Also available on Blu-ray

Premiered on May 21st, 1892 at Milan’s Teatro Dal Verme under the baton of Arturo Toscanini, Pagliacci was immediately a huge success, and today it’s Leoncavallo’s most represented operas as “Vesti la giubba” is perhaps one of the most famous operatic arias of all times. The composer drew inspiration from a real incident that had occurred in a Calabrian town, an incident steeped in love and death, which inspired him to write his personal contribution to the new stylistic-aesthetic trends of Italian opera. In the Prologue, Leoncavallo inserted an outright manifesto of Verismo (“real theatre”). His aim was to “paint a scene from real life” and since “the artist is a person, […] he should write for the people. Therefore, he took inspiration from real life.” In the story of Nedda, Tonio and Canio we therefore find a well combined mix of art and reality, operatic theatre and life, with the second almost taking over the first, to the extent that the chorus, towards the end, exclaims, “This scene seems so real!” This production was recorded at Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in September 2019 and it was acclaimed as a great success by the critics. Conductor Valerio Galli “reads the score with the proper technique, succeeding in enhancing all the various shades for each scene … Pagliacci is conducted with passion… a careful eye to the dramatic development of the story and the sound is rendered with a variety of shades and colors”.

REVIEW:

This is good, solid, Italianate, passionate singing, notably from the tenor and soprano. The picture is sharp, with subtitles easily found. The sound is crystal clear, bringing out the best of the timpani and brass to good effect. The voices are well to the fore. There is a short extra with the directors discussing the production. For those who like their verismo full-blooded and idiomatically led, this is for you. Highly recommended.

– Fanfare (David Cutler)

Explore the dreamlike world of Rudolf Nureyev’s interpretation of The Nutcracker. In his imaginative retelling of a 19th-century classic, the young Clara is propelled by dark forces from the realm of childhood into a radiant kingdom where she takes center stage. With a striking psychoanalytic dimension to the traditional festive favorite, Clara’s surreal journey becomes an allegory for the hopes and dreams of a young girl on the cusp of adulthood, her transformation evoked by the whirling snowflakes and glittering sugar of Tchaikovsky’s famous score. This 1968 recording is a golden opportunity to watch a great historical performance from The Royal Ballet featuring the illustrious pairing of Rudolf Nureyev and Merle Park in a scintillating display of virtuosity.

Also available on Blu-ray

Exactly 80 years before the Opening Concert of the 2019 Lucerne Festival, Sergei Rachmaninoff himself appeared for the first time on August 11, 1939 at the "International Music Festival Weeks". The roaring success of the performance stands in direct contrast to the need for retreat, seclusion and concentration that the star pianist sought as a composer. Marking three stages in his career, the concerto, étude, vocalise and symphony presented in 2019 take the listener to these places of retreat. And yet, they call to mind phenomena of public perception that still influence the way they are received today. In their diversity, these works invite us to appreciate the versatility of this extraordinary artist, to question, break through and expand patterns of perception.

REVIEW:

The pianist is musically involved, and so is Chailly. However unexpectedly, they form a superb partnership, and the entire reading is suffused with unabashed Romanticism. Matsuev shows himself perfectly willing to play delicate passages with the appropriate lyricism. The opening theme is unusually gentle, in fact. The impression of effortless virtuosity is especially vivid in the finale, where the pianist is magisterial. I would call this a Gilels-like performance in its authority and breadth rather than an electrifying Horowitz-like one. But it’s thrilling nonetheless.

– Fanfare

Beethoven’s Missa solemnis is the one work the composer admired above all his compositions. It was written for his great patron and friend Archduke Rudolf of Austria at around the same time that he embarked on his Ninth Symphony and as the writer Donald Tovey noted, ‘there is no choral and no orchestral writing, earlier or later, that shows a more thrilling sense of the individual colour of every chord.’ This insightful documentary follows Frieder Bernius on a journey of discovery as he immerses himself in Beethoven’s monumental masterpiece in preparation for a recording.

A 2020 Grammy nominee for best opera recording!

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD
Based on Oscar Wilde’s story The Birthday of the Infanta, Zemlinsky’s single-act opera Der Zwerg is the tragic tale of a dwarf who is presented at court, falls in love with the beautiful Donna Clara, but is ultimately forced to see himself as others see him and to die of a broken heart. Preceded by Schoenberg’s Accompaniment to a Cinematographic Scene, Op. 34 (1930), Zemlinsky’s Romantic score is full of psychological intrigue. Is Der Zwerg a critique of society’s superficiality? Is it the composer’s self-portrait in his doomed affair with Alma Schindler? Director Tobias Kratzer’s stunning, transparent production creates a space in which each character is thrown into sharp relief in this ‘fine, noble and melancholy work’. (Bachtrack.com)