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A sparkling personality on the contemporary dance scene, Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman has been invited for the first time to work with the dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet. His language, both visceral and tinged with humor, combining theatricality, and classical and contemporary vocabulary alike, perfectly resonates with the incredible versatility and stage presence of the Ballet: the result is Play, a piece that evokes the world of childhood and its careless pleasures. But beyond pure entertainment, this performance contemplates the meaning and the importance of play when we become adults. Best known for the spectacular quality of his pieces and their dreamlike imagery, like for instance his Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Swedish choreographer fills the stage of the Palais Garnier with an entrancing energy. The metallic structures, dancers suspended in space, and the elevations are but a few of the powerful images that will strike the audience’s imagination! For this new creation, Alexander Ekman worked with his acolyte composer Mikael Karlsson, but also with a talented team of instrumentalists not often seen on the stage of the Palais Garnier, among which gospel singer Callie Day, or the incredible percussionist Adelaïde Ferriere. An unexpected performance, carried along by enticing rhythms and communicative energy!

When Debussy completes the score, based on the eponymous symbolist play by Maurice Maeterlinck, of Pelleas et Melisande in 1902, the world of opera still abides by Richard Wagner and the upheaval he caused with Tristan und Isolde. But Debussy decides to stand on the exact opposite side, and uses his new opus to preach a new aesthetic creed. In depicting the forbidden love story between the timid Pelleas and the beautiful Melisande, kept apart by an unfortunate marriage, the French composer brings us back to the immortal legend of Tristan and Isolde, but this time showing the world that the future of music could very well lie far away from Wagner’s overwhelming lyricism and outsized rhetoric. This new production, created by one of the rising stars of French stage direction Benjamin Lazar for the Malmö Opera (headed by Ingmar Bergman from 1952 to 1958), encapsulates all the different aspects of this mysterious work, from the oniric poetry invented by Maeterlinck and Debussy to the realism, poignant because openly simple and even mundane, of these profoundly human beings lost in a forest full of sound and symbols that will never let them escape. The young French conductor Maxime Pascal, the Orchestra of the Malmö Opera, and an almost all-French cast (among which the excellent Marc Mauillon and Jenny Daviet), bring forth with intelligence all the refinement and all the vitality this unique and fascinating score has to offer.

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The Paris Opera Ballet, though historically and famously a classical ensemble, proved over the years to be perfectly at ease with the demands and the subtilities of the contemporary repertoire. A tribute to its dazzling technique and unique style, this collector box-set features three milestones in the recent history of the French company : Pina Bausch’s Orpheus und Eurydike, a "Tribute to Jerome Robbins," ten years after his passing, and Anne Teresa de Keersmaker’s Rain. All these programs were filmed at the Palais Garnier, a world-reknowned temple of classical ballet : a way to insure the continuity between the masterpieces of yesterday, and those of today.

Recorded at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in June 2004, this Le nozze di Figaro was unanimously acclaimed by public and critics alike as a Mozart opera landmark. Director Jean-Louis Martinoty brings an elegantly intelligent narrative sense to an interpretation in which the protagonists, against a backdrop of magnificent canvases of 18th-century inspiration, are dressed by Sylvie de Segonzac in a palette in which every shade is perfect. Hans Schavernoch’s set suggests an elitist society that is coming apart at the seams. René Jacobs’s conducting of Concerto Köln is meticulous and perfectly balanced, offering a ravishing use of tonal colour and orchestral dynamics. A veteran Almaviva, the excellent Pitero Spagnoli plays opposite Annette Dasch’s beauteous Countess. As Figaro and Susanna, Luca Pisaroni and Rosemary Joshua are a truly sparkling couple, while mezzo Angelika Kirchschlager embodies the most divinely troubling of Cherubino. The exceptional quality of this production, and the great success encountered by its first edition, inevitably led to the remastering in high-definition of this program, now and for the first time also available on Blu-ray.

