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LA FILLE MAL GARDEE DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 00440 073 4158
HANDEL - GIULIO CESARE OPUS ARTE OA 0950 D
PUCCINI - TURANDOT OPUS ARTE FAVEO OA F4004 D
MOZART - IDOMENEO DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 00440 073 4234
THE COMPLETE FINGERSTYLE GUITARIST (COMPLETE BEGINNER) WANSBECK
ROSSINI - LA CENERENTOLA OPUS ARTE OA 0944 D Gioacchino Rossini, born the son of an Italian town crier, became the most influential and famous composer of his day. He retired from composing at the height of his fame, aged just 37, having written 40 operas in 20 years. Rossini's main achievement was to bring to comic opera the same expressiveness and vocal techniques that tragic opera had always demanded. His most popular opera, The Barber of Seville, was written in only thirteen days and he composed La Cenerentola in a mere three weeks of the following year, when still only 25. His version of Cinderella abandons fairy tale elements and transformation scenes in favour of a series of disguises It had a hostile reception when first performed in Rome in 1817 but soon became popular throughout Italy and beyond. For most of the 19th century, its popularity rivalled that of the Barber, but as the coloratura contralto became rare it gradually fell out of the repertoire. Since the 1970s, Rossini has enjoyed a renaissance and a new generation of mezzo-sopranos such as Cecilia Bartoli and Jennifer Larmore have again made La Cenerentola part of the standard operatic repertoire. In this elegant Glyndebourne production directed by Sir Peter Hall, Vladimir Jurowski conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Glyndebourne Chorus. The excellent Romanian mezzo Ruxandra Donose makes a spirited Cenerentola, and Raquella Sheeran and Lucia Cirillo are terrific as her horrid stepsisters, Clorinda and Tisbe. The other soloists are Maxim Mironov (Don Ramiro), Nathan Berg, Luciano di Pasquale and the baritone Simone Alberghini (Dandini). The performance was filmed in 2005 using high definition cameras and was recorded in multi-track 5.1 surround sound. Extras include an illustrated synopsis and cast gallery well as an Insights feature with Sir Peter Hall and Vladimir Jurowski. This traditional, immensely enjoyable production reveals both the comedy and the darkness that lies below the surface of Rossini’s masterpiece. THE RAMALLAH CONCERT/KNOWLEDGE IS THE BEGINNING WARNER 2564627922
BELLINI - NORMA KICCO CLASSIC KC9009
BUTTERFLY LOVERS - MARIKKI HAKOLA MARCO POLO 2.220002 The pioneering Finnish artist Marikki Hakola studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki and has been involved with many multimedia projects since the early 1980s, including music and dance films, video installations and internet art. She received the prestigious NHK President’s Prize for her film L’Enfant et Les Sortilèges at the 2005 International BANFF World Television Festival in Canada and her works have been shown in art museums, festivals, exhibitions and on television channels all over the world. Butterfly Lovers is a music and dance film based on the popular Chinese violin concerto Butterfly Lovers, inspired by the ancient Chinese fairy tale, A Love Story of Liang Shan Bo and Zhu Ying Tai. The script, direction, visual design, editing and production are by Marikki Hakola, and Dou Dou (the acclaimed artistic director of Shanghai Song and Dance Group) is responsible for the choreography as well as being the other solo dancer with Ding Yuehong. The film also features the outstanding Japanese violinist Takako Nishizaki, British conductor James Judd and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. The DVD also includes a documentary designed and directed by Marikki Hakola in which composer Chen Gang describes the birth of the concerto, Takako Nishizaki talks about her career, and James Judd analyses the composition and reveals how he sees the work of a conductor. Zeng Kang Mei talks about the origins of the Love Story of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai and its significance to the Chinese, and Dou Dou considers the art of dance, including the role of a solo dancer. The Butterfly Lovers Concerto is also available on CD from Naxos. MOZART - LA CLEMENZA DI TITO OPUS ARTE OA 0942 D La Clemenza di Tito was Mozart’s last great opera, written to celebrate the Coronation of the Emperor Leopold II as King of Bohemia in 1791. Its final performance in Prague coincided with the first performance in Vienna of The Magic Flute, only three months before the composer’s death. The libretto is based on an opera seria by the brilliant Italian-born librettist Metastasio (Pietro Trapassi), who had worked with Gluck, Handel and Haydn. Less often performed than the more accessible Da Ponte trilogy, La Clemenza di Tito is a powerful, inventive and dramatic work. Mozart wrote some of his most beautiful music to create an opera seria of great nobility - a humane reflection on relationships, power and forgiveness. This outstanding Opéra national de Paris production was directed by Ursel and Karl-Ernst Herrmann, with the Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Sylvain Cambreling. Soloists include Susan Graham (wonderful as Sesto), Hannah Esther Minutillo (Annio), Catherine Naglestad, Ekaterina Siurina, Roland Bracht and Christoph Prégardien (superb in the title role). Extras with this double-DVD set include a documentary film by Reiner E. Moritz, featuring interviews with Ursel and Karl-Ernst Herrmann, Sylvain Cambreling, Susan Graham, Christoph Prégardien, Hannah Ester Minutillo, Ekaterina Siurina, Catherine Naglestad and Gerard Mortier. ‘An evening of overwhelming beauty’ - Le Monde. TALES FROM HOFFNUNG AND RUDDIGORE BLUE DOLPHIN BDVD2009 Gerard Hoffnung was a unique talent. Born in Berlin in 1925, he went to London in 1939 as a refugee from Nazi Germany and went on to become an artist, teacher, cartoonist, caricaturist, musician and tuba player, as well as a broadcaster and raconteur. Although he died at the early age of 34, he achieved much in his short life, including several hilarious symphonic concerts and many wonderfully absurd drawings with a musical theme. Tales From Hoffnung is a collection of seven enchanting animated films made by Britain’s first animation studio, Halas & Batchelor, for the BBC in the 1960s. All are wonderfully inventive and are based on Hoffnung’s original drawings, combining German sensibility with British whimsy. Set to music arranged by Francis Chagrin, they include the unflappable Palm Court Orchestra, Professor Yaya’s hilarious family, the Music Academy and the famous Symphony Orchestra finale that literally brings the house down. Ruddigore, the first animated work based on Gilbert & Sullivan, features voices from the D’Oyle Carte Opera company and music by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The Barons of Ruddigore have been struck by a hereditary curse which condemns them to committing a crime every day or face a painful death. The supernatural, revenge and love further complicate a long-lost heir’s attempts to escape his destiny. Bonus material includes the trailer to the original 1964 release and Vivien Halas and animator Tony Guy in conversation. Tales From Hoffnung and Ruddigore have both been digitally restored and Paul Wells, a Professor of Animation Studies, introduces and reviews the films. This delightful release will entertain people of all ages and is a wonderful way to introduce children to the joys of classical music. RAMEAU - LES PALADINS OPUS ARTE OA 0938D
