This collection brings together Globe Theatre productions dating from 2010 to 2015 – during the artistic directorship of Dominic Dromgoole – of Shakespeare’s Major Tetralogy of Histories, recounting the youth and ascendance of Henry V of England. Featuring the finest actors and leading directors, it is part of a project committed to creating ever wider access to this rich cultural heritage. Richard II features wonderfully virtuosic language portraying the entitled, vain, aloof, then suddenly vulnerable King. In the wake of his overthrow, Shakespeare’s greatest historical saga begins, an epic pair of plays telling of power, treachery and war, surveying the entire panorama of English life, and exploring the complexity of father-son relationships, including that between King Henry IV and his undisciplined successor, Prince Hal. In the final play, as a mature King Henry V, he recites one of most famous speeches ever written, as Shakespeare recalls a truly great English victory. The films in this set capture the unique atmosphere and theatrical space of the Globe Theatre. The exhilarating sense of interaction between the actors on stage and the audience in live performances is exquisitely maintained on screen.

King Lear has three daughters, but no sons. Boldly he makes a decision to divide his country among his children, but fails to anticipate the consequences of his actions. His generosity is cruelly repaid and Lear finds himself adrift, wandering homeless and destitute. As he comes to realize the false values by which he has lived, he finally encounters his own humanity. King Lear’s tempestuous poetry is shot through with touches of humor and moments of heart-rending simplicity, as the notion of familial love is questioned and torn apart. With Kevin R McNally in the title role, Nancy Meckler’s production has ‘an underlying through-line of intelligence and sensitivity, and strong supporting performances abound’ (The Telegraph). Spoken in Shakespeare’s English.

REVIEW:

Nancy Meckler’s staging is clear, swift and compelling. It gathers to a moving finale, with McNally’s piteous Lear holding the stage, and delivers forcefully the lesson that power should always be allied with care. The Financial Times

‘What a piece of work is a man…' Encompassing political intrigue and sexual obsession, philosophical reflection and violent action, tragic depth and wild humor, Hamlet is a colossus in the story of the English language and the fullest expression of Shakespeare’s genius. Learning of their father’s death, Hamlet comes home to find their uncle married to their mother and installed on the Danish throne. At night, the ghost of the old king demands that Hamlet avenge their ‘foul and most unnatural murder.’

Reviews

"Terry is the fourth female Hamlet I have seen and she brings to the role all the qualities one might expect. She speaks the verse intelligently, initially conveys a sense of bereft solitude – her voice cracks on the implication that she “seems” to be affecting grief – and is very good at suggesting bottled rage. " (The Guardian)

"Terry is fiercely intelligent and wonderfully funny and has a great wealth of experience at playing Shakespeare – at the Globe and elsewhere (she portrayed Henry V in Regent's Park). She intuitively understands how to release the stellar power of the language. " (The Independent ★★★★)

"The prospect of Michelle Terry playing Hamlet is immensely exciting. She has shown herself to be a Shakespearean actor of great delicacy and intelligence in numerous roles...It’s a production that places clarity of verse and emotion over directorial fireworks." (The Stage)

Paavo Berglund, born in Helsinki in 1929, was, until his death in 2012, among the greatest of all contemporary interpreters of Sibelius’s music. His idiomatic and convincing recordings have done much to fire the revival of interest in the composer, with vivid performances that capture its unique qualities of grandeur and instrumental color. Furthermore, Berglund, who deplored some of the textural changes which had evolved over the years, made every effort to ensure that the editions of the scores used were correct. The Chamber Orchestra of Europe (COE) had for many years a special rapport with the conductor and it was the orchestra who suggested that they perform and record all the Sibelius Symphonies with him. This took place at the Edinburgh International Festival followed by studio recordings for Finlandia and finally, at the Helsinki Festival in August 1998.

