The Dutch-based Begijnhof Academy is an ensemble of international musicians and singers who specialise in the performance of baroque music. In this recording, their musical director, Roderick Shaw, conducts performances of Henry Purcell’s My Heart is Inditing and Francisco Valls’ Missa Scala Aretina.
Symphony No.3 “Eroica”
Frans Brüggen’s Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century consists of some forty-five musicians and the structure is based on the ‘luxury’ orchestras that flourished in Mannheim, Paris and Vienna in the eighteenth century. Specialising in the music of that era, the orchestra uses period instruments or copies of them. Their spectacular rendition of Beethoven’s Eroica has won them international acclaim. This live recording comes from the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
Symphony No.7
This ballet, choreographed and designed by Toer van Schayk, is set to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7. Described by Wagner as a “grand apotheosis of the dance”, a celebration of man’s delight in his own physical energy, the symphony was composed in 1812, and van Schayk hears in the music the composer’s ecstatic longing for the sublime future he supposed would follow the Napoleonic Wars. 7th Symphony was recorded in studio and the music is played by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, conducted by Bernard Haitink.
Gran Partita – Serenade No. 10 in B flat
Mozart’s Gran Partita – the Serenade No. 10 in B flat K361 – is scored for twelve wind instruments (two oboes, two clarinets, two basset horns, four horns, two bassoons) and a double bass. The seven-part work is performed by woodwind players of the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, specialists in authentic performances of the music of Mozart’s era.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Colombian author, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982, is best-known for his novels. One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera, which have become phenomenal best-sellers world-wide. Less well known is his interest in, and work for, cinema. In this film, shot in Colombia and Cuba, Márquez gives a rare interview in which he talks about his involvement in Latin American cinema and the way in which this intermeshes with his writing.
Rossini The Chef
Rossini (1792-1868) was only thirty-eight when he stopped composing. Was he drained
of inspiration, or did he, as hearsay goes, devote the rest of his life to the culinary arts?
This light-hearted film, a subtle blend of fact and fiction, sets out in search of an answer.
Accompanied by a fea of his music and gathering opinions from a wide range of connoisseurs – from
chefs and sausage-makers to Pavarotti, Raimondi and Muti – the programme tracks the maestro
through Italy and uncovers a wealth of information.
Still Life at the Penguin Cafe
The idiosyncratic music and imaginary world of Simon Jeffes, founder of the Penguin Café Orchestra, prompted David Bintley to create this ballet, set in a café where penguins resemble people and people resemble penguins. Here, an exuberant cabaret is presented by a succession of exotic creatures. The inventive and amusing choreography, enlivened by Hayden Griffin’s ingenious sets and costumes, also highlights the plight of the world’s endangered species. Recorded in studio.
Alice
Many creative talents have found inspiration in the books of Lewis Carroll, and Glen Tetley’s ballet on this theme is set to music by David Del Tredici. His multi-layered ballet presents many of the famous characters from the Alice books and also speculates on the relationship between Carroll and his real life muse, ten-year-old Alice Liddell. Music, dance and design are combined to great dramatic effect in this specially-staged studio recording, which stars prima ballerina Karen Kain.
La Ronde
Prima ballerina Karen Kain leads an outstanding cast in this studio recording of Glen Tetley’s probing dance drama, based on Schnitzler’s play La Ronde, which scandalised the public when it was premiered in 1903. It shows a linked series of sexual encounters exposing the decaying morals of Vienna at the turn of the nineteenth century. Set to Erich Korngold’s Sinfonietta, Tetley’s translates La Ronde into a stunning series of pas de deux, danced by ten characters, ranging from a prostitute to a count.
Mitsuiko Uchida
Uchida is one of the leading interpreters of Mozart piano music of her generation. In this studio recital, she plays Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 17 in D K576, and the Adagio in B minor K540. An introduction, in which Uchida talks about Mozart and his music, is available (recorded in German).