Visual Aspect Music

In the Middle Ages Italy was not the unified country that we would like to think of since the nineteenth century, following the Romantic era and the formation of the modern state. It was quite the contrary, a nebula in which there was opposition between the great divisions of the Tyrrhenian West and the Adriatic East, as of the South with its memories of Greece and the North which sought links with the Germanic world in a kind of prefiguration of modern Europe: the Alpine range did not constitute a real barrier.

Richard Wagner - Die Walkure - The Metropolitan Opera cond. James Levine (2002) [2DVD] {Deutsche Grammophon}
2xDVD -> 11.1 Gb | All Regions | NTSC 4:3 | ~ 241 min | Deutsch LPCM, 2 ch / Dolby AC3, 6 ch / DTS, 5 ch | ISO Images
Subs: Deutsch, English, Francais, Espanol, Chinese
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 156 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1991, 2002 Deutsche Grammophon | 073 049-9
Classical / Opera

The 1990 Metropolitan Opera performance of Die Walkure ("The Valkyrie") with James Levine conducting is a solid, four-square performance with few frills and no gimmicks, just extraordinarily fine singing and orchestral playing. There is no point in this where you find yourself asking why the director did something: this is the sort of production which could be criticised as unimaginative but defended as serving Wagner's intentions for this instalment of his Ring cycle. Levine and his orchestra give the music an emotional intensity that never overwhelms its grandeur, though perhaps in Wotan's farewell to Brunnhilde, we feel him more as father than as god.

Ashkenazy long ago reached the stage where he can control and shape every nuance in this teeming piano part and keep poetry and structure in a satisfying balance. Some of his phrasing is uniquely beguiling—the swooning surge into fig. 4 is one of a host of treasurable details on the new recording and it is typical of his sensitivity to emotional ebb and flow. He has always had a special insight into the long plateau before the final peroration, and the spaciousness of the recording emphasizes how beautifully he floats the tone in lyrical passages and how intelligently he withdraws to let the orchestral contribution through.

Gramophone, 11/1986

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E flat major Op. 55 “Eroica” – Berliner Philharmoniker; Herbert von Karajan
(live performance – Berlin, April 30, 1982)
Classical | DVD5 (no compression) | 3.10 GB; 3% recovery | Audio: PCM Stereo, Dolby Digital | Full scans | Filesonic links
Publisher: Sony Classical | Recorded: 1982 | Published: 2005

Jubilee Concert: 100 Years of Berliner Philharmoniker, April 30th, 1982
*
The performance itself ? Nothing short of revelatory. You are not likely to see or hear a reading of the tragic slow movement which digs as deeply as this one. Karajan and his orchestra present a very profound experience ; the visual aspect of the performance helps us to see the emotion being poured into this sublime movement, and the intense response from the players. The first movement doesn't exactly ignite initially, but it soon gathers steam, and the Karajan charisma settles in for a coda which blazes its way to the final chords. The third and fourth movements are beautifully played, too. - from Amazon.com