Composed using his own libretto, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov created this magical opera based on the short story by Nikolay Gogol ‘The Night before Christmas’ in which Vakula the handsome blacksmith wants to marry the rich farmer’s daughter Oksana, who in turn demands that he must first bring her the Tsarina’s shoes. Meanwhile a witch on her broomstick gathers the stars and the devil steals the moon – demonic forces trying to hinder this romantic union. There is little repertoire in musical theatre in which enchantment and enlightenment come together so happily as in Rimsky-Korsakov’s fairy-tale operas, and this Oper Frankfurt production was considered ‘a perfect seasonal tonic’ by the Financial Times.

Award-winning director Claus Guth’s acclaimed production of Jenůfa is a striking representation of an oppressed society ‘infused with heart-warming humanity’ (Evening Standard). Two courageous women struggle for fulfillment against the backdrop of a claustrophobic rural community. With music inspired by the traditional folk melodies of his native Moravia, Janáček’s score movingly captures Jenůfa’s progression from hope to despair to eventual radiant happiness, while her stepmother, the Kostelnicka, is one of opera’s most complex maternal figures. Hungarian conductor Henrik Nánási conducts Asmik Grigorian in her much-anticipated Royal Opera House debut in the title role, alongside Karita Mattila as the Kostelnicka and a star cast.

REVIEW:

The first wave of Czech composer Leoš Janáček’s great operas centered on tragic heroines: together with Káťa Kabanová and The Makropulos Case, which followed it, Jenůfa is a triumphant and insightful music drama, as Oliver Mears’ 2021 staging at London’s Royal Opera House shows. Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian plays the demanding title role sensitively and intelligently, the great Finnish soprano Karita Matilla is just as powerful as Kostelnicka, her stepmother, and conductor Henrik Nánási leads the orchestra and chorus in a gripping account of Janáček’s intense score. The hi-def video and audio are first-rate.

-- The Flip Side (Kevin Filpski)

British mezzo-soprano, Dame Janet Baker, chose to retire from the operatic stage singing the title role in Sir Peter Hall's acclaimed production of Orfeo ed Euridice. This 1982 recording from Glyndebourne, where Dame Janet appropriately began her professional career, proved a suitable crowning glory to the career of one of the great singing actresses of our age. Dame Janet's realisation of Orfeo, the grieving musician from Greek mythology, who follows his beloved wife Euridice to the depths of Hades in an attempt to bring her back from the dead, is totally convincing “… a quite staggering performance …” (MusicWeb International)

This incredible box set presents the best of Russian opera. Included in the set are Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and Pique Dame, Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh, and Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Recorded in renowned opera houses such as Teatro Regio, Torino, and De Nederlandse Opera, these performances are not to be missed.

The thrilling tale of the construction of the Palais Garnier, a total work of art built over fifteen tumultuous years by the brilliant architect Charles Garnier. The myths surrounding the Phantom of the Opera still contribute to the renown of the Palais Garnier today – but when the tales are set aside, this exceptional building still houses many secrets. Commissioned by Napoleon III, the Palais Garnier is the symbol par excellence of the Second Empire, a building set apart by its technical and artistic ambition. But first and foremost, it is the product of fifteen years of construction on a massive scale, and the fruit of the obsessive drive of the then-unknown but visionary young architect Charles Garnier. Through previously unpublished archives, unobstructed views, historical reconstructions and accounts by historians, discover the origins and construction process of the extraordinary theatre which hosted the most celebrated artists from Maria Callas to Rudolf Noureev.

Julius Caesar is Shakespeare’s tense drama of high politics, one which reveals the emotional currents that flow between men in power, with themes that still resonate even today. Staged in Elizabethan dress with Roman accessories and with music played on period instruments, Dominic Dromgoole’s Globe production is ‘fleet, urgent, exciting and dangerous’ (Financial Times), combining ‘freshness of acting’ (Daily Telegraph) with an expert use of the theatre crowd and space that stylishly underscores Shakespeare’s thrilling dissection of politics in action.

