May 2010 New Releases
GISELLE – Dutch National Ballet – now on Blu-ray
The new production of Giselle by Dutch National Ballet, released on DVD earlier this year, will also be available from the 31st May on the high-definition Blu-ray format.
Giselle, with choreography by Marius Petipa, (after Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot) is the most celebrated ballet of the romantic era, and a perennial favourite, with its combination of dramatic acting, virtuoso technique and ethereal beauty.
This new production is by Rachel Beaujean, Head of Artistic Staff of the Dutch National Ballet and former ballerina, and Ricardo Bustamante, Assistant Artistic Director of San Francisco Ballet and formerly principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre. Both have danced principal roles in Giselle, Beaujean as Myrtha and Bustamante as Albrecht, and they have brought their passion for this ballet to this new production. They have based their Giselle on the original version by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot, but have added new choreography and a fresh view of the story.
The atmospheric sets and costumes for this new production are by Toer van Schayk, who sets the ballet at the end of the eighteenth century, predating the time of the original premiere.
The cast includes Russian ballerina Anna Tsygankova as Giselle (formerly of the Bolshoi Ballet, Hungarian National Ballet and Vienna State Opera), and Jozef Varga as Albrecht (formerly of the Czech Ballet and Zurich Ballet)
Adolphe Adam’s score is performed live by Holland Symfonia conducted by Boris Gruzin.
Dutch National Ballet’s new production of Giselle was recorded in February 2009 at Het Muziektheater, Amsterdam in High Definition and Surround Sound.
BONUS MATERIAL:
Bonus material includes interviews with:
Anna Tsygankova – Giselle
Jozef Varga – Albrecht
Igone de Jongh – Myrtha
Jan Zerer – Hilarion
Rachel Beaujean & Ricardo Bustamante – production and additional choreography
This ‘impressive, distilled Giselle is enchanting’ – de Telegraaf
Dutch National Ballet’s production of Giselle will be released on Blu-ray on 31st May, 2010 (catalogue no. 51865-7148-2) and will available to purchase from www.amazon.co.uk
HANDS ACROSS THE SEA
The Band of the Grenadier Guards
SOUSA MARCHES
Soundtrack on CD. Bonus DVD shows the colour and spectacle of the Grenadier Guards at Blenheim Palace
In this colourful performance, recorded in 1995, the 50-strong Band of the Grenadier Guards pays tribute to John Philip Sousa, America’s master of the military march, surrounded by the splendour of one of England’s largest mansions and birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill, Blenheim Palace. Archive footage features John Philip Sousa conducting his own band.
Music by JOHN PHILIP SOUSA
Played by THE BAND OF THE GRENADIER GUARDS
Director of Music MAJOR PHILIP E. HILLS FLCM psm
With the participation of THE 2ND BATTALION GRENADIER GUARDS
From BLENHEIM PALACE, Oxfordshire, and CATERHAM BARRACKS, Surrey
CD Track Listing
Hands Across the Sea
Imperial Edward March
Thunderer
Belle of Chicago
Invincible Eagle
White Plume March
Fairest of the Fair
From Maine to Oregon March
Gladiator March
Dauntless Battalion
Washington Post
Lamb’s March
Manhattan Beach
Review
King Cotton
Power and Glory
High School Cadets
Century of Progress
Semper Fidelis
Crusader
"El Capitan" March: El Capitan
Daughters of Texas
Liberty Bell
Sabre and Spurs
Stars and Stripes Forever
DVD also includes 'The Legionnaires' March'
Hands Across The Sea (CD + bonus DVD) will be released on May 31st, 2010 (catalogue no. 51865-8876-2) and will be available to purchase from www.amazon.co.uk
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April 2010 New Releases
PLÁCIDO DOMINGO
My Greatest Roles - Volume 2: VERDI
OTELLO œ ERNANI œ IL TROVATORE
PLÁCIDO DOMINGO My Greatest Roles – Volume 2: Verdi is the second volume of DVD boxed sets that showcase some of the greatest recordings of Plácido Domingo’s career on stage. Domingo, who has overall Artistic Supervision of the My Greatest Roles project, has chosen the productions featured in each boxed set, half of which are NVC Arts titles, and half are from other labels.
This volume features full-length performances of operas by Verdi, including Ernani from La Scala, Otello from The Royal Opera, Covent Garden, and Il trovatore from Vienna State Opera. (The first volume featured three full length operas by Giacomo Puccini, and the series will continue later in the year with French opera and verismo opera.)
Bonus: This volume is complemented by a 1-hour bonus DVD in which Plácido Domingo speaks at length, with passion and insight, about each of the roles he sings in these three operas. Domingo has sung over 600 performances of operas by Verdi, and he speaks of how he feels so ‘privileged’ to be singing this wonderful music. The three operas he has chosen feature superb roles for the tenor, all of which display a tremendous nobility of character.
ERNANI – La Scala, Milan
Plácido Domingo has chosen Ernani in a production from La Scala, Milan, because he made his debut at La Scala in that role, and he recalls the thrill of hearing the tenors and basses in the chorus for the first time. Domingo gives a commanding performance as the bandit Ernani, in this hugely successful production, recorded in 1982. This demanding role is technically difficult, but has great music for the tenor voice, and is immensely rewarding to sing. The production also features three other legendary opera stars, all at the height of their powers: Mirella Freni as the heroine Elvira, Renato Bruson as the charming but devious King Charles of Spain, and Nicolai Ghiaurov as a noble Silva. They give impassioned, electric performances under the conductor Riccardo Muti, an acclaimed Verdi interpreter.
OTELLO – The Royal Opera, Covent Garden
Domingo justifiably considers the role of Otello to be one of his finest, and this famous 1992 recording of Otello demonstrates why he has become so idenitified with this pinnacle of the tenor repertoire. His magnificent performance combines all his strengths as a singer and an actor to bring the tragic moor powerfully to life. In the interviews he says he immersed himself so deeply in the character of Otello that he wasn’t so troubled by the technical demands of the music and in the end it became ‘almost like I was talking’. The role of Desdemona is sung movingly by Kiri Te Kanawa, and Iago is played by Sergei Leiferkus, whose ability to convey both nobility and evil makes him ideal for this role. Elijah Moshinsky’s handsome production is conducted by Sir Georg Solti.
IL TROVATORE – Vienna State Opera
Plácido Domingo plays the romantic figure of the troubadour Manrico, in this production of Il trovatore from Vienna State Opera, filmed in 1978. Manrico is one of the Verdi characters that Domingo most enjoys portraying, and in his eyes, he has ‘some of the most beautiful music ever written’. Herbert von Karajan not only conducts, but was also the stage director, giving this tale of Spanish nobles and gypsies a dark framework against which Verdi’s music was able to shine all the more brightly. This recording features Bulgarian soprano Raina Kabaivanska as Leonora, the legendary Fiorenza Cossotto as the gypsy Azucena, the great Verdi baritone Piero Cappuccilli as the Count di Luna, and in the small role of Ferrando, José Van Dam.
