DVD Videos

The Places

The Canton of Ticino (German Tessin) is the only Swiss canton to have Italian as its official

language. It is bounded on three sides by Italy and boasts spectacular mountain scenery, with waterfalls, rivers and lakes. The capital of the canton is now Bellinzona, but was earlier shared with Locarno and Lugano. A feature of the landscape lies in the great lakes that are within its territory, including part of Lago Maggiore, into which the Ticino and Maggia flow.

The Music

Robert Schumann was born in 1810 in Saxony, studied in Leipzig, lived in Dresden and, in 1850 moved to Düsseldorf as director of music to the city. He died in 1856, after a severe mental breakdown, from which he never recovered. In 1840, in spite of the objections of her father, he had married the young pianist Clara Wieck, daughter of his former teacher. It was particularly after his marriage that he turned his attention to larger scale compositions, of which his Piano Concerto is an example, inspired by his wife. The other work heard here, the Intermezzi, Op. 4, dates from an earlier period, devoted in particular to the composition of shorter piano pieces, when a career as a pianist still seemed possible for him.

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 Places

The scenes shown all breathe an air of peace and tranquillity. Starting with an evening landscape in Bohemia, we move to a lake in the Tyrol, to the Museo Vela, with its gesso figures, Bavarian craftsmen fashioning glass and the Corniche near Cannes, in the South of France. Other scenes include the ancient Chapel of St Sixtus at Eygalières, the Church of St Jakob at Tramin, night in Madrid, and a nocturnal view of Seville, the whole culminating in the great Basilica of St Mark in Venice.

The Music

The music chosen, like the scenes it accompanies, suggest the calm of night. There are movements from Handel and Telemann, from concertos by Mozart for horn and for flute, and a Chopin Prelude. There is a Spanish element in the music of two French composers, Bizet and Massenet, and an air of nostalgia evoked in Fauré’s Pavane.

Video Format • NTSC / Colour / 4:3

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

Region Coding • No Region Coding

Ahead of next year’s Britten centenary, Tony Palmer’s 1967 classic film is made available again. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at the Aldeburgh Festival, cofounded by Benjamin Britten along with singer Peter Pears and writer Eric Crozier, and the opening by The Queen of the new concert hall at Snape.

Sean Day-Lewis of The Daily Telegraph raved, "A superb film (which) may well achieve the status of a classic, repeated again and again over the years... the brilliant editing (was) of the highest quality, making a natural partnership of music and picture."

DVD specifications:

Region: 0 (All Regions)

Rating: E (Exempt from Certification)

Duration: 53 mins

Picture Format: NTSC (all regions)

‘Mozart in Japan’ is Tony Palmer’s film of the triumphant return of the Japanese pianist Mitsuko Uchida to her homeland in 1986, following her ecstatically received European performances of all 27 Mozart Piano Concertos.

In 1986 Mitsuko Uchida burst upon the international scene with an astonishing series of concerts comprising all 27 Mozart Piano Concertos. Conducting the English Chamber Orchestra from the keyboard, her performances received universal praise. Music Week wrote that she had "brought a new understanding to Mozart"; The Guardian said that her "apparently unfussy approach to the most elusive of composers disguised a profound understanding."

Tony Palmer went with her on her triumphant return to her homeland. East met West on a truly memorable occasion to make a prize-winning film, now released on DVD for the first time.

DVD specifications:

Region: 0 (All Regions)

Rating: E (Exempt from Certification)

Duration: 64 mins

Picture Format: NTSC (all regions), 16:9, Colour

The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra - a cultural icon of Israel and one of the greatest classical ensembles in the world - celebrated its 75th Birthday on December 26th, 2011 together with three outstanding soloists of the younger generation – Julian Rachlin, Evgeny Kissin and Vadim Repin. The concert took place in the spectacular Hangar 11 at the harbor in Tel Aviv. Zubin Mehta conducted a spectacular programme of Saint-Saëns, Bach, Chopin, Chausson and Beethoven.

