A sample of today's finest jazz artists, providing an overview of the variety, internationality and fascination of today's world of jazz.

Recorded in the Berliner Philharmonie, Berlin in 1992.

The Christmas concert recorded at the Berlin Schauspielhaus on the Gendarmeriemarkt was one of the first joint musical productions of the reunited Germany. Fade-overs to landscapes and other locations in snow and ice turn the concert into a romantic…

Hungarian choreographer Youri Vámos combined E.T.A. Hoffmann's "Nutcracker" story with Dickens' immortal "A Christmas Carol". A colourful dance production in which ballet, music and film are skillfully combined.

They started out in 1981 as a New York City street band, playing jazz, gospel and classics. Now they're an internationally acclaimed quartet forming a tighly-knit unit with their own distinctive identity, performing both traditional and experimental…

The ensemble makes its point both with the fantasic playing of the wind instruments as well as the virtuosic precision of Dave Holland's bass.

Barbara Thompson has long been acknowledged as the first lady of the sax. Together with her band "Paraphernalia" and Jon Hiseman, she ranks among the world's top Jazz-rock ensembles.

Norbert Beilharz captures the Swiss choreographer Heinz Spoerli's work methods on film, basing his portrait on the development of the Swiss master's new ballet: "Goldberg Variations".

Serenade No. 10 in B-flat major "Gran Partita", K. 361 Serenade No. 12 in C minor, K. 388 Serenade No. 13 in G major

Franz von Suppé: Overture "Light Cavalry"; Franz Schubert/Franz Liszt: Wanderer Fantasy; George Enescu: Rumanian Rhapsody No. 1; Bedrich Smetana: Overture from "The Bartered Bride"; Richard Strauss: Waltzes from "Der Rosenkavalier"; Johann Strauss…