This C Major 2DVD/1Blu-ray disc release of Gustav Mahler’s Symphonies №s 1 + 2 initiates a complete Mahler cycle project with Paavo Järvi conducting the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, an orchestra well-regarded for their Mahler recordings, as witnessed by its highly successful cycle on CD under conductor Eliahu Inbal some thirty years ago. + As an enlivening bonus feature, each symphony in this new cycle will feature an explanatory, in-depth introduction by Mr. Järvi. + “Mahler’s 2nd was given a brilliant interpretation by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony.” (Die Zeit)

At the Salzburg Festival of 2014, for the first time ever a complete Beethoven sonata cycle was performed. This stunning live recording features pianist and Beethoven expert Rudolf Buchbinder performing the Beethoven piano sonatas. This release is the third volume, and features an interview with Rudolph Buchbinder about the sonatas.

When it comes to Mozartian perfection on the opera stage, one needn't always seek it in Milan, Vienna, Salzburg or New York! At the Sferisterio Opera Festival in the central Italian city of Macerata, a rapt audience was treated to a production of Don Giovanni "that will enter the annals of opera" (ForumOpera. Com). This magnificent reading of Mozart's timeless masterpiece sweeps the viewer into a libertine, 18th- century society dominated by sensuality and erotic impulses. They are acted out on the stage's main prop, a large, unmade bed, not only by Don Giovanni, but also by just about everyone else in the "nearly faultless cast" (ForumOpera. Com). In his role debut as the title hero, Ildebrando D'Arcangelo is "incandescent" (Gazzetta die Parma) and "doesn't do Don Giovanni; he is the Don. Unsurpassable"(24 Ore).

W.A. Mozart's timeless masterpiece at the Salzburg Festival is always an event! Especially when Die Zauberfl�te (The Magic Flute) receives such a "spectacular and virtuosic staging" (Le Figaro) by director Lydia Steier. Steier introduces the role of the grandfather, a narrator reading the opera like a fairy tale to his three grandchildren, performed by the famous actor Klaus Maria Brandauer (Out of Africa, James Bond). This 'trick' in combination with the gigantic moveable sets by stage designer Katharina Schlipf, allows new views on Mozart's magical opera, with it's different worlds. Thanks to conductor Constantinos Carydis, who "seems to breath with the music" (Tagesspiegel), there is a new Mozart to be heard too: Carydis draws "precise phrasing and plenty of crisp articulation" (Financial Times) from "the musicians of the great Vienna Philharmonic" (New York Times).

After the release of the Bruckner Symphonies Nos. 5, 8, and 9 with Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Bruckner cycle is continued here with Symphony No. 4, “Romantic,” one of Bruckner’s most popular works. Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony was dedicated to Prince Konstantin of Hohenloe-Schillingsfurst. It premiered in 1881 to much acclaim. Given the name “Romantic” by the composer himself, Bruckner emulates with this composition the same emotions as fellow Romantic composers Wagner, Berlioz, and Mendelssohn. It is performed here in the presumed original version recovered by Robert Haas, which differs considerably from the first published score, accepted by Bruckner as a stopgap only so that the work could easily be performed. The press cheered the performance: “Tone paintings of the finest quality.”

Classical Music

Also available on Blu-ray

Giuseppe Verdi’s masterpiece Rigoletto – compelling, blood-curdling and beautiful – is being performed for the first time on the Bregenz lake stage. The stage director and designer Philipp Stölzl, known for his successful productions at Salzburg Festival as well as music videos for the German band Rammstein, highlights the striking contrasts between spectacle and intimate chamber drama in his production of Verdi’s opera. “Breathtaking, tight and thrilling arrangement, extremely beautiful. Philipp Stölzl delivers a superlative Rigoletto to Bregenz lake stage.” (Frankfurter Rundschau Online) “The performance of the three main characters has been outstanding.” (Der Standard Online) “Rigoletto becomes a Hollywood spectacle on Lake Constance.” (Handelsblatt) “Nothing but a sensation.” (SWR 2)

Juha Uusitalo, Ilya Bannik, German Villar, John Daszak, Franz-Josef Kapellmann, Gerhard Siegel, Matti Salminen, Stephen Milling, Anna Larsson, Sabina von Walther, Christa Mayer and Silvia Vazquez.

When the revered writer Alessandro Manzoni died in 1873, Verdi was unable to bring himself to attend the funeral. Instead he composed his monumental Messa da Requiem in Manzoni’s memory and conducted its first performance on the first anniversary of the writer’s death. In addition to its profound spirituality, the work also brings together all the finest qualities familiar from Verdi’s operas, qualities that include endless melodic lines and powerful musico-dramatic effects. The present performance was recorded in Los Angeles’s legendary Hollywood Bowl in August 2013 and brought together three superstars from the world of music: the conductor Gustavo Dudamel, the tenor Vittorio Grigolo and the bass-baritone Ildebrando D’Arcangelo, all of them at the top of their form. “It was an important and exceptional evening … That experience involved a radical and wondrous rethinking of the Requiem on Dudamel‘s part.” (Los Angeles Times)

Director: Humphrey Burton

Recorded live at the Wiener Musikvereinssaal, 1986, 1987, 1988 and 1990.

