The Callas Conversations

The Baronet of Ruddigore, Sir Despard Murgatroyd, has inherited a family curse which forces him to commit a crime every day — or die in agony. He hates the curse, doing his heinous misdeeds as early as possible and good works for the rest of the day to compensate!

A documentary on the life and work of the composer Sofia Gubaidulina.

Benjamin Britten's opera as performed by the English National Opera, with Philip Langridge in the title role.

Bizet's masterwork, Carmen, directed for stage by the Spanish actress Núria Espert. Royal Opera House in Covent Garden in 1989.

A monthly series of highly personal documentary films in which individuals are given a platform to discuss issues close to their heart.

In 1906 the young Bela Bartok set out to discover the forgotten music of his people. He found a vast treasure of folk music all over Eastern Europe, and he called his discovery 'a miraculous circumstance'. In this film the late A. L. Lloyd retraces Bartok's journeys through Hungary and Romania to rediscover that treasure of native music.

An interview with American director, Anthony Mann. This documentary was first seen as episode 8 of the BBC TV series "The Movies." (A 17-minute excerpt from this show appears on the Criterion Collection's release of "The Furies.")

Perhaps this is Robert Vas' most personal film; a portrait of his country - Hungary - as seen through the eyes of an exile. Robert Vas escaped from his homeland after the brutal crushing of the 1956 Hungarian Uprising by the Russians and he was never able to return. He portrays his country through the writings of Hungary's national poets and illustrates the film with images of the Revolution and of the society it would become in the years immediately following 1956. The film was transmitted on the 20th anniversary of the crushing of the uprising.

In 1915 the Russian artist Malevich declared a Black Square on a White Background an icon of his times and thus founded a new form of art, liberated from objects – Suprematism. Supported by the Bolsheviks at first, his ‘formalistic’ art was soon considered counterrevolutionary. 50 years later, in 1989, the first comprehensive Malevich retrospective outside Russia was held in Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum. It is here that Barrie Gavin outlines the artist’s creative phases and his life story. In doing so, he discovers the most diverse ‘isms’ of the 20th century and one of the most significant pioneers of abstract art.

Charts a journey through various `memory' productions such as murals, monuments, TV histories, commemorations etc, and in so doing questions the role that historical memory plays in our society.

Sir Neville Marriner conducts this 250th Anniversary performance. Soloists include Sylvia McNair, Anne Sofie Van Otter. The performance is supported by an informative background film "For Ever and Ever", explaining the circumstances behind the composition and the work's early impact, featuring contributions from the popular Handel scholar Professor H.C. Robbins Land and from Sir Neville Marriner himself. Recorded in 1992, this performance of Handel's awesome "Messiah" took place on the 250th anniversary of the initial rendition of the piece. Recorded at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, this is an especially poignant rendition as it takes place in the city where it was originally performed in 1742.

The story of Kurt Weill 's relationship with the American popular theatre. During his years in exile on Broadway, the composer of Mack the Knife and The Alabama Song, who personified decadent Berlin, found a new life in New York, creating such standards as September Song and Speak Low. Director Barrie Gavin describes the film as "the history of an artist ... struggling to write music which could have real meaning for the society he had just joined." Weill is remembered by the conductor Maurice Abravanel and the actor Burgess Meredith and there are extracts from several of his works.

This BBC Bristol documentary, Narrated by Bert Lloyd looks at the Gaelic music of the Outer Hebrides. It won the Silver Harp award. Directed by Barrie Gavin.

Daniel Barenboim conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker in performances of Beethoven's 'Triple Concerto' and 'Choral Fantasy'. Itzhak Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma are joined by Carola Höhn, Katherina Kammerloher, Andrea Bönig and Endrick Wottrich, amongst others.

BBC documentary about the rise of the New German Cinema and several of its most important figures.