Pare Lorentz's "The Plow That Broke the Plains (1936)," and "The River (1937)" are landmark American documentary films. Aesthetically, they break new ground in seamlessly marrying pictoral imagery, symphonic music, and poetic free verse. Ideologically, they encapsulate the strivings of FDR's "New Deal." Virgil Thompson's scores for both films are among the most famous ever composed for the movies. These classic films make their DVD debut with newly recreated & recorded scores.

Adam: Giselle

Royal Ballet Principals Federico Bonelli, Laura Morera and Steven McRae dance the lead roles in Liam Scarlett's new ballet, based on the world's most famous work of horror fiction, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. This ambitious theatrical collaboration brings the novel to life with spectacular period sets and costumes by John Macfarlane and a newly commissioned score by Lowell Liebermann. Scarlett's choreography draws out the emotional power of this classic story. Passionate encounters between Victor, Elizabeth and the Creature express their torment, regret, anger, yearning and love.

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

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)

This fun DVD time capsule captures all of the sights and sounds of 1958, including noteworthy news footage, fashion, fads, comedy, dance and musical performances, commercials, sports, science and lifestyle commentary, interwoven into a charming, nostalgia-inducing collage, guaranteed to evoke familiar, perhaps forgotten memories of simpler times. Perfect for birthdays, anniversaries, reunions, retirement parties, and retro slumber parties.

Classical Music

This film by Joan Grossman and Paul Rosdy features music by John Zorn. In the years 1938041 nearly 20,000 European Jewish refugees fled to Shanghai, China, where most would spend almost a decade in exile.

When Alban Berg attended the first production of Georg Buchner’s play Woyzeck, he immediately knew that he wanted to base an opera off of the story line. His opera, Wozzeck, was composed between the years 1914 and 1922, and received its debut performance in 1925. The dark storyline centers around the soldier Wozzeck, who travels through a callous and at times sadistic world that he doesn’t understand. He is tortured with medical experiments, ridiculed by his captain, and his lover, Marie, betrays him. He becomes a murderer and eventually secures his own demise. Renowned stage director Andreas Homoki brilliantly creates this dark and mysterious world, which explores the thin line between the unfathomable and ridiculous. Christian Gerhaher’s dramatic subtlety and vocal prowess is breathtaking in the title role, alongside the equally impressive Gun-Brit Barkim as Marie.

The story of Shakespeare's star crossed lovers has been adapted and retold by composers, librettists, playwrights, and choreographers for centuries. Since the Renaissance, everyone seems to have put their own spin on the story. This release features Vincenzo Bellini's frequently overlooked gem "I Capuleti e i Montecchi." This work is unique in that it is not simply a retelling of Shakespeare's story set to music. Rather, the opera tells the account of the last 24 hours in Romeo and Juliet's lives. Desperation and melancholy draw to a tragic cataclysm as the young lovers choose to end their lives. This production, directed by Christof Loy and conducted by Fabio Luisi, originates in Zurich, and was wonderfully received by both audiences and critics. Joyce DiDonato dazzles in the role of Romeo alongside Ukrainian soprano Olga Kulchynska, who plays Giulietta.

Nothing else that he wrote is as all-encompassing as the Mass in B minor, not even the great Passions,” says Herbert Blomstedt about Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Opus summum”. The Dresdner Kammerchor and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig under the musical direction of Herbert Blomstedt have merged ingeniously to conclude the Bachfest Leipzig with this unrivaled work – a work that bears close connections to choir and orchestra, as well as to Herbert Blomstedt himself. J. S. Bach Mass in B minor, BWV 232 Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. Performing this monumental work is the ever-capable Dresdner Kammerchor conducted by Herbert Blomstedt. Featured soloists include Christina Landshamer, soprano, Elisabeth Kulman, alto, Wolfram Lattke, tenor, and Luca Pisaroni, bass.

On the historical stage of the Bolshoi Theatre, Mikhail Glinka’s opera “Ruslan and Lyudmila” is revived in its reopening show, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski and directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov. This particular opera has a long history with the Bolshoi Theatre. The legendary venue has been home to nine different productions of the work, totaling more than 700 individual performances. This recording beautifully shows the remarkable staging of the Bolshoi Theatre, including its two massive screens which are both fully exploited. Tcherniakov brings the opera into the twentieth century by bringing attention to the “modernity of the subject” and “the deep feelings of the characters.” This particular production has received critical acclaim for its musical quality and its staging. Jurowski, the Orchestra, and soloists Albina Shagimuratova, Mikhail Petrenko, and all the rest deliver a performance which is a firework display of passion and skill.

