"Director: Tony Palmer"

• The Salzburg Festival | DVD | (08/05/2006) from £14.97   |  Saving you £5.02 (33.53%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The Salzburg Festival has hosted every great star of the opera and concert hall from Toscanini to Anne-Sophie Mutter from Fischer-Dieskau to Barenboim from Pollini to Mitsuko Uchida. In this film the first to tell the story of this remarkable festival set in the birthplace of Mozart director Tony Palmer has been granted unprecedented access to Austria's film archives. Highlights include performances of 'Jedermann' from 1920 to the present day featuring actors such as Maximilian

• Cream - Farewell Concert | DVD | (24/09/2001) from £14.23   |  Saving you £-6.24 (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  FULL LENGTH UNCUT AND DIGITALLY RESTORED! Eric Clapton Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce made music together for less than three years but in that time they became arguably the greatest rock band ever - Cream. Cream made four classic rock albums which sold more copies in 24 months than the Bible had sold in the previous 24 years. Fresh Cream was their debut album which was released in 1966. Disraeli Gears in 1967 featured the anthem ""Sunshine of your Love"". Wheels oF Fire was a double a

• Ginger Baker In Africa | DVD | (01/12/2008) from £3.99   |  Saving you £7.00 (175.44%)   |  RRP £10.99

  In November 1971 Ginger Baker the legendary drummer of Cream and Blind Faith decided to set up a recording studio in Lagos then the capital of Nigeria Baker being one of the first rock musicians to realise the potential of African music. He also decided that it would be a rewarding musical experience to travel to Nigeria overland across the Sahara desert - a journey that would lead him into a number of adventures. This film by Tony Palmer follows Ginger Baker's odyssey as he makes his journey and finally arrives in Nigeria to set up his studio which would run successfully through the seventies as a facility for both local and western musicians (Paul McCartneys Wings recorded Band On The Run there).

• The World of Liberace | DVD | (28/05/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

• Wagner | DVD | (18/07/2011) from £24.99   |  Saving you £-2.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £22.99

  Tony Palmer's epic film was made in 1982/3 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Wagner's death. Filmed in 200 locations throughout Europe, many where the actual historical events took place, with a team from 19 different countries, the entire production was completed in less than a year. Sadly Wagner was to be Richard Burton's last major role, but the stellar cast - including Laurence Oliver, John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson, Vanessa Redgrave, Lszl Gllfi, Gemma Craven, Ekkehardt Schall, Richard Pasco, Marthe Keller, Gabriel Byrne, Franco Nero, Ronald Pickup, Corin Redgrave, Cyril Cusack, Prunella Scales, Andrew Cruickshank, Joan Greenwood, Liza Goddard, Bill Fraser, Arthur Lowe, Joan Plowright, with composer Sir William Walton in a cameo role - assembled partly because of him.Only now is the film being released on DVD as its director Tony Palmer wishes it to be viewed. Previously it's been seen in badly edited versions and been made available on DVD (reproduced from poor-quality VHSs) with sub-standard pictures and sound. Finally, here is the restored presentation as it was originally edited by Tony Palmer in its complete 7 hours 46 minutes duration, issued in wide-screen, re-mastered in Hi-Definition. The music, performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Georg Solti with singers including Dame Gwyneth Jones and Peter Hofmann, has never sounded better, and the astonishing images of cameramen Vittorio Storaro and Nic Knowland have never looked better.The script by Charles Wood remains a miracle of historical compression and accuracy, given that Wagner himself was an appalling fantasist and the truth often hard to ascertain. And Richard Burton, who towers above the production, reminds us what a great actor he was. This is a fitting tribute to his - and to Wagner's - genius.

• Wagner | DVD | (09/05/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  Even now Richard Wagner (1813-83) remains an enigma. His was a rags-to-riches saga with a fairy tale ending. He was loved yet hated admired yet despised a villain yet a hero who was worshipped a man whose fame and exploits were the gossip of Europe. Above all he was an incurable romantic whose love affair with Liszt's illegitimate daughter rivals that of Romeo and Juliet in excitement and drama. But he was also a dangerous political revolutionary whose influence penetrated the

• O Thou Transcendent - The Life Of Ralph Vaughan Williams | DVD | (18/01/2010) from £27.99   |  Saving you £-14.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Tony Palmer: O Thou Transcendent - The Life Of Ralph Vaughan Williams

• Tony Palmer - All My Loving | DVD | (10/09/2007) from £11.27   |  Saving you £1.72 (15.26%)   |  RRP £12.99

  All My Loving was created when John Lennon and Paul McCartney challenged Palmer then a classical music documentarian to make a film that encompassed the 1968 music world in one hour of screen time. The film includes clips and interviews with the likes of The Beatles Jimi Hendrix The Who Pink Floyd - who had just lost Syd Barrett - Cream Donavan Frank Zappa and Eric Burdon. The film explores music with the idea that everyone demands heroes and these heroes were going to change the world through the power of their music. This was the time of student demonstrations against the war in Viet Nam. The music describes this movement with a bitterness too deep for words alone. The music becomes an escape from the troubles of the day.

