EuroArts
Since 1972 the 12 Cellists of the Berliner Philharmoniker have been a prominent institution in international musical life. Whether they're playing classical music, jazz, tango or avant-garde, listeners around the world are invariably fascinated by the wide range of the unique and intoxicating timbres that these twelve cellos can produce. Their mixture of seriousness and humor, of depth and lightness, appeals to audiences of all ages. In this live recording from the Philharmonie Berlin, the 12 Cellists welcome Annette Dasch and Till Bronner. They performed works by Piazzolla, Faure, Legrand, Debussy, Ravel, Morricone, Ellington , to name only a few.
Claudio Abbado - Hearing the Silence conveys an intensely moving view on one of the leading musicians of our time. In several interviews, Abbado talks about artistic, musical and biographical aspects of his life. The film shows excerpts from rehearsals and concerts with some of his favourite orchestras. Statements from colleagues and friends are combined with views from his favourite surroundings and help to characterize the "silent thinker."
Film director Paul Smaczny had a very rare opportunity to get a glimpse of the immensely private personality of Claudio Abbado, described by many in the film as noble and elegant but also as a warm-hearted friend. The musicians all mention his reserved but exact gestures, his respectful way of working in rehearsals and concerts and the atmosphere of co-operation this creates. Cooperation in music making is an aspect that, as Abbado indicates in one of his interviews, is very important to him and one that is at the core of his artistic intentions. The film follows Abbado?EUR(TM)s work with the orchestras with whom he most frequently collaborated, making use of both recent and archival film footage, including clips of him rehearsing and performing works by Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Debussy, Dvorak, Strauss, Stravinsky, and Nono.
Film director Paul Smaczny had a very rare opportunity to get a glimpse of the immensely private personality of Claudio Abbado, described by many in the film as noble and elegant but also as a warm-hearted friend. The musicians all mention his reserved but exact gestures, his respectful way of working in rehearsals and concerts and the atmosphere of co-operation this creates. Cooperation in music making is an aspect that, as Abbado indicates in one of his interviews, is very important to him and one that is at the core of his artistic intentions. The film follows Abbado?EUR(TM)s work with the orchestras with whom he most frequently collaborated, making use of both recent and archival film footage, including clips of him rehearsing and performing works by Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Debussy, Dvorak, Strauss, Stravinsky, and Nono.
The Easter Festival is an internationally renowned event among classical music lovers, traditionally opened in Moscow on Easter Sunday. Each year the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra and its musical director Valery Gergiev travel across Russia - for the past 10 years.
The Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Valery Gergiev performs the complete cycle of Sergei Prokofiev's symphonies and piano concerti - a composer with whom Maestro Gergiev and the orchestra seem particularly in tune.
The Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Valery Gergiev performs the complete cycle of Sergei Prokofiev's symphonies and piano concerti - a composer with whom Maestro Gergiev and the orchestra seem particularly in tune.
Three giants of classical music come together on the stage of the Berliner Philharmonie for an All-Beethoven program that was destined to go down as one for the ages. Experience the incomparable Daniel Barenboim, Itzhak Perlman, and Yo-Yo Ma in masterpieces of the composer's oeuvre for soloists and orchestra.
Filmed in 1995 at the Berlin Philharmonie, this once-in-a-lifetime concert pairs two of Beethoven's less-performed works: the Concerto for Piano, Violin, Violoncello and Orchestra in C major (often simply referred to as the Triple Concerto ) and the Choral Fantasy for Piano, Choir and Orchestra in C Minor. Accompanied by the prestigious Berliner Philharmoniker and the Chor der Deutschen Staatsoper, the three musicians give these two works the sumptuous and virtuosic treatment they deserve.
Filmed in 1995 at the Berlin Philharmonie, this once-in-a-lifetime concert pairs two of Beethoven's less-performed works: the Concerto for Piano, Violin, Violoncello and Orchestra in C major (often simply referred to as the Triple Concerto ) and the Choral Fantasy for Piano, Choir and Orchestra in C Minor. Accompanied by the prestigious Berliner Philharmoniker and the Chor der Deutschen Staatsoper, the three musicians give these two works the sumptuous and virtuosic treatment they deserve.
She is a piano legend, he has collaborated as a soloist with all leading conductors and orchestras around the world. Now Martha Argerich and Guy Braunstein come to the Pierre Boulez Saal with their first-ever duo program - an artistic encounter that promises to be an extraordinary musical experience.
One of the few complete concert performances of Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong, this live recording features the legendary jazz trumpeter and singer on an Australian tour in 1964, when he had already become an international superstar and a living symbol of 20th-century American culture. As a founding father of jazz he revolutionized the world of music and became one of the most influential artists and entertainers ever. The impressive structure of his melodic ideas and the radiant sonorities and flawless technique of his trumpet playing all marked him out as jazz's first soloist of genius. Louis Armstrong set new standards for swing feeling, improvisation, scat singing and command of his instrument, but also for stage presence and entertainment, providing a model for performers in virtually every field of jazz and on every conceivable instrument. With his All Stars sextet, which he formed in the wake of the Second World War, he acted as an ambassador for jazz, restlessly travelling the world. The present documentary was shot at a time when he succeeded in creating a song that was a minor miracle: "Hello Dolly" even displaced the Beatles from the number-one position in the charts in 1964, a fact of which Armstrong was unaware as he was touring at the time. Armstrong's associates -...
Dutch conductor Sigiswald Kuijken presents the two Ascension Oratorios by father and son Bach. Johann Sebastian Bach's work was first performed in Leipzig on Ascension Day in 1735. The text mixes biblical and poetic material. Recorded live at the beautiful Church of St. Nikolai in Leipzig 2004, one of the venues in Leipzig for which J.S. Bach conceived many of his works, this video comes close to the atmosphere of the first performance, thus creating a feast of Baroque music surrounded by the beauty of a gothic cathedral. Sigiswald Kuijken is widely accepted as a leading authority on Baroque music. Together with La Petite Bande, an outstanding orchestra for early music, the chamber choir Ex Tempore, specialists in music of the 17th and 18th century and a cast of very refined soloists, he celebrates two remarkable vocal works by Johann Sebastian Bach and his most famous son, Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach.
Ton Koopman, a leading authority on Baroque music, gathered his favourite orchestra and eminent Baroque singers for a concert focusing on the Magnificat , the traditional prayer said by the Virgin Mary after hearing that she would bear God's son. Bach's Magnificat - his greatest choral work - is programmed together with one of his most beautiful cantatas and a lesser-known baroque gem by Bach's predecessor at St. Thomas' Church, Johann Kuhnau, to form a concert in honour of the spiritual power of Baroque music. The concert was performed at St. Thomas' in Leipzig, the church for which Bach conceived most of his works. The recording captures the atmosphere of the impressive church and shows the musicians "at work". The film also focuses on Ton Koopman, offering insights into his friendly and encouraging conducting style.
The German Brass Ensemble presents some of Bach's most popular tunes in breathtakingly brilliant and virtuoso arrangements for brass instruments. Recorded live in "Bach's church" ?EUR" the wonderful St Thomas's Church in Leipzig - the programme includes immortal pieces such as Toccata and Fugue in D minor , Adagio on a G string , Jesus bleibet meine Freude (Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring) and more.
German Brass counts among the most successful brass ensembles of our time and draws musicians from the best German orchestras, such as the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Munich Philharmonic. Filmed with a full view of the church for which Bach conceived most of his works and making use of the amazing acoustics, the state-of-the-art recording is a visual and aural feast and a most fitting celebration of Bach's music.
German Brass counts among the most successful brass ensembles of our time and draws musicians from the best German orchestras, such as the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Munich Philharmonic. Filmed with a full view of the church for which Bach conceived most of his works and making use of the amazing acoustics, the state-of-the-art recording is a visual and aural feast and a most fitting celebration of Bach's music.
In November 2004 a new name caused listeners to prick up their ears on the international orchestral scene: under Claudio Abbado's artistic guidance the Orchestra Mozart came into being. It combines both young instrumentalists on the threshold of a first-rate career as well as eminent chamber musicians such as Danusha Waskiewicz, Alois Posch, Jacques Zoon, Michaela Petri, Ottavio Dantone, Mario Brunello, Alessio Allegrini, Jonathan Williams and Reinhold Friedrich. As with his famous Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Abbado hand-picked an ensemble to his liking, this time one of early- and Baroque-music specialists, all masters in their field. Recorded live in the handsome 19th-century Teatro Municipale Romolo Valli in Reggio Emilia in 2007, this video documents Bach's Brandenburg Concertos performed in all their delicate beauty by this very special orchestra. Each concerto is scored for different forces and, in total, the six concertos draw on virtually the entire range of instruments that existed during the High Baroque. The instrumental variety of these pieces, together with Bach's genius as a composer, ensured that the Brandenburg Concertos soon came to occupy a key position in the history of music, a position they continue to hold to this day. Claudio Abbado, violinist...
When Bach was in the service of Prince Leopold in Cthen, he had his own orchestra and was contracted to compose a great deal of instrumental music. This gave him an opportunity to try new techniques and to develop his own instrumental style. The six Brandenburg Concertos belongs to these masterpieces for a small ensemble. This joyously infectious performance of these famous landmarks in the history of music by the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra demonstrates both the musical satisfaction and the high professional standard that can be reached with period instruments. The performance was given in the Bach Anniversary Year 2000 ?EUR" 250 years after his death ?EUR" in the elegant Hall of Mirrors at Cthen Castle. The Freiburg Baroque Orchestra?EUR(TM)s members all have virtuoso skills. They take the spotlight gracefully for solos but also play with the true ensemble spirit required by the music. Their decision to perform without a conductor revives an eighteenth century practice.
Bonus features:
Cello Suite No.5, BWV 1011: Sarabande
Hille Perl, viola da gamba
Coffee Cantata, BWV 211: Die Katze lsst das Mausen nicht
Madeleine Vogt, soprano
Matthias Schubotz, tenor
Holger Krause, bass
Members of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
Back(h) in Cthen
Bonus features:
Cello Suite No.5, BWV 1011: Sarabande
Hille Perl, viola da gamba
Coffee Cantata, BWV 211: Die Katze lsst das Mausen nicht
Madeleine Vogt, soprano
Matthias Schubotz, tenor
Holger Krause, bass
Members of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
Back(h) in Cthen
Johann Sebastian Bach's most famous Christmas work has been recorded live at the Salle Henry Le Boeuf in the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. Who would have thought, three centuries ago, that all six cantatas, written by Bach for services from Christmas to the Epiphany, would one day be performed as a single work presenting the Christmas story? Internationally-renowned Bach expert Philippe Herreweghe, who founded the Collegium Vocale in 1970, surrounded himself with superb soloists.
Surely Bach's French Suites , which he composed during his years at Cothen (1717?EUR"1723), are among the finest inducements to practise that any teacher has ever made to a pupil. In this case Bach wrote them for his young wife, Anna Magdalena. The over-riding impression left by these suites is one of endearing tunefulness. Clavier-Ubung II is a later collection of didactic keyboard pieces. It comprises two greatly contrasted works: the Italian Concerto and the Overture in the French Style. These performances admirably demonstrate the thoughtful and persuasive approach that Andras Schiff adopts when performing Bach. Recorded live at the Bachfest 2010, Protestant Reformed Church of Leipzig, 11 June 2010.
Bonus features:
- Andras Schiff explains Bach
Bonus features:
- Andras Schiff explains Bach
Koroliov's performances of Bach's music usually arouse great excitement and his rendering of Bach's famous 30 variations is no exception. Koroliov is a consummate artist and he captivates his listeners with an enormous spiritual understanding of the works he performs and in whose service he sets the wide range of his artistic and interpretive abilities. It is the constant switch between tension and relaxation in dynamic and tempo and the breathtaking intensity of his interpretation that makes the listener truly understand Bach.
Recorded at the atmospheric Academy of Sciences in Budapest, the Keller Quartet plays a version of Bach's unfinished masterpiece The Art of the Fugue for string quartet intertwined with works by renowned contemporary composer Gyorgy Kurtag - a programme that the four Hungarians developed and have successfully performed on international stages. Anner Bylsma, Dutch master cellist and world-renowned as a distinguished interpreter of Bach's cello music, plays the solo suites. The suites, on which he has also published an authoritative book, count among the most popular baroque chamber works. Anner Bylsma plays the famous Stradivarius "Servais" and the performance was recorded in the beautiful village church St. Bartholomew of Dornheim in Thuringia.
The famous Thomanerchor Leipzig ?EUR" a traditional specialist in Bach's choral music ?EUR" is joined by the superb Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and excellent soloists to perform one of Bach's most acclaimed pieces of religious choral music, the Mass in B Minor .
Recorded in the Thomaskirche in Leipzig in summer 2000, this was one of numerous performances to celebrate the 250th anniversary of J.S. Bach's death in the church where he served as musical director. The artistry of the performers under the assured baton of conductor George Christoph Biller is exemplary and the state-of-the-art filming shows the serene gothic church in full splendour ?EUR" a fitting backdrop for the work that is generally regarded as the crowning glory of Bach's sacred choral music; a majestic work that showcases Bach's supreme craftsmanship and skill as a choral composer.
Recorded in the Thomaskirche in Leipzig in summer 2000, this was one of numerous performances to celebrate the 250th anniversary of J.S. Bach's death in the church where he served as musical director. The artistry of the performers under the assured baton of conductor George Christoph Biller is exemplary and the state-of-the-art filming shows the serene gothic church in full splendour ?EUR" a fitting backdrop for the work that is generally regarded as the crowning glory of Bach's sacred choral music; a majestic work that showcases Bach's supreme craftsmanship and skill as a choral composer.
With this, his only Bach recording, Herbert Blomstedt pays homage to Bach and the city of Leipzig. The video was recorded in 2005 at the Leipzig Bach Festival, which is widely regarded as the world's leading festival celebrating Johann Sebastian Bach. This concert of Bach's masterwork, at the end of his tenure as the 18th Gewandhauskapellmeister did not really mark the end of Blomstedt's fruitful collaboration with the traditional orchestra. The Swedish conductor will continue to act as an honorary musical director to the ensemble. Performed with leading Bach singers at St. Thomas' Church, Leipzig, the church for which Bach conceived his works, this homage to Bach was a touching farewell to Herbert Blomstedt from his Leipzig audience.
Bonus feature:
- Bach and his B minor Mass: An introduction by Herbert Blomstedt
Bonus feature:
- Bach and his B minor Mass: An introduction by Herbert Blomstedt
This festive celebration concert from Berlin's Gethsemanekirche on the Day of German Unity also marks the 60th anniversary of the RIAS Kammerchor. Founded in 1948, this choir today enjoys a worldwide reputation as one of the best ensembles of its kind. Under the baton of their new chief conductor, Hans-Christoph Rademann, the RIAS Kammerchor and the Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin perform famous motets by Johann Sebastian Bach, interspersed with some fine instrumental movements from his cantatas.
The Kuijken Ensemble, made up of the three Belgian Kuijken brothers on flute, violin and viola da gamba and the harpsichordist Robert Kohnen count among the most distinguished of all present-day early-music specialists. They have long since branched out into conducting and other far-reaching ways of propagating authentic Baroque style. But they are each masters of a different set of instruments, so their occasional reunions for concerts become genuine occasions. With The Musical Offering , played here in a rigorously reduced scoring, they demonstrate their great flair for style and their long-standing experience and although they don?EUR(TM)t look at all alike, their shared musical heritage is audible. Bach?EUR(TM)s late masterpiece The Musical Offering (1747) is a musical homage written on the occasion of Bach?EUR(TM)s visit to King Frederick the Great of Prussia in Potsdam. Recorded in the beautiful setting of the historical Old Town Hall in Leipzig during the Bach anniversary year in 2000, the film captures some of the atmosphere of Bach?EUR(TM)s times.
Dutch organist and harpsichordist Ton Koopman is one of the most distinguished Bach interpreters of our time. On this video, he is featured interpreting Johann Sebastian Bach's greatest organ works, including the popular Toccata in D minor and the Fugue in G minor . He plays on the world-famous Silbermann Organ in Freiberg (Saxony). The organ was completed in 1714 and thoroughly restored in 1982/1983 and it closely retains its original condition. Bach adored his contemporary Gottfried Silbermann's organs for their exquisite sound and the recording allows the listener to enjoy this sound to the full while offering a closer look at this marvellously crafted instrument. In the second part of this video Ton Koopman is "At Home with Bach!" He plays favourite harpsichord pieces and accompanies the eminent Bach singer Klaus Mertens in popular arias. This programme was filmed in the enchanting Gohlis Castle near Leipzig, a late baroque jewel built in 1755.
"For me, it's the utmost to play and work on the music of Bach!"
Violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann is one of the greatest artists of his generation. Accompanied by Enrico Pace, his pianist counterpart since 1998, he plays the unrivalled violin sonatas of Johann Sebastian Bach, recorded in one of Germany's most beautiful Baroque halls. And in the documentary Bach and Me he provides us with personal insights into his relationship with this famed Baroque composer as well as into his own life as an artist and human being.
Violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann is one of the greatest artists of his generation. Accompanied by Enrico Pace, his pianist counterpart since 1998, he plays the unrivalled violin sonatas of Johann Sebastian Bach, recorded in one of Germany's most beautiful Baroque halls. And in the documentary Bach and Me he provides us with personal insights into his relationship with this famed Baroque composer as well as into his own life as an artist and human being.
The choir and the orchestra of the Bach Collegium Japan perform the St John's Passion with a small ensemble - as was customary in the composer's time - under Masaaki Suzuki, former student of one of the nestors of authentic interpretation, Ton Koopman. One of the greatest musical treatments of the suffering and death of Jesus Christ receives a performance that is musically precise and stylistically close to what we now know of Bach's ideal. The Bach Collegium Japan has been regarded for some years now as a real discovery among baroque ensembles specialising in the performance of sacred music from the Baroque and Masaaki Suzuki, who conducts and plays the harpsichord, is a complete and thorough musician, deeply involved in the emotional overtones of the music as well as technical questions of tempo, balance, and phrasing. Recorded live from The Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Japan during the Bach Anniversary Year 2000 on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the death of J.S. Bach.
First Concert (19 June 2020)
In the first concert with Renaud Capucon, we have three masterpieces, which, although they adopt the three-movement structure dear to Vivaldi and present features that bring them closer to the Italian models, are distinguished by their contrapuntal richness, their writing density and the breadth of their developments. These qualities are particularly evident in the BWV 1042 in E major , with its extremely powerful architecture.
In these works, where the solo violin is called upon to express itself through singing rather than virtuosic prowess, there are these wonderful slow movements that are enough to crack even the most hardened non-musician. Those in the concertos in A minor and E major "offer to the bass repeated figures whose seriousness brings out the sweetness of the solo violin all the more".
Second Concert (02 July 2020)
For the second concert with David Fray, Bach composed a concerti group for one, two, three and four harpsichords in Leipzig around 1730, and as director of the Collegium Musicum, he was to provide a large amount of music for an essentially worldly audience. All these concerti are transcriptions of earlier works.
Bach left us three concertos for two harpsichords BWV 1060 to 1062 , two for three harpsichords...
In the first concert with Renaud Capucon, we have three masterpieces, which, although they adopt the three-movement structure dear to Vivaldi and present features that bring them closer to the Italian models, are distinguished by their contrapuntal richness, their writing density and the breadth of their developments. These qualities are particularly evident in the BWV 1042 in E major , with its extremely powerful architecture.
In these works, where the solo violin is called upon to express itself through singing rather than virtuosic prowess, there are these wonderful slow movements that are enough to crack even the most hardened non-musician. Those in the concertos in A minor and E major "offer to the bass repeated figures whose seriousness brings out the sweetness of the solo violin all the more".
Second Concert (02 July 2020)
For the second concert with David Fray, Bach composed a concerti group for one, two, three and four harpsichords in Leipzig around 1730, and as director of the Collegium Musicum, he was to provide a large amount of music for an essentially worldly audience. All these concerti are transcriptions of earlier works.
Bach left us three concertos for two harpsichords BWV 1060 to 1062 , two for three harpsichords...
This recording presents the most important work of the baroque keyboard repertoire ?EUR" The Well-Tempered Clavier - played by four world-class pianists. Each artist performs twelve Preludes and Fugues selected from this well-cherished collection of educational and yet artistically highly-strung pieces. The performances were recorded at four exceptionally charming venues: the Palazzo Labia in Venice, the Guell Palace in Barcelona, the Wartburg in Eisenach, Germany and the New Art Gallery in Walsall in England. The performances were impressively staged and skilfully filmed, thus - together with interpretations by four high-class clavichordists ?EUR" it opens up new perspectives on the work.
The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra is one of those success stories that is almost too perfect to be true. The internationally respected orchestra was founded by Daniel Barenboim and the late Palestinian writer and scholar Edward Said with young, highly talented Israeli and Arab musicians. The ensemble works to establish dialogue between the cultures of the Middle East through the experience of playing music together, and has gained cultural and musical respect all over the world. The concert proves that it can bear comparison with veteran orchestras, even in familiar repertory staples. Combining technical polish and security, tonal beauty and transparency with youthful expression, passion and exuberance, the ensemble plays music by Beethoven, Brahms and others. The event was broadcast live from the Palacio de Carlos V, Alhambra in Spanish Granada, thus hundreds of thousands of viewers across Europe were able to experience Barenboim's conducting and this special orchestra. The Alhambra (Red Castle) in Granada, Spain ?EUR" a listed UNESCO World Heritage Site - was built and preserved over a period of social tolerance and cultural flowering, during the Moorish era, in which the three great religions lived together in an atmosphere of tolerance and mutual respect. Thus it provides...
On the afternoon of 19 August 1950, a young boy in short trouser climbed the steps to the stage of the Sala Beyer in Buenos Aires to make his piano debut. 50 years later, Daniel Barenboim returned "to the scene of the crime" to give an ecstatically received recital at Teatro Colon which will go down in history as one of the musical events of the 21st century.
From 1999 to 2001, filmmaker Paul Smaczny followed legendary pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim , exploring his exceptional life and brilliant career.
Daniel Barenboim, director of Staatskapelle Berlin, is a legendary pianist, conductor, and music director. This man of many passions has played an essential role in some of the most important debates of our time. Paul Smaczny followed Barenboim on a tour that took him to Berlin, Chicago, Weimar, and Buenos Aires (where he made his debut 50 years before), and concluded in Jerusalem (where he dared to present a program featuring Wagner, breaking an implicit taboo of the Jewish state's musical world). Over the course of the journey, Barenboim unveiled his story, from his birth in 1942 in Buenos Aires to his arrival in Europe from Israel at the age of 10.
Cecilia Bartoli, Pierre Boulez, Zubin Mehta, and Waltraud Meier, his colleagues, pay tribute to this exceptional musician.
This documentary includes one particularly moving scene: the young Barenboim playing in a swimming pool with his wife, the cellist Jacqueline Dupre, who passed away at a young age. The program includes historic photos from the concert in Israel where the conductor offered the audience an encore performance of a work by Wagner.
Daniel Barenboim, director of Staatskapelle Berlin, is a legendary pianist, conductor, and music director. This man of many passions has played an essential role in some of the most important debates of our time. Paul Smaczny followed Barenboim on a tour that took him to Berlin, Chicago, Weimar, and Buenos Aires (where he made his debut 50 years before), and concluded in Jerusalem (where he dared to present a program featuring Wagner, breaking an implicit taboo of the Jewish state's musical world). Over the course of the journey, Barenboim unveiled his story, from his birth in 1942 in Buenos Aires to his arrival in Europe from Israel at the age of 10.
Cecilia Bartoli, Pierre Boulez, Zubin Mehta, and Waltraud Meier, his colleagues, pay tribute to this exceptional musician.
This documentary includes one particularly moving scene: the young Barenboim playing in a swimming pool with his wife, the cellist Jacqueline Dupre, who passed away at a young age. The program includes historic photos from the concert in Israel where the conductor offered the audience an encore performance of a work by Wagner.
The year 2006 come to a close with a spectacular musical event: a festival of Argentinean music broadcast live from Buenos Aires. At the height of the Argentinean summer, the Orquesta Filarmonica del Teatro Colon under Daniel Barenboim (conductor and soloist) join the excellent bandoneon virtuoso Leopoldo Federico and his Orquesta Tipica to present an extraordinary New Year's Eve show with popular tangos and Latin American orchestra classics. The old master of tango, Jose Carli, has created enchanting new arrangements of works by the Argentinean artists Astor Piazzolla , Carlos Gardel , Julio de Caro , Alberto Ginastera and Horacio Salgan . Performances by the leading tango dancers Mora Godoy and Junior Cervilla from Buenos Aires add atmosphere and round off the night.
The conductor Rudolf Barshai was one of the greatest musicians of the twentieth century. The Moscow Chamber Orchestra founded by Barshai in the late 1950s took the world by storm. Among the orchestra's collaborators were Sviatoslav Richter, David Oistrakh, Emil Gilels, Yehudi Menuhin. In 1977, at the peak of his career, Barshai emigrated to the West to perform works banned in the USSR. He led orchestras in Israel, Britain, Canada, France, Switzerland, and Japan. A master of orchestration, whom Shostakovich ?EUR" his mentor and friend ?EUR" trusted to arrange his quartets into chamber symphonies. Barshai considered his greatest achievements in life the ending to Bach's Art of Fugue and a version of Mahler's Tenth Symphony. The film, shot in Switzerland in 2010, is the maestro's confessional monologue, recorded a month before his death.
For its 14th edition, the Verbier Festival has once again brought together the most prestigious artists in classical music. This series of 12 TV programmes presents the highlights of Verbier 2007.
Acclaimed pianist Andras Schiff performs Bela Bartok's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle. Throughout the stunning performance of this iconic work, Schiff and Rattle bring to life the intense emotion and passion of Bartok's music and showcase the full power and range of the orchestra and piano. The concert capture the energy and intensity of the live performance and provide a thrilling listening experience.
Peter Schreier, accompanied by Norman Shetler, presents a recital of Beethoven's Lieder at the Festhalle Bad Urach in 1987.
Peter Schreier is particularly well known for his interpretations of Lieder, German poems sung by a single voice. Trained as a member of the choir of Dresden's Kreuzkirche, he eventually became one of the most celebrated classical singers of East Germany. During the Cold War his talents enabled him to travel to the West on multiple occasions, performing at Covent Garden, la Scala, and even at the Metropolitan Opera. Over the course of his career he was honored time and again: in 1978, he was elected a member of Berlin's Academy of Arts, in 2009 he received the Bach Prize from the Royal Academy of Music, and in 2013 the Bach Medal from the city of Leipzig.
Peter Schreier is particularly well known for his interpretations of Lieder, German poems sung by a single voice. Trained as a member of the choir of Dresden's Kreuzkirche, he eventually became one of the most celebrated classical singers of East Germany. During the Cold War his talents enabled him to travel to the West on multiple occasions, performing at Covent Garden, la Scala, and even at the Metropolitan Opera. Over the course of his career he was honored time and again: in 1978, he was elected a member of Berlin's Academy of Arts, in 2009 he received the Bach Prize from the Royal Academy of Music, and in 2013 the Bach Medal from the city of Leipzig.