MARCH 2010 RELEASES
THE 3 TENORS In Concert 1994 (DVD + Bonus CD)
José Carreras œ Plácido Domingo œ Luciano Pavarotti
The legendary tenors JOSÉ CARRERAS, PLÁCIDO DOMINGO and LUCIANO PAVAROTTI, together with conductor ZUBIN MEHTA, celebrated the finale to soccer’s 1994 World Cup with a live concert described as “probably the biggest single musical event in history”, with an estimated worldwide audience of more than one billion viewers.
The 3 Tenors and Mehta had originally been brought together for the 1990 World Cup in Italy, and they joined forces again for the 1994 World Cup, this time in Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium on July 16th 1994 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Music Center Opera Chorus, to perform a selection of operatic arias and international favourites specially orchestrated by composer/arranger Lalo Schifrin. The result is an outstanding album, reflecting a unique event, featuring three legendary performers who share a united passion for opera and football.
Includes ‘Making of..’ documentary not previously available on DVD
DVD BONUS
The Making of The 3 Tenors – The Vision allows us behind the scenes to watch as the story of The 3 Tenors in Concert 1994 unfolds. From an intimate charity concert in Monte Carlo in June, there is exclusive film of THE 3 TENORS relaxing, rehearsing and in concert, performing the Brindisi and Granada. And then six weeks later in Los Angeles, they are captured at their final dress rehearsal before the momentous concert.
CD
Accompanying CD (73’) includes most of the tracks from the full concert programme.
The 3 Tenors in Concert 1994 (NVC Arts 2564 68321-6) is available to buy from 29 March, 2010 from www.amazon.co.uk
February 2010 Releases
GISELLE – DUTCH NATIONAL BALLET
Giselle, with choreography by Marius Petipa, (after Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot) is the most celebrated ballet of the romantic era, and a perennial favourite that continues to move audiences all around the world, with its combination of dramatic acting, virtuoso technique and ethereal beauty.
This new production is by RACHEL BEAUJEAN, Head of Artistic Staff of the Dutch National Ballet and former ballerina, and RICARDO BUSTAMANTE, Assistant Artistic Director of San Francisco Ballet and formerly principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre. Both have danced principal roles in Giselle, Beaujean as Myrtha and Bustamante as Albrecht, and they have brought their passion for this ballet to this new production. They have based their Giselle on the original version by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot, but have added new choreography and a fresh view of the story.
The atmospheric sets and costumes for this new production are by TOER VAN SCHAYK, who sets the ballet at the end of the eighteenth century, predating the time of the original premiere.
The cast includes Russian ballerina ANNA TSYGANKOVA as Giselle (a rising star formerly of the Bolshoi Ballet, Hungarian National Ballet and Vienna State Opera), and JOZEF VARGA as Albrecht (formerly of the Czech Ballet and Zurich Ballet)
Adolphe Adam’s score is performed live by HOLLAND SYMFONIA conducted by BORIS GRUZIN.
Dutch National Ballet’s new production of Giselle was recorded in February 2009 at Het Muziektheater, Amsterdam in High Definition and Surround Sound.
BONUS MATERIAL:
Bonus material includes interviews with:
Anna Tsygankova – Giselle
Jozef Varga – Albrecht
Igone de Jongh – Myrtha
Jan Zerer – Hilarion
Rachel Beaujean & Ricardo Bustamante – production and additional choreography
This ‘impressive, distilled Giselle is enchanting’ – de Telegraaf
Dutch National Ballet’s Giselle (NVC Arts 5186 57108-2) is available to buy from February 22nd, from www.amazon.co.uk
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BÉLA BARTÓK
DUKE BLUEBEARD’S CASTLE
Robert Lloyd • Elizabeth Laurence
The London Philharmonic
Adam Fischer
This highly acclaimed 1988 film version of Béla Bartók’s searing psychological opera, performed by ROBERT LLOYD and ELIZABETH LAURENCE, was originally shown on BBC Television, and won the 1989 Prix Italia Music Prize. Bartók’s short opera, one of the composer’s most impressive early works, tells the macabre legend of Duke Bluebeard, who brings his young wife Judith to live in his remote castle. The dramatic intensity increases as sinister secrets are gradually unveiled, bringing the opera to its haunting conclusion.
This is the first time this film version of Duke Bluebeard’s Castle has been available on DVD.
Duke Bluebeard’s Castle (NVC Arts 5186 57052-2) is available to buy from February 22nd, from www.amazon.co.uk
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Celebrating the Chopin Bicentenary
CHOPIN CELEBRATION
At The Palace of £añcut, Poland
MAREK DREWNOWSKI piano
Piano Concerto No 1 in E minor
Piano Concerto No 2 in F minor
12 Waltzes
Chopin Celebration was filmed on location in 1993 at the magnificent Palace of £añcut in Poland. In this elegant setting, soloist MAREK DREWNOWSKI gives impassioned performances of twelve of early Romantic composer Frederic Chopin’s most lyrical waltzes and his two beautiful piano concertos.
In a remarkable career spanning many decades, Marek Drewnowski has not only performed at concerts worldwide, and made many recordings, particularly of works by Chopin, but has also had success as an actor, film producer, music festival founder, music professor and conductor.
Mr Drewnowski’s performance is intercut with scenes of the Palace of £añcut – its Rococo Salon, Ballroom, Turkish Suite, Chinese Suite and Great Dining Room, with many eighteenth and nineteenth-century paintings, antiques and furniture.
Piano Concerto No 1 in E minor, op. 11
Piano Concerto No 2 in F minor, op. 21
Grande Valse Brillante, Op. 18
Grande Valse Brillante, Op. 34, No 1
Grande Valse Brillante, Op. 34, No 2
Grande Valse Brillante, Op. 34, No 3
Grande Valse, Op. 42
Valse, Op. 64, No 1 ‘Minute Waltz’
Valse, Op. 64, No 2
Valse, Op. 64, No 3
Valse, Op. 69, No 1
Valse, Op. 69, No 2
Valse, Op. 70, No 1
Valse in E minor, Op. posthume
For Chopin’s two concertos, the soloist is accompanied by the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra of Katowice, conducted by ANTONI WIT.
Chopin Celebration (NVC Arts 5186 57106-2) is available to buy from February 22nd, from www.amazon.co.uk
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January 2010 Releases
PLÁCIDO DOMINGO
MY GREATEST ROLES – THE DOCUMENTARY
NVC Arts/Warner Classics is proud to announce the release of a new documentary DVD: Plácido Domingo: My Greatest Roles. This is the original documentary on which the BBC based their recent ‘Imagine’ programme about Domingo: ‘Plácido Domingo – The Time of My Life’.
Plácido Domingo is a giant of the operatic world, and one of the most important artists in its history. On rare occasions he allows television cameras in. This brand new film takes the form of a retrospective of his greatest work with specially-filmed, extensive interviews, illustrated by performance footage, building a picture of this unique artist throughout his extraordinary career.
