“What is this life—and this death?” Gustav Mahler famously asked when composing his second symphony. Does consciousness “continue” on a higher cosmic level, he wondered, or is it “only an empty dream?” Narrated by renowned baritone Thomas Hampson, this film explores the musical, biographical, and philosophical background of the monumental work. Viewers are treated to beautifully produced historical reenactments as well as interviews with many of the world’s most respected Mahler scholars and biographers, including Henry-Louis de La Grange, Donald Mitchell, Morten Solvik, and others. Philosopher Martha Nussbaum and theologians Catherine Keller and Neil Gillman also add their insights. Woven throughout is a critically acclaimed performance of the symphony featuring members of the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra under the direction of maestro Neeme Järvi.
5.0Starting out as a comedic courtroom adventure, the DS game Gyakuten Saiban attracted vast amounts of fans with its fun system, intriguing plot, enchanting characters and wonderful BGM tracks. To praise the game's excellent music, a classical orchestral performance was arranged in April for all fans to come together and enjoy. For those who unfortunately missed the event, you can take part in it, although belatedly, through the DVD recording of the concert. Through the DVD view menu, watch the game's images that were projected onto the large screen during the performance.
0.0Home video release of the "Dragon Quest V" orchestra concert conducted by Koichi Sugiyama. Based on the Dragon Quest video game series and featuring music from Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride, Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies, Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line, Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation and Dragon Quest X: Mezameshi Itsutsu no Shuzoku Online
6.8Mickey guest-directs a radio orchestra. The sponsor loves the rehearsal, but come the actual performance, Goofy drops all the instruments under an elevator, so they sound like toys. The sponsor hates it, but the audience loves it anyway.
4.0A section from the life of composer Franz Schubert as a material for a love story. Also known in English as Gently My Songs Entreat. An English version called Unfinished Symphony would follow in 1934.
8.3A concert by contemporary instrumental musician, Yanni, recorded live at the Herodes Atticus Theatre in Athens on 25 Sep 1993.
6.7Famed composer Gustav Mahler reflects on the tragedies of his life and failing marriage while traveling by train.
8.0American conductor John Meredith and his manager, Hank Higgins, go to Russia shortly before the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. Meredith falls in love with beautiful Soviet pianist Nadya Stepanova while they travel throughout the country on a 40-city tour. Along the way, they see happy, healthy, smiling, free Soviet citizens, blissfully living the Communist dream. This bliss is destroyed by the German invasion.
0.0Home video featuring The London Philharmonic performing music from Dragon Quest IV: Michibikareshi Monotachi, conducted by composer Koichi Sugiyama.
6.3Bugs Bunny conducts an orchestra of all his greatest operatic hits.
0.0To play Beethoven's music is to give oneself over completely to the child-spirit which lived in that grim, awkward, violent man. Without that utter submission it is impossible to play the Adagio of the Ninth. Or, Heaven knows, the first movement. And the Finale? Most of all! It is simply unplayable unless we go all the way with him, as he cries out "Brüder!" - Leonard Bernstein
7.0A young girl is born into an enchanting yet complex world where she must make the crucial decision to follow the path of an angel or a demon, two forces mercilessly competing for her attention, set to the music of Mahler's Eighth Symphony.
0.0The charismatic and inspiring Claudio Abbado and the mesmerising young pianist Yuja Wang, with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, hold the audience spellbound in this opening concert of the 2009 Lucerne Festival. Prokofiev's popular and vibrant Third Piano Concerto demonstrates the composer's sharp musical wit, and Yuja Wang is a brilliant exponent of the work. Following this, and chiming beautifully with the festival's theme of the relationship between art and nature, Mahler's First Symphony is given an illuminating and rapturously received performance.
10.0Known for his mournful "Adagio for Strings," Samuel Barber was never quite fashionable. This acclaimed film is a probing exploration of his music and melancholia. Performance, oral history, musicology, and biography combine to explore the life and music of one of America’s greatest composers. Features Thomas Hampson, Leonard Slatkin, Marin Alsop and many more of the world's leading experts on Barber's music, with tributes from composers Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson and William Schuman. The film was broadcast on PBS, and screened at nine film festivals internationally, with three best-of awards. It was named a Recording of the Year 2017 by MusicWeb International.
0.0A story built around the music of Oskar Merikanto, tells the love story of the poor musician Lauri Alanko and the daughter of the rich Grahn family Annina. Annina’s family doesn’t approve of the relationship, and the couple’s happiness is also threatened by Lauri’s worsening eye disease.
9.0Karajan's very best video Beethoven 9th Symphony, recorded December 31, 1977. The Quartet of vocal soloists and Chorus in IV are superb. This is much better than Karajan's 1968 Berlin Philharmonic Beethoven 9 video (DG), filmed in the Philharmonie with no live audience present.
5.0Attrazione d'Amore is a touching illustration of the unique relation that has developed between the Conductor Riccardo Chailly and his famous Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Voyage to Cythera navigates through wonderful musical quotes made of performances conducted by Berio, rehearsals, archival documents and interviews featuring Riccardo Chailly and Louis Andriessen.
0.0After the great success of his Beethoven cycle, Christian Thielemann now turns with his new orchestra, the Staatskapelle Dresden, to the symphonic work of Johannes Brahms. Bonus features include: an extensive 52 minute interview with Christian Thielemann on Brahms' Symphonies and provides and in-depth look into his interpretation of Brahms.
10.0Tour de JAPON music from FINAL FANTASY is a concert tour featuring music from the Final Fantasy video game series that toured Japan from March 12 to April 16, 2004. The concert was built upon the success of 20020220 music from FINAL FANTASY and featured numerous unreleased tracks during its tour. The Yokohama performance (March 12, 2004) was recorded and released exclusively on DVD to fanclub members residing in Japan.
0.0The charismatic and inspiring Claudio Abbado and the magnificent mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená, with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, hold the audience spellbound in this live recording from Lucerne Festival in Summer. Mahler’s five Rückert-Lieder – in a profoundly moving and rapturously received performance – precede Mahler’s sublime and deeply personal Fourth Symphony. This extraordinary work is executed with power, passion and sensitivity, with Magdalena Kožená giving a transcendent rendition of the final movement.
9.0“It would be hard to find anything greater, more significant or more moving anywhere in musical life today: total harmony of mind and heart, poetry and outcry, fear and consolation, knowing and feeling,” declared the Berne paper ‘Der Bund’ after this stunning performance of Mahler’s ‘Resurrection’ Symphony in August 2003 by the newly founded Lucerne Festival Orchestra. Claudio Abbado had formed this ensemble from famous instrumentalists, celebrated chamber-musicians and experienced soloists from the world’s best orchestras, and the event was sold out months in advance. The ‘Neue Zürcher Zeitung’ reported: “Once again the applause at the end was unequalled; the immense final chord … broke a tension that had lasted over 90 minutes without relaxing for a moment.”