With this festive concert the Schsische Staatskapelle Dresden under the baton of Fabio Luisi celebrated the moving reopening of the Frauenkirche in Dresden. After the bombing of Dresden on February 13, 1945, the church burnt out and its dome, the "The Stone Bell", collapsed. The church was always very dear to the heart of the Dresdeners and just as its ruins were a constant reminder of the Second World War, the rebuilt church will remain a monument to and a symbol of hope and conciliation. Thus the reopening proved to be a touching event of great solemnity, which was perfectly matched by the Missa Solemnis . On this recording, Beethoven's overwhelming music blends wonderfully with the camera shots of the impressive space. The cast of soloists is excellent. It includes Camilla Nylund and Rene Pape, who are among the most outstanding singers of the younger generation. An informative bonus film features the reconstruction of the Frauenkirche.
Bonus features:
- The Reconstruction of the Frauenkirche, Dresden
Bonus features:
- The Reconstruction of the Frauenkirche, Dresden
In November 2007, Daniel Barenboim completed a cycle of Beethoven's piano concertos. Recorded live at the prestigious Klavier-Festival Ruhr in May 2007, this recording reflects both a very individual and special reading of Beethoven's music and the artist's life-long dedication to the composer. Daniel Barenboim is one of the most prolific and high-profile artists performing on international stages today and Beethoven's masterpieces have been a key part of his repertoire throughout his career, both as conductor and as pianist. Beethoven himself was a keyboard virtuoso of almost awesome abilities who created a sensation wherever he played. It is no wonder, therefore, that the piano was central to Beethoven's overall output. Daniel Barenboim, artistic personality and former wunderkind, long an essential part of the international musical scene both on the conductor's podium and at the piano, is the perfect match for this demanding music. Conducting and playing at the same time, Barenboim chose his orchestra of almost two decades, the Staatskapelle Berlin, which he has praised warmly for its exceptional, dark and warm sound. With a tradition reaching back to 1570, the Staatskapelle Berlin is one of the oldest orchestras in the world.
In this recording, seven-time GRAMMY Award-winning pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim tackles the so-called "New Testament" of music, Ludwig van Beethoven?EUR(TM)s thirty-two piano sonatas. Composed over twenty-five years and embodying the shift of musical taste from the Classic to the Romantic, their performance requires a musician of extraordinary versatility. Barenboim is one such pianist ?EUR" his recordings run the gamut from Bach and Mozart to Bruckner and Bartok. In following in the footsteps of such masters as Artur Schnabel, Barenboim truly shows himself to be among the greatest living musicians.
Elected by members of the Berlin Philharmonic as Principal Conductor and fifth Artistic Director in 1989, Claudio Abbado resigned from the post in 2002, but remains close to the orchestra, which cherishes the conductor to this day. Listening to the music, one hears how the Berlin Philharmonic transforms Abbado's musical intentions into sound ?EUR" there is a sense of unity that can only be achieved through many years of shared artistic experience and attention to detail. These live performances at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome in 2001 were an overwhelming success: each concert ended in standing ovations, and the critics spoke of seminal moments in the history of music. Abbado's Beethoven cycle will certainly become a milestone for contemporary interpretation and this recording pays tribute to his achievement.
Bonus feature:
- Multi-Angle Feature - Conductor Camera ( Symphony No. 6 )
Bonus feature:
- Multi-Angle Feature - Conductor Camera ( Symphony No. 6 )
Elected by members of the Berlin Philharmonic as Principal Conductor and fifth Artistic Director in 1989, Claudio Abbado resigned from the post in 2002, but remains close to the orchestra, which cherishes the conductor to this day. Listening to the music, one hears how the Berlin Philharmonic transforms Abbado's musical intentions into sound ?EUR" there is a sense of unity that can only be achieved through many years of shared artistic experience and attention to detail. These live performances at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome in 2001 were an overwhelming success: each concert ended in standing ovations, and the critics spoke of seminal moments in the history of music. Abbado's Beethoven cycle will certainly become a milestone for contemporary interpretation and this recording pays tribute to his achievement.
Bonus feature:
- Multi-Angle Feature - Conductor Camera ( Symphony No. 5 )
Bonus feature:
- Multi-Angle Feature - Conductor Camera ( Symphony No. 5 )
Elected by members of the Berlin Philharmonic as Principal Conductor and fifth Artistic Director in 1989, Claudio Abbado resigned from the post in 2002, but remains close to the orchestra, which cherishes the conductor to this day. Listening to the music, one hears how the Berlin Philharmonic transforms Abbado's musical intentions into sound ?EUR" there is a sense of unity that can only be achieved through many years of shared artistic experience and attention to detail. These live performances at the Philharmonie, Berlin in 2000 and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome in 2001 were an overwhelming success: each concert ended in standing ovations, and the critics spoke of seminal moments in the history of music. Abbado's Beethoven cycle will certainly become a milestone for contemporary interpretation and this recording pays tribute to his achievement. For the popular Symphony No. 9 in D minor , the Berlin Philharmonic were joined by high-ranking singers and choirs.
Bonus feature:
- Multi-Angle Feature - Conductor Camera ( Symphony No.3 )
Bonus feature:
- Multi-Angle Feature - Conductor Camera ( Symphony No.3 )
Elected by members of the Berlin Philharmonic as Principal Conductor and fifth Artistic Director in 1989, Claudio Abbado resigned from the post in 2002, but remains close to the orchestra, which cherishes the conductor to this day. Listening to the music, one hears how the Berlin Philharmonic transforms Abbado's musical intentions into sound ?EUR" there is a sense of unity that can only be achieved through many years of shared artistic experience and attention to detail. These live performances at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome in 2001 were an overwhelming success: each concert ended in standing ovations, and the critics spoke of seminal moments in the history of music. Abbado's Beethoven cycle will certainly become a milestone for contemporary interpretation and this recording pays tribute to his achievement.
Bonus features:
- Multi-Angle Feature - Conductor Camera ( Symphony No. 7 )
- Documentary - Abbado on Beethoven
Bonus features:
- Multi-Angle Feature - Conductor Camera ( Symphony No. 7 )
- Documentary - Abbado on Beethoven
The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra was founded by Daniel Barenboim and the late Edward Said. It consists of young, highly talented Israeli and Arabian musicians and was founded to increase the dialogue between young people in the Middle East and represent the peaceful collaboration of the two cultures. In standard comparable to the most established orchestras, it combines tonal beauty and transparency with youthful expressiveness, passion and exuberance. This technically brilliant and incredibly enthusiastic orchestra brings out all levels of Beethoven's 9th symphony and we listen to Beethoven at his very best: exuberant, emotional, lucid, tender, clear, triumphant... simply magnificent! Needless to say, Daniel Barenboim conducts excellently and outstanding singers Angela Denoke, Waltraud Meier, Burkhard Fritz and Rene Pape contribute tremendously to this unforgettable concert. The standing ovations are well deserved!
Paralleling Beethoven's Triple Concerto in C Major for piano, violin and cello, Insula Orchestra pays tribute to the French composer Louise Farrenc , a talented artist whose unjustly neglected work was nonetheless acclaimed by her contemporaries, musicians and critics alike: La Belgique musicale wrote "A woman may indeed successfully walk the rocky path laid down by Haydn, Mozart or Beethoven". This performance of her third symphony is an opportunity to rediscover an important work of the Romantic period.
Maurice Bejart's compelling staging of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony has been enchanting audiences worldwide since its inception and its idea of universal brotherhood remains highly topical. "Alle Menschen werden Bruder" (All men will be brothers) is the powerful message communicated by the unforgettable music and choreography.
From the stage of the NHK Hall in Tokyo 250 dancers and musicians send this message out into the world. "It is a 'manifestation', in the deepest sense of the word." Maurice Bejart. This performance of Maurice Bejart's Ninth Symphony has been performed at the NHK Hall, Tokyo on the 8th and 9th of November, 2014.
From the stage of the NHK Hall in Tokyo 250 dancers and musicians send this message out into the world. "It is a 'manifestation', in the deepest sense of the word." Maurice Bejart. This performance of Maurice Bejart's Ninth Symphony has been performed at the NHK Hall, Tokyo on the 8th and 9th of November, 2014.
Rediscover a classic of Czech music alongside a lesser-heard masterwork by experimental composer Luciano Berio ! The concert opens with the Italian's Sinfonia , interpreted with brio by the London Voices and a Czech Philharmonic in high form, under the baton of Maestro Semyon Bychkov. This fascinating choral symphony features eight amplified voices, singing and speaking texts extracted from Claude L?vi-Strauss, James Joyce, and Samuel Beckett - with a second movement in homage to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - and also quotes musical works by Beethoven, Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky, Schoenberg , and many other composers in its highly allusive third movement.
The evening's second half is dedicated to the music of Dvorak , with his Symphony No. 7 in D Minor as the centerpiece. This passionate work, dedicated to the London Philharmonic Society who had commissioned it, was an unmitigated success at its premiere and has continued to enchant audiences through the centuries-including this one at the Rudolfinum in Prague, where Dvorak himself conducted the Czech Philharmonic's first ever concert in 1896. Two of the Bohemian composer's spirited Slavonic Dances serve as encores to round out the program, which also includes a nod to Frank Sinatra...
The evening's second half is dedicated to the music of Dvorak , with his Symphony No. 7 in D Minor as the centerpiece. This passionate work, dedicated to the London Philharmonic Society who had commissioned it, was an unmitigated success at its premiere and has continued to enchant audiences through the centuries-including this one at the Rudolfinum in Prague, where Dvorak himself conducted the Czech Philharmonic's first ever concert in 1896. Two of the Bohemian composer's spirited Slavonic Dances serve as encores to round out the program, which also includes a nod to Frank Sinatra...
This opera gala, recorded live at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, on November 8, 2003, marked the 10th anniversary of the annual benefit for the German AIDS Foundation. Conducted by Kent Nagano, then Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Berlin Deutsche Symphony Orchestra founded 1923. This recording features an illustrious roster of international artists from Germany, Austria, Italy, Russia, Bulgaria, the United States and Canada.
The 2010 tour by the Berliner Philharmoniker and their Artistic Director Sir Simon Rattle concluded in Singapore, their very first visit there. They presented Mahler's unique and breathtaking First Symphony, which once briefly enjoyed the title "Titan" in homage to the Romantic novelist Jean Paul. They also performed Rachmaninov's late Symphonic Dances, highly evocative pieces that originally bore the titles "Noon," "Twilight," and "Midnight," and which were conceived as ballet numbers. In this concert, the Berliner Philharmoniker beautifully captures Mahler's love of nature and Rachmaninov's nostalgic memories of the old Russia he had left behind.
Lutoslawski's delicate lament serves as prelude to Berlioz's Requiem , a superlative work requiring an impressive cast of two orchestras and choirs, here under the direction of Pablo Heras-Casado.
An event not to be forgotten! The concert was recorded on February 20th, 2019 at the Philharmonie de Paris, a building designed by les Ateliers Jean Nouvel.
An event not to be forgotten! The concert was recorded on February 20th, 2019 at the Philharmonie de Paris, a building designed by les Ateliers Jean Nouvel.
Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic set off fireworks of good humour and a contagious musical spirit at the traditional New Year's Eve Concert in 2002. Simon Rattle chose Leonard Bernstein's brilliant and entertaining musical comedy, Wonderful Town , for his first New Year's Eve Concert with the Berlin Philharmonic. Conductor and orchestra - both rank among the best in the world - joined forces with Broadway stars Kim Criswell and Audra McDonald and famous baritone Thomas Hampson. The audience enjoyed a great show full of dancing, choruses, fascinating light design and ?EUR" above all ?EUR" intoxicating music. The exuberant atmosphere of this event culminated in an overwhelming encore with the musicians and audience dancing through the hall! This video captures the atmosphere right in the middle of orchestra, singers and audience and recreates a wonderful night on the town.
Bizet's passionate tale of the self-willed gypsy woman Carmen is certainly one of the most popular works in the history of opera. It shows how a cigar factory worker in Seville enchants and bewitches the men around her. Melodies like Carmen's legendary 'Habanera'or Escamillo's 'Toreador March' are well known tunes all over the world. The Opra Comique in Paris commissioned George Bizet to write Carmen in 1872 and Bizet's music portrays the characters with care and reveals itself to both the most nave and the most sophisticated listener. The wild-romantic Roman quarry of St. Margarethen provided the perfect backdrop for this live recording of one of the key works of the so-called 'Hispanismo'-style. The film captures a summer's evening in 2005 when thousands of spectators gathered at one of Europe's most important open-air festivals, visited by 220.000 opera lovers annually. This exciting production brought horses, pyrotechnical special effects and more than 400 participants onto the stage.
Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon, Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock, Thelonious Monk... these names are synonymous with the great Jazz Age. But how many people know Alfred Lion and Frank Wolff, to whom we owe the recorded memory of our Jazz legends? Two German Jews who emigrated from Nazi Germany to New York "discovered" an American art form which at the time received little serious attention from mainstream America: Jazz Music. Without money or connections and speaking little English, the two men began to record practically unknown musicians, following their own taste and judgement. Today this list of artists reads like the Who-is-Who of Jazz. Blue Note - A Story of Modern Jazz tells the story of Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff and their record label. It is the story of the rise of Modern Jazz, of a friendship in exile and of uncompromising artistic excellence. Told by the musicians, by friends and associates and by fans of the Blue Note recordings from all walks of life, the film BLUE NOTE recreates an era of American cultural history. Grammy Nomination for "Best Long Form Video" 1997.
A true celebration, ushering in the New Year with one of the finest orchestras and greatest conductors in the world. The 2007 Gala from Berlin features the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle in Alexander Borodin's Second Symphony , a richly lyrical work of immense poetic grandeur and fairytale magic, in a programme that also includes one of the greatest classical hits ever: Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition .
An all Bartok programme featuring one of the leading violinists - Gidon Kremer - and one of the world's leading viola players - Yuri Bashmet. Accompanied by the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Pierre Boulez.
Bela Bartok's Dance Suite is an orchestral work composed in 1923 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the union between Buda, Pest and Obuda. At that time, three composers were commissioned new scores: Bela Bartok composed his Dance Suite, Erno Dohnanyi composed the Festival Overture and Zoltan Kodaly composed his Psalmus Hungaricus . Rejecting any kind of nationalism, Bartok draws freely his inspiration from Romanian, Arabian and Hungarian folk music for his piece.
Dedicated to the violinist Stefi Geye, the Violin and Orchestra Concerto No. 1 is one of the two concertos composed by Bela Bartok. The concerto avoids the traditional concerto's division in three movements and opts for a two-part division, the former being slow, the latter fast. Though the Violin Concerto No. 1 was composed in 1907, it was only published in 1959 thanks to Paul Sacher.
During July and August 1945, Bartok composed his Viola Concerto when he was in terminal leukemia. This concerto, unfinished at the composer's death, is the last work composed by Bartok. His pupil Tibor Serly...
Bela Bartok's Dance Suite is an orchestral work composed in 1923 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the union between Buda, Pest and Obuda. At that time, three composers were commissioned new scores: Bela Bartok composed his Dance Suite, Erno Dohnanyi composed the Festival Overture and Zoltan Kodaly composed his Psalmus Hungaricus . Rejecting any kind of nationalism, Bartok draws freely his inspiration from Romanian, Arabian and Hungarian folk music for his piece.
Dedicated to the violinist Stefi Geye, the Violin and Orchestra Concerto No. 1 is one of the two concertos composed by Bela Bartok. The concerto avoids the traditional concerto's division in three movements and opts for a two-part division, the former being slow, the latter fast. Though the Violin Concerto No. 1 was composed in 1907, it was only published in 1959 thanks to Paul Sacher.
During July and August 1945, Bartok composed his Viola Concerto when he was in terminal leukemia. This concerto, unfinished at the composer's death, is the last work composed by Bartok. His pupil Tibor Serly...
A documentary on Pierre Boulez and his work Eclat . Eclat is a real study of resonance written for fifteen instruments and created in 1965.
Brahm's Ein Deutsches Requiem , composed between 1861 and 1869, continues to inspire musicians and audiences to this day. His requiem is addressed to the living, who are to be offered comfort in this world freed from fear of death.
This outstanding performance of A German Requiem was recorded in the Grand Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna to mark the centenary of the death of Johannes Brahms.
This outstanding performance of A German Requiem was recorded in the Grand Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna to mark the centenary of the death of Johannes Brahms.
The Verbier Festival is arguably one of the most prestigious classical music events in the world. The quality of the participating artists as well as the originality of the programmes has established the festival as a culminating point in the music season. This series present the highlights of the 19th edition of the Verbier Festival, featuring renowned artists such as Neeme Jarvi, Denis Matsuev, Menahem Pressler, Christoph Pregardien, and the Capucon brothers
A promising concert featuring two of the Verbier Festival's most iconic artists performing chamber music works by Brahms together! Now praised on the whole classical music planet, the Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos took the world by storm in 1985 when he became the youngest winner of the prestigious Sibelius Competition. Acclaimed for his phenomenal virtuosity and musicality, he here joins forces with the pianist Yuja Wang, an accomplished artist at only 26!
This programme features three sonatas by Brahms . The first one, the Regensonata , is written after the composer's Rain Song (Regenlied) . The second one, the Thuner-Sonata is about the peaceful landscapes of the Swiss lake of Thun, and contrasts with the third and last sonata played here, the Sonata No. 3 , characterized its by great, passionate and fiery themes.
This programme features three sonatas by Brahms . The first one, the Regensonata , is written after the composer's Rain Song (Regenlied) . The second one, the Thuner-Sonata is about the peaceful landscapes of the Swiss lake of Thun, and contrasts with the third and last sonata played here, the Sonata No. 3 , characterized its by great, passionate and fiery themes.
Filmed in June 2013 during three extraordinary performances that took place during the Aldeburgh Festival, Peter Grimes on Aldeburgh beach takes place in the heart of the town that inspired it and is the film interpretation of Britten's Peter Grimes , the most successful opera of post-war Britain. Based on George Crabbe's 1810 poem The Borough , Britten's powerful and masterful evocation of the North Sea in all its moods has become inextricably linked with the Aldeburgh that was home to Crabbe in the late eighteenth century and Britten in the twentieth, and where both poem and opera were written.
Conceived and hosted by the Aldeburgh Festival, the performances of Peter Grimes were directed by Tim Albery who placed the audience on the beach watching the story of Peter Grimes unfold as dusk fades over the sea. The cast and chorus, with Alan Oke in the eponymous role of Peter Grimes, Giselle Allen as Ellen Orford, and David Kempster as Captain Balstrode, sing live with amplification, while the Britten-Pears Orchestra under the baton of Britten expert Steuart Bedford is pre-recorded.
Conceived and hosted by the Aldeburgh Festival, the performances of Peter Grimes were directed by Tim Albery who placed the audience on the beach watching the story of Peter Grimes unfold as dusk fades over the sea. The cast and chorus, with Alan Oke in the eponymous role of Peter Grimes, Giselle Allen as Ellen Orford, and David Kempster as Captain Balstrode, sing live with amplification, while the Britten-Pears Orchestra under the baton of Britten expert Steuart Bedford is pre-recorded.
The Mahler Chamber Orchestra was Orchestra in Residence at the KlaraFestival 2013 which is known as a modern and international classical music festival far beyond Belgium's borders. The concerts of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra formed one of the highlights of this year's festival. Alongside young Greece conductor Teodor Currentzis , who is hailed as an "eccentric super-talented maestro", the orchestra dedicates its performance to the two composers, contemporaries and friends Benjamin Britten and Dmitri Shostakovich .
The programme includes Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1 at whose world premiere in London 1960 the two composers met for the first time. The orchestra combines one of the most popular cello concertos of the 20th century with Britten's Sinfonietta and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 1 .
The programme includes Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1 at whose world premiere in London 1960 the two composers met for the first time. The orchestra combines one of the most popular cello concertos of the 20th century with Britten's Sinfonietta and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 1 .
BRUCKNER, A.: Symphony No. 8 (ed. R. Haas from 1887 and 1890 versions) (Vienna Philharmonic, Boulez)
On the occasion of Bruckner's 100th day of death, Pierre Boulez conducts his eighth Symphony. The performance took place in the Stiftskirche of St. Florian where Bruckner was first exposed to the learnings of music. Boulez' much discussed interpretation is unique in its clarity of the musical structure without losing the rich expression of the symphony.
Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707) is considered today one of the founding fathers of the 17th century German school, whose influence on composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, his spiritual son, cannot be overestimated. Not only was he an indisputable master of organ music, but also a most prolific composer whose oeuvre consists of more than 200 works.
Let's us join the Masques Ensemble and the Vox Luminis choir and discover 17th century baroque music and the composer Buxtehude through his vocal compositions, ranging from spiritual concert, choral, aria to cantata parties, many of which directly influenced Johann Sebastian Bach's compositions. It is to a journey in space and time, a journey in which violins, viola, viola da gamba, violone, harpsichord, canned organ and choral ensemble will share the legacy and influence of Dietrich Buxtehude who has transcended borders with us.
Let's us join the Masques Ensemble and the Vox Luminis choir and discover 17th century baroque music and the composer Buxtehude through his vocal compositions, ranging from spiritual concert, choral, aria to cantata parties, many of which directly influenced Johann Sebastian Bach's compositions. It is to a journey in space and time, a journey in which violins, viola, viola da gamba, violone, harpsichord, canned organ and choral ensemble will share the legacy and influence of Dietrich Buxtehude who has transcended borders with us.
Elliott Carter has lived in New York almost a century and describes his music as a reflection on modern democratic society, where people have to cooperate but keep their individuality. This revelatory portrait of the man widely considered to be the greatest living composer was brilliantly created by Scheffer, who has also made a number of award winning films on Stockhausen, John Cage, Mahler and the history of electronic music.
The Verbier Festival is arguably one of the most prestigious classical music events in the world. The quality of the participating artists as well as the originality of the programmes has established the festival as a culminating point in the music season. This series present the highlights of the Verbier Festival 2011, featuring renowned artists such as Martha Argerich, Evgeny Kissin, Lars Vogt, Yuja Wang, Renaud Capucon, Khatia Buniatishvili, and Nelson Goerner.
The Verbier Festival is arguably one of the most prestigious classical usic events in the world. The quality of the participating artists as well as the originality of the programmes has established the festival as a culminating point in the music season.
Yuja Wang, Leonidas Kavakos, and Gautier Capucon get the ball rolling with Mendelssohn's Piano Trio No. 2 , followed by Leonidas Kavakos and Joshua Bell performing a Ysaye Duo Sonata . Denis Matsuev, Julian Rachlin, and Roby Lakatos tackle Vittorio Monti's Csardas , transcribed for two violins and piano. Brahms' Piano Quartet follows, featuring Kissin, Repin, Bashmet, and Maisky. Finally, as the cherry on the cake, legendary pianists Martha Argerich and Evgeny Kissin bring Lutoslawski's Variations sur un theme de Paganini with head-spinning virtuosity.
Yuja Wang, Leonidas Kavakos, and Gautier Capucon get the ball rolling with Mendelssohn's Piano Trio No. 2 , followed by Leonidas Kavakos and Joshua Bell performing a Ysaye Duo Sonata . Denis Matsuev, Julian Rachlin, and Roby Lakatos tackle Vittorio Monti's Csardas , transcribed for two violins and piano. Brahms' Piano Quartet follows, featuring Kissin, Repin, Bashmet, and Maisky. Finally, as the cherry on the cake, legendary pianists Martha Argerich and Evgeny Kissin bring Lutoslawski's Variations sur un theme de Paganini with head-spinning virtuosity.
This series of the very best of the 16th Verbier Festival with worldwide renowned artists such as Martha Argerich, Mischa Maisky, Rene Pape, Joshua Bell, and Philippe Jaroussky.
Charpentier's most famous Te Deum - he wrote four - overawes in exultant D Major, with an eight-part ensemble and show stealing trumpets and timpani. It is no great surprise then that this work - and especially its instrumental prelude - became a hit!
Together with B'Rock, resident artist Vox Luminis completes the programme with a triumphant ode to the patron saint of music: Cecilia . Commissioned by London's 'Gentlemen Lovers of Musick', Purcell composed a celebratory festival of colours that shines brighter than ever in this rendition by two of Europe's most exciting Baroque ensembles.
Together with B'Rock, resident artist Vox Luminis completes the programme with a triumphant ode to the patron saint of music: Cecilia . Commissioned by London's 'Gentlemen Lovers of Musick', Purcell composed a celebratory festival of colours that shines brighter than ever in this rendition by two of Europe's most exciting Baroque ensembles.
The Verbier Festival is arguably one of the most prestigious classical music events in the world. The quality of the participating artists as well as the originality of the programmes has established the festival as a culminating point in the music season. This series present the highlights of the 19th edition of the Verbier Festival, featuring renowned artists such as Neeme Jarvi, Denis Matsuev, Menahem Pressler, Christoph Pregardien, and the Capucon brothers.
How is the perfect sequence of steps formed?
An intimate documentary about the internationally highly esteemed choreographer Mats Ek . In May 2013 Juliet and Romeo premiered at the Royal opera house in Stockholm. A new and much anticipated full length work by choreographer Mats Ek.
Filmmakers Andreas Soderberg and Bjorn Eriksson have been there from early on in the process, making a documentary with an unique insight into Mats Ek's artistic process. We get as close to Mats as he gets to the dancers.
An intimate documentary about the internationally highly esteemed choreographer Mats Ek . In May 2013 Juliet and Romeo premiered at the Royal opera house in Stockholm. A new and much anticipated full length work by choreographer Mats Ek.
Filmmakers Andreas Soderberg and Bjorn Eriksson have been there from early on in the process, making a documentary with an unique insight into Mats Ek's artistic process. We get as close to Mats as he gets to the dancers.
Il matrimonio segreto is Cimarosa's most famous opera buffa and it is one of the few comic operas to have maintained its place in the repertoire until today. At its first performance in 1792, Austrian emperor Leopold II is reputed to have liked this masterpiece so much that he ordered the musicians to play it again from the beginning! Michael Hampe's elegant, colourful production had already won international acclaim when staged in Paris, Stockholm and London - where it won the Olivier Award for Best Opera Production. His stage direction is sensitive to the music's flow and brings a welcome clarity to the many twists and deceptions in the plot. This recording comes live from the exquisite palace rococo theatre at the Schwetzingen Festival in 1986. The Drottningholm Court Theatre Orchestra, an outstanding orchestra for early music, is specialized in music of the 17th and 18th century - their authentic interpretation sounds extremely fresh and colourful, and the playing is always full of energy and contrasts.
The collection Classic Archive presents great performances by legendary artists, remastered using the latest digital technology and enhanced with commentary for today's audiences. These jewels of music broadcasting have been salvaged from various archives and been made accessible for home viewing audiences - appealing and enjoyable performances, that offer a unique glimpse into our classical music heritage. This Classic Archive episode brings into focus the greatest performers of Giuseppe Verdi's compositions.
Classic Yo-Yo Ma chronicles Ma's unique work process and legendary performances with rarely seen rehearsal and concert footage from throughout his entire career.