This is the first TACET DVD sampler. Close your eyes and let the music carry you away to the new world of optimized surround sounds. This DVD Audio can be played on any DVD surround system (including DVD Video) and naturally needs no pictures. The disc offers a stunning listening experience from all sides - and you are right in the middle. In order for this to work perfectly TACET has produced a great deal of advice in sound and text from which your surround home movie theatre can benefit. For the first time in this quality and combination you can hear breathtaking sounds and brilliant music with top artists, and you can learn surprising hints for adjusting your system to make it even more valuable. TACET has been in the music business since 1989 and a pioneer of surround sound since 1999; TACET specialties are Real Surround Sound and Moving Real Surround Sound, both on this disc.

Sir Adrian Boult was a supreme interpreter of Elgar’s music, winning accolades and awards for performances and recordings. Boult championed his music throughout his conducting life following the composer’s prophetic words in a letter to Boult in 1920: “I feel that my reputation in the future is safe in your hands.” This release represents the only existing film of Boult conducting The Dream of Gerontius filmed in Canterbury Cathedral in 1968. This performance features a stellar cast of soloists: Dame Janet Baker, a leading interpreter of The Angel in The Dream of Gerontius, who recorded the role twice, John Shirley Quirk who, with Boult, recorded a definitive interpretation of Peter in The Kingdom, and Peter Pears, who recorded the work in 1972 under the direction of his close friend Benjamin Britten. This film uses the original BBC master which is far superior to the poor copies which have been in circulation over the years. This was the first classical music production filmed in color, for which Brian Large had secured eight out of the nine color TV cameras existing in the UK at that time. The film also includes a one hour documentary on Sir Adrian Boult as a bonus. The film was originally produced in 1989 to celebrate Sir Adrian Boult’s 100th anniversary.

Here Joseph Haydn's music is revealed as the perfect expression of truth. And the Auryn's performance of his string quartets is exactly as it should be: vigorous, beautiful to listen to, and full of feeling. A rediscovery both of sheer beauty and intellectual development.'

Composer: Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809)

Performers:
Matthias Lingenfelder, violin
Jens Oppermann, violin
Stewart Eaton, viola
Andreas Arndt, violoncello


Track Listing:
1. String quartet op. 33 No. 5, Hoboken III: 41 in G major: Vivace assai
2. String quartet op. 33 No. 5, Hoboken III: 41 in G major:Largo e cantabile
3. String quartet op. 33 No. 5, Hoboken III: 41 in G major:Scherzo. Allegro
4. String quartet op. 33 No. 5, Hoboken III: 41 in G major:Finale. Allegretto
5. String quartet op. 33 No. 2, Hoboken III:38 in E flat major: Allegro moderato
6. String quartet op. 33 No. 2, Hoboken III:38 in E flat major: Scherzo. Allegro
7. String quartet op. 33 No. 2, Hoboken III:38 in E flat major: Largo e sostenuto
8. String quartet op. 33 No. 2, Hoboken III:38 in E flat major: Finale. Presto
9. String quartet op. 33 No. 1, Hoboken III:37 in B minor: Allegro moderato
10. String quartet op. 33 No. 1, Hoboken III:37 in B minor: Scherzo. Allegro di molto
11. String quartet op. 33 No. 1, Hoboken III:37 in B minor: Andante
12. String quartet op. 33 No. 1, Hoboken III:37 in B minor: Finale. Presto
13. String quartet op. 33 No. 3, Hoboken III:39 in C major: Allegro moderato
14. String quartet op. 33 No. 3, Hoboken III:39 in C major: Scherzo. Allegretto
15. String quartet op. 33 No. 3, Hoboken III:39 in C major: Adagio ma non troppo
16. String quartet op. 33 No. 3, Hoboken III:39 in C major: (Finale) Rondo. Presto
17. String quartet op. 33 No. 6, Hoboken III:42 in D major: Vivace assai
18. String quartet op. 33 No. 6, Hoboken III:42 in D major: Andante
19. String quartet op. 33 No. 6, Hoboken III:42 in D major: Scherzo. Allegretto
20. String quartet op. 33 No. 6, Hoboken III:42 in D major: Finale. Allegretto
21. String quartet op. 33 No. 4, Hoboken III:40 in B flat major: Allegro moderato
22. String quartet op. 33 No. 4, Hoboken III:40 in B flat major: Scherzo. Allegretto
23. String quartet op. 33 No. 4, Hoboken III:40 in B flat major: Largo
24. String quartet op. 33 No. 4, Hoboken III:40 in B flat major: (Finale). Presto

Timing: 122:32

This recording is in the DVD Audio format and will only play on hardware specifically compatible with the DVD Audio format. Standard CD players will not play this CD.