Domingo himself has selected many of his greatest roles, and the particular performances at which he was at his peak, which were all filmed. He speaks movingly about these roles, explaining the significance of each one. For example he relives the thrill of experiencing the power of the tenors and basses in the La Scala chorus at his 1969 debut in Milan as Ernani. He reveals how certain characters are close to his heart, such as Don José in Carmen, as his own mother was also a Basque, and also the Mexican bandit Ramirez in La Fanciulla del West. He speaks of the great challenge of taking on the German repertoire, and finally the many qualities required to play his ‘signature’ role of Otello, which so involved him that in the end it felt “almost like I was talking”.
Placido Domingo: My Greatest Roles – The Documentary (5186 56282-2)
is released on 18 January, 2010, and will be available to purchase from www.amazon.co.uk
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NEW YORK CITY BALLET
BRINGING BALANCHINE BACK
The Historic Return to Russia
New York City Ballet: Bringing Balanchine Back, narrated by Kevin Kline, tells the story of New York City Ballet’s historic visit to St Petersburg, Russia, in 2004, to perform at the famed Mariinsky Theatre, where ballet legend and NYCB co-founder George Balanchine received his training and began his career. The trip coincides with the worldwide celebrations marking the centennial of Balanchine’s birth. Included is performance footage of several of Balanchine’s most acclaimed works, including Serenade, Western Symphony, Symphony in C and Symphony in Three Movements, as well as ballets by Jerome Robbins (Glass Pieces) and Peter Martins (Hallelujah Junction), and a rare glimpse behind the scenes for a number of backstage dramas.
Special features include additional interview material, a tour of the Mariinsky Theatre. The programme can also be viewed with 5.1 surround sound.
Bringing Balanchine Back (51865-6160-2) is released on 18 January, 2010 and will be available to buy from www.amazon.co.uk
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SENDAK 3-DVD BOXED SET
FIVE OPERAS FROM GLYNDEBOURNE
WITH DESIGNS BY MAURICE SENDAK
Knussen: Where The Wild Things Are & Higglety Pigglety Pop!
Ravel: L’Enfant et les Sortilèges & L’heure espagnole
Prokofiev: The Love of Three Oranges
Internationally-acclaimed American illustrator and author of children’s books, Maurice Sendak, wrote the libretti and designed vivid and magical images for the fantasy operas Where The Wild Things Are and Higglety Pigglety Pop! to music by Oliver Knussen. He also created brilliant designs for Prokofiev’s quirky Love of Three Oranges, and for Ravel’s delightful double bill: L’Enfant et les Sortilèges and L’Heure Espagnole.
WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE & HIGGLETY PIGGLETY POP!
The antics of young Max and his journey to the Land of the Wild Things, and Jennie, the Sealyham terrier’s search for something more than everything, are set against beautifully intricate designs which adhere faithfully to the illustrations in Sendak’s famous children’s books. The music by Oliver Knussen is skilfully orchestrated with an unerring ability to depict fantasy characters and scenarios – a rare fusion of wit and lyricism.
In Where The Wild Things Are, Karen Beardsley sings the role of Max, and Cynthia Buchan takes the role of the terrier Jennie in Higglety Pigglety Pop!
Oliver Knussen conducts The London Sinfonietta in these performances, which were first shown on BBC TV in 1985. The director is Frank Corsaro.
“…aural and visual enchantment…enthralling make-believe and irresistibly potent entertainment.” Daily Telegraph
L’ENFANT ET LES SORTILÈGES & L’HEURE ESPAGNOLE
These two productions of Maurice Ravel’s one-act operas L’Enfant et les Sortilèges and L’Heure Espagnole for Glyndebourne Festival Opera were first recorded and seen on BBC TV in 1987, and are both directed by Frank Corsaro.
This staging of the enchanting fantasy, L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, the tale of the boy who will not learn his lessons, featured film projection, and this has been brilliantly reflected in the electronically-edited television recording. Cynthia Buchan sings the role of the boy. Simon Rattle conducts The London Philharmonic. “…absolutely magical” THE TIMES
Maurice Sendak’s delightfully animated set for the comic opera L’Heure Espagnole comprises a huge baroque façade complete with working clocks and carved emblems.
The cast includes Anna Steiger, François Le Roux, Rémy Corazza, Thierry Dran and François Loup. Sian Edwards conducts The London Philharmonic.
Five Operas from Glyndebourne with designs by Maurice Sendak (5186 55668-2) is released on January 25, 2010, and will be available to buy from www.amazon.co.uk
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NOËL COWARD TRILOGY
A celebration of an extraordinary life
These three programmes, first screened by the BBC in 1998, trace the life, career, and legacy of Noël Coward, the celebrated playwright, composer, director, actor and singer.
Part 1: THE BOY ACTOR follows his meteoric rise to international fame at thirty: including how early influences as a young man shaped his works such as Private Lives and The Vortex.
Part 2: CAPTAIN COWARD focuses on his journeys to the Far East with Earl Amherst (which inspired famous songs such as Mad Dogs and Englishmen), as well as entertaining the troops during the war years and films In Which We Serve and Brief Encounter.
Part 3: SAIL AWAY follows Coward’s cabaret triumphs in London and Las Vegas after the Second World War and his years as a tax exile in Switzerland and Jamaica, right up to his death. His long-term partner, Graham Payn shows us around Chalet Coward, and archive film reveals the glamorous poolside lifestyle he enjoyed, as well as his late successes – a cameo performance in The Kitchen, and the musical Sail Away as recalled by its star Elaine Stritch.
The contributors include: SHERIDAN MORLEY, JOHN LAHR, PHILIP HOARE
The programmes were nominated for the 1999 Huw Wheldon Award for the Best Arts Programme or Series BAFTA Award and the 1999 Grierson Memorial Trust Awards.
The Noël Coward Trilogy (51442-8577-2) is released on January 25, 2010, and will be available to buy from www.amazon.co.uk
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NOVEMBER 2009 RELEASES
PLÁCIDO DOMINGO – MY GREATEST ROLES
PLÁCIDO DOMINGO - My Greatest Roles
Volume 1: PUCCINI
TOSCA • MANON LESCAUT • LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST
5186 55673-2
DVD Boxed Set Release Date: 2 November, 2009
NVC Arts/Warner Classics is delighted to announce the release of a series of boxed sets that showcase some of the greatest recordings of Plácido Domingo’s career on stage.
The first volume features three full length operas by Giacomo Puccini, and future sets will include operas by Verdi, French opera and verismo opera.
TOSCA
For the first time, the long-awaited ‘live’, real-time Tosca, filmed in Rome in 1992, is available on DVD. For this unique and highly innovative version of Puccini’s Tosca, the acts were staggered so that they were filmed at the very same times of day that Puccini had written into his score, and were broadcast live by satellite around the world. Tosca was also performed in the exact settings of the opera: in the 16th-century church of Sant’Andrea della Valle, the nearby Palazzo Farnese and finally at Castel Sant’Angelo. Plácido Domingo sings the role of Mario Cavaradossi, Tosca is played by Catherine Malfitano, Scarpia is sung by Ruggero Raimondi, and the Symphony Orchestra and Chorus of Rome RAI is conducted by Zubin Mehta.