In addition to these exquisite musical selections, the program includes newly-taped interviews with Yo-Yo Ma and his friends and colleagues Daniel Barenboim, Emanuel Ax, Tan Dun and Bobby McFerrin. Yo-Yo Ma is world-renowned for his incomparable artistry and range. His discography of nearly fifty albums includes fourteen Grammy Awards. His remarkable talent and limitless interests have created new boundaries for classical music.
The program highlights Ma's unique ability to explore cultures and musical forms outside the Western classical tradition. His diversity is demonstrated not only through richly nuanced interpretations of Bach, Beethoven , and Brahms , but also Piazzolla, Edgar Meyer , American folk music and Tan Dun .
In addition to these exquisite musical selections, the program includes newly-taped interviews with Yo-Yo Ma and his friends and colleagues Daniel Barenboim, Emanuel Ax, Tan Dun and Bobby McFerrin. Yo-Yo Ma is world-renowned for his incomparable artistry and range. His discography of nearly fifty albums includes fourteen Grammy Awards. His remarkable talent and limitless interests have created new boundaries for classical music.
The program highlights Ma's unique ability to explore cultures and musical forms outside the Western classical tradition. His diversity is demonstrated not only through richly nuanced interpretations of Bach, Beethoven , and Brahms , but also Piazzolla, Edgar Meyer , American folk music and Tan Dun .
Claudio Abbado, who first conducted his new Lucerne Festival Orchestra in this Debussy concert in 2003, realised a dream come true with this exclusive ensemble of handpicked orchestral musicians and exceptional soloists such as Kolja Blacher, Emanuel Pahud and Sabine Meyer. This recording pays tribute to Claudio Abbado's vision and the Lucerne Festival orchestra's triumphant rebirth during the summer festival 2003.
The Victor Ullate Ballet brings to its repertoire a new version of this important, internationally performed classic. Choreographer and artistic director Eduardo Lau emphasizes the comic spirit of Coppelia while keeping the original score written by Leo Delibes in 1870. This interpretation of Coppelia is set in a cybernetic laboratory specialised in artificial intelligence, where Doctor Coppelia is attempting to create a female android that moves and acts like a human.
Discovering Masterpieces of Classical Music is a series of audio-visual concert guides that allow the listener to experience and enjoy great music from the Baroque period up to the present day in an entirely new way, offering a combination of documentary material and a complete performance of the featured work. The Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras, the Gewandhaus Orchestra and other eminent musical bodies join forces with acclaimed experts, famous soloists and outstanding conductors to highlight the distinctive features of twenty famous masterpieces by the most important composers through first class concert recordings. Each introductory feature is clearly designed and provides abundant information. Examples from the musical score help the viewer to follow the themes and rhythms and to understand the structure of the work. New film material documenting the birthplaces of the composers and locations of composition is combined with historic film material, works of art and original manuscripts. It allows the viewer to embark on a journey back to the time and place of composition and informs him about the life of the composer while providing a complete introduction to the work.
The Berlin Philharmonic present Bla Bartk's Concerto for Orchestra recorded live at the...
The Berlin Philharmonic present Bla Bartk's Concerto for Orchestra recorded live at the...
Discovering Masterpieces of Classical Music is an informative and entertaining guide to some of the most important symphonic works of music history. As well as featuring a complete concert performance, it also includes an insightful documentary, in which an expert presenter guides the viewer through the structure of the music. Renowned scholar Wulf Konold discusses Beethoven's life and the circumstances surrounding the composition of the Fifth Symphony. Footage of the composer's birthplace in Bonn, quotations from his contemporaries, as well as plentiful musical examples also help to bring the creation of this extraordinary masterpiece vividly to life.
Discovering Masterpieces of Classical Music is an informative and entertaining guide to some of the most important symphonic works of music history. As well as featuring a complete concert performance it also includes an insightful documentary, in which an expert presenter guides the viewer through the structure of the music. Renowned scholar Wulf Konold discusses Beethoven's life and the circumstances surrounding the composition of the Ninth Symphony. A detailed discussion of the composer's aesthetic and political ideals, quotations from his contemporaries, as well as plentiful musical examples, help to bring this glorious masterpiece vividly to life.
Introducing Masterpieces of Classical Music is an informative and entertaining guide to some of the most important symphonic works of music history. As well as featuring a complete concert performance, it also includes an insightful documentary, in which an expert presenter guides the viewer through the structure of the music. Renowned scholar Wulf Konold discusses Berlioz's life and the dramatic circumstances surrounding the composition of the Symphonie fantastique . A detailed description of the programme, quotations from contemporary critics, as well as plentiful musical examples, help to bring this surreal masterpiece vividly to life.
Recorded live at the Teatro Massimo, Palermo in 2002, this video features the performances of young virtuoso Gil Shaham and Brahms expert Wolfgang Sandberger. American-Israeli master violinist Gil Shaham made his debut at the age of 10 and became internationally famous in his early twenties when he was called to replace Itzhak Perlman for a series of concerts. He and his Stradivarius joined the world-renowned Berlin Philharmonic under their long-standing former chief conductor Claudio Abbado in a performance of Brahms?EUR(TM)s Violin Concerto.
Discovering Masterpieces is a newly-edited series brings you first-class concerts, an introductory documentary and an audio-visual concert guide to the highlights of classical music, providing the listener music from the Baroque period up to the present time in an entirely different way. The film contains historic documentary, artworks and original manuscripts of the composer, allowing the viewer to embark on a journey back to time.
Discovering Masterpieces is a newly-edited series brings you first-class concerts, an introductory documentary and an audio-visual concert guide to the highlights of classical music, providing the listener music from the Baroque period up to the present time in an entirely different way. The film contains historic documentary, artworks and original manuscripts of the composer, allowing the viewer to embark on a journey back to time.
Discovering Masterpieces of Classical Music is an informative and entertaining guide to some of the most important symphonic works of music history. As well as featuring a complete concert performance, it also includes an insightful documentary, in which an expert presenter guides the viewer through the structure of the music. Well-known author and journalist Habakuk Traber discusses Bruckner's life and the circumstances surrounding the composition of the Eighth Symphony . Footage of Bruckner's birthplace in Austria, quotations from contemporaries, as well as plentiful musical examples also help to bring this monumental masterpiece vividly to life.
Discovering Masterpieces of Classical Music is a series of audio-visual concert guides that allow the listener to experience and enjoy great music from the Baroque period up to the present day in an entirely new way, offering a combination of documentary material and a complete performance of the featured work. The Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras, the Gewandhaus Orchestra and other eminent musical bodies join forces with acclaimed experts, famous soloists and outstanding conductors to highlight the distinctive features of twenty famous masterpieces by the most important composers through first class concert recordings. Each introductory feature is clearly designed and provides abundant information. Examples from the musical score help the viewer to follow the themes and rhythms and to understand the structure of the work. New film material documenting the birthplaces of the composers and locations of composition is combined with historic film material, works of art and original manuscripts. It allows the viewer to embark on a journey back to the time and place of composition and informs him about the life of the composer while providing a complete introduction to the work.
Recorded live at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo in 2002, the Berlin Philharmonic under...
Recorded live at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo in 2002, the Berlin Philharmonic under...
Discovering Masterpieces of Classical Music is an informative and entertaining guide to some of the most important symphonic works of music history. As well as featuring a complete concert performance it also includes an insightful documentary, in which an expert presenter guides the viewer through the structure of the music. Well-known musicologist and pianist Robert Levin discusses Haydn's life and the circumstances surrounding the composition of the Surprise Symphony. His analysis of each movement in turn, drawing out the wit and warm humour of the work through plentiful musical examples, helps to bring this beloved masterpiece vividly to life.
Discovering Masterpieces of Classical Music is an informative and entertaining guide to some of the most important symphonic works of music history. As well as featuring a complete concert performance, it also includes an insightful documentary, in which an expert presenter guides the viewer through the structure of the music. Well-known scholar Jeremy Barham discusses Mahler's life and the circumstances surrounding the composition of the Fifth Symphony . Footage of the beautiful Worthersee in Austria (where Mahler wrote the symphony), quotations from contemporaries, as well as plentiful musical examples all help to illuminate the meaning of this enigmatic masterpiece.
Discovering Masterpieces of Classical Music is a series of audio-visual concert guides that allow the listener to experience and enjoy great music from the Baroque period up to the present day in an entirely new way, offering a combination of documentary material and a complete performance of the featured work. The Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras, the Gewandhaus Orchestra and other eminent musical bodies join forces with acclaimed experts, famous soloists and outstanding conductors to highlight the distinctive features of twenty famous masterpieces by the most important composers through first class concert recordings. Each introductory feature is clearly designed and provides abundant information. Examples from the musical score help the viewer to follow the themes and rhythms and to understand the structure of the work. New film material documenting the birthplaces of the composers and locations of composition is combined with historic film material, works of art and original manuscripts. It allows the viewer to embark on a journey back to the time and place of composition and informs him about the life of the composer while providing a complete introduction to the work.
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847) was the orchestra's first conductor and the...
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847) was the orchestra's first conductor and the...
Discovering Masterpieces of Classical Music is a series of audio-visual concert guides that allow the listener to experience and enjoy great music from the Baroque period up to the present day in an entirely new way, offering a combination of documentary material and a complete performance of the featured work. The Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras, the Gewandhaus Orchestra and other eminent musical bodies join forces with acclaimed experts, famous soloists and outstanding conductors to highlight the distinctive features of twenty famous masterpieces by the most important composers through first class concert recordings. Each introductory feature is clearly designed and provides abundant information. Examples from the musical score help the viewer to follow the themes and rhythms and to understand the structure of the work. New film material documenting the birthplaces of the composers and locations of composition is combined with historic film material, works of art and original manuscripts. It allows the viewer to embark on a journey back to the time and place of composition and informs him about the life of the composer while providing a complete introduction to the work.
Recorded live at the Konzerthaus Berlin in November 2005, the series continues with the...
Recorded live at the Konzerthaus Berlin in November 2005, the series continues with the...
Discovering Masterpieces of Classical Music is a series of audio-visual concert guides that allow the listener to experience and enjoy great music from the Baroque period up to the present day in an entirely new way, offering a combination of documentary material and a complete performance of the featured work. The Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras, the Gewandhaus Orchestra and other eminent musical bodies join forces with acclaimed experts, famous soloists and outstanding conductors to highlight the distinctive features of twenty famous masterpieces by the most important composers through first class concert recordings. Each introductory feature is clearly designed and provides abundant information. Examples from the musical score help the viewer to follow the themes and rhythms and to understand the structure of the work. New film material documenting the birthplaces of the composers and locations of composition is combined with historic film material, works of art and original manuscripts. It allows the viewer to embark on a journey back to the time and place of composition and informs him about the life of the composer while providing a complete introduction to the work.
Martha Argerich ?EUR" often regarded as the greatest pianist of our time - plays Robert...
Martha Argerich ?EUR" often regarded as the greatest pianist of our time - plays Robert...
Discovering Masterpieces of Classical Music is a series of audio-visual concert guides that allow the listener to experience and enjoy great music from the Baroque period up to the present day in an entirely new way, offering a combination of documentary material and a complete performance of the featured work. The Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras, the Gewandhaus Orchestra and other eminent musical bodies join forces with acclaimed experts, famous soloists and outstanding conductors to highlight the distinctive features of twenty famous masterpieces by the most important composers through first class concert recordings. Each introductory feature is clearly designed and provides abundant information. Examples from the musical score help the viewer to follow the themes and rhythms and to understand the structure of the work. New film material documenting the birthplaces of the composers and locations of composition is combined with historic film material, works of art and original manuscripts. It allows the viewer to embark on a journey back to the time and place of composition and informs him about the life of the composer while providing a complete introduction to the work.
The Schsische Staatskapelle, orchestra of the famous Dresden Semperoper gives a sample of...
The Schsische Staatskapelle, orchestra of the famous Dresden Semperoper gives a sample of...
Divine Dancers is an exclusive dance event with some of the leading ballet stars of our time including Charles Jude, Daniil Simkin, Igor Zelensky, Delphine Baey and the exceptional young Russian dancer Polina Semyonova - acclaimed principal soloist of the Berlin State Ballet. Recorded in the sumptuous ambience of the Prague State Opera, the performances combine classical ballet pieces with modern and contemporary choreography. The Dancers present their favourite classical and modern pieces by choreographers like George Balanchine, Marius Petipa, Jose Limon and Kenneth MacMillan, former director of The Royal Ballet London. The stars dance to music by Tchaikovsky, Glazunov, Purcell, Gershwin, Weill and Jacques Brel. One highlight of the gala is The Moor's Pavane (1949) danced to music by Henry Purcell, which lasts a good 20 minutes: This expressive one-act ballet is Jose Limon's most important and most successful ballet and one of the best known works of the American modern dance repertoire.
A tribute to Jacqueline du Pre to mark the thirtieth anniversary of her death thirty years ago, on 19 October 1987.
The documentary contains archive footage shot during Jacqueline du Pre's lifetime which captures some glorious and professionally filmed live performances. It also remembers both her personality and her music through the memories and tributes of her closest friends and colleagues including Daniel Barenboim, Pinchas Zukerman, Itzhak Perlman, Toby Perlman, Fou Ts'ong, Zubin Mehta, William Pleeth, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Hugh Maguire, Elizabeth Wilson, Cynthia Friend, Charles Beare, Suvi Grubb, Dr Len Selby and Clive Barda.
In the music she is accompanied by Daniel Barenboim, Pinchas Zukerman, Gervase de Peyer, Itzhak Perlman, Zubin Mehta, Janet Baker The New Philharmonia Orchestra and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
There is music by Beethoven, Eccles, Couperin, Clementi, Elgar, Brahms, Offenbach and Bruch . The writer and director is Christopher Nupen who was close to Jacqueline du Pre for more than 20 years and made five films with her during her lifetime.
The documentary contains archive footage shot during Jacqueline du Pre's lifetime which captures some glorious and professionally filmed live performances. It also remembers both her personality and her music through the memories and tributes of her closest friends and colleagues including Daniel Barenboim, Pinchas Zukerman, Itzhak Perlman, Toby Perlman, Fou Ts'ong, Zubin Mehta, William Pleeth, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Hugh Maguire, Elizabeth Wilson, Cynthia Friend, Charles Beare, Suvi Grubb, Dr Len Selby and Clive Barda.
In the music she is accompanied by Daniel Barenboim, Pinchas Zukerman, Gervase de Peyer, Itzhak Perlman, Zubin Mehta, Janet Baker The New Philharmonia Orchestra and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
There is music by Beethoven, Eccles, Couperin, Clementi, Elgar, Brahms, Offenbach and Bruch . The writer and director is Christopher Nupen who was close to Jacqueline du Pre for more than 20 years and made five films with her during her lifetime.
Renaud Capucon - one of today's most sought-after violinists-joins prodigious pianist and conductor Lahav Shani, and Kian Soltani (described as "sheer perfection" by Gramophone) alongside the prestigious Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Vasily Petrenko in this unmissable event, part of a marathon evening of favorites that opens with Pablo Ferrandez-Castro's passionate performance of Dvorak's monumental Cello Concerto (plus a transcription by the great Pablo Casals ) and closes out with a thrilling rendition of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony .
For his first collaboration with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, the marvelous Sir Simon Rattle conducts works by two favorite composers, including the most famous compatriot of the esteemed ensemble, Antonin Dvorak ! His symphonic poem The Golden Spinning Wheel , based on a folk ballad recounting a story of deception, magic, and revenge, opens the evening before magnificent mezzo Magdalena Kozena and tenor Simon O'Neill join the festivities in Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth) .
Philippe Herreweghe, principal conductor of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, has devoted himself for over ten years to fresh and invigorating readings of the (pre-) Romantic repertoire. Together with the Collegium Vocale, founded in 1970 by Herreweghe himself, and superb soloists they will perform Dvorak's superb Requiem .
Antonin Dvorak's next to last opera draws its substance from the underwater wonderland of little mermaids, Undines and Melusines: Rusalka , a water nymph, wishes to become human in order to be loved by the young prince. Despite being warned against it, she asks the witch Jezibaba to help her. In order for her wish to be fulfilled, Rusalka must give up her voice and face eternal damnation if her love fails. Jaroslav Kvapil's libretto inspired Dvorak to compose a masterpiece, a compelling opera full of poignant lyricism and dramatic twists.
Adam Fisher and Stefan Herheim masterfully present this 'lyrical fairytale' at La Monnaie. In this widely acclaimed interpretation, the fairytale elements assume frighteningly realistic dimensions making this enchanting production a psychoanalytical study of male fantasies and female archetypes.
Adam Fisher and Stefan Herheim masterfully present this 'lyrical fairytale' at La Monnaie. In this widely acclaimed interpretation, the fairytale elements assume frighteningly realistic dimensions making this enchanting production a psychoanalytical study of male fantasies and female archetypes.
The Verbier Festival is arguably one of the most prestigious classical music events in the world. The quality of the participating artists as well as the originality of the programmes has established the festival as a culminating point in the music season. This recording honors the great Antonin Dvorak with some of his most beloved pieces being performed by world class artists such as Daniil Trifonov.
A film by Paul Smaczny and Maria Stodtmeier. Venezuela's unique system of music education takes children from violent slums and turns some of them into world-class musicians. El Sistema shows how Venezuelan visionary Jose Antonio Abreu has changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of children over the past three decades. This lyrical and moving documentary takes us from the rubbish dumps and barrios of Caracas to the world's finest concert halls. Children from streets dominated by the gun battles of gang warfare are taken into music schools, given access to music, and taught through the model of the symphony orchestra how to build a better society. Paul Smaczny and Maria Stodtmeier's film finds hope and joy in unlikely places.
The Europa Konzert 1998 was performed at the Vasa Museum in Stockholm. The repertoire includes: Richard Wagner Overture to The Flying Dutchman , Peter Tchaikovsky The Storm , Claude Debussy Trois Nocturnes and Giuseppe Verdi's Quattro pezzi sacri .
The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra's European Concerts not only represent the Berlin Philharmonic's commemoration of its founding date but also emphasize the cultural life of the new European order. Each year the orchestra performs at a place of special significance in cultural history, always in a different country. This, the eleventh European Concert, took place in the city of Istanbul's oldest church, St. Irine (Hagia Irini) or the Church of the Holy Peace, which is magnificently situated on the promontory washed by the Bosporus and the Sea of Marmara. At the helm of this concert, Mariss Jansons, is one of today's most sought-after conductors. Since 1997, he has been principal conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra; in 2003, he will assume the directorship of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. The flautist Emmanuel Pahud has won numerous international competitions and is a laureate of the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation and UNESCO's International Tribune for Musicians. At the age of 22, he became principal flautist of the Berlin Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado, having previously held that position with the Basle Radio Symphony Orchestra under Nello Santi and the Munich Philharmonic under Sergiu Celibidache.
The Berliner Philharmoniker's annual European Concerts are intended to recall the date on which the orchestra was founded, 1 May 1882, with a performance being given on this day in a different town or city of particular cultural and historical importance. In 2002 it was the turn of the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, one of Europe's most important opera houses both artistically and architecturally. This was also the last time in his twelve years as the orchestra's artistic director that the revered Italian maestro Claudio Abbado conducted a European Concert. In a programme of beloved pieces from the classical repertoire, with the celebrated Gil Shaham as soloist, Abbado once again demonstrated how he upheld the unsurpassed orchestral tradition of the Berliner Philharmoniker with his profound music-making.
The marvellous Portuguese pianist Maria Joao Pires was joined by Pierre Boulez and the Berlin Philharmonic for the European Concert 2003. Since 1991, when the Berlin Philharmonic gave their first European Concert, this annual musical summit in important cultural cities has become a brand name for excellent musicianship. This concert came from Lisbon and took place in a spectacular location, the 'Mosteiro dos Jeronimos' - an impressive monastery built in the early 16th century and a UNESCO-accredited World Heritage Site. The programme included Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra and Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 - a perfect programme choice, as Maria Joao Pires is a sought-after Mozart pianist and Pierre Boulez enjoys an excellent reputation as one of the greatest Bartok conductors ever.
Bonus features:
- A Portrait of Lisbon
- Picture Gallery: At Rehearsals
Bonus features:
- A Portrait of Lisbon
- Picture Gallery: At Rehearsals
Recorded live at the ancient Herodes Atticus Odeon in Athens 2004, this was the first European Concert that Sir Simon Rattle conducted in his new post as chief conductor of one of the most important orchestras of all times. Since 1991, when the Berlin Philharmonic gave their first European Concert, this annual musical summit in important cultural cities has become a brand name for excellence. This concert also represents the first musical encounter between Rattle and world-famous pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim. This all Brahms programme features the wonderful Piano Concerto No. 1 with the romantic Adagio which Brahms wrote in reverence for Clara Schumann and Schoenberg's successful arrangement of the Piano Quartet No. 1 for orchestra.
Bonus feature:
- The European Concert in Olympic Athens
Bonus feature:
- The European Concert in Olympic Athens
The Berlin Philharmonic's annual "Concert for Europe", an annual musical summit in important cultural cities, has been a brand name for excellence since 1991, when the Berlin Philharmonic gave their first European Concert. This all-Mozart concert took place in Prague on 1 May 2006. In honour of the composers 250th birthday, the Berlin Philharmonic invited the pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim to lead them through a concert featuring two masterpieces from the Mozart repertoire, the "Haffner" and "Linz" Symphonies. In his familiar dual role as soloist and conductor, he also performed the Piano Concerto No. 22 . The concert was performed and recorded in the Estates Theatre Prague, which is one of the most beautiful historical theatres in Europe. It was in this theatre that Mozart conducted the premier of Don Giovanni , a work written specially for Prague, in 1787 and for this concert recording, the orchestra sat in a reconstruction of the sets that had been used at the first performance of the opera.
Bonus feature:
- A Cultural Potrait of Prague
Bonus feature:
- A Cultural Potrait of Prague
Live from the Kabelwerk Oberspree in Berlin, Simon Rattle is conductor to the Berlin Philharmonic on its 125th anniversary on May 2007. With superb acoustics and magnificent architecture, the building proved to be an ideal setting for the annual Europa-Konzert. This recording features the magnificent works of Wagner and Brahms to be amazingly performed by Rattle, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and featured artists Lisa Batiashvili (violinist) and Truls Mrk (cellist).
The Berliner Philharmoniker's European Concert, held each year on 1 May, is invariably an international highlight. Performing in 2008 in Moscow's renowned Tchaikovsky Conservatory, the orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle presented outstanding performances of works by Beethoven, Stravinsky and Bruch, whose Violin Concerto featured one of today's most fascinating artists, the Russian violinist Vadim Repin.
With the European Concert the Berliner Philharmoniker celebrate the anniversary of their founding in 1882. Performed each year in another European city, this year's concert takes place in Naples. Together with charismatic conductor Riccardo Muti and Violeta Urmana, one of the leading sopranos in the Italian dramatic genre, they present the overture of Verdi's magnificent opera La forza del destino and La canzone dei ricordi by Giuseppe Martucci, who died in Naples. Schubert's "Great" C major Symphony completes this memorable concert at the awe-inspiring Teatro San Carlo.
May morning in Oxford, and the Berliner Philharmoniker join in the celebratory mood abroad in the university city's medieval streets with this concert in Sir Christopher Wren's glorious Sheldonian Theatre. For 20 years, the Philharmoniker have given a May Day concert in one of Europe's great historic cities, and here, under the baton of Daniel Barenboim, the Berlin players thrill the Oxford audience with the sonorous Prelude to Act III of Wagner's Die Meistersinger , a deeply-felt account of Elgar's autumnal Cello Concerto by the young American cellist Alisa Weilerstein, and a rousing performance of Brahms's life-affirming First Symphony .
For twenty years the Berliner Philharmoniker has celebrated its 1882 founding with a concert at a major European venue, and the 2011 event takes place at the magnificent Teatro Real in Madrid. The renowned orchestra, under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle, performs Joaqun Rodrigo's beloved Concierto de Aranjuez, Emmanuel Chabrier's exuberant Espaa, and Sergei Rachmaninov's dramatic Second Symphony. It is joined for the Concierto by the famous flamenco guitarist Caizares, whose virtuosity and sensitivity are given full opportunity to shine in this multi-faceted and subtle work.
The EUROPAKONZERT is the annual celebration of the founding day of the Berliner Philharmoniker on May 1st. The purpose of this unique series is to perform concerts at places which have a special cultural history and compel through their stunning architecture. The EUROPAKONZERT has lead the Berliner Philharmoniker all over Europe to some of the most beautiful sceneries. This remarkable concert, performed at the historical Spanish Hall at Prague Castle on 1st May 2013 features Sir Simon Rattle and Czech mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kozena performing Ralph Vaughn William's Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 6 Pastoral and Antonin Dvorak's Biblical Songs .
The founding of the Berliner Philharmoniker on the first of May, 1882 is celebrated annually with a concert in a European city of cultural significance. In 2014 the Europakonzert took again place in Berlin. The concert was conducted by a man who has been associated with the Berliner Philharmoniker for 50 years: Daniel Barenboim .
Otto Nicolai's The Merry Wives of Windsor is based on William Shakespeare's comedy of the same name, and its lively overture has long since secured a place on the concert stage. Also inspired by a Shakespearean comedy hero is Edward Elgar's symphonic study Falstaff .
We then turn from comedy to the tragic twists of fate: the Fifth Symphony of Piotr Tchaikovsky is characterized by a sombre main theme that for the Russian composer symbolizes "a complete resignation before fate, which is the same as the inscrutable predestination of fate".
Otto Nicolai's The Merry Wives of Windsor is based on William Shakespeare's comedy of the same name, and its lively overture has long since secured a place on the concert stage. Also inspired by a Shakespearean comedy hero is Edward Elgar's symphonic study Falstaff .
We then turn from comedy to the tragic twists of fate: the Fifth Symphony of Piotr Tchaikovsky is characterized by a sombre main theme that for the Russian composer symbolizes "a complete resignation before fate, which is the same as the inscrutable predestination of fate".
The Berliner Philharmoniker celebrate their founding day (May 1st, 1892) in a European city of cultural significance every year. In 2016, they travelled to Roros in Norway, to play in the town's beautiful baroque church. Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang made her debut with the Berliner Philharmonker at this year's concert, joining them for Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E Minor .
When the Fire Burns is a musical documentary portrait shot throughout Spain and Argentina. The film captures the rich sensuality of Manuel de Falla's music. Directed by Larry Weinstein, the film music combines night-time footage of the Alhambra, the Moorish palace and gardens atop the hills of Granada, with a stunning performance of de Falla's masterpiece by pianist Alicia de Larrocha
On New Year's Eve 2009 Havana's legendary nightclub, Tropicana, celebrated its seventieth birthday with a colourful revue, and the evening's special guest was the world-famous Omara Portuondo. Together with her five-man band, which ranges in style from the Cuban guajira, bolero, mambo and son to elements of jazz, the grande dame of traditional Cuban singing offers a delightful contrast to the exuberant joy in dancing shown by the Tropicana Ballet. Recorded live at the Tropicana, Havana, 2009.
Bonus features:
- Omara Portuondo - an interview in which the singer gives a fascinating insight into her life as a musician.
