This selection of some of Bach’s most perennially popular keyboard music admirably demonstrates the many varied facets of the composer’s fertile imagination. Deep pathos is contrasted with witty humour, serenity is paired with fleetness of foot, and…

Antonio Pappano has been announced the successor of Bernard Haitink as Music Director of the Royal Opera in London’s Covent Garden. Since 1992, when he was named Music Director of the Théatre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, he has been working with…

Daniel Barenboim plays Franz Liszt: Wagner and Verdi Opera transcriptions.

31 July is the anniversary of Franz Liszt's death. A series of programmes produced by Bavarian Television with Daniel Barenboim sheds light on the much wrinkled activity of the piano virtuoso, composer, music teacher and theorist, conductor and…

In March of 2004, the Royal Opera Covent Garden in London cancelled its contract with Deborah Voigt. The official reason given by the casting director: too fat. The opera world was outraged. Since when can't opera singers be overweight? Since Callas…

The film portrays Bruno Walter (1876-1962), one of the most important conductors of the 20th century. The Italian biographer Michele Selvini speaks about the musician Bruno Walter who formed the musical life of the capitals of Europe and the United…

Hungarian pianist Zoltán Kocsis performs various child scenes and pieces for children composed by Robert Schumann, Claude Debussy, and Bela Bartok. The intimate atmosphere of the recording allows to admire the artist closely while playing.

To celebrate the occasion of his 200th birthday on 1 March 2010, this film shows little known facets of Frédéric Chopin: the passionate opera fan, the admirer of the great female singers of his time, the advocate of the aesthetics of bel canto – the…

The composer Claude Debussy was born in St. Germain-en-Laye, a few miles outside Paris, in 1862. While a pupil at the Conservatoire, he composed music that did not conform to the theory of the times. He contradicted his teachers by claiming that…

This film gives us unique insight into the dedication and involvement of one of the world's greatest conductors. The programme includes footage of rehearsals and performances with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Wiener Philharmoniker and the Gustav…