• Henryk Gorecki - Symphony of Sorrowful Songs | DVD | (18/01/2010) from £13.28   |  Saving you £0.71 (5.10%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Although written in 1976 the 3rd Symphony by Henryk Grecki only came to real prominence in 1992 with Dawn Upshaw and the London Sinfonietta conducted by David Zinman via Elektra Nonesuch records. Tony Palmer director of music-related documentaries and films went to Poland to shoot this work in 1992. It involves a complete uninterrupted performance of the 3rd Symphony with camera attention moving between the orchestra Dawn Upshaw the sporano and the Composer interviewed in h

• Callas - 30th Anniversary Edition | DVD | (18/01/2010) from £15.99   |  Saving you £-2.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  There are so many astonishing facts about Maria Callas... First she was born not in Greece but in Manhattan and went to school there. Second considering her colossal influence and in contrast to the pumped-up preposterous overpaid pipsqueak divas of today her actual international career was tiny - 18 years at most. Third and in spite of her reputation her cancellation record was the lowest of any great singer of her day. Fourth she rarely looked at the conductor during an opera simply because she could not see him - she was very short-sighted and often appeared (partly as a result) to be in a trance while on stage. Fifth she was betrayed by most of those intimate with her throughout her life and eventually abandoned by many of those who should have known better and who claimed to have loved her. Sixth she died almost penniless - even her grotesquely rich long-time lover Onassis whose marriage to Jackie Kennedy she only discovered by watching the 6 o'clock news had invested her money in half a cargo boat which sank. Paradoxically although she died 30 years ago her records today outsell every other recorded classical artist and single handedly keep EMI Classics afloat. Last hers was not the most beautiful voice of her time as she frequently admitted. Some days it worked; other days it just didn't. In the end those who met her in Paris in the seventies agree that she was one of the loneliest most desperate of women they had ever encountered slowly drugging herself to death. Every day thank God is one day less she told Di Stefano. A summons to tea (for half an hour at most) often lasted until the early hours with the guest or guests pleaded with not to leave. It was pathetic and horrible but it was Callas. It was always Callas and that was the secret and the magic. We witness on stage a broken woman who sings nakedly from her heart about herself and her life who acts with such incredible power and unashamed truth that we stagger back before what we know in our hearts is all of her. No artifice here; no vulgar posturings to which her absurd imitators - and there are many - aspire. Gheorghiu Battle Garrett - they cannot touch her hem. Maria - just a woman who often spoke of Callas in the third person in trouble asking begging sometimes for our understanding and our love. She deserves it because there was no greater singing actress in our time. And she was only 53 when she died.

• Holst - In the Bleak Midwinter | DVD | (25/04/2011) from £15.75   |  Saving you £1.23 (9.64%)   |  RRP £13.99

• The World Of Liberace | DVD | (12/06/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £6.99

  In 1976 the pianist, entertainer and one of the biggest stars of the day, published a coffee table book about his collection of homes, jewellery and costumes called The Things I Love. This DVD is nothing more-nor-less than precisely that, as told to the acclaimed film-maker Tony Palmer... Liberace himself takes us on a guided tour of his Hollywood and Palm Springs homes and his treasured possessions. A celebrated connoisseur of antiques, Liberace tells us about the origins and restoration ...

• Yehudi Menuhin - Classic Archive | DVD | (04/11/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Contains: Beethoven Concerto with Colin Davis (1962) Mozart 3 directed by Menuhin (1967) Bruch 1 with Fricsay (1961) Beethoven Romance in F with Adrian Boult (1966)

• Tony Palmer - The Wigan Casino | DVD | (01/02/2010) from £8.35   |  Saving you £1.64 (16.40%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The Wigan Casino was not a gambling den near Manchester, anymore than The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell is about a funfair by the seaside, although curiously the two are inextricably related. The Wigan Casino was a dance hall and home to Northern Soul' at the height of its fashion in the mid- to late 70s in the centre of a once prosperous manufacturing town, once bursting with cotton mills, now brought low by economic hard times. It remains the most famous club in Northern England. Fro...

