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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | R. Strauss: Ein Heldenleben & Alpensinfonie
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| |  | Mariss Jansons ConductsLive from The Philharmonie Im Gasteig, Munich, 2011
Beethoven wrote his Piano Concerto No. 3 around 1800, at a time in which the ambitious composer had created his fi rst important works in Vienna, such as the “Pathétique” Sonata and the “Moonlight” Sonata – personal works full of power and passion, with which he distanced himself from his mentor and model, Haydn. This performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks under the direction of its principal conductor Mariss Jansons stars the distinguished pianist Mitsuko Uchida, who is known the world over for her outstanding interpretations of the piano works of Schubert, Mozart and Beethoven, as well as of 20th-century masters such as Schoenberg, Berg, Webern and Boulez. Richard Strauss wrote his tone poem for large orchestra Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life) in 1898, shortly before he left Munich for the Berlin Court Opera, where he was appointed house conductor. In the imaginary hero whose eventful life is described in the work, the young Strauss apparently envisioned the freelance artist of his time, who was exposed to considerable hostility during the Wilhelminian era, just as Strauss himself in his early Munich period. Sound Format: PCM Stereo, DD 5.0, dts-HD Master Audio 5.0 Format: DVD 9 / NTSC Running Time: 90 mins FSK: 0 Worldwide available |
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| |  | Mariss Jansons ConductsLive from The Philharmonie Im Gasteig, Munich, 2011
Beethoven wrote his Piano Concerto No. 3 around 1800, at a time in which the ambitious composer had created his fi rst important works in Vienna, such as the “Pathétique” Sonata and the “Moonlight” Sonata – personal works full of power and passion, with which he distanced himself from his mentor and model, Haydn. This performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks under the direction of its principal conductor Mariss Jansons stars the distinguished pianist Mitsuko Uchida, who is known the world over for her outstanding interpretations of the piano works of Schubert, Mozart and Beethoven, as well as of 20th-century masters such as Schoenberg, Berg, Webern and Boulez. Richard Strauss wrote his tone poem for large orchestra Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life) in 1898, shortly before he left Munich for the Berlin Court Opera, where he was appointed house conductor. In the imaginary hero whose eventful life is described in the work, the young Strauss apparently envisioned the freelance artist of his time, who was exposed to considerable hostility during the Wilhelminian era, just as Strauss himself in his early Munich period. Picture Format: 16:9, 1080i FULL HD Running Time: 90 mins Blu-ray Disc: 25 GB (Single Layer) FSK: 0 Region Code: Worldwide Worldwide available |
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| |  | Strauss: Tone Poems
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| |  | Strauss: Till Eulenspiegel & Ein Heldenleben
Michael Tilson Thomas is a truly exceptional artist – Music Director of the San Francisco and the New World Symphony Orchestras, Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and winner of ten Grammy Awards, he is dynamic, stimulating and innovative. He is the recipient of the National Arts Medal, America’s highest honour for artistic excellence, and a member of the Chevalier dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France. Tilson Thomas’s 1989 recording of Heldenleben with the LSO on the CBS Masterworks series was hailed as outstanding: ‘This is the most emotionally sumptuous Heldenleben I have encountered since Barbirolli's with the same orchestra 20 years ago.’ The CD was coupled with a ‘witty and sparkling account’ of Till Eulenspiegel. (Gramophone Magazine 1989). Since 2004, Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra have worked on Keeping Score, a media project including television, web sites, radio programmes and programmes in schools. Tilson Thomas is well known for his ability to make music accessible and appealing to wide audiences, and these two exciting performances with extensive rehearsal footage and educational insight from such an expert communicator make for a valuable 2-DVD set. This is the first DVD release. Sound format: LPCM stereo/ Ambient Mastering Picture format: 4:3 Running time: 143’ Subtitles: F/G Menu languages: English Booklet languages: E/F/G Region code: 0 Territory Restrictions: None “Tilson Thomas’s manner is perfect – he’s engaging, knowledgeable, and never seems to be talking down to his audience...it’s a treat to see the LSO displaying such effortless corporate virtuosity. As you’d expect from Humphrey Burton, the direction and production are exemplary, combined with clear images and good sound.” Graham Rickson, The Arts Desk, 18th June 2011 “At his finest, in Till Eulenspiegel, Michael Tilson Thomas proves an ideal narrator...This is no merely an intellectual analysis but a gripping exposition of how a masterpiece can satisfyingly engage the listener using a constantly evolving texture of simple musical ideas....[Ein Heldenleben] is gloriously played by the LSO, with Alexander Barantschik's violin portrayal of Strauss's wife wonderfully sympathetic.” Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2011 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Rudolf Kempe conducts Dvorak & Strauss