RENATA TEBALDI - A PORTRAIT VAI 4324 The great Italian opera singer Renata Ersilia Clotilde Tebaldi (1922 - 2004) was one of the most successful lyric sopranos of the post-war period, much admired for the beauty and purity of her voice as well as her stylish stage presence. Born in Pesaro, she received her earliest musical training at home and at the Boito Conservatory, Parma, before making her professional debut in 1944. Two years later, she sang at the reopening of La Scala in Milan. She was an acclaimed member of the Metropolitan Opera company from 1955 to 1973, and retired from singing in 1976. Legendary for her superb musicianship, Tebaldi was particularly well-known for her interpretations of the title roles in Tosca, Aïda and Madama Butterfly. On this double DVD set she takes three Puccini roles, Mimi, Tosca and Cio-cio-san (in the famous 1956 New York television recording of La Boheme, with Jussi Bjoerling). She also sings Un bel di and the Death Scene from Madama Butterfly, as well as arias from Tosca (with Eugene Tobin and George London), Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur, Cavalleria Rusticana, and a stunning Suicidio from Ponchielli’s La Gioconda. The second disc, in black and white, features a Canadian Broadcasting Company television concert from 1965, in which Tebaldi exquisitely performs O Mio Babbino Caro from Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi as well as songs by Rossini (La Regatta di Venezia) and the devastating finale from Act II of Tosca - with Canadian baritone, Louis Quilico, as Scarpia. An added bonus is another version of the Death of Butterfly, recorded for the Bell Telephone Hour in 1961 and never before released. Renata Tebaldi’s singing is magnificent throughout and this Portrait makes a splendid tribute to an exemplary artist. RAMEAU - LES INDES GALANTES OPUS ARTE OA 0923 D Jean-Philippe Rameau, born in Dijon, France, in 1683, was a composer, harpsichordist and organist. Self-taught in harmony and counterpoint, he published his Traité de l’harmonie 1722, which was followed by other textbooks on harmony between 1726 and 1752. He lived in Paris from 1722, teaching the harpsichord and writing many works for this instrument. He composed more than 20 operas and opera-ballets, the second of which was Les Indes galantes. This extravagant opera-ballet tells four exotic love stories, using typically colourful orchestration and bold harmonies. In Le Turc généreux Osman sets free his captive, Emilie, whom he loves, so that she may be reunited with her former lover, Valère; Les Incas de Perou is about the rivalry of the Inca Huascar and the Spaniard Don Carlos, both in pursuit of Princess Phani; Les Fleurs offers a Persian love intrigue, as the Sultana Fatima tries to detect whether her husband Tacmas has his eye on the lovely Atalide; and Les Sauvages is set in North America, where a Spaniard and a Frenchman compete for the love of Zima, daughter of a native chief. This beautifully produced DVD features a highly effective staging by Andrei Serban and the performers include Valérie Gabail, Nicolas Rivenq, Paul Agnew, Patricia Petibon, Nicolas Cavallier, Jaël Azzaretti, Anna Maria Panzarella, William Christie and Les Arts Florissants. Extras include a documentary, ‘Swinging Rameau’, as well as biographies and an illustrated synopsis. ‘A vibrant and spectacular work on a grand scale’ - Artsworld. RHYTHM IN YOUR RIFFS - BOB BROZMAN HOMESPUN VIDEO DVD-BOB-RR21 On this inspiring DVD, the American guitarist Bob Brozman shows how acoustic guitarists of any style and genre can look at the guitar in a whole new way. With humour and improvised virtuosity, Brozman engagingly explores the many aspects of rhythm guitar and what makes a good ‘groove’, helping you develop your coordination through a variety of drills, leading you in hand- and foot-tapping exercises so that accents, swing rhythm, polyrhythms, triplets in blues playing and other meters become second nature. Moving the exercises to the guitar, he shows how to incorporate these techniques into songs using strumming patterns, string slapping, fret tapping, hammering, damping, and other devices that will put emphasis and movement into your music. Fingerstyle players will be fascinated by the ways that these subtleties are used in blues and ragtime picking. Among other things, you will learn how to incorporate blues, Caribbean, New Orleans, calypso and other rhythms into your picking and strumming style. The ability to change and improve your instrumental arrangements through rhythmic variations is at the heart of this lesson, aptly demonstrated by the fact that Bob Brozman has improvised all of the music, proving the power and spontaneity of good rhythmic guitar playing. Follow his instructions and you will not only be able to keep your ‘groove’, you will also walk in a much funkier way. How cool is that? ‘I have found that rhythm and feeling is what captures the hearts of audiences, far more than all the scales in the world. Rhythm and intention of attack give life to guitar music. The best riffs and solos still tell a story even if you remove the pitches and just hear the rhythm of the phrases’ - Bob Brozman. This is one of a wide range of instructional DVDs available from Homespun (www.homespuntapes.com). THE ELKINA PIANO DUO AT STEINWAY HALL AMADEUS HL 00331684
PROKOFIEV - THE STONE FLOWER ARTHAUS MUSIK 101 121
DONIZETTI - PIA DE’ TOLOMEI DYNAMIC 33488 Venice’s Teatro La Fenice opera house is one of the world’s most beautiful. Originally opened in 1792, it burnt down and was rebuilt in 1836 but controversially burnt down again in 1996. It was entirely appropriate that following the building’s reconstruction one of the first productions to take place was Pia de’ Tolomei. Gaetano Donizetti’s lyric tragedy in two parts, with a libretto by Salvatore Cammarano, was originally composed for La Fenice, where it was staged on 18 February 1837. Papal censors later altered the libretto and other changes were made without the composer’s consent. The production featured in this double-DVD was staged in April 2005 during the first season of the reconstructed Teatro La Fenice. It was the first performance of the new critical edition, directed by Christian Gangneron, with scenery by Thierry Leproust and costumes by Claude Masson. The musical director and conductor is Paolo Arrivabeni and the cast includes Patrizia Ciofi as Pia, Dario Schmunck (Ghino), Andrew Schroeder (Nello) and Laura Polverelli (Rodrigo). The plot is every bit as melodramatic as Donizetti’s more famous Lucia di Lammermoor, as the composer again makes his heroine suffer to sublime music. Pia de’ Tolomei was a 13th-century Sienese noblewoman who came to a tragic end when her husband Nello kept her in a castle in the middle of a swamp, hoping she would contract malaria. When this failed, he had her poisoned. The story is told by Dante in the Purgatorio and forms the basis of Donizetti’s fascinating though perhaps overlong opera, with its disturbing mad scene and a climactic sequence that closely resembles the one between Violetta and Germont in La Traviata. This commendably faithful version of the opera reveals an abundance of melodic inspiration and the celebrated Italian soprano Patrizia Ciofi is outstanding in the title role. PUCCINI - MADAMA BUTTERFLY OPUS ARTE OA 0936 D Giacomo Puccini’s poignant opera Madama Butterfly (Madame Butterfly), with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, was based on a book by John Luther Long and a play by David Belasco. The first version, premiered 1904 at La Scala in Milan, had only two acts and was poorly received. The revised version split the long second act in half and proved more acceptable, although the two-act version is still preferred in Italy. Sometimes criticised for its stereotyping of ‘passive’ Asians or reflecting the supposed anti-American tone of the play on which it is based, Madame Butterfly nevertheless remains one of the most popular works in the operatic repertoire. This double DVD captures Robert Wilson’s impressive and highly stylised 2003 production, which enhances the timeless beauty of Puccini’s moving Japanese tragedy. The director has reduced Madame Butterfly to its essential elements, avoiding traditional sets and costumes to focus on the movement of the singers. The style is reminiscent of Japanese No drama, with bare sets were and imaginary props. Cheryl Barker (Cio-Cio-San) and Martin Thompson (Pinkerton) lead an outstanding cast in this recording from the Amsterdam Muziektheater with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted with passion by Edo de Waart. Other soloists include Catherine Keen (Suzuki) and Richard Stilwell (an excellent Sharpless). Extras include an illustrated synopsis and cast gallery as well as an introduction to the Opera, featuring interviews with Robert Wilson, Edo De Waart and members of the cast. MONTEVERDI - L’ORFEO DYNAMIC 33477 The Baroque era produced some of the most vocal ever written by far the most important vocal music and the first operas were composed in early seventeenth century Italy by