Naxos
Buffeted by social and political currents, Copland can seem unmoored: a cork in a stream. He was politicised by the Depression - and by the example of Mexico, whose artists galvanized national identity and progressive thought. He wrote a prize winning workers' song and addressed a Communist picnic in Minnesota. Twenty years later, the Red Scare targeted him as a traitor. Can his odyssey be read as a parable illuminating the fate of the American artist?
The film features a re-enactment of Copland's grilling by Senator Joseph McCarthy (played by Edward Gero). It also highlights the most consequential Copland score we don't know: his ingenious music for Lewis Mumford's 1939 World's Fair film The City , itself a complex product of the Popular Front. We reconsider the valedictory Piano Fantasy , in which Copland refreshed his modernist roots - a galvanising performance by Benjamin Pasternack, who also recalls a telling encounter with the composer. Our other commentators include the American historians Michael Kazin and Joseph McCartin, who ponder the tangled legacy of American populism of the left and right.
The film features a re-enactment of Copland's grilling by Senator Joseph McCarthy (played by Edward Gero). It also highlights the most consequential Copland score we don't know: his ingenious music for Lewis Mumford's 1939 World's Fair film The City , itself a complex product of the Popular Front. We reconsider the valedictory Piano Fantasy , in which Copland refreshed his modernist roots - a galvanising performance by Benjamin Pasternack, who also recalls a telling encounter with the composer. Our other commentators include the American historians Michael Kazin and Joseph McCartin, who ponder the tangled legacy of American populism of the left and right.
With its narrative of buccaneering bravado, exotic opulence, romance and traitorous intrigue, Le Corsaire is one of the most impressive nrrative ballets of the 19th century, and it remains and of Adolphe Adam's best-known works. Director of the Wiener Staatsballett, Manuel Legris, has choreographed a new version that draws on the rich performance traditions of Russia and France, and carefully spirited action, Adam's delightful music, choreography, scenery and costumes into an elegant and impressive production which brings to life the colourful events surround the leading couple of Conrad and Medora
Orfa was Adolphe Adam's penultimate ballet, with an intriguing scenario based on Nordic mythology. It shares analogies with Hesiod's Theogony and Wagner's Ring cycle in depicting the struggle between the older gods (Loki) and younger gods (Odin). Full of archetypal Romantic elements, Orfa was mounted with the lavish stage spectacle for which the Paris Opera was famous, and featured Fanny Cerrito in the title role. Adam's writing shows increasingly vivid orchestral imagination, drama and tonal colour, with roles for several instrumental soloists. This world premiere recording uses a new edition copied from Adam's original manuscript score held at the Bibliotheque nationale de France.
Adolphe Adam's Les Postillon de Lonjumeau was a great success at its premiere in 1836, and, along with the ballet Giselle , has remained one of the composer's most popular works. Following the great French tradition, this opera-comique as it all: 18th-century Rococo Parisian glamour and a perilous love story involving the dashing and flirtatious Chapelou and his opposite, the powerful and clever Madeleine. This lavish and spectacular production from the Opera Comique in Paris received widespread critical acclaim and also features costumes by the iconic French fashion designer Christian Lacroix.
Based on Louisa May Alcott's enduringly popular novel about the adventures of Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy in civil-war era New England, Mark Adamo's opera Little Women has been performed in more than 70 national and international engagements since its 1998 premiere by Houston Grand Opera and has achieved the status of an American classic. This recording, with a superb cast expertly directed for television, vividly brings to life an opera that The New Yorker hailed as 'A beautifully crafted work', brilliantly molding Alcott's tale into operatic form'.
Jazz Icons: Cannonball Adderley boasts two beautifully filmed concerts from one of the most celebrated sextets in jazz history, captured at the top of their game. Cannonball Adderley (alto sax), Nat Adderley (cornet) and the masterful Yusef Lateef (tenor sax, flute, oboe), provide a massive three-horn frontline attack, while the stellar rhythm section featuring a pre-Weather Report Joe Zawinul (piano), Sam Jones (bass) and Louis Hayes (drums) fuel the songs with a deep infectious swing. Quincy Jones' "Jessica's Day" leaps from the gate with a huge "big band" sound that is extraordinary for only six musicians.
