Barrie Gavin

The music is not Beethoven's most familiar, but it is absolutely charming. The concerto is appealing in its melodic material and the intricate interactions among the soloists and orchestra. The Choral Fantasy features a long piano solo that Beethoven wrote for himself, plus a choral melody that sounds like a preliminary sketch for the last movement of his Ninth Symphony. Both works pose unusual balance challenges, to which Barenboim and the recording engineers rise impressively.

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.

The Threepenny Opera proclaims itself "an opera for beggars," and it was in fact an attempt both to satirize traditional opera and operetta and to create a new kind of musical theater based on the theories of two young German artists, composer Kurt Weill and poet-playwright Bert Brecht. The show opens with a mock-Baroque overture, a nod to Threepenny's source, The Beggar's Opera, a brilliantly successful parody of Handel's operas written by John Gay in 1728. In a brief prologue following the overture, a shabby figure comes onstage with a barrel organ and launches into a song chronicling the crimes of the notorious bandit and womanizer Macheath, "Mack the Knife." The setting is a fair in Soho (London), just before Queen Victoria's coronation. In this production, Weill champion HK Gruber led the Ensemble Modern in a performance of Weill's complete original score, the first time it had been heard in Germany in many years. This production was broadcast on German television (3sat).

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

The opera takes place on the doorstep of a tenement on the East Side of Manhattan on two brutally hot days in 1946. The story focuses on two plotlines: the romance between Rose Maurrant and her neighbor Sam Kaplan; and on the extramarital affair of Rose's mother, Anna, which is eventually discovered by Rose's irritable father, Frank. The show portrays the ordinary romances, squabbles and gossips of the neighbors, as the mounting tensions involving the Maurrant family eventually build into a tragedy of epic proportions. Broadcast on BBC Two on New Years Day, 1993, this production was performed by the English National Opera and conducted by James Holmes.

Composer H.K. Gruber collaborates with director Barrie Gavin on a commissioned short film to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the death of Mozart. Gods create Man, Music and Mozart.

Bizet's masterwork, Carmen, directed for stage by the Spanish actress Núria Espert.

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

Com: BBC for documentary 'Sound on Film'.Derived from music and dance filmed in Transylvania.

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.

The Baronets of Ruddigore have been cursed by a witch. Each Baronet, in his turn, must commit a crime a day - or die in torture. To escape his dreadful fate, the latest Baronet, Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd, disguises himself as Robin Oakapple, a farmer. Only two people know his true identity - his faithful servant, Old Adam Goodheart, and his adopted brother, Richard Dauntless, a seaman. Robin Oakapple is in love with the beautiful Rose Maybud and wants to marry her - but his future plans appear doomed when his true identity is revealed.

Film of Morton Feldman's short opera (libretto by Samuel Beckett).

Portrait of the composer, Peter Maxwell Davies, set in the context of the islands of Orkney. George Mackay Brown is featured reading his own verse and there are quotations from the works of Edwin Muir, Robert Rendell and the ancient Orkneyinga Saga. Extracts from the composer's works include pieces from Ave Maria Stella, O Magnum Mysterium and the final scene from his opera The Martyrdom of Saint Magnus.

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.

Interview with French director Jacques Tati, focusing on his on-screen persona, Monsieur Hulot. Produced for the British television series "Omnibus".

1968 interview with Lord Harewood.

Made for BBC Television in 1967, this 20-minute documentary features a rare interview with the director and a unique demonstration of his lighting techniques. Courtesy of BBC Worldwide.

An interview with film director Roman Polanski, recorded for BBC TV in 1967.

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.")

A. L. Lloyd