REVIEWS:

"Fleet, urgent, exciting and dangerous. " (The Financial Times ★★★★)

"There is a rapport between the performers and the audience that feels genuinely magical." (The Daily Telegraph ★★★★)

"Dominic Dromgoole’s robustly energetic production..." (The Guardian)

"Dromgoole's taut, thriller-ish production" (Time Out ★★★★)

"Does well to capture that atmosphere of fear and distrust..." (WhatsOnStage ★★★★)

"[A] swift and impassioned revival...a perfect match of play to the venue." (The Stage ★★★★)

"...captivating...suits the Globe to a tee" (The Daily Telegraph ★★★★)

"...quietly devastating..." (The Independent)

"...has both clarity and a gory immediacy..." (Evening Standard)

Global Wagner – From Bayreuth to the World is not a biography of Richard Wagner, nor is it a musicological analysis of his work. This is a documentary dedicated solely to the world’s fascination with the man, and an exploration of the question as to how such massive hype and world-wide cult following developed around this highly controversial artist. The film is a revealing feature-length study of life with Wagner’s legacy from one Bayreuth Festival to the next, and we travel the world to meet devoted Wagnerians and those most intimately involved in commenting on and producing his work today.

Henry Purcell was a genius whose ability to combine French and Italian influences transported the English language to new levels of expression in music. Dido and Aeneas was pioneering in its day and is considered one of Purcell’s foremost theatrical works, with a moving tale of love, betrayal and tragedy that has proved to be of unceasing appeal to audiences for centuries. Deborah Warner’s brilliant stage direction combines period color with present-day dynamism, while William Christie’s affection for this opera shines through in an overwhelmingly acclaimed performance filmed in December 2008 at the Opéra Comique in Paris.

REVIEW:

Deborah Warner’s production of Dido and Aeneas has taken a long time to reach us. It was filmed in December 2008 at the Opéra Comique in Paris, and the production was much admired when it was new. It has by and large been worth the wait.

Costumes are period (Purcell’s period, not that of ancient Carthage) for the main characters, with contemporary street clothes for most others.

The musical side of things is a real strength here. Christopher’s Maltman’s Aeneas is firm of voice, although his character is not so firm of purpose and the baritone does not try to make him more sympathetic than the tale justifies. He gets this just right in his stage manner, and sings as well as anyone has in the role I think.

Dido is Swedish mezzo-soprano Malena Ernman is excellent in this moving role, which is so central to the success of any production. From her first confession to Belinda that she is “pressed with torment” through to her “When I am laid in earth” and poignant cries of “Remember me” she combines pathos with queenly dignity, except in her rage at Aeneas’s announcement of his departure. The whole scene of Dido’s lament can rarely have been staged, directed and sung so well live.

The other roles are all well taken, the Belinda of Judith van Wanroij being especially attractive vocally and in stage deportment. The choral work is good, the fine instrumentalists of Les Arts Florissants make an appealing period sound, and the direction of William Christie has his customary authority in such repertoire. Warner’s direction is sure-footed and unfussy, and the stage business she invents to go with the dance music moments is always plausible.

-- MusicWeb International (Roy Westbrook)

This legendary concert of Luciano Pavarotti in Hyde Park, 1991, was held to mark the 30th anniversary of the start of Pavarotti's operatic career. The Guardian wrote that there had not been "such a brouhaha for a free concert" since the concert given by The Rolling Stones in 1969. Attended by 120,000 fans, including Lady Diana, Prince Charles, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Michael Caine, and premier John Major, this concert by Luciano Pavarotti thrilled the electrified audience with a popular program from Verdi to Puccini (Nessun Dorma), from Mascagni and Leoncavallo to Bixio (Mamma) and Di Capua (`O sole mio), which is now available for the first time available here, digitally remastered!

