Orchestral & Symphonic

The centenary of Benjamin Britten is marked with a new study by the multi-award-winning director Tony Palmer. It is a dark coda to Palmer's four other Italia-Prize-winning films with and about Britten, whom many now regard as one of the greatest...

In 1917, Sergei Rachmaninoff was forced into exile from Russia. Soon after, he was known around the world as one of the most brilliant pianists and composers of the century. Not only does this documentary feature his rapturously beautiful melodies (via...

Felix Mandelssohn conducted the premiere performance of Robert Schumann's First or Spring Symphony in 1841, six weeks after the work's completion, and the composer won acclaim as a symphonist on his first try. Dmitri Shostakovich had been a darling of...

Seiji Ozawa conducts the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in this 1993 Russian-oriented performance. Included are Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite" and "1812 Overture", plus Stravinsky's "Firebird".

Brilliantly filmed in the very New York locations celebrated by the songs - Coney Island, Central Park, Times Square - this DVD joins todays performers with the ageless music of perhaps New York's greatest musical personality. Subject Leonard Bernstein...

The National Orchestra of France performs in the sumptuous Theatre des Champs Elysees before a Parisian audience. Leonard Bernstein conducts Ravel's virtuoso piano concerto from the keyboard. Starring: Bernstein, National Orchestra of France, Marilyn...

Leonard Bernstein conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Verdi's Requiem that marks Placido Domingo's first appreance with the Maestro. In an introductory note, Mr. Berstein dedicates this performance to victims of war and oppression.

Poland's leading contemporary composer, Krzysztof Penderecki, stands at the forefront of modern music. In this program he conducts the Sinfonietta Cracovia in performances of four of his own works: Sinfonietta for Strings; Viola Concerto (soloist: Tabea...

This production, conducted by the composer himself, presents a live-action cast performing on an animated set. Inspired by jazz and American musical comedy, the score is a path-breaking fusion of lyric art with popular entertainment.

Leonard Bernstein illustrates his analysis with excerpts from his performances of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major and the "Ode to Joy" from the Ninth Symphony. Leonard Bernstein and the Vienna Philharmonic celebrates Beethoven's 200th...

To play Beethoven's music is to give oneself over completely to the child-spirit which lived in that grim, awkward, violent man. Without that utter submission it is impossible to play the Adagio of the Ninth. Or, heaven knows, the first movement. And the...

Members of the Berlin Philharmonic perform 'Beethoven - Septet in E-Flat Major' and 'Mozart - Horn Quintet in E-Flat Major'. Recorded in the Philosopher's Hall of the Strachov Monastery in Prague.