With a good surround sound system you will close your eyes and imagine yourself seated in the midst of the performers at a live concert. This is a splendid sonic experience. (Audiophile Audition)

These and other Haydn recordings by the Auryn Quartet convince listeners and indeed make them enthusiastic by their instrumental sovereignty and refinement in their reaction to the given movement characteristics. This is doubtless one of the most important contributions to the Haydn Year (+�sterreichische Musikzeitschrift)

In this DVD-A the strings surround the listener with a realistic lifelike presence. It is an effective recording method that makes the musical experience that much more immersive and enjoyable. The goal, as always, is to approach the impact of live music and the Tacet engineers have succeeded. (Audiophile Audition)

These two wonderful quartets have been audiophile touchstones ever since the Amadeus Quartet (three of them, anyway) and Clifford Curzon recorded them for Decca in the 1950s. Those performances were full of personality, charm and fire, and the sound (at the time) seemed alive and rich in color (today, it sounds a little harsh and aggressive). Along the way there have been fine recordings by many illustrious ensembles, on both modern and original instruments, of which the best purely in terms of sound may have been the musically limpid RCA version with the Guarneri Quartet and Artur Rubinstein. Now, from the German audiophile label Tacet, comes a version that banishes the competition, combining the musical sparkle and sparkle of the early Decca version with the sumptuous sonic radiance of the RCA. The sound, in fact, is so clear and natural that it is like being in the room with the musicians. Operating at moderate speeds, the way the young Austrian pianist Markus Schirmer rolls out phrases as if they were pearls, the way he illuminates the music with a luminous inner elegance, and the way he occasionally adorns the music with ornaments of exceptional originality and delight, leaves no doubt that, for this one release at least, here is a major talent. This is not to say that the very excellent Gaede Trio takes a mere supporting role, for they play as gloriously as on their Tacet recordings of Mozart?s String Trio, KV 563, and their extremely gorgeous transcription of Bach?s Goldberg Variations. I reviewed the 44.1 CD version (numbered just plain 116), but it is hard to imagine anything more musically and sonically satisfying than this CD. Thomas Seedorf?s curious liner notes are quite endearing, especially in an English translation that seems like a gentle parody of German syntax. Ed.: I?ve just auditioned the surround DVD-A, and whether a listener would consider it more musically and sonically satisfying depends on how open they are to the alternative use of the acoustic space made by producer Andreas Spreer. He works from the idea that any sound-carrier is a synthetic product and feels that using the surround field to place the listener in the middle of the performance is more interesting and involving. Thus on the first of these quartets we have the viola at the center speaker, the piano on the right side, the violin on the left speaker and the cello on the left rear surround speaker. For the second quartet the violin/cello and the piano change places. Personally I?m beginning to get used to this, find it much more involving, and in fact find the standard frontal placement of instruments on other recordings a bit boring. But I can imagine some listeners might be freaked out. Laurence Vittes Total playing time: 54'51

This CD, which has been much praised for it's piano and musical quality, has now been published on Audio-DVD by Tacet. In two variants the listener can follow Schirmer's succinct, impressive interpretations of the Russian cycle of pictures and reflections played on a remarkable Fazioli instrument. Ravel's Miroirs are presented in Tacet Real Surround Sound", the pictures are also in "Tacet Moving Real Surround Sound". Compared with the "normal" stereo Version (Tacet 132) the listener is put on the weather side, acoustically speaking, as if he or she was surrounded by the piano - not exactly a natural position. But the result is the birth child of good sound engineering.

