"Actor: Orchestra"

• Swan Lake - Tchaikovsky | DVD | (24/11/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Swan Lake From the Bolshoi Theatre 1989Ballet in Two Acts Four Scenes

• L'Upupa Und Der Triumph Der Sohnesliebe - Henze | DVD | (06/12/2004) from £24.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Hans Werner Henze: L'UpupaUnd der Triumph der SohnesliebeEin deutsches Lustspiel in elf Tableaux aus dem ArabischenRecorded live at the Kleines Festspielhaus Salzburg 12-26 August 2003.

• Le Corsaire | DVD | (21/06/2000) from £29.68   |  Saving you £-4.69 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  A story of love between a young girl sold by a slave trader and a pirate who is sentenced to death for stealing her away.

• Wiener Festwochen 1962 - Wiener Philarmoniker - Hans Knappertsbusch | DVD | (29/09/2003) from £24.95   |  Saving you £-4.96 (-24.80%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Hans Knappertsbusch and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra perform at the Wiener Festwochen, 31st of May 1962. Programme:Beethoven: Leonora Overture No. 3Beethoven: Piano Concerto in G Major (Wilhelm Backhaus on piano)Wagner: Tristan und Isolde: Vorspiel & Liebestod (Birgit Nilsson, soprano)

• Prokofiev: The Love for Three Oranges (L'Amour des Trois Oranges) | DVD | (12/03/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The production of this DVD - which involved top-ranking artists to direct perform and provide the musical accompaniment - was recorded in 1989 at the Opera National de Lyon. The outstanding quality of the production is evidenced not least by the recording made as part of the series of live performances and rated by Gramophone magazine as record of the year in 1990. Directed by Louis Erlo (assisted by Alain Maratrat and with set design by Jacques Rapp and costumes by Ferdinando Bruni) the wit and speed of the opera come across strongly in the transfer of the medium of DVD (video direction by Jean-Francois Jung). Kent Nagano directs the performance led by Gabriel Bacquier (the King of Clubs) Jean-Luc Viala (the Prince) Georges Gautier (Truffaldino) Catherine Dubosc (Ninetta) and a host of other outstanding artists.

• Verdi: Otello -- La Scala/Muti | DVD | (19/09/2003) from £9.98   |  Saving you £15.01 (150.40%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Riccardi Muti conducts a performance of Otello at the La Scala Theatre before the start of a three year renovation project.

• I Due Foscari | DVD | (20/08/2004) from £9.19   |  Saving you £0.80 (8.71%)   |  RRP £9.99

  I due FoscariGiuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)Renato Bruson takes the role of the Venetian Doge - Francesco Foscari - in Verdi's dark three-act tragedy based on a drama by Lord Byron set in 15th century Venice. Giandrea Gavazzeni directs the 1988 La Scala production of a work that is hailed among the best of Verdi's early operas and that led him to a career of operatic immortality. Unlocked from the archives of RAI television this is a classic recording from one of the world's great opera houses.

• Bernstein at Tanglewood - Brahms Symphonies Nos. 2 & 4 | DVD | (02/05/2008) from £12.19   |  Saving you £12.80 (105.00%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Brahms:Symphonies Nos. 2&4

• Fedora - Giordano | DVD | (13/09/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Italian composer Umberto Giordano's opera 'Fedora' has all of the qualities of a thrilling murder mystery. On this Bel Canto Society release of an impassioned 1998 performance soprano Mirella Freni lends her remarkable voice to the title role and tenor Sergei Larin provides powerful support.

• Beethoven - The Piano Concertos - Vladimir Ashkenazy/London Symphony Orchestra | DVD | (13/08/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  The acclaimed BBC films of Vladimir Ashkenazy playing all five Beethoven Piano Concerts- with Bernard Haitink conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Filmed at London's Royal Festival Hall in March and April 1974, these classic performances of essential piano repertoire are available for the first time on home video. Also includes performances of Beethoven's overtures Leonore Nos.2 and 3 and Egmont, as well as a complete performance of his Symphony No. 8.

• Raymonda - Aleksandr Glazunov | DVD | (02/05/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  A performance of the Glazunov ballet written in 1898. Yuri Grogorovich choreographs based on the original choreography by Marius Petipa and Alexander Grosky....

