"Actor: Orchestra"

• Shostakovich Against Stalin - The War Symphonies | DVD | (17/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Shostakovich - Against Stalin (Gergiev)

• Fidelio | DVD | (28/11/2005) from £16.18   |  Saving you £-1.19 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Fidelio - Recorded At The Glyndebourne Festival Opera 1979.

• Les Troyens - Berlioz/The Met/James Levine | DVD | (16/07/2007) from £14.31   |  Saving you £1.94 (14.87%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Filmed at the Metropolitan Opera in 1983 Berlioz's masterpiece Les Troyens is a tragic tale of love and fate based on Virgil's Aeneid. Under the baton of James Levine Jessye Norman is stunning in the part of Cassandra and Pl''cido Domingo makes for a strong compelling Aeneas. This benchmark performance was hailed by both critics and audiences and performed to greatest critical acclaim. Norman's role debut as Cassandra emerged as one her most significant and compelling performances and this DVD is also a stand-out release among Domingo's extensive filmography.

• The Nutcracker | DVD | (01/10/2001) from £8.63   |  Saving you £16.36 (189.57%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker ballet has had many facelifts over the years. Peter Wright's Royal Ballet production is among the most imaginative, bringing together the narrative and fantasy aspects with relish. The first half of Act 1 is made busy but low-key, moving up a gear with the majestic Christmas tree "Transformation Scene", and ending with a gorgeous "Waltz of the Snowflakes". Act 2 decks out the lengthy sequence of character dances with vivid stage sets, culminating in a moving reconciliation between the magician Drosselmeyer and his nephew. Anthony Dowell brings authority, Ivan Putrov enthusiasm to their respective roles; Alina Cojocaru is sympathetic as Clara, and Miyako Yoshida steals the show as the Sugar-Plum Fairy. The Royal Opera House Orchestra take time to adjust to Evgeny Svetlanov's spacious tempos, but the showpieces have real emotional force. A Nutcracker for today, and a Christmas treat for all ages. On the DVD: The 16:9 anamorphic picture reproduces superbly, though rapid switches of camera angles in the ensemble scenes causes some blurring of focus. The PCM Stereo sound is equally realistic in its reproducing of the orchestra from the pit. Special features include insightful interviews with Dowell and Wright--with trilingual subtitles--a behind-the-scenes look at the "Transformation Scene", and alternative fixed wide shots of both that and the "Snowflakes" scenes. The 28 access points are given in the booklet's detailed synopsis. --Richard Whitehouse

• Cinematic Orchestra: Man With A Movie Camera | DVD | (26/05/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In 1929, Russian filmmaker Dziga Vertov made the groundbreaking Man With a Movie Camera documentary--a visual essay on life between the two world wars. Touching on poverty, sport and employment in Russia in the 1920s, Man With a Movie Camera was a masterpiece of silent filmmaking. There have been numerous soundtracks over the years that have attempted to provide Vertov's stunning images with the musical accompaniment they deserve, Michael Nyman minimalist take or Biosphere's electronica reading to name two. The Cinematic Orchestra have been using footage from the film for their live visuals and wrote a piece of the same name for their last album Every Day. They debuted their full soundtrack on the opening night of the Barbican's Only Connect season, augmenting their line up with a string section. The Cinematic Orchestra, as their name would suggest, can work detail and development into their compositions that reflect the mood of the film. The addition of a string section compliments the bands music, moving away from the jazz funk of their live sets towards something more powerful. Often fusion between the music and images work so well, you forget that the film remained without this soundtrack for 70-odd years. On the DVD: The Cinematic Orchestra extras include two live tracks, two videos ("All that you give" and "Man with a movie camera") plus a documentary entitled "From Reel To Reel". --Robert Smoughton

• Herbert Von Karajan - Dvorak: Symphony No. 9 In E Minor Op. 95 From The New World | DVD | (01/10/1999) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

