Ken Burns' The Vietnam War on DVD/BD in September

PBS Distribution announced today it is releasing the new documentary series directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick THE VIETNAM WAR on DVD and Blu-ray September 19, 2017, coinciding with its PBS airing. In an immersive narrative, Burns and Novick tell the epic story of the Vietnam War as it has never before been told on film. THE VIETNAM WAR features testimony from nearly 100 witnesses, including many Americans who fought in the war and others who opposed it, as well as Vietnamese combatants and civilians from both the winning and losing sides.

Ten years in the making, the series brings the war and the chaotic epoch it encompassed viscerally to life. Written by Geoffrey C. Ward, produced by Sarah Botstein, Novick and Burns, it includes rarely seen, digitally re-mastered archival footage from sources around the globe, photographs taken by some of the most celebrated photojournalists of the 20th century, historic television broadcasts, evocative home movies, and revelatory audio recordings from inside the Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon administrations.

The run time of the program is approximately 1080 minutes on 10 discs. The SRP for the DVD is $99.99 and $129.99 for Blu-ray. There are over 100 minutes of extra bonus footage, including a 45-minute preview program, 2 pieces on contemporary lives of 2 of the participants, and bonus content. The program will also be available for digital download.

Listen: Yo-Yo Ma, Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer Share New "Bach Trios" Track

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, mandolinist Chris Thile, and bassist Edgar Meyer have shared their recording of J.S. Bach's Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 645, from their forthcoming album, Bach Trios, releasing April 7. You can hear it below.

Bach Trios comprises works by J.S. Bach originally written for keyboard instruments, plus one sonata for viola da gamba. In 2011, Ma, Thile, and Meyer—along with Stuart Duncan—collaborated on The Goat Rodeo Sessions, which won two Grammy Awards. The trio, which played Bach on the Thile–hosted radio program A Prairie Home Companion in December, performs in nine cities across the US beginning on April 21.

Yo-Yo Ma And The Silk Road Ensemble Releases New Album Featuring Special Guests

 The latest album by Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble will surprise and delight, with guest performers and imaginative sounds that transform the traditional musical landscape. Sing Me Home is the sixth album by the Grammy-nominated Silk Road Ensemble and its founding member and guiding light Yo-Yo Ma — available from Sony Music Masterworks on April 22, 2016.
Sing Me Home is a companion album, developed and recorded alongside The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, a documentary feature from Oscar and Emmy-winning director Morgan Neville that tells the story of the Ensemble and Silkroad, its parent organization. The Music of Strangers is slated for theatrical release in June.

Produced by Silk Road Ensemble member Johnny Gandelsman and Grammy Award winner Kevin Killen (U2, Kate Bush, Elvis Castello, David Bowie), the album examines the ever-changing idea of home, with original and traditional tunes composed or arranged by members of the Ensemble's unique collective of global artists. Each piece invites listeners to explore the "music of home" through the individual experiences of Ensemble members, many of whom are immigrants. The result is a compelling collection of innovative and deeply moving tributes to the rich cultural heritage of the Balkans, China, Galicia, India, Iran, Ireland, Japan, Mali, people of the Roma, Syria, and the United States.

Yo Yo Ma and Kathryn Scott Release "Songs from the Arc of Life"

"I like to think of Songs from the Arc of Life as an invitation to our audience to remember and imagine what the soundtracks of their lives might be," Yo-Yo Ma says.  "Kathy and I have talked for years about recording an album of music we absolutely love, pieces that express the context of a life, of our lives.  Childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle age, old age: what do they sound like?"

"I love this title," Stott says, "the 'Arc of Life' – because it is one big arc. Once we arrived at the idea, we began to see a beautiful story, a journey through life's experiences. It has taken us a long time and much discussion, back and forth, to discover what that journey might be, because everyone's journey is slightly different."

Songs from the Arc of Life begins and ends with two, much-beloved settings of the traditional "Ave Maria," opening with the soaring, radiant Bach/Gounod arrangement and closing with Schubert's more serene, contemplative version.