Mozart's Flute Quartets appear on this DVD with excellent sound, and with the instrumentalists situated around the listener, which has become the trademark of the TACET label. The result is a chamber music tonal picture in which all the instruments are of equal importance and the flute does not force itself to the fore. Musically the recording is also remarkable; (crescendo) TACET's creative use of this multichannel medium takes Mozart's lovely Baroque background music out of the soporific and into the energetic. And the playing is first rate. (Audiophile Audition)

On this recording, the essence of these works has been understood and realized in exemplary fashion. (Der Schallattenmann)

• The Auryn Quartet perform Haydn's Op.55 quartets Nos. 1-3 (1788). • In its 30-year existence, the Auryn Quartet has not had a single change of personnel. • The Auryn Quartet have been exclusive Tacet recording artists since 2000. • Since 2003 the quartet has maintained a teaching position at the Music Academy in Detmold, Germany, where they are professors for chamber-music.

The tunes on this release aim to awaken the listener’s imagination. From a small boat rocking helplessly on the waves, to unhatched chicks dancing in their shells, the listener experiences every second. These works by Modest Mussorgsky and Maurice Ravel are frequently performed, well loved, and are presented here in a new guise by Markus Schiermer. Markus Schirmer is a professor of concert piano at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Graz. He recently received the Music Manual Award at the International Music Convention, and the Karl-Bohm Interpretationspreis.

This release presents the audiovisual work of 2016 Giga-Hertz Award winner Curtis Roads. Roads is considered one of the most innovative developers of the granular compositional technique and has not only caused a sensation as a composer, but also as an author and the editor of the Computer Music Journal (1978-2000). His music consistently embraces a technological, mathematically-based aesthetic. Roads aptly describes this style as pulsar and granular music, a music composed of many extremely short individual sound particles (grains or pulses). The result of his artistic work is an intense sensual experience, which can best be described as ordered complexity.

Franz Schubert:
Piano Trio No. 1 in B flat major, Op. 99, D. 898
Piano Trio No. 2 in E flat major, Op. 100, D. 929

Beaux Arts Trio

Recorded at Signet Library, Edinburgh, 13 July 1987 (Piano Trio No. 1) and 6 September 1977 (Piano Trio No. 2)

Picture format: NTSC 4:3
Sound format: LPCM Mono
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Menu language: English
Running time: 81 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

The Beaux Arts Trio performs two central pieces of their repertoire on this DVD. Filmed at the majestic Signet Library in Edinburgh, the ensemble demonstrates its mastery in bringing out the deeply lyrical romantic expressions that have made these trios two of Schubert’s most cherished chamber music works. With founding member, Menahem Pressler on piano, Isidore Cohen on violin and Bernard Greenhouse on cello, the ensemble’s distinguished heritage is apparent.

The ICA Classics Legacy series presents a collection of historic performances by some of the world’s greatest artists. These performances are released on DVD for the first time, incorporating rare archive footage that has been expertly and lovingly restored. - ICA Classics

Here Joseph Haydn's music is revealed as the perfect expression of truth. And the Auryn's performance of his string quartets is exactly as it should be: vigorous, beautiful to listen to, and full of feeling. A rediscovery both of sheer beauty and intellectual development.'

Composer: Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809)

Performers:
Matthias Lingenfelder, violin
Jens Oppermann, violin
Stewart Eaton, viola
Andreas Arndt, violoncello


Track Listing:
1. String quartet op. 17 no. 1, Hob. III:25 in E major Moderato
2. Menuet
3. Adagio
4. Finale. Presto
5. String quartet op. 17 no. 2, Hob. III:26 in F major Moderato
6. Menuet. Poco allegretto
7. Adagio
8. Finale. Allegro di molto
9. String quartet op. 17 no. 3, Hob. III:27 in E flat major Andante grazioso
10. Menuet. Allegretto
11. Adagio
12. (Finale). Allegro di molto
13. String quartet op. 17 no. 4, Hob. III:28 in C minor Moderato
14. Menuet. Allegretto
15. Adagio. Cantabile
16. Finale. Allegro
17. String quartet op. 17 no. 5, Hob. III:29 in G major Moderato
18. Menuet. Allegretto
19. Adagio
20. Finale. Presto
21. String quartet op. 17 no. 6, Hob. III:30 in D major Presto
22. Menuet
23. Largo
24. Finale. Allegro

Timing: 141:10

Mauricio Kagel directs a surreal story about the return of Beethoven. We are in the year 1970 and Beethoven returns to see his hometown and his house in the year of his 200th birthday. A wondrous 35mm B&W film tells of Beethoven's experiences in the 20th century.

