Verdi: Requiem

Deutsche Grammophon celebrates Nikolaus Harnoncourt's 80th birthday with this 2-DVD release of rare, vintage, period Bach performances for the first time. Never released on DVD and, to the dismay of fans, long unavailable-these glorious Bach pieces are conducted by period instrument pioneer, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, as only he can. Harnoncourt, a notable cellist, performs in two concertos and on gamba in one. Harnoncourt warns, "If we lose contact with the great works of Bach, we lose our contact with humanity." Vocalists Janet Perry, Robert Holl, and Peter Schreier sing with distinction in the Coffee Cantata. The Surround Sound makes clear that they revel in the acoustics of the visually magnificent Baroque library of Wiblingen Monastery.

Requiem in D minor, K 626 by Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus Performer: Walter Berry Gundula Janowitz Christa Ludwig Peter Schreier Orchestra/Ensemble: Wienere Symphoniker Orchestra Conductor: Bohm Karl Chor der Wiener Staatsoper Period: Classical Written: 1971 ; UNITEL

A beautiful, sensitive, reverent performance. Fischer allows Bach to speak with no unnecessary flourishes. Padmore as the Evangelist is superb, and the other soloists and choirs are near perfect. And of course the Concertgebouw orchestral musicians are absolutely first class.

George Frederic Handel's oratorio Theodora, in its first-ever staged version at the Salzburg Festival, was among the highlights of Handel Year 2009. Acclaimed director Christof Loy presented Theodora as the profoundly moving tale of a woman who prefers death to denying her faith, an interpretation captivated with bravura by world-renowned video director Hannes Rossacher. A luminous Christine Schaefer and countertenor Bejun Mehta formed a perfect leading couple altogether suited to conductor Ivor Bolton's vigorus reading.

Johann Sebastian Bach’s St John Passion with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle was one of the outstanding events of the past season. As before with the St Matthew Passion, star director Peter Sellars succeeded in creating a staging which made the spiritual and dramatic content of the Passion story even more intensive. The New York Times also praised the “brilliant and energetic” playing of the orchestra, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung the “haunting, almost unsurpassable singing of all those involved.”

Get down a little; I bow my head and disappear at the end of his bone.

Home concert by Boris Grebenshchikov from London, where the musician was caught in quarantine. The audience will hear both time-tested favorite hits and new songs. Kvartirnik as a format of musical direction appeared in the period of the USSR, when musicians gathered in the apartments of friends and arranged improvised concerts, mainly in the rock style. Boris Grebenshchikov, one of the founders of the format, together with other then – beginning performers, and today – already legends of Russian rock-arranged apartment parties and sang his songs, which eventually became part of the "Golden Collection" of Russian music. Well! Again "Kvartirnik"– now on a different occasion, but with the same energy!

In August 2010, popular singer-songwriter Utada Hikaru announced that she would take an indefinite break from music starting in 2011. In addition to releasing her second compilation album, she also gave two "temporary farewell" concerts - titled Wild Life - in Yokohama Arena on December 8-9, 2010. In addition to simultaneous broadcast in Japanese cinemas, the December 8 concert was also streamed live on the Internet, breaking the video site's global record for simultaneous accesses.

Three years since his last concert series at Hong Kong Coliseum, Julian "Chi Lam" Cheung takes over the storied venue once again in 2014 for Crazy Hours! Celebrate nearly a quarter-decade of Chi Lam's unforgettable tunes with this concert recording, which features chart-topping hits like "Wish You Well," "You're Too Kind" and "In Love with an Alien."

Allison Anders talks about her love for the work of film director Douglas Sirk.