DVD Videos

Stephen Kovacevich's international reputation as a pianist has been built both on his concert appearances, renowned for their thoughtfulness and creative intensity, and on the highly acclaimed recordings he has made throughout his career. He is considered as one of the most searching interpreters of the core classical repertoire and he has won great admiration for his recordings of Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert and Chopin. In this masterclass he works with a student on Chopin's F Minor Fantasy

“The wrist – the breath in the voice.” (Frédéric Chopin)

The opera for Chopin was the highest form of art – even though he never entertained the thought of writing for the stage himself. His contemporaries Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini meant more to him than Beethoven, Liszt or Schumann. They influenced the songful lines of his piano music, and their coloraturas are reflected in its flow, its trills and cadences. At the castle of Chopin’s beloved George Sand, in Nohant in France, three singers, a pianist and an actress meet with the most knowledgeable experts on Bel Canto and Chopin of our time. For one whole week in late autumn they delve for Chopin’s opera experiences: his admiration for the great Bel Canto singer Giuditta Pasta, his friendship with Bellini and his relationship with Pauline Viardot, daughter of tenor Manuel Garcia and sister of Malibran, who, as pianist and composer, worked on Chopin’s Mazurkas for voice and piano. These Mazurkas, as well as pure piano compositions – are rehearsed and discussed in Nohant and, by means of mezzo-soprano Katerina Hebelkova and soprano Christiane Libor’s voices, unfold their songful potential. Great Bel Canto artist Vesselina Kasarova complements Chopin’s music with the sources of his inspiration by singing arias by Rossini and Bellini.

Bonus:

A recital with Christiane Libor (soprano), Katerina Hebelkova (contralto), Dávid Adorján (violoncello) and Roland Pöntinen (piano), performing works by Frédéric Chopin

Sound Format: PCM Stereo

Picture Format: 16:9

DVD Format: DVD 9, NTSC

Subtitle Languages: GB, DE, FR, ES, IT

Running Time: 60 mins + 40 mins (Bonus)

FSK: 0

Charisma X presents the visionary work and ideas of Greek composer and architect Iannis Xenakis, structured around musical performances, interviews and testimonies from Xenakis’ collaborators and those with a deep understanding of his work.

Xenakis appears in rare historical footage…talking about his multimedia electronic work La Legende d’eer, with film of the performance and the Diatope in front of the Pompidou Centre; he demonstrates the UPIC, the computer which he designed that allows music to be drawn on a computer screen; speaking about his opera Oresteïa and various Greek legends which influenced his work.

It explores the relationship between his music and architecture, including working for Le Corbusier. His architectural achievements of the Philips Pavilion at Expo 58, the convent of La Tourette, his home in Corsica, and the houses he designed for his daughter Mâkhi and composer Mâche are shown.

The film also includes an interview with an eyewitness to Xenakis’ devastating injury which he suffered as a Resistance fighter in Athens (1945), which has affected his life and work.

Directed by: Efi Xirou; Produced by: Gina Petropoulou with Vox-documentaries, Greek Film Centre, ERT

With commentary from: Georges Aperghis, François-Bernard Mâche, Gerard Pape, Curtis Roads, George Koumentakis; and featuring Françoise Xenakis (author & Xenakis’ wife), Makis Solomos, Sharon Kanach, Mâkhi Xenakis...

16:9 widescreen, Region 0 (playable all regions), NTSC

Greek, French & English, with Subtitles: English, French,

German, Greek

62 minutes

The most important work of the baroque keyboard repertoire, played by four world-class pianists.

Each artist performs twelve Preludes and Fugues from the work at one of four exceptionally charming venues: the Palazzo Labia in Venice, the Guell Palace in Barcelona, the Wartburg in Eisenach and the New Art Gallery in Walsall.

The performances were so recorded and impressively staged that the highly skilled visual direction literally opens up entirely new perspectives on Bach’s music.

The complete Well-Tempered Clavier, which requires normally 4 audio discs, on only 2DVDs.