Cavalieri and Monteverdi. Most operas from this period were based on stories and plays from Greek and Roman mythology, one of the most famous of these being Monteverdi’s Orfeo, first produced for the carnival at Mantua in 1607. The opera is.based on the Greek myth of Orpheus. From an idyllic opening on his wedding day, tragedy quickly strikes and his beloved Eurydice is dead. Orpheus’ love travels into the underworld to bring back his love but can only do so if he promises not to look at her before they have left the abyss. If he does, he will lose her for ever. Born in Cremona, Monteverdi was in the service of the Duke of Mantua about 1591–1612 and became director of music at St Mark’s Cathedral, Venice, from 1613. He was the first composer to use an orchestra and to show the dramatic possibilities of the operatic form to affect the listener’s emotions. This new production features La Grande Ecurie et La Chambre du Roy, directed by Jean Claude Malgoire, and the soloists include the outstanding South-African tenor Kobie Van Rensburg as Orfeo, Cyrille Gerstenhaber (a stunning Euridice), Philippe Jaroussky and Bernard Deletré. PAGLIACCI - TITO GOBBI BEL CANTO SOCIETY BCS-D0657 This 1948 version of Leoncavallo’s opera Pagliacci stars Tito Gobbi, actor Alfred Poli and the young actress Gina Lollobrigida, as well as such reknowned singers as tenor Galliano Masini and the soprano Onelia Fineschi. Conductor Giuseppe Morelli leads the Orchestra e Coro del Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. Pagliacci has long been a favourite opera and this remains the best version on film. The black and white print of this Italian film has been superbly remastered, although a few unavoidable technical imperfections remain on the soundtrack. Director Mario Costa hints at post-war neo-realist style and this is as close to film noir as any opera movie has so far come. Galliano Masini was Italy’s leading dramatic tenor at the time and Tito Gobbi was one of the most interesting and talented baritones of the twentieth century. In a virtuoso display, he portrays both Tonio and Silvio, differentiating the parts not only in physical characterisation and appearance but in subtly changing his vocal performances. Onelia Fineschi is charming as Nedda, singing in the typical Italian soprano style of the 30s, and Gina Lollobrigida looks seductively beautiful. This outstanding film, with its dramatic and unforgettable climax, makes a fascinating companion to the earlier Pagliaccio, featuring Beniamino Gigli. As an added bonus, the DVD also includes highlights of Tito Gobbi in Rossini’s Guglielmo Tell (1947), with Gabriella Gatti and the great heroic tenor Jose Soler. ANDRES SEGOVIA - IN PORTRAIT OPUS ARTE OA CN0931D The Andalusian Andrés Segovia, born in 1893, came to be known as ‘the father of the modern classical guitar’. Without him, the classical guitar might still be thought of a peasant instrument unsuited for concert halls. He first played publicly at the age of sixteen and gave his first professional concert in Madrid, playing transcriptions for guitar by Francisco Tárrega and works by J S Bach, which he had transcribed. Segovia’s technique was different from that of Tárrega and others in that he plucked the strings with his fingernails, producing a much sharper sound. His superb technique and unique touch were much acclaimed and he was soon performing for large audiences in Spain and around the world. He also prompted technological advances to improve his instrument’s natural amplification, using better wood and nylon strings and changing the shape to improve the acoustics. Composers such as Heitor Villa-Lobos began writing guitar pieces for him and he transcribed many classical works. This double DVD celebrates a colourful spirit whose dedication perfected a gift that lasted throughout nearly 80 years of professional life, one of the longest musical careers the world has ever seen. Two contrasting Christopher Nupen films are included. ‘Segovia at los Olivos’ was shot in Segovia’s Andalucian home in 1967 when the master musician was 75. The beautiful ‘Andrés Segovia: The Song of the Guitar’ was filmed in Granada and the Alhambra Palaces when Segovia was aged 84. Extras include new personal introductions by Christopher Nupen. ‘Spiritually therapeutic’ - The Sunday Times. WAGNER - DIE WALKURE WARNER CLASSICS 2564 62319-2 Richard Wagner’s opera Der Ring des Nibelungen, took more than a quarter of a century to create and may be the most challenging and monolithic piece of music ever written, taking as its subject a mythic-symbolic history of the world from creation to its destruction and redemption. Of the four parts of the Ring Cycle, Die Walkure is the most often performed separately and may be Richard Wagner’s best-loved work. It depicts the sensitive love story of Siegmund and Sieglinde, and the father-daughter relationship of Wotan and Brünnhilde. This two-CD set features a 1992 performance of Die Walküre by the Orchester Der Bayreuther Festspiele, conducted by Daniel Barenboim and directed by Harry Kupfer. The singers include: Poul Elming (Siegmund), Matthias Holle, John Tomlinson (Wotan), Nadine Secunde, Anne Evans (a feminine yet heroic Brünhilde), Linda Finnie and Eva Johansson. Wagner continues to be controversial. Because of his Nazi association, the composer’s works have nver been publicly performed in Israel, although they are not officially banned. They have been broadcast on government-owned radio and television but attempts at staging public performances have so far been prevented by protests. After Daniel Barenboim, who was born in Argentina but grew up in Israel, conducted a passage from Tristan and Isolde at the 2001 Israel Festival, a Knesset parliamentary committee urged a boycott of the conductor, and a scheduled performance of Die Walküre had to be withdrawn. Barenboim has probably done more than any musician to break through the ill-feeling surrounding Wagner’s annexation by Hitler and his courage is to be commended. DMITRI HVOROSTOVSKY - IN CONCERT VAI 4330 The acclaimed Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky was born in 1962 in the central Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. He began his musical studies at the age of seven and went on to become a soloist with the Krasnoyarsk Opera. He came to the attention of the western world in 1989 by beating Bryn Terfel to win the pretigious BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition. After making his western operatic debut at the Nice Opera in Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades and his Italian debut at La fenice, Venice, in Eugene Onegin, he is now much sought-after for appearances at leading opera houses such as the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and the Metropolitan Opera, New York. He has also given many recitals in major international venues including London, New York, Milan, Moscow, Hong Kong and Vienna, working with orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and the Rotterdam Philharmonic. This DVD captures a live 1998 concert in which Hvorostovsky appears with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Charles Dutoit. Highlights include Mussorgsky’s cycle ‘Songs and Dances of Death’ and the Russian folksong ‘Ochi chyornye’, as well as arias by Verdi and Rossini, and Respighi’s Pines of Rome. This is fine singing by one of the the world’s most outstanding opera and concert performers. HEIFETZ IN PERFORMANCE RCA RED SEAL 82876 638869 Part of RCA’s Legendary Visions series, Heifetz: In Performance features a 63 minute documentary about the renowned violinist, filmed for television in 1971. Drawing on footage of Heifetz playing some of his favoured repertoire, the film interweaves performance with the violinist’s commentary on aspects of music, teaching, and his personal views. The narration is in English and optional subtitles. A bonus CD inludes complete versions of the music used in the film, including works by Mozart (Rondo from Serenade in D major), Prokofiev (March from The Love for Three Oranges, transcribed by Heifetz), Debussy (La Fille avec cheveux de lin), Rachmaninoff, Gershwin (It Ain’t Necessarily So from Porgy and Bess, arranged by Heifetz), Bach, Bruch, and a Heifetz arrangement of a piece by Dinicu. Jascha Heifetz was one of the most celebrated violinists of