- Equilibrists - feats of agility from the Tropicana.
Bonus features:
- Omara Portuondo - an interview in which the singer gives a fascinating insight into her life as a musician.
- Equilibrists - feats of agility from the Tropicana.
The great German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is greatly admired for his interpretive insight, note-perfect control of the tonal qualities, and shadings of color in his voice, for exceptional rhythmic sense and impeccable diction. His reputation as a lieder singer is so high - he had a repertoire of more than 3.000 songs - that it is easy to forget his extensive list of operatic roles.
In this conversation Fischer-Dieskau reveals for the last time on camera the secrets of his outstanding career. His Last Words provide a deep insight into the extraordinary artistic life of one of the most famous and prolific lieder singer of our time. Fischer-Dieskau died in May 2012 at the age of 86.
In this conversation Fischer-Dieskau reveals for the last time on camera the secrets of his outstanding career. His Last Words provide a deep insight into the extraordinary artistic life of one of the most famous and prolific lieder singer of our time. Fischer-Dieskau died in May 2012 at the age of 86.
Pianist Menahem Pressler has made recording and interpretation history for more than half a century with the Beaux Arts Trio, which he founded in 1955. The grand seigneur of piano gave his long-overdue debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker in January 2014. The audience hailed Pressler with a standing ovation; the press raved about the "masterful exhilaration" of his musicality and his "unique tone, as full as it was intimate". For his appearance at this year's New Year's Eve Concert in Philharmonie, Berlin, Pressler has selected Mozart again: the Piano Concerto in A major, K. 488 , composed during Mozart's prime in Vienna and one of his most beautiful contributions to the genre.
The New Year's Eve concert opens with Sir Simon Rattle conducting music by Rameau : a suite of instrumental pieces from the opera-ballet Les Indes galantes show French Baroque music at its finest. Following the intermission, the musicians ring in the New Year in a lively way with Slavic strains: an orchestral suite from Zoltan Kodaly's charming folk opera Hary Janos as well as a selection from the popular Slavonic Dances by Antonin Dvorak .
The New Year's Eve concert opens with Sir Simon Rattle conducting music by Rameau : a suite of instrumental pieces from the opera-ballet Les Indes galantes show French Baroque music at its finest. Following the intermission, the musicians ring in the New Year in a lively way with Slavic strains: an orchestral suite from Zoltan Kodaly's charming folk opera Hary Janos as well as a selection from the popular Slavonic Dances by Antonin Dvorak .
Join Joyce DiDonato, the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle and enjoy virtuous and ravishing interpretations of Dvorak, Stravinsky, R.Strauss, Shostakovich, Brahms and of course Leonard Bernstein , thus heralding the Bernstein at 100 Centennial as it were.
On the eve of its 300th birthday, St. Petersburg, Russia's fabled "window to Europe", celebrates this anniversary presenting a gala of distinguished musical art featuring Anna Netrebko, Dimitri Hvorostovsky, Mischa Maisky and many others. Yuri Temirkanov conducts one of the oldest Russian symphonic ensembles: the St. Petersburg Philharmonic.
Katia and Marielle Labeque received their first piano tuition at ages three and five and the sisters are famous for their unusual duo precision, their great musicality and the breadth of their repertoire. In this concert they perform with Il Giardino Armonico, a leading Italian ensemble specializing in period performing practice. Katia and Marielle Labeque throw themselves into the works with their typical verve and enthusiasm, demonstrating symbiotic synchrony and facile (facile means inconsequential, shallow - negative word) technique. With its unmistakable sound Il Giardino Armonico is one of today's most notable Baroque ensembles. Colourful, individualistic and stylish, it has won an enthusiastic international following and truly excels in performing Baroque music for a 21st century audience. The programme includes a wide variety of music by three different composers, all performed on historical instruments at the Vienna Musik Verein. One of the unique elements of this performance - recorded in the Bach Anniversary year 2000 - is the use of the fortepiano for Bach's keyboard concertos. This instrument, which Bach undoubtedly knew, and probably owned, is rarely used in Bach performances, yet the sound it offers is far more interesting than a modern piano. Together with...
A series of short films, recorded at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark.
At the age of 75, one of the leading figures on the 20th century music, Philip Glass , is composing a new work for the Teatro Real. The Perfect American , imagining the final months of the life of Walt Disney - the person who has, more than any other, influenced the current world of consumers. Children nowadays only see mices and ducks as Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck, thanks to the image invented for them by Walt Disney factory. In opposition to the world of happiness he devised, the existence of this perfect American was marked by an unhappy youth and a personality whose "political correctness" outdid that of even Richard Nixon.
From the hand of Dennis Russell Davies, who has conducted almost all the premieres of Glass's operas, and the stage director Phelim McDermott, we will be penetrating into the nightmare of a happy world. World Premiere, commission of the Teatro Real De Madrid and English National Opera of London.
From the hand of Dennis Russell Davies, who has conducted almost all the premieres of Glass's operas, and the stage director Phelim McDermott, we will be penetrating into the nightmare of a happy world. World Premiere, commission of the Teatro Real De Madrid and English National Opera of London.
In 2005, Iranian composer Nader Mashayekhi was asked to lead the Tehran Symphony Orchestra. He knew the weak position of Western classical and contemporary music in Iran would make this a difficult task. But he took on the challenge, and after having spent several years in Vienna studying, living and working, he returned to his country. As he puts it, "with only one suitcase containing only one thing: my dream to make music in my hometown." Less than two years later he returned to Austria, his suitcase filled with the pieces of his broken dream.
Filmmaker Frank Scheffer captures the passionate composer during rehearsals with young musicians in Tehram, wandering through a desolate desert landscape and a deserted village, looking for inspiration for new compositions and challenging performances, and the back in Vienna as he reflects upon his time in Iran. Political entanglements are only implicit in the film. The director uses beautiful shots in a contemplating setting, in which Mashayekhi's voice sounds like an internal monologue. He reflects on his life and debates the meaning of music and poetry, and his impossible yet unscathed love for his country.
Filmmaker Frank Scheffer captures the passionate composer during rehearsals with young musicians in Tehram, wandering through a desolate desert landscape and a deserted village, looking for inspiration for new compositions and challenging performances, and the back in Vienna as he reflects upon his time in Iran. Political entanglements are only implicit in the film. The director uses beautiful shots in a contemplating setting, in which Mashayekhi's voice sounds like an internal monologue. He reflects on his life and debates the meaning of music and poetry, and his impossible yet unscathed love for his country.
In 2001, during the Verdi commemorative year, some of the finest singers of our time assembled in Parma to honour the maestro's memory in a Gran Gala di Verdi. Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras, Jose Cura, Marcelo Alvarez, Barbara Frittoli and Leo Nucci, to name but a few, joined the Coro del Festival Verdi and the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino under Zubin Mehta to perform some of the most popular opera arias ever.
Giuseppe Verdi (1813?EUR"1901) wrote 28 operas in all, including La Traviata , Aida , Nabucco and Rigoletto . A considerable number of them were world successes and have remained fixtures in every opera house's repertory throughout the last century. This recording demonstrates - better than any single opera could do - the breadth of Verdi's genius and melodic talent as it features highlights of most of his operas.
Giuseppe Verdi (1813?EUR"1901) wrote 28 operas in all, including La Traviata , Aida , Nabucco and Rigoletto . A considerable number of them were world successes and have remained fixtures in every opera house's repertory throughout the last century. This recording demonstrates - better than any single opera could do - the breadth of Verdi's genius and melodic talent as it features highlights of most of his operas.
The conductor Pierre Boulez (born in 1925) best describes his relationship with the music of composer Bela Bartok (1881-1945) as a "sympathy between musicians". The Frenchman has been involved with the music of the Hungarian composer for over five decades. Bartok and Boulez belong to the 20th century's most influential artists. A key work of Bartok is the Concerto for Orchestra , which was premiered in Boston in 1944.
The program Emotion and Analysis follows Pierre Boulez in his rehearsals of this composition with the Berlin Philharmonic. The documentary provides a fascinating look into the methods of the great master of modern music. The rehearsals take place in the spectacular setting of the monastery Mosteiro dos Jeronimos in Lisbon which was also the location of the annual European Concert of the Berlin Philharmonic for the year 2003. Pierre Boulez explains in a series of interviews the historical origins of Bartok's late work, his own personal style of interpretation and his role as conductor as well as his love of composing.
The program Emotion and Analysis follows Pierre Boulez in his rehearsals of this composition with the Berlin Philharmonic. The documentary provides a fascinating look into the methods of the great master of modern music. The rehearsals take place in the spectacular setting of the monastery Mosteiro dos Jeronimos in Lisbon which was also the location of the annual European Concert of the Berlin Philharmonic for the year 2003. Pierre Boulez explains in a series of interviews the historical origins of Bartok's late work, his own personal style of interpretation and his role as conductor as well as his love of composing.
Austrian piano virtuoso Friedrich Gulda plays works by Chopin , including the Nine Preludes, Op.28, Nocturne, Op. 62, No. 1, Barcarolle, Op. 60 and Berceuse, Op. 57 , in a live recording from the Munich Philharmonie.
Recorded live from the Amerikahaus, Munich, Gulda plays Mozart's Sonata No. 4 in E flat K282 , and Sonata No. 9 in D K311 for Vol. 1 and in Vol. 2, he plays Mozart's Sonata No. 12 in F K332, Sonata No.14 in C minor K457 and Fantasia in C minor K475 .
14 April 2009 witnessed the 250th anniversary of George Frideric Handel's death. On this unique occasion two of the world's leading Baroque orchestras, members of four distinguished choruses, three accomplished Handel interpreters as soloists, together with conductor and Handel-Preis winner Howard Arman paid homage to the composer by playing the repertoire of the historic first commemoration concert that took place in London's Westminster Abbey in 1784. This outstanding British-German performance in Halle's Marktkirche, where George Frideric was baptized, represents the media highlight of Handel Year 2009.
Composed when he was just twenty-four, Agrippina was Handel's first theatrical success and is a sparkling example of his early work. It is full of his fresh, exuberantly inventive music and employs one of the finest librettos with which George Frederic Handel ever worked. The opera was composed and first performed in Venice in 1709 and, in a witty plot by an Italian cardinal, it tells the farcical story of the private lives of two ruthless figures in roman history, Nero and his mother Agrippina, and how they become entangled with the innocent Ottone and his lover Poppea. Typically for a Handel opera, the work is centred on a series of towering arias designed to show off the virtuosity of the singers. This beautiful production by renowned opera director Michael Hampe was recorded at the exquisite 18th century palace theatre during the Schwetzingen Festival in1985. It combines the atmosphere of a true Baroque opera with an elegant, colourful staging and brilliant musicianship. The London Baroque Players, an outstanding orchestra for early music, which specializes in the music of the 17th and 18th century, joins an accomplished cast of singers, all baroque specialists.
In Spring 2019, the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists, led by John Eliot Gardiner, presented a critically-acclaimed European tour of Handel's opera Semele , including Alexandra Palace Theatre in London, where this live recording took place. Semele had not been performed by John Eliot Gardiner and the Monteverdi ensembles since they originally recorded it in the 1980s and this recording gives listeners the chance to hear a fuller version of the work.
A glamorous team of young soloists joins the Monteverdi ensembles to bring the story of Semele to life, including celebrated English soprano Louise Alder, who takes on the title role, with the young tenor Hugo Hymas portraying the amorous Jupiter.
A glamorous team of young soloists joins the Monteverdi ensembles to bring the story of Semele to life, including celebrated English soprano Louise Alder, who takes on the title role, with the young tenor Hugo Hymas portraying the amorous Jupiter.
In Spring 2009, the year of Joseph Haydn , Xavier de Maistre was invited to the Esterhazy Castle in Eisenstadt, where the composer officiated nearly thirty years. After an introduction in which he plays a solo Fantasy on a Theme of Haydn by Marcel Grandjany , we find with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Bertrand de Billy performing the Haydn Concerto in D Major . The solo pieces Mandolin by Elias Parish-Alvars and Arabesque No. 1 by Claude Debussy complete this performance.
In the Summer of 2009, the British director Nigel Lowery and the Iranian choreographer Amir Hosseinpour brought to the stage of the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden, with colour and full of humour, the fantastic and imaginative adventures of "Racing Roland". On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the death of Joseph Haydn, the composer's most renowned opera during his lifetime, Orlando Paladino , was performed, a heroic-comical stage piece based on Ariost's famous Versepos . Singers such as Marlis Petersen (Angelica), Tom Randle (Orlando), Alexandrina Pendatchanska (Alcina), Pietro Spagnoli (Rodomonte), Sunhae Im (Eurilla) and Victor Torres (Pasquale) performed under the musical direction of period-music specialist Ren Jacobs. The Freiburg Baroque Orchestra completed this high-class production giving the music a beautiful sound and lively swing.
This video is a documentary of Heinz Holliger, the leading oboist of our day. As a composer Holliger has become a classic exponent of musical modernism, while as an oboist and conductor he is one of the most inspirational figures on the contemporary music scene. Here too we encounter him here as an enthusiastic guide through each of the work that recorded with the Keller Quartet in a private concert for the home viewer recorded at the Musik-Akademie in Basel in 2005. The programme is made up of four exceptionally interesting works, starting with Mozart's Quartet for oboe, violin, viola and cello K 370 , a kind of crypto-concerto that the 25 year-old composer wrote in Munich in 1781. The next work is another early piece, Benjamin Britten's Phantasy op. 2 for oboe and string quartet, which was composed in 1932, when the composer was 19. Holliger too was only 17 when he wrote his own Oboe Sonata in 1956?EUR"7, a work that strikes up a strange conversation between the oboist and his instrument. Bohuslav Martinu's Fantasia for theremin, oboe, string quartet and piano is a mature work dating from 1945, when the composer was already 55 years of age. It was written for an instrument that is something like a pioneer of electronic instruments, invented by the engineer Lev...
First staged at the Weimar Court Theatre under the baton of Richard Strauss in 1893, who hailed it as "a masterpiece of the highest quality", Humperdinck's debut opera Hnsel und Gretel has remained a solid favourite since its 1893 premire. Engelbert Humperdinck (1854-1921) transformed Grimm's beloved fairy tale Hnsel und Gretel into opera entertainment for everyone from young children to the serious music lover; this is a tumultuous and joyful production for both children and adults. Director Katharina Thalbach cheerfully evokes a magic world of woodland sprites and candy dreams and creates an enchanting fantasy world filled with high spirits, fairytale fantasy and genial comedy. Recorded live at the world-famous Dresden Semperoper in December 2006, the production is also musically of the highest rank, with international soloists in the main roles, accompanied by the Schsische Staatskapelle Dresden under Michael Hofstetter.
Berlin music lovers know there is no better way of celebrating the New Year than revisiting the most beautiful works in the history of music with the Berlin Philharmoniker. It comes as no surprise that the concerts are always sold out and that people all around the world are glued to their screens during the live transmissions. It is our pleasure to present you a particularly stunning programme which was created by Daniel Barenboim. "Invitation to the dance" is a journey through 300 years of dance which leaves the listener beaming with joy.
A feature documentary about female singers living inside Iran and their daily life and the deepest wish: "I want my voice to be heard".
Dealing with cultural censorship in Iran, women singers started using also digital media more. Invited by Negar, a magical entity, female voices from all over this vast country come out of isolation, gather in a garden in the very middle of Iran to make their dream come true. Nobody has tried this before, so Negar seeks the help of two travelers to connect. Along the way they meet surprisingly strong female personalities of diverse cultural backgrounds and come closer to understanding the orient...
Dealing with cultural censorship in Iran, women singers started using also digital media more. Invited by Negar, a magical entity, female voices from all over this vast country come out of isolation, gather in a garden in the very middle of Iran to make their dream come true. Nobody has tried this before, so Negar seeks the help of two travelers to connect. Along the way they meet surprisingly strong female personalities of diverse cultural backgrounds and come closer to understanding the orient...
The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the best orchestras in the world, celebrates its 60th Anniversary with a GALA Concert in 1996 conducted by Zubin Mehta and Daniel Barenboim. The Gala featuring world acclaimed soloists such as Isaac Stern Pinchas Zukerman, Itzhal Perlman and Shlomo Mintz.
The Italian Character is the story of one of the most renowned orchestras in the world, enriched by archive material of the last thirty years about the great conductors who have been performing on the most famous stages in Rome. Its present Music Director, Sir Antonio Pappano, an Anglo-American with Beneventian roots, rediscovered an essential part of his Italian origins through conducting the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. With the personal histories of its members and conductor, The Italian Character allows its audience to gain an insight into a fascinating world that is usually concealed. Simultaneously, it tells the story of a national institution, of a historically unique development, of an approach to life that is characteristic of a country which is loved by many, but sometimes misunderstood and even underrated in its unknown variety. The documentary showcases some of the best soloists and conductors in the world presenting materials collected during their collaboration with the Orchestra di Santa Cecilia such as Yuri Temirkanov, James Conlon, Valery Gergiev, Daniel Harding, Janine Jansen, Lisa Batiashvili, Evgeny Kissin, Denis Matsuev, Stefano Bollani, Lang Lang.
Live from St. Thomas's Church - the church for which Bach conceived most of his works - comes a concert performed by the man who introduced Bach to the world of jazz and vice versa. In 1959, Jacques Loussier hit upon the idea that was to make his international reputation, by combining his interest in jazz with his love of J.S. Bach. He created his very own view of Bach, blending the most beautiful tunes of the Baroque master with an irresistibly swinging sound. Loussier's trio achieved the breakthrough to popular commercial success enjoyed by only a select few jazz musicians. In fifteen years, the group sold over six million albums. On the occasion of Loussier's 70th birthday, the ensemble performed its greatest hits - jazz arrangements of Bach, Debussy, Satie and Ravel - in Bach's "own" church in Leipzig for the first time.
Bonus features:
- Jacques Loussier in Conversation
Bonus features:
- Jacques Loussier in Conversation
Artist-in-residence for the 2022 season, pianist Yuja Wang meets the Czech Philharmonic, conducted by Semyon Bychkov.
The centrepiece of this exciting evening is the Glagolitic Mass , a late masterpiece by Leos Janacek . The programme opens with Agnus Dei for choir without orchestral accompaniment by Martin Smolka , followed by Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 1 in F sharp minor.
The centrepiece of this exciting evening is the Glagolitic Mass , a late masterpiece by Leos Janacek . The programme opens with Agnus Dei for choir without orchestral accompaniment by Martin Smolka , followed by Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 1 in F sharp minor.
The Sonata 1905 is probably the most important work for piano by Czech composer Leos Janacek . In this work he expresses his deprecation for the violent death of a young worker who was killed in demonstrations short before.
In this program acclaimed pianist Andras Schiff performs the first part of the fifteen piece cycle On an Overgrown Path , written by Czech composer Leos Janacek . Inspired by his Moravian homeland, the music is filled with folk melodies and is highly evocative of the Czech countryside.
Nacho Duato composed the one-act ballet White Darkness as a requiem for his sister. The result is a masterpiece which, according to critics, has reached heights deemed hitherto impossible on the landscape of modern arts. In contrast, American choreographer Joseph Hernandez , a regular guest at Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, creates an exhilarating aesthetic universe with an urge to live and a lust for life in The Lavender Follies .
This film is about the life of a composer creating in the darkness of a tragic era. As we will see, like most Soviet citizens, Khachaturian hid a complex private life behind a mask of Communist loyalty. Khachaturian was the President of the powerful Composer's Union of the Soviet Union, and as a communist party functionary wielded great influence over the course of Russian music. However, he was also a comrade and personal friend to the dissident composers of the time ?EUR" Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and others. This documentary shows the fine line a man had to tread between being a loyal party functionary on the one hand, and a fighter for artistic freedom on the other.
Daniel Barenboim established the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra with the late Palestinian writer Edward Said in order to bring together young musicians from across the political divide in the Middle East. Their hope was that music would heal and help to bring understanding and tolerance of different beliefs and cultures.The award-winning documentary was produced and directed by Paul Smaczny. The Ramallah Concert was a live recording at the Place of Culture in Ramallah, 21 August 2005.
We are not a couple in the traditional sense. And that is exactly what is so paradoxical - a musical couple can become even more intimate with one another than a couple in love. This is how Gidon Kremer describes his long partnership with Martha Argerich.
In 2006, these two exceptional musicians set out on tour performing solos and duets by Bartok and Schumann . The last of the concert series at the Berliner Philharmonie has been recorded for this program, featuring a rare solo performance by Martha Argerich. A concert film with personal and moving commentary by Gidon Kremer.
In 2006, these two exceptional musicians set out on tour performing solos and duets by Bartok and Schumann . The last of the concert series at the Berliner Philharmonie has been recorded for this program, featuring a rare solo performance by Martha Argerich. A concert film with personal and moving commentary by Gidon Kremer.
Gidon Kremer celebrates his 60th birthday in 2007 - he is, and has always been, one of the most headstrong and original artists in the music business. His return to J. S. Bach's partitas is a major event as Kremer's first recording of these works was released almost a quarter of a century ago, and he hasn't played the partitas in public for over twenty years. Those who have followed Gidon Kremer's artistic development over the past 25 years will note how much his tone and articulation have changed. The new rendering displays Kremer's very personal sense of spontaneity and a readiness to take risks. In the early 1980s, after being declared persona non grata in the Soviet Union, Kremer moved to the West and made a recording of the solo partitas. The record went down in music history and for decades was a benchmark in the music guild. The young virtuoso was catapulted to fame virtually overnight in the Western world and hailed as the world's best violinist by Herbert von Karajan. This recording features the Violin Partita Nos.1, 2, and 3 , recorded at the Pfarrkirche Lockenhaus in 2002 and the documentary Back to Bach . The film includes rare archival footage and tells in a very personal way of Gidon Kremer's encounters with Bach's music, accompanying the famous violin virtuoso...
Singer, pianist and conductor Michel Legrand, a living film music legend, presents his most famous scores, jazz tunes and chansons on this video. Not many composers can claim to have written for both Edith Piaf and the James Bond films - and it's precisely this fusion of European romance and Hollywood dynamism that has made Legrand one of the soundtrack world's best known names. His career spans half-a-century and over 200 films, and he has received three Oscars and five Grammys. He has worked with many of the 20th century's greatest artists, including Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis, Barbra Streisand, Edith Piaf, Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles and has collaborated with French Nouvelle Vague directors Jean-Luc Godard and Claude Chabrol as well as Hollywood masters Clint Eastwood and Orson Welles. Recorded live in Brussels in 2005, this recording features music from Yentl , The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg , The Three Musketeers , Summer of '42 , Never Say Never Again , Edith and Ray's Blues to name but a few.
The Verbier Festival is arguably one of the most prestigious classical music events in the world. The quality of the participating artists as well as the originality of the programmes has established the festival as a culminating point in the music season. This series of TV programmes by Ideale Audience present the highlights of the Verbier Festival 2011, featuring renowned artists such as Martha Argerich, Evgeny Kissin, Lars Vogt, Yuja Wang, Renaud Capucon, Khatia Buniatishvili, and Nelson Goerner.
The most extraordinary virtuoso in musical history must surely be Franz Liszt. This documentary, featuring many leading Liszt experts (including Charles Rosen, Leslie Howard, Antonio Pappano and Evgeny Kissin), concentrates on his earlier years when he was travelling across Europe almost non-stop, fuelling the phenomenon described by Heine as "Lisztomania." It was also the time of elopement with Marie, Comtesse d'Agoult, in a move that scandalized polite society as much for its unorthodox nature as for its moral dubiety. These were the years of artistic journeying to which Liszt would one day return in the evocative musical colors of his Annees de pelerinage.
In his position as the king's composer, Jean Baptiste Lully (1632-1687) created the opera Perse for Louis XIV. The opera was considered the crowning achievement of 17th century French music theatre and was widely recognized as Lully's greatest work. Filled with dancing, fight scenes, monsters and special effects, this truly spectacular music drama recounts the thrilling story of Perseus, son of Zeus and heroic vanquisher of the snake-haired Gorgon Medusa. More than half a century after its premiere, Louis XV chose "Perse" to open the new Royal Opera House at the Chateau de Versailles, an event that formed part of the celebrations for the future Louis XVI's marriage to Marie Antoinette. Recorded live at the Elgin Theatre, Toronto in April 2004, this staging is a dazzling spectacle of gods and goddesses, dancing scenes, flying machines and monsters with fight scenes and special effects inspired by designs from the original 17th century performance. The excellent singer-actors and the "Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir" are leading specialists in early music.
The 128 musicians of the prestigious Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra have cast their votes: their new Principal Conductor will be Sir Simon Rattle.
He succeeds Claudio Abbado to become the sixth Principal Director in the 2002/2003 season.
The Berliner Philharmoniker is the only symphony orchestra world-wide choosing its principal conductor in its own responsibility. The camera has been following the orchestra since 1999 at auditions, concerts and guest performances and shows the various steps, from the groundwork preceding the election until the final counting of votes.
The most extensive documentation ever produced about this leading orchestra also presents the orchestra as a microcosm of the German society at the end of the 20th century. Excerpts from auditions and interviews with the Major conductors our time, statements by members of the orchestra, important agents and soloists working with him, reveal the significance of this new election and convey an atmosphere of expectation and excitement.
He succeeds Claudio Abbado to become the sixth Principal Director in the 2002/2003 season.
The Berliner Philharmoniker is the only symphony orchestra world-wide choosing its principal conductor in its own responsibility. The camera has been following the orchestra since 1999 at auditions, concerts and guest performances and shows the various steps, from the groundwork preceding the election until the final counting of votes.
The most extensive documentation ever produced about this leading orchestra also presents the orchestra as a microcosm of the German society at the end of the 20th century. Excerpts from auditions and interviews with the Major conductors our time, statements by members of the orchestra, important agents and soloists working with him, reveal the significance of this new election and convey an atmosphere of expectation and excitement.
The charismatic and inspiring Claudio Abbado and the mesmerising young pianist Yuja Wang, with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, hold the audience spellbound in this opening concert of the 2009 Lucerne Festival. Prokofiev's popular and vibrant Third Piano Concerto demonstrates the composer's sharp musical wit, and Yuja Wang is a brilliant exponent of the work. Following this, and chiming beautifully with the festival's theme of the relationship between art and nature, Mahler's First Symphony is given an illuminating and rapturously received performance.
In 2005, the Staatsoper Berlin and its orchestra, the Staatskapelle Berlin under musical director Daniel Barenboim, celebrated a series of events to celebrate the 80th birthday of French conductor and composer Pierre Boulez. Artistically associated for decades with Barenboim and Berlin, Pierre Boulez is one of today's most distinguished composers and conductors. As part of the celebration, Boulez conducted a performance of Mahler's "Resurrection" Symphony at the Berlin Philharmonie. With his uncompromising approach to the score, Pierre Boulez's Mahler readings have long fascinated critics and audiences alike. Boulez eschews the romanticized readings common in performance tradition and, instead, reveals the real joy and terror in Mahler's large-scale symphonies. The Berlin Staatskapelle, singers Diana Damrau and Petra Lang and the Berlin State Opera Chorus joined forces to bring his vision of this gargantuan piece to life. Watching Boulez conducting on his 80th birthday is truly an experience, and his interpretation presents a new perspective on a much-loved symphony.
