Song cycles--anthologies that tell a story--are perfect for visual treatment, and Oliver Herrmann has chosen two that typify the expressive and the expressionist. Subtitled "A Story of Red and Blue", Dichterliebe places Schumann's songs in a nightclub setting, intercutting them with rehearsal and pre-production sequences that don't shed much light on either the settings or their interpretation. Christine Schäfer captures the lovelorn feel of this music, and Natascha Osterkorn is a sensitive accompanist, but the peer presentation style could well grate on repeated viewing.

One Night. One Life, Herrmann's presentation of Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire, is likely to prove more durable. Schäfer walks listlessly down corridors and through rooms of Dali-esque paranoia, emerging into the cold facelessness of a modern city, before retreating behind her own persona. The performance, directed by Pierre Boulez, is unfailingly good and this ought to attract new listeners to Schoenberg's light, ironic and ever-relevant cabaret.

On the DVD: Dichterliebe and Pierrot Lunaire on disc are presented in a 16:9 picture format that reproduces with needle-sharp clarity, and the PCM stereo sound has the required immediacy and finesse. There are subtitles in four European languages and detailed introductions to both works are provided in the booklet. The lengthy interview with Schäfer is insightful, if not without an element of Blind Date, Fassbinder style! --Richard Whitehouse