit, the ease of transition between the realm of Oberon’s fairy kingdom, the aristocratic world of the Athenian court, the tit-for-tat of the bourgeois lovers and the artisans’ provincial theatre and the “free spirit” Puck, makes it a ballet for the whole family and a joy to watch.

The whole production with its fantastic costumes, the fairy-tale scenery and the wonderful dancing is like an unearthly dream in itself.

Sound Format: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1

Picture Format: 16:9

DVD Format: DVD 9, NTSC

Running Time: 104 mins

FSK: 0