Vincenzo Bellini is widely regarded as the last and greatest composer of bel canto opera, and his most famous operas, Norma, is one of the leading works in the genre. Even Richard Wagner said of Norma: "If we weep from emotion on hearing it, it's nothing to be ashamed of. " This release is a new production of the opera, directed by Grammy Award-nominated director of opera, theatre, and film, Kevin Newbury. Sondra Radvan stars as a captivating Norma in a performance in which the New York Times described as "powerful, elegant. " Gregory Kunde performs as Pollione. Operatraveller. com wrote of his performance: "something very special. The word 'historic' is used perhaps a little too often but tonight there really is no other adjective to describe the sensational performances offered to us by Sondra Radvanovsky and Gregory Kunde. "
There is no better repertoire with which to display a leider singer than the Schubert Song Cycles. For this release, baritone Hermann Prey tackles Schubert’s Die Schone Mullerin, Schwanengesang accompanied by Leonard Hokanson and Winterreise accompanied by Helmut Deutsch. As a bonus, this release includes an interview with Prey on these song cycles and a documentary on the artist. “In his finest interpretations Hermann Prey sang “Winterreise” and “Die schone Mullerin” with a captivatingly natural phrasing that flowed organically like a river and as such was the very opposite of the more intellectual approach of his rival, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.” (Die Zeit online) “The velvety, silky timbre of his soft-grained and yet distinctively striking baritone voice, his charm, his excellent diction and the naturalness of his delivery spiced with a hint of emotion- it is all this that distinguishes the truly outstanding lieder singer.” (Opernglas)
Subtitles: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese Booklet: English, German, French No. of Discs: 1 Run time: 190 minutes Disc Format: Blu-ray 50 Picture: 16:9, HD Audio: PCM Stereo, PCM 5.1 Bonus Material: Introduction to La forza del destino Subtitles Bonus: Italian, English Region Code: 0 (worldwide)
Beethoven's Ninth: Symphony for the World / Currentzis
C Major Entertainment
DVD
$16.49$32.99Save 50%Jun 26, 2020
To this day, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 is one of the most popular pieces of classical music in the world. But what is it about this global hit? The film charts the success of the symphony around the globe and encounters passionate amateur musicians and musical personalities. Watch as Greek conductor Teodor Currentzis works on Beethoven’s Ninth with his ensemble, MusicAeterna. Follow Chinese composer and Oscar winner Tan Dun as he creates a new composition inspired by the great Beethoven symphony. Experience the Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as they play the Ninth. Visit a favela in Brazil, where Beethovens’s music helps people get off the streets. Be amazed as a choir of 10,000 in Japan sings the final chorus of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, with great enthusiasm. Learn how Paul Whittaker helps make Beethoven accessible for deaf people. And find out how British DJ Gabriel Prokofiev performs a symphonic remix of Beethoven’s Ninth.
Prokofiev: Romeo & Juliet / West, San Francisco Ballet Orchestra [Blu-ray]
C Major Entertainment
Blu-Ray
$22.98$45.99Save 50%Apr 28, 2017
From grand spectacles to poignant close-ups, experience Helgi Tomasson's bravura interpretation of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet like you've never seen it before. With passionate choreography, spine-tingling swordsmansip, and a celebrated score by Sergei Prokofiev, San Francisco Ballet's passionate retelling of the Bard's greatest tragedy has packed houses around the world. Romeo & Juliet is one of the Company's most popular and widely toured ballets and has been seen by more than 200,000 people since it premiered in 1994. Choreographed by Helgi Tomasson, with sets and costumes by Jens-Jacob Worsaae, this visually stunning production and the brilliant dancers of San Francisco Ballet bring this powerful and touching tragedy - and Renaissance-era Verona - vivdly to life. "Tomasson lifts Shakespeare's complex and familiar language off the gilded pages and translates it into lucid classical choreography that is visceral, fresh, and ultimately sublime" (Huffington Post).
