Documentaries
287 products
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SaleGodin: La Fresque / Martin, Preljocaj Ballet [Blu-ray]
Naxos AudioVisual · May 20191 discBlu-Ray$34.99$24.99 -
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SaleHenze: Der Prinz von Homburg / Meister, Stuttgart Staatsoper
Naxos AudioVisual · Sep 20201 discDVD$30.99$15.49 -
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SaleVerdi: Macbeth / Ferro, Teatro Massimo [Blu-ray]
Naxos AudioVisual · Oct 20181 discBlu-Ray$34.99$17.49 -
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SaleMozart: La finta giardiniera / Martin du Theil, Fasolis, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala [Blu-ray]
Naxos AudioVisual · Jul 20211 discBlu-Ray$40.99$28.99 -
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SaleWeinberger: Fruhlingssturme / de Souza, Komische Opera Berlin [Blu-Ray]
Naxos AudioVisual · Nov 20201 discBlu-Ray$40.99$28.99 -
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Britten: Death in Venice / Perez, Daszak, Teatro Real
Naxos AudioVisual · Oct 20181 discDVD$30.99 -
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Mercadante: Didone Abbandonata / Marchi, Academia Montis Regalis, Coro Maghini
Naxos AudioVisual · Jun 20191 discDVD$30.99 -
Berg: Wozzeck / Albrecht, Dutch National Opera, Netherlands Philharmonic
Naxos AudioVisual · Nov 20181 discDVD$30.99 -
A Musical Journey - France: A Musical Tour of Provence
Naxos AudioVisual · Oct 20111 discDVD$13.99 -
SaleAmar: Pixel - A choreography of Mourad Merzouki
Naxos AudioVisual · Jul 20171 discDVD$27.99$19.99 -
SaleA Musical Journey: Helsinki and the Art of Akseli Gallen-Kal
Naxos AudioVisual · Dec 20131 discDVD$13.99$9.99 -
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SaleBeethoven: Symphony No. 9 - Coriolan Overture - Jost: Fanfar
C Major Entertainment · Apr 20171 discDVD$32.99$16.49 -
THOMSON, V.: Plow that Broke the Plains (The) / The River (N
Naxos AudioVisual · Jan 20071 discDVD$30.99 -
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Puccini: Madama Butterfly / Pappano, Jaho, Puente, Royal Opera House [Blu-ray]
Opus Arte · Oct 20181 discBlu-Ray$39.99 -
Paths Through The Labyrinth - Krzysztof Penderecki [Blu-ray]
C Major Entertainment · Mar 20141 discBlu-Ray$37.99 -
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Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 5, 6, 7, 9 & Triple Concerto / Blomstedt, Gewandhausorchester [Blu-ray]
Accentus Music · Sep 20193 discsBlu-Ray$85.99 -
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Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2, Tragic Overture / Welser-Most, Bronfman, Cleveland Orchestra [Blu-ray]
Belvedere Edition · Sep 20181 discBlu-Ray$32.99 -
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Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker & Mouse King / Spuck, Zurich Opera House
Accentus Music · Sep 20191 discDVD$41.99 -
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Gluck: Orphee et Euridice / Mariotti, Teatro alla Scala [Blu-ray]
Belvedere Edition · Jan 20191 discBlu-Ray$38.99 -
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Dvorak: Symphony No. 9 - Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition / Jansons
Belvedere Edition · Sep 20181 discDVD$32.99 -
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Gluck: Orphee et Euridice / Mariotti, Teatro alla Scala
Belvedere Edition · Jan 20191 discDVD$38.99
Godin: La Fresque / Martin, Preljocaj Ballet [Blu-ray]
This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.
Also available on standard DVD
The famous traditional Chinese tale of La Fresque (‘The Painting on the Wall’) tells of two travellers who take shelter at a small temple, one of whom becomes so enraptured by the image of a beautiful girl in a fresco that he is transported into another dimension. Angelin Preljocaj, one of France’s leading contemporary choreographers, explores this mysterious relationship between representation and reality with a spectacular and unforgettable ballet filled with dynamic action, emotive lyricism and powerful responses to the music of Nicolas Godin, one half of the celebrated music duo Air. La Fresque has been admired for its ‘breath-taking scenes’ (La Terrasse) and its ‘dark and splendid beauty’ (L’Humanité).