“Andrea Andermann’s television production was simply a triumph” THE TIMES
“The staggered timing, the complex technology and the settings themselves made the production the first of its kind” THE NEW YORK TIMES
MANON LESCAUT
This famous production from The Royal Opera, filmed in 1983, features Kiri Te Kanawa in the title role and Plácido Domingo, whose performance of Des Grieux is considered to be unsurpassed. The role of Des Grieux is one of the most taxing in the tenor repertoire, and Domingo’s passionate portrayal is one of his greatest achievements. Lescaut is sung by Thomas Allen, and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House is conducted by Giuseppe Sinopoli.
‘Plácido Domingo’s magnificent singing as Des Grieux was cause for drop-jawed wonder’ THE SPECTATOR.
LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST
Puccini's penultimate opera is set at the height of the California gold rush. In this Royal Opera recording, filmed in 1983, Carol Neblett sings the role of Minnie, ‘The Girl of the Golden West’, and Plácido Domingo is as ignitable as ever in the role of Dick Johnson, alias the bandit, Ramirez. The much-admired production, still in repertory at The Royal Opera, is by Piero Faggioni, and the conductor is Nello Santi.
“It should be heard and seen by all who can buy or beg a ticket.” DAILY TELEGRAPH
OCTOBER 2009 RELEASES
OLD ROCOCO
THE LIFE OF GIOACCHINO ROSSINI
DVD Release Date: 26 October, 2009
Featuring: JOAN SUTHERLAND, CECILIA BARTOLI
Shot on location in Italy, this fascinating 1992 documentary tells the story of the greatest Italian opera composer of his day, author of the most popular of all comic operas, The Barber of Seville, a wealthy, successful, prolific composer, who, at the age of 37, suddenly gave up writing for the stage.
The programme examines why this happened, setting the story against the backdrop of the historical events taking place in Italy, and through extensive performance excerpts from all his best-known operas as well as less famous works.
Brian Blessed is the Voice of Rossini, Timothy Bateson is the Voice of Stendhal, and extracts are performed by a top cast of singers, including Joan Sutherland, Cecilia Bartoli, John Rawnsley, Maria Ewing, Della Jones, Alberto Rinaldi, Mex-Rene Cosotti and Claudio Desderi.
Old Rococo - The Life of Gioacchino Rossini (5186 56018-2) is available to buy from www.amazon.co.uk
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PRIMA DONNA
LEADING LADIES OF OPERA
DVD Release Date: 26 October, 2009
Hildegard Behrens • Barbara Bonney • Maria Ewing • Renée Fleming • Edita Gruberova • Raina Kabaivanska • Catherine Malfitano • Karita Mattila • Kiri Te Kanawa • Dawn Upshaw • Shirley Verrett
Many of the world’s greatest sopranos of recent years appear in highly-acclaimed performances from La Fenice, Venice, Arena di Verona, The Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, Deutsche Oper, Berlin, and the Savonlinna Festival, Finland. Prima Donna was first created in 1999.
The extracts include performances from Don Carlos (Karita Mattila), Theodora (Dawn Upshaw), Madama Butterfly (Raina Kabaivanska), Le nozze di Figaro (Renee Fleming), Der Rosenkavalier (Kiri Te Kanawa, Barbara Bonney and Anne Howells) and Salome (Catherine Malfitano) as well as many others.
Prima Donna - Leading Ladies of Opera (5144 28586-9) is available to buy from www.amazon.co.uk
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AUGUST 2009 RELEASES
HOWARD GOODALL’S
ORGAN WORKS
Release Date: 31 August, 2009
This award-winning series of four half-hour programmes, written and presented by the irrepressible HOWARD GOODALL, gives a fascinating and humorous insight into the world of the organ and endeavours to explain why, for some people, this bold, colourful and beautiful instrument has an irresistible power.
Goodall’s journey through the instrument’s history takes him via the gems of the organ world in Spain, France, Germany, Holland and also in the USA, to churches, cathedrals, castles and parks, West Point Military Academy and to “one of the wonders of the musical world”, in a Philadelphia department store!
Ultimately Goodall examines the future of the traditional pipe organ in the face of competition in the digital age, concluding that given its history and popularity, there will always be a place for the magnificent and majestic original!
Howard Goodall’s Organ Works were shown on Channel 4 in 1996, and won the following awards:
1997 Royal Television Society Award for Best Original Music
1997 New York Festival Silver Award for Best Arts Programme
Howard Goodall's Organ Works (Cat No. 5186 55132-2) will be available to buy from August 31st, 2009 from www.amazon.co.uk
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ORGANS, TOCCATAS AND FANTASIAS
A musical journey across Baroque Europe in the company of
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
and
MARIE-CLAIRE ALAIN
DVD Release Date: 31 August, 2009
This programme, made in 1990, can best be described as a musical journey through Baroque Europe in the company of Johann Sebastian Bach, as performed by Marie-Claire Alain.
The legendary French organist, Marie-Claire Alain, plays some of the composer’s greatest organ music on the most magnificent and famous organs in Europe. As she plays she also gives a fascinating insight into their history, and shares her deep knowledge and passion for these instruments and the genius of Bach.
Bach travelled little during his lifetime, but director Bruno Monsaingeon extends the geographical scope of Bach’s activities by including organs best suited to his music. The instruments featured here, at venues including Haarlem, Groningen, Rötha and Dresden are ones which Bach himself would have played, or which were built to his specifications.
The repertoire includes:
Toccata in F Major
Toccata and Fugue in D minor
Trio sonata No 1 (extracts)
Fantasia and Fugue in G minor (extracts)
Choral preludes:
‘Meine Seele erhebt den Herren..’
‘Ich ruf zu dir..’
‘O Mensch, bewein’ dein’ Sünde gross..’
Organs, Toccatas and Fantasias (Cat.No. 5186-55209-2) will be available to buy from August 31st, 2009 from www.amazon.co.uk
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Tony Palmer’s film of
ENGLAND, MY ENGLAND
The Story of HENRY PURCELL CD + DVD
England, My England on DVD, with music from the original soundtrack on CD
starring MICHAEL BALL as HENRY PURCELL & SIMON CALLOW as CHARLES II
music conducted by JOHN ELIOT GARDINER
DVD Release Date: 31 August, 2009
Tony Palmer directs this unique film drama about the great English composer Henry Purcell. Very little is known about his life, but the script – by Charles Wood and the late John Osborne – solves this problem by launching a group of actors in the 1960s on a voyage of discovery into the 1660s & late-17th century England, the extraordinary period in which Purcell lived. The all-star cast includes Michael Ball, Simon Callow, Corin Redgrave, Letitia Dean, John Shrapnel, Robert Stephens and many other well-known names.
But it is Purcell’s music which is the driving force of this dramatisation, with a stunning soundtrack performed by a line-up of superb artists such as Susan Graham, Stephen Varcoe, Lynne Dawson, Nancy Argenta, James Bowman and Michael Chance. The Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists are conducted by John Eliot Gardiner. The programme was originally shown on Channel 4 in 1995.
