Coal Miner's Daughter is the amazing true story based on the book Loretta Lynn wrote with George Veesey. It was the first country musician autobiography to hit the bestseller list and sold more than a million copies in six weeks. When bringing Loretta's story to the screen, director Michael Apted assembled an incredible cast: Sissy Spacek (who won an Oscar for her role), Tommy Lee Jones, Beverly D'Angelo and Levon Helm. What resulted is a remarkable tale of a rousing love affair and a woman's triumph in making her name in the world.

Featuring Gezim Mishketa; Elisaveta Martyrosian; Enrica Fabbri; Filippo Adami; Maurizio Lo Piccolo; Omar Montanari; Daivde Rocca; Massimo Pagnoni; Asia D’Arcangelo; Fabio Vichi.

Orchestra Sinfonica Carlo Coccia
Fabrizio Dorsi/Rosetta Cucchi, directors

NTSC All Region; Stereo, Dolby 5.1
Subtitles: Italian, English, Japanese
Running time: 85 minutes

ARRIGHETTO, A SENTIMENTAL FARCE
Madama Beritola, finding two goats on an island, having lost two sons goes to the Lunigiana: there one of her sons is with her Master and he sleeps with his daughter and is put in prison. Cicilia rebelling against king Carlo and the son recognized by the mother, marries the Master’s daughter, and finding his brother, in grand style they return. (Giovanni Boccaccio, Decameron, second day, sixth novella). Thus begins the Story of the novella from which Angelo Anelli tells us he took his libretto. It is the eternal edifying topos He who suffers may hope. Often in the past this Lombard poet as others before him had considered Boccaccio’s novelle as a mine from which to “extract subjects” in alternative to the noble French theatre, at the time much in vogue for this use. Suffice one title as example: Griselda, an oppressed married woman whose virtue finally triumphs over fate, taken from Apostolo Zeno but rewritten by Anelli in 1793. Obviously the story is semi-serious, even larmoyante, a genre halfway between tragic, comic and pathetic which at that time had become a favorite with audiences. It is precisely what the author so eloquently wrote down on the title page of the score: a “sentimental farce”.

She crosses boundaries and loves to explore new territory. Barbara Hannigan is one of the most fascinating and multi-facetted artistic personalities of our time. She sets new standards as a singer, conductor, and performance artist. The intimate portrait “I’m a creative animal” takes the viewer into the world of an exceptional musician – a world of both passion and discipline. Her performances possess a breathtaking intensity because of her exquisite vocal technique and virtuosity, musical and theatrical expressivity, and uncompromising engagement. In this concert with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Hannigan both sings and conducts to effortlessly build bridges linking different musical epochs. With a phenomenal performance of Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre, a work for which she is famous, she once again confirms her reputation as the performer of contemporary music – “The audience went wild.” (Neue Zürcher Zeitung)

“She is one of the best musicians out there.”
(Simon Rattle in The New York Times)

DOCUMENTARY
I’m a creative animal –Barbara Hannigan
A film by Barbara Seiler

CONCERT
Mahler Chamber Orchestra
Barbara Hannigan (soprano/conductor)
Concert Hall of KKL Luzern, August 2014

Gioachino Rossini
Overture to La scala di seta

Wolfgang A. Mozart
Vado, ma dove? O Dei!
Un moto di gioia
Misera, dove son?
György Ligeti
Concert Românesc
Mysteries of the Macabre

Gabriel Fauré
Pelléas et Mélisande, op. 80

Languages: English, Italian
Subtitles: English, Italian
Bonus: documentary I’m a creative animal – Barbara Hannigan
Bonus Running time: 51:17 min
Bonus Languages: English
Bonus Subtitles: German, French
Disc Formats: DVD-9
Number of Discs: 1 (DVD)
Picture Formats DVD: 16:9 NTSC
Sound Formats DVD: PCM Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1
Running time: 71:38 min

Quartetto Gelato - a Concert in Wine country is the first DVD from the critically acclaimed chamber ensemble. Having already aired on PBS affiliates across the USA in over 50 markets big and small, the program will be repeated many times over the next year on digital as well as standard definition PBS affiliates. The group recently lost founding member Cynthia Steljes to cancer, however the remainder of the group continue to tour including dates in the USA in fall 2007.

Seven DVD set. What made Claudio Abbado stand out was his unpretentious, noble character, his democratic understanding of music making and his ability to celebrate the live moment on stage. Claudio Abbado empathized with his musicians. In order to be able to maintain contact with each individual during the conducting, he usually conducted from memory. "I am Claudio - for everyone" quickly became Abbado's oft-quoted statement.