his generation and this revealing DVD makes a fitting tribute to his genius. MOZART - DON GIOVANNI ARTHAUS MUSIK 101 087 Don Giovanni may not be Mozart’s most popular opera but it is certainly one of his most admired. First performed at the National Theatre in Prague in 1787, it combines comedy and tragedy to tell the story of an insatiable womanizer, Don Giovanni, otherwise known as Don Juan. Don Giovanni represents a force of nature without conscience and sense of responsibility. His sole aim in life is to win the female he has just fallen in love with. Therefore, all the people around him become his victims. Not able to own up his crimes he is dragged down to hell. All the characters are fascinating and the timeless music and sharp-witted libretto contribute equally to this masterpiece. This new DVD in the Arthaus Glyndebourne classic opera series features the 1977 production. Director Sir Peter Hall has long been associated with Glyndebourne, having directed there since 1970, and his production of Mozart’s tragic ‘opera of all operas’ received universal praise.The renowned baritone Benjamin Luxon is outstanding as the inveterate seducer Don Giovanni, although he almost didn’t appear after injuring himself during rehearsals by jumping from a balcony as directed. His supporting stars include Stafford Dean as Leporello, Horiana Branisteanu as Donna Anna and Leo Goeke as Don Ottavio, and Bernard Haitink conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra. PUCCINI - GIANNI SCHICCHI OPUS ARTE OA 0918 D Gianni Schicchi is an opera in one act with a libretto by Giovacchino Forzano. The work is based on an episode in Dante’s Inferno about a wealthy man who dies, resulting in chaos among his money-grubbing relatives as they discovered that he left most of his money and possessions to the local monks. They beg the cunning Gianni Schicchi to find a solution but he contrives to give most of the possessions to himself. This high-spirited production of Puccini’s lively farce was filmed live at the Glyndebourne Opera House in July, 2004, recorded in High Definition and True Surround Sound. Alessandro Corbelli takes the title role in Annabel Arden’s whirlwind production and other leading roles are taken by Massimo Giordano, Sally Matthews, Felicity Palmer and Marie McLaughlin. The London Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by Vladimir Jurowski. Extras include an illustrated synopsis and cast gallery as well as interviews with Alessandro Corbelli, Vladimir Jurowski and Annabel Arden. ‘Conducted with flamboyant verve and mercurial comic energy by Jurowski, this is close to the perfect Glyndebourne experience’ - Sunday Times Magazine. MOZART - IDOMENEO DYNAMIC 33463 Composed by Mozart in 1780, this opera seria tells the story of the King of Crete, Idomeneo, who is rescued by Neptune after his boat sinks on returning from the Trojan War. In return for saving his life, Idomeneo must sacrifice the first human he meets, who unfortunately turns out to be his son, Idamente. Neptune intervenes further and offers to save Idomeneo’s son, but only if the throne is relinquished by the King and given to Idamente instead. This was possibly the composer’s greatest serious opera, depicting heroic emotion with great skill and combining a colourful orchestral score with apt and expressive recitative. Despite a mediocre libretto by Gianbattista Varesco, the work occupied a special place in the affections of its composer and has gained in esteem over the years. Idomeneo has been performed more often in recent years and although it hardly compares with the composer’s sublime Da Ponte operas it was, in its day, a revolutionary work. This double DVD set features a fine performance at the Teatro San Carlo of Naples, directed by Pier Luigi Pizzi. Marco Guidarini conducts the theatre’s orchestra and a cast that includes the tenor Kurt Streit (Idomeneo), Angeles Blancas Gulin (Ilia), Iano Tamar (Elettra) and Sonia Ganassi (Idamante). GIGLI - RIDI PAGLIACCIO BEL CANTO SOCIETY BCS-D0513 Beniamino Gigli (1890-1957) was one of the greatest operatic tenors of his time. Born in Recanati, near Ancona, he won first prize in a singing competition in Parma in 1914 and made his operatic debut later that year in Ponchielli’s La Gioconda. He was soon in great demand around the world and after the death of Caruso in 1921 Gigli became the most famous Italian tenor in the world. He performed at opera houses in Europe and throughout the Americas, continuing to give concert performances right up until his retirement in 1955. This fascinating DVD features a black and white film made in Italy in 1942, starring Alida Valli, Leone Paci and Adrianna Perris, with Paul Hörbige in a moving performance as the real-life Canio. When Canio leaves prison he discovers that his daughter has been adopted and is about to marry a man of good family. The powerful and dramatic plot thickens when he meets Leoncavallo, who decides to base his opera, Pagliacci, on Canio’s life. The story leads inevitably to the opera’s premiere with the great Gigli in a heart-breaking interpretation of the title role. The music in the film is superbly conducted by Luigi Ricci and the dialogue is in Italian, with English subtitles. Also available is Gigli’s enjoyable 1935 English-language film, Non ti scordar di me, which includes excerpts from Rigoletto, Africana, Mignon, Favorita, Marta and Elisir (Bel Canto Society BCS D0504). WAGNER - PARSIFAL OPUS ARTE OA 0915 D Richard Wagner began thinking about his final music-drama, based on medieval legends, as early as 1857 although the text was not completed until 1877. The composer was sixty-five when he started to write the music, which he completed in 1882. The first performance took place at Bayreuth that year and the meaning of Parsifal has been widely discussed ever since. This splendid 3 DVD set features Nikolaus Lehnhoff’s visionary staging of this emotionally charged masterpiece of existential drama about human existence. The exciting production from Festspielhaus Baden-Baden is a co-production with ENO London, San Francisco Opera and Lyric Opera Chicago, filmed in August 2004 at the Baden-Baden Festival Theatre with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Festspielchor Baden-Baden conducted by Kent Nagano. Christopher Ventris, Waltraud Meier, Matti Salminen, Tom Fox and Thomas Hampson. lead an inspired cast and the high definition recording in true surround sound. Extras include a 60 minute documentary, Parsifal’s Progress, containing interviews with Kent Nagano, Nikolaus Lehnhoff and members of the cast. ‘Nikolaus Lehnhoff’s (production of Parsifal) for ENO is one of the best Wagner stagings of my lifetime’ Opera Review. A SIMPLE MAN - GILLIAN LYNNE & CARL DAVIS OPUS ARTE OA 0914 D Commissioned to mark the centenary in 1987 of the birth (in Old Trafford, near Salford) of L. S. Lowry, this award-winning ballet celebrates the artist’s life and achievements in a unique way. The ballet captures much of the humanity and atmosphere of the painter’s deceptively simple and accessible art. Most of the images - mill-workers, children, women, a funeral procession, an organ grinder - can be found in Lowry’s brilliantly evocative pictures. We also see the man’s life - his powerful relationship with his mother, his enjoyment of the piano, and the three girls he knew best (co-incidentally all named Ann). Lowry's mother is portrayed by the incomparable Moirer Shearer and Lowry himself by another ex-Royal Ballet star, Christopher Gable, who began his transformation of the NBT with this work. Created by Gillian Lynne (choreographer of Cats and The Phantom of the Opera), in collaboration with the composer Carl Davis (author of music for films such as Pride & Prejudice and The French Lieutenant’s Woman), this famous production by the Northern Ballet Theatre has been re-mastered for DVD. The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by Carl Davis and extra features include an introduction by actor Albert Finney, an interview with Gillian Lynne and Carl Davis, and a photo gallery of the cast. WAGNER - DAS RHEINGOLD OPUS ARTE OA 0910 D The still controversial German composer and musical theorist Richard Wagner was an anti-semitic ego-maniac given to excessive gambling and womanising. He was single-mindedly ruthless in his exploitation of anyone who might