AN ANGLO-FRENCH CO-PRODUCTION BETWEEN PIERRE-OLIVIER BARDOT, IDÉALE AUDIENCE INTERNATIONAL, AND STEPHEN WRIGHT, IMG ARTISTS

SEVENTEEN DVD RELEASES THROUGH JULY, 2003, WITH ADDITIONAL RELEASES PLANNED

U.S. RELEASE DATE - MAY 6, 2003:

BRUNO MONSAINGEON'S FILM
GLENN GOULD: THE ALCHEMIST
GIBBONS: LORD SALISBURY'S PAVANE;
BYRD: GALLIARDE NO. 6;
SCHOENBERG: SUITE, OP. 25‹INTERMEZZO;
WEBERN: VARIATIONS, OP. 27;
BERG: SONATA NO. 1;
BACH: PARTITA NO. 6, BWV 830
Filmed in Toronto, 1794.
Source: INA Archive
BONUS: THE PIANO REVEALED ON FILM: TRIALS WITH GLENN GOULD
Filmed in Montreal, 1950s.
Source: National Archives of Canada
DVA 7243 4 90128 9 7

This legendary film includes performances intersperced with an ongoing conversation between Glenn Gould and Bruno Monsaingeon. The DVD includes a personal note by Monsaingeon describing the scope of the film and his friendship with Gould.

CLAUDIO ARRAU
SCHUMANN: CONCERTO; CARNAVAL
BEETHOVEN: SONATA No.32
All performances filmed in London and Paris in the 1960s and 1970s.
Sources: BBC Archive and INA Archive.
BONUS: SOLOMON PERFORMS BEETHOVEN'S APPASSIONATA
Filmed in London, 1956.
Source BBC Archive
DVB 7243 4 92839 9 2

Claudio Arrau's memorable rapport with the LSO under the young George Hurst is the stuff of visual poetry while Arrau goes it alone in Schumann's kaleidoscopic Carnaval and a work that is particularly associated with him, Beethoven's last piano sonata (Op.111). The bonus track brings us a precious opportunity to watch the fabled pianist Solomon throw caution to the winds in a thrilling rendition of Beethoven's Appassionata Sonata.

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DAVID OISTRAKH
BACH: CONCERTO BWV 1041;
BEETHOVEN: SONATA No. 5; BRAHMS: SCHERZO;
DEBUSSY: CLAIR DE LUNE (SUITE BERGAMASQUE)
PROKOFIEV: 5 MÉLODIES Op. 35
SCHUBERT: DUO IN A MAJOR (slow movement)
PLUS WITH IGOR OISTRAKH - PROKOFIEV: SONATA FOR 2 VIOLINS
BONUS: BRAHMS: CONCERTO (3rd movement)
All performances filmed in London and Paris, 1958 and 1960s.
Sources: BBC Archive and INA Archive.
DVA 7243 4 92837 9 4

David Oistrakh is widely considered to have been the most perceptive violinist of the Soviet era. To watch him enter into musical dialogue with his son Igor (Prokofiev's Sonata for two Violin), the distinguished pianist Lev Oborin (Beethoven's Spring Sonata) or his regular pianist-collaborator in later life Frida Bauer (Schubert Duo in A, plus various shorter works) is to witness the rarest level of musicianship. Also included are concerto performances under Sir Colin Davis (Bach A minor) and Rudolf Schwarz (the finale of Brahms's Violin Concerto).

