"Director: Bob Coles"

• Roberto Alagna/Angela Gheorghiu - Verdi - Messa da Requiem | DVD | (15/04/2002) from £15.48   |  Saving you £-6.49 (-72.20%)   |  RRP £8.99

  Giuseppe Verdi - Messa da Requiem.

• Prom At The Palace | DVD | (01/07/2002) from £9.59   |  Saving you £10.40 (108.45%)   |  RRP £19.99

  One of the most remarkable things about this recording of the Queen's Golden Jubilee Prom at the Palace--quite apart from the musical goodies on offer--is the opportunity to glimpse inside the royal garden, and see what Her Majesty's principal home looks like from the back. Who would have guessed she had her own lake? Voyeurism aside, director Bob Coles also catches the palpable sense of occasion and excitement that surrounds the concert, with some swooping camera angles and shots of a very chuffed-looking crowd. The music, introduced by Michael Parkinson, is a mix of popular favourites (Zadok the Priest, "Jupiter" from The Planets, Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks) and a few lesser-known items such as Malcolm Arnold's The Nation's Dances. The outdoor acoustic is generally handled pretty well with some sensitive microphone placement, and the soloists all sound wonderful; Angela Gheorghiu stops the show with a passionate account of "Vissi d'Arte" (from Tosca) and 13-year-old clarinettist Julian Bliss gives a remarkably assured performance of Messager's fluffy salon-piece Solo de Concours. Occasionally the BBC Symphony Orchestra loses concentration and plays somewhat scrappily--the accompaniment to Figaro's aria "Largo al Factotum" is not all it should be--but overall this is a fine souvenir of a historic concert. On the DVD: Prom at the Palace has no special features on DVD. The arias in French and Italian are all subtitled in English. All profit from the sale of the DVD will be donated to the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Trust. --Warwick Thomson

• Concerto for Violin Discovering Masterpieces of | DVD | (17/09/2007) from £6.09   |  Saving you £11.90 (66.10%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Discovering Masterpieces 2: Mendelssohn Violin Concerto

• Beethoven: Symphonies No. 4 And No. 7 - Berliner Philharmoniker - Abbado | DVD | (30/06/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A performance of Beethoven Symphony No. 4 and No. 7. The Berlin Philharmoniker is conducted by Claudio Abbado.

• Mahler: Symphony No. 9 | DVD | (29/11/2004) from £7.45   |  Saving you £17.54 (235.44%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 9Recorded live at Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Rome 14 April 2004

• Waldbuhne Concert 2002 - A Night Of Encores | DVD | (01/03/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Vadim Repin in concert performing encores. Featuring Wieniawski's Polonaise Op. 4.

• European Concert 2002 - Berliner Philharmoniker - Claddio Abbado | DVD | (15/12/2003) from £23.88   |  Saving you £-3.89 (-19.50%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A concert performance by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in Palermo in 2002. Works include: Brahams Violin Concerto and Dvorak Symphony No. 9. Conducted by Claudio Abbado.

• Europa Konzert From Lisbon | DVD | (28/06/2004) from £26.98   |  Saving you £-1.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  European Concert recorded live at the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos Lisbon.Maurice Ravel - Le Tombeau de CouperinWolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor K466Bela Bartok - Concerto for Orchestra Sz116Claude Debussy - Fetes (from Trois Nocturnes)

• Beethoven: Symphonies 3 & 9 -- Berlin PO/Abbado | DVD | (31/03/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The celebrated Claudio Abbado conducts the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in performances of Beethoven's Third and Ninth Symphonies. No. 9 comes first, in a performance given in the Berlin Philharmonie hall for the year 2000 Europe Concert; the finale of Beethoven's masterpiece having been coopted as the anthem of the European Union, this tenth annual concert emphasised unification in an international broadcast seen by millions worldwide. Abbado is as qualified to conduct this music as anyone alive and brings a deeply sympathetic reading from the BPO, eliciting a particularly spirited and uplifting second movement Molto vivace and eloquently moving Adagio. The epic choral finale features the combined forces of the Swedish Radio Choir and Eric Ericson Chamber Choir together with top international soloists, including the soprano Karita Mattila. The result is exhilarating, rapturous music-making which is never overwhelming but which truly captures the joy of Schiller's text. Recorded in February 2001 at the National Academy of St. Cecilia in Rome, a fine performance of Beethoven's Third Symphony, "Eroica" completes the programme. The two venues ensure some visual contrast in both pieces, with Abbado a compelling figure to watch as he delivers this incomparable music. On the DVD: Beethoven Symphonies 3 amp; 9 is presented anamorphically enhanced at 16:9 ratio with a strong, clear picture and sound options covering PCM stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1. The last of these is the best, the surround speakers being used subtly to give a real sense of live concert-hall ambience and an enveloping spread of the choirs in the Ninth. Other than a reasonably informative booklet the only significant extra is a multi-angle option for No. 3. With this selected the camera remains on Abbado throughout, offering a useful orchestra's eye view for musicians and conducting students. Finally there is a sound-check to test for the correct connection of surround speakers. --Gary S Dalkin

• Berliner Philharmoniker - Europa-Konzert From Athens | DVD | (28/03/2005) from £29.68   |  Saving you £-4.69 (-18.80%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Johannes Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1Piano Concerto No. 1 In D Minor OP.15*Piano Quartet No. 1 In G Minor OP.25*(orchestration: Arnold Schoenberg)Recorded live at the Herodes Atticus Odeon Athens.