Picture Format: NTSC 16:9
Sound Formats: PCM 2.0, DD 5.1
Subtitles: English, French, German (Opera), English French (Bonus)
Region Code: 0 (All)
Running Time: 197 mins (Opera), 35 mins (Bonus)

Directed by Don Kent.

Aleko, The Miserly Knight and Francesca da Rimini are the only three operas composed by Sergei Rachmaninov. Reunited here in an amazing production by Kirsten Dehlholm and Hotel Pro Forma under the name le titre "Rachmaninov Troika". Rachmaninov represents the waning of Romanticism in Russia yet, even by Russian standards, he was extremely fatalistic. His three one-act operas with libretti based on writings by Pushkin and Dante are linked by their theme: fat follows in the footsteps on sin, whether it be a matter of jealous murder, gree or illicit passion

A modern and visionary work, this ballet, set to music by Dmitri Shostakovich, was created in 1930. It's central theme was the highly moralized battle and triumph of the proletariat against the decadent bourgeoisie, set in europe during the roaring twenties. Surprisingly, the score by Shsotakovich raised political controversies, probably because it borrowed much to European dance forms and consequently, the ballet vanished from the theaters until 1982, when Yuri Grigorovich restaged it with sets by Sion Virsaladze and a completely new libretto mainly revolving around the love story between Rita, a cabaret dancer, and Boris, a young idealist. The conflict in teh original production was also recast as a clash between fishermen - the morally superior workers - and society's criminal elements. To bring back on stage The Golden Age in autumn 2016, a few months prior to Yuri Grigorovich's 90th birthday, was a highly symbolic choice for the Bolshoi Ballet: this work, teh last Grigorovich would ever choreograph for his company, hadn't been staged for almost 10 years. A rare and refined ballet, which ran the risk of falling into oblivion twice, is danced by the new generation of the Bolshoi Ballet, among which Nina Kaptsova et Mikhail Lobukhin.

Directed by Christian Dumas-Lvowski, Don Kent. Starring Bill T. Jones.

I am quite old now, and so when I have the opportunity to do something, I take it immediately, rather than hesitating, as I don't have much time left. John Cage said this about his first and only film, produced the year he died.

To understand La leggenda di Sakuntala means remembering that it is more of a mysterium than an ordinary opera, which is why, after seeing a performance in Bologna, Fritz Reiner pronounced it "the Italian Parsifal". Of course, the religious atmosphere pervading Sakuntala is pagan - which is hardly surprising, given it's setting - and it's subject is not redemption but the power of love. Alfano used the poem by Kalidasa (5th century BC), also admired by Goethe and Wagner. Those musicologists who claim it is only of modest quality cannot even begin to appreciate the genius it required to combine conciseness with first-rate words and music in a score for orchestra and choir that is a model of it's kind. The most impressive aspect of this masterpiece is the way it employs motifs and themes with the same profundity and refinement found in Wagner's own approach and in it's development by Strauss. The melodies which the characters sing are almost always slow, somewhere between the ecstatic and the dreamlike, while the atmosphere varies from the solemnly oriental to the ethereal. This release is the first official recording of the work.

The music chosen for this tour of European gardens and parks is matched carefully with the places chosen.

Antonio Pappano, Music Director of The Royal Opera, conducts Rossini's epic final masterpiece of French grand opera with an all-star cast that includes Gerald Finely in the title role, alongside John Osborn, Malin Bystrom and Sofia Fomina. The story of the legendary Swiss patrio Guillaume Tell, determined to free Switzerland from Austrian rule, is told through magnificent arias, ensembles and choruses, atmospheric musical evocations of the Swiss landscape, particularly in the famous overture, and dramatic episodes of great emotional power.

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 ravishing production from Covent Garden, recorded in May, 2015, certainly takes its cues from Freud... The score is a stunner, alternately sensual and sumptuous, with dissonant eruptions. It can sometimes overwhelm with its exotic, anointed quality, which makes it seem obvious, but it is certainly one of a kind. It requires, of course, a cast willing to learn Polish, and for that alone we should praise this production – it sometimes sounds as if it has no vowels. I suspect it would not have come to be were it not for Polish-born Mariusz Kwiecien, a remarkable singing actor in foreign languages and now even more remarkable in the comfort of his own. Roger is a veritable garden of uncertainties and hungers, and Kwiecien’s acting and singing give us each doubt, each fear, each unresolved bit of passion. His voice is in wonderful shape as well–a highly placed, bright baritone.


There are subtitles in English, French, German, Japanese, and Korean and bonus features including explanations by Pappano and Holten – as well as a blow-by-blow documentary. King Roger is not an oddity or a rarity–it’s a major part of the operatic canon and this is an ideal way to get to know it.