"It would be hard to find anything greater, more significant or more moving anywhere in musical life today: total harmony of mind and heart, poetry and outcry, fear and consolation, knowing and feeling," declared the Berne paper Der Bund after this stunning performance of Mahler's Resurrection Symphony in August 2003 by the newly founded Lucerne Festival Orchestra. Claudio Abbado had formed this ensemble from famous instrumentalists, celebrated chamber-musicians and experienced soloists from the world's best orchestras, and the event was sold out months in advance. The Neue Zrcher Zeitung reported: "Once again the applause at the end was unequalled; the immense final chord...broke a tension that had lasted over 90 minutes without relaxing for a moment."
This Claudio Abbado recording captures a very special night at the 2007 Lucerne Festival with the massive Third Symphony by Gustav Mahler (1860-1911). Ever since its debut in 2003, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra has been enthusiastically received by public and press alike. The orchestra is the realisation of a dream for Claudio Abbado, who handpicked famous soloists, chamber recitalists and orchestral musicians to form this ensemble. Time and again it has been praised for its extraordinary sound and refined playing in the finest spirit of chamber music under the direction of the exceptional Italian conductor. The line-up includes such luminaries as Kolja Blacher and Sabine Meyer, alongside sundry members of the world's great orchestras. The cello section alone boasts Natalia Gutman, Clemens Hagen and Valentin Erben. On this video, the viewer can join in the imposing experience of a live performance of Mahler's No.3 with its awesome silences and towering climaxes recorded in the acoustically superb Congress and Concert Hall Lucerne in August 2007. Mahler completed the symphony in 1896 and it counts among the longest ever composed, with a performance lasting at least one and a half hours. The popular work became famous through Luciano Visconti's film Death in Venice , where...
Claudio Abbado has realised a dream with his new Lucerne Festival Orchestra. The orchestra, an exclusive ensemble of handpicked orchestral musicians, has set new standards in the field of classical music with exceptional soloists such as violinist Kolja Blacher, flutist Emanuel Pahud and clarinettist Sabine Meyer on the first desks. In August 2004 they performed in the Lucerne Festival Hall, presenting a programme that, once again, confirmed Claudio Abbado's fame as a supreme Mahler conductor. His long-time association with Mahler ensures a marvellous reading of the composer's Fifth and most popular Symphony, which became world-famous as the soundtrack to Visconti's film Death in Venice . An innovative special feature makes this audio-visually appealing video even more attractive. The film is shot using a multi-angle perspective, which enables the viewer to switch easily from the regular to the "Conductor" Camera thus experiencing Claudio Abbado from the orchestra's perspective. The is a wonderful homage to the interplay between orchestra and conductor celebrating the composer and a triumphant masterwork - Gustav Mahler's glorious Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor .
Bonus feautres:
- Multi-Angle Feature - Conductor Camera
Bonus feautres:
- Multi-Angle Feature - Conductor Camera
Claudio Abbado has realised a dream with his new Lucerne Festival Orchestra. The orchestra, an exclusive ensemble of handpicked orchestral musicians, opens up new dimensions in the interpretation of symphonic music with exceptional soloists such as violinist Kolja Blacher, cellist Natalia Gutman and clarinettist Sabine Meyer filling the first desks. Claudio Abbado is undeniably a supreme Mahler conductor and his recordings with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra have set new standards in interpretation of works by Gustav Mahler (1860?EUR"1911). His long-time association with the composer ensures a marvellous reading of the Sixth Symphony , especially as he has long been the work's most respected interpreter. The sixth symphony ?EUR" first performed in 1906 and sometimes referred to as Tragic ?EUR" ends on a much sadder, almost nihilistic, note than most of the other Mahler symphonies. This imposing music is captured live in a performance marked by awesome silences and towering climaxes conjured by the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. Filmed in August 2006 using state-of-the-art equipment to take full advantage of the new and acoustically superb Concert Hall Lucerne.
On 14 November 1987, a promising conductor made his Berliner Philharmoniker debut with Gustav Mahler's Sixth Symphony : Simon Rattle. In retrospect Rattle says, "I felt that I was finding my voice on that day." Mahler's multifaceted work is now again on the programme when Sir Simon appears for the last time as chief conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker in the Philharmonie. The wheel comes full circle.
Claudio Abbado, who first conducted his new Lucerne Festival Orchestra in the summer of 2003, realised a dream with this exclusive ensemble. Handpicked orchestral musicians and exceptional soloists such as violinist Kolja Blacher, flutist Emmanuel Pahud, clarinettist Sabine Meyer, oboist Albrecht Mayer, violist Wolfram Christ, cellist Natalia Gutman, the Hagen Quartet and members of the Alban Berg Quartet to name just a few, make the Lucerne Festival Orchestra a star-studded ensemble, while the core of the orchestra is provided by the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, itself an lite body of players. Claudio Abbado is undeniably a supreme Mahler conductor and his Mahler recordings with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra have set new benchmarks in Mahler interpretation. This wonderful performance of the impressive five movement Symphony No. 7 was recorded live at the new and acoustically superb Concert Hall Lucerne in August 2005.
The Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester was founded in 1986 at the initiative of Claudio Abbado and has since become the world's best youth orchestra. Named after the great composer, the programme is marked by the special relationship between the maestro and the young orchestra and their relationship to Gustav Mahler. Claudio Abbado is undeniably the supreme Mahler conductor of our time and his long-time association with this repertoire culminates in this stirring performance of Mahler's last Symphony, written shortly before the composer's untimely death. Recorded at Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome 2004, the film vividly shows the joy, talent and professionalism of the young musicians drawn from all over Europe and their devotion to Claudio Abbado. The is a wonderful homage to orchestra, conductor, composer and, last but not least, to a triumphant master work - Gustav Mahler's magnificent Symphony No. 9 in D major .
The Czech composer based his libretto on the play Le Voyage de Thesee by his friend and trusted source of inspiration, Georges Neveux. Martinu is said to have written the opera for Maria Callas. In this production, the role is sung by the internationally renowned American prima donna, Celina Lindsay.
The man of the future will overcome man, but will rediscover what it is to be human while having become something fundamentally different. (Maurice Bejart)
Maurice Bejart and the Ballet du XXeme siecle with a visionary and groundbreaking choreography, rarely performed.
Maurice Bejart and the Ballet du XXeme siecle with a visionary and groundbreaking choreography, rarely performed.
To celebrate his 80th birthday, Kurt Masur led "his" Gewandhaus Orchestra in a special gala concert in June 2007. For his birthday concert, Masur, currently principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre National de France, chose a varied, celebratory programme with works by composers highlighting his conducting career in the United States, France and Germany. The night progressed with works by Bernstein, Bizet and Brahms and ?EUR" as a special present - a song from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess , sung by entertainer Harald Schmidt. At Kurt Masur's wish, the popular German TV entertainer, a former church musician, hosted the show, demonstrating his quick-witted humour and general knowledge of all aspects of music. Abounding in energy, alert as ever, Masur has been untiringly lending new impulses to the entire orchestral repertoire. From 1970 until 1996 he did so as Gewandhaus Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, a position that has almost come to be identified with his name. He is still Conductor Laureate of the ensemble; the fact that he chose the orchestra for his birthday celebration expresses his gratitude and respect for the orchestra that accompanied him during momentous and troubled times. Kurt Masur had an eventful life - he was...
A ballet based on the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen
This beautiful ballet, based on the famous fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen , tells the heartbreaking story of a young mermaid who is willing to give up her life and identity out of love. This charming performance, abounding in poetic dance scenes, is intended not only for parents and children but for everyone who loves this immortal story.
Delivered by the National Theatre Orchestra, choreographed by Jan Kodet and directed by the acclaimed SKUTR tandem (Martin Kukucka and Lukas Trpisovsky to a new composition by Czech composer Zbynek Mateju .
This beautiful ballet, based on the famous fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen , tells the heartbreaking story of a young mermaid who is willing to give up her life and identity out of love. This charming performance, abounding in poetic dance scenes, is intended not only for parents and children but for everyone who loves this immortal story.
Delivered by the National Theatre Orchestra, choreographed by Jan Kodet and directed by the acclaimed SKUTR tandem (Martin Kukucka and Lukas Trpisovsky to a new composition by Czech composer Zbynek Mateju .
Maya Plisetskaya is in every sense an exceptional personality. Like almost no other dancer, the eternal prima ballerina assoluta of the Bolshoi Theatre understood how to combine outstanding dance skills with dramatic expression. There are also very few dancers who can look back on such a long and active career: even on her eightieth birthday in November 2005 she personally gave a stage performance. A homage to her inimitable creative work, this video features fascinating footage of her greatest successes as a ballerina together with an interview in which Maya Plisetskaya describes her life as a dancer - which is simultaneously a whole chapter of Russian history, from Stalin to perestroika.
Riccardo Chailly's inaugural concert as Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in September 2005 was a feast of music by Mendelssohn, the orchestra?EUR(TM)s first conductor. Capturing the full atmosphere of this unique musical event, ths video includes an overwhelming performance of Mendelssohn's Second Symphony, "Lobgesang" with its celebratory choral last movement and the ever-popular overture A Midsummer Night's Dream ?EUR" both from critically revised new editions. Anne Schwanewilms and Peter Seiffert are the outstanding vocal soloists. The Gewandhaus Orchestra can look back on its history with pride - it has evolved into one of the world's most renowned orchestras working with the best international conductors. The bonus film Chailly in Leipzig: The Gewandhaus Orchestra welcomes its new Kapellmeister allows a glimpse into this new and fruitful relationship.
This up-to-date documentary about Felix Mendelssohn is based on the original letters of the composer and his sister Fanny, combined with numerous evocative period images. Through a blend of music and words, the most distinguished Mendelssohn specialists of today guide viewers through the composer's fascinating life and career. The various themes covered include his training, his religious and cultural identity, his journey to Italy, his rediscovery of Bach, his years in Leipzig, the relative neglect of his music following his death, his readmission to the canon of Germany's greatest Romantic composers, and the recent unearthing of many unpublished works.
Bonus:
- Homage to Felix Mendelssohn at the Settimane Musicali al Teatro Olimpico, 2009.
Bonus:
- Homage to Felix Mendelssohn at the Settimane Musicali al Teatro Olimpico, 2009.
These magnificent interpretations of three Mendelssohn works - two orchestral and one chamber - are given by the phenomenally talented young Chinese pianist Yuja Wang and other young performers. Praised in BBC Music Magazine for her "keen intelligence" and "staggering technique," Yuja Wang has also been described by the San Francisco Chronicle as "the sort of musician whose combination of talents appears in the world only rarely." The Verbier Festival Orchestra consists of musicians hand-picked from every part of the world. Here they are directed by the doyen of German Mendelssohn conductors, Kurt Masur.
This concert features virtuoso violinist Yehudi Menuhin (1916?EUR"1999) at the Charlie Chaplin Studios in 1947. Together with various artists he performed classical and romantic works of famous composers such as Beethoven, Wieniawski, Bach, Paganini and others. Yehudi Menuhin in Concert Magic is the very first concert film produced by and for Hollywood. This concert was premiered at the Stage Door Cinema in San Francisco for movie audiences. Yehudi Menuhin was at the age of 32 and was at the pinnacle of his fame.
Bonus features:
- The Story behind "Concert Magic" - Yehudi Menuhin in conversation with Humphrey Burton
Bonus features:
- The Story behind "Concert Magic" - Yehudi Menuhin in conversation with Humphrey Burton
Go behind the scenes of Peter Sellars' landmark 1992 production of Messiaen's Saint Francois d'Assise in this documentary directed by Jean-Pierre Gorin. These controversial and ultimately universally acclaimed Salzburg Festival performances of the composer's first and only opera starred Jose van Dam and Dawn Upshaw, joined by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and Arnold Schonberg Choir under the baton of Esa-Pekka Salonen.
Commissioned in 1975 by the acclaimed Paris Opera director Rolf Liebermann, Olivier Messiaen composed both the libretto and score of Saint Francois d'Assise by himself over the course of the following four years, selecting Catholic saint and fellow bird lover Francis of Assisi as his opera's protagonist. After its orchestration, the work was rehearsed and premiered in 1983 at the Paris Opera under Messiaen's supervision. While these performances were beloved by audiences, critical reception was mixed, which is perhaps why it took almost ten years before the opera would again enjoy a full scenic production, an honor which it would receive in spades at the 1992 Salzburg Festival.
In his documentary, Jean-Pierre Gorin follows the development of Peter Sellars' Salzburg production from its rehearsals to its premiere. In addition to excerpted video...
Commissioned in 1975 by the acclaimed Paris Opera director Rolf Liebermann, Olivier Messiaen composed both the libretto and score of Saint Francois d'Assise by himself over the course of the following four years, selecting Catholic saint and fellow bird lover Francis of Assisi as his opera's protagonist. After its orchestration, the work was rehearsed and premiered in 1983 at the Paris Opera under Messiaen's supervision. While these performances were beloved by audiences, critical reception was mixed, which is perhaps why it took almost ten years before the opera would again enjoy a full scenic production, an honor which it would receive in spades at the 1992 Salzburg Festival.
In his documentary, Jean-Pierre Gorin follows the development of Peter Sellars' Salzburg production from its rehearsals to its premiere. In addition to excerpted video...
7 VISIONS OF AMEN is a masterpiece of Olivier Messiaen's musical production consisting of seven meanings of the word Amen. It is extraordinarily contemporary despite its 70 years of existence and its writing music is highlighted by four main essences: complex timbre, rhythmic and harmonic richness, deep spirituality, sound seduction - color and knowledge of nature through singing birds.
VISIONS OF AMEN is a dream. An adventure. A fusion of artistic expression made possible by a bold investment in talents. A great technical and human team led by Carlos Osorio's personal vision to visually enhance Olivier Messiaen's sound universe, and send it to all audiences of the world.
VISIONS OF AMEN is a dream. An adventure. A fusion of artistic expression made possible by a bold investment in talents. A great technical and human team led by Carlos Osorio's personal vision to visually enhance Olivier Messiaen's sound universe, and send it to all audiences of the world.
This stunning new production of Monteverdi's The Coronoation of Poppea clothes the characters in modern dress and emphasizes the moral ambiguity of the original text. Challenging the usual operatic conventions, the controversial stage director Ole Anders Tandberg, a leading light of contemporary Scandinavian theatre, emphasises the immediacy of the lurid, dramatic plot. This radical approach, combined with the emotional impact of Monteverdi's music, enables this seventeenth century masterpiece to make a direct appeal to contemporary audiences.
This film is a genuine premiere starring the greatest motion picture composer of the present day: Ennio Morricone. Morricone's music has been well known to moviegoers for decades and his name stands for warmly melodic soundtracks, superbly suited to the films they grace. Born in 1928 in Rome, he went to school with film director Sergio Leone, with whom he would later form one of the great director/composer partnerships. His sparse arrangements, unorthodox instrumentation and memorable tunes revolutionised the way music would be used in Westerns. He has written nearly 400 film scores and this programme contains a representative sample of his rich creative output including short clips from his most famous films. The Munich Philharmonic ?EUR" one of the best German symphony orchestras - invited Morricone to conduct his own music.
As part of the Mozart celebrations for the composer's 250th birthday in 2006, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of Manfred Honeck, perform W.A. Mozart's most famous work related to or composed in Prague. The young clarinetist Sharon Kam, one of the most exciting players on the international scene and a frequent performer with many renowned orchestras all over the world ?EUR" plays the popular Clarinet Concerto in its original version on the lower range basset clarinet. The Prague Estates Theatre, where the concert was recorded on Mozart's birthday on the 27th January 2006, is one of the most beautiful historical theatres in Europe. Part of its charm, magic and value lies in its historical significance, which stretches from the theatre's role in Mozart's career to modern times. In 1787 Mozart conducted the premiere of Don Giovanni here and, his friend and inspiration the clarinettist Anton Stadler, premiered the Clarinet Concerto in this theatre in 1791.
On January 27th, 2006 the Chinese piano-phenomenon Lang Lang celebrates the birthday of W.A. Mozart with a performance of the Piano Concerto No. 24 in the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. The China Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by Long Yu. The Forbidden City Concert Hall (formerly known as the Beijing Music Hall, Zhongshan Park) is situated inside the walls of the Forbidden City, among the well-manicured gardens of Zhongshan Park, directly adjacent to Tiananmen Square.
As their personal tribute to Mozart in his anniversary year 2006, Gil and Orli Shaham performed a selection of violin sonatas by the Austrian master in the Palais Daun-Kinsky in Vienna. Brimming with energy and bravery, tempered only by a deep understanding of the music, the siblings paid their respect to the composer on his 250th birthday. Violinist Gil Shaham is internationally recognized as a virtuosic and engaging classical artists by both audiences and critics alike. He is sought after throughout the world for concerto appearances with celebrated orchestras and conductors, as well as for recital and ensemble appearances on the great concert stages and at the most prestigious festivals. His sister Orli has established an impressive international reputation as a gifted pianist. Although they were born less than five years apart, the siblings seldom appear together in public. Apparently, their parents discouraged them from doing so, since Orli, as she explains, was "just ready to come out of the sandbox" when Gil was already having a big career.
For this concert, three Russian pianists came together: Valery Gergiev, Daniil Trifonov and Denis Matsuev. They opened the performance with Mozart's Concerto for 3 pianos . Gergiev then exchanged the piano for the baton, conducting the Verbier Festival Orchestra in an interpretation of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 .
Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio) is one of Mozart's five great repertoire operas alongside Le nozze di Figaro , Don Giovanni , Cosi fan tutte and Die Zauberflote . A typical "Singspiel", a form in which all the dialogue is spoken rather than sung, it was a great success during Mozart's lifetime and to this day has not lost any of its magic. Mozart was twenty-six when he wrote this opera, which was commissioned by a Viennese Theatre and premiered in 1782. The production for the Schwetzingen Festival in May 1991, which was amusingly staged by Michael Hampe, was recorded in the small, jewel-like Rococo Palace Theatre. Gianluigi Gelmetti led his excellent soloists, including international stars Ruth Ann Swenson and Kurt Rydl to an ensemble performance of great unity. The combination of colourful and imaginative sets and costumes and musical excellence brings the story about Westeners in a Turkish harem convincingly home to the viewers.
In celebration of the Mozart Year ?EUR" the anniversary of the composers 250th birthday would have been on 27 January 2006 ?EUR" EuroArts releases a video with Mozart's most famous works for string quartet and the serenade Eine kleine Nachtmusik for string quintet. Recorded at the beautiful baroque palace Rammenau, Saxony in May 2005, this video features the longest established string quartet in the world, the Gewandhaus Quartet. Founded in 1808, the Quartet can be seen as a remarkable part of the history of Western Music, having continued its concert activity uninterrupted from generation to generation with great success for almost 200 years. The current line-up has been playing together since 1993 and was formed, as the tradition goes, from the concertmasters, solo violist and solo cellist of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.
In the scope of the Czech Philharmonic's pre-Christmas series, Manfred Honeck conducts a selection of suites from Peer Gynt by Edward Grieg . The programme is completed by Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 played by Rudolf Buchbinder, as well as Beethoven's First Symphony in celebration of the composer's 250th birthday.
The music of Mozart has been an essential driving force of Daniel Barenboim's entire life. It remains central to his performing career both as a pianist and as a conductor. These illuminating performances of Mozart's last eight great piano concertos admirably demonstrate Barenboim's dictum that even when a true musician has already performed a familiar work hundreds of times, he or she "never accepts that the next note will be played the same way as it was before."
One of today's foremost Mozart interpreters, pianist Friedrich Gulda plays an all-Mozart concert. The programme includes the Fantasia in D Minor, K. 397, Piano Sonata No. 12 in F K. 332, Fantasia C Minor K. 475 and Piano Sonata No. 14 in C Minor, K 457 .
Gulda's mastery of the classical repertoire is demonstrated as he plays a programme of compositions by Mozart , including, among others, the Sonatas K. 333 and K. 576 and the Fantasia, 397 .
Mozart is the most pervasively dramatic composer in history. The spirit of opera informs very nearly his every work. Themes are characters; characters interact; they change. Andrs Schiff's alertness to the dialogue in Mozart is reflected both in his acute sense of characterisation and his immensely sophisticated use of articulation. Every line breathes. Not only that, every tone tells. Just as the voice in conversation subtly reflects the speaker's state of mind, so Schiff's deployment of sonority derives from an acute perception of the notes' psychological as well as their purely musical character. This recording from the historical and stunningly beautiful Teatro Olimpico affords us numerous insights into Schiff's approach to music and music-making, and more besides. Schiff's joy in performance is as evident to the eye as to the ear.
Uwe Scholz, ballet director in Leipzig, was hailed as one of the most brilliant choreographic minds of his generation when he died in November 2004 at the early age of 45. His ballet The Great Mass is one of the most impressive works of this important neoclassical Choreographer - a requiem, a choreographic revelation and certainly his grand legacy to the Leipzig ballet. The full length Choreography, here recorded at the Leipzig Opera in a performance in June 2005, takes its name from Mozart's famous unfinished Mass in C minor . It absorbs the structure of the liturgy of the mass and adds other works by Mozart as well as passages of Gregorian chant, and sequences from contemporary music by Gyorgy Kurtag, Thomas Jahn and Arvo Part and readings of poems by Paul Celan. Internationally famous soloists from the Leipzig Ballet, among them Kiyoko Kimura, Christoph Bohm and Oksana Kulchytska, take on the leading roles and the staging proves the ensemble to be one of the best ballet companies worldwide.
The main focus of the Easter Festival 2013, held for the first time with the Berliner Philharmoniker at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, will be on the four performances of Mozart's opera The Magic Flute conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. The principal roles are sung by Ana Durlovski (Queen of the Night), Pavol Breslik (Tamino), Kate Royal (Pamina), Michael Nagy (Papageno) and Regula Muhlemann (Papagena). The "Three Ladies" are also portrayed by prominent performers, namely Annick Massis, Magdalena Kozena and Nathalie Stutzmann. Jose van Dam functions as narrator and Canadian artist and seasoned opera director Robert Carsen is in charge of directing.
In anticipation of the Mozart Year 2006, Hartmut Haenchen conducted his Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Chamber Orchestra in an all-Mozart Programme recorded live at the 19th century Konzerthaus Berlin in November 2005. The ensemble succeeded in bringing to life the music's manifold characteristics through the translucency achieved by a small chamber orchestra. Whether light-heartedness, song-like lyricism, drama or inspired polyphonic writing: every element of their performance breathes the spirit of Mozart. Critics have praised the orchestra's stylistic assurance, transparent textures and technical precision. Conductor Hartmut Haenchen is a highly dedicated artist, who can draw on broad experience. He exudes warmth and charm and Stefan Vladar's extraordinarily sensitive touch and stylistic assurance make the prize-winning pianist an ideal partner for Haenchen and his orchestra.
In 2022, Musiques en fete celebrates love in music! with the 8,000 spectators at the Theatre Antique in Orange for an amazing show! Opera, operetta, musical comedy, classical music, film music, dance, as well as the greatest hits of French song... Through an eclectic programme, a tribute to love and to all music will be paid by prestigious soloists and more than 150 orchestral musicians and choral artists.
The French composer Maurice Ravel remains a source of inspiration for any choreographer. Artistic director and star choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and rising talent Jeroen Verbruggen take their vision of Ravel's music to the stage. Jeroen Verbruggen, who as a young student dancer at the Royal Ballet School won the Prix de Lausanne, has drawn his inspiration from Ravel's Pavane pour une Infante defunte and from Ma mere l'oye . Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui also translates Ravel into dance, opting for Pictures at an Exhibition , which was originally composed by Modest Mussorgsky , but which was later orchestrated by Ravel to become the most widely performed orchestration of this work: It has thus become truly canonical. It is a programme full of surprises with which the Royal Ballet Flanders/ Ballet Vlaanderen might just write a page of dance history.
The Berliner Philharmoniker celebrate the last day of the 20th century with Grand Finales in the first part of this extraordinary concert, and herald the leap into 21st century with an explosion of sparkling music in the second half of the programme.
For the Grand Finales, Claudio Abbado conducts masterpieces like the final movement of Beethoven's 7th Symphony , excerpts from Stravinsky's Firebird and the last movement of Mahler's 5th Symphony . The world-famous actor Klaus Maria Brandauer narrates from Arnold Schoenberg's Gurrelieder
For the Grand Finales, Claudio Abbado conducts masterpieces like the final movement of Beethoven's 7th Symphony , excerpts from Stravinsky's Firebird and the last movement of Mahler's 5th Symphony . The world-famous actor Klaus Maria Brandauer narrates from Arnold Schoenberg's Gurrelieder
The Berlin Philharmonic, under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle and with the Grammy Award-winning jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves, usher in the New Year in style. In this gala concert, they present a programme of music by three of the twentieth century's most famous composers: Maurice Ravel, Gabriel Faur and George Gershwin.
In 2011 the Berlin Philharmoniker and their musical director Sir Simon Rattle welcomed in the New Year with a gala concert entitled "Dances and Dreams." Spine-tingling and inspiring performances of music by Dvorak, Ravel, Richard Strauss, Stravinsky and Brahms are complemented by the extraordinary talent of multi-awarded Russian pianist Evgeny Kissin. Kissin's musicality, the depth and poetic quality of his interpretations, and his extraordinary virtuosity have placed him at the forefront of today's pianists, and his passionate performance of the renowned Piano Concerto in A minor by Edvard Grieg is mesmerising.
With standing ovations, bouquets and rave reviews, Simon Rattle started his debut as chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic. He launched his 10-year tenure mixing tradition with Gustav Mahler's Fifth Symphony and future with a contemporary piece by the young composer Thomas Ades , receiving an enthusiastic welcome. At the end of Mahler's Fifth Symphony, the audience cheered the conductor, calling him back five times to bows. The new chief conductor performed a miracle of transparency and ecstasy, sharpness of tone and ambiguity.
This concert may be called a meeting of musical giants: The Berliner Philharmoniker, Manfred Honeck and Yo-Yo Ma. But all superlatives aside, we may be absolutely sure that it is going to be an extraordinary concert when these artists take the stage at the 2016 Easter Concert in Baden-Baden.
Sol Gabetta's debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker at the Easter Festival 2014 in Baden-Baden stood under the sign of contrast: Beginning with Wagner's Lohengrin and Gyorgy Ligeti's orchestral piece Atmospheres they show how they both pursue similar objectives in different ways - that of an iridescent, otherworldly sound Elgar's warm and melodically charged Cello Concerto is contrasted with Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps , an entirely progressive piece that pushes the conventional boundaries of classical music.