• Tchaikovsky: Pique Dame (The Queen of Spades) | DVD | (24/03/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  In terms of vocal power, lyrical beauty and idiomatic authenticity, the casting for this 1992 live recording of the Kirov production of Pique Dame ("The Queen of Spades") could hardly be bettered. Gegam Grigorian (Herman) hits his fearsome, anguished high notes with the accuracy of a laser and Maria Gulegina (Liza) has a voice the size of the QEII but uses it with great subtlety--her opening duet with Pauline floats like gossamer, and her declarations of love for Herman at the end of Act 1 are spine-tingling. Kirov superstars Sergei Leiferkus (Tomsky) and rich-toned Olga Borodina (Pauline) also sound divine. In the pit Valery Gergiev renders every nuance of Tchaikovsky's score with clarity, and drives the strings to produce an almost unbearably tense atmosphere of foreboding; Herman's manslaughter of the Countess is preceded by shallow, haunted phrases which rise and fall like a beating heart. It isn't all rosy, however. The production comes from the traditional old Kirov "stand-and-sing" tradition and is somewhat static. The characters don't interact with much detail or generate much chemistry, and the chorus moves in unwieldy blocks. For a more gripping production (though not quite as well sung) try the Glyndebourne performance. But for sheer musical pleasure, you won't find anything to beat this. On the DVD: Pique Dame doesn't feature particularly inventive camerawork, though it does give a good solid account of the production. The sound recording captures all the most important moments with clarity, though just occasionally singers stray away from the microphones. There are subtitles in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Chinese, and some trailers for other Universal Music DVDs. --Warwick Thomson

• Haydn - Lo Speziale (Andrae, Orch Della Svizzera Italiana) | DVD | (06/11/2006) from £6.95   |  Saving you £-1.96 (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  La Speziale.Comic Opera in 3 Acts.

• The Rake's Progress - Stravinsky | DVD | (01/08/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Recorded at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera 1975

• Romeo And Juliet - Prokofiev | DVD | (24/09/2004) from £4.97   |  Saving you £10.02 (201.61%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)Romeo and JulietBallet in three actsLibretto by Sergei Pokofiev Sergei Radlov and Adrian PiotrovskyBased on the play by William ShakespeareRevised choreography by Yuri Grigorovich based on the choreography by Leonid LavrovskyJuliet Natalya BessmertnovaRomeo Irek MukhamedovMercutio Mikhail SharkovTybalt Aleksandr VetrovThe Bolshoi Theatre OrchestraAlgis ZhuraitisRecorded at the Bolshoi Theatre 1989

• Lucia Di Lammermoor | DVD | (21/05/2004) from £13.79   |  Saving you £-3.80 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Donizetti's great tragedy is his undisputed masterpiece of melancholic romanticism with the doomed love between Lucia and Edgardo retold from Scott's novel The Bride of Lammermoor. The 1992 production heightens the story's powerful libretto with its dramatic visual design and first-class musical performances. Unlocked from the archives of RAI television this is a classic recording from one of the world's great opera houses.

• Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro -- 1966 Salzburg Festival/Bohm | DVD | (19/09/2003) from £7.53   |  Saving you £23.72 (378.31%)   |  RRP £29.99

  A performance of Mozart's Le Nozze Di Figaro featured at the Salzburg Festival in 1966. Karl Bohm conducts the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

• Sutherland / Pavarotti / Bonynge Gala Concert | DVD | (02/05/2006) from £28.60   |  Saving you £-13.61 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Live From Sydney Opera House (Joan Sutherland / Luciano Pavarotti)

• Joan Sutherland - Bel Canto Showcase - Voice Of Firestone | DVD | (07/07/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

• European Concert 1998 Stockholm | DVD | (03/07/2000) from £15.84   |  Saving you £4.15 (20.80%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Overture from Der Fliegende HollanderSymphonic Fantasia op.18 The TempestTrois nocturnes1. Nuages2. Fetes3. SirenesOuattro pezzi sacri1. Ave Maria su una scala enigmatica2. Stabat Mater3. Laudi alla virgine Maria4. Te DeumDocumentary

• Don Quixote: The Royal Ballet | Blu Ray | (30/03/2014) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Puccini: Tosca- In the Settings and at the Times of Tosca | Blu Ray | (03/06/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) -- Glyndebourne | DVD | (26/04/2004) from £6.59   |  Saving you £12.66 (237.52%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Funny fast and furious Rossini's masterpiece Il Barbiere di Siviglia is one of the most popular of comic operas with its sparkling and stylish score. John Cox's innovative production for Glyndebourne Festival Opera with good looking authentic designs by William Dudley put plenty of fizz into this old favourite and was a real hit with the critics. The usual Glyndebourne hallmarks of team work and extended rehersal paid handsome dividends in this production filmed in 1982.

• Vienna State Opera Gala 2005 - Gala Concert 50th Anniversary Of The Re-Opening | DVD | (30/01/2006) from £14.57   |  Saving you £10.42 (71.52%)   |  RRP £24.99

  A 50 year celebration of the re-opening of the Vienna State Opera since the Second World War.

• Richard Strauss: Salome (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden 2008) | Blu Ray | (01/06/2010) from £25.65   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A