--ClassicsToday.com

Wagner's rarely performed early comic opera, based on Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, enjoys its Spanish debut in a new production by director Kasper HOlten. The lively score boasts clear Italian, French and Weberian influences that pre-date the composer's mature voice, yet the music continually delights with the unmistakable emergence of Wagner's precocious genius. His adaptation of the Bard's play reflects the rebellious modd of a Revolutionary Germany, vindicating sensual love and attacking the fanatical repression of sexuality by a puritanical and hypocritical authority. Ivor Bolton conducts a vibrant cast featuring English baritone and Cardiff Singer of the World Lieder Prize-winner Christoph Maltman, Turkish-Viennese tenor and BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist Ilker Arcayurek and Germany's htotest Wagnerian leading lady, Manuela Uhl.

This unique collection celebrates the pas de deux: the ‘steps for two’ or partner dances so central to ballets both modern and classical. It brings together 16 exceptional pas de deux from The Royal Ballet’s unequalled repertory, in outstanding performances by Company dancers past and present. Representing The Royal Ballet’s heritage works and recent creations, as well as 19th-century classics, Pas de Deux demonstrates the choreographic diversity, technical brilliance, show-stopping spectacle and artistry for which The Royal Ballet is acclaimed around the world. Included in this collection are Frederick Ashton’s Voices of Spring and pas de deux from his La Fille mal gardée; from Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet, Concerto, Elite Syncopations, Manon and Mayerling; from Wayne McGregor’s Limen; from Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Winter’s Tale; and from the 19th-century classics Giselle, Don Quixote, Swan Lake and The Nutcracker. All captured in high definition and recorded in true surround sound.

Christopher Wheeldon's acclaimed new Cinderella for the Dutch National Ballet is an imaginative interpretation of a much-loved classic. Inspired by the original Brothers Grimm fairy tale, Wheeldon gives the characters renewed depth and complexity, complementing Prokofiev's celebrated and colorful score. With sets and costumes by the renowned designer Julian Crouch, supported by stunning stage effects, this world premiere production is a truly magical experience, bringing an age-old fairy tale into the 21st century.

Two spectacular gala concerts from the stage of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, are brought together here in their unforgettable glory. In the 1993 Winter Gala, world-leading singers (including Placido Domingo, Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Kiri Te Kanawa) and dancers (including Darcey Bussell, Lesley Collier, and Irek Mukhamedov) celebrate the music of Tchaikovsky, in highlights from such opera and ballet favourites as The Queen of Spades and Eugene Onegin, The Nutcracker and The Sleeping Beauty. In the famously glittering 1996 gala concert, Domingo is joined by a cast of opera stars including Angela Gheorghiu, Roberto Alagna and Susan Graham. Asher Fisch conducts this programme of great opera arias by composers including Bizet, Massenet, Gounod, Mozart and Donizetti.

Begun in the year 1900, amidst the art nouveau curlicues of Klmt and the Jugendstil, Schoberg's grand cantata is written in a lush, late-romantic style indebted to Wagner and Mahler and pre-dating his pioneering atonal works. This setting of the medieval Danish legend of Gurre Castle - a love triangle between King Waldemar, his mistress Tove and a jealous Queen - gains an innovative new dimension in this first-ever staging of the work, directed by Pierre Audi. This album marks the first ever collaboration between DNO Artistic Director Pierre Audi and Music Director Marc Albrecht. This production was the first staging of Schonberg's mammoth cantata with gargantuan orchestra, five soloists, speaker and multiple choruses.

REVIEW:

This release captures the very first attempt to stage the piece; it makes for fascinating viewing. The Dutch National Opera's artistic director wisely chooses to keep his narrative loose and subjective, emphasizing the piece's affinity to Wagner's Tristan as to Parsifal.

The individual songs of Waldemat and Tove in the first part are straightforwardly done, but the two are seen addressing one another in a languorous, long-paragraphed dialog rather than expressing themselves in isolation. Once Tove disappears, we are more than ever aware of the whole piece as Waldemar's own journey - dreamlike, psychologically complex, and ambiguous, up to and including the final chorus, which is all the more moving for the allegorical richness it takes on.

Burkhard Fritz carries the dramatic weight admirably, and Emily Magee is a moving, entranced, and enchanting Tove. Anna Larsson is a sternly impassioned Waldtaube here, and the character's long scene is a highlight of the staging. The detailed, virtuoso playing of the orchestra and Albrecht's clear-sighted but impassioned conducting need far no comparison with the best audio-only versions. A very impressive achievement all round.

– Gramophone