Release date: 1998-01-26
Run time: 55 min.
Price: £10.99
Review Yo Yo Ma - Bach Suite No. 5 - Struggle For Hope / Sony Classical UK:
![Review Sony Bmg / Voice Of An Angel In Concert [1999]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41K624CNNAL._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- David Mallet
- Charlotte Church
- Prince Charles
Run time: 66 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £4.70
Review Voice Of An Angel In Concert [1999] / Sony Bmg:Among the more charming-and improbable-of pre-millennial success stories is the left-field crossover triumph for this Welsh soprano, 12 years old at the time of her debut, and still on the near side of her teens in this concert video derived from a hit PBS special. At a time when "teeny pop" reigns over MTV and radio playlists, Church's serene program of Welsh and Irish folk airs, devotional hymns, and generally tranquil classical melodies gives alternative music an entirely new meaning. Then again, it's just possible that Church's very appeal rests on the delicate balance between the unapologetic sweetness of her music and the unforced girlishness she flashes between songs, rare qualities indeed against the harsher foil of sexualized pop culture. Given the degree to which various predecessors, from Brenda Lee to Tanya Tucker to LeAnn Rimes, have been groomed to transmit a precocious "maturity", Church's virginal typecasting may be methodically anachronistic, but at least it offers a calming refuge from the mixed messages and soft-core spin offered by Britney Spears. Director David Mallet, who's become the DeMille of up-market music videos and a staple for PBS fund drive specials, applies a familiar balance of sure technical craft and slick sentimentality. He dresses the Brixton Academy concert site with a faux stained glass window, flickering candle light, and delicate laser lighting units that imbue Church with a backlit radiance, just so we won't miss the angel connection. Sceptics will also note her Andrew Lloyd Webber connection (the signature Pie Jesu), as well as canny nods to Celtic chic in the inclusion of such warhorse choices as "Danny Boy" and "My Lagan Love. " Still, whether or not the young star achieves her dream of singing Tosca at La Scala, for the moment Church achieves a poised lyricism that's no mean feat. -Sam Sutherland.
Release date: 1995-05-01
Run time: 232 min.
Price: £24.99
Review Bach Cello Suites-Rostropovich / Picture Music International:
Release date: 1992-11-23
Run time: 83 min.
RRP: £14.99
Price: £25.00
Review Beethoven String Quart.V2-Alban Ber / Picture Music International:
![Review Bmg Video / Brahms-Double Concerto [1948]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41SNRPZ1SBL._SL160_.jpg)
Release date: 1990-12-07
Run time: 54 min.
Price: £15.99
Review Brahms-Double Concerto [1948] / Bmg Video:
Actors & Directors
- English Chamber Orchestra
- Frank Peter Zimmermann
- Tabea Zimmermann
Run time: 90 min.
Price: £14.99
Review Mozart-At Buckingham Palace [1991] / Picture Music International:
Review ashkenazy observed:
![Review Picture Music International / Vladimir Ashkenazy-Moscow [1989]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/415GPQ7V8PL._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Vladimir Ashkenazy
- Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
- Andrei Gavrilov
Run time: 89 min.
Price: £14.99
Review Vladimir Ashkenazy-Moscow [1989] / Picture Music International:
Actors & Directors
- Yehudi Menuhin
- Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig
Price: £10.99
Review Yehudi Menuhin-Brahms Violin Conc / Picture Music International:
![Review Teldec Video (Warner Classics) / David Oistrakh - Artist Of The People? [1999]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51H40TE027L._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Gennadi Rozhdestvensky
- Bruno Monsaingeon
- Mstislav Rostropovich
- Yehudi Menuhin
- Igor Oistrakh
- David Oistrakh
Run time: 75 min.
Price: £16.99
Review David Oistrakh - Artist Of The People? [1999] / Teldec Video (Warner Classics):Bruno Monsaingeon's David Oistrakh: Artist of the People? is a probing portrait of perhaps the most thought-provoking of modern violin virtuosi, and a good companion to his similarly revealing documentary on pianist Sviatoslav Richter. Although conversation with the man himself is minimal (Oistrakh died in 1974), Monsaingeon is able to draw upon the priceless reminiscences of those who worked with him, including his son Igor, conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky, cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, protegé Gidon Kremer, and the late Yehudi Menuhin: their frank and sincere comments on Soviet society make for sobering listening. Equally important, the range of Oistrakh's repertoire is covered, from Bach to Shostakovich, in footage covering half a century of performance. The musicianship and humanity of a life dedicated to music in the face of an often ruthless establishment is powerfully and movingly evoked. This is a documentary that no-one interested in great music-making or 20th-century culture should miss. On the DVD: David Oistrakh: Artist of the People? reproduces its disparate sources with remarkable consistency in a 4:3 picture, and if the high level transfer of the musical extracts gives a harder edge to Oistrakh's sound than was the case, the Linear PCM Stereo itself is fine. There are subtitles in five European languages, and a useful background article by Monsaingeon, similarly translated, in the booklet. -Richard Whitehouse.