Star tenor and director Rolando Villazón’s staging of La Traviata at the Festspielhaus in Baden Baden is “visually spectacular” (The Huffington Post) and made for “an enthusiastic reception for the premiere” (Stuttgarter Zeitung)! Villazón “proves again his excellent narrating skills on stage” (WDR Klassik). “The setting and opulence of the stage captivates the spectator, as do the stylized costumes designed by Thibault Vancraenenbroeck for circus artists” (Stuttgarter Zeitung). Olga Peretyatko as Violetta delivers “a fantastic portrait of the title role wavering between adolescent joie de vivre, mature insight and anguish” (Stuttgarter Zeitung). Her partner is the tenor Atalla Ayan as the jealous Alfredo, who delivers a “beguiling interpretation with a dark, warm timbre and rich top notes” (Stuttgarter Zeitung). Simone Piazzolla as Alfredo’s strict father Giorgio Germont adds fine vocal lines to provide a strong sense of “Italianità” on stage (Neue Zürcher Zeitung). Conductor is Pablo Heras-Casado, “a great hope of a new generation of conductors” (WDR Klassik).
The Beethoven cycle of the 21st century! Christian Thielemann joins forces with the prestigious Wiener Philharmoniker in a unique and monumental project BEETHOVEN 9, their first-ever recording of all 9 Symphonies in full high definition and Surround Sound. This recording from the Golden Hall of Vienna´s Musikverein is accompanied by nine(!) hour-long documentaries, one on each symphony, featuring Christian Thielemann and Germany´s most eminent music critic, Prof. Joachim Kaiser. From insights into Beethoven´s musical thinking to interpretational comparisons, including excerpts form legendary performances by Karajan, Bernstein, Böhm, Järvi etc., to historical perpsectives – no aspect of Beethoven´s symphonic oeuvre will remain untreated! This 3 DVD-set contains Beethoven Symphonies 1, 2 & 3 and the Documentaries about Symphonies 1, 2 & 3.
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1, 2 and 3 Coriolan Overture Egmont Overture, Op. 84 Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Christian Thielemann, conductor
Recorded live at the Goldener Saal der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, Vienna
including: Discovering Beethoven with Joachim Keiser and Christian Thielemann one-hour long documentary for each symphony Picture format: NTSC 16:9 Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS 5.0 Region code: 0 (worldwide) Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Italian, Korean, Chinese, Japanese Running time: 155 mins (symphonies) + 170 mins (documentaries) No. of DVDs: 3
This impressive four-DVD set features four documentaries that revolve around the lives and careers of four of history’s finest conductors. The first is “I Am Lost to the World,” a documentary about Carlos Kleiber, that includes several musical excerpts conducted by Kleiber. The second is “Journey of a Lifetime,” which focuses on Sir Georg Solti. The film includes interviews with Valerie Solti, Valery Gergiev, and more. “Larger Than Life” revolves around Leonard Bernstein, and includes interviews with his children and other music giants like Stephen Sondheim and Gustavo Dudamel. Finally, “Maestro for the Screen,” is about the life of Herbert von Karajan and shows the fascinating development of Karajan’s language for filming orchestral productions and starts with the very first concert production in 1957 in Japan, followed by the impressive cooperation with director Henri Georges Clouzot in 1965 to Karajan’s own film company Telemondial.
Mariss Jansons is one of the most influential conductors of our age. In 2012 the charismatic Latvian musician conducted his second New Year Concert in Vienna, an honour that very few conductors have enjoyed. For the present documentary portrait, the film maker Robert Neumüller observed Jansons at work in Amsterdam, Riga, St Petersburg, Vienna and Salzburg. The film shows Jansons working with his various orchestras, including rehearsals for the 2012 New Year Concert, and also explores his private life, resulting in a number of fascinating insights into Jansons’ artistic development and philosophy. By way of a bonus, this release features a complete performance of Mahler’s Second Symphony with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Mariss Jansons.
