Nostalgic Vacation - DVD

A sparkling personality on the contemporary dance scene, Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman has been invited for the first time to work with the dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet. His language, both visceral and tinged with humor, combining theatricality, and classical and contemporary vocabulary alike, perfectly resonates with the incredible versatility and stage presence of the Ballet the result is Play, a piece that evokes the world of childhood and it's careless pleasures. But beyond pure entertainment, this performance contemplates the meaning and the importance of play when we become adults. Best known for the spectacular quality of his pieces and their dreamlike imagery, like for instance his Midsummer Night's Dream, the Swedish choreographer fills the stage of the Palais Garnier with an entrancing energy. The metallic structures, dancers suspended in space, and the elevations are but a few of the powerful images that will strike the audience's imagination! For this new creation, Alexander Ekman worked with his acolyte composer Mikael Karlsson, but also with a talented team of instrumentalists not often seen on the stage of the Palais Garnier, among which gospel singer Callie Day, or the incredible percussionist Adelaïde Ferriere. An unexpected performance, carried along by enticing rhythms and communicative energy!

Without inner fire, without physical energy, this profession would be unthinkable, according to Riccardo Chailly, in whose style of conducting accuracy and elegance are unforgettably united with an inexhaustible temperament. This is clear in Music - A Journey for Life, the first film portrait of the Italian maestro, which accompanies him working with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, at La Scala in Milan, and in rehearsals for La Bohème at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia. Chailly's impressive physical and mental strength lend a uniquely personal dynamic to the musical processes and the collaboration between the conductor and musicians. Music - A Journey for Life also reveals the private person Riccardo Chailly, for whom the rigorous study of scores and time with his family are as important as a steady routine is not. Also included on this DVD is a fiery performance of Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor with the amazing and inspired playing of Lars Vogt. With animated tempi, rhythmic precision, and pointed articulation, Vogt and Chailly let us hear the work as if for the first time.

The French program offers a stimulating blend of celebrated repertoire works as well as Inchspecial tipsInch from the Romantic era to the early 20th century. These concerts of Leonard Bernstein were unanimously hailed in the press, both for the dynamism and brio of a conductor at the peak of his artistic powers, and for the unmistakable signs of rejuvenation of the Orchestre National de France. Featuring works of Hector Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique, subtitled Episode in the Life of an Artist, Albert Roussel's Symphony No. 3 - Leonard Bernstein is, in a sense, paying homage to his friend and benefactor Serge Koussevitzky, who commissioned the work for the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1930 - Ambroise Thomas´ sparkling, Rossini-like overture to Raymond and Camille Saint-Saens' Le Rouet d'Omphale it was Inch... one of the most wonderful Berlioz concerts that you can dream of...Inch (Le Monde)