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LEONID KOGAN
BEETHOVEN: VIOLIN CONCERTO
HANDEL: SONATA IN E MAJOR; PAGANINI: CANTABILE
BACH: SARABANDE (PARTITA No. 2)
FALLA/KOCHANSKI: SUITE POPULAIRE ESPAGNOLE
BRAHMS/KREISLER: HUNGARIAN DANCE No. 17
DEBUSSY/HEIFETZ: BEAU SOIR
SHOSTAKOVICH/TZIGANOV: 4 PRELUDES
BONUS: LECLAIR: SONATA FOR 2 VIOLINS (WITH LISE GILELS-KOGAN)
All performances filmed in London and Paris, 1960s.
Sources: BBC Archive and INA Archive
DVB 7243 4 92835 9 6

Oistrakh's younger rival Leonid Kogan is what you might call a "fiddler's fiddler". Like Jascha Heifetz, Kogan could indulge in the most mind-boggling pyrotechnics while keeping a cool exterior. You can see for yourself, especially in Joachim's tough first-movement cadenza for the Beethoven Violin Concerto, which Kogan plays with a maximum of aplomb and (apparently) a minimum of effort. It's fascinating how in this and similar contexts the mere flick of an eyebrow assumes disproportionate expressive significance. As with the Oistrakh DVD, there's the added fascination of seeing 'accompanying' artists whose celebrity - at least for us for most us - was limited to being named on record labels. In this case they're the pianists Andrey Mytnik and Naum Walter, the conductor Louis de Froment and Kogan's wife, Elizaveta Gilels (sister of the great pianist Emil Gilels).

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RÉGINE CRESPIN
BERLIOZ: ARIAS FROM LA DAMNATION DE FAUST & LES TROYENS, 'LE SPECTRE DE LA ROSE' FROM LES NUITS D'ÉTÉ;
LIEDER BY BRAHMS, SCHUBERT & SCHUMANN;
CHANSONS BY DUPARC, FAURÉ, POULENC & ROUSSEL;
Filmed in Paris in the 60's and 1972.
Source: INA Archive
BONUS: DENISE DUVAL & FRANCIS POULENC PERFORM SONGS & ARIAS BY THE COMPOSER
Filmed in Paris in 1959 and 1961.
Source: INA Archive.
DVA 7243 4 92847 9 7

The much-loved soprano Régine Crespin is captured here in major French and German repertory, with Denise Duval and Francis Poulenc performing Poulenc as a bonus.

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ARTUR RUBINSTEIN
BEETHOVEN: PIANO CONCERTO NO. 4;
Filmed in London, 1967.
Source: BBC Archive.
JASCHA HEIFETZ
MENDELSSOHN: VIOLIN CONCERTO (1st mvt);
DEBUSSY: LA FILLE AUX CHEVEUX DE LIN
DINICU/HEIFETZ: HORA STACCATO.
All three filmed in the USA, 1949, for the Bell Telephone Hour.
Source: Iowa University.
GREGOR PIATIGORSKY
WALTON: CELLO CONCERTO
Filmed in London, 1957.
Source: BBC Archive. BONUS: RUBINSTEIN PERFORMS CHOPIN'S POLONAISE IN A FLAT (HEROIC)
Filmed in London, 1968.
Source: BBC Archive.
DVA 7243 4 92841 9 7

The "Million Dollar Trio," showcased individually. Includes rare 1949 footage of Jascha Heifetz performing music by Mendelssohn, Debussy and Dinicu conducted by another 'record myth' Donald Vorhees. Amazing to watch this 'Violinist of the 20th Century' negotiate both an up-bow and down-bow staccato (in Dinicu's Hora Staccato) while the shimmering tone, so reminiscent of romantic movies from the black-and-white era, is unmistakable. Arthur Rubinstein joins forces with the LPO under the dynamic baton of Antál Dorati for a patrician reading of Beethoven's Fourth Concerto. The 'bonus' is a Rubinstein favourite, Chopin's A flat Polonaise, remarkable in its spontaneity and unforced grandeur. A real find is Gregor Piatigorski's intensely lyrical reading of Sir William Walton's then-new Cello Concerto, under Sir Malcolm Sargent, filmed in February 1957, that was less than a month after the world premiere.

