Her position at the side of her husband, Emperor Claudius, is not enough to satisfy the ambition of Agrippina, Empress of Rome. She schemes to elevate her son by her first marriage, Nero, to the throne. Then she will need only Nero to accomplish and acquire everything she dreams of.

Back in the Laserdisc era there were many classical videos released by RCA, Decca, DGG and others which attempted to move beyond the standard concert hall footage of the performers (and perhaps panning over some appropriate paintings or stained glass) to imaginative and unexpected images that commented on or contrasting with the music. This sort of MTV-for-classical-buffs often had off-the-wall scenarios, such as the conductor stepping up to the guillotine operated by the tympanist for the final movement of Berlioz’ Symphonie Fantastique, or some of the players in bright costumes roller-skating around a large hair salon for Prokofeiv’s Classical Symphony. Ken Russell selected and edited together images mostly from B&W newsreels to accompany the complete Planets by Holst. There has been almost none of this type of material issued on DVD - perhaps the Laserdiscs had poor sales. Messiah is probably closest to Russell’s effort visually. The performance is excellent, and we do get to see the performers here and there thru the presentation, sometimes in extreme closeups as they declaim the dramatic texts of Handel’s work. Though performances of Messiah are often given at Christmastime and recordings of the entire work sell well in this season, I don’t believe this DVD would be an appropriate gift for, say, that devout elderly aunt of yours. Handel’s story of the nativity, passion and resurrection of Jesus is illustrated on the screen with just as many profane images as sacred ones. In fact, many of the religious images might be construed as commenting in a negative fashion on the activities recorded. These include TV evangelists, mass prayer meetings, group baptisms, costumed religious marches in the south of Spain, an amateur staging of Christ’s passion, black churches, etc. A nice touch is the occasional cutting away from Handel’s music to a number from a choir identified with captions as being a reformed addicts group, or a gay & lesbian choir. Less understandable are some of the off-the-wall image choices, such as the extensive coverage of Houston’s annual “Hair Ball,” in which everyone dresses up in Louis XIV-looking outfits with giant wigs. There are also some disturbing shots of prisoners in some sort of war being beaten and worse. (Ken Russell’s clips chosen for “Mars” in the Planets were similar but not nearly so painful.) I realize Las Vegas provides wonderful visual fodder to illustrate a whole world of philosophical points. (As a matter of fact I still have a Super8 reel of such footage I had once intended to use in an experimental film titled “Ersatz/Real.”) But Klein falls back on LV bling too much, especially in the first sections of the film. For example, he uses shots of people winning jackpots at the slot machines to accompany Handel’s text about “good tidings.” The performance and surround sonics are first rate. I had some concern about how the words would be handled - there is no booklet provided. They are emblazoned on the screen in big block letters at the start of most sections, in sync with the music - even getting larger as the volume increases. I probably would not have listened to all of Messiah this season, but now that I have I must say I never dozed a minute! And my good impression of Handel’s masterpiece is maintained. But can’t say the same for Klein’s film.

Renée Fleming stars in the title role of one of Handel’s greatest dramas, seen in Stephen Wadsworth’s 2004 Met premiere production. Rodelinda is faced with an impossible dilemma: With her husband Bertarido believed dead, she either has to marry the despised Grimoaldo (the elegant Joseph Kaiser), who has usurped her husband’s throne, or see him murder her son. But Bertarido (leading countertenor Andreas Scholl) is alive and eventually reclaims both throne and wife—and makes peace with his enemies. Stephanie Blythe is marvelous as Eduige, Bertarido’s sister, who is betrothed to Grimoaldo but turns against him. Baroque authority Harry Bicket conducts.

At one of her rare appearances with orchestra, Martha Argerich, the grande dame of the piano, joined forces with world-famous cellist Mischa Maisky and the fabulous Lucerne Symphony Orchestra for the world premiere of a newly commissioned work by Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin – “Romantic Offering”, a double concerto for piano, cello and orchestra dedicated to its very first soloists. The programme was rounded off by late-Romantic masterpieces by César Franck, Antonín Dvo?ák and Dmitri Shostakovich’s Ninth Symphony under the baton of renowned maestro Neeme Järvi.

德国著名导演维姆·文德斯（Wim Wenders）在第一次观看皮娜·鲍什（Pina Bausch）出演《穆勒咖啡馆》时，便深深为这位“德国现代舞第一夫人”所吸引。他与皮娜迅速成为至交，并诞生了合作电影的想法。几经考虑，文德斯决定采用3D电影技术来展现皮娜充满激情与创意的 现代舞艺术，试图为观众开启一种全新而独特的视觉发现之旅。但是，2009年电影拍摄计划宣布后不久，皮娜·鲍什就因肺癌辞世，整个拍摄计划就此搁置。直到在与皮娜生前执掌的乌帕塔舞蹈剧场商谈后，文德斯才决定重新启动电影拍摄计划。本片将皮娜的几部舞蹈作品《穆勒咖啡馆》、《春之祭》、和《月圆》贯穿在学生和好友对她的追忆中，同时将镜头投射到充满工业景观的城市乌帕塔，立体化地诠释了皮娜独特奇妙的舞蹈美学，留下了对皮娜最美的赞歌。

文德斯在著名现代舞先驱皮娜·鲍什去世后，用3D技术把皮娜生前在乌塔帕尔舞蹈剧团创作的四部经典舞剧重现于银幕。

来自世界各地的年轻一代舞者正在重新探索皮娜·鲍什的编舞。准备了两个令人惊叹的舞蹈项目，德累斯顿Semperoper芭蕾舞团正在排练皮娜的舞蹈歌剧《陶里亚的伊菲吉妮亚》，而来自非洲各地的舞者正在塞内加尔的École des Sables排练皮娜的芭蕾舞剧《春之祭》。一个迷人的蜕变：当来自街头舞、古典芭蕾舞、传统和现代非洲舞蹈的舞者改变皮娜的作品时，皮娜的编舞也改变了舞者。皮娜·鲍什永远活着。