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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | including nine documentaries in a hardcover box
After the very successful release of the single DVDs we now release Christian Thielemann and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra performing Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 1 – 9 including nine one hour documentaries, one for each film. Maestro Thielemann and Joachim Kaiser (the most famous German music critic) discuss and analyze in an entertaining conversational exchange Thielemann’s interpretation, complemented by excerpts from rehearsals as well as by comparisons of Beethoven cycles with Karajan, Bernstein, Böhm, Järvi etc. This is the Beethoven cycle of the 21st century! 9 DVDs or 3 Blu-rays in a valuable hardcover box with 16 hours of concerts and documentaries. “Thielemann´s reading of the Beethoven symphonies stands heads and shoulders above the countless and mostly undistinguishable versions on offer.” Die Presse “The performances, the Vienna Philharmonic on top form, can't help sounding wonderful...oddly, it is the discussions that are the most enjoyable elements in this ambitious set.” BBC Music Magazine * * */ * “This is growling, mane-shaking Beethoven: a traditional approach to the music with full sound and large forces. Thielemann takes a precise yet lyrical approach to the music, as he discusses and demonstrates in the three hour-long accompanying musicological discussions.” Classic FM Magazine * * * * Total: 956 minutes Symphonies: 446 minutes Documentaries: 510 minutes DVD: DTS 5.0, PCM Stereo Subtitles E, F, Sp, I, Kor., Chin. NTSC: 3 DVD Amaray boxes in a harcover box (containing 9 DVDs) “the hour-long film that accompanies each of the nine masterpieces here...is chock-full of revealing information...the radiant sanity of [Thielemann's] approach shines through every bar...for a set in which the Austro-German invincibility of this extraordinary music is felt gradually mounting through the cycle as a whole, as if in one magnificent sweep, we haven't had a set to compare seriously with this since Karajan's final cycle of the 1980s.” International Record Review, January 2012 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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Béatrice Uria-Monzon (Carmen), Roberto Alagna (Don José), Erwin Schrott (Escamillo), Marina Poplavskaya (Micaëla), Eliana Bayón (Frasquita), Itxaro Mentxaka (Mercédès), Marc Canturri (Le Dancaïre), Francisco Vas (Le Remendado), Àlex Sanmartí (Moralès), Josep Ribot (Zuniga) Orquestra Simfònica del Gran Teatre del Liceu & Cor del Gran Teatre del Liceu, Marc Piollet Staged by Calixto Bieito. Fantastic cast with Roberto Alagna, Erwin Schrott, Marina Poplavskaya, Béatrice Uria-Monzon. This prestigious 2011 production from the Gran Teatre del Liceu was staged by the world famous and highly controversial stage director Calixto Bieito, admired for his raw and evocative stagings. Running Time Total: 155 minutes DVD: DTS 5.1, PCM Stereo “If a Barcelona Carmen suggests authentic atmosphere, forget it. It's staged by Calixto Bieito, notorious for shock-effect productions...On home ground, though, he's comparatively restrained, although he does update the opera to the 1970s...Beatrice Uria-Monzon's veteran Carmen is compelling. Roberto Alagna equals his Met video, fluently lyrical while indicating the hair-trigger violence beneath.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2011 ** “Updating rarely makes such a seamless case for itself as in this modern production of Carmen...Alagna has always had a certain Mad Max side to his temperament that, combined with his Italianate lyric tenor, has made him one of the best Don Joses in the business.” Gramophone Magazine, January 2012 “Piollet launches the opera thrillingly; however exhilarating the energy, the playing remains disciplined, with mingled grace and fire. Conductor and orchestra sustain that level throughout, with well-judged rubato and frequently an unerring light touch.” International Record Review, December 2011 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4
Beethoven: | Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 recorded live at the Metropolitan Cathedral, Santiago, Chile, in May 1984 The Symphony Orchestra of the University of Chile, Victor Tevah Piano Sonata No. 7 in D major, Op. 10 No. 3 recorded live at the Teatro Municipal, Santiago, Chile. | Chopin: | Ballade No. 3 in A flat major, Op. 47 recorded live at the Teatro Municipal, Santiago, Chile. | Debussy: | L'isle joyeuse recorded live at the Teatro Municipal, Santiago, Chile. | Liszt: | Sonetto 104 del Petrarca (Années de pèlerinage II, S. 161 No. 5) recorded live at the Teatro Municipal, Santiago, Chile. | Schubert: | Klavierstück in E flat minor, D946 No. 1 recorded live at the Teatro Municipal, Santiago, Chile. |
Third part of the successful 4-part Signature Performance Series. Only rarely do musicians win fame as great interpreters of everything they touch. However, the Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau was one such virtuoso. Like his great predecessors Liszt and Busoni, Arrau was renowned for reaching to the stylistic core of every composer he performed. In this historic recital, filmed during his rapturously received return to Santiago in 1984, Arrau demonstrates profound insights into the music of Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Liszt and Debussy, all of whom were dear to him. Picture format DVD: NTSC 4:3 Sounds formats DVD: DD 2.0 Region code: 0 Original language: English Subtitles: German, French, Spanish Booklet notes: English, German, French Running time: 115 mins German FSK: 0 “Recorded on home territory in Santiago's Teatro Municipal when Arrau was 81 years young...his velvet, in-depth sonority ravishes the ear, especially in Liszt and Schubert.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2012 **** | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Spain: A Musical Tour of Seville
Music by Bizet and Granados
