"Director: Thomas Grimm"

• The Snowman Live Stage Show | DVD | (08/11/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The theatre production of The Snowman based on Raymond Briggs' classic picture book and the animated film which followed has been delighting audiences across the UK since 1993. Filmed in HD this DVD documents the full length show which includes a blend of dance breathtaking flying sequences along with plenty of fun and seasonal magic! The performance is accompanied by a live orchestra and includes the classic song 'Walking In The Air'.

• Johann Strauss: Simplicius -- Zurich Opera/Welser-Most | DVD | (21/02/2003) from £6.07   |  Saving you £18.92 (311.70%)   |  RRP £24.99

  This is a superb performance of excellent, long-forgotten music. Simplicius was lost for more than a century, but when it was recovered (including a few patches for missing parts), the Zurich Opera House welcomed it back with a production worthy of a historic event. Johann Strauss II, like most comic geniuses, had a lifelong wish to produce something deeply serious. Parts of Simplicius come close to that goal, but then a delectable tune in 3/4 time pops up and we are back in the realm of the waltz king, enjoying it all the more because of the contrast. In both styles, the music is wonderful and Franz Welser-Most conducts with exactly the right touch. The absurdist set designs of Johann Engels and the stage direction of David Pountney sometimes call Hieronymus Bosch to mind. This production puts detailed plot summaries on the screen during the overture and at other strategic point--a good idea because the plot is complicated and slightly absurd. It is set during the Thirty Years War and is full of hidden identities, unreasonable rules and sudden plot twists. Besides various tangled love pairings, and the idiocies of war, the plot centres on the figure of Simplicius, a holy simpleton like Candide or Parsifal, and his comic encounters with the realities of love and war. The story is full of colourful characters, all sung and acted with distinction. Michael Volle is a hermit who has raised his son Simplicius (Martin Zysset) in isolation from humanity until, at age 20, he is abducted by soldiers and comes into contact with reality. Other vivid performances are given by Rolf Haunstein as a rather absurd general, Elizabeth Magnuson as his silly daughter, Oliver Widmer as an astrologer, and Louise Martini as Schnappslotte, who sells liquor to the soldiers. Martina Jankova steals the show as her daughter Tilly, and Liliana Nikiteanu makes much of a small role as a Swedish spy. --Joe McLellan

• Rameau - Les Indes galantes / Petibon · Agnew · Croft · Hartelius · Rivenq · de Niese · Panzarella · Le Roi · Les Arts Florissants · Christe - Serban (Opéra de Paris 2004) | DVD | (27/06/2005) from £26.44   |  Saving you £4.81 (19.10%)   |  RRP £29.99

  William Christie and Les Arts Florissants propel this exuberant production of Jean-Phillipe Rameau's second opera to great heights. Andrei Serban's extravagant highly baroque staging presents the four exotic love stories vibrantly. In Le Turc Genereux Osman sets free his captive Emilie whom he loves so that she may be reunited with her former lover Valere; Les Incas De Perou is all 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 Fatime tries to detect whether her husband Tacmas has his eye on the lovely Atalide; and Les Sauvages takes us to North America where a Spaniard and a Frenchman compete for the love of Zima daughter of a native chief who prefers one of her own people.

• Wagner - Tristan Und Isolde | DVD | (18/01/2008) from £31.05   |  Saving you £3.94 (12.69%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Richard Wagner - Tristan Und Isolde.

• La Clemenza Di Tito - Mozart | DVD | (03/01/2006) from £4.99   |  Saving you £25.00 (501.00%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Commissioned for the coronation of Leopold II in Prague Mozart's last opera is a deep humane reflection on relationships power and forgiveness. With the composition of some of the most beautiful passages in his oeuvre Mozart has succeeded in giving this opera seria both a noble sobriety and transparent instrumentation to which this commanding production by the Hermann partnership does full justice on all levels. Susan Graham's most extraordinary Sesto and Christoph Pregardien's Superb Tito set the standard for this riveting Opera National de Paris Performance conducted by the outstanding Sylvain Cambreling.

• Three By Rambert | DVD | (01/07/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The Rambert Dance Company first made its name in the 1920s for its creative melding of tradition and innovation. That tenet has remained central to the company's ethos and Three by Rambert showcases its particular strengths to great effect in three highly contrasting ballets. Musically, we have three utterly different scores: Janacek’s searing Second String Quartet (subtitled "Intimate Letters", from which the ballet adapts its name), the moody, evocative songs of Bill Withers and, finally, a medley of folk songs from various climes. Though stylistically at odds, all three explore the twin themes of desire and loss. The other link is that, heard in isolation, none of these pieces seems remotely danceable. It’s a tribute both to the choreography (Robert North in the jazz ballet "Lonely Town" , the company's artistic director Christopher Bruce in the remaining two) and to the dancers themselves that the results are so stunningly effortless. Time and again, you’re struck not simply by the liquid perfection of both solo and ensemble work, but by the directness of the physical language, and the depth of emotions expressed. A brilliant showcase for one of the cultural treasures of our age. On the DVD: Three by Rambert has good sound and excellent picture, with the 16:9 format doing full justice to the different visuals encapsulated by the three ballets. The booklet is useful for basic information, though more analysis of the works would have been helpful for non-experts. Rather than 14 minutes of trailers for other titles, an introduction to the work of the company, and maybe to the ballets themselves, would have been more helpful and user-friendly.--Harriet Smith

• Handel - Giulio Cesare (Mortensen, Concerto Copenhagen) | DVD | (03/09/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