“Lou Harrison and Cultural Fusion”
A PostClassical Ensemble “More than Music” film
Written and produced by Joseph Horowitz
Visual presentation by Peter Bogdanoff
Film six in the six-film Naxos series:
“Dvorak’s Prophecy: A New Narrative for American Classical Music”

Joe Horowitz writes of this film: "No non-Western musical idiom has so impacted on the Western concert tradition as Indonesian gamelan, beginning with the Javanese Pavilion at the 1889 Paris Exposition: an epiphany. Sampling gamelan-inspired works by Debussy, Poulenc, Messiaen, and McPhee, we arrive at a paragon exemplar of cultural fusion – Lou Harrison – and a pair of concertos, for violin and piano, unsurpassed by those of any other American. The composer/scholar Bill Alves demonstrates the layered complexity of Javanese gamelan, and how it translates into keyboard textures composed by Harrison for Keith Jarrett. For Harrison’s Concerto for Violin and Percussion, we tour the “junk percussion” – including flowerpots and washtubs – that Harrison made sing and dance."

He goes on to write "We now inhabit a “postclassical” musical aesthetic that, rather than piling on modernist complexity, draws inspiration from a variety of sources, Eastern and Western, “high” and popular. The prophetic figure, it seems to me is Lou Harrison, who practiced world music before there was a name for it. Harrison was certainly a composer who discovered a usable past – including music from Indonesia, China, and Japan. In the New World, a usable starting point was and remains the sorrow songs of African Americans, so eloquently celebrated around the turn of the twentieth century by W. E. B. Du Bois and Antonin Dvořák. Dvořák’s 1893 prophecy that “negro melodies” would foster a “great and noble” school of American music has never seemed more pertinent.”

"These six beautiful films reveal a compelling, inclusive musical tradition, deeply interwoven with American culture." – J. Peter Burkholder, author of 'A History of Western Music' and 'Listening to Charles Ives'.

‘The course of true love never did run smooth,’ remarks Lysander near the start of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the veracity of his statement soon becomes apparent in what is one of Shakespeare’s best-loved comedies, where magic and mischief unite against the backdrop of a turbulent fairy kingdom as well as six rude mechanicals attempting to stage their own play. Starring Olivier Award winner Michelle Terry as Titania/Hippolyta (described by The Guardian as ‘magnificently imperious’) and an irresistibly funny Pearce Quigley as Bottom, this touching new production by the Globe’s Artistic Director Dominic Dromgoole features ‘consistently inventive’ staging that ‘beautifully captures both the humor and the disconcerting strangeness of the play’ (The Daily Telegraph). Filmed in High Definition and true Surround Sound.

REVIEWS:

"Michelle Terry's Hippolyta/Titania is magnificently imperious...and Pearce Quigley brings a caustic Lancastrian lugubriousness to Bottom, departing in a memorable hissy fit during rehearsals, suitcase in hand." (The Guardian)

"Dominic Dromgoole’s lively affectionate and consistently inventive staging beautifully captures both the humour and the disconcerting strangeness of the play. Matthew Tennyson proves a fascinatingly ethereal Puck...Pearce Quigley’s wonderfully enjoyable Bottom isn’t just the usual vainglorious bumpkin. He suggests a vein of northern melancholy too, and he is also extremely touchy...the greatest pleasure of this production is the rude mechanicals. They make their initial entrance performing a delightfully nifty clog dance and you really feel these are working men who know each other intimately. This a joyously inventive and touching production of The Dream, a work that seems particularly close to Shakespeare’s heart." (The Daily Telegraph ★★★★)

"Matthew Tennyson's Puck is beguilingly fey, while Luke Thompson, as a Lysander beaming with childlike over-enthusiasm, makes a professional debut of some note in this warm, comic production...a warm, comic vision ideally pitched to this performance space. [Dominic Dromgoole's] production bursts with crowd-pleasing gestures..." (The Evening Standard ★★★★)