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Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducts the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Vienna Philharmonic on works by Schubert and Mozart. Also included is the documentary, My Dream. Included is LPCM stereo/DTS surround sound 5.1. Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducts the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in their rendition of Mozart's "Symphonies numbers 31, 39, 40, and 41." In the second half of the program he takes the Weimar Philharmonic through Schubert's "Symphony number 4." Both performances evoke all the emotion and energy of these great classical composers.

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Album for the Young (Album für die Jugend), Op. 68, was composed by Robert Schumann in 1848 for his three daughters. The album consists of a collection of 43 short works. Unlike the Kinderszenen, they are suitable to be played by children or beginners. The second part, starting at Nr. 19 (Kleine Romanze), is marked Für Erwachsenere (For adults; For more grown-up ones) and contains more demanding pieces.

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“This eighteenth-century premonition of The Mikado is a delight...The cast is good, though there's only one star: Anna Maria Panzarella (Agnesina) does the tomboy thing terribly well and as she falls in love it's not just her costumes and the music which become more feminine, it's also her acting and singing...'L'inimico delle donne is very simply filmed...You really feel you are there. And it's where I want to be. A delight from start to finish.” International Record Review, January 2012

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CD is part of german audiophile magazine AUDIO and features some great artists and recordings to test your equipment. Presented by B&W and mastered/compiled by Günter Pauler of Stockfisch Records. More of these to come.

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A fifteen track, full digitally recorded CD; including well-known overtures from the great composers of the world; such as Borodin, Verdi,Rossini, Bizet, Mozart, Beethoven, Gluck and Weber.

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Opera never has shown its contrasts more than in this Rigoletto from the Sächsische Staatskapelle in Dresden. The production is full of harsh conflicts, which Verdi himself implies by filling this tragedy with so much cheery music. All of the performances here are outstanding. Željko Lučić vanquishes the title role with his powerful voice and emotive acting, which makes him riveting if slightly painful to watch as he is emotionally destroyed.:: --Rob McGinness, ClassicsToday.com

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CD is part of german audiophile magazine AUDIO and features some great artists and recordings to test your equipment. Presented by Bose, Telarc, Chesky Records and Inakustik. More of these to come.

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In 1977, when New York’s Metropolitan Opera began its series of telecasts known originally as Live from the Met, there was, I remember, speculation that eventually the entire season’s operas would be telecast in a parallel to the radio broadcasts that had been a part of the Met’s history for so long. This prediction never came to fruition and probably was never the intention. But we were privileged to see usually three broadcasts per season, with many productions helping to introduce opera to a broader public than could be expected to see the operas in the theater. This 1978 telecast of Otello is one of the early triumphs of the series. Cast, conductor, orchestra, chorus, and set designer all combine for a riveting performance well worth acquiring. FANFARE: Ron Salemi

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It would have been better, of course, if this 1984 production of Donizetti's Anna Bolena, or at least its title role, had been filmed 20 years earlier, when Joan Sutherland's voice was in its spectacular prime. But like her Canadian Opera Norma, dating from 1981, this is a better-late-than-never documentation of one of the most remarkable voices of the 20th century. --Joe McLellan

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What does it say that of the six available videos of this opera, the two best were made in 1958 and 1978? Something about the Verdian style and grand Verdi voices, I'm sure, but I'll leave the details to you. The Price/Giacomini performance from the Met is a pretty boring affair, the Urmana/Giordani perfectly acceptable but thrill-free, and the Gorchakova/Gergiev/St. Petersburg original version is both in another class and not particularly idiomatic. Both Hardy DVDs--the '58 from Naples with Tebaldi and Corelli, and this one, from La Scala in 1978, present the opera as the "real thing".. --Robert Levine

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The artistry of Holliger (b.1939) prompted Evelyn Rothwell (Lady Barbirolli) to call him 'The Paganini of the oboe' Holliger's mastery of the oboe ranges over a vast expanse of repertoire, from the baroque to contemporary. Holliger has done much to champion the oboe music of composers such as Zelenka and Krommer, and has also had over 100 works composed for him by composers including Berio, Carter, Henze, Ligeti, Lutoslawski, Penderecki and Stockhausen.