England, My England (CD + DVD), Cat. No. 5186-55133-2, will be available to buy from 31st August, 2009 from www.amazon.co.uk
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JULY 2009 RELEASES
HOWARD GOODALL’S BIG BANGS
Two-disc DVD set
DVD Release Date: 27th July, 2009
With intriguing anecdotes and witty humour, award-winning composer and presenter HOWARD GOODALL presents five momentous discoveries in European musical history, which have overwhelmingly changed its course, and what they mean to us today:
NOTATION: the journey from plain chant in medieval times to symphonic works and improvisation
EQUAL TEMPERAMENT (a universal tuning, scale and key system): from the discoveries of Pythagoras to JS Bach
OPERA: where music interfaces with real life – with love, death and politics
PIANO: this versatile instrument is unique to European culture
RECORDED SOUND: from Caruso to world music and sampling
“This is the very best thing on television. It is utterly brilliant” THE SUNDAY TIMES
Howard Goodall’s Big Bangs is written and presented by HOWARD GOODALL and was first seen on Channel 4 in 1999.
Featuring:
COURTNEY PINE
JOHN MARK AINSLEY
CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL CHOIR, OXFORD
SALISBURY CATHEDRAL CHOIR
STUDENTS OF LONDON COLLEGE OF MUSIC
PUPILS OF MARLBOROUGH COLLEGE
JULIAN LIGHT OPERATIC SOCIETY
BOURNEMOUTH SYMPHONY CHORUS
Howard Goodall’s Big Bangs (5144 28820-2) is available to buy from
www.amazon.co.uk
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MAGIC IN THE AIR
A behind-the-scenes look at the popular West Cork Chamber Music Festival
AND
BANTRY HOUSE MUSIC
Fauré’s Piano Quartet in C minor, Op 15
Dvoøák’s Piano Quintet in A major, Op 81
Two Full-Length Programmes on one DVD
DVD Release Date: 27th July, 2009
MAGIC IN THE AIR
The two-week international West Cork Chamber Music Festival takes place every summer at the magnificent stately home Bantry House, overlooking Bantry Bay on the scenic south coast of Ireland. This documentary follows founder Francis Humphrys, a rural cattle farmer, as he masterminds the 1998 festival. Humphrys had a vision: to bring a festival of international standard to West Cork, held at Bantry House. And he fulfilled that dream. The 1998 programme of intimate concerts and masterclasses is rich in classical and Irish music and features celebrity artists such as Joanna MacGregor, the RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet as well as the première of John Tavener’s Akhmatova Songs.
Featuring:
Leopold String Trio, RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet, Borodin String Quartet,
Joanna MacGregor, Junita Lascarro, Hugh Tinney, Marc-André Hamelin
BANTRY HOUSE MUSIC
This film features two concerts from the 1998 West Cork Chamber Music Festival at Bantry House in which Marc-André Hamelin accompanies the Leopold String Trio in Fauré’s Piano Quartet in C minor, Op 15, and the RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet in Dvoøák’s Piano Quintet in A major, Op 81.
Both films were recorded at Bantry House during the West Cork Chamber Music Festival, June 28th to July 5th 1998
Magic in the Air/Bantry House Music (5144 28810-2) is available to buy from www.amazon.co.uk
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VIVALDI’S THE FOUR SEASONS
Il Giardino Armonico
CD + DVD
CD + DVD Release Date: 27 July, 2009
ON CD WITH BONUS DVD: A VISUALISATION, SHOT IN VENICE, TO ILLUSTRATE THE CITY’S CHANGING MOODS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR
This stunning performance on CD of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, recorded in 1994, is performed by Italian early music ensemble Il Giardino Armonico and conducted by Giovanni Antonini. Accompanying the CD, the bonus DVD features a special visualisation of this most famous Vivaldi concerto, shot in Venice, where the composer conceived the work. It captures the atmosphere of this beautiful city in all its varied moods and aspects throughout the year: in spring when sunlight starts to sparkle on the water, the city awakens and romance is in the air; in summer when the tourists arrive, adding new life and energy to this teeming city as they wander through narrow alleyways, visiting Venice’s fine squares and churches, and taking in the city’s vistas from vaporettos and gondolas; in autumn when the city takes on a different mood as the visitors go home and Venice is seen against a darkening night sky; and in winter when an icy blast sweeps across the lagoon. Against the famous backdrop of the lagoon and the Grand Canal, this film also shows craftsmen at work making gondolas, musical instruments and Murano glass.
Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons (51865-4721-2) is available to buy from
www.amazon.co.uk
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JUNE 2009 RELEASES
GLYNDEBOURNE FESTIVAL OPERA 75TH ANNIVERSARY
3 DVDS FEATURING THE DESIGNS OF MAURICE SENDAK:
WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE &
HIGGLETY PIGGLETY POP!
Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Two Fantasy Operas Based on the Books by Maurice Sendak
Music composed and conducted by Oliver Knussen
DVD Release Date: 22 June, 2009
This unique Glyndebourne double bill of Where The Wild Things Are and Higglety Pigglety Pop! is the result of the collaboration between one of Britain’s foremost composers, Oliver Knussen, with the vivid magical images of American artist and author, Maurice Sendak. Together they have evoked a very special form of theatre – fantasy opera.
The antics of young Max (Karen Beardsley) and his journey to the Land of the Wild Things, and Jennie (Cynthia Buchan), the Sealyham terrier’s search for something more than everything, are set against beautifully intricate designs which adhere faithfully to the illustrations in the famous children’s books by Maurice Sendak. The music is skilfully orchestrated with an unerring ability to depict fantasy characters and scenarios – a rare fusion of wit and lyricism.
Oliver Knussen conducts The London Sinfonietta in these performances, which were first shown on BBC TV in 1985. The director is Frank Corsaro.
“…aural and visual enchantment…enthralling make-believe and irresistibly potent entertainment.” Daily Telegraph
Where The Wild Things Are & Higglety Pigglety Pop! (518654311-2)
are available to buy from www.amazon.co.uk
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RAVEL DOUBLE BILL
L’ENFANT ET LES SORTILÈGES & L’HEURE ESPAGNOLE
Glyndebourne Festival Opera
DVD Release Date: 22 June, 2009
Maurice Ravel’s one-act operas L’Enfant et les Sortilèges and L’heure espagnole are often performed as a double bill. These two productions for Glyndebourne Festival Opera were first recorded and seen on BBC TV in 1987. They are both designed by the great American children’s book writer and illustrator, Maurice Sendak, and directed by Frank Corsaro.
These are the only productions of these two works currently available on DVD in the UK.
L’ENFANT ET LES SORTILÈGES
The staging of this production of Ravel’s enchanting fantasy featured film projection, and this has been brilliantly reflected in the electronically-edited television recording. Cynthia Buchan sings the role of The Child, and The London Philharmonic is conducted by Simon Rattle.
“…absolutely magical” THE TIMES
L’HEURE ESPAGNOLE
Ravel’s comic opera is set in a Toledo square, over which towers the baroque façade of the town hall where Torquemada winds and minds the clocks. Maurice Sendak’s delightfully animated set comprises a huge baroque façade complete with working clocks and carved emblems.
The cast includes Rémy Corazza as Torquemada, Anna Steiger as his wife Concepion, and François Le Roux as the muleteer Ramiro. Sian Edwards conducts The London Philharmonic.
