Also available in DVD!

The award-winning Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin has become one of the world’s leading chamber orchestras on period instruments. These concerts reveal some of the foundations of Beethoven’s genius, and capture vital performances from the 2020 SWR Schwetzingen Festival, the biggest radio festival for classical music in the world. Robert Schumann pointed out similarities between Méhul’s First Symphony and Beethoven’s Fifth, and these third and fourth concerts in the cycle also include a tempest by Holzbauer that precedes Beethoven’s by half a century, plus the little-known Le portrait musical de la nature by Justin Heinrich Knecht, a work that also anticipates Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral’ Symphony. The first and second concerts are also available on Naxos.

Also available on Blu-ray

The Verbier Festival is one of classical music’s greatest events. In celebration of the festival’s 25th anniversary, this unique concert brings together 36 classical stars in an unprecedented evening of ingenious programming and captivating performances. The line-up includes the world’s greatest violinists, violists, cellists and pianists as well as other leading performers conducted by Valery Gergiev and Gabor Takacs-Nagy. Founder and director Martin T:son Engstroem writes: “We started this incredible adventure in 1994, and 25 years on, our Festival has become one of the world’s most important cultural events. But it is not just another festival; our vision right from the beginning was to build something which combined important musicians with a very visible youth and learning element. This is what we set out to do and this is what we achieved.”

Also available on Blu-ray

Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky
THE NUTCRACKER

"One of the very best seasonal treats for children and adults alike, the Royal Ballet’s Nutcracker is a handsome, magical, thoroughly traditional rendering of ETA Hoffmann’s immortal if deeply strange story." -- Sunday Express

This all-time ballet favourite, in which young Clara is swept into a fantasy adventure when one of her Christmas presents comes to life, is at its most enchanting in Peter Wright’s glorious production – as fresh as ever in its 25th year. Tchaikovsky’s ravishing score, period designs by Julia Trevelyan Oman (including an ingenious magical Christmas tree), an exquisite Sugar Plum Fairy (Miyako Yoshida) and chivalrous Prince (Steven McRae), the mysterious Drosselmeyer (Gary Avis) and vibrant dancing by The Royal Ballet make for a captivating performance. Filmed in High Definition and recorded in true surround sound.

The Sugar Plum Fairy – Miyako Yoshida
Nephew / Nutcracker – Ricardo Cervera / Steven McRae
The Prince – Steven McRae
Drosselmeyer – Gary Avis

The Royal Ballet
The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Koen Kessels, conductor

Peter Wright, choreographer and director
(after Lev Ivanov)

Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, November and December 2009.

Bonus:
- Cast gallery
- Rehearsing at White Lodge
- Peter Wright tells the story of The Nutcracker

Picture format: NTSC 16:9 anamorphic
Sound format: LPCM Stereo 2.0 / DTS 5.0
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Menu language: English
Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish
Running time: 127 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

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

Stravinsky in Hollywood, a film by Michael Capalbo, tells the story of an "old school" European artist knocking heads with the brash New World. The documentary uses a combination of existing archival footage (some never before seen), interviews with Stravinsky and his assistant Robert Craft, and premieres several big studio film scenes of the 40s with music Stravinsky wrote for them.

King Hamlet is dead. Poisoned by his brother Claudius who has married the king’s widow and has taken over the regiment in Denmark. Young prince Hamlet wants to avenge his father. This however drives the prince more and more into isolation. With Sandra Hüller as Hamlet, Johan Simons’ highly concentrated staging of Shakespeare’s classic play becomes a pleading for radical honesty. “This Hamlet is a must-see.” (Süddeutsche Zeitung) “Graceful stunner.” (nachtkritik.de) The production was invited to the Theatertreffen Festival Berlin, 2020.

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

Also available on standard DVD
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.

Sound Format: 2.0LPCM + 5.1(5.0) DTS
Subtitles: EN, FR, DE, IT, ES, NE
Running Time: 919 mins

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

The Places
Scenes are shown of the glory that was Rome in monuments of the great Empire that ruled Europe and the Near East in its heyday. There are also glimpses of St Peter’s and of the modern city.

