To celebrate his 80th birthday, Kurt Masur led “his” Gewandhaus Orchestra in a special gala concert in June 2007. For his birthday concert, Masur, currently principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre National de France…

Beethoven, Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic is one of the most perfect combinations ever to have emerged from the classical music world. When the Ninth Symphony is performed at a New Year’s Eve concert, it becomes an even more spectacular event…

Regarded as one of the world’s greatest living composers, Hans Werner Henze (born 1926) is ’particularly well known for his works for the stage. He composed one of his great successes, the comic opera Der junge Lord (The Young Lord) to a libretto by…

Franz Liszt described the art of conducting as less than a task to be in evidence but rather a feat in disappearing behind the function itself. Conductors are pilots, not servants. Looking back at the past two centuries, we have been blessed with the…

Martha Argerich has long been hailed as one of the greatest and most uniquely imaginative pianists. She is most admired for the pure joy of her music-making and her individual approach to each work, each situation and each audience. A wild child and…

As their personal tribute to Mozart in his anniversary year 2006, Gil & Orli Shaham performed a selection of violin sonatas by the Austrian master in the Palais Daun-Kinsky in Vienna. Brimming with energy and bravery, tempered only by a deep…

This DVD documents a true Bruckner celebration. Recorded live in 2006 at the Bruckner Festival in Linz, Austria, the Cleveland Orchestra performed a sensational Fifth Symphony under Franz Welser-Möst. The Fifth Symphony is Anton Bruckner's (1824–1896…

By happy chance, Rudolf Buchbinder’s 60th birthday coincided with the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth. In celebration of both, he presented a series of Mozart concertos with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra at the 2006 Vienna Festival. Rudolf…

These recordings pay tribute to the legendary Herbert von Karajan. We see the incomparable Maestro in rehearsals and performances of two works that were close to his heart: Schumann’s Symphony No.4 and Beethoven’s Symphony No.5. Recorded in Vienna…

The two films on this DVD combine some of the most demanding chamber works ever written. Recorded at the atmospheric Academy of Sciences in Budapest, the Keller Quartet plays a version of Bach’s unfinished masterpiece The Art of the Fugue for string…