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LEOPOLD STOKOWSKI
BEETHOVEN: SYMPHONY NO. 5;
SCHUBERT: SYMPHONY NO. 8 (UNFINISHED);
DEBUSSY: PRÉLUDE À L'APRÉS-MIDI D'UN FAUNE;
WAGNER: PRELUDE TO DIE MEISTERSINGER
All filmed in England, 1969 & 1972.
Source: BBC Archive.
BONUS: PIERRE MONTEUX CONDUCTING DUKAS' THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE
Filmed in London, 1961.
Source: BBC Archive.
DVA 7243 4 92843 9 7

The conductor Leopold Stokowski, as inspired as ever in his twilight years. There's Beethoven's Fifth and Schubert's "Unfinished" with the LPO, and Wagner and Debussy with the LSO - as fabulous to watch as to hear.

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YEHUDI MENUHIN
BEETHOVEN: VIOLIN CONCERTO
BRUCH: VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 1;
MOZART VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 3
BONUS: BEETHOVEN: ROMANCE IN F
All performances filmed in London & Paris in the 1960s.
Sources: BBC Archive & INA Archive.
DVA 7243 4 92845 9 7

Beethoven's Olympian Violin Concerto enjoys a second DVD (after Kogan's, that is) as part of a Yehudi Menuhin programme, which also includes Mozart's Third Violin Concerto and, most interestingly, Bruch's First Violin Concerto under a major conductor of the 1940s-60s, the late Ferenc Fricsay. The bonus is Beethoven's F major Romance under Sir Adrian Boult.

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MSTISLAV ROSTROPOVICH/SVIATOSLAV RICHTER
BEETHOVEN: CELLO SONATAS NOS. 1-5;
Filmed in Edinburgh, 1964.
Source: BBC Archive
BONUS: SVIATOSLAV RICHTER PERFORMS MENDELSSOHN'S VARIATIONS SÉRIEUSES
Filmed in Moscow, 1966.
Source: Ideale Audience / Gosteleradio
DVA 7243 4 92849 9 7

Beethoven's complete cello sonatas with cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and pianist Sviatoslav Richter offers a thrilling supplement to an already famous set of audio recordings (for Philips). The 'bonus' is Richter's commanding performance of what is probably Mendelssohn's greatest piano work, his Variations sérieuses.

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U.S. RELEASE DATE: JULY 8, 2003

IGOR MARKEVITCH
WAGNER: TANNHÄUSER OVERTURE; TRISTAN UND ISOLDE - PRELUDE UND LIEBESTOD
SHOSTAKOVICH: SYMPHONY NO. 1
STRAVINSKY: SYMPHONY OF PSALMS
All filmed in Paris in 1963, 1967 and 1968.
Source: INA Archive
BONUS: IGOR STRAVINSKY CONDUCTS THE FIREBIRD
Filmed in London, 1965.
Source: BBC Archive
DVB 7243 4 90111 9 9

Who could resist the fascinating prospect of Stravinsky conducting the 1965 New Philharmonia in his own Firebird Suite, cueing every line with unwavering authority? 'Stravinsky's Stravinsky' comes as the bonus to an ORTF concert of music by Wagner, Shostakovich (First Symphony) and more Stravinsky (Symphony of Psalms) led, between 1963 and 1968, by that most dynamic and fastidious of conductors - a fine composer himself, in fact - the Russian-born Italian Igor Markevitch.

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HERBERT VON KARAJAN
BERLIOZ: SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE (with Orchestra de Paris)
Filmed in Paris, 25 June 1970.
Source: INA Archive
BONUS: SIR JOHN BARBIROLLI CONDUCTS BERLIOZ'S LE CORSAIRE OVERTURE
Filmed in Manchester, England, 17 January 1962.
Source: BBC Archive
DVA 7243 4 90113 9 7

This 1970 production transforms the Orchestre de Paris into a mass of silvers and golds, with rainbow colours, hands among the shadows flying across keys or fingerboards and Herbert von Karajan himself the invariable center of attention. Only he could make the Orchestra de Paris sound like the Berlin Philharmonic though the bonus of Sir John Barbirolli conducting his own Hallé Orchestra in 1962 in Berlioz's overture Le corsair is hardly less revealing.

