Karl Sterlin

This luxuriously cast film of Mozart's beloved opera buffa features a host of legendary interpretations, including Kiri Te Kanawa's exquisite Countess Almaviva, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as her philandering husband, Hermann Prey as the wily title character, Mirella Freni, a delight as his no less savvy bride Susanna, and Maria Ewing, hilarious as the lovesick page Cherubino. Director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's imaginative camera-work tellingly emphasizes character and mood in this immortal story of love, intrigue and class struggle, set against the historical background of ancien regime Europe sliding inexorably towards revolution.

The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, is a musical composition for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach, consisting of an aria and a set of 30 variations. First published in 1741, it is named after Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, who may also have been the first performer of the work.

This DVD of Ariadne is a 1978 film based on Filippo Sanjust’s Vienna State Opera production. The bustling Prologue is set in the backstage area of the mogul’s palace and the 18th century costumes fit neatly. In the opera proper, the stage is transformed into a very stagey desert island with an improbable set of stairs leading to the heroine’s cave, the action spilling over into the theatre’s side boxes at times. While there’s nothing particularly imaginative about the production, it never distracts from the main event–the music. Strauss was profligate in his melodic gifts, his ability to make a reduced orchestra sound big, and his wonderful obsession with the female voice, which yields many glorious moments in the opera. Lavish casting helps.

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Beethoven's birth in 1970, German television took Fidelio into the studio and filmed the Deutsche Oper Berlin's production of the composer's only opera. Karl Böhm, well-known as a master conductor of this opera, leads an astonishing performance which emphasizes orchestral clarity and emotional depth. The conductor leads a strong cast headed by the glorious Gwyneth Jones and powerful James King in the starring roles. First time on DVD! "Gwyneth Jones sang a passionate Leonore…James King was a Florestan on the summit of his vocal expression." (Berliner Morgenpost)

Founder of the Creative Music Studio and a close collaborator of Don Cherry, Ornette Coleman, Gato Barbieri, Anthony Braxton and so many more, Karl Berger is a master musician and one of the pioneers of creative music. The third and final CD in his trilogy for Tzadik features fourteen tracks spanning a wide variety of moods. Karl’s gorgeous string arrangements are highlighted here in this beautiful and soulful suite of music for piano and strings.

How might one combine the worldly elegance of a Chopin with the so very 'heavy' chromaticism of Wagner's Tristan? Felix Blumenfeld, today almost entirely forgotten as a composer, knew the answer to this question - as his Prélude op. 17, No. 19 impressively demonstrates. However, before this so very original gem, which is only one of the highlights on our Blumenfeld CD, concludes this program, Karl-Andreas Kolly has a whole series of other surprises ready that will make the hearts of fans of Russian piano virtuosity and other interested listeners beat a little faster.