DVD Videos

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

Bringing together a collection of arias and choruses from some of the world’s favourite operas, this disc showcases the outstanding artists and productions from the stage of the Royal Opera House.

The perfect gift for anyone who loves opera.

A unique collection from one of the world’s finest opera houses, showcasing the international opera stars and famous Royal Opera House productions.

The comprehensive packaging will include a synopsis of each opera, suggestions for further exploration of the catalogue and full subtitles.

International stars featured in the collection include: Jonas Kaufmann, Renee Fleming, Simon Keenlyside, Gerald Finley and Miah Persson.

Running time: 80 minutes

Subtitles: EN/FR/DE/JP/ES

Sound format: 2.0LPCM + 5.1(5.0) DTS

Set Design by FRANCO ZEFFIRELLI

Arthaus presents a sensational filmed document from the musical legacy of Carlos Kleiber: The wonderful staging of Carmen by director Franco Zeffirelli in a live recording from the Vienna State Opera in 1978. The meticulous conductor only ever conducted a highly selected repertoire and among his very few audio and video recordings are only seven complete operas.

The Zeffirelli staging is the only premiere that Kleiber ever conducted. In December 1978, the masterly Franco Zeffirelli created a colourful and atmospheric imagery while the musical genius of Kleiber drew from the music a rhythmic vitality and subtle passion that never lost its transparency and lightness.

Carlos Kleiber conducted an extraordinary cast. Plácido Domingo, still the young lyrical tenor, starred as Don Jose, and Elena Obraztsova gave a wonderful natural Carmen, a far cry from the usual she-devil erotic cliché. The cast was completed by the young Isobel Buchanan who stood in at this production at short notice and included Yuri Mazurok who was later to become a high ranking Verdi baritone. The Viennese audience in the opera house hailed the performance as a triumph. “The applause”, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, “threatened to last as long as a full-length opera”, and the legend of Carlos Kleiber’s Vienna Carmen was born.

Nearly 35 years has passed since then, and the Vienna State Opera has seen many a performance of the Zeffirelli production of Carmen, with singers who were certainly no less eminent than the first cast – but none of them have achieved the cult status the first night enjoys in the memories of opera- lovers. The reason for it surely lies in the conductor Carlos Kleiber, who directed that première and stamped it with his own personality.

Sound Format: PCM Stereo

Picture Format: 4:3

DVD Format: DVD 9, NTSC

Subtitle Languages: FR (Original Version), GB, DE, ES, IT

Running Time: 154 mins

FSK: 0

Script, Choreography and Lighting Antonio Gades and Carlos Saura

Stage Setting Antonio Saura

Artistic Director Stella Arauzo

Created by Antonio Gades in collaboration with Carlos Saura, this matchless production shows how the explosive power and intensity of feeling in traditional Spanish flamenco can bring vividly to life the sultry passion, earthy emotion, love and rivalry that is Carmen.

Filmed in High Definition at the Teatro Real, Madrid for the 75th anniversary celebration of Gades’ birth, the ‘Compañía Antonio Gades’ performs Carmen to perfection.

Antonio Gades is one of the most influential figures in Spanish flamenco. He played a decisive role in getting the genre recognized by the contemporary art world. Gades started performing his choreography for Georges Bizet's Carmen in the 1960s, taking it all the way to the Teatro alla Scala, Milan. This was one of his most successful ballets. It was also brought to the big screen by Carlos Saura in 1983, a film that received an Oscar nomination and won the Jury's Award at the Cannes Festival.

Audio DVD/2.0 LPCM/5.1 DTS

Picture format NTSC

Audio BD LPCM stereo and 5.0 DTS-HD Master Audio

Described as “the great Verdian bass” (Le Figaro) and a “Mefistofele who stood out over all the others” (Der Neue Merker), Carlo Colombara brings some of the most famous bass rôles to life in this wide-ranging programme. Emotions range from the pride of Escamillo in Bizet’s Carmen, through the terrors of Verdi’s Attila, to the tender recollections of Rachmaninov’s Aleko. Mephistopheles strides powerfully through both Gounod and Boito’s operas, and Rossini’s comic wit contrasts with the darkness of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov.

In 1986 he won the prize for the best Italian singer in the G. B. Viotti Competition and the following year he won the As.Li.Co competition before making his début at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome in Ernani. His subsequent career has brought appearances in the most important theatres of the world, in Tokyo, London, Berlin, Vienna, Milan, New York, Zurich, Barcelona, where he now lives, Verona and elsewhere.

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

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

Martha Argerich proves once again her great pianistic technique in a wave of virtuosity, performing emblematic works of the greatest composers ever.

Martha Argerich has long been hailed as one of the greatest and most uniquely imaginative pianists. She is most admired for the pure joy of her music-making and her individual approach to each work, each situation and each audience.

The Verbier Festival, held each summer in the Swiss Alps, has developed over eighteen years into one of the most important classical music festivals in Europe, bringing together great musical talent and dedicated music lovers alike from across the globe.

Martha Argerich celebrates her 70th birthday on the 5 June 2011.

Picture format DVD: NTSC 16:9

Sounds formats DVD: PCM Stereo

Region code: 0

Booklet notes: English, German, French

Running time: 87 min

FSK: 0