“…a captivating fairy tale work that constantly seduces the eye and the senses.” DAILY TELEGRAPH
L’Enfant et les Sortilèges and L’heure espagnole (518654314-2) is available to purchase from www.amazon.co.uk
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THE LOVE OF THREE ORANGES
Sergei Prokofiev
Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Release Date: 22 June, 2009
This Glyndebourne production of Prokofiev’s comic fairy tale opera The Love of Three Oranges, recorded in 1982, is nothing short of a sizzling visual extravaganza. The combination of Frank Corsaro’s innovative direction and the brilliant creative designs of American book writer and illustrator Maurice Sendak have created an opera which mixes fantasy, nightmare, romance and satire. The top-notch Glyndebourne cast includes Willard White as the King, Ryland Davies as the Prince, his hypochondriac son, and Nelly Morpurgo as the wicked witch Fata Morgana. The exciting rhythms and brilliant orchestration of Prokofiev’s score are conducted by Bernard Haitink.
“…jam-packed with brilliant visual invention” Financial Times
The Love of Three Oranges (5186 54315-2) is available to purchase from www.amazon.co.uk
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MAY 2009 RELEASE
HOWARD GOODALL’S CHOIR WORKS & CHOIRS PERFORM
Release Date: 25 May, 2009
CHOIR WORKS (Four Programmes)
Award-winning writer, composer and presenter Howard Goodall travels around the world to show how singing in groups is fundamental to the way communities express themselves. From the joyous sounds of South Africa, through Nashville, USA, and Eastern Europe, to the traditional cathedral choirs of England, the series gives a refreshing overview of some of the vastly different choral traditions of the world today. The programme was first shown on Channel 4 in 1997.
CHOIRS PERFORM
This performance special, first screened on Channel 4 in 1997, showcases seven of the world’s leading choirs and their contrasting choral traditions. The rich and haunting harmonies of South African Iscathimiya – a call and response style – are performed here by Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Christ Church Cathedral Choir in Oxford and Salisbury Cathedral Girls Choir, both stalwarts of English church music, perform works by Byrd, Stanford and Bruckner. The keening, yearning tone of Bulgaria’s throaty Cosmic Voices is contrasted with the joyous and heartfelt gospel of Just Us and The Temple Church Choirs in Nashville, and the clarity and purity of The Academic Female Choir of Tartu University’s nationalistic folk songs in Estonia.
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GAELIC SPIRIT Bringing Together The Best in Irish Music
Release Date: 25 May, 2009
Gaelic Spirit displays the many faces of Irish music. The songs offer a unique perspective on the creativity and sheer talent in play in Ireland, embracing a range of influences from the blues and country, solo and ensemble, acoustic and electric, classical and contemporary, Gaelic and English.
Donal Lunny, one of the country’s most influential musicians and record producers, introduces a stellar line-up of Irish musicians, well-known names from the world of rock and pop and from the traditional Irish music world, including Van Morrison, Altan, Emmylou Harris, Sinead O’Connor, Elvis Costello, Christy Moore, Eddi Reader and Mark Knopfler. The programme features performances recorded in 1996/1997 at the Music Centre in Dublin’s Temple Bar.
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THE TIGER LILLIES Shockheaded Peter
Soundtrack of theatre production on CD
PLUS Bonus DVD
THE TIGER LILLIES IN CONCERT, Live in New York
Release Date: 25 May, 2009
Impossible to categorise, The Tiger Lillies have been singing their own brand of blasphemous ballads, tragic tales and debauched ditties since 1991. The band fuse the spirit of punk with the passion of chanson, while at the same time evoking the disturbing and forgotten music of our dim and distant past, such as religious masses, Bavarian folk music, Berlin cabaret and Victorian English music hall song.
This CD, recorded in 1994, features the audio-only soundtrack of the Tiger Lillies’ sensational smash-hit theatre production ofShockheaded Peter, with music composed by Martyn Jacques, which was inspired by Struwwelpeter, the classic 19th century German children’s book of absurd cautionary tales by H. Hoffmann.
The bonus DVD of their live concert (with documentary footage and interviews) from the PS122 theatre in New York, filmed in 2000, features a selection of songs, including some from Shockheaded Peter.
Release Date: 11 May
MOZART FROM GLYNDEBOURNE
Boxed set of 3 full-length operas from Glyndebourne Festival Opera
THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO * DON GIOVANNI * IDOMENEO
Plus Documentary: THE HOUSE THAT GEORGE BUILT
This unique box set of three full-length operas, plus The House That George Built, about the construction of the new house at Glyndebourne, is released to coincide with Glyndebourne’s 75th anniversary celebrations this May.
THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO
Mozart’s most famous opera was chosen for the 1994 opening of the new opera house at Glyndebourne. The cast in this highly-acclaimed production by Stephen Medcalf includes Gerald Finley and Alison Hagley as Figaro and Susanna, Andreas Schmidt (Count Almaviva), Renée Fleming (Countess Almaviva), and Marie-Ange Todorovitch (Cherubino). Bernard Haitink conducts The London Philharmonic.
DON GIOVANNI
Deborah Warner's enthralling production, filmed in 1995, sets Don Giovanni in modern dress in the twentieth century. The cast is led by Gilles Cachemaille’s powerfully sung Giovanni, Steven Page (Leporello) Adrianne Pieczonka (Donna Elvira), Hillevi Martinpelto (Donna Anna) and John Mark Ainsley (Ottavio). Yakov Kreizberg conducts the period-instrument Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
IDOMENEO
This production, filmed in 1983, marked the operatic debut of Trevor Nunn. It has been much-acclaimed for its dramatic effect, blending Minoan Crete with the ritualistic delicacy of Japanese theatre. Philip Langridge is Idomeneo, King of Crete, Jerry Hadley his son Idamante, Yvonne Kenny the Trojan prisoner Ilia, and Carol Vaness is Electra, daughter of Agamemnon. Bernard Haitink conducts The London Philharmonic.
DOCUMENTARY: THE HOUSE THAT GEORGE BUILT
This fascinating documentary follows the construction of the award-winning new opera house at Glyndebourne, which opened in 1994. Chairman of Glyndebourne at that time was George Christie, and he saw it as his legacy to future opera-going generations. The wholly British construction team came in on budget and on time, with craftsmanship of the highest quality, and what has been achieved is an opera house for the 21st century which still retains the warmth and intimacy that are essential Glyndebourne ingredients.
Louise Flind, George Christie's daughter, spent her childhood growing up in Glyndebourne. Click here to read some of her memories.
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APRIL 2009 RELEASE
HIGHLIGHTS FROM ARENA DI VERONA
Music from Tosca, Otello, Il trovatore, Turandot
Some of the opera world's greatest artists are featured in extracts from works by Verdi and Puccini, performed at the spectacular Italian open-air Arena di Verona.
Artists featured include: Giacomo Aragall, Vladimir Atlantov, Ghena Dimitrova, Kiri Te Kanawa, Nicola Martinucci, Eva Marton, Rosalind Plowright and Ingvar Wixell.
