One of the most respected and recorded pianists of our time, Alfred Brendel, marks his retirement with two valedictory concerts, presenting repertoire in which he enjoyed a special reputation. Conductor sir charles mackerras is one of Australia's greatest musicians. This souvenir set captures these two memorable occasions.

Alfred Brendel, one of the world's most famous and revered pianists, recently retired from the concert stage. With a career that spanned almost 60 years, Brendel has played a large portion of the piano solo, chamber and concerto repertoire in the world's great musical capitals. Now, Decca is proud to re-release, at an exceptional budget price, the SCHUBERT: PIANO WORKS seven CD set. The SCHUBERT set is a re-issue of Brendel's digital recordings of the composer's major piano works recorded 1987-88.

STRAUSS, J.II: WALTZES

CD and DVD.

VERDI: REQUIEM MASS/FOUR SACRE

Renee Fleming, America's Beautiful voice, follows the phenomenal success of Haunted Heart with an inspiring collection of her favorite sacred and spiritual repertoire. Songs include "Ave Maria," "Laudate Dominum," " and "Panis "Angelicus." Violinist Mark O'Connor joins her for a special performance of Amazing Grace. Fleming is accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Andreas Delfs.

VERDI: REQUIEM ETC

Carlos Acosta, Alexander Volchkov, Nina Kaptsova, and Maria Allash star in this Bolshoi performance of the Khachaturian ballet conducted by Pavel Klinichev.

Kaufmann and Harteros star in this Bavarian State Opera production of the Wagner opera conducted by Kent Nagano.

Violetta Urmana, Roberto Alagna, and Iidiko Komlosi star in this La Scala production of the Verdi opera directed by Franco Zeffirelli conducted by Riccardo Chailly.

CHOPIN: FAVOURITE PIANO WORKS

A breath-taking ensemble performance of Marius Petipa's popular Don Quixote by Minkus, loosely based on Cervantes famous novel, from the world-renowned Mariinsky Ballet. The Mariinsky's top principal male, Leonid Sarafanov gives another virtuosic yet elegent performance.

Anna Caterina Antonacci, Norah Amsellem, Jonas Kaufmann, and Ildebrando D'Arcangelo star in this Royal Opera production of the Bizet opera conducted by Antonio Pappano.

GIULIO CESARE

A wonderfully wild Irish romp, Waking Ned Devine is the story of 2 friends whose mischief gets out of hand when they find out that one of their fellow villagers has won the lottery. The film promises to be the surprise hit of the season, igniting a Full Monty furor nationwide. Irish music being all the rage, the film's soundtrack (with music by Shaun Davey, plus the Waterboys' "Fisherman's Blues") can't help but charm movie audiences and fans of Celtic music alike.