"Actor: Orchestra"

• Cosi Fan Tutte | DVD | (14/06/2004) from £12.65   |  Saving you £2.34 (15.60%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Opera in two acts from the Glyndebourne Festival Opera 1975. Sung in Italian.

• Tosca - Puccini/Terfel/Malfitano/Chailly | DVD | (16/07/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Riccardo Chailly conducts the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and an outstanding cast in Nikolaus Lehnhoff's sensational staging of Puccini's great operatic thriller. Stars Catherine Malfitano as Tosca Bryn Terfel as Scarpia and Richard Margison as Cavaradossi. Bryn Terfel plays the 'tough guy' in contrast to many of his other stage characters which makes this Tosca immediately stand out as unusual from others. Outstanding orchestral performance with Riccardo Chailly conducting the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam.

• Puccini: Tosca (AXIOM FILMS - DVD AXM637) | DVD | (28/11/2011) from £7.99   |  Saving you £17.00 (212.77%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Official Selection Venice Film Festival, Beno�t Jacquot's acclaimed 2002 film of Puccini's opera stars Angela Gheorghiu in the title role with Roberto Alagna, Ruggero Raimondi and the Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, under Antonio Pappano. Region: 0 (Region free)

• Brahms / Schoenberg / Beethoven - 2013 Lucerne Festival | Blu Ray | (19/05/2014) from £23.57   |  Saving you £6.42 (21.40%)   |  RRP £29.99

  With his very own 'mysterious seductive power and legendary elegance' ( Le Monde ), Claudio Abbado opened for the last time the Lucerne Festival in the summer of 2013. Only a few months later, the world had to bid farewell to a monumental artist, humanist, great conductor and orchestra founder. Even in the concert itself, documented here, lived a moment of farewell, as the three great works performed tell of the transience of life. The centerpiece of the Eroica is the funeral marc.

• Wagner - Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg | DVD | (28/04/2008) from £14.65   |  Saving you £20.34 (138.84%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Wagner:Die Meistersinger Von N'rnberg (2 Discs)

• Mitridate Re Di Ponto - Mozart | DVD | (09/09/2002) from £18.98   |  Saving you £22.00 (137.59%)   |  RRP £37.99

  A performance of Mozart's opera in three acts 'Mitridate Re Di Ponto' performed by The Royal Opera conducted by Paul Daniel and choreographed by Ron Howell. Singers include: Annn Murray Justin Lavender and Luba Orgonasova.

• Scottish Fiddle Orchestra - Homeward Bound | DVD | (28/04/2008) from £12.94   |  Saving you £-2.95 (-29.50%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The Scottish Fiddle Orchestra: Homeward Bound

• Le Coq D'Or | DVD | (20/08/2004) from £10.93   |  Saving you £15.32 (158.43%)   |  RRP £24.99

  From the Theatre Musical De Paris - ChateletA fairy tale with a moral Opera in three acts.

• Sleeping Beauty | DVD | (05/04/2000) from £29.68   |  Saving you £-4.69 (-18.80%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty is here transformed by the masterful contemporary choreographer Mats Ek into an allegory of repression, love and emotional maturity set in a bleak, stylised postmodern limbo which is both chilling and, just occasionally, bleakly humorous. Traditionalists may be flinching already, but this is a ballet which has always lent itself to this kind of treatment. Indeed, what many will think of as the "traditional" interpretation is in fact Diaghilev's forward-looking production of 1921, which had sets and costumes by Bakst and re-instrumentation by Stravinsky. Ek's Princess inhabits a world seemingly out of Fritz Lang, where Carabosse is a drug-dealing low-life and the Fairies are a gaggle of sneering girlies. Ek removes his work from the classical tradition to a large degree, but what goes in its place is a highly disciplined yet tactile and gut-wrenchingly emotive approach, conveying both the external and internal narratives of the work with unfailing conviction. --Roger Thomas

• Khovanshchina | DVD | (29/03/2004) from £36.43   |  Saving you £-6.44 (-21.50%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Modest Mussorgsky's opera 'Khovanshchina' performed by the Vienna State Opera and Chorus and the Slovak Philharmonic Chorus from Bratislava; conducted by Claudio Abbado.

• Mozart: Die Enftuhrung Aus Dem Serail (Abduction from the Seraglio) | DVD | (11/02/2002) from £13.48   |  Saving you £6.51 (32.60%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Peter Ustinov presents this production of Mozart's opera at the world famous Salzburg Marionette theatre.

