This concert recording from 1961 is one of the last recordings with two outstanding musicians from Basie’s band, Joe Williams and Joe Newman, who both departed from the band in 1961 to pursue solo careers. Joe Williams, known for having a deeper and…

Thelonious Monk is famous for his unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Ruby, My Dear", which is part of the "Thelonious Monk Quartet" recording. He is also the second-most-recorded…

Introducing Masterpieces of Classical Music is an informative and entertaining guide to some of the most important symphonic works of music history. As well as featuring a complete concert performance it also includes an insightful documentary, in…

This documentary brings the Russian composer to the present - radically: Based on Tchaikovsky‘s diaries and letters, director Ralf Pleger discovers an entirely new side and sketches an entirely different profile of the man whose mind and talent…

Max Lorenz was at the height of his career as a heldentenor in 1941. As a homosexual with a Jewish wife in Nazi Germany, he would have faced deportation. However, as Hitler’s favourite tenor and a symbol of his times, he was protected by Hitler and…

There was probably no other artist, who was involved creatively in so many stages of the development of Jazz music as Duke Ellington. His sonic individuality originated in his peculiar style of composing and arranging, in which he was interweaving…

Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony is given an electrifying reading by the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of the great Leonard Bernstein. His innate musicality and commanding presence is complemented by his unbounded energy, embracing the…

The DVD presents a unique chance to see Leonard Bernstein conducting Bach’s Magnificat and Stravinsky’s Mass. Recorded in 1977 in Saint Augustine’s Church, London, it is an intimate and moving recording, presenting two of the most important pieces in…

‘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 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…