"Sol Gabetta's Elgar Concerto is one of the best around, a heartfelt, tonally rounded performance. Hers is a softly spoken presence, especially beautiful in those infinitely sad modulations that fall towards the end of the piece." - Gramophone magazine
"Sol Gabetta's Elgar Concerto is one of the best around, a heartfelt, tonally rounded performance. Hers is a softly spoken presence, especially beautiful in those infinitely sad modulations that fall towards the end of the piece." - Gramophone magazine
A joyful celebration welcoming the New Year, this Gala from Berlin presents the world-renowned Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, in Carl Orff's famous Carmina Burana , an intensely dramatic cantata that remains one of the most widely performed works from the twentieth century. With an exceptional vocal line-up ?EUR" soprano Sally Matthews, tenor Lawrence Brownlee and baritone Christian Gerhaher ?EUR" this is an energetic and thrilling performance. Beethoven's Leonore No. 3 overture and Handel's supreme Hallelujah Chorus are also included.
A live concert from Olivier Latry, the current holder of the Great Organ of Notre Dame. This performance of his, showcasing pieces of Bach, Vierne and Daquin , was recorded in 2015, at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
No one did more to expand the audience for opera than tenor Luciano Pavarotti. He reconnected an elite art-form with popular audiences throughout the world, through his unashamed enthusiasm for life and his unique ability to communicate to vast crowds through the simple medium of his magnificent voice, allied to great music. This fascinating documentary film takes the viewer behind the scenes of both Pavarotti's personal life and his appearances at the great opera houses of the world to create a unique portrait of a great and well-loved musician.
Both come from Buenos Aires with global careers, Martha Argerich and Daniel Barenboim are not only fellow countrymen but alo began to give concerts in their youth, as soloists and with an orchestra. In addition, the two have a particular interest in chamber music in common - the repertoire spanning from the classics to modernism. Now, they appear together as two of the most eminent pianists of the past few decades and of the present, something which is well worth looking forward to.
A gem of a concert featuring two of the greatest pianists, friends, and musical collaborators of our time... in 1982, fellow South American pianists Nelson Freire and Martha Argerich shared a stage for a program of 19th and 20th century pianistic jewels.
Freire opens the program with Debussy's Estampes, Chopin's Trois nouvelles etudes and Scherzo in B-flat Minor. The Argentinian lioness then joins him for Ravel's two piano arrangement of his La Valse and Rachmaninov's Suite No. 2 for Two Pianos.
Freire opens the program with Debussy's Estampes, Chopin's Trois nouvelles etudes and Scherzo in B-flat Minor. The Argentinian lioness then joins him for Ravel's two piano arrangement of his La Valse and Rachmaninov's Suite No. 2 for Two Pianos.
The 2009 Verbier Festival starred two generations of pianists: the "Argentinian lion" Martha Argerich and the young Chinese Yuja Wang. On the program, Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2 with Martha Argerich and two sonatas by Scarlatti with Yuja Wang. The soiree closes with the young pianist's incredible encore performance, the third movement of Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 11 (best known as the Turkish March or Alla Turca ) in an arrangement by Arcadi Volodos.
Legendary pianist Lang Lang performs Beethoven, Chopin, Prokofiev and Albeniz in his very unique way. In personal interview situations he explains his individual access to the different pieces. Original and extraordinary - these words describe both the artist and the setting of the shooting: Berlin, Europe's current capital of underground culture and music with spectacular locations. Shot using state-of-the-art 3D technology the audience will experience a fascinating concert-like experience and see and hear the famous artist like they've never done before. It will be an unforgettable half hour where performing art in perfection meets modern technology.
World-famous Chinese pianist Lang Lang had barely celebrated his 21st birthday at the time of his 2003 Carnegie Hall debut recital.
The young pianist from Shenyang, China first gained international attention for his performance of a Tchaikovsky piano concerto at the Ravinia Festival gala in 1999, when he replaced soloist Andre Watts at the last minute. With a flamboyant style and virtuosic technique, Lang Lang's early performances quickly rocketed him to the top, and while his showmanship has sometimes led to mixed critical reception, he has since risen above those early antics to become a confirmed darling of the international classical music world.
The young pianist from Shenyang, China first gained international attention for his performance of a Tchaikovsky piano concerto at the Ravinia Festival gala in 1999, when he replaced soloist Andre Watts at the last minute. With a flamboyant style and virtuosic technique, Lang Lang's early performances quickly rocketed him to the top, and while his showmanship has sometimes led to mixed critical reception, he has since risen above those early antics to become a confirmed darling of the international classical music world.
This series of TV programmes presents the very best of the 16th Verbier Festival with worldwide renowned artists such as Martha Argerich, Mischa Maisky, Rene Pape, Joshua Bell, Philippe Jaroussky, and Yuja Wang.
A beloved combination: Cello, violin and piano. For their concert at the Verbier Festival 2015, Truls Mork, Ilya Gringolts and Daniil Trifonov chose works by Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms - thus showcasing how three famous German composers from the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century wrote for and perceived these three instruments.
In 2018, Pianomania! brought iconic, internationally renowned pianists to Lisbon for a keyboard extravaganza. These electrifying highlights show the performers' incredible variety in six first-class concerts from the Grand Auditorium of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, beginning with the moving Piano Concerto by Robert Schumann . For Daniil Trifonov, Schumann is "important in the heart of any pianist," to which his deeply felt and mature rendition attests.
Next up, Menahem Pressler, at age 94, brings a lifetime's worth of experience and emotion to the haunting second movement of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 , "the most intimate and the most heartwarming" Mozart work, capable of "elevating [a pianist] up to heaven."
Young star Beatrice Rana brings pyrotechnic panache to Stravinsky's Firebird before Elisabeth Leonskaja's Beethoven , brimming with passion, gives way to Mario Laginha's Concerto for Two Pianos with the composer himself as soloist, accompanied by Pedro Burmester.
Next up, Menahem Pressler, at age 94, brings a lifetime's worth of experience and emotion to the haunting second movement of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 , "the most intimate and the most heartwarming" Mozart work, capable of "elevating [a pianist] up to heaven."
Young star Beatrice Rana brings pyrotechnic panache to Stravinsky's Firebird before Elisabeth Leonskaja's Beethoven , brimming with passion, gives way to Mario Laginha's Concerto for Two Pianos with the composer himself as soloist, accompanied by Pedro Burmester.
Pierre Boulez has already left an indelible imprint on the international music scene, not only as a composer and conductor but also as a music philosopher and teacher. This documentary, a homage on the occasion of his 85th birthday, shows his invaluable nurturing of young musicians as they come together during the summer for intensive rehearsal weeks. Adopting the perspective of both Pierre Boulez and of the students, the film conveys an infectious enthusiasm for contemporary music, a determination on the part of everybody to do it justice, and a wonderful insight into the legacy that Pierre Boulez passes on to the next generation.
Romeo and Juliet is one of the most frequently performed ballets at the Prague National Theatre. The first one premiered on the 30th December 1938, yet this new staging, which is already the sixth, will be very different compared to previous productions. Petr Zuska, artistic director of the Czech National Ballet unlike in the origina Shakespearean tragedy does not focus on the story of lovers but on the reason for resentment and blood feud between the Montagues and Capulets: The eternal conflict of the male and female principle. This rendering leaves more room for other, all too often neglected characters, such as Friar Laurence. In this piece his role is highlighted as renaissance man representing human faith in God. His nemesis is Queen Mab, a mythical ruler of shadows, the "midwife of dreams and phantoms".
This mythological figure of Prometheus symbolises the creativity of man - and Claudio Abbado took this symbol as the Leitmotif of this very unique concert recording: An exploration of the Prometheus myth through the works of four composers, evocatively visualized by television director Christopher Swann, known for directing Leonard Bernstein conducts West Side Story among others.
Featuring Marta Argerich as the solo pianist, the concert was a giant was a giant collaboration of the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Berliner Singkadamie, the Solistenchor Freiburg, and the vocal soloist Ingrid Ade-Jeseman and Monika Bair-Ivenz and speakers Ulrike Krumbiegel and Matthias Schadock.
Featuring Marta Argerich as the solo pianist, the concert was a giant was a giant collaboration of the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Berliner Singkadamie, the Solistenchor Freiburg, and the vocal soloist Ingrid Ade-Jeseman and Monika Bair-Ivenz and speakers Ulrike Krumbiegel and Matthias Schadock.
A rococo beauty who ultimately drags everything into the abyss, Puccini's Manon Lescaut is never fully satisfied. She becomes addicted to the admiring glances she receives from others, and the luxury and diamonds in which she bathes don't warm her for long. In this, his first successful opera, the composer paints a portrait of a woman who has everything, only to lose it because she is incapable of holding on to anything. Likewise Puccini, who identified closely with his heroine, helping himself to many things. He took the orchestra from Verdi , expanding it with phrases and themes he found in Wagner and the French people.
To all of this he added something from within himself - a melody more breathless than that of Verdi, but in many ways, sweeter. Add to that an ingenious fire in which ideas flow and the themes are inspired. The fact that the Berliner Philharmoniker turn to Puccini - this beloved yet ostracized composer - is symbolic. Here is someone who was thought to be outmoded for a long time, but there is really so much more to be discovered about him and his work. The tale of one who becomes a model but remains a girl, is very contemporary.
To all of this he added something from within himself - a melody more breathless than that of Verdi, but in many ways, sweeter. Add to that an ingenious fire in which ideas flow and the themes are inspired. The fact that the Berliner Philharmoniker turn to Puccini - this beloved yet ostracized composer - is symbolic. Here is someone who was thought to be outmoded for a long time, but there is really so much more to be discovered about him and his work. The tale of one who becomes a model but remains a girl, is very contemporary.
For the Easter Festival 2017 in Baden-Baden, Sir Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker draw their inspiration from Tosca , the most well-known and also most brilliant of all the Puccini operas. And that is deservedly so, since Tosca is not merely a work of art, but also a gripping suspense-packed story. With Kristine Opolais as Tosca and a spectacular staging by Philipp Himmelmann this production offers a fresh view on this beloved classic.
Who would have thought it? An American orchestra performing in North Korea! Hundreds of millions watched this historic New York Philharmonic concert on television in February 2008 and for a few hours the cold war hostilities seemed to be forgotten. Music became diplomacy when conductor Lorin Maazel and the New York Philharmonic, the USA's most eminent orchestra, opened the concert in East Pyongyang's Grand Theatre with both the American and the North Korean national anthems. The programme included music by Wagner, Dvork, Gershwin, Bizet and Bernstein and prompted the North Korean audience to standing ovations. This courageous musical project also united Korean and American musicians, who together produced a technically brilliant performance. The musicians barely spoke to one another, communicating in exchanged glances and body language, and when Lorin Maazel raised his baton at the end of the concert and the orchestra embarked on Arirang , a lilting folk song emblematic of the North and South Korean people, the audience was obviously touched.
A previously unreleased documentary with 53 minutes of exclusive material shows members of the New York Philharmonic on their historic trip to North Korea's capital. Many concerns and doubts arose before departing to the most...
A previously unreleased documentary with 53 minutes of exclusive material shows members of the New York Philharmonic on their historic trip to North Korea's capital. Many concerns and doubts arose before departing to the most...
Max Raabe and his Palast Orchester give dance and film music from the 1920s and 1930s a rousing revival. They specialise in recreating the sound of the 1920s and 1930s, performing songs by the Comedian Harmonists, Robert Stolz, Friedrich Hollaender, Franz Lehar, Theo Mackeben and Irving Berlin. They evoke a nostalgic atmosphere that has captured imaginations for generations and still charms audiences worldwide by performing music from the golden age of songwriting in pre-war Germany. They also feature highlights of the excellent music entertainment tradition of the Americas in the same period. Max Raabe and his Palast Orchester are exquisite interpreters of these tunes, and they play them with such precision, jovial vitality and utter perfection that the 80-year-old songs sound as fresh and lively as they did when first performed. Max Raabe himself has a distinct and exceptional voice which, added to his looks, makes him seem like the reincarnation of a singer from the Golden Twenties. The songs and the show aren't simply remakes, but wonderful new interpretations which reveal the timeless modernity of these brilliant works. Recorded live at the Waldbuhne Berlin in August 2006, the tours in which they performed for excited audiences all over the world included concerts in New...
Celebrated in his day not only as a great composer he was also admired as an outstanding pianist who was a peerless interpreter of his own works including the piano concerti and the Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini .
It is well known that he was in effect the sole pianist capable of performing his most demanding Third Piano Concerto and his performances and recording of the concerto came to be considered as the definitive ones.
The relationship between performance, interpretation, and Rachmaninoff's own life will be addressed in this documentary by the young pianists interviewed. The program explored the evolution of interpretation over the past few decades, hear brief excerpts of recordings by Rachmaninoff as contrasted with contemporary performances by today's well-known young pianists as they comment on the differences (or similarities) of their approach.
This documentary will be the first to explore performance styles and interpretation of the Rachmaninoff piano repertoire. Viewed from a broad perspective the documentary will focus on the danger of how a musician might be bound and stymied by tradition as opposed to being able to use a knowledge of the past to liberate one's approach and infuse the performances with the same sense of improvisatory freedom with which...
It is well known that he was in effect the sole pianist capable of performing his most demanding Third Piano Concerto and his performances and recording of the concerto came to be considered as the definitive ones.
The relationship between performance, interpretation, and Rachmaninoff's own life will be addressed in this documentary by the young pianists interviewed. The program explored the evolution of interpretation over the past few decades, hear brief excerpts of recordings by Rachmaninoff as contrasted with contemporary performances by today's well-known young pianists as they comment on the differences (or similarities) of their approach.
This documentary will be the first to explore performance styles and interpretation of the Rachmaninoff piano repertoire. Viewed from a broad perspective the documentary will focus on the danger of how a musician might be bound and stymied by tradition as opposed to being able to use a knowledge of the past to liberate one's approach and infuse the performances with the same sense of improvisatory freedom with which...
Antonio Pappano together with the Sachsische Staatskapelle Dresden are presenting a symphonic work with particular relevance for Dresden: Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2 , which was written during the composer's years at the Saxon residency.
The premiere of his 1st symphony had received such harsh criticism that it took months of revision until Rachmaninoff was finall satisfied with his 2nd Symphony, which he conducted himself for the premiere and which received great applause. Because of its formidable length, Symphony No. 2 has been the subject of many revisions, particularly in the 1940s and 1950s, which reduced the piece from nearly an hour to as little as 35 minutes. On this recording, the work can be enjoyed in its entirety.
The premiere of his 1st symphony had received such harsh criticism that it took months of revision until Rachmaninoff was finall satisfied with his 2nd Symphony, which he conducted himself for the premiere and which received great applause. Because of its formidable length, Symphony No. 2 has been the subject of many revisions, particularly in the 1940s and 1950s, which reduced the piece from nearly an hour to as little as 35 minutes. On this recording, the work can be enjoyed in its entirety.
The French Baroque opera Hippolyte et Aricie carries its audience away into a realm of wonders with magnificent dance and choir scenes and the greatest possible multitude of musical forms. Philippe Rameau , a French contemporary of Bach and Handel , revolutionized the music of his time with radically novel, sometimes dissonant harmonics; extraordinarily colourful and complex orchestral movements, multifarious rhythms and dramatic intensity.
The artist Olafur Eliasson, who created the set design for the opera Phaedra and the ballet Tree of Codes is responsible for the set and costume design. In his art, he deconstructs natural phenomena and he rethinks them with the help of color, light, reflections and motion. For Eliasson it is never about the work of art as an autonomous object, but about the interchange with the beholder.
The artist Olafur Eliasson, who created the set design for the opera Phaedra and the ballet Tree of Codes is responsible for the set and costume design. In his art, he deconstructs natural phenomena and he rethinks them with the help of color, light, reflections and motion. For Eliasson it is never about the work of art as an autonomous object, but about the interchange with the beholder.
Having made his conducting debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker in 1987, Sir Simon Rattle was appointed as Claudio Abbado's successor in 1999. On 7 September 2002, Sir Simon gave his first concert as the orchestra's chief conductor.
Sixteen years later, an era is coming to an end.
How will Sir Simon and the Berliner Philharmoniker shape the end of their era? The claims have been staked, most highs and lows of the relationship have been surpassed. It is the period of the greatest common denominator and the greatest serenity. Echoing an Era finds us amidst the part of the relationship that we will come to miss the most. This gives us the opportunity to comprehend which sides of Sir Simon Rattle's personality have come to define his time with the Berliner Philharmoniker the most.
Sixteen years later, an era is coming to an end.
How will Sir Simon and the Berliner Philharmoniker shape the end of their era? The claims have been staked, most highs and lows of the relationship have been surpassed. It is the period of the greatest common denominator and the greatest serenity. Echoing an Era finds us amidst the part of the relationship that we will come to miss the most. This gives us the opportunity to comprehend which sides of Sir Simon Rattle's personality have come to define his time with the Berliner Philharmoniker the most.
Starring the celebrated dancer Maya Plisetskaya , this brilliant performance of Bolero was given just under two decades after the 1960 premiere of what has become one of Maurice Bejart's most famous choreographies.
The ballet is set to Ravel's 1928 eponymous composition, whose music is comprised of a hypnotic theme and variations: a simple repeating melody is passed among instruments in a fascinating exploration of orchestral timbres that gradually and insistently crescendos into sonic ecstasy. Mirroring this structure, Bejart's choreography places a single individual (usually a woman) at the center of a male collective that surrounds, observes, imitates, admires, and stalks her in a choreography that progressively transforms from subtle understated gestures to high-voltage electricity!
The ballet is set to Ravel's 1928 eponymous composition, whose music is comprised of a hypnotic theme and variations: a simple repeating melody is passed among instruments in a fascinating exploration of orchestral timbres that gradually and insistently crescendos into sonic ecstasy. Mirroring this structure, Bejart's choreography places a single individual (usually a woman) at the center of a male collective that surrounds, observes, imitates, admires, and stalks her in a choreography that progressively transforms from subtle understated gestures to high-voltage electricity!
A drummer-turned-composer, Steve Reich has produced some of the most vibrant, original and interesting music of our time, with influences as varied as Bach, Stravinsky, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Balinese and Ghanaian percussion. His technique of phasing (short, repeating patterns moving in and out of phase with each other), used first in It's Gonna Rain of 1965, formed the springboard for his complex and colourful style, with its intoxicating melodic lines and rhythmic patterns. In Phase to Face , we follow Steve Reich as he travels from the Autumn in Normandy festival to Rome (with the Italian musicians of Ars Ludi, the Ready-Made Ensemble, Coro Ha-Kol and Quartetto Prometeo), to Tokyo, to New York, and to Manchester ?EUR" for the world premiere of 2X5 .
Rodrigo at 90 is an intimate portrait of Spain's best known composer of the 20th century. At the age of ninety, he has lived a life filled with as tragedy as joy, and his belief in demons rivals his belief in God - but his art has maintained an outlook which is as sunny as the land whence it comes.
The legendary Concierto de Aranjuez has never been performed with such sensuality and profundity as by guitarist Pepe Romero and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields conducted by Sir Neville Marriner. Romero's interpretation is influenced by Rodrigo's recounting of the true story behind this masterpiece: the sadness of the loss of an unborn child mixed with joyous earlier memories of his honeymoon in Aranjuez.
The legendary Concierto de Aranjuez has never been performed with such sensuality and profundity as by guitarist Pepe Romero and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields conducted by Sir Neville Marriner. Romero's interpretation is influenced by Rodrigo's recounting of the true story behind this masterpiece: the sadness of the loss of an unborn child mixed with joyous earlier memories of his honeymoon in Aranjuez.
The press enthusiastically declared this Barber of Seville a "firework display of exhilarating comedy" and praised the "unforced liveliness" of the cast. EuroArts releases this highly acclaimed staging of one of the most popular operas ever written. Vesselina Kasarova is the undisputed star of this production - she shines musically and dramatically in the part of Rosina, one of her signature roles, which she has since been invited to sing in many major opera houses from Vienna to New York. Recorded live at the Zurich Opera in April 2001, the cast was led by Manuel Lanza as Figaro, Reinaldo Macias as the Count, Carlos Chausson as Bartolo and Nicolai Ghiaurov as Basilio and Nello Santi, a "singer-conductor" in the best Italian tradition, roused his orchestra to precise, vivacious performance.
Rossini's first staged opera already contains all the elements that would take the music world by storm in Il barbiere di Siviglia , L'italiana in Algeri and La Cenerentola in the years to come: melodic inventiveness, ingenious connections between sung lines and orchestral accompaniment in the exuberant finale, musical humour and ensembles using breathtakingly fast parlando singing. This sparkling production continues the Rossini one-act opera series emerging from the Schwetzingen Festival with excellent direction, acting and stagecraft. Director Michael Hampe created a perfect realization of the opera in the small, jewel-like Rococo Theatre of Schwetzingen Palace in May 1989. The staging is perfectly suited to the screen and the cast of principals, led by John Del Carlo; Janice Hall and David Kuebler provide musical excellence together with the flexible Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra. The lively performance is led by Gianluigi Gelmetti, who was awarded the Rossini d'Oro Prize in 1999.
L'occasione fa il ladro is one of the five one-act operas - farsa giocosa - in which the teenage Rossini first demonstrated his operatic genius. This farce about arranged marriages, role reversals and other amorous confusions is, in musical terms, by far the most riotous of these five operatic jewels ?EUR" all performed in the intricately decorated Rococo Theatre at Schwetzingen Palace. Renowned opera director Michael Hampe's sparkling production is perfectly suited to the small stage of the historic theatre. Recorded live in 1992 with an excellent cast of principals led by Susan Patterson, Robert Gambill and Natale de Carolis, and Gianluigi Gelmetti's refreshingly fast-paced leadership of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra maintains the light musical touch of this "joyous farce" while at the same time setting a benchmark for the reading of these tiny gems among Rossini's operas.
On the occasion of the 140th anniversary of the composer's death, crowds gathered at the Leipziger Gewandhaus to witness a world-class performance of one of Rossini's two large-scale, major choral works: The Petite Messe solennele. Riccardo Chailly - whose "genius for the Rossini style has ripened in the years" (Gramophone) - leads a spectacular ensemble of four internationally renowned singers, the combined forces of the Choir of the Leipzig Opera and the Gewandhaus Choir, and the Gewandhaus Orchestra; their harmonious, ethereal rendition receieves a heartfelt ovation that affirms the beguiling effect of the last of Rossini's "sins of old age."
This beautiful production by renowned opera director Michael Hampe was recorded at the exquisite Rococo Theatre in Schwetzingen Palace in May 1990. La scala di seta is one of the five one-act operas - farsa giocosa - in which the young Rossini first demonstrated his operatic genius. This sparkling production continues the Rossini one-act opera series emerging from the Schwetzingen Festival. The staging is perfectly suited to the screen and the cast of principals, led by David Griffith and Luciana Serra provide musical excellence together with the flexible Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra. Simone Young, who has since become one of the foremost opera conductors of the younger generation, appears on harpsichord and fortepiano. She was chief conductor of the Sydney Opera and has recently been appointed as the new musical director of the Hamburg Opera. Here she can be seen at the start of her career establishing a speciality for which she is now famous: she frequently conducts early operas from the harpsichord.
Il signor Bruschino is the last of the five one-act operas - farsa giocosa - in which the young Rossini first demonstrated his operatic genius. Among the 'peculiarities', which caused a sensation at its premiere 1813, was the daring experiment in search of new tonal effects in the overture, during which the second violins are required to tap their bows on their music stands. The opera is a mixture of saucy elegance, sizzling wittiness, cheeky orchestration and also some touching lyricism. It was realised to perfection in the small, jewel-like Rococo Theatre in Schwetzingen Palace, which was built in 1752. The stage is small and the beautifully elegant and this shining production by Michael Hampe, recorded in May 1989, provides one and a half hours of the entertaining story about "the son won in a game" as it is subtitled. The staging transfers to the screen perfectly and the cast of principals, led by Alessandro Corbelli, Alberto Rinaldi and Amelia Felle provide musical excellence together with the flexible Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra under Gianluigi Gelmetti.
Founded in 1959, Cuba's leading contemporary dance company has had a profound influence on Cuban dance and dancers. Over the past 53 years Danza Contemporanea de Cuba has evolved into an exotic hybrid of contemporary, classical and Caribbean styles - an exquisite physical instrument. They move with an old-fashioned juiciness, reminiscent of the Martha Graham Company, but without being old-fashioned. Expect an exciting modern dance performance to the beats of the future.
In this live recording for 2009, Saint-Sans' Samson et Dalila - a story of doomed love set against the backdrop of cultural conflict between Hebrews and Philistines - is reinterpreted to relate with the conflicts in today's Middle East. "In our approach to this opera we tried to move away fromthe quasi-biblical interpretation, and to place the story in a contemporary context to explain its political meaning in today's world," say the two directors, Israeli Omri Nitzan and Palestinian Amir Nizar Zuabi. In this production by Vlaamse Opera, the dramatic story of Saint-Sans' greatest opera is unfolded in all its tragic beauty.
A fabulous tale of amourous intrigue based on Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor . Here in a delightfully humorous production, recorded at the Schwetzinger Palace Theatre.
An exceptional concert from Brazil: the Orquestra Sinfonica do Estado de Sao Paulo proves its position as the most important orchestra in Latin America. Conducted by charismatic maestro John Neschling since 1997, the orchestra is defined by its emblematic interpretations of Latin American music. With Sao Paulo Samba, the orchestra yet again grips the listener with an electrifying selection of Brazilian and Latin American classics, including works by Alberto Ginastera, Astor Piazzolla, Heitor Villa-Lobos and Joao Bosco. The famous Banda Mantiqueira and celebrated singer Monica Salmaso complement the show.
It is illusory to assume one can shoot a film about Jordi Savall which summarizes the complete fullness of his activities or gives a representative summary of the musical treasures raised by him with a profound expertise or to describe exactly how he manages to play the viola da gamba in his own unmistakable way that makes it sound like it sounds.
The little guy with his mustache, his bowler hat and his bamboo cane is world-famous. But, who is the man behind this figure? Mario Schroder wondered the same thing when choreographing Chaplin . His rise to fame makes Chaplin a person of public interest. The clown becomes political. America's conservatives are, however, suspicious of Chaplin's convictions. Suspected of communism, he is eventually expelled. The ballet describes Chaplin's life in relation to his creative work and shows that an artist who observes his environment both sensitively and consciously is behind the funny Tramp.
This recital by the distinguished lieder singer Hermann Prey, who died in 1998, features some of the songs in which Schubert set to music poems by the great romantic writer Friedrich Schiller.
Christoph Prgardien is one of the most established singers of our time and has especially excelled in his interpretations of German Romantic Lieder. He has won the Orphe d'Or of Acadmie du Disque Lyrique - Prix Georg Solti, Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, Edison Award, Cannes Classical Award and Diapason d'Or. This is easy to understand when one hears his controlled, beautifully-phrased yet emotional and tender singing.
Bonus feature:
- Christoph Pregardien on Schubert and Die Schone Mullerin
Bonus feature:
- Christoph Pregardien on Schubert and Die Schone Mullerin
In summer 2006, the incomparable Martha Argerich presented an all-Schumann programme in honour of the great Romantic composer's anniversary year. Recorded live at the beginning of June 2006 at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, the programme comprised favourite works for piano and orchestra including the Piano Concerto in A minor, the Symphony No. 4, excerpts from Kinderszenen, and works by Schumann in orchestrations by famous composers such as Tchaikovsky and Ravel. The legendary Argentinean pianist was accompanied by the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig under its new "Kapellmeister" Riccardo Chailly. Martha Argerich has long been hailed as a uniquely imaginative pianist, and she is definitely the right person to honor Schumann on the 150th anniversary of his death, as she is especially well-known for her interpretations of the 19th-century repertoire. She has been surrounded by an impermeable, almost mystical aura since the start of her career in the fifties ?EUR" she is uncompromising in her music making, and yet she is generous and beautiful ?EUR" and this recording bears witness to the deep musicality of this incredible artist.