help him achieve his ambitions but his work had a revolutionary influence on the course of Western music. His largest and most famous composition, Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), consists of four operas, three of which last for about four hours. Intended for performance over four successive nights, the opera tells the story of a magic ring made by the dwarf Alberich from gold stolen from the Rhine. The complicated plot also involves the god Wotan, the hero Siegfried and a wild horsewoman of the air, Brünnhilde. Das Rheingold (The Rhinegold) is a relatively short two-hour prologue to the main three operas: Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung (The Twilight of the Gods). This handsome double-DVD features an exciting production of Das Rheingold directed by Harry Kupfer and filmed at Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu in 2004. The soloists include Falk Struckmann (a splendid Wotan), Graham Clark, Günter von Kannen (Alberich), Lioba Braun and Kwanchul Youn. The excellent surround sound and an outstanding production might convince even Mark Twain that ‘Wagner's music is so much better than it sounds’. CINDERELLA - MARGOT FONTEYN VAI 4296 British choreographer and dancer Sir Frederick Ashton studied with Léonide Massine and Marie Rambert before joining what later became the Sadler’s Wells Ballet (now the Royal Ballet) in 1935 as chief choreographer. His works are renowned for their lyricism, quiet charm and precision, and include his debut full-length ballet, Cinderella, first staged at Sadler’s Wells in 1948. It was the first production in the West to use Prokoviev’s wonderful score, and some of Ashton’s finest choreography is combined with comedy, irony and pathos. Particularly haunting is the beautiful pas de deux for the Prince and Cinderella at the ball. This ballet was originally created by Moira Shearer (Margot Fonteyn was injured) and has since become a standard in the repertoire, with hundreds of performances. This captivating DVD features a historic 1957 television version starring Fonteyn and the Sadler’s Wells Ballet, with an outstanding cast that includes Michael Somes and Merle Park. Kenneth MacMillan and Frederick Ashton enjoy themselves enormously as the outrageous Ugly Sisters, and this black and white telecast is the only available recording of Dame Margot in one of her most important roles. The DVD also includes a bonus scene from The Sleeping Beauty, which also stars the great Fonteyn. CHOPIN PIANO MUSIC OPUS ARTE OA 0893 D This collection of pieces from the early works of Frederic Francois Chopin highlights the brilliance of his innovation as a composer and the great advances in emotional subtlety that he created for the instrument. Chopin’s Opus 10 and Opus 25 Études are immaculately performed here by pianist Freddy Kempf, recorded in the evocative setting of the Château de Neauville, Gambais. Freddy Kempf was born in London in 1977 and came to national prominence aged eight when he performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto K.414 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He won the first National Mozart Competition and became the youngest ever winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition. Since his award of third prize in the controversial 1998 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow he has been a major international soloist. Chopin’s complete Opus Préludes are played by the renowned Chilean pianist Alfredo Perl in the grandeur of Hopetoun House, Edinburgh and Canadian Angela Hewitt performs Chopin’s Piano Sonata in B flat Minor. Born into a musical family in Ottawa, Angela Hewitt began studying piano at the age of three and gave her first public performance at four. She was awarded the first ever BBC Radio 3 Listener’s Award in 2003 and has lived mostly in London since 1985. This DVD features fine interpretations of some of Chopin’s greatest piano music, that is by turn amorous, playful and audacious. WE WANT THE LIGHT - CHRISTOPHER NUPEN OPUS ARTE OACN0909D The veteran documentary maker Christopher Nupen’s remarkable one hour film, We Want The Light, was first broadcast by BBC2 on Holocaust Memorial Day 2004. The title is taken from a poem written in the Theresienstadt concentration camp by a 12-year-old girl, Eva Pickova, and the film examines the cultural origins of genocide during the Second World War. Christopher Nupen shows how German music, from Johann Sebatian Bach onwards, has been hugely important for Jews. The film deals also, and at quite some length, with the perennial Wagner question, his ferociously anti-Semitic pamphlet ‘The Jews in Music’ and Wagner’s influence on the thinking of the Third Reich. In addition to this exceptional documentary, the two DVD set features most of the music from the film as well as four hours of additional interviews with Evgeny Kissin, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Zubin Mehta, Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman and others, including three inspiring Holocaust survivors. The Cologne Opera Chorus, Cologne Cathedral Children’s Choir and Gürzenich Orchestra of Cologne are conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy. This is a thought-provoking release that will provide a touching commentary to the 60th anniversaries in 2005 of the liberation of Auschwitz and Theresienstad. ‘An unmissable documentary’- The Times. JACQUELINE DU PRE - IN PORTRAIT OPUS ARTE OACN0902D Jacqueline du Pre Du Pré started learning the cello at the age of six and by the time she was twelve years old was playing professionally for the BBC. Her full-blooded recording of the Elgar Cello Concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra in 1961 brought international recognition, and her 1965 recording of this work under Sir John Barbirolli was equally acclaimed. Sadly, she began to lose sensitivity in her fingers in 1973, marking the onset of multiple sclerosis. This cruel disease caused her health to deteriorate until her death in 1987 aged 42, when she remained as vibrant a figure in the public mind as she had been at the height of her glittering career. Film-maker Christopher Nupen captured the spirit of this great musician in an enthralling documentary (restored and digitally re-mastered for this DVD). The film features a typically flamboyant account of the Elgar Concerto, played with her husband Daniel Barenboim conducting the New Philharmonia Orchestra, as well as an emotional performance of Beethoven’s Piano Trio No. 5 with Barenboim (piano) and Pinchas Zukerman (violin). Extras include a photo gallery from the film and a 24 page booklet. ‘..the most vivid portrait of a musician I have yet seen on television’ - The Guardian. THE NUTCRACKER - TCHAIKOVSKY TDK DV-BLCNUT
THE VALLEY RECALLS NAVRAS NRDVD006 This exhilarating recording makes available for the first time on DVD the music of one of best-selling CDs from Navras. There is an extended and more improvised version of Raga Bhoopali and the fact that the thematic part, ‘Peace Love & Harmony’, is also largely improvised makes this a unique and satisfying performance. The maturing of Pandit Shivkumar Sharma and Hariprasad Chaurasia is visible in the presentation of their music and the clear fusing of their minds and music is quite magical. Seeing this concert being performed reveals in full the wonderful understanding between these musicians, who also include Pandit Anindo Chatterjee (tabla), Pandit Bhawani Shankar (pakhawaj and tabla), Shubhankar Banerjee (tabla) and Jayanti Shah (acoustic guitar). They make classical music in a style that is widely acceptable, combining the highest standards of classical rigour with the exciting presentation of a thematic form - improvised and less rigorous but thoroughly enjoyable. The DVDs also features an interesting interview with Pandit Shivkumar Sharma and Hariprasad Chaurasia. CHRISTMAS WITH CHANTICLEER RHINO HOME VIDEO R2 970271 Chanticleer is famous for performing evocative Christmas concerts, so it is appropriate that this acclaimed public television special should become the ensemble’s first DVD. Christmas with Chanticleer: An Orchestra of Voices was filmed before a live audience in the Medieval Sculpture Hall of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in November 2002. The concert features songs and carols