TOSCA (Puccini)
Ora stammi a sentir
Orsu, Tosca, parlate
O dolci mani mansuete e pure
This production was filmed in 1984 and stars the Hungarian soprano Eva Marton as Tosca, a role for which she is well-known on stage. Ingvar Wixell is a superbly wicked Scarpia, and the stylish Spanish tenor, Giacomo Aragall, is the ill-fated Cavaradossi. The director is Sylvano Bussotti, and the production is conducted by Daniel Oren.
OTELLO (Verdi)
Già nella notte densa
Dio! Mi potevi scagliar
Niun mi tema
In this recording from 1982, Otello is sung by the Russian tenor Vladimir Atlantov, rightly famous for his magnificent interpretation of the title role. The role of Desdemona is exquisitely sung by Kiri Te Kanawa. The director is Gianfranco de Bosio and Otello is conducted by Zoltan Pesko.
‘Beautifully sung and precious simply in sound-recording, this is also a characterisation marked by skilful acting.’ Gramophone review of VHS
IL TROVATORE (Verdi)
Tacea la notte placida
Miserere
In this production, filmed in 1985, British soprano Rosalind Plowright was making her Verona debut in the role of Leonora, and has all the necessary technical skills for this notoriously tricky part. Giuliana Matteini sings the part of Inez and Franco Bonisolli is Manrico. The director is Giuseppe Patroni Griffi and this production of Il trovatore is conducted by Reynald Giovaninetti.
‘…pure delight, aurally and visually’ Opera Magazine
TURANDOT (Puccini)
Non piangere
Principessa di morte
The role of the ‘ice Princess’ in this production of Turandot, recorded in 1983, is taken by Bulgarian soprano Ghena Dimitrova, with Nicola Martinucci as the unknown Prince Calaf. Other cast members include Cecilia Gasdia as Liù, Ivo Vinco as Timur, Graziano Polidori as Ping, Pier Francesco Poli as Pang, and Antonia Bevacqua as Pong. The director is Giuliano Montaldo and the conductor is Maurizio Arena.
Highlights from Verona Arena (51865-3404-2) is released on 27 April, and is available to buy from www.amazon.co.uk
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MARCH 2009 RELEASES
THE HANDEL COLLECTION
RODELINDA, THEODORA Glyndebourne Festival Opera
And
A NIGHT WITH HANDEL Arias sung in contemporary London by night
This three DVD boxed set, released to coincide with the 250th anniversary of Handel's death, contains two famous and revelatory Handel productions from Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Rodelinda and Theodora, plus A Night With Handel, featuring favourite Handel arias, performed against a backdrop of modern London at night.
RODELINDA
Jean-Marie Villégier’s stylish production sets Handel’s tale of royal exile and fidelity in the silent movie era. This DVD features the original cast, including Anna Caterina Antonacci in a glamorous and dramatic portrayal of Rodelinda, and the sensational counter tenor Andreas Scholl as Bertarido. The cast also includes Louise Winter as Eduige and Kurt Streit as Grimoaldo. William Christie conducts the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
‘…one of Glyndebourne’s most profoundly satisfying evenings and a defining moment in the staging of Handel opera.’ Gramophone review of VHS
THEODORA
This production of Handel’s tragic and moving oratorio, by radical American director Peter Sellars, took Glyndebourne by storm when it was first staged in 1996. Sellars took Handel’s tale of self-sacrificial love between a Christian virgin and a Roman virgin and reset it in modern-day America, transforming it into a timeless parable of spiritual resistance to tyranny and persecution. This recording of the 1996 production includes the original stunning cast, in particular Dawn Upshaw in the title role, David Daniels as Didymus, and Lorraine Hunt as Irene. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment is conducted by William Christie.
The production won the 1997 Evening Standard Ballet, Opera and Classical Music Award.
A NIGHT WITH HANDEL
This performance-based film, made in 1996, stylishly dramatises some of the composer’s most beautiful arias, linked together at striking locations in present-day London. Over a long dark night in the city, the arias bring to life a series of dramatic situations, which span the range of emotion reflected in Handel’s music.
Presented by Handel biographer Jonathan Keates, the arias are specially recorded by world-class early music specialists: John Mark Ainsley, Sarah Connolly, Rosa Mannion, Claron McFadden, Alastair Miles and Christopher Robson, accompanied by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
THE HANDEL COLLECTION (51865-3273-2) is available from www.amazon.co.uk
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MAXIM VENGEROV
PLAYING BY HEART and MASTERCLASS
An exploration of Vengerov’s musical artistry
Contains 2 full-length programmes about the celebrated violinist Maxim Vengerov
PLAYING BY HEART
Russian-born Maxim Vengerov is one of the greatest violinists of his generation. He has performed with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, and has received a host of awards and nominations. This profile, made in 1998, explores his musical artistry, at work with Daniel Barenboim and with students of the Royal Academy in London. This film also gives a private glimpse of the man ‘off-duty’, away from his professional responsibilities. The programme is narrated by actor Andrew Sachs.
MASTERCLASS
In this 1998 masterclass from the historic concert hall in Blackheath, London, Maxim Vengerov reveals his approach to visualising music and performing to four exceptional students. The participants are musicians at various stages in their careers. Alexander Sitkovetsky, then 15 and a pupil at the Menuhin School of Music, performs the Rondeau from Mozart’s Violin concerto in D minor. Chloë Hanslip (then 11 years old) works on the Caprice Basque by Sarasate. A graduate from the Menuhin School, Corina Belcea, then 23, performs the first movement from Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto and Philipp Schöttle, then 20, performs the unaccompanied third Sonata by Ysaÿe. With vivid anecdotes and lots of fun, Maxim gives the students and audience an insight into what can make music so magical and far-reaching.
PLAYING BY HEART and MASTERCLASS (51442 8709-2) is available to buy from www.amazon.co.uk
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Kenneth MacMillan’s WINTER DREAMS
The Royal Ballet, Covent Garden
Music by PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
Starring DARCEY BUSSELL • IREK MUKHAMEDOV
Also includes Out of Line, a documentary about Kenneth MacMillan
Based on Anton Chekhov’s play, Three Sisters, Kenneth MacMillan’s one-act ballet Winter Dreams is unequivocally a masterpiece. In this 1992 studio recording, Darcey Bussell dances the role of Masha, the sister married to the boring, worthy schoolteacher Kulygin, danced by Anthony Dowell, and drawn into an adulterous affair with Colonel Vershinin, danced with passionate intensity and thrilling virtuosity by Irek Mukhamedov. This star-studded Royal Ballet cast also includes Viviana Durante and Nicola Tranah as Masha’s sisters Irina and Olga, and Stephen Wicks and Adam Cooper as Baron Tusenbach and Solyony, rivals for Irina’s hand.
The designs are by Peter Farmer, and this studio production was directed as well as choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan.
Winter Dreams is danced to selected works by Tchaikovsky, arranged and performed by Philip Gammon. This is interspersed with traditional Russian music selected and arranged for guitar ensemble by Thomas Hartman.
The programme is introduced by Lynn Redgrave.