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CARLO MARIA GIULINI
MUSSORGSKY: PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION
MOZART: SYMPHONY NO. 4
FALL: EL SOMBRERO DE TRES PICOS
VERDI: I VESPRI SICILIANI OVERTURE
BONUS: GUIDO CANTELLI CONDUCTS ROSSINI'S SEMIRAMIDE OVERTURE
Filmed in London in 1950 (bonus), 1964 and 1968.
Source: BBC Archive.
DVA 7243 4 90115 9 5

Like Markevitch, Carlo Maria Giulini moulded musical phrases much as a sculptor handles clay, though the relatively young Giulini had an abundance of fire coursing through his veins, especially in Falla's "Three-cornered Hat" Suite and another Mussorgsky Pictures, so different to Cluytens, both in style and orchestral sonority (the Philharmonia). Mozart's 'big' G minor Symphony (No. 40) is played from a decidedly lyrical axis, and Verdi's overture I Vespri siciliani (1968, New Philharmonia - the rest are from 1964) with real panache. And there's the bonus, rare footage of another indelible Italian overture, Rossini's Semiramide, heard in an electrifying 1950 Edinburgh Usher Hall rehearsal by the La Scala Orchestra under the late Guido Cantelli.

The young man who was popularly earmarked as Toscanini's successor gives his all, both physically and musically, for a performance that on the night must have been unforgettable. A few years later and he died in a plane crash, which makes this telling albeit brief appearance all the more valuable.

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NATHAN MILSTEIN
MOZART: ADAGIO, K. 261, AND RONDO, K. 373;
PAGANINI: TWO CAPRICES;
FALLA: SUITE POPULARIE ESPAGNOLE (JOTA, ASTURIANA)
NOVACEK: PERPETUUM MOBILUM
MOZART: VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 5 (FIRST MOVEMENT)
BRAHMS: VIOLIN CONCERTO (THIRD MOVEMENT)
All filmed in London, 1957 and 1963.
Source: BBC Archive
BEETHOVEN: KREUTZER SONATA (FIRST & THIRD MOVEMENTS)
BACH: PARTITA NO. 2 (CHACONNE)
PAGANINI: PAGANINIANA
Filmed in Paris, 10 December 1968.
Source: INA Archive
BACH: PARTITA NO. 3 (PRELUDE)
BONUS: MISCHA ELMAN PERFORMS KREISLER'S "SCHÖN ROSMARIN" & "PREGHIERA" ON A THEME OF PADRE MARTINI
Filmed in London in 1962 and 1963.
Source: BBC Archive
DVA 7243 4 90117 9 3

A striking recollection of times past crops up as a 'bonus' on a DVD devoted principally to that most sophisticated of Old-World violin virtuosos, Nathan Milstein. Comparing Milstein's sleek delivery with the warmth and capriciousness of Mischa Elman in 1962 - his 'sobbing' tone was quite unlike anyone else's - is tantamount to comparing different instruments. Milstein, heard here between 1957 and 1968, is at his most dazzling in Novacek and Paganini, and at his most musically sublime in Mozart and Bach (including the great, unaccompanied "Chaconne" in D minor).

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TERESA BERGANZA
FALLA: 7 CANCIONES POPULARES ESPAÑOLAS;
SONGS OF MOZART, MONTSALVATGE, OBRADORS, GURIDI, SCHUBERT & DONIZETTI
MOZART: "NON SO PIÙ" & "VOI CHE SAPETE" FROM LE NOZZE DI FIGARO; "PARTO, PARTO" FROM LA CLEMENZA DI TITO;
ROSSINI: "NACQUI ALL' AFFANO" FROM LA CENERENTOLA
Filmed in London, Paris and Provence in 1960, 1964 and 1967.
Sources: BBC Archive and INA Archive
BONUS: GERALD MOORE INTRODUCES DIETRICH FISCHER DIESKAU
SCHUBERT: "GEHEIMNIS"
JULIUS PATZAK
R. STRAUSS: "ZUEIGNUNG"; J. STRAUSS: "NUR FÜR NATUR" FROM DIE LUSTIGE KRIEG
HANS HOTTER
SCHUMANN: "DIE BEIDEN GRENADIERE"
CHRISTA LUDWIG
SCHUBERT: "DER TOD UND DAS MÄDCHEN"; WOLF: "ALS ICH AUF DEM EUPHRAT; R. STRAUSS: "SCHLECHTES WETTER" & "CÄCILIE"
Filmed in London in 1959 and 1961.
Source: BBC Archive.
DVA 7243 4 90119 9 1