Henze: Der Prinz von Homburg / Meister, Stuttgart Staatsoper
Resonating powerfully with Hans Werner Henze’s pacifist perspective, Der Prinz von Homburg is based on a play by Heinrich von Kleist that opposes authority, celebrating a dreamer rather than a classical hero, and individualist freedom rather than militarist nationalism. Ingeborg Bachmann’s libretto heightens this message, and Henze’s chamber-music setting is at once powerful and unpredictable. This visually stunning production stretches from intimate transparency to dramatic heights, in a critically acclaimed staging by the award-winning director Stephan Kimmig.
Verdi: Macbeth / Ferro, Teatro Massimo [Blu-ray]
Also available on standard DVD
Commissioned in 1846, Macbeth offered Verdi the opportunity to make a qualitative leap in his career and its premiere was triumphantly received by audiences. Yet the libretto had proved problematic and many Italian critics did not share the composer’s reverence for Shakespeare. Verdi surmounted all concerns with an opera that valued brevity but also preserved the play’s most important elements. The formidable final concertato stands as one of his greatest achievements thus far, his pacing and detailing of the opera as a whole far surpassing his previous works. This production preserves the preferred 1865 revision of the work, sung in Italian and retaining the original 1847 finale.
Mozart: La finta giardiniera / Martin du Theil, Fasolis, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala [Blu-ray]
This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.
Also available on standard DVD
Mozart wrote La finta giardiniera in 1775 when he was 18 years old. It was his first staged buffo opera and centres on the lovers at the heart of the action, Sandrina – the pretend garden-girl of the title – and Belfiore. With few ensembles, Mozart channels his most intense and expressive music into arias which demonstrate a masterful ability to convey the full range of tenderness and passion. Originally staged at Glyndebourne in 2014 by Frederic Wake-Walker, this 2018 revival from La Scala is performed on period instruments with a strong cast and expertly conducted with exuberance and charm by Diego Fasolis.
Weinberger: Fruhlingssturme / de Souza, Komische Opera Berlin [Blu-Ray]
This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.
Also available on standard DVD
Czech-born composer Jaromír Weinberger, best known for his opera Schwanda the Bagpiper, was forced to flee to America in order to escape Nazi terror. Frühlingsstürme, staged in 1933 but soon closed down by the Nazi government, was the last operetta of the Weimar Republic. It is filled with cultural complexity, combining serious operatic style with light comedy, and presents a thrilling story involving a doomed love affair set against war between Japan and Russia. This lavish production is staged by the award-winning Australian director Barrie Kosky.
Britten: Death in Venice / Perez, Daszak, Teatro Real
Adapted from Thomas Mann’s 1912 novella, Death in Venice was Benjamin Britten’s last opera, the composer insisting on its completion while delaying badly needed heart surgery. The starkly simple narrative of a famous but failing novelist travelling to Venice to seek inspiration only to find unhealthy infatuation and deadly cholera, is given a chamber-like precision and clarity through Britten’s score, becoming a haunting drama filled with musical symbols, disquieting mystery and richly evocative atmospheres of Venice and its strange characters. Willy Decker’s Teatro Real production was described as ‘one of his most brilliant stage works… a remarkable technical feat.’
Mercadante: Didone Abbandonata / Marchi, Academia Montis Regalis, Coro Maghini
Giuseppe Saverio Mercadante was a contemporary of Donizetti and Rossini, and his prolific output of operas proved influential in founding dramatic techniques that were taken on by Verdi. Set in the ancient and besieged city of Carthage, Didone abbandonata is the dramatic and tragic tale of ill-starred lovers whose decisions ultimately place an entire populace in peril. A genuine rarity in the theatre, Didone has strong ties to the 18th century but also points towards the bel canto innovations that were to come. This carefully researched and critically acclaimed production presents the work in the sound and playing style of Mercadante’s time.
Berg: Wozzeck / Albrecht, Dutch National Opera, Netherlands Philharmonic
Based on real events and drawing on Georg Büchner’s revolutionary play, Alban Berg’s Wozzeck turns a grimly tragic narrative of violence and murder into one of the most powerful and original operas of the 20th century. Berg’s uncompromising portrayal of brutality and madness generated much controversy, but the significance of Wozzeck was soon recognised; its compelling lyrical expansiveness, large-scale dramatic gestures and remarkable musical structures producing music of overwhelming emotional intensity. The Financial Times declared this to be "a beautiful, moving, engrossing production… this is a consummate Wozzeck, blending clarity, lyricism, compassion and crushing force."