OUT OF LINE
A documentary portrait of the influential British choreographer, Kenneth MacMillan, made in 1990, with extracts from many of his ballets including The Burrow, Romeo and Juliet, Gloria, Manon and The Prince of the Pagodas.
Winter Dreams/Out of Line (51865-2683-2) is available from
www.amazon.co.uk
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FEBRUARY 2009 RELEASES
J.R.R. TOLKIEN
A fascinating portrait of the author of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and Silmarillion
This film, made in 1998, tells the story of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, English writer, poet, philologist and author of many stories, including The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. It follows Tolkien from his early life in the rural West Midlands, which inspired the settings for his stories, to Oxford where he studied and taught ancient northern languages, and created his own. It was here where he conceived the imaginary land called Middle-earth, as a context for his own invented languages. Accounts of the origins of The Hobbit and of The Lord of the Rings, and the phenomenal success that Tolkien somewhat reluctantly enjoyed when taken up by the counter-culture of the 1960s are included.
J.R.R. Tolkien (5186 52751-2) is available from www.amazon.co.uk
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ROALD DAHL
An intimate portrait of the life and works of the beloved children’s author
This profile, made in 1998, looks at the influences that made his vivid writings and magical tales so uniquely appealing. Family and friends describe his complicated, and very public, private life and read from his many children’s books. There is also interview footage with Dahl himself, filmed before his death in 1991.
Contributors include Dahl’s daughter Ophelia Dahl, his first wife Patricia Neal, and Felicity Dahl, his wife during the last years of his life.
Roald Dahl (5186 52752-2) is available from www.amazon.co.uk
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JANUARY 2009 RELEASES
INTERMEZZO – Richard Strauss
Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Richard Strauss’s domestic comedy of marital strife is based on real incidents from his own marriage. Set in the 1920s, John Cox’s stylish production, filmed in 1983, stars Felicity Lott as the volatile Christine Storch (alias Pauline Strauss), who has an innocent fling with a penniless, young baron (Ian Caley) and then comes to suspect her husband Robert (John Pringle) of an affair. Andrew Porter’s brilliant English translation brings out the sharp wit of this piece and gives Felicity Lott’s virtuoso talent full rein. The London Philharmonic, in sparkling form, is conducted by Gustav Kuhn.
This is the only full-length recording of Intermezzo currently available on DVD.
INTERMEZZO (51442-8857-2) is available to buy from www.amazon.co.uk.
Felicity Lott talks about taking on the role of Christine in the interviews section of the website:
click here
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CHALIAPIN, THE ENCHANTER - Memories of the Great Russian Bass
A Film by Elisabeth Kapnist
Legendary bass-baritone Fyodor Chaliapin was one of the greatest opera singers that Russia has ever produced. His talent was simply colossal, with a naturally beautiful voice and a huge stage presence. He revolutionised Russian opera at the beginning of this century, by introducing the idea that first and foremost, opera is theatre. This film by Elisabeth Kapnist, made in 1998, focuses on his extraordinary rise to fame from a very poor background, and on the performance techniques he pioneered on stage.
Shot on location in Paris, Moscow and St Petersburg, in places where he lived and sang, the film features interviews, archive film of his performances, newsreel footage, rare recordings and many previously unseen photographs.
IMZ Vienna TV Award 2000 for Best Documentary
CHALIAPIN - THE ENCHANTER (51865-2115-2) is available to buy from www.amazon.co.uk
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NOVEMBER 2008 TITLES
Purcell’s much-loved tragic opera DIDO AND AENEAS (51442-8822-2) stars Maria Ewing and Karl Daymond in the title roles. They are joined by an excellent British cast including Rebecca Evans, Sally Burgess, Patricia Rozario and James Bowman. Collegium Musicum 90 is conducted by Richard Hickox. Dido and Aeneas, directed by Peter Maniura, was filmed entirely in spectacular settings in Hampton Court House in 1995.
THE DOUBLE LIFE OF FRANZ SCHUBERT (51865-0798-2) is a dramatisation of the last years of Schubert's life. He recalls characters, moments and music from his past life as he goes through treatment in hospital for syphilis. Simon Russell Beale plays Schubert, Jason Flemyng his friend Franz von Schober, and Karoline Esterhazy is played by Emilia Fox. The film features many extracts of his music.
Cert 15 "Contains strong sex, sexualised nudity and sexual health medical procedure"
RICHARD O’BRIEN’S ROCKY HORROR TRIBUTE SHOW (51865-0799-2) is a concert featuring the music from The Rocky Horror Show, recorded at the Royal Court, London, in May 2006, to an audience of faithful Rocky Horror fans. Richard O’Brien rewrote the narration for the show, and he appears himself together with performers from the original show such as Patricia Quinn, Little Nell and Rayner Bourton, as well as one of the best Frank-N-Furters ever, Anthony Head, and a host of famous names as singers and narrators.
Richard O’Brien answers questions about The Rocky Horror Tribute Show exclusively for the NVC Arts website - click here
Also just released:
CHRISTMAS CAROLS WITH KIRI TE KANAWA (boxed set containing CD and DVD: cat. No. 51865-0347-2)) is a Christmas celebration of carols through the ages, recorded at Coventry Cathedral on December 3, 1994, featuring Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, baritone Michael George and trumpeter Jouko Jarjanne. The Choirs of Coventry and Lichfield Cathedrals, and the BBC Philharmonic are conducted by Robin Stapleton. The CD of the concert soundtrack is accompanied by a bonus DVD of the event.
THE HARD NUT (51865-0349-2) is one of award-winning choreographer Mark Morris’ best-loved ballets. It’s his own amusing and audacious version of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, but he sticks closer to E.T.A. Hoffmann’s more grisly original, Nutcracker and Mouse King, than the cosier, traditional versions of the ballet. Morris sets his story in 60’s America, for which American cartoonist, Charles Burns’ pop art set provides the backdrop. Highlights are the hilarious party at the Stahlbaums’, the Dance of the Snowflakes, with men and women in tutus and on pointe, and the colourful national dances.
It was filmed at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, Brussels, in 1992. The Symphony Orchestra and Chorus of the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie is conducted by the theatre’s Musical Director, Sylvain Cambreling.
**See the exclusive interview with Mark Morris about The Hard Nut**
KENNETH MACMILLAN/BOXED SET OF 3 FULL LENGTH BALLETS (51865-0348-2) features three classic performances by THE ROYAL BALLET from Covent Garden: ROMEO AND JULIET, PRINCE OF THE PAGODAS and MANON. Choreographer Kenneth MacMillan created some of the most popular ballets of the late 20th century: his productions of Romeo and Juliet and Manon are two of the most frequently performed works in The Royal Ballet’s repertoire. This 1984 performance of Romeo and Juliet stars Wayne Eagling and Alessandra Ferri as the lovers. The acclaimed 1982 performance of Manon features Jennifer Penney as Manon, Anthony Dowell as Des Grieux, and David Wall as Lescaut. The role of Princess Rose was created for the young Darcey Bussell in Prince of the Pagodas, and this performance filmed in 1990 is accompanied by a documentary portrait of MacMillan, Out of Line, with extracts from many of his ballets.