from many countries and traditions - from Renaissance gems to traditional Christmas favourites - several in new arrangements by Chanticleer’s music director, Joseph Jennings. The works include Of the Father’s Love Begotten (13th century plainsong), O magnum mysterium (Tomás Luis de Victoria), A Christmas Round, Today the Virgin and Village Wedding (all by John Tavener), the Holly and the Ivy, Ave Maria (Franz Biebl), The First Nowell, In the Bleak Mid-Winter (Gustav Holst), and a medley of Christmas Spirituals: Rise Up Shepherd and Follow/Behold that Star/Oh, What A Pretty Little Baby/Oh Jerusalem in the Morning. This charming DVD is a good choice to accompany any Christmas season celebration. ‘the world’s reigning male chorus’ - New Yorker. PUCCINI - MADAMA BUTTERFLY VAI 4284 The beautiful American lyric soprano Anna Moffo, born in 1932 in Wayne, Pennsylvania, gave up a possible career in Hollywood to become an opera singer. Her fame was perhaps greatest in Italy, where she hosted the ‘The Anna Moffo Show’ that helped popularise opera from 1960 to 1973. She had previously appeared to great acclaim on Italian television in a production of Madama Butterfly, staged in 1956 by Mario Lanfranchi, who later became her husband. Even though this was her debut performance in a major opera, Moffo gave a star-making performance in the demanding lead role of Cio-Cio San and this fascinating DVD captures her vibrant and credible interpretation. She performs with Renato Cioni (suitably handsome as Pinkerton), Miti Truccato Pace (Suzuki) and Alfro Poli (as the kind-hearted Sharpless). The black and white picture is a little fuzzy at times but the mono sound is surprisingly good and Moffo’s voice comes through pure and strong. Oliviero De Fabritis conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of Radiotelevisione Italiana Milano.. BORIS CHRISTOPH - LUGANO RECITAL, 1976 DYNAMIC 33476 The Bulgarian-born Boris Christoff was one of the greatest basses of the 20th century. As a boy, he sang in the chorus of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia After graduating in law, he continued singing became a soloist with the Gusla Chorus He left Bulgaria left for Italy during the war and made his operatic debut as Colline in La Boheme at Reggio Calabria in 1946, following this with appearances at Milan’s La Scala, Venice’s La Fenice, the Rome Opera and Covent Garden in London. He made his USA operatic debut in 1956 at the San Francisco Opera. After surgery for a brain tumour in 1964, Christoff’s stage performances became less frequent. This valuable recording of a 1976 concert recital made for Televisione Svizzera Italiana is a fine tribute to a formidable artist. With his unique voice and huge stage presence, Christoph is in fine form in performances of music by Mussorgski (including his most famous role as Boris Godunov), Rossini, Mozart and Verdi. There is also a lengthy interview with the critic Giorgio Gualerzi. Boris Christoff died in Rome in 1993 and his body was returned to Sofia’s Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, where he was honoured with a state funeral. BERLIOZ - LES TROYENS OPUS ARTE OA 0900 D December 11th in 2003 marked the anniversary of Hector Berlioz’s 200th birthday and enthusiasts gathered to lay a wreath on his grave in Montmartre. President Jacques Chirac nevertheless blocked a proposal to move the composer’s remains to the Panthéon and no street in Paris bears the name of the greatest musical figure of the French Romantic movement. The grandeur of his five-hour opera on the Trojans at Carthage was reduced to only three acts on its first performance. Dejected by failure, he wrote a caustic book of memoirs for posthumous publication and died in 1869, aged 65. His last words were: ‘enfin, on va jouer ma musique – at last, they will now play my music.’ The Trojans received its first five-act performance over two nights at Karlsruhe in 1890 and its first authentic staging at Covent Garden in 1958. This new production features John Eliot Gardiner conducting the Monteverdi Choir, Choeur du Theatre du Chatelet and the period-instrument Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique in an inspired performance from Le Chatelet, Paris. Anna Caterina Antonacci leads an marvelous cast as the prophetess Cassandra, the bel-canto tenor Gregory Kunde takes the role of Aeneas and Susan Graham is Dido. The spectacular and innovative stage set, with its huge tilting mirror, was created by Yannis Kokkos. This 3 DVD set also has a documentary that includes interviews with Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Yannis Kokkos and members of the cast. RIMSKY-KORSAKOV - LE COQ D’OR TDK DV-OPLCO One of the leading group of 19th century Russian nationalist composers, Rimsky-Korsakov is best known for his brilliant orchestral compositions but he also wrote songs, choral music, chamber music and works for piano. Of his 15 operas, the satirical and once banned Le coq d’or (The Golden Cockerel) is perhaps the most popular. This Châtelet revival brings to the stage again the great Kabuki actor Ennosuke III’s striking staging of the opera, first mounted by San Francisco Opera in 1984. Kabuki is a Japanese drama developed in the 17th century, characterised by elaborate costumes, rhythmic dialogue and stylised acting. Ennosuke III has worked to give this traditional theatre form appeal for modern audiences. As an actor, director and producer his aim has been to bring back the energy and excitement of Edo-period Kabuki, using his trademark high-tech special effects, dynamic lighting, stunning costumes and minimalist designs. He worked on this sumptuous production of Le Coq d’Or with an all-Japanese creative team and the result has an Oriental beauty and fascination entirely appropriate to this fantasy opera that took its inspiration from a military conflict between Japan and Russia. The Chorus of the Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg and Orchestre de Paris, conducted by Kent Nagano, are joined by soloists including Albert Schagidullin, Ilya Levinsky, Olga Trifonova and Yuri Maria Saenz (as the Golden Cockerel). THE GILBERT AND SULLIVAN COLLECTION UNIVERSAL DVD 8228651-11 Arthur Seymour Sullivan is perhaps the best known of all English composers. He wrote many choral and orchestral works but is most remembered for his theatrical partnership with the librettist William Schwenk Gilbert. The somewhat neurotic W S Gilbert’s satirical silliness combined perfectly Arthur Sullivan’s wonderfully memorable music to produce a dazzling succession of triumphs, and together they transformed the earnest and orderly Victorian age into a topsy-turvy world that is all their own. Despite the couple’s personal quarrels their comic operas have stood the test of time, gaining a special place in the culture and affections of the English-speaking world. This splendid box set contains 12 operettas in versions that were originally shown by the BBC during the early 1980s, and among them are such favourites as The Mikado, HMS Pinafore, Iolanthe, The Gondoliers, Trial by Jury and Patience. Performers include the London Symphony Orchestra and Ambrosia Opera Chorus, with an imaginative use of actors such as Vincent Price, Joel Grey and Frankie Howerd. DVD extras include introductions, profiles of Gilbert and Sullivan, behind-the-scenes featurettes, librettos and a photo gallery. No production of these works can be entirely definitive but this collection will be welcomed by any admirer of the immortal partnership. PROKOFIEV: WAR AND PEACE ARTHAUS MUSIK 100370 The outbreak of the Second World War inspired Sergei Prokofiev to begin composing his sweeping opera, War and Peace, filled like Tolstoy’s monumental novel with themes of love, patriotism, deceit and death. The action takes place in Russia between 1806 and 1812 and the opera has two parts, Peace and War. When fully produced, it lasts about four hours. Prokofiev added his own interpretation of neo-classicism to Tolstoy’s socialist realism, deriving his style partly from Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina and Boris Godunov. He spent the ten years following his first acceptable completion of the work in 1943 rewriting the script and attempting to shorten it, but ufortunately died in 1953 without finishing the work to his satisfaction. This sumptuous