The film ‘Coming Home’ by János Darvas portrays the orchestra and tells of its moving history, which is both a reflection of the history of Israel and the fate of the Jews in the 20th Century. With texts from memoirs, with material from radio interviews, home movies and photos from the orchestra’s archives, as well as from private collections, the film will not only tells the story of the orchestra, but draws parallels to the fates of many individuals. Historical footage brings the 75-year history of the orchestra to life in concerts with Arturo Toscanini, Arthur Rubinstein, Leonard Bernstein, Isaac Stern, Zubin Mehta, Daniel Barenboim and Itzhak Perlman. Interviews with orchestra members from the early years weave through talks with musicians that joined later, and with current orchestra members. Moreover, Zubin Mehta, Daniel Barenboim, Itzhak Perlman and Pinkas Zukerman have their say. We also get the opportunity to watch the Israel Philharmonic in rehearsals, concerts and tours.

Part of the EuroArts Israel Philharmonic Anniversary Campaign with two more must have releases:

- 75 years anniversary concert & documentary “Coming Home” (Cat. No. DVD 2059098 + Cat. No. BD 2059094)

- Israel Philharmonic Orchestra Anniversary Edition - 5 DVDs Box Set incl. Classic Archive: Arthur Rubinstein plays Chopin (Cat. No. 3079638), Israel Philharmonic Orchestra: 70th-Anniversary Concert (Cat. No. 2055878), Bernstein conducts Brahms (Cat. No. 2072048) + New Israel Philharmonic Orchestra: 60th-Anniversary, Concert, 1996 & Joint Concert, 1990.

Picture format DVD: NTSC 16:9

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

Region code: 0

Subtitles: English

Booklet notes: English, German, French

Running time: 148 mins (95 mins Concert + 53 mins Documentary)

A documentary by Oscar winning director Allan Miller and Paul Smaczny to mark the composer’s centenary

A sonic innovator or an expert on chance? A writer or an anarchist? A specialist in mushrooms or a performance artist? A Zen master or a cook? John Cage was all of these things.

On the occasion of his centenary in Autumn 2012, this documentary by Oscar-winner Allan Miller and Emmy-winner Paul Smaczny pays tribute to the most fascinating American avant-garde composer John Cage. Shot in America, Germany and Japan, the program premieres rare archival footage; presenting concert excerpts and a set of short episodes, featuring associates of Cage and contemporary artists, playfully delineating different aspects of John Cage.

The documentary features interviews with Yoko Ono, David Tudor, Christian Wolff, Steffen Schleiermacher, Irvine Arditti, Toshio Hosokawa, Mayumi Miyata, Calvin Tomkins and many others.

Picture Format DVD: NTSC 16:9

Sound Formats DVD: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1, PCM Stereo

Region Code: 0 (worldwide)

Running Time: 60:35 min

Bonus: 49:25 min

Disc Format: DVD-9 (1 DVD)

My Favourite Opera – a new series of EuroArts: Here we study the results of involvement with a specific role. We witness musical and stage rehearsals in 1992, listen to what the artists have to say about the work in progress and share in private moments.

World famous bass-baritone Ruggero Raimondi returns to his birthplace of Bologna to perform the title role in Mozart's masterwork "Don Giovanni" at the historic Teatro Comunale - a role he has performed over 400 times world-wide.

He worked alongside conductor Riccardo Chailly and stage director Luca Ronconi as well as a distinguished cast of fellow singers. As the production develops he takes time out to reflect on his career with his family in the beautiful Italian countryside, coaches students at the Bologna Conservatory who are themselves studying Don Giovanni, and reflects on the character of another great operatic Don, Massenet’s Don Quichotte, inspired by Cervantes’ immortal Don Quixote.

This intimate portrait of a great opera singer also reveals how an opera production is created at the highest level.

Picture format DVD: NTSC 4:3

Sound formats DVD: PCM Stereo

Region code: 0

Languages: English, Italian

Subtitles: German, French

Booklet notes: English, German, French

Running time: 58 mins

Music by Johann Strauss II

Music by JS Bach

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