• Strauss - Waltzes And Polkas | DVD | (02/04/2002) from £4.98   |  Saving you £5.01 (100.60%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The sights and sounds of Vienna are forever associated with the exuberant and popular melodies of Johann Strauss Jr... This volume of the NAXOS MUSICAL JOURNEY dances on Strauss' signature sounds of the Viennese waltz and polka See this enchanting city by strolling its bustling streets or enjoy one of its famed coffee houses: ride the impressive Ferris wheel at The Prater as immortalized in the classic film 'The Third Man' and thrill to spectacular views: from an evening The Vie

• Nathan Milstein Centennial Tribute (Hendl, Chicago So) | DVD | (31/05/2004) from £9.99   |  Saving you £15.00 (150.15%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Symphonies include:Violin Concerto in E Minor Op. 64 by MendelssohnPrelude from Partita for Solo No. 3 in E major BWV 1006 by BachViolin Concerto in D Major Op. 35 by Tchaikovsky

• Romeo And Juliette - Berlioz | DVD | (27/02/2006) from £24.28   |  Saving you £-4.29 (-21.50%)   |  RRP £19.99

  From the Kulturzentrum Gasteig MunichHector Berlioz - Romeo Et Juliette - Symphonie Dramatique op.17

• Mahler - What the Universe Tells Me | DVD | (22/07/2004) from £21.44   |  Saving you £3.55 (16.56%)   |  RRP £24.99

  What The Universe Tells Me:Is a one-hour documentary exploring how music and philosophy combined to create an all-encompassing panoramic experience aimed at moving it audience toward personal and communal transformation.One of the largest and most ambitious symphonies ever composed. Mahler's Third requires off-stage instruments children's and women's choirs vocal soloist and a six-part scheme that incorporates folk poetry and philosophical text. The emotional charge of the work steadily mounts from the chaos of creation in the first movement to the summit the highest level from which the world can be surveyed in the last.From the volcanoes of the South Pacific to the Alpine peaks and meadows where Mahler composed dramatic images from the natural world give shape to the symphony's evolutionary saga. Performances combine with illustrative artwork computer animation historical film clips and the insights of world-renowned historians philosophers and biographers. Thinkers such as Howard Garder Stan Brakhage and Catherine Keller join Mahler experts Henry-Louis de La Grange Donald Mitchell Moten Solvik Peter Franklin and Edward Reilly to explore an artwork so rich and emotionally compelling that it mirrors the entire world!Featuring performances by Grammy nominated baritone Thomas Hampson internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano Mignon Dunn and the Manhattan School of Music Symphony Orchestra conducted by Glen Cortese this double DVD set is a must for all music lovers and those new to the world of the symphony.

• Monteverdi: L'Orfeo (Teatro alla Scala di Milano 2009) | Blu Ray | (31/01/2011) from £26.81   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Verdi: Falstaff -- Royal Opera House | DVD | (20/11/2000) from £30.24   |  Saving you £-5.25 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  This Graham Vicks production of Falstaff opened the new Covent Garden Royal Opera House, but was not to everybody's taste; the garish primary colours of the costumes, especially Falstaff's unusually hideous get-ups, go several steps beyond the Breughelian effect Vicks intended. The staging is effective--the complicated counterpoint of the ensembles is reflected in unobtrusive blocking that keeps the vocal lines clear and separate, especially in the final fugue. Bryn Terfel's Falstaff is a memorable creation, self-mocking and self-aggrandising at the same time--so much so, in fact, that he almost does not need the vast prosthetic body he has to wear for the part. Desiree Rancatore is an admirably sweet-toned Nanetta; Bernadette Manca di Nissa an appropriately sardonic Mistress Quickly; Roberto Frontali as Ford, in his Act 2 scena, perfectly distils and parodies every jealousy aria ever written, including Verdi's own. Haitink's conducting is exemplary in the lyrical passages, and gets almost everything out of the fast and furious comic sections. --Roz KaveneyOn the DVD: The disc comes with act introductions by James Naughtie, interviews with Haitink, Terfel and Graham Vicks and a documentary about the reaction of the stage-hands to the new building. It has scene selection and subtitles in English. --Roz Kaveney

• Mahler: Symphony No. 5 | DVD | (05/04/2000) from £22.98   |  Saving you £-2.99 (-15.00%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Barenboim's Mahler Five begins with a certain sense of detachment and continues that way, seeming both calculated and calculating by turns. The composer's famous aphorism about the process of symphonic composition being in the nature of "building a world" is quoted in the excellent and detailed booklet notes (no shortage of scholarship here), so it's intriguing to observe how Barenboim chooses to contain the warmth and passion inherent in the work. In building a world, perhaps, one must perforce define its boundaries, yet at the same time it's this very process of containment that draws attention to these qualities. Musically, then, this is undoubtedly an interesting piece of work. In production terms, we're offered a very good argument for the DVD as a vehicle for orchestral performance. What may appear at first glance to be irritatingly skittish camerawork is in fact a perfect demonstration of how careful direction can draw attention to particular areas of the orchestra at exactly the right moment. The sound quality, though aggressively digital, is airy and detailed. --Roger Thomas

• Various: Viennese Night at the | DVD | (25/04/2011) from £12.05   |  Saving you £7.94 (65.89%)   |  RRP £19.99

• Italy (Italy: Verona & Romeo & Julet/ Florence/ Naples) | DVD | (18/03/2010) from £11.16   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A