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REVIEW:
Marc Albrecht embeds Wozzeck within a lineage of lyrically sprung, dance-driven operas from Weber’s Oberon to Der Rosenkavalier, taking in Lortzing and Die Fledermaus along the way. The singing is accomplished with style, especially the astonishingly secure Captain of Marcel Beekman and the engagingly sinister comic turn of Willard White as the Doctor. Even were it not among the most beautifully played and sung accounts on record and film, this Wozzeck would command attention for Krzysztof Warlikowski’s staging.
– Gramophone
COPLAND, A.: City (The) (NTSC)
A Musical Journey: Helsinki and the Art of Akseli Gallen-Kal
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 - Coriolan Overture - Jost: Fanfar
THOMSON, V.: Plow that Broke the Plains (The) / The River (N
Liebermann: Frankenstein
Puccini: Madama Butterfly / Pappano, Jaho, Puente, Royal Opera House [Blu-ray]
Also available on standard DVD
Puccini’s Japanese tragedy Madama Butterfly is given a ravishing production by The Royal Opera. Its alluring imagery of Japan from the 19th-century European Imagination heightens the intense clash of East and West. When the American naval officer Pinkerton seduces the young ‘Butterfly’ Cio-Cio-San, he seems to promise every happiness – but his cruel abandonment leads to her tragic self-sacrifice. Antonio Pappano, Music Director of The Royal Opera and renowned for his interpretations of Puccini, conducts an exceptionally fine cast with the Royal Opera Chorus and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. Powerful performances show why Madama Butterfly remains one of the all-time operatic favourites. ‘‘Always at his best in Puccini, Antonio Pappano conducts with passionate sincerity.’’ (The Guardian 5 Stars) ‘‘An opera that ranks among the very greatest of the 20th century.’’ (The Daily Telegraph 4 Stars) ‘‘Ermonela Jaho is the best Cio-Cio-San London has seen in years’’ (Independent 4 Stars)
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REVIEWS:
The Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho is one of the great singing actresses of our time. Hers is not a sumptuous soprano, but the colors she brings to her portrayal are astonishing. Her Flower Duet with Elizabeth DeShong's feisty, sympathetic Suzuki is quite beautifully sung. Pappano - arguably today's greatest Puccianian conductor - draws ardent playing from the orchestra, superbly detailed in its commentaries.
– Gramophone
Pappano is particularly alert to Puccini borrowing traditional Japanese melodies; at times he makes you hear this score, as well as the drama on stage, as a tug of war between East and West. It’s Sharpless and Suzuki who steal the show – a consul with a tender conscience from Scott Hendricks and Elizabeth DeShong as a maid who could melt the stoniest of hearts.
– BBC Music Magazine
Paths Through The Labyrinth - Krzysztof Penderecki [Blu-ray]
Also available on standard DVD
KRZYSZTOF PENDERECKI – Paths Through the Labyrinth
(Blu-ray Disc Version)
A film by Anna Schmidt
Even at over 80 Krzysztof Penderecki is still an unflinching and active composer and conductor. Director Anna Schmidt followed Penderecki’s paths for a year—in the process interviewing such world-famous artists as Anne-Sophie Mutter, Julian Rachlin and Janine Jansen as well as Jonny Greenwood (“Radiohead”) and legendary film director Andrzej Wajda.
As a result, Paths Through the Labyrinth has become a comprehensive “work in progress” documentary, accompanying Penderecki from Kraków to Munich, from Vienna to Leipzig, and to his country estate in Luslawice. Throughout, the composer reflects on his beginnings, the turning points in his life and the world of his ideas.
Thoughts, dialogues, encounters and extracts from several famous Penderecki compositions coalesce into a fascinating, multi-layered portrayal of one of today’s most influential musicians.
Bonus:
- Interviews with Lorin Maazel and Jonny Greenwood.
Picture format: 1080i High Definition
Sound format: PCM Stereo
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, German, French, Korean
Booklet notes: English, German, French
Running time: 86 mins (documentary) + 18 mins (bonus)
No. of Discs: 1 (BD 25)
BABY BOOM YEARS: 1958
Lully, J.B.: Phaëton
Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 5, 6, 7, 9 & Triple Concerto / Blomstedt, Gewandhausorchester [Blu-ray]
This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.
Also available on standard DVD
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.