• Macbeth - Verdi | DVD | (18/02/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Giuseppe VerdiMacbethFrom the Glyndebourne Festival Opera 1972Opera in Four Acts

• New Year's Day Concert 2001 | DVD | (03/12/2001) from £41.16   |  Saving you £-23.17 (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  The 2001 Vienna New Year's Day Concert was always bound to strike sparks. Having built his reputation in Baroque and early music, Nikolaus Harnoncourt has recently brought his re-creative insights to the standard Classical repertoire. How typical then that he should open proceedings with the original version of the Radetzky March--urbane compared to the familiar version, whose hearty militarism closes the concert in style. In between there's an enterprising selection of Strauss waltzes and polkas from Johanns I and II, the subtle and underrated Josef, and three numbers by Josef Lanner, whose restrained lilt provides the link between Schubert and the Strauss Family. Harnoncourt brings out the rhythmic vigour of this music, the astringent sound of woodwind and brass often heard over the strings, though there's no doubting the expressive sweep of the inevitable Blue Danube waltz. On the DVD: Directed for video by Brian Large, the atmosphere of the occasion comes over in full, aided by the tangibility of 16:9 picture format and 5.1 surround sound--though PCM Linear Stereo is also an option. Three ballet sequences, including a hilarious steam train race to Johann II's Excursion Train polka, are sensibly included as an appendix. Each of the 17 concert tracks is separately indexed, but still-frame histories of the event and of the Musikverein venue, edited from Clemens Hellsberg's booklet article, make for a poor special feature. Why no documentary film? However, this remains the best concert of its kind for almost a decade, and can safely be invested in as such. --Richard Whitehouse

• Die Gezeichneten - Schreker | DVD | (03/07/2006) from £26.98   |  Saving you £-1.99 (-8.00%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Franz Schreker's Die Gezeichneten a performance from the Salzburger Festspiele recorded live at the Felsenreitschule 26 July 2005.

• Verdi - La Traviata (Scotto, Carreras) | DVD | (04/11/2008) from £25.79   |  Saving you £-0.80 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

• Verdi: La Forza del Destino | DVD | (16/08/2000) from £26.58   |  Saving you £-1.59 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  This is a 1998 performance from the Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg of the original 1862 St Petersburg version of Verdi's La Forza del Destino. While the world famous version premiered in Italy in 1867 is the superior work, few will want to miss the rare opportunity to see and hear such a well-staged version of Verdi's first thoughts. Here the earlier libretto by Francesco Maria Piave is restored, the original, considerably darker ending is intact and even the sets are constructed to the 1862 designs. There are other differences, though the story remains the familiar mixture of love, misunderstanding and war, the characters ranging from the nobility to monks, soldiers and gypsies, the tone spanning low comedy to high drama. The result is a lavish production, full of life and vitality, shot through with musical urgency and some tremendously powerful singing. Particularly striking is Gegam Grigorian, making a commanding Don Alvaro, whose role here is rather more expansive than in the later version. Galina Gorchakova reprises her Leonara from the 1997 CD recording of the work with passionate intensity, and conductor Valéry Gergiev keeps the epic scale tightly focused. The direction for video unobtrusively brings out the heart of the drama on stage.On the DVD: The disc is presented at 16:9 and is anamorphically enhanced for widescreen televisions. The result is a good but not exceptional picture with clear PCM stereo sound. Other than the booklet and the option to view with or without subtitles there are no special features. --Gary S. Dalkin

• Mefistofele - Boito | DVD | (30/06/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  An exceptional performance of Arrigo Boito's 'Mefistofele' conducted by Maurizo Arena.

• Verdi: Rigoletto | Blu Ray | (08/04/2013) from £28.51   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• The Original Three Tenors Concert - Luciano Pavarotti/Placido Domingo/Jose Carreras | DVD | (18/06/2007) from £4.99   |  Saving you £12.00 (401.34%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Orchestra Del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

• Russian All Star Ice Ballet Group - Russian All-Stars - The Sleeping Beauty | DVD | (09/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Tchaikovsky: The Sleeping Beauty - A Ballet On Ice