"Actor: Lorin Maazel"

• La Fanciulla Del West | DVD | (21/05/2004) from £15.25   |  Saving you £-5.26 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Puccini's Wild West opera based on Belasco's play The Girl of the Golden West has the California gold rush as its dramatic backdrop for a story in which Minnie the only woman in a mining camp gambles on her one chance of happiness. Lorin Maazel conducts a fine cast in Jonathan Miller's 1991 production of the compelling and evocative opera which Puccini himself considered his best work. Unlocked from the archives of RAI television this is a classic recording from one of the world's great opera houses.

• Puccini: Madama Butterfly -- La Scala/Maazel | DVD | (31/10/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  This 1986 production of Madama Butterfly strives, with its Japanese director and designer, for authenticity in the Japanese setting, yet is somehow entirely Italian at the same time. Yasuko Hayashi's Cio-Cio-San is surprisingly tough, rejecting the arguments of her uncle and the marriage broker with more anger than usual, and her suicide is as much a moral statement of integrity as a sentimental gesture. Accordingly, Dvorsky's sexually magnetic Pinkerton is even less sympathetic--you can see what she sees in him, but he is arrogant and a user, except when he is being lyrical--and Zancanaro's Sharpless, the consul who expedites Pinkerton's betrayal of his wife but develops his own compassion for her, is all the more complex and interesting. The production has real charm as well as authenticity on its side; the staging of the love duet is impressive in its use of shadow and delicate light. Maazel's interpretation has a forceful energy that the recording impressively conveys. --Roz KaveneyOn the DVD: The DVD has scene selection, and subtitles in German, French and English; the menu adds Spanish.

• New Year's Concert 2005 | DVD | (31/01/2005) from £14.98   |  Saving you £2.01 (13.42%)   |  RRP £16.99

  The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in concert conducted by Lorin Maazel....

• Peter And The Wolf / L'Enfant Et Les Sortileges | DVD | (25/09/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  It was a happy idea to couple the Royal Ballet School production of Peter and the Wolf with the Netherlands Dance Theatre's L'enfant et les sortiléges, for in each story the boy is the protagonist, in one instance leading a wolf hunt and in the other wreaking revenge on his toys after his mother has locked him in his room to finish his homework. Neither work in their final form was conceived for dancing: the Prokofiev comes from the concert hall and the Ravel from the opera house. Colette, the authoress of Gigi penned the story of L'enfant et les sortil&ecute;ges, which is related here in an introduction by the choreographer Jiri Kylian with charm and a nod back at his own childhood pranks. Viewers coming to this dance version of the opera for the first time maybe be surprised that Ravel composed the boy's role for a girl and a rather buxom one in this instance. The somewhat gloomy, heavily embroidered production misses no opportunity in bringing to life the toys in the boy's room or the animals in the garden that turn on him in retribution. In conclusion as an act of compassion of binding the paw of an injured squirrel, the boy and the animal kingdom are reconciled in music of a truly sublime nature. Lorin Maazel conducts Ravel's sophisticated and witty score with its translucent vocal lines with the affection for which he has long been renowned. In marked contrast to that production, Peter and the Wolf is set against a plain backdrop with one prop, a slice of carved tree trunk centre stage. Anthony Dowell narrates and also dances the role of the Grandfather with aplomb. In each instance a musical instrument represents a character. The choreographer Matthew Hart marshals his small group of dancers, duck, cat, bird and wolf, with imagination and dexterity. David Johnson as Peter (represented by the full orchestra) gives a splendid performance, boyish and graceful, making a further excellent advertisement for schoolboys considering dancing as a career in the wake of Billy Elliot. A stylish presented and well contrasted double bill. --Adrian Edwards

• Wagner: The Ring Without Words | Blu Ray | (31/01/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Wiener Philharmoniker - Best of Neujahrskonzert | DVD | (03/12/2007) from £13.39   |  Saving you £2.60 (16.30%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The very first DVD collection of highlights of one of the most popular classical music events in the world; the famous anual New Year's concert of the Vienna Philharmonic . This is a true 'best of' in terms of the conductors: ranging from the legendary era of Willy Boskovsky in the 70's to the enthusiastically acclamation of this year's 2007 concert under the baton of Zubin Mehta including unforgettable interpretations of Carlos Kleiber Mariss Jansons Seiji Ozawa and Lorin Maazel. Best of New Year's Concert is a visual feast: great waltzes with ballet the most famous sights of Vienna such as the Prater Hofburg Belvedere Riesenrad Spanish Riding school and Sch''nbrunn. Track Listing: 1. Overture 2. Voices Of Spring Op.410 (Fr''hlingsstimmen) 3. Elisen - Polka Fran''aise Op.151 4. Geschichten Aus Dem Wienerwald Op.325 5. Die Libelle - Polka Mazur Op.204 (1867) 6. Wo Die Zitronen Bl''h'n Op.364 7. Auf Wiener Art. Polka Francaise O.Op. 8. Tritsch Tratsch Polka Opus 214 9. Kaiserwalzer Op.437 10. Accelerationen Waltz Opus 234 11. Du Und Du - Waltz Op.367 (1874) (Based On Themes From 'Die Fledermaus') 12. Pizzicato Polka (1870) 13. Tausend Und Eine Nacht-Walzer Op.346 14. Unter Donner Und Blitz Polka Opus 324 15. Wiener Blut Op.354 16. An Der Sch''nen Blauen Donau Op.314 17. Radetzky-Marsch Op.228 - Arr. Leopold Weninger

• New Year's Concert 2004 | DVD | (24/11/2004) from £26.98   |  Saving you £-6.99 (-35.00%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Recorded Live at the Teatro La Fenice Venezia 1 January 2004Mascagni - Intermezzo sinfonico from Cavalleria rusticanaPonchielli - Dance of the Hours from La GiocondaRossini - Overtures from La gazza ladra & Il barbiere di SivigliaVerdi - Excerpts from Otello La Traviata Aida & Nabucco

• Maazel - 1984 / Keenlyside, Lepage (Royal Opera House) | DVD | (12/05/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £21.99

  The debut DVD release of Lorin Maazel's new opera, based on George Orwell's dystopian novel, one of the most famous novels of the 20th century.Premiered at Covent Garden in 2005, where it was conducted by the composer and filmed in High Definition. The producer was Robert Lepage, whose highly-praised, visually-stunning production is gripping and at times terrifying. This release is timed to coincide with the run of the same production at La Scala in May 2008.Stars the acclaimed Simon Keenlyside as Winston Smith, the central character with Nancy Gustafson as Nancy, with whom Winston embarks on the secret affair that will be their undoing.

• TDK DVD Ballet And Concert Sampler 2006 | DVD | (30/01/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  A compilation of ballet and concert excerpts from the TDK 2006 catalogue.

• Great Arias With Placido Domingo & Friends | DVD | (19/01/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99