“Here you are made more than conscious of a pianist in rapt communion with Bach’s spirit” Gramophone on Andrei Gavrilov

“McGregor’s verve, energy and astounding technique are always at the service of the music and never vice versa. Her ability to inhabit so many sound worlds with the same intensity andcommitment is profoundly impressive” BBC

“… extraordinary intimacy with the piano, which withholds no secrets of keyboard brilliance or expressive colouring from him, maximises the potential in the scoring …” The Times on Nikolai Demidenko

“The pianist who will define Bach performance on piano for years to come” Stereophile on Angela Hewitt

Picture format DVD: NTSC 16:9

Sounds formats DVD: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1

Region code: 0

Booklet notes: English, German, French

Running time: 121 mins (DVD 1) 139 mins (DVD 2)

Audience: all

Performance recorded on 4 November 2002, Paris

Grigory Sokolov, a giant of the piano. Maybe today’s greatest pianist... Sold out concerts a few days only after the putting up for sale of the tickets... A real phenomenon not to be missed...

The only existing DVD with this exceptional artist is once again available.

A dim light picks out the outlines of the hall. Suddenly a massive shadow appears and moves swiftly over to the keyboard. There follows the vaguest of unsmiling acknowledgements in the general direction of the audience, and then the music begins. Throughout the next two hours, this music will keep its listener enthralled with its extraordinary intensity as the audience senses the formidable physical, pianistic, musical and emotional presence of this most secretive of present-day pianists, Grigory Sokolov.

“Cosmic Piano. Since, as for Glenn Gould, but in opposite aesthetics, one might say: ‘There is Sokolov, and there are the pianists’.” Le Figaro, November 2007

Picture format DVD: NTSC 16:9

Sounds formats DVD: PCM Stereo

Region code: 0

Booklet notes: English, French

Running time: 123 mins

FSK: 0

French violinist and longtime California dweller Gilles Apap engages in an initiation journey to India in search of Carnatic and Hindustani musics. At the crossroads between western classical music and world music, a wonderful adventure begins.

This DVD includes the “Renegade Fiddler“ documentary and Gilles Apap's recital at the Palace of the Maharaja of Benares, on the banks of the river Ganges.

On this DVD Cyprien Katsaris performs works by Liszt, Wagner, Guang, Halévy, Schubert, Bach, Chopin, Gottschalk and Carrasco.

Concert Magic, which premiered in San Francisco in 1947, was the first motion picture concert in film history (Concert Magic Item No. 2054158). In addition, many short films were made to fill the space between the traditional double features. They were also often used as encores when enthusiastic audiences demanded them. Among these encores is an especially valuable rarity, the violin concerto of Felix Mendelssohn. The length (ca. 25 minutes) prevented it from inclusion in the film. This footage shows Menuhin’s very first recorded performance of Mendelssohn`s violin concerto and other encores. Even music specialists are unaware of the existence of this previously unreleased material!

Bonus: A Violinist in Hollywood + On the Encores – Yehudi Menuhin in conversation with Humphrey Burton. Exactly 50 years after the creation of the film in 1997, Yehudi Menuhin and Humphrey Burton, director of a number of Bernstein concerts and an expert on and biographer of Menuhin, view the film in front of cameras. Menuhin comments on his playing technique, speaks about the origin of the film and reminisces about events which transpired at the time of the film. His reactions and comments about the pieces are very personal.

NTSC 4:3, PCM Stereo

Region code: 0

Booklet notes: English, German, French

Languages (Bonus): English, German, French

Running time: 44 mins (Performance) +57 mins (Bonus)

FSK: 0

This new DVD marks the film debut of piano virtuoso, Vassily Primakov, performing the three Intermezzos, Op. 117 by Johannes Brahms, the four Ballades by Fryderyk Chopin, and the Sonata No. 4 by Alexandr Scriabin.

Vassily Primakov has been hailed as a pianist of world class significance, the New York Times trumpeting his “fiery intensity” and his “bold, expressive phrasing and dramatic commitment that brought the audience to its feet.”

The DVD includes the following special features: Vassily Primakov photo gallery, biographical information, Primakov discography and a digital Mp4 file, for easy copying to iPod or personal video devices.

Sound Format: 5.1 surround sound

DTS / Dolby Digital

Running Time: 68 minutes

Available worldwide