For its 14th edition, the Verbier Festival has once again brought together the most prestigious artists in classical music. This series of 12 TV programmes presents the highlights of Verbier 2007.
Salvatore Sciarrino stands at the forefront of Italy's musical avant-garde. His chamber opera Luci mie traditrici was inspired by the murders by the Renaissance nobleman and composer Carlo Gesualdo of his wife and her lover. This production of the opera was first performed at the Cantiere Internazionale d'Arte di Montepulciano in July 2010. It has been recognised as the finest production of this work presented to date. The composer himself has stated that it is the reference point for the opera's performance.
This documentary on the unconventional life and ground-breaking music of the Russian pianist and composer Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) sheds light on the mystical ideas which inspired him. He became consumed by a vision of a union of the arts, a coalescence of music, words, movement, light, colour and ideas, to create transcendent experiences. Contributors to his fascinating exploration of the composer's life and work are musicians Vladimir Ashkenazy and Vladimir Horowitz; conductor Mikhail Pletnev; and Scriabin's daughter, Marina.
The programme draws on Scriabin's writings, archive photographs and documentation, and footage shot in Switzerland, Italy and Moscow. Among a wealth of musical extracts, Scriabin himself is heard playing his Poem Op.32 No. 1 , recorded in 1908 on a Welte Mignon player-piano.
The programme draws on Scriabin's writings, archive photographs and documentation, and footage shot in Switzerland, Italy and Moscow. Among a wealth of musical extracts, Scriabin himself is heard playing his Poem Op.32 No. 1 , recorded in 1908 on a Welte Mignon player-piano.
Shadows in Paradise portrays the vibrant atmosphere of the Los Angeles German-speaking exile community during the 1930s and 1940s, revealing their struggles, frustrations and achievements. By 1939 tens of thousands of intellectuals and radicals were exiled from Europe; eighty percent of them were Jewish. The many emigres who settled in southern California, such as Arnold Schoenberg, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Ernst Krenek, Thomas Mann, Bertolt Brecht and Fritz Lang, briefly transformed the area into one of the capitals of world culture, and profoundly altered the horizons of American music, literature and the arts.
St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre has staged the opera Dead Souls to the music by Rodion Shchedrin , who turns 80 in 2012. One of the indisputable operatic masterpieces of the 20th century will appear in the brand new, bright, expressive staged version, more than 30 years later, again at the Mariinsky Theatre. The premiere of the production took place on March 18. It is the first Russian production since its 1977 premiere at the Bolshoi Theatre.
The 2018/2019 concert season is Michael Sanderling's eighth as Principal Conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic. His name is associated with a great musical and technical ambition, concentrated rehearsal work, and concert events of unforgettable intensity. The focus on Dmitri Shostakovich continues, both in concert and the recording project of the Shostakovich symphonies.
The new concert hall is the heart of the rebuilt Kulturpalast right in the city centre. Similar to the Philharmonie in Berlin and the Gewandhaus in Leipzig it was built in the so called Weinberg style which guarantees clear acoustics. The concert hall with its 1760 seats and mid-oriented stage offers the Dresdner Philharmonie optimum spatial and tonal conditions, for the first time in its 150 years old history.
The new concert hall is the heart of the rebuilt Kulturpalast right in the city centre. Similar to the Philharmonie in Berlin and the Gewandhaus in Leipzig it was built in the so called Weinberg style which guarantees clear acoustics. The concert hall with its 1760 seats and mid-oriented stage offers the Dresdner Philharmonie optimum spatial and tonal conditions, for the first time in its 150 years old history.
Mariss Jansons returns to direct the Berliner Philharmoniker, rekindling their long-standing relationship that began in 1976. Tokyo's Suntory Hall is alive to a programme of particular musical energy - sometimes overt and joyous, sometimes suppressed and intense. Jansons' fidelity to music composed during the Soviet era remains heartfelt: Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1, featuring soloist Hilary Hahn, is rendered with poise, elegance and demoniac vigour. This piece is framed by two sprightly works: Weber's charming, zesty Overture to Oberon and Dvorak's Eighth Symphony, executed with Bohemian-esque lyricism and verve.
The Simon Bolivar Big Band was created in 2010 by the Venezuelan drummer Andres Briceno and Valdemar Rodriguez, professor at the Simon Bolivar Conservatory of Music in Venezuela. The band was set up with the aim to promote Jazz music throughout Venezuela. Among the 40 musicians that constitute the Simon Bolivar Big Band, a group of 26 musicians performed at the Dizzy Club and in the Carnegie Hall of New York. They received standing ovations in New York and journalists and the public alike were both delighted to discover a new chapter in the book of the Venezuelan Systema .
Celebrating democracy, freedom and non-violence, the Czech Philharmonic's concert to mark the Velvet Revolution will for the first time be presented in 2020. Taking place every year on 17 November - both the day the then Czechoslovak riot police brutally supressed a peaceful student demonstration in Prague and International Students' Day - the initiative also pays tribute to the Czech Philharmonic's support of the general strike of 1989.
This unusual Christmas video presents the musical encounter between soprano Angelika Kirchschlager and jazz trumpeter Tomasz Stanko. Recorded live in the picturesque Cistercian Gothic monastery Schulpforte in Saxony-Anhalt, the concert footage is combined with charming motifs of snowy mountain landscapes and cities decorated for Christmas. Favourite Christmas compositions from the classical repertoire are combined with popular carols and jazzy improvisations ?EUR" and it all sounds like Christmas! Angelika Kirchschlager currently ranks among the most sought-after sopranos worldwide for both opera and concert-hall performance and Tomasz Stanko enjoys a reputation as one of the most creative jazz trumpeters alive. The soloists are accompanied by the outstanding Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. The Leipzig a cappella ensemble Amarcord, former members of St. Thomas's Boys Choir, sing popular Christmas tunes.
Recorded live in the Museum Quarter in Vienna in January 2006, this concert was inspired by the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose 250th birthday made this year a celebratory Mozart Anniversary all over the world. With artists like singer Dee Dee Bridgewater, rock flutist Ian Anderson (formerly of Jethro Tull), the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductor Andrey Boreyko, this musical event proved to be a true crossover experience. All outstanding musical personalities in their field, the performers interpret Mozart's compositions in their personal musical languages whilst preserving the fascinating original spirit of Mozart. They produce a rousing, electrifying melange of classical, jazz and pop culture that shows that the impact of Mozart's music reaches far beyond the boundaries of classical music and can still reach the broad public of the 21st century. This is a must for crossover enthusiasts in the Mozart Year!
Spirits of Music is an unusual musical journey through centuries and cultures, featuring multiple Grammy Award winner Bobby McFerrin , violin virtuoso Nigel Kennedy , soprano Sibylla Rubens and the Gewandhaus Orchestra with music from Bach to Mozart and Verdi . Magnificent examples of religious music come from artists as Kroke the Kuumba Singers, Mari Boine, Bulgarian Voices Angelite and the Ensemble Al-Kindi one of the best formations devoted to classical Arab music. This extraordinary musical journey, which took place on one evening at the Leipzig Market Square is completed by the Cuban a capella group Vocal Sampling, consisting of musicians from Havana's National Superior Institute of arts, who are celebrating their very own interpretation of Afro-Cuban music.
For this production, Christian Spuck was inspired by Claudio Monteverdi's last opera, L'incoronazione di Poppea . The story of the manager of the Emperor Nero and Poppea Sabina still brings a chill to audiences today, portraying as it does the cruel lust for power and passion at the court of the Roman ruler. In the end, all succumb to the elemental force of a totally amoral idea of love, and the boundaries between reality and fiction become blurred. What began as a game becomes deadly serious when the explosive mix of emotions reveals its fateful consequences.
Christian Spuck has created a compelling piece of experimental choreography from this remarkable opera plot, producing a ballet which incorporates film and spoken elements.
Christian Spuck has created a compelling piece of experimental choreography from this remarkable opera plot, producing a ballet which incorporates film and spoken elements.
Behind the scenes of the premier of The Helicopter String Quartet he dreamt of it and he did it.
Karlheinz Stockhausen is the composer of the superlative: in everything, he is "the most" (crazy, prolific, demanding, committed, innovative, radical, extravagant, etc.). Born near Cologne in 1928, he left a world that had become too small for him on December 5th, 2007. Before doing so he left three hundred and sixty works which experiment with all genres: serialism, electronics, pointillism, quotations, the collage and the aleotary. He will be remembered as a master of electro-acoustic music and of the spatialisation of sound, as revealed in this documentary dedicated to the world premiere, on June 26th, 1995 at the Holland Festival, of his Helicopter String Quartet.
This is not a joke. Karlheinz Stockhausen dreamt of it and he did it. He wrote a score for a string quartet whose musicians (in this instance the Arditti Quartet) would each play in a helicopter, while their music would be mixed on the ground by Stockhausen and broadcasted in the concert hall. The helicopter rotors are naturally present.
Frank Scheffer enables us to take part in the preparation of this "borderline" experiment: a huge amount of work rehearsing with the participation of the Dutch Navy, who...
Karlheinz Stockhausen is the composer of the superlative: in everything, he is "the most" (crazy, prolific, demanding, committed, innovative, radical, extravagant, etc.). Born near Cologne in 1928, he left a world that had become too small for him on December 5th, 2007. Before doing so he left three hundred and sixty works which experiment with all genres: serialism, electronics, pointillism, quotations, the collage and the aleotary. He will be remembered as a master of electro-acoustic music and of the spatialisation of sound, as revealed in this documentary dedicated to the world premiere, on June 26th, 1995 at the Holland Festival, of his Helicopter String Quartet.
This is not a joke. Karlheinz Stockhausen dreamt of it and he did it. He wrote a score for a string quartet whose musicians (in this instance the Arditti Quartet) would each play in a helicopter, while their music would be mixed on the ground by Stockhausen and broadcasted in the concert hall. The helicopter rotors are naturally present.
Frank Scheffer enables us to take part in the preparation of this "borderline" experiment: a huge amount of work rehearsing with the participation of the Dutch Navy, who...
This entertaining video comprises the enjoyable dance performance A Night in Vienna, a one-hour celebration of the music of the Johann Strausses ?EUR" father and son. This recording recreates the beauty and atmosphere of the ballroom performances of 19th-century Vienna, charting the rise of the waltz craze. In the wonderful setting of the Hofburg in Vienna, the former residence of the Habsburg rulers, the period instrument orchestra Wiener Akademie plays favourites by the Strauss family and Joseph Lanner, and dance performances in historical costumes recreate the atmosphere of the first half of the 19th century.
The Semperoper caused a sensation in November 2007 when it visited Japan for the first time in twenty-six years. The demand for tickets and the audience's enthusiasm were unprecedented, not least because the company was staging a piece that is performed more authentically in Dresden than anywhere else in the world: Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, which received its first performance in Dresden in 1911. Leading the ensemble was the radiant-voiced and profoundly thoughtful Marschallin of Anne Schwanenwilms, a singer described by The Independent as "one of the greatest singers on the operatic stage today."
Master Class with Hermann Prey recorded at the Richard-Strauss-Tage Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1997. Exclusively covered were Lieder by Richard Strauss . Piano accompaniment by Fritz Schwinghammer.
Martha Argerich and Lahav Shani meet the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in Tel Aviv.
Piano legend Martha Argerich lends her ample virtuosity to Ravel's concerto in G , and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Lahav Shani performs Stravinsky's masterpiece! An enthralling programme of German Romanticism from the IPO's homebase, the Lowy Concert Hall in Tel Aviv's Charles Bronfman Auditorium.
Piano legend Martha Argerich lends her ample virtuosity to Ravel's concerto in G , and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Lahav Shani performs Stravinsky's masterpiece! An enthralling programme of German Romanticism from the IPO's homebase, the Lowy Concert Hall in Tel Aviv's Charles Bronfman Auditorium.
Persephone has only one singer, the priest Eumolpus, who functions largely as a narrator. The orchestral writing is melodious, with a solo woodwind or brass instrument often presenting an arresting, even jaunty theme over a simple rhythmic accompaniment.
STRAVINSKY, I.: Rite of Spring (The) [Ballet] (Choreographed by Bejart) (La Monnaie - De Munt, 1971)
If the Bejartian style does not always look as boldly modern as it did decades ago, it's only because Bejart's influence on ballet was so great that his revolutionary ideas were taken up as part the standard ballet vocabulary.
Premiered in 1959, Bejart's staging of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring still feels, in many ways, a breath of fresh air as invigorating as the season it celebrates. "It must be simple and strong," he often insisted, and indeed, the stark simplicity still dazzles: quick leaps, extended arabesques, bodies that slouch and release as if spring-loaded, dancers clashing in frenzied, up-close confrontation. The mass of moving bodies, arranged in shifting geometric patterns, captivates the eye like a kaleidoscope.
Bejart's Ballet of the 20th Century restaged the legendary 1959 production ten years later at the Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels, giving modern viewers the chance to experience the choreographer's singular vision.
Premiered in 1959, Bejart's staging of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring still feels, in many ways, a breath of fresh air as invigorating as the season it celebrates. "It must be simple and strong," he often insisted, and indeed, the stark simplicity still dazzles: quick leaps, extended arabesques, bodies that slouch and release as if spring-loaded, dancers clashing in frenzied, up-close confrontation. The mass of moving bodies, arranged in shifting geometric patterns, captivates the eye like a kaleidoscope.
Bejart's Ballet of the 20th Century restaged the legendary 1959 production ten years later at the Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels, giving modern viewers the chance to experience the choreographer's singular vision.
Uwe Scholz, former ballet director in Leipzig, was hailed as one of the most brilliant choreographic minds of his generation and he was certainly one of the most important German choreographers when he died in November 2004 at the early age of 45. The fragile-looking man, who had enjoyed a full dance and musical education from childhood, took up his first position as a choreographer with Marcia Hayde in Stuttgart when he was 22. He saw himself as a mixture between his teacher John Cranko and the influential George Balanchine, and the well over one hundred magically beautiful and extraordinarily musical choreographies that he created for houses such as the Opera in Vienna, La Scala, Zurich and Leipzig owe much to neoclassicism. This recording focuses on the two interpretations of Le Sacre du Printemps that he created for "his" Leipzig Ballet, the company that he led to international fame from 1991 to his untimely death. The evening opens with a legendary solo interpretation, danced by Giovanni di Palma to Stravinsky's own adaptation for two pianos of his impressive The Rite of Spring . Often seen as Scholz's autobiographical legacy, this choreography shows a dancer's loneliness and despair in heartbreaking images. An emotive ensemble interpretation to the original...
Twenty-nine of the world's best young pianists converged in Fort Worth, Texas in May 2009 for a once in a lifetime chance at gold in the Thirteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Emmy-winning director Peter Rosen follows these distinctive personalities during a three-week contest - through intense rehearsals, introspective moments, preconcert rituals, and endearing celebrations. Hailing from 14 countries, competitors were welcomed with Texas-sized hospitality by their host families and immersed in a city best characterized by "Cowboys and Culture." With the performances of Chopin, Liszt, Beethoven, Rachmaninov and other piano masterpieces setting the impassioned tone, the result is an intrinsic view into the world's most prestigious piano competition and a heartwarming story that proves to be a momentous Surprise in Texas.
Bach meets Jazz! International musicians from the world of jazz and classical music assembled in the marketplace in Leipzig to celebrate the great master. The line up of performers could hardly be surpassed - it includes world-famous musicians from both genres, including Bobby McFerrin, the Jacques Loussier Trio, the King's Singers, Gil Shaham, the Turtle Island String Quartet and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, all of whom joined forces on this memorable day ?EUR" exactly 250 years after the death of Johann Sebastian Bach in the city where he lived and composed some of his major works as St. Thomas Cantor. Bach's music is presented in the two-hour recording as extravagant arrangements of the composer's hits, and the concert took place under the motto that the music of Bach "is still vital, is still contemporary, and is still very much universal." It proves its point resoundingly in one of the most enjoyable crossover programmes ever recorded.
This debut concert performance with the Berliner Philharmoniker by the Japanese conductor Yutaka Sado was hailed in the press as a triumph. The musicians decided to raise funds for the relief efforts following the cataclysmic earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in March 2011. The program consists of From me flows what you call time, a perfect blend of East and West, by Japan's most enduring composer Toru Takemitsu; and Dmitry Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony, which so successfully blends the demands of the Soviet authorities with the oppressed public's need for an emotional outlet.
This documentary brings the Russian composer to the present - radically: Based on Tchaikovsky's diaries and letters, director Ralf Pleger discovers an entirely new side and sketches an entirely different profile of the man whose mind and talent brought us Swan Lake .
The film focuses on what it meant for Tchaikovsky, a homosexual man, to have to live his life in a homophobic environment - considerations that are all the more relevant and topical in light of recent developments not only in present day Russia, but also in the light of a still present homophobia in the so-called "liberal" Western countries.
The film focuses on what it meant for Tchaikovsky, a homosexual man, to have to live his life in a homophobic environment - considerations that are all the more relevant and topical in light of recent developments not only in present day Russia, but also in the light of a still present homophobia in the so-called "liberal" Western countries.
Iolanta , Tchaikovsky's final opera, in Peter Sellars' 2012 production at the Teatro Real in Madrid. Premiered in 1892, it is a one-act work based on the Danish play Kong Renes Datter (King Rene's Daughter) by Henrik Hertz, a romanticized account of the life of Yolande de Bar. It contains all aspects of the composer's mastery: beautiful melodies, clear structure and genuine passion. Sellars paints this production as a spiritual quest in search of light.
Iolanta is a young princess, who doesn't know that she is blind. Her father, the king, has forbidden his people from telling her the truth. A young knight, Count Vaudemont, stumbles upon the princess's hidden castle and falls hopelessly in love with her. As he declares his love, he realizes she is blind. Vaudemont begins passionately explaining to Iolanta what light and color are when they are discovered by the King. Aware that the princess is now aware of her blindness and that she has no intention of curing it, King Ren? gives Iolanta an ultimatum: if she does not accept to be treated for her blindness, he will execute the young knight. Horrified by her father's words, Iolanta agrees in order to save her beloved. Once cured, she confirms with her own eyes that her beloved Vaudemont has been spared. Rejoicing, Iolanta...
Iolanta is a young princess, who doesn't know that she is blind. Her father, the king, has forbidden his people from telling her the truth. A young knight, Count Vaudemont, stumbles upon the princess's hidden castle and falls hopelessly in love with her. As he declares his love, he realizes she is blind. Vaudemont begins passionately explaining to Iolanta what light and color are when they are discovered by the King. Aware that the princess is now aware of her blindness and that she has no intention of curing it, King Ren? gives Iolanta an ultimatum: if she does not accept to be treated for her blindness, he will execute the young knight. Horrified by her father's words, Iolanta agrees in order to save her beloved. Once cured, she confirms with her own eyes that her beloved Vaudemont has been spared. Rejoicing, Iolanta...
For the first time in ten years, Martha Argerich performed Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 . Argerich has been dominating the piano scene since the 1960s thanks to a wide and varied repertoire, never conformist. Her phenomenal technique and great sensitivity have allowed her to stamp her mark on the most demanding works of the repertoire. She is very familiar with the Verbier Festival, and she opened the 2014 edition with the famous Concerto for piano No. 1 by Tchaikovsky, with conductor Charles Dutoit, musical director of the Verbier Festival Orchestra. This milestone performance also presented Brahms's first symphony ( Beethoven's Tenth , according to Hans von Bulow).
The blind up-and-coming Japanese pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii , an astonishing genius on his instrument, is playing for the first time ever under the Russian conductor Valery Gergiev at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg. During the White Nights Festival ?EUR" dedicated to the season of midnight sun ?EUR" he interprets works by the Russian composers Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Shostakovich , including Tchaikovsky's famous Piano Concerto No. 1 and Shostakovich's gloomy Symphony No. 14 . As a bonus Nobuyuki Tsujii performs his own elegy for the victims of the tsunami in 2011, a stirring and moving piece dedicated to his home country Japan. Nobuyuki Tsujii piano, Olga Sergeyeva soprano, Yuri Vorobiev bass, Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Valery Gergiev conductor. Live recording from the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, 8 July 2012.
A documentary revealing the powers of music to provide hope to people in difficult circumstances, redemption and hope are its theme. The film depicts the life journey of the blind pianist Noboyuki Tsujii and his extraordinary ability to communicate and connect with audiences all over the world.
Daniil Trifonov is 23 years old. Among several prizes he has won both the Tchaikovsky and Rubinstein competitions but is respected by many leading musicians for something much more than the prizes. His is not just another remarkable piano talent, Trifonov is a supergifted musician for whom composing, improvising and performing flow seamlessly into each other in a way that is very, very rare. He has taken his own 17-minute piano sonata on tour and gave the first performance of his first piano Concerto in Cleveland, Ohio, in April of 2014.
This piano recital given by the 21 year old virtuoso Daniil Trifonov gathers three pieces written during or in a souvenir of a love story. Scriabin dedicated his Sonata Fantasy No. 2 to his first love, Natalya Sekerina. Lizst wrote his unique sonata the Sonata in B minor - while he was sharing his life in Weimar with the Polish-Russian princess Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein. Eventually, the 24 Preludes by Chopin were composed during his vacation in Mallorca with George Sand and her children. To conclude this original recital recorded at the Verbier Festival in July 2013, the young Russian rising star of the piano performs one of his own compositions, Rachmaniana .
A Christopher Nupen film with Daniil Trifonov - pianist, composer, Russian and a magician at the keyboard. The astonishing musical gifts of Daniil Trifonov have to be seen and heard to be believed. How many have won both the Rubinstein and Tchaikovsky competitions in the same year - at the age of 20 - and then played a hundred and ten concerts in the following 12 months? Knowledgeable critics and leading musicians are saying that the world has not seen his like in more than fifty years.
Trifonov is immensely appealing. In addition to his astonishing musical gifts - as both pianist and composer - he is modest and unassuming, highly intelligent, generously co-operative and a pleasure to work with. An ideal subject for an intimate portrait film at the start of his career - a genre which employed with such happy results several times in the past with artists who were soon to become world famous. The films contributed a great deal to that.
The cameras are all close to Trifonov on the stage - even in the live concert performances - which involves the viewer and adds a dramatic quality that is seldom achieved in television relays. The films include five minutes shot at the Cleveland Institute in Ohio, during the first performance of Trifonov's recently composed first piano...
Trifonov is immensely appealing. In addition to his astonishing musical gifts - as both pianist and composer - he is modest and unassuming, highly intelligent, generously co-operative and a pleasure to work with. An ideal subject for an intimate portrait film at the start of his career - a genre which employed with such happy results several times in the past with artists who were soon to become world famous. The films contributed a great deal to that.
The cameras are all close to Trifonov on the stage - even in the live concert performances - which involves the viewer and adds a dramatic quality that is seldom achieved in television relays. The films include five minutes shot at the Cleveland Institute in Ohio, during the first performance of Trifonov's recently composed first piano...
When Nobuyuki Tsujii, the co-winner of the gold medal of the 2009 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, appeared on the stage for his Carnegie Hall debut, his dream had come true. The most important event in the career of any performer, for "Nobu" it was a miracle. Blind from birth, his handicap, if a drawback at all, never affected his ability to play the piano. This performance is an inspiration to all people who face disabilities, hurdles, or obstacles in life. Interviewed after Nobuyuki Tsujii's recital, Van Cliburn observed: "What a thrill to hear this brilliant, very gifted, fabulous pianist. You feel God's presence in the room when he plays. His soul is so pure, his music is so wonderful and it goes to infinity, to the highest heaven."
Almost seventy years of creative activity lay between Verdi's first compositions for Busseto and his corrections of the Falstaff score in 1893. During this period, the style of his public image and his role composer underwent a sea change. From a craftsman who produced melodramatic operas on the assembly line for some local theatre operation, he became an artistic genius whose complex works ranked as world wide theatrical events. At the end of his life, Verdi was the largest property owner in the province, and one the richest men in Italy.
With Va pensiero, sull'ali dorate (Fly, thought, on golden wings) , the prisoners' chorus from Nabucco, Verdi had entered the hearts of his compatriots, and in those hearts he has remained.
The film by Felix Breisach follows Verdi's life to the places of origin most important for him. Hosted by Thomas Hampson, the eloquent and world famous baritone also song four of some of Verdi's famous arias.
With Va pensiero, sull'ali dorate (Fly, thought, on golden wings) , the prisoners' chorus from Nabucco, Verdi had entered the hearts of his compatriots, and in those hearts he has remained.
The film by Felix Breisach follows Verdi's life to the places of origin most important for him. Hosted by Thomas Hampson, the eloquent and world famous baritone also song four of some of Verdi's famous arias.
EuroArts presents a veritable fireworks display of ambitious pieces for brass orchestra recently performed by a colourful and fascinating young ensemble in Berlin's prestigious Konzerthaus at the Gendarmenmarkt in the heart of the city. The Venezuelan Brass Ensemble is a highly-acclaimed group with nearly 50 young brass and percussion players drawn from the extraordinary Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela. The South American country has one of the most admired and amazingly effective music school systems in the world. Almost all children from the age of 2 get free music lessons in their neighbourhood. They learn to play in ensembles as soon as they can master their instruments. This so-called "sistema" enables most of the poor children in Venezuela to have a focus in life apart from being clothed and fed - thus fighting poverty-related problems at the roots. The results are astonishing, the ensemble playing is near perfect and the "sistema" has brought forth internationally successful musicians like the conductor Gustavo Dudamel. The repertoire of the Venezuelan Brass Ensemble is impressively varied and testifies to the high standard of this young ensemble. With their blend of classical and South American repertoire, these 50 youngsters not only bring audiences to...
The greatest artists of the classical music scene gather to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Verbier Festival. Be them regulars of the Verbier Festival or young artists coming there for the second time, they all share their extraordinary talents with and offer to the audience an memorable musical moment in the company of Schubert, Brahms, Schumann, Chopin, Prokofiev ... A guest of honor, Thomas Quasthoff presents this joyful tribute to what has indeed become one of the most prestigious events on the classical music planet.
The Verbier Festival, created in 1994, has rapidly acquired a reputation for artistic excellence and is now considered one of the major European music festivals. For a fortnight each summer, the greatest stars of the classical music world come together against the magical backdrop of the Swiss Alps. The Verbier Festival gives musicians the opportunity to perform original programmes with fellow musicians they admire, but with whom they may never have performed before. These world premiere performances produce innovative and exciting results, for artists and audiences. The 2007 edition gathered classical celebrities such as Martha Argerich, Helene Grimaud, Gabriela Montero, Renaud Capucon, Nelson Freire, Mischa Maisky, Thomas Quasthoff and Lars Vogt, and for the first time all 46 concerts were recorded. The state-of-art recordings featured two cameras on stage that were remote-controlled so as to not disturb the audiences and artists and one camera in the midst of the audience to recreate the viewer's perspective. This video assembles excerpts of the most remarkable concerts with exciting programmes including works by Bartok, Debussy, Lutoslawski, Schubert and Schumann. Lovers of classical music will very much enjoy this summit of high-profile artists!