double DVD version was recorded in 1991 at the revered Marinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, where it was performed in suitably grand style by the Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Kirov Opera, conducted by Valery Gergiev. The stage director was Graham Vick and the DVD direction is by Humphrey Burton. MOZART: DIE ZAUBERFLUTE ARTHAUS MUSIK 101085 This recording of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) captures the famous production designed by David Hockney for Glyndebourne in 1978. Mozart and his librettist Schikaneder brought off an extraordinary feat, uniting two seemingly unrelated theatrical genres - pantomime and straight play. The first is represented by the comic antics of the birdcatcher, Papageno, the second in a series of rituals through which a prince and his lady pass in search of true love. On this DVD the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Glyndebourne Chorus are conducted by Bernard Haitink and the outstanding soloists include Felicity Lott (Pamina), Leo Goeke (Tamino), Benjamin Luxon (Papageno), May Sandoz and Thomas Thomaschke. The original stage production is by John Cox and subtitles are provided in English, German, French and Spanish. WAGNER: GOTTERDAMMERUNG TDK - DVOPRDNG TDK release the fourth and final part of Wagner’s epic masterpiece, The Ring, from Stuttgart Opera’s 2002/2003 season with Götterdämmerung (or ‘The Twilight of the Gods’). For the first time in the history of The Ring cycle, each of its four sections was given to a different director, providing an exciting range of perspectives with a unified theme. The decision to stage Wagner’s Ring in four separate pieces, rather than as a single, integrated work spread over four evenings, liberated Gotterdammerung in particular from a need to draw together the threads of a holistic concept of the work. Director Peter Konwitschny ignores the wider myth-bound associations of the work and concentrates on the immediate motivations, emotions and obsessions of the characters. Gone are the gods awaiting nightfall in their imposing hall; the action instead being set on a simple wooden stage of a touring theatre company. The Staatsorchester Stuttgart is conducted by Lothar Zagrosek and the soloists include Albert Bonnema (Siegfried), Franz-Josef Kapellmann (as the dwarf Alberich), Luana DeVol (a stunning Brunnhilde), Tichina Vaughn, Lani Poulson, Helga Rós Indridadóttir and Janet Collins. AIDA - VERDI OPUS ARTE OA0894D This stylish production of Verdi’s popular masterpiece, filmed in 2003 at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, features Daniela Dessì as the slave girl Aida, Fabio Armiliato as Radames, Stefano Palatchi, Elisabetta Fiorillo (outstanding as the jealous Amneris) and Roberto Scandiuzzi, with the orchestra and chorus of the Gran Teatre del Liceu conducted by Miguel Angel Gomez Martinez. Spectacular historic paper trompe-l’oeil sets painted between 1936-45 by the Catalan artist Josep Mestres Cabanes were painstakingly restored for this production - revealing exotic pharaos palaces, temples and the surroundings of Memphis and Thebes, and providing an ideal backdrop for the thrilling drama of love and emotion. Extra features on the DVD include a fascinating documentary on Cabanes’ designs and the restoration process, an illustrated synopsis and a cast and set gallery. With stunning costumes, excellent surround sound and a superb cast, this sumptous production will please any opera fan. Sung in Italian, with English, French, German and Catalan subtitles. RAMEAU - LES BOREADES OPUS ARTE OA0899D French composer Jean-Philippe Rameau was an orchestrator of rare and individual genius. Delightful musical surprises abound in his ‘lost’ opera, Les Boreades, the mythic tale of a young queen who abdicates her throne rather than be forced into a marriage with a descendant of Boreas, god of the North Wind. The bold rhythms and daring melodic lines of Rameau’s appealingly varied music relate the wonderfully convoluted plot in great style, creating a unique fusion of music, dance and drama. In this stunning production, Robert Carsen directs a magnificent cast resplendent in elegant costumes inspired by late 1940’s Dior. Soloists include Barbara Bonney, Paul Agnew, Toby Spence and Laurent Naouri. The DVD also includes a 60-minute documentary feature giving background information about the production as well as interviews with Robert Carsen, musical director William Christie, and members of the cast. Highly recommended. OWEN WINGRAVE - BENJAMIN BRITTEN ARTHAUS MUSIK 100 372 When Benjamin Britten started work on Owen Wingrave he conceived the opera both for performance on stage as well as on television, and the first television production was broadcast in 1971, two years before the work’s premiere at Covent Garden. This 1992 production, directed by Margaret Williams, tells the dramatic story of Owen Wingrave, who refuses to follow a military career in the tradition of his ancestors. The cast includes Gerald Finley (outstanding as Owen), Peter Savidge (Spencer Coyle), Anne Dawson (Mrs. Coyle) and Martyn Hill (Sir Philip Wingrave). The Deutsches Symphony Orchestra and Choristers of Westminster Cathedral Choir are conducted by Kent Nagano and the narrator is Andrew Burden. The DVD also features an interesting documentary, Britten - The Hidden Heart, an artistic biography of Benjamin Britten with references to his life-long friend Peter Pears and his most famous works: Peter Grimes, War Requiem and Death in Venice. THE PAUL BRADY SONGBOOK RTE SERIES HYPD 3425 The singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Paul Brady was born and raised in Strabane, Northern Ireland, on the border with the Irish Republic. After an early interest in many knids of music he became part of the Irish traditional folk music scene in Dublin, playing with The Johnstons and later, in London, with Planxty. As a solo performer and with his own band he now tours extensively, and in August 2002 RTE television filmed a six programme series featuring his music, called ‘The Paul Brady Songbook’. This three hour DVD features the entire series, together with extra songs not included in the original programmes. There are outstanding performances of traditional favourites such as Arthur McBride as well as many self-penned songs. MERLIN - ALBENIZ OPUS ARTE OA0887D This double DVD release features the world premiere recording of the full and original version of the three act opera Merlin by Isaac Albeniz, produced over a hundred years after he completed the work. The score of this ‘Wagnerian’ opera, with a libretto by the composer’s English-born patron Francis Burdett Money-Coutts, was thought to be lost until conductor Jose de Eusebio reconstructed it from various manuscript sources and publishers' proofs. Jose de Eusebio fittingly conducts the Madrid Symphony Orchestra and Choir here in this lavish and colourful production, staged at the Teatro Real in Madrid and directed by John Drew. The soloists include David Wilson-Johnson (an impressive Merlin), Stuart Skelton (Arthur), Eva Marton (Morgan le Fay), Angel Odena (Mordred) and Carol Vaness (Nivian). Extra features include interviews with Carol Vaness, David Wilson-Johnson and Jose de Eusebio ‘Easy to imagine that Camelot is here after all’ - The Times. ROMEO & JULIET - PROKOFIEV VAI DVD 4260 Sergei Prokofiev was born in the Ukraine in 1891, and soon became an accomplished pianist as well as something of an enfant terrible, mocking authority figures and anyone else who held traditionalist views. He was a traditional composer at heart though and his wide-ranging output included operas, symphonies, concertos, string quartets, film scores (most notably for Eisenstein’s Alexander Nevsky and Ivan the Terrible) and superb ballet music. The best-known of his ballets is Romeo and Juliet, with its high drama and tenderness revealing Prokofiev’s complete mastery of the orchestra. This ravishing 1954 Technicolor production by the Bolshoi Ballet stars Galina Ulanova as a radiant Juliet and Yuri Zhdanov as a passionate Romeo. The conductor is Gennady Rozhdestvensky. On its original videocassette release, the New York Times dance critic glowingly reported: ‘The famed 1954 film version of Leonid Lavrovsky’s ballet with the great Galina Ulanova is hors concours {incontestable} as