• A Tribute To Alvin Ailey | DVD | (18/12/2000) from £23.44   |  Saving you £1.55 (6.61%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The legendary American choreographer Alvin Ailey is the subject of this well-balanced Tribute. Three of the four dances--"For Bird with Love", "Witness" and "Memoria"--are Ailey's, and the programme concludes with Ulysses Dove's "Episodes". Each is eloquently introduced by Judith Jamison, and each demonstrates the joyous, affectionate atmosphere which Ailey's work always seemed to generate. "For Bird with Love", a dance interpretation of the life of the seminal jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker, is probably the best known and best loved of the items presented here. Ailey always relied on an element of rather camp Broadway glitz to carry his ideas beyond the hardcore audience for modern dance, and much of the work presented here is closer to Cats than to Cunningham. Overall, though, these dances are superbly structured, graceful edifices which transcend their showbiz influences, and there are few examples of the craft that are so extrovertly welcoming to the viewer. --Roger Thomas

• Il Turco In Italia - Rossini | DVD | (21/01/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  A performance of Rossini's opera performed by the Zurich Opera House Chorus and Orchestra and the Supernumerary Association; conducted by Franz Welser-Most.

• Rameau: In Convertendo | DVD | (03/07/2006) from £2.49   |  Saving you £12.50 (502.01%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Jean-Philippe Rameau was still a young musician when he moved to Lyon where he probably composed his few surviving motets including the Grand Motet In Convertendo here performed by Les Arts Florissants under William Christie which anticipates Rameau's orchestration in his later operatic works. This wonderful fugue on Psalm 126 (verse 6) Euntes ibant et flebant (They went forth and wept) bears comparison with similar works by his contemporary J.S. Bach. In addition to a full performance of In Convertendo this DVD presents some of Rameau's key chamber music pieces and an insightful music documentary The Real Rameau which sheds light on the life of a composer who thought only of music dreaming of a universal harmony and regarding music as an example to all arts and indeed to all the sciences as well. Pictured by his contemporaries as a gaunt and taciturn man ill-suited to courtly surroundings his work was described by Berlioz as 'one of the most sublime conceptions of dramatic music'.

• The Snowman - The Stage Show | DVD | (21/11/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  A performance of the West End stage show which follows the adventures of a young boy and his friend the Snowman. Featuring an extended score composed by Howard Blake (Flash Gordon). This DVD includes twenty-five additional minutes not seen on television.

• Paisiello: Nina | DVD | (19/05/2003) from £33.21   |  Saving you £-8.22 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Live recording of Giovanni Paisiello's opera 'Nina' which follows the tale of a woman traumatised by the death her lover Lindoro.

• Three By Rambert | DVD | (27/11/2006) from £23.39   |  Saving you £1.60 (6.84%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Intimate PagesLonely Town, Lonely StreetSergeant Early's Dream

• The Christmas Collection 3-on-1 (The Snowman Stage Show, Trip to See Santa, Story of Christmas) | DVD | (29/10/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  This Collection features The Showman Stage Show Trip To See Santa and the The Story Of Christmas.

• Ivan The Terrible - Prokofiev And Grigorovich | DVD | (03/10/2005) from £33.73   |  Saving you £-8.74 (-35.00%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Recorded at the end of 2003 this production features in the title role of the amazing star of the Paris Ballet Nicolas Le Riche one of the foremost dancers of today. Famous all over the world of his elegant strength the beauty of his expression and the musicality of his movements he has created leading roles for choreographers such as Rudolf Nureyev Mats Ek and John Neumeier. As the Czar Ivan he dances opposite Elonora Abbagnato his fellow dancer at the Paris Opera Ballet whose highly refined dancing in the role of his wife Anastasia gives rise to great hopes for her future.

• Black Cake And Concertante | DVD | (03/04/2006) from £17.11   |  Saving you £2.88 (16.83%)   |  RRP £19.99

  One of the most exciting choreographers on the modern dance scene today Hans van Manen's work is characterised by a supreme musicality and striking versatility. The scene for Hans van Manen's BLACK CAKE is a society party. Elegantly-dressed couples dance with each other and his choreography reveals a whole range of undercurrents in the relationships between the men and the women. Both humour and aggression are found in CONCERTANTE which generates an explosive tension in a succession of encounters between four male and four female dancers.

• American Ballet Theatre Now | DVD | (08/03/2001) from £24.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  America's leading ballet soloists display highlights from their repertoire.

• Gluck: Iphigenie en Tauride -- Zurich Opera | DVD | (30/06/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  A performance of Gluck's 1774 opera which is based on Greek legend. Recorded live at the Zurich Opera House in 2001. William Christie conducts. Also a documentary 'Gluck - The Reformer' by Reiner E. Moritz. The psychological drama in a tense atmosphere of violated blood ties fears and traumas is underlined by Guth's use of huge masks and enclosed spaces.

• Three By Duato | DVD | (25/02/2002) from £26.98   |  Saving you £-1.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Under the artistic directorship of Nacho Duato the Compania Nacional de Danza has developed it's own distinctive style mixing classical and contemporary idioms and has become on of the most accomplished and entertaining dance ensembles in Europe. Duato's inventive choreography is earthy sensual and emotive and demands high levels of physical energy.

• The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater - An Evening With | DVD | (20/02/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  A studio recording of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Featuring: 'Divining' 'Revelations' 'The Stack Up' and 'Cry'. Choreographers include Judith Jamison Alvin Ailey and Tally Beatty.