Mozart - Idomeneo - Britten | DVD | (09/06/2008)
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| RRP This DVD is part of the Britten-Pears DVD Collection. This collection features four historically and musically significant films from the BBC archives of works and performances by Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears one of the greatest English tenors and Britten's long-term partner and artistic inspiration. None of these films have been available before on any home video format. This colour film recording of Mozart's Idomeneo dates from a period when Mozart's first mature masterpiece was barely known. This may indeed be the first-ever film of the opera. Conducted by Benjamin Britten using his own performing edition the opera is sung in English with Peter Pears singing Idomeneo - the only film recording with Peter Pears in the title role. The cast also includes renowned British soprano Heather Harper and a young Robert Tear. Each act begins with a spoken introduction from John Warrack revered music historian and academic.
Waldbuhne 1992 - French Night | DVD | (10/06/2002)
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| RRP French Night is subtitled "An Exceptional Summer Concert from Waldbuhne Berlin, 1992" and was recorded on June 27 of that year with the Berlin Philharmonic delivering a programme of French favourites under the baton of Georges Pretre. The concert begins with Berlioz' Roman Carnival Overture and though the orchestra work hard the full daylight in the amphitheatre setting negates any real engagement. Ravel's Concerto for the Left Hand follows and is the most serious part of the programme, soloist Leon Fleischer making the most of his showcase, though Debussy's L'Après-Midi d'un Faune is really too intimate for such an event. Night has descended for Bizet's Carmen Suite and the show really takes off as the famous tunes fill the arena. The audience equally appreciate Ravel's Bolero before the French part of the evening is capped by some lively dance music from Offenbach and Bizet. Then, to restore local patriotic pride, the Berlin Philharmonic launch into an enthusiastic version of Johann Strauss' Radetzky-March, the familiar closing number from the Vienna Philharmonic's annual New Year's Day concerts. The finale is Paul Lincke's Berliner Luft, a whistle-along favourite which produces some entertainingly diverse audience reaction. A fun evening for all which would have been better had they waited for nightfall. On the DVD: French Night on disc has promos for nine further TDK classical music DVDs but otherwise no extras. The 4:3 picture has all the flaws of live concert footage shot on video, with little detail in long shots, highly noticeable light trails and a gauze-like effect across many scenes. The sound defaults to a good PCM stereo mix, but while subtly employed the Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 soundtracks offer a much more absorbing atmosphere, the latter in particular providing a real sense of three-dimensional presence. --Gary S Dalkin
European Concert 1995 | DVD | (02/09/2002)
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| RRP Recorded live at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence and features Beethoven's Fidelio Overture Dvorak's Slavonic Dance No.8 Stravinsky's Petruschka and more.
European Concert 1991 | DVD | (15/01/2002)
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| RRP The programme recorder live in the Smetana Hall Prague on the 1st May 1991 includes music by Mozart - 'Overture To Don Giovanni' and 'Symphonies Nos 29 and 35'.
New Year's Concert 1991 - Wiener Philharmoniker/Claudio Abbado | DVD | (15/10/2007)
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| RRP New Year's Concert 1991 (Neujahrskonzert 1991)
![Various: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Dances & Rhapsodies [DVD] [2010]](/pictures/1130023.jpg)
Various: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Dances & Rhapsodies | DVD | (28/06/2010)
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| RRP Berliner Philharmoniker - A Night Of Dances and Rhapsodies
European Concert 1992 | DVD | (29/07/2002)
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| RRP Recorded at the Basilica of the Monastery El Escorial. Conducted by Daniel Barenboim. Excerpts include Verdi's 'La Forza De Destino' and 'Don Carlo' Berlioz's 'La Damnation De Faust' Schubert's 'Symphony No.7' Wagner's 'Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg' plus Wagner's 'Die Walkure' and 'Gotterdammerung'.
