Dietrich Fischer Dieskau makes for an intriguingly offbeat, enjoyably seedy knight under Leonard Bernstein's baton. Bernstein has some interesting ideas about this opera, and not all of them work, but he grounds the opera with a solid, inspiring cast. Regina Resnik is clearly having a ball as Quickly, Rolando Panerai is fantastic in one of his most reliable roles. Only Juan Oncina and Graziella Sciutti, as the young lovers, disappoint. Best of all is Ilva Ligabue, caught in her prime in one of her best roles. Most of the cast would also feature in Bernstein's studio recording, but this live performance has a vitality absent from the more well-known studio effort.

Mstislav Rostropovich did more for the advancement of the cello than probably any other artist since Pablo Casals. Even after his sad passing in 2007 at the age of 80, is musical influence is felt not only in the cello community, but among orchestral musicians as well. This Deutsche Grammophon DVD is among the many tributes to Rostropovich that have surfaced over the short time since his passing. It features the Schumann Concerto and Bloch's Schelomo with Leonard Bernstein and the Orchestre National de France and Strauss' Don Quixote with Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic. All of these performances are given their first DVD release here. Schumann and Bloch are given intense, riveting performances by Rostropovich and orchestra alike. Any other cellist who played with as much force and aggression would be accused of overplaying, but with Rostropovich the intensity and conviction of his playing are what make the entire performance.

Early in 1935, the American violinist Louis Krasner suggested to Berg that he write a violin concerto, but Berg, involved with the orchestration of his opera Lulu, was not then interested in a new project. However, the death from poliomelytis of his young friend Manon Gropius, daughter of Mahler’s widow, that spring so saddened him that he decided to compose a concerto as a memorial to her. Te score was finished on August 11, 1935 – record time for the slow-working, meticulous Berg. Dedicated ‘to the memory of an angel’ the Violin Concerto was to be his last completed work, for on December 24 he died of septicemia of the age of fifty. Krasner gave the world premiere on April 19, 1936, in Barcelona, under Hermann Scherchen.

This DVD presents three of Mozart's best-loved sacred works, filmed in the magnificent Baroque Basilica of Waldsassen, Bavaria. "It is the time and the place for Mozart, that he may strengthen us, bless us, and help us finally to archieve peace of earth", declared Leonard Bernstein, introducing this concert in 1990 - the year of his death. Featuring superb soloists, his inspirational performance of the great C minor Mass found widespread critical acclaim.

Haydn’s Creation, the culmination of his life’s work, in a legendary 1986 performance conducted by Leonard Bernstein in the exquisite Baroque splendor of the Benedictine Abbey of Ottobeuren, Bavaria, now available on DVD for the first time. This spectacular performance also includes Bernstein’s spoken introduction to the performance —always an invaluable addition to any concert.

The Requiem in D minor, K. 626, is a requiem mass by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791). Mozart composed part of the Requiem in Vienna in late 1791, but it was unfinished at his death on 5 December the same year…

Leonard Bernstein conducts three of his own works: 'Divertimento', 'Serenade for Violin and Orchestra (after Plato's Symposium)' featuring violinist Gidon Kremer and 'Symphony no. 2 - The Age of Anxiety' featuring pianist Krystian Zimerman. The programme also includes 'Teachers and Teaching', a documentary in which Bernstein rehearses, reminisces about his mentors and interacts with pupils and colleagues.

Here are three 20th-century violin concertos written within a 30-year period in three totally different styles, played by a soloist equally at home in all of them. Bernstein's Serenade, the earliest and most accessible work, takes its inspiration from Plato's Symposium; its five movements, musical portraits of the banquet's guests, represent different aspects of love as well as running the gamut of Bernstein's contrasting compositional styles. Rorem's concerto sounds wonderful. Its six movements have titles corresponding to their forms or moods; their character ranges from fast, brilliant, explosive to slow, passionate, melodious. Philip Glass's concerto, despite its conventional three movements and tonal, consonant harmonies, is the most elusive. Written in the "minimalist" style, which for most ordinary listeners is an acquired taste, it is based on repetition of small running figures both for orchestra and soloist, occasionally interrupted by long, high, singing lines in the violin against or above the orchestra's pulsation.

Leonard Bernstein recorded nearly all of Brahms's orchestral works on film with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra to honour the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth in 1983. Today, the cycle is considered a landmark in the interpretation of Brahms's music. Here are four masterpieces: the two concert overtures, the brilliant "Haydn" Variations, and the delightfully Haydnesque A major Serenade.

The knock-out concert event of 2006! Anna Netrebko, Plácido Domingo and Rolando Villazón came together for one unforgettable evening of opera arias and ensembles. This is not a cross-over concert, but a genuine collection of operatic gems, performed by three thrilling performers in front of an audience of 20,000 roaring fans. The excitement in the audience brings out the best in each performer. With selections from L'Arlesiana, Gianni Schicchi, Otello, Les Pêcheurs de Perles, Giuditta, La Bohème, West Side Story and much more! Marco Armiliato leads the Deutschen Oper Berlin Orchestra.

Leonard Bernstein and the Wiener Philharmoniker perform Brahms orchestral works. Between 1981 and 1984 Leonard Bernstein recorded nearly all of Brahms's orchestral works with the Wiener Philharmoniker to honor the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth in 1983. For the concertos, Bernstein enlisted the services of some of the finest Brahms interpreters of the time: the violoninst Gidon Kremer, the cellist Mischa Maisky and the pianist Krystian Zimerman.