Actors & Directors
- Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Run time: 98 min.
Price: £14.99
Review Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra - Beethoven: Symphonies No. 3 Eroica & No. 7 [1978] / Deutsche Grammophon:
Release date: 1993-09-01
Creator: Barry Douglas
Price: £26.50
Review Concerto! Barry Douglas plays Rachmaninov [VINYL] / Red Seal:
Actors & Directors
- Peter Schreier
- Trudeliese Schmidt
- Gwynne Howell
- Edith Mathis
RRP: £12.99
Price: £2.99
Review Mozart: Requiem / Universal Pictures UK:
Run time: 60 min.
Price: £6.99
Review Polish Chamber Orchestra-Maksym / Picture Music International:
Price: £12.99
Review Music Maestro-Grieg / Cromwell Productions:
![Review ITV DVD / Placido Domingo - Live From Miami [1991]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/413PKYSRE8L._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Placido Domingo
- Miami Symphony Orchestra
Run time: 60 min.
RRP: £10.99
Price: £16.77
Review Placido Domingo - Live From Miami [1991] / ITV DVD:
![Review Castlevision / Tchaikovsky: Gala Tribute To Tchaikovsky [1993]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/516N9VGBKSL._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Igor Talankin
- Evgeni Leonov
- Antonina Shuranova
- Kirill Lavrov
- Vladislav Strzhelchik
- Innokenti Smoktunovsky
Run time: 135 min.
RRP: £14.99
Price: £12.99
Review Tchaikovsky: Gala Tribute To Tchaikovsky [1993] / Castlevision:It's a common complaint that opera singers can't act, and actors can't sing opera. In this handsome 1988 film of Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin, director Petr Weigl attempts to solve the problem by letting each group of performers do what they do best. Thus the music is a studio recording with some great voices in the principal roles, and the film is a lip-synched performance shot in stunning locations by a good-looking cast of players. On the positive side this means that the whole thing looks gorgeous, and sun-drenched dachas, glittering ballrooms and snowy steppes are all captured with painterly verve. The musical performances are also splendid, with Bernd Weikl making a passionate, tortured Onegin, Teresa Kubiak a honeyed, fresh-sounding Tatyana, and Solti conducting with driven intensity. But realism and opera rarely make happy bed-fellows, and the down-side of this film is that the naturalistic "speaking-style" lip-synching and understated acting are entirely at odds with the grand musical gestures, and occasionally give rise to a somewhat absurd alienation effect. Thus while Kubiak's voice is at full blast, Magdalena Vasaryova looks like she's making polite chit-chat at a cocktail party. But the project feels like a brave experiment, nonetheless, and if the whole isn't quite the sum of its different elements, those elements are still jolly good. On the DVD: Eugene Onegin on disc has excellent picture quality (which is fortunate in such a visually exquisite film), though the sound is a little distant and muffled. The film starts with the entry of the peasants in Act 1, but the DVD includes the Prologue and music before this point as an audio bonus. [+]There are subtitles in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Chinese, and a series of trailers for other Decca DVDs. -Warwick Thompson.
Actors & Directors
- Thomas Allen
- Northumbria Concert Orch And Chorus
- Sheila Armstrong
Review Songs Of Northumbria / Mawson and Wareham:
Actors & Directors
- Klaus Tennstedt
- Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Run time: 65 min.
Price: £14.99
Review Mahler Symphony No.1 - Klaus Tennstedt live recording / Picture Music International:
Actors & Directors
- Krystian Zimerman
- Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Price: £14.99
Review Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 3 And 4 / Deutsche Grammophon:
| Models & Brands:
Yo Yo Ma - Bach Suite No. 5 - Struggle For Hope, Voice Of An Angel In Concert [1999], Bach Cello Suites-Rostropovich, Beethoven String Quart.V2-Alban Ber, Brahms-Double Concerto [1948], Mozart-At Buckingham Palace [1991], ashkenazy observed, Vladimir Ashkenazy-Moscow [1989], Yehudi Menuhin-Brahms Violin Conc, David Oistrakh - Artist Of The People? [1999], Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra - Beethoven: Symphonies No. 3 Eroica & No. 7 [1978], Concerto! Barry Douglas plays Rachmaninov [VINYL], Mozart: Requiem, Polish Chamber Orchestra-Maksym, Music Maestro-Grieg, Placido Domingo - Live From Miami [1991], Tchaikovsky: Gala Tribute To Tchaikovsky [1993], Songs Of Northumbria, Mahler Symphony No.1 - Klaus Tennstedt live recording, Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 3 And 4 |