a classic’. A DVD extra on this sumptuous re-issue features the great Ulanova in the second act pas de deux from Swan Lake. LUCIANO PAVAROTTI - LIVE IN BARCELONA UNION SQUARE USPDVD003 This DVD features a fine recording, made in June 1989 at the Gran Teatre Del Liceu in Barcelona, of one of Luciano Pavarotti’s most exhilarating performances. The charismatic tenor has become even more famous since then, performing operas, recitals and concerts, and appearing in front of huge, adoring crowds. He has also sold many millions of CDs, including one of the best-selling classical albums of all time, ‘The Three Tenors’. On this compelling DVD Pavarotti’s voice is at its purest and most seductive in arias by, among others, Mozart (Un' Aura Amorosa), Rossini (La Danza), Bellini (Bella Nice Che D'amore), Verdi, Massenet, Respighi, Mascagni (Serenata), Puccini (Recondita Armonia) and Donizetti (a thrilling performance of Una Furtiva Lagrima). SIMON BOCCANEGRA - VERDI TDK DV-OPSIBO The personal price of political success is the theme at the heart of Verdi's Simon Boccanegra, a tale of intrigue, rebellion, betrayal, assassination and passion. Although this has never been one of the composer’s most popular works, some consider it the most beautiful of his operas. Set against the class-driven battle for the control of 14th-century Genoa, it sympathetically portrays the embattled Doge of the city as the consequences of his past lead - through an estranged daughter, her competing suitors and a life-long enemy - to his own death. This thrilling 2002 recording was originally made for Italian television and features Carlo Guelfi (imposing in the title role), the wonderful Karita Mattila as Maria Boccanegra and Vincenzo La Scola as Gabriele Adorno. Claudio Abbado conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. ‘Abbado...has deepened his understanding of this score over the past thirty-one years, and his reading is now of such depth, concentration and unostentatious beauty that the work's idealistic advocacy of reconciliation and peace proves quite overwhelming’ - www.operanews.com NAUGHTY MARIETTA - VICTOR HERBERT VAI DVD 4248 This is one of Victor Herbert's most enduringly popular works, featuring such favourite melodies as Ah!, Sweet Mystery of Life, Italian Street Song, I'm Falling in Love with Someone and Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! In 1935, MGM Studios chose this charming operetta to launch the cinematic career of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. Much of the storyline and music were changed, but twenty years later Max Liebman produced and directed a television production with, according to Variety, ‘painstaking care and devotion’. This telecast production, reproduced here, is much closer to the original work and stars Metropolitan Opera singer Patrice Munsel as Marietta d'Altena. The splendid baritone Alfred Drake, who created leading roles in both Oklahoma! and Kismet, admirably assumes the part of Captain Warrington. The excellent supporting cast of singers and dancers, including John Conte and Gale Sherwood, also contribute to a most memorable production. DIE ZAUBERFLOTE - MOZART BBC OPUS ARTE OA 0885 D Mozart specialist Sir Colin Davis conducts the chorus and orchestra of the Royal Opera House and a superb cast in David McVicar’s 2003 production of Mozart’s last opera, the Magic Flute, written in the final year of the composer’s life. This sparkling performance was recorded live at Covent Garden and stars Simon Keenlyside (an engaging Papageno), Dorothea Roschmann (Pamina), Will Hartmann (stylish as Tamino), Diana Damrau (an outstanding Queen of the Night) and Franz-Josef Selig (Sarastro). Extra features on this DVD include an illustrated synopsis of the opera, a BBC documentary that looks behind the scenes of the production, and Sir Colin Davis talking about Die Zauberflote. The words are sung in German with English, French and Spanish subtitles. ‘...a mellow warmth that was deeply satisfying...this is an evening no Mozart lover should miss...’ - The Mail on Sunday. TOSCA - PUCCINI BBC OPUS ARTE OA 0883 D In Benoit Jacquot’s acclaimed 2002 film of Puccini’s opera the glamorous soprano Angela Gheorghiu is perfectly in the title role of the doomed singer. Also featured are the charismatic Roberto Alagna (Cavaradossi), Ruggero Raimondi (an outstanding Scarpia) and the Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, conducted by Antonio Pappano. The words are sung in Italian, with English subtitles. Extra features in this compelling DVD include Angela Gheorghiu on her role as Tosca, Benoit Jacquot on creating Tosca as film, and Antonio Pappano on Puccini’s music for the opera. An illustrated booklet includes biographies in English and Spanish. |
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George Frideric Handel’s dramatic and sumptuous opera Giulio Cesare (Julius Caesar) was first performed in London in 1724 and became an immediate success. Like most of Handel’s opera seria, Giulio Cesare was subsequently neglected until it was revived, much changed, in Göttingen in 1922. Since then it has become one of his most popular works and is considered to be his finest Italian opera. This three-CD set features David McVicar’s exciting Glyndebourne Opera production of 2005, which combines serious insight with entertainment, bringing Handel’s masterpiece to life in a powerful, convincing and highly intelligent way. Filmed in High Definition and recorded in surround sound, the all-star cast is accompanied in thrilling style by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, conducted by William Christie. The title role and the those of Sesto and Tolomeo were originally written for castrati, but in modern productions Giulio is either transposed for baritone or sung by a contralto, mezzo-soprano or countertenor. Sesto is here sung by a mezzo-soprano (a spirited performance from Angelika Kirchschlager) and Tolomeo by the brilliant French countertenor, Christophe Dumaux. The role of Giulio is sung by the excellent Sarah Connolly and there is a sensational and passionate performance as Cleopatra from Danielle de Niese, making her British stage debut. The handsome Romanesque set is by Robert Jones and the exotic costumes by Brigitte Reiffenstuel. Extras include a Cast Gallery & Synopsis; Entertainment is not a Dirty Word - documentary about the opera including interviews with William Christie, David McVicar and the cast; and Danielle de Niese & the Glyndebourne experience - an informal portrait of the young American singer.
Guitars have set the standard for cool ever since the 1950s and playing guitar can still make you the star attraction. Instruments similar to what we call the guitar have been around for at least 5,000 years and the word qitara is an Arabic name for various members of the lute family. The name was introduced into Spanish when guitars were introduced to Iberia by the Moors after the 10th century, and the Spanish vihuela appears to be an intermediate form between the ancestral instrument and the modern guitar, with lute-style tuning and a small, but guitar-like body. Learning how to play this is most popular and adaptable instrument is a lifelong ambition for many but coaxing a mellifluous sound from it initially can be frustrating. Luckily, the six interactive guitar lessons on this encouraging DVD will teach you all you need to know to get started, even if you are an absolute beginner. You learn how to tune the guitar, strum the basic major and minor chords, read tablature and work on various guitar techniques and exercises. You learn how to play sixteen complete songs - including House of the Rising Sun and Scarborough Fair - as well as classical pieces and twelve bar blues, complete with turnarounds and fills. The DVD uses technology to good effect, with split screens, computer graphics and ‘rolling music’ techniques that make the learning process easy to follow and lessons an enjoyable experience. Presenter Peter J. Finlay’s relaxed style makes it seem possible for anyone to pick up a guitar and play (with the necessary practice). A handy 36 page booklet accompanies the DVD, which is one of a range of wide ranging series by Wansbeck that take you from basics right through to advanced techniques. Highly recommended. 
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