DVD Videos

Documentary: Lilian Birnbaum, Peter Stephan Jungk

Bonus: Horant H. Hohlfeld

André Previn is one of the most multi-talented and prominent musicians of our time, a composer of music of all genres, a conductor, arranger, pianist and jazz musician.

He won, among countless Awards, four Oscars for his movie scores, had 13 Oscar nominations and he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010

This intimate portrait features Anne-Sophie Mutter, Mia Farrow, Oscar Peterson, Renée Fleming, Lukas Previn

Bonus: Two Mozart Piano Quartets (featuring members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, filmed in 2000)

Running Time Total: 107 minutes

Documentary: 52 minutes

Mozart Quartets: 55 minutes

Picture 16:9, color

Sound PCM Stereo

Subtitles German, English, French, Spanish

Directed by academy award winner Allan Miller, 'You cannot start without me' offers viewers an intimate look into the demanding life of Valery Gergiev, widely acclaimed as one of the leading conductors of our time. This rich musical film offers rare insight into the talent training and concentration required of a great conductor and reveals how Gergiev combines an impossible international conducting schedule with his job as director of the legendary Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. The film includes scenes with London Symphony Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera, Gergiev’s boyhood home in the Caucasus mountains, Moscow, cities along the Volga river and performances by Yefim Bronfman, Renée Fleming, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Leonidas Kovakos, Uliana Lopatkina and Anna Netrebko. This film presents a penetrating portrait of Gergiev the man and artist.

Format 16:9, NTSC

PCM stereo, Dolby 5.1

Subtitles: Eng, Fr, Ger, Jap, Russ, Spa

Bonus: interview, concerts excerpts, 87+ 69”

A documentary featuring one of the finest Spanish voices of recent times.The film accompanies Montserrat Caballé on a trip through the most significant cities, historical performances and audio recordings of her life. We witness her in conversation, in numerous historic performances and, through the testimonies of friends and fellow musicians, gain a deeper understanding of Montserrat the person and Caballé the artist. Caballé Beyond Music includes an exclusive selection of legendary audiovisual archives, some of them unpublished, which constitute probably the best operatic moments in existence. This film is a complex and passionate portrait of a woman who can only be described as a myth.Yet the objective is to get the truth which lies beyond the myth of this extraordinary performer - her sensitivity and vitality underscore her uncontested place as one of the greatest communicators of the 20th Century.

"Music is magic and it is a privilege to live with it. With this film I wish to share with you the most important moments in my career, which are also the best moments of my life." Montserrat Caballé

harmonia

NTSC 16:9, DD 2.0, DTS 5.1

Region code: 0,Audience: all

Languages: Spanish, German

Subtitles: English, French, Italian

Running time: 98 mins

Directed by Gilbert Deflo

Set Design and Costumes by William Orlandi

Arthaus presents an exceptional Manon from the Opera Paris on DVD. With American star soprano Renée Fleming in the manyfaceted title role, Argentinean tenor Marcelo Álvarez opposite her and Spanish opera conductor Jesús López-Cobos, this production provides first-rate listening and viewing of one of the masterpieces of French opéra lyrique.

The musical excellence of the performers in this production is outstanding. Renée Fleming’s Manon is womanly and seductive, her voice perfectly cultivated in this enormously demanding role, that requires change of register, sentiment and expression more often than almost any other operatic role. The combination of vocal beauty, stylistic versatility and commitment to dramatic portrayal made her Paris Manon an enormous success, in an interview she comments, “I think Manon is my favourite role. I love French music, it is so elegant and delicate stylistically. It has both dramatic and lyrical elements”.

Renée Fleming is partnered by the brilliant Marcelo Álvarez, who is hailed as „one of the hottest tenors on the international scene“ (Opera News), in the role of the Chevalier des Grieux. Together they present an absolutely moving final scene, when Manon dies in her lover’s arms, proving them one of the dream teams of the international opera scene.

The staging by Gilbert Deflo had its first performance at the Bastille opera in Paris in June 1997 and proved to be an unforgettable experience complete with splendid historical costumes by William Orlandi, sophisticated lighting, opulent ballet dancing and colourful mass scenes. The minimal décor of darkly shaded abstract backdrops further accentuates the magnificent, colourful costumes – thus shifting the focus onto the interaction between the characters of the drama. This is supported by the close-up filming, so that the viewer can actually experience an intimate filmed drama.

Set Design and Costumes by Michael Levine

At a time when the verismo operas enjoyed great success, the Czech composer Antonin Dvorak turned to the world of fairy tales for his penultimate opera. Finally his hopes were fulfi lled and one of his works for the stage was successful. Today Rusalka is as popular with Czech children and adults as Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel is in Germany. With René Fleming in the title role as Rusalka, this production is a rare and outstanding document for a modern staging of this Czech national opera.

High Definition filming from the Zurich Opera in 2007.

"My music was played, I came in and my eye's met Renée's eyes. That gorgeous look. I became Alfredo and all I wanted to do was melt Violetta's heart with the fire of my soul." Rolando Villazón

Recorded live in 1995