An extraordinary 4 DVD box set that brings together three of America's most lauded contemporary opera productions that collectively are a brilliant introduction to the astonishing diversity of 20th-century opera : John Adams' Dr. Atomic directed by librettist Peter Sellars, a riveting morality drama about the father of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer. Philip Glass', The Perfect American, like the book from which it is based, seeks to reveal an unvarnished Walt Disney, based on an imagined series of reflections and memories that might have occurred during the icon's dying months; and finally the 2001 cinematic film version of Trouble in Tahiti, Leonard Bernstein's satire on American suburban married life, with the characteristically jubilant conjoining of jazz and musical comedy; lyric art with popular entertainment. A marvelous collection of consummate direction, compelling designs, a collection of inspired musical performances by the Netherlands Philharmonic, Madrid's Orquesta de Teatro Real and City of London Sinfonia along with brilliant casting and stand-out performances - among them Gerald Finley's Oppenheimer and Christopher Purves' Walt Disney. Filmed in High Definition and recorded in true Surround Sound.

Don't muck around with these two-fisted mother truckers! Enjoy hours of 18-wheelin' action in the Convoy Collection! Three trucker classics, perfect to get your gears shifting! First up is "The Trucker's Women," a beer-guzzling, gal-snatching and bar-fighting classic. Followed by "Moon Fire Trucker," a wild and crazy ride for two of the toughest truckers in a battle against killer Mexicans and Nazis too! Then it's on to the country comedy, crooning and clench-fist fighting of "The Concrete Cowboy" - never has so much Convoy-busting action been hauled together in one place like this!

Made for the 1939 New York World's Fair, this seminal documentary film is distinguished for the organic integration of narration (scripted by city planner Lewis Mumford), cinematography (Ralph Steiner & Willard Van Dyke), and music (Aaron Copland).

This exciting Dynamic DVD features the complete recording of the critically acclaimed concert given by International superstars Franco Corelli and Renata Tebaldi at the NHK Auditorium in Tokyo on 21st November 1973. This concert includes no less than five encores.

'The school for lovers', Mozart's alternative title for Così fan tutte, is given a playful, theatrical treatment by German director Jan Philipp Gloger, who sets this new production for The Royal Opera in a theatre. The four lovers are performed by a cast of young rising stars, with Sabina Puertolas as the fun-loving Despina and acclaimed German baritone and comic genius Johannes Martin Kranzle as the impresario Don Alfonso, who leads the lovers on a role-playing journey full of picturesque settings. Semyon Bychkov conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House in one of Mozart's most beautiful scores, packed with wonderful arias and ensembles. "Ensemble singing is strong; the standout is Daniel Behle's gorgeous tenor as Ferrando. Above all, Semyon Bychkov's impeccable balance and pacing in the pit allows it full space to blossom." (The Independent) "Semyon Bychkov gives an enthralling lesson in Mozart from the outset. Conducting his first Mozart opera in 20 years, he has a style might be said to belong (in the best sense) to the old school. But, Bychkov draws glowingly warm playing, and the textures are lithe and lively. The score's darker colours are all brought out in a performance that bristles with dramatic tension." (The Daily Telegraph)

A 2012 live recording of Baldassarre Galuppi's "Il Filosofo di Campagna". Born on an island in the Venice lagoon, Galuppi was an intensely prolific and highly esteemed composer of the Venetian Baroque era. His works included sacred music, sacred and profane cantatas, instrumental works, oratorios and operas, many of which are comic. Among the latter, of particular importance are those born of his collaboration with Carlo Goldoni. The deeply 'Venetian' aspects of Goldoni and Galuppi together created a body of 18th century comic opera of which Il Filosofo di Campagna (The Country Philosopher) is arguably Galuppi's best known. With the Ensemble Barocco della Filarmonica del Veneto led by Fabrizio da Ros and a pan-European cast of young singers mount a lively production.

MUSICAL JOURNEY: CZECH REPUBLIC
A Musical Visit to Prague and Lednice castle

The Places
The churches and palaces of Prague are seen, with the great River Vltava (the Moldau), which flows through the city, the outline of city buildings reflected in its waters. The Strahov Monastery and the Villa Bertramka are practical examples of Mozart’s contact with Prague. On a visit to the monastery he improvised on the organ, and at the Villa Bertramka he and his wife Constanze were guests of the Czech composer Dušek. There is also a visit to Southern Moravia and Lednice, with its Neo-Gothic castle, its folly, a slender minaret, in its English gardens, with its trees and artificial lakes.

The Music
Mozart had happy memories of Prague. When, during the last ten years of his life, circumstances in Vienna proved increasingly difficult, he was always welcome in the Bohemian capital. It was for Prague that he wrote his opera Don Giovanni in 1787 and for Prague that he wrote one of his last operas, La clemenza di Tito, commissioned for the coronation of Leopold II as King of Bohemia, and for his unappreciative wife, who described the work as 'porchería tedesca', German porkery. Prague continues to honour Mozart in various festivals, concerts and memorabilia.