The Verbier Festival has become one of the most prestigious classical music events, thanks to outstanding programming and its location in the gorgeous Swiss Alps. The 15th edition of the festival took place from 18 July to 3 August 2008, and a majority of the concerts presented in the Salle Medran (2000 seats) and the Verbier Church (500 seats) were filmed. Some of the best performers in the world of classical music came together there, including Martha Argerich, Nikolai Lugansky, rising star Yuja Wang, violinists Joshua Bell and Julian Rachlin, and cellist Mischa Maisky; this "best of" video offers the most amazing performances at the festival.
The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra's New Year's Eve Concert in 2000 set the mood for the centenary of Giuseppe Verdi's (1813-1901) death with a selection of the composer's most popular tunes. The orchestra presented excerpts from Rigoletto , La Traviata , Un ballo in maschera and Falstaff . The programme also included the ball scene from act III of Don Carlo ?EUR" a scene that is seldom staged. With singers Andrea Rost, Ramon Vargas, Alan Titus and Lucio Gallo, a cast of internationally celebrated Verdi singers gathered for this Gala Evening led by maestro Claudio Abbado. The outstanding Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and the virtuoso Prague Radio Choir provided music of the highest order on this very special evening.
This exciting open-air staging of Aida was one of the classical highlights in summer 2004. The vast production of the Verdi masterpiece at St. Margarethen took place amidst the intoxicating scenery of a rustically romantic Roman quarry, which provided a unique backdrop for this live recording. The Opera Festival St. Margarethen in Austria counts as one of Europe's most important open-air festivals and nearly 150,000 opera lovers from all over the world visit it annually. The story of the forbidden love between the Egyptian leader Radames and the beautiful Ethiopian princess Aida was originally commissioned for the opening of the Cairo opera house, which formed part of the celebrations surrounding the opening of the Suez Canal in 1871. This is an opera of epic proportions and the staging presented on this video truly conforms to this spirit: horses, elephants, pyrotechnical special effects and more than 400 participants take to the stage. The magnificent event, with its towering musical performances is captured by the famous music video duo of directors Dolezal/Rossacher.
Filmed live at the Leipzig Opera in November 2005, this recording of Verdi's famous Un Ballo in Maschera , brings a lively musical evening. Riccardo Chailly, who made a critically acclaimed start in his position as General Music Director of the Leipzig Opera with this staging, directs the Gewandhausorchestra and a cast of experienced Verdi singers in a collaboration between the Zurich and Leipzig Operas. Un ballo in maschera - a story of love, power and political murder in 19th century United States of America - is as exciting as a thriller, but with a passion that can only be experienced in a Verdi opera. The Italian film director Ermanno Olmi ( The Legend of the Holy Drinker, The Tree of Wooden Clogs ) staged it accordingly. The amazing visual effects in this production were created by the sculptor Arnaldo Pomodore who designed the fantastic colourful set and costumes.
This exciting open-air staging of Nabucco was one of the classical highlights in summer 2007. The vast production of the Verdi masterpiece at St. Margarethen took place amidst the intoxicating scenery of a rustically romantic Roman quarry, which provided a unique backdrop for this live recording. The Opera Festival St. Margarethen in Austria counts as one of Europe's most important open-air festivals and nearly 220,000 opera lovers from all over the world visit it annually. Nabucco tells the story of Nebuchadnezzar, ancient King of Babylon, who went mad after proclaiming himself God. It is one of the most popular works in the history of opera and was Giuseppe Verdi's (1813?EUR"1901) break-through in 1842. It features the most famous of all opera choruses, "Va, pensiero...", which is a tune known to more than just opera lovers. This is an opera of epic proportions and the staging presented on this video truly conforms to this spirit: horses, pyrotechnical special effects and more than 400 participants take to the stage.
A fascinating production of La Traviata formed this year's opera highlight at one of Europe's most important open-air festivals: the Opera Festival St. Margarethen. The dazzling production, set in a rustically romantic Roman quarry, already boasts 100,000 visitors this season. Recorded live in July 2008, this video captures the beauty of the open-air production. Stage designer Manfred Waba sets the tragic story about the demi-mondaine Violetta Valry and her admirer Alfredo Germont in an evocative replica of the Parisian Opra Garnier. His and Robert Herzl's unique interpretation is intelligent and effective. In the lead roles, Austria's promising opera talent Kristiane Kaiser and Jean-Franois Borras, a young French tenor, provide for a musically and visually attractive viewing.
This recording captures the Vienna Boys' Choir's fitting celebration of Mozart's 250th birthday in January 2006. Together with well known Mozart interpreters like Sandrine Piau, they sing Mozart's finest sacred works, including the Coronation Mass. The Choir is one of the best-known musical institutions in Vienna. Since its founding over 500 years ago, it has been a significant fixture in musical life worldwide. Many famous composers and musicians had close ties to the Vienna Boys' Choir - Joseph Haydn and Franz Schubert were even members of the choir as children and Mozart, while not a choirboy himself, did perform with the choir. The venue is St. Stephen's Cathedral, where Mozart and his wife were married, where one of their sons was christened and where the funeral ceremony after Mozart's death took place.
Bonus features:
- Mozart in Vienna - Mozart's most critical years in Vienna. Examining the authentic Mozart sites in Vienna such as the Mozart House at Domgasse 5 (Figaro-Haus), the Theater an der Wien and the Stephansdom helps put into focus Mozart's special connection to the city and the Viennese relationship to Mozart.
Bonus features:
- Mozart in Vienna - Mozart's most critical years in Vienna. Examining the authentic Mozart sites in Vienna such as the Mozart House at Domgasse 5 (Figaro-Haus), the Theater an der Wien and the Stephansdom helps put into focus Mozart's special connection to the city and the Viennese relationship to Mozart.
For its 14th edition, the Verbier Festival has once again brought together the most prestigious artists in classical music. This series of 12 TV programmes presents the highlights of Verbier 2007.
The 22nd edition of the Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad hosted the great Portuguese pianist Maria Joao Pires and French violin virtuoso Renaud Capucon.
They performed a programme celebrating the sonata, keystone of the Classical era, beginning with Mozart's poignant Violin Sonata No. 21 written in 1778 while the composer was in Paris grieving the death of his mother, this moving sonata is Mozart's only instrumental work in the plaintive key of E Minor. Next up is another of Mozart's violin sonatas, composed three years later: Violin Sonata No. 27 , written in the lighter tonality of G Major but suffused nonetheless with an air of contemplative solemnity, one of the Salzburg-born genius's finest works.
The two virtuosos bring their program to a close with the Spring, Violin Sonata No. 5 in F Major by Beethoven , a thoroughly enchanting early work (1801) whose dazzling clarity endears first-time listeners as easily as those who already know and love it.
They performed a programme celebrating the sonata, keystone of the Classical era, beginning with Mozart's poignant Violin Sonata No. 21 written in 1778 while the composer was in Paris grieving the death of his mother, this moving sonata is Mozart's only instrumental work in the plaintive key of E Minor. Next up is another of Mozart's violin sonatas, composed three years later: Violin Sonata No. 27 , written in the lighter tonality of G Major but suffused nonetheless with an air of contemplative solemnity, one of the Salzburg-born genius's finest works.
The two virtuosos bring their program to a close with the Spring, Violin Sonata No. 5 in F Major by Beethoven , a thoroughly enchanting early work (1801) whose dazzling clarity endears first-time listeners as easily as those who already know and love it.
Virtuosity searches for the musical souls of the most gifted young pianists on the planet as they try to make a name for themselves of the 2013 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. The pressure on these kids is overwhelming because the stakes are so high: prize money, concert bookings, a recording contract, a career.
At the heart of this story is the courage is takes for 20-year-old to go onstage alone before 2,000 people, and hundreds of thousands more online, and play a unique interpretation of one of the most difficult pieces ever written for the piano. The Competition requires not only a transcendent musical ability, but a mental toughness that must sustain the soloist through three straight weeks of performance. The Cliburn becomes as much a test of character as a musical proving ground.
At the heart of this story is the courage is takes for 20-year-old to go onstage alone before 2,000 people, and hundreds of thousands more online, and play a unique interpretation of one of the most difficult pieces ever written for the piano. The Competition requires not only a transcendent musical ability, but a mental toughness that must sustain the soloist through three straight weeks of performance. The Cliburn becomes as much a test of character as a musical proving ground.
This ballet, choreographed by James Kudelka, and set to Vivaldi's celebrated score, describes the four seasons in a man's life - from the exuberance of youth in Spring to the resignation and compassion of old age in Winter .
Stranded in Switzerland due to the events of the First World War and the October Revolution in Russia, Stravinsky was introduced to the Swiss novelist Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz in 1915 by their mutual friend and conductor Ernest Ansermet. This encounter would ultimately lead to a creative partnership that brought forth one of the most important works of the 20th century: L'Histoire du Soldat (The Soldier's Tale) . Based on a Russian folk tale, L'Histoire du Soldat unites a Faustian fable with Stravinsky's colourful and sweeping composition that includes elements of jazz and Russian folk music.
At the 2018 Deauville Easter Festival in the Normandy region of France, Pierre Dumoussaud leads a group of highly accomplished instrumentalists, as well as actors Didier Sandre, Maxime Coggio, and Gabriel Acremant, in this Stravinsky masterpiece. The colorful program is rounded out by Mahler's sole String Quartet in A Minor , which he never completed-though you'll hear the finished first movement alongside a later completion by Russian composer Alfred Schnittke of Mahler's partially sketched second movement - and Alban Berg's expansive and evocative Seven Early Songs , superbly performed by prizewinning mezzo Adele Charvet.
At the 2018 Deauville Easter Festival in the Normandy region of France, Pierre Dumoussaud leads a group of highly accomplished instrumentalists, as well as actors Didier Sandre, Maxime Coggio, and Gabriel Acremant, in this Stravinsky masterpiece. The colorful program is rounded out by Mahler's sole String Quartet in A Minor , which he never completed-though you'll hear the finished first movement alongside a later completion by Russian composer Alfred Schnittke of Mahler's partially sketched second movement - and Alban Berg's expansive and evocative Seven Early Songs , superbly performed by prizewinning mezzo Adele Charvet.
The Tallis Scholars perform the Missa de Sancto Donatiano , which more than five centuries later still is an astonishing masterpiece. The ensemble continues to develop their exclusive sound, praised by reviewers for its supple clarity and tone, and to bring fresh interpretations to music by contemporary as well as past composers, such as Part, Tavener, Whitacre, Muhly and Jackson .
OMG! Van Eyck was here. Celebrating Jan van Eyck: Herreweghe and Collegium Vocale.
Commissioned by the City of Ghent and on the occasion of the Van Eyck Year, the Estonian composer Arvo Part wrote a new work with the world-famous altarpiece the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb as its starting point. Around this world creation, which was given the title Fur Jan van Eyck , Philippe Herreweghe and Collegium Vocale Gent present an exquisite programme of mass movements, motets and organ works by Claudio Monteverdi, Anton Bruckner and Olivier Messiaen .
Commissioned by the City of Ghent and on the occasion of the Van Eyck Year, the Estonian composer Arvo Part wrote a new work with the world-famous altarpiece the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb as its starting point. Around this world creation, which was given the title Fur Jan van Eyck , Philippe Herreweghe and Collegium Vocale Gent present an exquisite programme of mass movements, motets and organ works by Claudio Monteverdi, Anton Bruckner and Olivier Messiaen .
With his precision of articulating every word Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau set permanent standards. Als "best Singer of Lieder of the World" (Times) he filled of course every concert hall. After 45 years he terminated his concert activities and is since very busy as a conductor, reciter, author of books and teacher.
The film Meister-Singer produced at the Musik- und Singschule Heidelberg, is about the classical Kunstlied and composers such as Franz Schubert, Hugo Wolf, Johannes Brahms, Gustav Mahler or Johann Strauss . Four long days Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau taught eight singing students. He not only gave suggestions but even let resound every now and then his "Heldenbariton". Also the participants of master course describe their impressions of this worldwide re-known interpreter of Lieder.
The film Meister-Singer produced at the Musik- und Singschule Heidelberg, is about the classical Kunstlied and composers such as Franz Schubert, Hugo Wolf, Johannes Brahms, Gustav Mahler or Johann Strauss . Four long days Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau taught eight singing students. He not only gave suggestions but even let resound every now and then his "Heldenbariton". Also the participants of master course describe their impressions of this worldwide re-known interpreter of Lieder.
The Polish countertenor Jakub Jozef Orlinski is quickly gaining a reputation as a singer of striking vocal beauty and daring stage craft. He has been hailed by critics and audiences alike, prompting the New York Times to write: "Jakub Jozef Orlinski combined beauty of tone and an uncommon unity of color and polish across his range."
This concert recording reflects the greatly anticipated release of his debut album, Anima Sacra , a recital of 18th-century rediscovered sacred arias with the baroque ensemble Il Pomo d'oro.
This concert recording reflects the greatly anticipated release of his debut album, Anima Sacra , a recital of 18th-century rediscovered sacred arias with the baroque ensemble Il Pomo d'oro.
This recording of Gotterdammerung forms the fourth and final part of Wagner's masterpiece, his epic Ring Cycle. The Stuttgart Opera gave it revolutionary treatment in a staging by Peter Konwitschny, a celebrated interpreter of Wagner, whose opera stagings have always been regarded as trendsetters within the Wagner community. He chooses to ignore the wider myth-bound associations of the work and concentrates on the immediate motivations, emotions and obsessions of the characters. Gone are the gods awaiting nightfall in their imposing hall; the action instead is set on a simple wooden stage of a touring theatre company. The performances of Richard Wagner's Ring cycle in Stuttgart created a sensation unheard of since the monumental "century" Ring in Bayreuth in the late seventies. "Four operas ?EUR" four stage directors" was the artistic idea behind the 1999/2000 cycle under the musical direction of Lothar Zagrosek. Appreciating the individual operas of Der Ring des Nibelungen without having to relate to previous or subsequent storylines enabled the stage directors ?EUR" handpicked among the successful Stuttgart Opera team surrounding Artistic Director Klaus Zehelein ?EUR" to express their individual insights into the well-known drama of Siegfried and Wotan. In 2002 German...
Das Liebesverbot is one of Wagner's earliest operas - and yet, a central motive of many other works such as Tristan and Isolde is already clearly visible: The overpowering force of love and lust, that no law - manmade or otherwise - can tame.
In this co-production of the Teatro Real Madrid, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden of London and the Teatro Colon of Buenos Aires, we watch Isabella as she strives to free her brother from a cruel death penalty and the city of Palermo from the puritanical, joy-forsaking rule of a German bureaucrat.
In this co-production of the Teatro Real Madrid, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden of London and the Teatro Colon of Buenos Aires, we watch Isabella as she strives to free her brother from a cruel death penalty and the city of Palermo from the puritanical, joy-forsaking rule of a German bureaucrat.
Not since the so-called "100-Year Ring" (Bayreuth, 1976-1980) has a performance of Richard Wagner's monumental cycle created such a sensation as the Stuttgart productions. "Four operas ?EUR" four stage directors" was the artistic idea behind the 1999/2000 cycle. Appreciating the individual operas of Der Ring des Nibelungen without having to relate to previous or subsequent storylines enabled the stage directors ?EUR" handpicked by the successful Stuttgart Opera team surrounding Artistic Director Klaus Zehelein ?EUR" to express their individual insights into the well-known drama of Siegfried and Wotan. In 2002 German critics voted Stuttgart's Staatsoper "Opera House of the Year" for the fourth time in five years. This recording pays tribute to the artistic and musical achievement of the Stuttgart Opera House and a cast of wonderful singers. Recorded live at the Stuttgart Staatsoper in 2002, it was directed by Joachim Schlomer.
In this live recording of the third part of the tetralogy, Jon Fredric West's Siegfried is joined by Lisa Gasteen as Brunnhilde. Jossi Wieler's direction of the opera is set among designs by Anna Viebrock. The production is marked by the unprecedented power of suggestion in the gloomiest of all comedies; one which makes laughter die in the throat, and yet the only truly negative figure to emerge from the opera is the Wanderer, Wotan. The performances of Richard Wagner's Ring cycle in Stuttgart created a sensation unheard of since the monumental "century" Ring in Bayreuth in the late seventies. "Four operas - four stage directors" was the artistic idea behind the 1999/2000 cycle under the musical direction of Lothar Zagrosek. Appreciating the individual operas of "Der Ring des Nibelungen" without having to relate to previous or subsequent storylines enabled the stage directors handpicked among the successful Stuttgart Opera team surrounding Artistic Director Klaus Zehelein to express their individual insights into the well-known drama of Siegfried and Wotan. In 2002 German critics voted Stuttgart's Staatsoper "Opera House of the Year" for the fourth time in five years. This series was recorded live at revival performances in 2002 and 2003, and it pays tribute to the artistic...
The performances of Richard Wagner's Ring cycle in Stuttgart created a sensation unheard of since the monumental century Ring in Bayreuth in the late seventies. "Four operas ?EUR" four stage directors" was the artistic idea behind the 1999/2000 cycle under the musical direction of Lothar Zagrosek. Appreciating the individual operas of Der Ring des Nibelungen without having to relate to previous or subsequent storylines enabled the stage directors ?EUR" handpicked among the successful Stuttgart Opera team surrounding Artistic Director Klaus Zehelein ?EUR" to express their individual insights into the well-known drama of Siegfried and Wotan. In 2002 German critics voted Stuttgart's Staatsoper "Opera House of the Year" for the fourth time in five years. This series was recorded live at revival performances in 2002 and 2003, and it pays tribute to the artistic and musical achievement of the Stuttgart Opera House and a wonderful cast of singers. The production was directed by the "psychoanalyst" Christoph Nel, who chose to reveal Wagner's characters, their ambivalences and their conflicts, using contemporary settings, situations and gestures ?EUR" excellently supported by the some of the best Wagner singer-actors of our time, including Angela Denoke in her role debut as Sieglinde.
The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra's annual summer concert at the Waldbhne in Berlin is legendary. Recorded live on 25 June 2000, the Millenium concert gathered more than 22,000 people in one of the most appealing outdoor amphitheatres in Europe for one of the most popular classical music concerts in the world. Kent Nagano named his programme of popular and rather unusual music from the 20th century "Rhythm and Dance." It turned out to be an inspiring combination of classical pieces, show tunes, pops, and Far Eastern music, all brought together in a tasty musical stew and rightly labelled as one of the most exciting programmes ever performed at the Waldbhne. It featured Gershwin classics with an outstanding performance by the American mezzo soprano Susan Graham, music by Ravel and the soundtrack to the successful Chinese film "Farewell My Concubine." Nagano injected the performance with so much sensuality and pulsing life that the audience rose to beat time with their feet and to gave him standing ovations.
This release forms part of the celebrations for the 125th anniversary of the Berlin Philharmonic, capturing an evening of Spanish music and themes recorded live in 2001 in the unique atmosphere of the Philharmonic's annual open-air summer concert at the Waldbhne, Berlin, a major event in the city's social calendar.
World-famous tenor Placido Domingo conducts the Berlin Philharmonic in works which have always been particularly close to his heart. The concert features fabulous violinist Sarah Chang performing virtuosic showpieces such as Sarasate's Carmen Fantasy and Zigeunerweisen. The programme also includes a collection of delightful zarzuela arias sung by Ana Maria Martinez, winner of the Placido Domingo Vocal Competition in Barcelona.
World-famous tenor Placido Domingo conducts the Berlin Philharmonic in works which have always been particularly close to his heart. The concert features fabulous violinist Sarah Chang performing virtuosic showpieces such as Sarasate's Carmen Fantasy and Zigeunerweisen. The programme also includes a collection of delightful zarzuela arias sung by Ana Maria Martinez, winner of the Placido Domingo Vocal Competition in Barcelona.
As the cameras reveal the scale of this open-air event, held at Berlin's Waldbuhne in 2002, it is not only the music that is transmitted but the extraordinary atmosphere. This is a full programme of musical bon-bons ?EUR" pieces regularly given as encores: it?EUR(TM)s as if the joyous moment following a successful performance has blossomed into a whole evening. Vadim Repin is clearly happy to indulge, performing here with all the appropriate showmanship and artistry alongside the first-class Berliner Philharmoniker and Mariss Jansons. There is a palpable satisfaction from all involved, musicians and crowd alike.
Recorded at the annual summer concert of the Berlin Philharmonic at the Waldbuhne in Berlin 2003, this video captures the atmosphere of an open-air Gershwin night in full while also allowing a closer look at the musicians and the conductor. With an audience of over 20,000 one of the world's best orchestras played the popular music of George Gershwin, including the famous Rhapsody in Blue and the popular film music suite An American in Paris . Conducted by Seiji Ozawa ?EUR" one of the longstanding stars in the classical world - the Berlin Philharmonic was joined by jazz pianist Marcus Roberts and his Trio, whose album "Gershwin For Lovers" stayed in the Top 10 on Billboard's jazz chart for half a year. Together they created a magical fusion of classical music and jazz bringing an imaginative mix of styles into the swing of Gershwin's music. In the bonus film Seiji Ozawa and Marcus Roberts talk about Gershwin and their music making.
Bonus feature:
Documentary - They Got Rhythm
Bonus feature:
Documentary - They Got Rhythm
The Waldbhne in Berlin, one of the most appealing outdoor amphitheatres in Europe, is the home of the Berlin Philharmonic's annual summer concert. With over 22,000 in attendance, these are some of the most popular classical music concerts in the world.
On this recording, Estonian conductor Neeme Jrvi takes the audience on a trip through A Thousand and One Nights. Works by Grieg, Rimsky-Korsakov, Nielsen, Saint-Sans and Massenet explore Arabian images in music. High-ranking soloists like rising star Dutch violinist Janine Jansen join the outstanding orchestra. Neeme Jrvi can be counted as one of the world's leading musical personalities, having conducted more than 350 CD productions. Recorded live at the Waldbhne Berlin in 2006, Sheherazade offers a sensational concert to all those who want to relive the atmosphere of a this relaxed and high-quality open-air event.
On this recording, Estonian conductor Neeme Jrvi takes the audience on a trip through A Thousand and One Nights. Works by Grieg, Rimsky-Korsakov, Nielsen, Saint-Sans and Massenet explore Arabian images in music. High-ranking soloists like rising star Dutch violinist Janine Jansen join the outstanding orchestra. Neeme Jrvi can be counted as one of the world's leading musical personalities, having conducted more than 350 CD productions. Recorded live at the Waldbhne Berlin in 2006, Sheherazade offers a sensational concert to all those who want to relive the atmosphere of a this relaxed and high-quality open-air event.
Every year, the Berliner Philharmoniker hold a kind of classical music fete with a bright, cheerful concert to end the season. In 2009 about 22,000 people came together at the Berlin Waldbuhne to enjoy the traditional summer picnic concert. The theme of the evening was "Russian Rhythms," and star conductor Sir Simon Rattle, the Berliner Philharmoniker and Yefim Bronfman, one of the most famous pianists in the world today, presented a superb selection of Russian music.
The Waldbuhne Concert given by the Berliner Philharmoniker marks the end of the 2009/10 season. More recently visitors to the orchestra's Waldbuhne concerts have been regaled by some of the greatest opera singers of our age, including such operatic legends as Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti, the Mexican tenor Rolando Villazon and the wonderful Russian soprano Anna Netrebko. A further high point in the history of the Waldbuhne concerts was undoubtedly the appearance of the charismatic American soprano Renee Fleming, who brought to this "Night of Love" her soft-toned but richly coloured voice. "It?EUR(TM)s such a beautiful place," she told the Berliner Zeitung. "When you're standing there on the stage, you have the feeling that you can sing into the sky." Concert-goers must have been able to share this feeling when a singer described by the Daily Telegraph as the "queen of the Metropolitan Opera" sang the highly poetical "Song to the Moon" from Dvorak's opera Rusalka and gazed lovingly at the orbiting moon, which had just become visible in the night sky.
The Waldbuhne in Berlin, one of the most appealing outdoor ampitheatres on the European continent, is the home of the Berliner Philharmoniker's summer concerts. With audiences of more than 20,000, these are some of the most popular classical music concerts in the world. Riccardo Chailly is famous for having one of the broadest and most eclectic repertoires. Here, under his baton, the orchestra presents perennial favourites by Shostakovich, Rota and Respighi.
Under the baton of the young Latvian conductor Andris Nelsons, together with the 1st concertmaster Daishin Kashimoto as a soloist, the great Berliner Philharmoniker musically focused on Tchaikovsky . Along with Tchaikovsky's stirring Symphony No. 5 , the program included beguiling shorter works featuring violinist Daishin Kashimoto - the Serenade melancolique in B flat Minor, Waltz-Scherzo in C Major and Souvenir d'un lieu cher .
The charismatic conductor Nelsons has been Music Director of the City of the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra since 2008, enjoying a critically acclaimed first few seasons. Over the next seasons he will continue collaborations with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker, Het Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, New York Philharmonic, and others.
The charismatic conductor Nelsons has been Music Director of the City of the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra since 2008, enjoying a critically acclaimed first few seasons. Over the next seasons he will continue collaborations with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker, Het Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, New York Philharmonic, and others.
Sasha Waltz is one of Europe's best-known and most exciting choreographers. Her choreographies are outstanding as she always surprises with new formations, deep subjects and stunning aesthetic style. But she does not only work with dancers: the dialogue with all other art forms is her special interest. All her deep and beautifully choreographed pieces are featured in this film where Sasha Waltz gives us insight into her work. The film portrait by Brigitte Kramer draws a line from 2006 to today, the important years of Sasha Waltz' international career.
In 2008 Mark Andre was assigned by the Staatsoper Stuttgart to write an opera, to be directed by Jossie Wieler and Sergio Morabito.
The subject was to be a tale that had fascinated the composer since he was a little child: the disappearance of Jesus of Nazareth. The main character of the opera, written by Mark Andre over the course of 7 years, is Johannes Reuchlin , a 15th-century Christian scholar of the Jewish Kabbala.
The film follows Mark Andrew during his journey to Israel in 2011, during the sound research in the Experimentalstudio of the SWR in Freiburg in 2013 and during the final rehearsal in the Staatsoper Stuttgart in Spring 2014
The subject was to be a tale that had fascinated the composer since he was a little child: the disappearance of Jesus of Nazareth. The main character of the opera, written by Mark Andre over the course of 7 years, is Johannes Reuchlin , a 15th-century Christian scholar of the Jewish Kabbala.
The film follows Mark Andrew during his journey to Israel in 2011, during the sound research in the Experimentalstudio of the SWR in Freiburg in 2013 and during the final rehearsal in the Staatsoper Stuttgart in Spring 2014
Highlights from Young Euro Classic 2022, live recorded at the Konzerthaus Berlin.