"Actor: BBC Philharmonic"

• A Simple Man | DVD | (18/02/2005) from £2.49   |  Saving you £17.50 (702.81%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Commissioned to celebrate the centenary of the birth of the painter L.S. Lowry in 1987 this BAFTA award-winning dramatic ballet celebrates the life and work of a unique artist. Created by Gillian Lynne in collaboration with the composer Carl Davis this memorable production filmed in 1987 is performed by the Northern Ballet Theatre led by ex-Royal Ballet stars Christopher Gable and Moira Shearer. Re-mastered for DVD with the addition of recent interviews with Lynne and Davis it gives a fascinating insight into the creation of an inspirational work in the history of dance which remains as fresh as ever.

• Poulenc - Stabat Mater | DVD | (27/03/2002) from £4.99   |  Saving you £15.00 (300.60%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Francis Poulenc was a tantalising character, part-monk and part-rascal according to the critic Claude Rostand. As in Stabat mater his music reflects this Janus-like persona, tears never far beneath the surface of even his most jovial offerings. Early on he had renounced the devout Catholicism of his family but rediscovered his faith after the premature death of a close friend, the composer and patron Pierre-Octave Ferroud. It was this event that prompted Poulenc's pilgrimage to the Black Madonna of Rocamadour, who nestles benevolently, high up in the rock face. An important body of sacred works ensued, not least his Stabat mater, a personal memorial to Ferroud. This is performed here by the combined Cambridge choirs of St John's, Clare and Gonville, and Caius; they're pleasingly mellifluous and disciplined but sound utterly un-French. The work can take it, but this is not the most tender performance. The strange and haunting Motets (Claire and Gonville and Caius Choirs) are dramatically the high point of this concert, while the otherworldly beauty of the ethereal (female-voice) Litanies tugs at the heart-strings. As a visual experience, we get two different locations but there's not a great deal you can do with a bunch of singers. The best things are the close-ups of a fabulous Chagall window (which comes from another church entirely, but who cares?). On the DVD: The remastering of these 1996 recordings has been reasonably well done though disconcertingly, picture and sound aren't always immaculately synchronised. Extra features are a virtual (four-and-a-half minute) visit to Rocamadour which has an appropriate sense of drama, if visually it's a bit crude; and a more substantial (18-minute) documentary on the phenomenon of Black Madonnas which is interesting but you may find the piety cloying, and more editing would have tidied up some of the rough edges that may irritate on repeated viewing. Sound is Dolby Digital 4.0, and picture is anamorphic 16:9 with both PAL and NTSC formats. The disc is region-free. The booklet is informative, though more for its madonnas than its music. --Harriet Smith

• A Christmas Carol - The Northern Ballet Theatre | DVD | (31/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Charles Dickens' immortal tale here revels in a delightful adaptation for dance drama in three acts by Christopher Gable distinguished choreographer actor and former Royal Ballet star who died in 1998. The work is laced with Carl Davis' sparkling Christmas music which also requires the dancers to sing at various points. The featured company is the renowned Northern Ballet Theatre who here dance with infectious ebullience and vivacity.

• Great Composers - Vol. 3 - Mahler / Tchaikovsky / Puccini | DVD | (18/03/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  This three-hour compilation surveying the life and works of Tchaikovsky, Puccini and Mahler completes the BBC Great Composers series (the two previous releases contain the pairings of Bach/Mozart and Beethoven/Wagner). It's a splendid series, full of judiciously collected biographical information, lively and telling visuals, colourful anecdotes and excellent excerpted performances of the composers' best works. The directors' styles are very different, from Kriss Rusmanis' impressionistic approach (with an early chamber piece of Mahler's accompanied by shots of rippling brooks and dappled sunlight) to Chris Hunt's more forthright take on Puccini, but each is well tailored to the subject matter. There is a certain amount of psychological speculation in each case (Mahler may have inherited his sense of irony from watching nine of his siblings die while the jolly life of his father's tavern continued unabated, for example) but there's nothing outrageous. If you haven't hooked up your TV to some decent speakers the performances may sound a little pinched, but they are so good the quality shines through nonetheless; particularly noteworthy is Thomas Hampson's glorious reading of excerpts from Kindertotenlieder, and Georg Solti is on top form. On the DVD: Great Composers on disc comes with subtitles in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian, but no other special features. --Warwick Thompson