Subtitles: G, E, F, Sp, Chin, Kor Booklet: E, G, F No. of Discs: 2 Run time: 145 minutes Disc Format: DVD Picture: NTSC, 16:9 Audio: PCM Stereo, PCM 5.1 Region Code: 0 (worldwide)
This production ''offers all an Italian-opera-lover could possibly desire'' wrote the FAZ after the revival of this ''forgotten gem'' at the Bregenz Festival. The festival continued its rediscovery series with ''Amleto/Hamlet'', an opera by Verdi contemporaries Franco Faccio and Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet. Premiered in 1865 in Genoa and restaged in 1871 at Milano's La Scala, ''Hamlet'' was only revived in 2014 concertante in the US before its ''triumphal rebirth'' at the Bregenz Festival, where the opera was also recorded for the first time ever. Faccio, who conducted the first performance of Verdi's Aida in Italy and the world premiere of Otello and Boito, Verdi's librettist of Otello and Falstaff, skillfully and effectively challenge the conventions of Italian opera, which they watned to revitalize by infusing it with the spirit of Shakespeare's drama. Anticipating the musical language of later Italian verismo composers, the opera combines lovely musical interludes with superb vocal writing. Heading a supreme cast, Pavel Cernoch as Amelto delivers superbly, ''using his colorful tenor skillfully to develop the transformation of the insecure youngling to the ice-cold avenger'' and ''granting the work large scale''. Under the baton of Paolo Carignani with the Vienna Symphoniker and Prague Philharmonic Choir ''it carried terrific punch''. Olivier Tambosi's ''excellent staging served it well, with a clear focus on the high points''. ''In the intermission and at the end there was vociferous enthusiasm of the audience for the later first encounter with this music''.
One of our day’s most legendary performers, pianist Rudolph Buchbinder has been appearing on stages all over the globe for the last fifty years. Later this year, in celebration of his 70th birthday, he will be honored in numerous concert halls, including Carnegie Hall, Suntory hall, and the Berliner Philharmonie. The Kurier newspaper described this performance with rave reviews. “It is not every day that Brahms sounds so perfect as this.” (Kurier) They also praised Buchbinder as a “phenomenal piano virtuoso.” In the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein, under the baton of Maestro Zubin Mehta, Buchbinder performs for this release the First and Second Piano Concertos of Johannes Brahms. These works demand a soloist with a wide range of both interpretal refinement and technical skill, both of which Buchbinder brings to the table. “What Rudolph Buchbinder, the Vienna Philharmonic and conductor Zubin Mehta delivered at the Musikverein easily deserves the accolade ‘milestone’.” (Kurier)
For La forza del destino, Verdi created one of his most famous melodies, the "fate" motif that permeates the whole score. Music and action alternate in masterly fashion between large-scale crowd scenes and intimate interiority, illustrating Verdi's real theme: The manner in which fallible human beings are destroyed by a cruel fate.
A film by Lillian Birnbaum and Peter Stephan Jungk
With: André Previn, Mia Farrow, Renée Fleming, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Tom Stoppard, David Finck, and others
Bonus: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Quartet No. 2 in E flat major, K. 493 Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, K. 478
André Previn, piano Rainer Küchl, violin Günter Seifert, viola Franz Bartolomey, cello
André Previn is one of the leading musicians of our day. The eighty-one-year-old cosmopolitan pianist, conductor and classical composer has not only received no fewer than four Academy awards for his film adaptations but was also one of the most influential jazz musicians of the fifties and sixties. A Bridge Between Two Worlds is a portrait of Previn's fascinating musicianship and also looks candidly at his private life, including his relations with his two ex-wives, Mia Farrow and Anne-Sophie Mutter. As a bonus, this release features Mozart's two Piano Quartets K. 478 and K. 493 with André Previn at the keyboard.