The Music
The music here included is all associated in one way or another with Rome and its traditions. It ranges from the overture to Mozart’s Roman opera La clemenza di Tito to Wagner’s Tannhäuser, whose hero seeks pardon for his sins in the Eternal City, from Puccini’s opera Tosca, set in Rome dominated by a corrupt chief of police, to Berlioz’s evocation of the city in the age of Benvenuto Cellini, his Roman Carnival Overture.

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

Also available on standard DVD

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!

ITALY


 


The Places


Our tour of Italy stars in Verona, with its reminiscences of Romeo and Juliet. Then to Florence, for some 300 years, from 1434, the seat of the powerful Medici family, whose artistic patronage has left an impressive cultural legacy. The tour ends in the south, with Naples, originally a Greek colony and later a Roman port, and then capital of a kingdom, ruled by Normans and later from Spain. Briefly a Habsburg possession, from 1734 it belonged to the Bourbons, before the unification of Italy in 1860.


 


The Music


Tchaikovsky stayed in Florence on two occasions in 1878, after the disaster of his marriage, hastily contracted, had led him to seek respite abroad. A visit to Rome in 1880 led to the composition of the Italian Capriccio and his opera The Queen of Spades was written in 1890 in Florence, recalled in the same year in his Souvenir de Florence. The other music heard here is the Fantasy Overture, Romeo and Juliet, written in 1869 and based on Shakespeare's play, set in Verona.


 


Picture format: NTSC 4:3
Sound format: Dolby Digital / DTS Surround
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Running time: 72 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

Richard is hideous, deformed and full of hatred for the world. He exploits the ambitions of others for his own ends. With unscrupulous virtuosity he clears away every obstacle that lies in his path to becoming king. But even this triumph fails to heal the great insult nature has visited upon him. Alone at the apex of the English kingdom, he now turns his rage on his true nemesis – himself. “Richard III” is one of Shakespeare’s earliest works, first performed around 1593. But until this day the title character with his unbridled, single-minded, gleefully exhibited amorality has lost none of his fascination. Staged by Thomas Ostermeier at the Schaubühne Berlin this production is perfectly casted with a selected team and a compelling Lars Eidinger as Richard.

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.

This new Christmas DVD was recorded in the stylishly distinctive setting of Jerwood Hall in LSO St Luke’s, London.

The King’s Singers are world-renowned for their live performances, and this concert captures the charm and skill that you’d expect from a group of this calibre. It is a musical treat as well as a visual one, recorded in both CD quality stereo and in 5.1 surround sound.

The DVD also features a 10-minute bonus documentary feature, titled “Life as a King’s Singer”.

The Places
The region of southern France known as Provence has enjoyed a varied history, occupied by Ligurian and Celtic tribes, followed by Greek settlers, and finally by absorption into the Roman Empire. The succeeding centuries brought invasions, then rule by the Counts of Toulouse, before the region became, by inheritance, part of France. The local language, the langue d’oc, reflects something of this history, as do surviving popular customs. The Roman period is represented by surviving buildings, the Middle Ages by the Romanesque and Gothic.

The Music
Music for the tour consists of string quartets by Claude Debussy and by Maurice Ravel, thirteen years his junior. Debussy’s String Quartet, Op. 10, dates from 1893, while Ravel’s single string quartet was written in 1902. Both works are highly characteristic of their relative composers.

Format: NTSC, 4:3, DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1, PCM Stereo 2.0

Le nozze in villa (‘The Wedding in the Villa’) tells the story of Sabina and the young Claudio. They are in love, but this match goes against the will of her father, who wants her to marry the Schoolmaster Trifoglio. Misunderstandings and tensions between city emancipation and provincial narrow-mindedness are resolved, and romance ultimately triumphs thanks to the alliance of ‘gracefulness, faith and youth’. This early and virtually unknown opera buffa by Donizetti is full of Rossini-influenced lyrical inventiveness and beautiful arias. Specially restored for the 2019 Bergamo Festival, this revival brings out all of the opera’s ‘sparkling spirit and melodiousness’ (bachtrack.com).