The audio recording of the Dvorˇák 9 from this Kempe DVD has been released on BBC Legends, and was a Penguin Guide Rosette Winner. In this performance of Strauss, we witness Kempe’s mastery in securing issues of ‘structure, atmosphere and emotional intensity’ (David Patmore), along with his ‘unfailing musicality’. According to the Times critic, Joan Chissell, Kempe’s performance of Heldenleben won him a ‘hero’s ovation, and rightly… Conducting without a score, Mr. Kempe gave detailed guidance to every player, yet at the same time retained the ability to stand back and view the work in perspective.’ The performance of Dvorˇák 9 a year later was described by Chissell as ‘glowing enough to make you fall in love with its familiar strains all over again’. ‘Kempe successfully avoided what seems increasingly to be a danger today: exaggeration for the sake of effect on the one hand, and stiffness as a result of seeking clinical perfection on the other. Only a chosen few, such as Kempe, can realise their intensions by re-creating and at the same time remaining true to the original’ (Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau) Kempe’s style appealed greatly to British musicians in whom he inspired great confidence and joy. 1DVD Sound format: LCPM mono Picture format: 4:3 Running time: 89’ Subtitles: n/a Menu languages: English Booklet languages: E/F/G Region code: 0 Territory Restrictions: None “Fascinating mid-'70s footage of Kempe at the Proms, caught in vintage colour. Famous for his Heldenleben, he is even more illuminating in Dvorak's New World Symphony.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2011 ***** “a bittersweet reminder of times when a spot could be held for 16 or even 32 bars without breaking off to see is something more diverting is happening elsewhere...the more intense love for this music comes flowing out of [Kempe's] arms, and the BBC SO wind principals respond in kind...The battle is as exciting as his studio recordings, but there's much more light than heat about direction and playing” Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2011 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Strauss - Tone Poems
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| |  | Beethoven - Symphony No. 4
The concert which Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic gave in London’s Royal Festival Hall on the evening of Saturday 27 April 1985 was their first in England for four years. In May 1981 they had played Bruckner’s Fifth Symphony in the Royal Festival Hall and given an unforgettable concert of music by Bach, Mozart and Richard Strauss in Oxford’s Sheldonian Theatre. London had not been included in the orchestra’s itinerary in its centenary year in 1982 and for much of 1983-84 Karajan and the orchestra had barely been on speaking terms. Since the centenary year had been something of a high water mark in this hitherto sensationally successful 27-year partnership, the breakdown in relations came as something of a shock to the musical world. There were times in 1984 when it looked as if the two parties would go their separate ways; finally, a reconciliation was effected in the late summer of that year ahead of a scheduled tour of Japan and South Korea. The Krach was ostensibly over the appointment of a new clarinettist but there were other factors too, not least Karajan’s advancing years and stirrings among a contingent of mainly younger players keen to assert their independence and exploit the financial strength which the orchestra’s sky-high reputation now conferred on them. Throughout his life, Karajan had been noted for his extraordinary mental and physical prowess. Now in his mid-70s, he was troubled by a painful and ultimately irreversible spinal condition that had nearly cost him his life in the winter of 1975-76. He had soldiered on but even his energies were finite. In April 1985, he had invited Klaus Tennstedt to share the conducting burden at the Salzburg Easter Festival. ‘It was good to have Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic, happily reunited after a prolonged disagreement, pay their first visit to the Festival Hall – an event said to have caused prices of black market tickets to reach astronomical heights,’ wrote Peter Stadlen in the Daily Telegraph. The audience was clearly shocked to see how frail Karajan had become as he edged towards the rostrum. (He himself likened his experience of walking unaided in his later years to stepping on sheet ice.) The Times reported a slight stumble in the advance, at which point ‘the applause hiccupped in a breathless unison’. Yet once settled on the podium, Karajan was, as ever, fully in control, master of all he surveyed. Extract from the booklet note © Richard Osborne, 2008 “For anyone lucky enough to have secured a ticket few orchestral concerts have remained so vividly in the memory as the one given by Karajan's incomparable Berlin Philharmonic in London's Royal Festival Hall on April 27, 1985.