• Frank Zappa -200 Motels | DVD | (08/03/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  AMG-Frank Zappa's 200 Motels is a film that defies categorization. Although it was released to theaters it was shot on videotape and blown up for the big screen. Zappa was inspired by life on the road to assemble this surreal somewhat uneven movie which has no real plot; it is more like a series of music videos with occasional narrative passages featuring actor Theodore Bikel as the mysterious government agent Rance Muhammitz Ringo Starr playing Larry the Dwarf who is dressed up to look like Zappa and Keith Moon as a bizarre nun. A lot of the humor will appeal strictly to Zappa fans as will the often exciting music. Highlights include the hard driving Mystery Roach the hilarious Lonesome Cowboy Burt with a vocal by former Mothers of Invention drummer Jimmy Carl Black and the grandiose finale Strictly Genteel complete with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra which Zappa would re-record on more than one occasion. Oddly enough Zappa's appearances on screen are rather fleeting when compared to most rock musicians who seem to feel that the camera must be on the leader 90% of the time. The supporting cast of the Mothers of Invention on this occasion include lead singers Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan (formerly of the Turtles) saxophonist Ian Underwood George Duke (making a rare appearance on trombone instead of keyboards) and drummer Aynsley Dunbar. Track list 1 Semi-Fraudulent/Direct-From-Hollywood 2 Mystery Roach 3 Dance of the Rock & Roll Interviewers 4 This Won't Take Long 5 Centerville 6 The Sealed Tuna Bolero 7 Lonesome Cowboy Burt 8 Magic Fingers 9 The Lad Searches the Next for HisNewts 10 The Girl Wants to Fix Him Some Broth 11 The Girl's Dream 12 Little Green Scratchy Sweaters & Corduroy Ponce 13 A Nun Suit Painted on Some Old Boxes 14 Dental Hygiene Dilemma 15 Does This Kind of Life Look Interesting 16 Penis Dimension 17 Janet's Big Dance Number 18 Half a Dozen Provocative Squats 19 Lucy's Seduction of a Bored Violinist 20 Shove It Right In 21 What Will This Morning Bring Me This Evening 22 Daddy Daddy Daddy 23 What Will This Evening Bring Me This Morning 24 Mysterioso 25 Dental Hygiene Reprise 26 Strictly Genteel 27 The Finale 28 Postlude

• Cream: Farewell Concert | DVD | (02/06/2014) from £14.83   |  Saving you £5.16 (34.79%)   |  RRP £19.99

  British supergroup Cream - captured live at the Royal Albert Hall in 1968. This DVD features the special extended edition and has been digitally remastered from the best available sources. Track Listing: Sunshine of Your Love White Room Politician Crossroads Steppin' Out Spoonful Toad Behind the Music I'm So Glad Special Features: Biographical Extra Features

• The Beatles - All You Need Is Love | DVD | (05/08/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £6.99

  In the mid-70s, at the suggestion of John Lennon, the celebrated journalist and film director Tony Palmer decided to document the 'Story of Popular Music' and set about interviewing and filming all the major players in the industry at that time, past and present. Even in the mid-70s this was seen as a monumental task, but despite the scale of the undertaking, Tony Palmer made a series of films that set the standard to which all subsequent biographers and documentary makers aspired to.

• Andre Previn | DVD | (01/06/2009) from £7.99   |  Saving you £6.00 (75.09%)   |  RRP £13.99

  'Andr� Previn at 80! It scarcely seems credible. This is the man who won 4 Oscars almost 50 years ago, and still maintains a full conducting, playing and composing schedule, each discipline of which would exhaust a man half his age. And he really is a phenomenal pianist, a conductor of profound insights, and a composer of considerable tonal originality. I once asked him how many songs he had written. After much hesitation, he told me he couldn't really remember. And that was not modesty; he j...

• Frank Zappa's 200 Motels | DVD | (05/08/2013) from £9.43   |  Saving you £-2.44 (N/A%)   |  RRP £6.99

  '200 Motels' is a 1971 American-British musical surrealist film co-written and directed by Frank Zappa and Tony Palmer, starring The Mothers of Invention, Theodore Bikel, Ringo Starr and Keith Moon. The film covers a storyline about The Mothers of Invention going crazy in the small town Centerville...

• All You Need Is Love : The Story Of Popular Music - Tony Palmer's Classic Series (5 Discs - Region 0) | DVD | (05/05/2008) from £36.55   |  Saving you £37.44 (102.44%)   |  RRP £73.99

  Available to own for the first time!!!!! All You Need Is Love makes it DVD debut as a lavish boxed set containing all 17 episodes of this groundbreaking documentary spread across 5 discs. The series covers the ""Story OF Popular Music"" encompassing ragtime blues jazz vaudeville musicals folk swing country and rock n'roll and features some of the major names from the past 50+ years including John Lennon Paul McCartney Elvis Jerry Lee Lewis Hendrix Bing Crosby Dizzy Gillespie Muddy Waters Frank Zappa Mike Oldfield Tina Turner Eric Clapton Bill Wyman and many more!! Frequently described as ""THE definitive music documentary"" and regarded as much ""cult"" viewing today as it was upon original broadcast 30 years ago. It was in the mid 70's at the suggestion of John Lennon that celebrated journalist and film maker TONY PALMER decided to document the ""Story Of Popular Music"" and set about interviewing all the major players past and present at the time. Even in the 70's this was a monumental task but despite the undertaking the finished project was one that aspiring film makers would look to for inspiration even today. The program was originally broadcast between 1976 and 1981 but since that time it has neither been commercially released or repeated.