Music, Power, War and Revolution
Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2, Tragic Overture / Welser-Most, Bronfman, Cleveland Orchestra [Blu-ray]
Also available on standard DVD
The Cleveland Orchestra is the “aristocrat among American orchestras” (The Telegraph) and its sovereign, Franz Welser-Möst, rules his subjects with a velvet glove. Indeed, velvet and silk keep showing up in descriptions of the Clevelanders’ sound under its principal conductor. It is Welser-Möst’s nimble alternation between smoothness and a sound that’s as “sharp-edged as a skyscraper” (The Telegraph after the Brahms’ First at the orchestra’s London Proms concert). That keeps the ensemble and the audience figuratively on its toes. The Second Piano Concerto, completed in 1881, is the work of a composer who has become skilled in the manipulation of large forms. Brahms treats the soloist as an equal partner with the orchestra. Yefim Bronfman has the uncanny ability to play large without stridency, to handle the most delicate passages without losing presence, and to play everything in between with a ravishing sense of tonal color. Welser-Möst and Bronfman brought pulsing energy to the concerto’s second movement, a Scherzo, setting up an oasis of calm for the third that segued immediately into the genial finale, whose last chords were nearly obliterated by roars of approval from the audience. Laced into his forceful performance of Piano Concerto No. 1 was a surprising element of fury, as if the pianist had come unhinged momentarily. And yet Bronfman was also wholly present, taking time in relaxed passages to savor every second. Which of the two concertos Bronfman knocked further out the park is impossible to say. Both scores the pianist seized by their very hearts, drawing forth all the majesty, raw power and exquisite beauty that each contains.
Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker & Mouse King / Spuck, Zurich Opera House
Christian Spuck puts the literary origin at the heart of his choreography of “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King”, emphasizing the fantastical nature of the original rather than the delightful Christmas fairytale and bringing back the tale of princess Pirlipat, who turns into a nut monster, as told by E.T.A. Hoffmann. On stage, Drosselmeier’s workshop turns into an old revue-theater, where the ballet’s characters come to life. Spuck’s choreography plays with the richness of characters in Hoffmann’s narrative cosmos, the absurdity and overwrought humor that inhabit them, while at the same time looking down into the dark abyss of Romanticism. This production was recorded at the Opernhaus Zürich April 2018
Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem
Gluck: Orphee et Euridice / Mariotti, Teatro alla Scala [Blu-ray]
Also available on standard DVD
Juan Diego Flórez dazzled audiences and critics alike when he played the virtuoso role of Orphée in La Scala’s first ever staging of Gluck’s opera in its French version: “Juan Diego Flórez delivered a lesson in style. His tone is darker and his projection more self-effacing than in the past, but class is permanent. His agility and legato are utterly thrilling. The ovations were never-ending.” (Corriere della sera) The present release is a production by Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London Recorded live at Teatro alla Scala, Milan, March 2018. Gluck’s Orpheo ed Euridice was first performed in 1762. It is the first of Gluck’s “reform” operas, in which he attempted to replace the abstruse plots and overly complex music of opera sera with a “noble simplicity” in both the music and the drama. The present production was staged by Hofesh Shechter and John Fulljames.
Dvorak: Symphony No. 9 - Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition / Jansons
This brilliant live recording features the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks under the capable baton of Maris Jansons performing Antonin Dvorak’s Symphony No 9 in E minor op. 95 “From the New World” and Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Dvorak’s Ninth’s “sharply profiled landscape” sketched by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under the incomparable Mariss Jansons is, in the words of the daily newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung, a “musical feast.” Mariss Jansons and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition were predestined to come together. Few conductors are as adept as Jansons to savor all the richness and colorfulness of the paintings and sketches by the artist Victor Harmann. Michael Beyer has directed the recording of this concert.
Gluck: Orphee et Euridice / Mariotti, Teatro alla Scala
Juan Diego Flórez dazzled audiences and critics alike when he played the virtuoso role of Orphée in La Scala’s first ever staging of Gluck’s opera in its French version: “Juan Diego Flórez delivered a lesson in style. His tone is darker and his projection more self-effacing than in the past, but class is permanent. His agility and legato are utterly thrilling. The ovations were never-ending.” (Corriere della sera) The present release is a production by Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London Recorded live at Teatro alla Scala, Milan, March 2018. Gluck’s Orpheo ed Euridice was first performed in 1762. It is the first of Gluck’s “reform” operas, in which he attempted to replace the abstruse plots and overly complex music of opera sera with a “noble simplicity” in both the music and the drama. The present production was staged by Hofesh Shechter and John Fulljames.
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