Picture format: NTSC 16:9 Sound format: PCM Stereo 2.0 / Dolby Digital 5.1 Region code: 0 (worldwide) Subtitles: English, German, French, Spanish Booklet notes: English, German, French Running time: 52 mins (documentary) + 55 mins (performance) No. of DVDs: 1 (DVD 9)
From the innovative and gorgeous "Tutto Verdi" project comes a chance to catch all the high points! "Tutto Verdi" includes arias from 20 Verdi operas. The selections hail from the best-known and loved productions like Aida, La Traviata and Rigoletto as well as lesser-known beauties, all in HD.
Giuseppe Verdi TUTTO VERDI - The Complete Operas (Highlights)
excerpts from: Oberto Un Giorno di Regno Nabucco I Lombardi alla prima crociata Ernani I due Foscari Giovanna d’Arco Attila Macbeth Il Corsaro Luisa Miller Rigoletto Il Trovatore La Traviata I Vespri Siciliani Simon Boccanegra Un Ball in Maschera La Forza del Destino Falstaff
with: Anna Caterina Antonacci Barbara Bargnesi Silvia Dalla Benetta Daniela Dessì Norma Fantini Tamar Iveri Nino Machaidze Susan Neves Dimitra Theodossiou Sylvie Valayre Svetla Vassileva Marcelo Alvarez Marco Berti Francesco Demuro Antonio Gandia Carlo Guelfi Ambrogio Maestri Francesco Meli Leo Nucci Luca Salsi Roberto Scandiuzzi Vladimir Stoyanov
Parma Teatro Regio Chorus and Orchestra
Recorded live from the Teatro Regio di Parma
Picture format: NTSC 16:9 Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS 5.1 Region code: 0 (worldwide) Subtitles: Italian, English Running time: 94 mins No. of DVDs: 1
Oberto was Verdi's first staged operas and was heard for the first time at La Scala, Milan in November 1839. As a young and unknown composer, Verdi was subject to the rules governing the opera industry in Italy. Even so, there are many scenes in this early work that reveal unmistakable signs of the composer's individual style.
Prokofiev: Romeo & Juliet / West, San Francisco Ballet Orchestra
C Major Entertainment
DVD
$32.99Apr 28, 2017
From grand spectacles to poignant close-ups, experience Helgi Tomasson's bravura interpretation of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet like you've never seen it before. With passionate choreography, spine-tingling swordsmansip, and a celebrated score by Sergei Prokofiev, San Francisco Ballet's passionate retelling of the Bard's greatest tragedy has packed houses around the world. Romeo & Juliet is one of the Company's most popular and widely toured ballets and has been seen by more than 200,000 people since it premiered in 1994. Choreographed by Helgi Tomasson, with sets and costumes by Jens-Jacob Worsaae, this visually stunning production and the brilliant dancers of San Francisco Ballet bring this powerful and touching tragedy - and Renaissance-era Verona - vivdly to life. "Tomasson lifts Shakespeare's complex and familiar language off the gilded pages and translates it into lucid classical choreography that is visceral, fresh, and ultimately sublime" (Huffington Post).
What a pompous and exquisite gala to celebrate opera legend Plácido Domingo in the breathtaking Arena di Verona! 50 years ago the young Madrilenian singer Plácido Domingo gave his debut at the ancient open-air theatre: the beginning of a lasting and exceptional relationship. To mark the anniversary, Domingo presents a programme entirely dedicated to Verdi, performing three of his most complex and majestic baritone roles. No effort was spared to create an unforgettable evening in a unique atmosphere in the completely sold-out amphitheatre, which has been at the heart of Italian entertainment for almost 2,000 years. Whether as Babylonian king Nabucco, Scottish general Macbeth or as Doge Simon Boccanegra: Domingo’s versatility and aura is more than impressive, with “top phrasing and articulation, his baritone with full and sonorous intonation and a unique timbre – all this substantiates his exceptional position” (Das Opernglas). At the side of Domingo shines an excellent cast including Anna Pirozzi and Arturo Chacón-Cruz, supported by a perfectly rehearsed ballet under the baton of conductor Jordi Bernàcer who sovereignly leads the Orchestra of the Arena di Verona from scene to scene. A triumphal, almost historic moment for Domingo and the Arena di Verona!
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