Picture format: NTSC 4:3
Sound format: Dolby Digital / DTS Surround
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Running time: 54 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

The Places
The visit to the Czech Republic starts with Hluboká Castle, a massive building that for over three hundred years belonged to the Schwarzenberg family. The present building is modelled in part on England's Windsor Castle. Other sites visited include Konopiště Castle, the picturesque town of Telč, and Vranov Castle.

The Music
Music for the visit is by Mozart and consists of his four Horn Concertos, written during the last decade of his life, when he was in Vienna. They were intended for his old Salzburg friend Ignaz Leutgeb, who had also settled in Vienna, prudently married there, and, in tandem with his musical activities, had become the owner of a small cheese-shop. The concertos, one of them unfinished at the time of Mozart's death, represent his work at its height.

Picture format: NTSC 4:3
Sound format: PCM Stereo / Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Running time: 53 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

The Places:

The tour visits historic sites in the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium. These include the castles of Litomyšl and Konopišt? in Bohemia, and the historic town of M?lnik, the Horological Museum at Le Locle in Switzerland, relics of war from the Bavarian Army Museum in Ingolstadt, and a glimpse of the Belgian Château of Gaasbeek.

The Music:

The tour brings two of Joseph Haydn’s most famous symphonies, written for a London concert season in 1794, Symphony No. 100, the so-called Military Symphony, and Symphony No. 101, nicknamed The Clock.

Format: NTSC, 4:3
Audio: DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1, PCM Stereo 2.0
Region: 0 (All)

With the magnificent sets of the Quartier Latin in Giancarlo del Monaco's La Boheme as a backdrop, the Teatro Real presents an invigorating Latin Jazz cross-pollination, featuring some of the world's greatest Jazz fusionists: Paquito d'Rivera and Chano Dominguez. Recorded live in high Definition video and true surround sound, this concert fires up the screen with virtuosic and electrifying performances of truly multi-dimensional Jazz, colored with Salsa, Flamenco, Tango, Bolero, African, and other Latin music elements.

Orange Mountain Music is proud to announce the release of the iconic 1979 work DANCE by choreographer Lucinda Childs, composer Philip Glass, and film by Sol LeWitt. "See the music, hear the dance." Never was the great George Balanchine's exhortation more fully realized than in DANCE. DANCE, American dancer and choreographer Lucinda Childs's first major show, is set to an especially commissioned score by Philip Glass, and framed by a video by the visual artist Sol LeWitt. Three exponents of Minimalism in their respective fields come together to create something that was once justly described as "close to stage heaven." A work of uncompromising purity, it's choreography meticulously follows every subtle nuance and shifting pattern of Philip Glass's score, so that you can see the music in the bodies of the 12-white clad dancers, the audiences two senses, sight and hearing, completely fused. LeWitt shot a film of the dance, and then cut, layered and floated it onto a scrim over the live performance. The dancers in Sol LeWitt's film, featuring Lucinda Childs herself, appear to flit through the live dancers. The result is one of the most popular ballets of the 20th century. Filmed in Paris in 2014 by the director Marie-Helene Rebois, produced by Daphnie Productions with the participation of France Televisions, the performance was produced by Pomegranate Arts.

Also available on Blu-ray

Frederic Chopin Year 2010 coincides with the 60th anniversary of Daniel Barenboim’s stage debut, and as a pianist he has decided to devote this year to the great Romantic master of the keyboard. Chopin was born on 1 March 1810 in a small village near Warsaw, and on the eve of the 200th anniversary of this date Barenboim gave this wildly acclaimed Warsaw recital as part of an extensive European tour. The program comprised some of the composer’s best-known works, including the great B flat minor Sonata with its famous Funeral March, which sounded to many “as the composer may well have imagined it”. While Chopin used to advise his piano scholars to take singing lessons, Barenboim, as an experienced conductor of operas is most familiar with the human voice as well. With his brilliant virtuosity, he lead the audience through a most colorful program, once again proving his talent for this composer.

"After almost six decades of experience on stage, Daniel Barenboim continues to need and to seek out contact with an audience. […] Musically speaking, those contacts have always been particularly intense when Barenboim has been able to display his ability to play quietly, an ability that continues to amaze, with its feeling for a velvet touch that is neither brittle nor saccharine but always characterized by a serious, substantial beauty." -- www.klassikinfo.de

Recorded live at the Filharmonia Narodowa, Warsaw, 28 February 2010.

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Running time: 91 mins
No. of DVDs: 1 (DVD 9)