![Cecilia Bartoli - Mozart Arias [2001]](/pictures/1028384.jpg)
Cecilia Bartoli - Mozart Arias | DVD | (03/03/2003)
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| RRP Cecila Bartoli sings Mozart is alternatively titled Duo on screen, though not on the packaging, and indeed this concert is very much an affair of two halves, giving virtually equal screen time to Bartoli with five Mozart opera arias and Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting Mozart's Symphony No.38 "Prague". One of two concerts given by these artists at the Stefaniensaal at the 2001 Styriarte Festival, Graz, Austria--the second was a Haydn programme--they certainly find a highly appreciative audience. Bartoli begins with a wonderfully enthusiastic and energetic version of the comic Vol avente un cor fedele, a melodic gem penned when Mozart was 19. Complementing this is the lyrical yet teasing "Uno moto di gioia mi sento", an alternative aria composed for The Marriage of Figaro. Bartoli's final aria is also her most extravagant showcase, the exceptionally difficult Bella mia fiamma , addio here met with spine-tingling intensity and remarkable vocal dexterity. Against this thrilling music-making the excellent performance of the "Prague" Symphony which follows seems almost routine, making one wish for an all-Bartoli programme. Nevertheless, Harnoncourt elicits fine playing making this another performance to be relished. On the DVD: Cecila Bartoli sings Mozart is presented anamorphically enhanced for widescreen TVs at 1.77:1. The picture quality is flawless. Sound options are stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTs 5.1, each progressively better than the last. The DTS track is exceptionally well focused and filled with rich detail. Extras are a 12-minute making-of feature and a 16-minute segment which contrasts interesting rehearsal footage with Hanoncourt and a very giggly Bartoli discussing the music. Also included is a three-minute preview of the Haydn concert. --Gary S Dalkin
Cardillac - Hindemith/Wolfgang Sawallisch | DVD | (16/07/2007)
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| RRP Live from the Bavarian State Opera one of the 20th century's most gripping operas is seen in this unanimously acclaimed Munich production from 1985. The opera staged by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle and conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch tells the story of the goldsmith Cardillac who is unable to part with his creations and recovers the objects he has sold by murdering the purchasers. A sensation at its 1926 premiere Cardillac is based on E.T.A. Hoffmann's celebrated tale of an incomparable but obsessive goldsmith and a rash of mysterious murders in the Paris of Louis XIV. The stellar cast is led by Donald McIntyre - a bass full of character and personality.
Cecilia Bartoli - Haydn (Wide Screen) | DVD | (19/05/2003)
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| RRP Haydn - Styriarte Festival Graz 2001 (Bartoli)
Muddy Waters - Live In Montreal | DVD | (29/10/2007)
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| RRP ![Mozart - Die Zauberflote, Fur Kinde (Levine, Vpo) [2007]](/pictures/1073574.jpg)
Mozart - Die Zauberflote, Fur Kinde (Levine, Vpo) | DVD | (02/07/2007)
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| RRP Mozart's The Magic Flute (for Children). Recorded live at the Felsenreitschule, Salzburg, 26th August 1982.
Cunning Little Vixen | DVD | (14/09/1999)
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| RRP Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen is a real charmer of an opera, a tale that shows the natural world the composer had loved from childhood in its true colours: miraculous, beautiful, mysterious but also cruel. The inspiration came from a series of illustrated stories published in a Czech newspaper. The Vixen of the title is captured by a forester and taken home as a plaything for his children. She is soon thrown out of the house and has to make her own way in the world, encountering lust, stupidity, pride, love and ultimately death. This 1995 performance was taken from the Chatelet Theatre in Paris. Visually, Nicholas Hytner's production is a triumph, the animals wonderfully wittily wrought (the mosquito with its syringe for a nose, the mangey old dog, distasteful in baggy Y-fronts, the hideous, goggle-eyed frog). And it's also brilliantly cast: Eva Jenis's Vixen is funny, sexy, endearing and youthful enough in voice and figure to convince. Thomas Allen is a veteran of the role of the Forester, a huge presence and singing in impeccable Czech. In fact, there's not a weak performance here, and that goes for the dancers and instrumentalists as well as the singers. And at the helm, who better than Sir Charles Mackerras, arguably the greatest living interpreter of Janacek's music? This is in essence a grown-up fairy tale, ravishingly done and extremely highly recommended. On the DVD: The Cunning Little Vixen is presented on disc in vividly remastered PCM stereo, with 16:9 picture format that does full justice to the alluringly colourful designs. The disc is encoded for regions 2 and 5, and the menu and subtitle languages are English, German, French and Spanish. The useful booklet gives coherent background information and synopsis as well as full casting details. There's also a substantial (23-minute) trailer of other offerings from Arthaus Musik. --Harriet Smith
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