The surprises began with the conductor's own physical frailty. Edging unsteadily towards the rostrum and propping himself up against the railing, he adopted the peculiar posture that enabled him to remain upright and in command notwithstanding a debilitating spinal condition.
In truth the Beethoven was and is a gift to his many detractors. With the maestro unwilling or unable to lift his arms, the band turns in its patented imitation of a gramophone record. Surfaces are immaculate but it's like being trapped in a pudding without air in the texture. Phrases, even whole sections glide by with no intake of breath and the first two movements in particular may induce feelings of claustrophobia in younger listeners. They should persevere.
No superlatives can convey the inevitability, conviction and sweep of Karajan's Heldenleben which makes even this notoriously shrill-sounding venue resound in glory. The original BBC sound team of producer Misha Donat and balance engineer John McCulloch capture a paradoxical sonority, rich yet transparent, 'lambent in its beauty, never cloying or opaque' as described by Richard Osborne in his characteristically generous booklet-notes. The battle scene may be slow but was it ever more incisively chronicled? The Strauss at least is indispensable.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 “Karajan's Beethoven Fourth was recorded when the Berlin Philharmonic came to London in 1985. Its excellent speaks for itself and the coupling is equally memorable.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Richard Strauss: Ein Heldenleben & Metamorphosen
“A splendid augury of things to come in this team's Strauss series.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2007 ***** “Ein Heldenleben and Metamorphosen, though written at opposite ends of Strauss's long career, make an ideal coupling, as both were directly inspired by Beethoven's Eroica Symphony. The warm strength of the key of E flat is at the root of Heldenleben too, while Metamorphosen, reflecting Strauss's pain over the wartime destruction of so much he loved in Germany, repeatedly and movingly quotes the Eroica's Funeral March.
Aptly too, the orchestra is the Staatskapelle Dresden, Strauss's favourite, responsible for many Strauss performances.
In this new version of Heldenleben, Fabio Luisi has opted to go back to what he describes as the original ending. This was Strauss's first idea, never published, of ending the piece pianissimo.
It was only later, realising that the response of audiences would be greater from a loud ending, that he was persuaded to append the now usual ending, adding some two dozen bars with fanfares and a final fortissimo chord.
Luisi proves an outstanding Straussian, drawing passionate playing from the orchestra, as flamboyant in Heldenleben as anyone would want, and darkly intense in the valedictory paragraphs and complex counterpoint of Metamorphosen, though the recording makes it sound as though more than 23 strings are playing. In Heldenleben Luisi is excellent in bringing out the massive structure of the work like a gigantic sonata form, quite apart from the programmatic element. Kai Vogler proves an outstanding violin soloist in the role of the Hero's partner, a clear portrait of the volatile Frau Strauss, here played with just the right degree of spontaneous flexibility. The recording is exceptionally full and brilliant, to match the resonant beauty of the playing.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 “Luisi proves an outstanding Straussian, drawing passionate playing from the orchestra, as flamboyant in Heldenleben as anyone would want, and darkly intense in the valedictory paragraphs and complex counterpoint of Metamorphosen… In Heldenleben… Kai Vogler proves an outstanding violin soloist in the role of the Hero's partner, a clear portrait of the volatile Frau Strauss, here played with just the right degree of spontaneous flexibility. The recording is exceptionally full and brilliant, to match the resonant beauty of the playing.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2007 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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