The Places The ancient city of Seville, capital of Andalucía, was an Iberian settlement, of importance during the period of Roman domination and, after the Moorish conquest of the 8th century, part of the Caliphate of Córdoba. It retained importance under other Moorish rulers until its reconquest by Fernando III in 1248. It enjoyed the height of prosperity after the discovery of America in 1492. The Music Music for the tour includes two of the suites drawn from the French composer Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen, first staged in Paris in 1875 and drawing on Spanish traditions for its plot and setting and for its transformation of traditional Spanish dances. There are also Spanish Dances by the composer Enrique Granados. Video Format • NTSC / Colour / 4:3 Audio Format • DTS 5.1 / Dolby Digital 5.1 / PCM Stereo 2.0 Region Coding • No Region Coding | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | André Previn conducts Rachmaninov & Prokofiev
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 “a evocative piece of nostalgia...[The solo] singing is of a searing emotional intensity. The chorus sing with a passion. The LSO are on top form. Brian Large's visual direction is commendably unfussy, homing in on instruments as and when but chiefly leaving the performance to speak for itself - which it does with the utmost eloquence coupled with visceral excitement.” Gramophone Magazine, January 2012 “Previn produces a blazing account of Rachmaninov's The Bells for its 1973 Proms premiere. A sparkling Lieutenant Kije and effervescent Candide Overture too.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2012 **** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Borodin Quartet play Schubert & BrahmsCité de la Musique, Paris, 16 January 2010
Described as ‘the quartet world’s most senior ensemble’, the Borodin Quartet is one of the great quartets of our time. The quartet celebrated its 65th anniversary with a sold-out concert at the Wigmore Hall, in London, a week before this live recording from the Cité de la Musique. Following the performance the Financial Times wrote that ‘today’s Borodin Quartet has lost nothing of its old authority’. The Telegraph named this anniversary concert at the Wigmore Hall as their best chamber moment of 2010, stating that the quartet ‘proved that decades of experience really count’. The Sunday Telegraph wrote ‘the Borodin Quartet plays with uncommonly rich, even tone and consoling warmth. For sheer musical presence, it has few equals.’ The quartet has stayed true to its roots, retaining its unique sound and style of playing over the years. The quartet’s recording of the Brahms quartets on Warners is described in the Penguin Guide as ‘Marvellously sophisticated playing.’ This is the first DVD release of this material. 1DVD Sound format: LPCM stereo Picture format: 4:3 Running time: 95’ Subtitles: n/a Menu languages: English Booklet languages: E/F/G Region code: 0 Territory Restrictions: None | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | A Musical Journey – GermanyA Musical Tour of Baroque Churches in Bavaria
The Places • The tour visits four notable baroque churches in Bavaria, the Monastic Church of the Assumption at Rohr, the Benedictine Abbey Church of Ottobeuren, the Alte Kapelle in Regensburg and the Monastic Church of St George and St Martin at Weltenburg, near Kelheim. The Music • Music for the tour is by Johann Sebastian Bach and is taken from the works Bach wrote for the organ. He had been familiar with the instrument from childhood, and apart from a short period from 1717 to 1723 as Court Kapellmeister to Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen, remained a respected performer on the instrument, a composer of organ music and an expert on the construction of the instrument. Video Format • NTSC / Colour / 4:3 Audio Format • DTS 5.1 / Dolby Digital 5.1 / PCM Stereo 2.0 Region Coding • No Region Coding | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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Recorded live on 20th December 1980 “set at the turn of the 20th century, it's played naturalistically and with considerable restraint. But its toned-down quality also emphasises the underlying idea of a society unable to confront its own hang-ups, and the performances are faultless. Julia Migenes's Lulu is at once self-consciously provocative and disturbingly naive...Levine ratchets up the tension; the closing scenes are unforgettable.” The Guardian, 8th December 2011 | | | Usually despatched in 8 - 10 working days. |
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| |  | Adam Laloum live at Verbier FestivalRecorded at Verbier Festival, 2010
The French pianist, Adam Laloum, winner of the 2009 Clara Haskil competition, is quickly becoming an international star, described by Le Monde as ‘A young pianist, yet already a great artist and poet.’ Age is certainly no barrier for Laloum, who has already played at many of the major venues in Europe. His impressive debut at the 2010 Verbier Festival is shared here in a live recording. Laloum’s sensitive and expressive playing is perfect for this program of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century works for solo piano, which includes pieces by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms and Debussy. Picture format DVD: NTSC 16:9 Sounds formats DVD: PCM Stereo Region code: 0 Booklet notes: English, German, French Running time: 88 mins FSK: 0 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Salzburg Opening Concert 2010
The opening concert of the Salzburg Festival, for many regarded as the world’s most renowned music festival, is by tradition a high-profile event. In 2010 the Festival celebrated its 90th anniversary and the 50th anniversary of the Great Festival Hall. Barenboim, in 2010 also celebrated his 60th anniversary onstage, excelled as a soloist and conductor of Beethoven’s lyrical Fourth Piano Concerto. Bruckner´s poignant Te Deum is performed by a quartet of world-class singers. Running Time Total: 90 minutes DVD: DTS 5.1, PCM Stereo Bruckner Te Deum: G, E, F, Sp, Korean, Chinese “there is no doubting the powerful authority that characterizes Barenboim's direction of Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto from the keyboard. Perhaps rather unexpectedly, the magic really starts with a reading of Boulez's Notations I-IV and VII (finishing with II), whose intoxicating allure and expressivity is strongly reminiscent of the kind of sound Karajan generated in his classic Second Viennese School recordings of the 1970s.” International Record Review, January 2012 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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