PARIS: A Musical Tour of Paris, Chantilly, Versailles & Chartres PARIS

The Places
In addition to characteristic scenes from Paris, its buildings and its people, there is a glimpse of the Château at Chantilly, the magnificent palace of Versailles, and the Cathedral at Chartres.

The Music
The music here included is largely associated with Paris, although not all by French composers. It includes a movement from a symphony that Mozart wrote in Paris in 1778 and excerpts from Verdi’s opera La Traviata, set principally in the city. Other music ranges from that of the seventeenth-century French viol-player Marais to works by Debussy and the eccentric Erik Satie.

VENICE: A Musical Tour of the City’s Past and Present

The Places
Venice is one of the most famous of all cities, its buildings reflecting its former commercial importance and wealth. Its canals and its position at the head of the Adriatic have given it a unique character that has continued to attract visitors.

The Music
The music here included is either associated directly with Venice or familiar there in the heyday of the Serenissima. It includes music by the Venetian composers Vivaldi and Marcello, and by Domenico Scarlatti, Neapolitan by birth, who was sent to study there by his father.

PRAGUE: A Musical Tour of the City’s Past and Present

The Places
Prague is the ancient capital of Bohemia and now of the Czech Republic. Its history is reflected in its buildings, recalling the splendours of the past under changing dynasties and the 400 or so years as part of the Habsburg Empire, until the establishment of the new republic of Czechoslovakia in 1918. At the heart of Europe, the region has always been a fertile ground for musicians.

The Music
The music included here is associated in one way or another with Prague or Bohemia. It includes works by the Bohemian composers Smetana and Dvo?ák, by the Moravian composer Janá?ek, and by Fibich who, with Mozart, always found a ready welcome for his music in Prague.

The Places
The capital of Shaanxi Province, Xi'an, its name translating as 'Western Peace', was the Chinese capital during the Tang dynasty (618-906 A.D.). The Big Wild Goose Pagoda, completed in 704 on the orders of the Empress Wu Zetain during her period of rule as Empress of the Zhou dynasty, soon replaced by the restored Tang, is one of the oldest such structures in China. Of particular interest is the tomb of the Emperor Huang, regarded as the founder of the unified Chinese nation, and the remarkable terracotta warriors and horses discovered around the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang Di, founder of the Qin dynasty who died in 210 B.C.. The tour ends with vies of the precipitous Huashan (Flower Mountain), so called from its five peaks, groups in the shape of a great flower.

The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Xi'an is played on traditional Chinese instruments. The excerpts include, to accompany the terracotta warriors, a contemporary composition inspired by Zhang Ji's poem 'Night at the Maple Bridge' giving particular prominence to the zhongruan, a form of Chinese lute of ancient origin. Other instruments heard are the Chinese transverse bamboo flute, the dizi, the Chinese plucked zither, the guqin, and the Chinese lute, the pipa. A glimpse of operatic stage performance finds a place for a Shaanxi opera tune, an example of the music to be heard in the many regional forms of Chinese opera.

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: Dolby Digital 2.0 / Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Booklet notes: English, Chinese
Running time: 66 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

The music chosen for this tour of Guilin is played on traditional Chinese instruments. Performing the music are wind and string ensembles known as "silk and bamboo," from their silk strings and bamboo pipes, and ensembles that also include percussion.