The Czech composer based his libretto on the play "Le Voyage de Thésée" by his friend and trusted source of inspiration, Georges Neveux. Martinu is said to have written the opera for Maria Callas. In this production, the role is sung by the…

The Japanese pianist Aki Takase is a veritable typhoon of power and clarity. Her playing shows what can happen when the European rules of melody, harmony and rhythm come face to face with a distinctly Asian way of thinking!

Recorded during the "Schwetzinger Festspiele" 1989 in the cathedral of Speyer.

Sir Peter Hall's outstanding Glyndebourne Festival Opera production of "Fidelio" remains remarkably faithful to the way Beethoven intended the opera to be. He managed to inject fresh excitement and suspense into "Fidelio", providing a perfect…

Live from Paris 1977

A magnificent Christmas concert, with music ranging from motets to popular Christmas standards, performed by Leipzig's world famous boys' choir. A fascinating half-hour documentary examines the history of the choir from its foundation in the early…

Monteverdi is generally regarded as the father of European opera. His "Poppea" is a blood and thunder melodrama, set in Nero's Rome and loaded with passion, jealousy, murder and savage ambition.

Celebrating New Year's Eve in a legendary duo performance on saxophone and drums, 'Lounge Lizard' John Lurie, actor, performer and musician, talks about love and life and gives a gentle insight into modern time's hipster attitudes.

A Christmas television special from Prague. The programme features a Thanksgiving service in the beautiful Baroque Church of St. Jacob and carol singing in the medieval Old Town Square.

A hand-picked ensemble of soloists join together with the Gächinger Kantorei and the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart under the direction of Helmuth Rilling to give a truly definitive performance of this pre-eminent masterwork.