Picture format: NTSC 4:3
Sound format: PCM Stereo 2.0 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Booklet notes: English, German, French
Running time: 166 mins
No. of DVDs: 2 (DVD 9 + DVD 5)

In the mid 1980s, Unitel began recording a complete cycle of Sibelius symphonies with Leonard Bernstein and the Vienna Philharmonic. Bernstein´s death in 1990 unfortuantely cut short this project after the release of Symphonies Nos. 1, 2, 5 and 7. Recorded live at Vienna´s Musikverein, these ecstatic performances were the object of stellar reviews. On this double-disc set, Bernstein´s unique and by now legendary interpretations of Sibelius are released for the first time on DVD.

Also available on Blu-ray

This release features three of the most popular ballets in the original versions created by the world-famous ballet genius Rudolf Nureyev, with the Wiener Staatsballett, one of the greatest companies in the world. “A masterly performance in every respect.” (Die Presse about Swan Lake); “No version of The Nutcracker that we have ever seen has been more potently dramatic; few have displayed so sharp an imprint of personal style.” (Clive Barnes); “Elegant, romantic, delightful” (Die Presse); “Outstanding soloists.” (Der Standard); “A Don Quixote to love … Legris and company can count the evening a total success.” (Die Presse); As for the two principals, Maria Yakovleva and Denys Cherevychko as Kitri and Basil, no praise was high enough: “both are technically brilliant.” (Wiener Zeitung)

Also available on Blu-ray

This classic choreography of Romeo and Juliet by Kenneth MacMillan, set to the immortal notes of Prokofiev, is legendary in La Scala´s repertoire. In this ballet the choreographer MacMillan deals with the matter paying great attention to human relations, lyricism and psychological tension, without neglecting moments of humour, through the dynamics and the emotions of ballet d’action. Set and costumes are designed especially for La Scala by Mauro Carosi and Odette Nicoletti. The stars of this masterly performance are Roberto Bolle and Misty Copeland, together for the first time in this ballet. Iconic ballerina Misty Copeland makes history as the first African American Female Principal Dancer with the prestigious American Ballet Theatre. As a bonus, this release also includes an exciting feature: Roberto Bolle talks about Romeo & Juliet.

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REVIEW:

Misty Copeland and Roberto Bolle are an interesting couple; their dancing, as is only to be expected, is superb. Antonino Sutera, Mick Zeni, Marco Agostino, and Riccardo Massimi are excellent in their roles, as is the entire company. Patrick Fournillier, a neglected conductor, demonstrates his feeling for the music and also gives it the sweep that is so necessary for the dancers.

– Fanfare

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DETAIL:

Booklet: English, German, French
Run time: 160 mins
Disc Format: 2 x DVD 9
Picture: NTSC 16:9
Audio: PCM Stereo, Dolby 5.1
Bonus Material: Roberto Bolle talks about Romeo & Juliet
Subtitles Bonus: IT, E
Region Code: 0 (worldwide)

Valery Gergiev conducts the World Orchestra for Peace live from the 26th BBC Prom at Royal Albert Hall with soloists Camilla Tilling.

This one-act opera by Richard Strauss is presented here by NorrlandsOperan and the Catalan theatre art collective La Fura dels Baus. This production is unique in that it is an outdoor performance. Due to the use of cranes, mechanics, and special effects, this production is NorrlandsOperans largest and most complex production yet. “It was macabre, shocking and powerful in its great simplicity.” (Kulturkorren)

This production ''offers all an Italian-opera-lover could possibly desire'' wrote the FAZ after the revival of this ''forgotten gem'' at the Bregenz Festival. The festival continued its rediscovery series with ''Amleto/Hamlet'', an opera by Verdi contemporaries Franco Faccio and Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet. Premiered in 1865 in Genoa and restaged in 1871 at Milano's La Scala, ''Hamlet'' was only revived in 2014 concertante in the US before its ''triumphal rebirth'' at the Bregenz Festival, where the opera was also recorded for the first time ever. Faccio, who conducted the first performance of Verdi's Aida in Italy and the world premiere of Otello and Boito, Verdi's librettist of Otello and Falstaff, skillfully and effectively challenge the conventions of Italian opera, which they watned to revitalize by infusing it with the spirit of Shakespeare's drama. Anticipating the musical language of later Italian verismo composers, the opera combines lovely musical interludes with superb vocal writing. Heading a supreme cast, Pavel Cernoch as Amelto delivers superbly, ''using his colorful tenor skillfully to develop the transformation of the insecure youngling to the ice-cold avenger'' and ''granting the work large scale''. Under the baton of Paolo Carignani with the Vienna Symphoniker and Prague Philharmonic Choir ''it carried terrific punch''. Olivier Tambosi's ''excellent staging served it well, with a clear focus on the high points''. ''In the intermission and at the end there was vociferous enthusiasm of the audience for the later first encounter with this music''.