Claudio Arrau was considered the complete pianist because he went beyond mere technique, and took listeners into the mind of the composer as if he were a medium through whom the composer was speaking. He was therefore known universally as ‘The…

This documentary tells Mahler’s real story, going against any romanticised images we may have of the subject. The film has a visual sensuality, placing the spectator in Mahler’s shoes, and, using documented evidence (drawing on the latest research)…

Uniquely, Django Reinhardt fits several simultaneous archetypes. He is the streetwise kid turned celebrity. He is the miraculous surivor of an accident who went on to overcome his handicap. He is the illiterate who used musical notes as a universal…

The most extraordinary virtuoso in musical history must surely be Franz Liszt. This documentary, featuring many leading Liszt experts (including Charles Rosen, Leslie Howard, Antonio Pappano and Evgeny Kissin), concentrates on his earlier years when…

The film "Shadows in Paradise" portrays the vibrant atmosphere of the Los Angeles German-speaking exile community during the 1930s and 1940s, revealing their struggles, frustrations and achievements. By 1939 tens of thousands of intellectuals and…

The Classic Archive collection presents two unreleased performances filmed by BBC television in 1977: celebrated pianist Martha Argerich plays Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3. and the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1. Both pieces are technically…

World famous bass-baritone Ruggero Raimondi prepares for a staging of Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni at Bolgogna’s historic Teatro Comunale, working alongside conductor Riccardo Chailly and stage director Luca Ronconi as well as a distinguished cast of…

A concert in honor of the 85th birthday of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. The Cappella Musicale Pontificia "Sistina" is one of the oldest and most prestigious musical institutions the “Choir of the Pope”. Under the direction of Massimo Palombella…

‘My Favourite Opera – Barbara Hendricks’ intertwines three related strands: firstly the distinguished soprano Barbara Hendricks discusses her international career as a singer; secondly we follow the preparation for the 1990 production of Donizetti’s…

The Gala presented by the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 2011 in support of Aids-related charities brought together the cream of Europe’s opera singers, in a programme of well-lover operatic excerpts, from Rossini, through Verdi to Wagner. Conducting was…