1971 Tokyo Concert - DVD

This exciting Dynamic DVD features the complete recording of the critically acclaimed concert given by International superstars Franco Corelli and Renata Tebaldi at the NHK Auditorium in Tokyo on 21st November 1973. This concert includes no less than five encores.

Starring Renata Scotto. Renata Scotto, one of the greatest and most famous sopranos of the post-war period, is here recorded in her full artistic maturity and, through this vast and varied program, demonstrates her solid technique and absolutely extraordinary musicality. The performance of this recital ended an eleven-year absence of Scotto from the Japanese stage – a return she clearly relishes as she dedicates the rare musical gems in her performance to the Tokyo audience. Together with famous arias from renowned operas she performs some rare and neglected works, notably Edgar (Puccini’s first opera) and Sole e Amore (written before the success of La Bohème) as well as Respighi’s songs and five unpublished songs by Verdi. The DVD also features a two-minute forward by Renata Scotto (sub – E/G/F/Sp) and a thirteen-minute video featuring the madness scene, Lucia di Lammermoor, Tokyo, 1967 NTSC Subtitles Japanese

Dynamic are proud to present this amazing historical document of Berman’s 1988 Tokyo concert, broadcast by the Japanese television, NHK and is available for the first time on DVD. The program of this Lazar Berman recital recorded in Tokyo in 1988 collects some of the artist’s most authoritative performances. Schumann’s Sonata in F-sharp minor, op. 11, was one of Berman’s most often-programmed works. It was frequently paired with important works of other composers or, as in this case, with a selection of Liszt pieces. In op. 11 we find a deeply lyrical approach from the very opening of the first movement. Even with his students, Berman emphasized that the piano should “sing” in these passages, rather than merely reproduce the notes on the page. In connection with Schumann, he also stressed to his students that each level of the polyphonic texture should be presented with the proper separation, with the melodic beauty of each individual voice allowed to emerge; aspects that are executed to perfection in the performance on this DVD. The Liszt pieces in this recital also allow Berman to present the expressive side of the music, in addition to an astonishing virtuosity. The fantasy Après une lecture de Dante, one of Berman’s warhorses, is performed with generous scope, with particular emphasis on the three principal themes that Liszt would later elaborate in his B-minor Sonata.