Bridge Records, Inc. Of New Rochelle, NY, is pleased to announce the release on DVD of the film, GEORGE CRUMB, BAD DOG!. The 66 minute documentary/performance film features performances by the George Crumb Ensemble, including the composer himself performing on percussion. Crumb is seen in interview, and the film presents historic photographs, and complete performances of Apparition (1979) on texts by Walt Whitman; Three Early Songs (1947); and Eine Kleine Mitternachtmusik (2001) on Thelonious Monk's 'Round Midnight. The film's soundtrack also presents excerpts from many of Crumb's masterpieces including Star-Child, Music for a Summer Evening, Mundus Canis, Pastoral Drone, Quest, and Sit Down Sister. With Tony Arnold, soprano; George Crumb, percussion, Robert Shannon, piano; David Starobin, guitar. The DVD soundtrack includes versions in stereo and in 5.1 surround sound in both Dolby and DTS formats. (2009, Directed by David Starobin, 66 minutes).

Grafin Mariza (Countess Maritza) is an operetta in three acts composed by Hungarian composer Emmerich Kalman. The libretto is by Julius Brammer and Alfred Grunwald. It premiered at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna on February 28, 1924. This recording is of the famous performance of Grafin Mariza from summer 2018 in Morbisch. The adaptation stars Melanie Holliday as Furstin Bozena Cuddenstein and Vida Mikneviciute in the title role. The Seefestspiele Mörbisch has been attracting visitors to its operettas and musicals since 1957 on the unique stage directly on Lake Neusiedl. The imposing natural backdrop of the Neusiedler See National Park harmoniously blends into the largest open-air opera stage in the world. The Seefestspiele Mörbisch festival provides limitless cultural enjoyment and whisks visitors away into a magical world full of melodies from operettas and musicals, far from the worries of everyday life. From an artistic point of view, the festival is of the highest quality with carefully conceived staged productions with renowned performers and has ensured that it attracts a full crowd each year.

This DVD includes a documentary on the renown Smetana Quartet and also includes performance footage by the quartet of Smetana's String Quartet #1 in E Minor and Quartet #2 in D Minor, along with Dvorak's Sextet in a Major, Op. 48.

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More than 200 years after its premiere at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Isabelle Faust, Jean-Guihen Queyras and Martin Helmchen have congenially mastered the artistic challenge of Beethoven’s gemstone. Under Herbert Blomstedt's sensitive direction, the soloists unite chamber musical intimacy together with virtuoso sophistication – and prove once again that the Triple Concerto is an unduly underestimated, much too rarely programmed masterpiece. With the composer's 5th Symphony, Blomstedt succeeds in achieving an entirely new perspective of this work. In his Sixth Symphony, the “Pastoral”, Ludwig van Beethoven conveys his musical message in such a way that lets the listener literally “see” images of beautiful nature, tempestuous storms, and shepherds singing in the fields, whereas in his Seventh Symphony, Beethoven lets the music speak for itself. The performances of these works by the Gewandhausorchester give the uplifting feeling that the intentions of both composer and performers are united in serving the musical message. The humanist and musician Herbert Blomstedt embodies this truth in a unique way, creating an atmosphere where the wonders of music all become true. Ludwig van Beethoven's 9th Symphony and the musical city of Leipzig are closely intertwined with each other: Felix Mendelssohn, Kapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester, made the work an indispensable part of the concert hall repertoire and Arthur Nikisch, one of his successors, established in 1918 the worldwide tradition of performing this groundbreaking and pioneering work at the end of the year. Herbert Blomstedt once again conducted Beethoven's Ninth in Leipzig for the 2016 New Year celebrations. With his former orchestra, of which he has been Conductor Laureate since 2005 and with whom he enjoys a close friendship, he achieves a gripping interpretation of this monumental work.