• Berlin Philharmonic - European Concert 1999 | DVD | (08/05/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Enjoy the splendour of the Berlin Philharmoniker led by Bernard Haitink at their 1999 European Concert in Cracow.

• Beethoven: Symphonies 2 And 5 | DVD | (27/09/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In February 2001 Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic presented all Beethoven's symphonies at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. The success was overwhelming: there were standing ovations after every performance and the critics spoke of ""blissful unanimity"" between conductor and orchestra. This cycle marked a new pinnacle at the culmination of Abbado's Berlin career. Recordings of these concerts are now available on DVD. They document readings that are the fr

• Beethoven: Symphonies 1, 6 And 8 | DVD | (02/12/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Claudio Abbado conducts the brilliant Berlin Philharmonic.

• Beethoven - Symphonies 2 and 5 (Abbado, Bpo) | DVD | (29/06/2007) from £7.39   |  Saving you £17.60 (238.16%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Beethoven: Symphonies 2 & 5

• Kent Nagano - Rhythm And Dance | DVD | (28/04/2006) from £5.19   |  Saving you £12.80 (246.63%)   |  RRP £17.99

  A programme bristling with verve and irresistible rhythm presented by Kent Nagano and the Berlin Philharmonic who take us around the world on a musical journey that runs from classical ever-greens by Ravel and Gershwin to the thunderous pulse of Japanese percussion - with amongst the star guests of this gala evening mezzo-soprano Susan Graham and that black belt of the wadaiko drums Eitetsu Hayashi.Jean-Pascal Beintus: He Got RhythmMaurice Ravel: La ValseDaphnis et Chloe (Suite No. 2)Isao Matsushite: HI-Ten-YuEitetsu Hayashi: UtageZhao Jiping: Farewell My Concubine (Suite)George Gershwin: Fascinatin' Rhythm/The Man I Love/Nice Work If You Can Get It/Someone To Watch Over Me/Summertime/I Got Rhythm.

• European Concert At Versailles 1997 | DVD | (04/03/2002) from £3.59   |  Saving you £17.66 (757.94%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Since 1991 the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra has played a European Concert on every May 1 (the date upon which the orchestra was founded) in different places of cultural importance. In 1997 the venue was the Royal Opera House in Versailles, a beautiful small theatre with an intimate acoustic. The dimensions of the stage clearly limit the orchestra to smaller-scale works rather than their usual romantic repertoire, but the sound under Daniel Barenboim is glorious nonetheless. The concert opens with a tribute to Francois Couperin, one of the greatest composers ever to have been associated with Versailles. Ravel's neo-classical Le Tombeau de Couperin is performed with graceful restraint and refined elegance, and suits the style of the hall perfectly. Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 13 is less successful, simply because the solo instrument is placed facing the orchestra in order to allow Barenboim both to play and conduct. The result is that the piano sound is muffled and the orchestral direction less precise. But things pick up again in the Eroica Symphony, a piece perfectly suited to the conductor's volatile temperament: the louds are very loud, the softs extremely soft and the sudden shifts between them explosively handled. The visual direction by Bob Coles concentrates on individual orchestral performers, with highly watchable results. On the DVD: The European Concert, 1997 also includes a 20-minute documentary in German about the history of music in Paris, the construction of Versailles and an interview with Daniel Barenboim. The documentary is subtitled in English, French, Spanish and Italian. --Warwick Thompson

• Concert from The Church Of St Nicolai, Leipzig | DVD | (20/06/2000) from £6.82   |  Saving you £14.43 (259.53%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Featuring Ludwig van Beethoven Johann Sebastian Bach Chaconne Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.

• Discovering Masterpieces of Classical Music | DVD | (13/08/2007) from £13.68   |  Saving you £5.57 (44.85%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Discovering Masterpieces 1: Mozart Symphony No.41 Jupiter

• Europa Konzert 2006 (Symphony 35/ 36/ Piano Concerto/ Horn Concerto) (Radek Baborák/ Berliner Philharmoniker/ Daniel Barenboim) (Euroarts: 2055304) | Blu Ray | (17/09/2012) from £14.55   |  Saving you £15.44 (106.12%)   |  RRP £29.99

  EURA 2055304; EURARTS - Germania; Classica Orchestrale

• Bartok - Concerto for Orchestra (Boulez, Bpo) | DVD | (15/10/2007) from £24.28   |  Saving you £-6.29 (-35.00%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Discovering Masterpieces 6: Bartok Concerto For Orchestra