You immediately sense it as soon as Tereza Berganza takes centre stage at Paris's Salle Pleyel in 1964 for "Nacqui all'affano..." from Rossini's La Cenerentola, the sheer joy of it, the feisty side-glances and inner vitality. Interesting too that her excellent conductor is Eugen Jochum, a musician more associated with Bruckner and Haydn than with Rossini. Classic archive's Berganza DVD (recorded 1964-7) combines opera and song. The same disc incorporates a valuable bonus where the 'unashamed accompanist' Gerald Moore, no less charismatic than Berganza in his own modest way, collaborates with four of the twentieth century's finest concert singers, Christa Ludwig, Julius Patzak, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Hans Hotter, recorded between 1959 and 1962.

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MSTISLAV ROSTROPOVICH
SHOSTAOKOVICH: CELLO CONCERTO NO. 1
Filmed in London, 16 December 1961.
Source: BBC Archive
PROKOFIEV: SINFONIA CONCERTANTE
Filmed in Cannes, 12 January 1970.
Source: INA Archive
BONUS: GALINA VISHNEVSKAYA SINGS MUSSORGSKY'S SONGS AND DANCES OF DEATH:
Filmed in Paris, 20 January 1970.
Source: INA Archive
DVA 7243 4 90121 9 6

'Slava' Rostropovich, intense as ever in two major works that he had himself premiered years earlier: Shostakovich's First Cello Concerto (recorded 1960) and Prokofiev's Sinfonia Concertante (1970). The bonus this time is a haunting and demonstrative performance of Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death, again from 1970, where Slava switches to the piano to accompany his wife, the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya.

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ALFRED BRENDEL
BEETHOVEN: PIANO SONATA HAMMERKLAVIER
BAGATELLE, OP. 126, NOS. 2 & 3
BONUS: JULIUS KATCHEN PERFORMS SCHUBERT'S WANDERER FANTASIE
All filmed in Paris, 1967 and 1970.
Source: INA Archive
DVA 7243 4 90123 9 4

Alfred's Brendel's Beethoven regularly prompts the kind of critical accolades that Schnabel, Fischer and Kempff had inspired for earlier generations. Beethoven's mighty Hammerklavier Sonata is the centrepiece of Brendel's programme, a performance from 1970, whereas the invaluable 1967 bonus is Schubert's epic Wanderer Fantasy performed, with immense warmth and panache, by the much-missed American pianist Julius Katchen.

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ANDRÉ CLUYTENS & EMIL GILELS
RAVEL: DAPHNIS ET CHLOÉ - SUITE NO. 2;
MUSSORGSKY: PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION
TCHAIKOVSKY: PIANO CONCERTO NO. 1
All filmed in Paris in 1959 and 1960.
Source: INA Archive
BONUS: EMIL GILELS PERFORMS PROKOFIEV'S PIANO SONATA NO. 3
Filmed in London, 19 February 1959.
Source: BBC Archive
DVA 7243 4 90125 9 2

Viewers of Emil Gilels playing Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in 1959 will note with some amusement that in the Concerto's finale Gilels's fingers move at such lightning speed that the camera can barely keep up with them. It's truly amazing playing, solidly supported by the ORTF Orchestra under the Belgian maestro André Cluytens. Ravel was of course a Cluytens speciality (witness his many Ravel recordings for EMI Classics). The same DVD features vivid performances of the aromatic Daphnis et Chloé Second Suite, Ravel's vivid orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (with vibrant brass sonorities that were typical of French orchestras of the period) and the return of Gilels for a compelling performance of Prokofiev's concise Third Sonata.

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