This video is a reminder that Cannonball Adderly was one of the most outstanding and highly respected alto saxoponists in the history of jazz, a blues-based jazzman who could play anything in superb fashion.
This video is a reminder that Cannonball Adderly was one of the most outstanding and highly respected alto saxoponists in the history of jazz, a blues-based jazzman who could play anything in superb fashion.
Francesco Piemontesi, a BBC Music Magazine award-winning pianist and lauded as a 'wonderful Mozartian', has an intense curiosity about his fellow artists - their pianos, the sonorities they cultivate, the secret elements that animate their playing, and what drives them. In this documentary by Jan Schmidt-Garre, filmed over one year, Piemontesi talks with some of the world's leading performers, including his mentor Alfred Brendel, Maria Joao Pires, Stephen Kovacevich and Antonio Pappano, in a series of revealing encounters that illuminate their individual approaches to the instrument, its colour and form. The film is complemented by a bonus 60-minute recital by Yulianna Avdeeva, Zlata Chochieva and Francesco Piemontesi, played on Rachmaninoff's Steinway piano at Villa Senar, his home in Switzerland during the 1930s.
Robert Aldridge and Herschel Garfein are internationally renowned for their Grammy award-winning opera Elmer Gantry (2007). Their follow-up collaboration, Parables (2010) is a cantata for soloists, a 200-voice choir and 80-piece orchestra. The attack on the World Trade Center in September 2001 haunts its writing but the use of passages from the Torah, New Testament and Koran seeks to bind the major faiths' commonality, hopeful of healing and reconciliation. In this staged performance young dancers, costumes, and projection emphasize the music's powerfully theatrical impact.
The All-Star Orchestra gives you a front row seat to the world's greatest music, performed by top players chosen from over 30 great American orchestras, and conducted by Gerard Schwarz. The programs feature complete performances of popular masterpieces and world premieres of new works by leading American composers. Filmed in High-Definition with 19 cameras during a once-a-year 'summit' in New York's historic Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center, the All-Star Orchestra celebrates the symphonic experience in the 21st century.
Program 1: Music for the Theatre
The legendary impresario Sergei Diaghilev of the Ballet Russes commissioned from Stravinsky and Ravel some of the greatest music for the ballet. His influence stretched from St. Petersburg to Paris to the New York City Ballet founded by Diaghilev's collaborator George Balanchine. Former NYCB Composer in Residence Bright Sheng captures the beauty of the dance in Black Swan, inspired by a Brahms intermezzo.
Program 2: What Makes a Masterpiece?
This program is an exploration of the creative process, tracing the genesis of Beethoven's iconic symphony and the development of a new work by a modern master. Introductory features demonstrate how short rhythmic and melodic motives evolve into vast symphonic organisms. Interviews...
Program 1: Music for the Theatre
The legendary impresario Sergei Diaghilev of the Ballet Russes commissioned from Stravinsky and Ravel some of the greatest music for the ballet. His influence stretched from St. Petersburg to Paris to the New York City Ballet founded by Diaghilev's collaborator George Balanchine. Former NYCB Composer in Residence Bright Sheng captures the beauty of the dance in Black Swan, inspired by a Brahms intermezzo.
Program 2: What Makes a Masterpiece?
This program is an exploration of the creative process, tracing the genesis of Beethoven's iconic symphony and the development of a new work by a modern master. Introductory features demonstrate how short rhythmic and melodic motives evolve into vast symphonic organisms. Interviews...
The All-Star Orchestra gives you a front row seat to the world's greatest music, performed by top players chosen from over 30 great American orchestras, and conducted by Gerard Schwarz. The programs feature complete performances of popular masterpieces and world premieres of new works by leading American composers. Filmed in High-Definition with 19 cameras during a once-a-year 'summit' in New York's historic Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center, the All-Star Orchestra celebrates the symphonic experience in the 21st century.
Program 11: A Hero's Life in Music
Strauss' orchestral autobiography from 1899 is unique documentary in music, scored for extra-large orchestra - a sonic spectacular, and a showcase for the All-Star musicians. In this highly pictorial music, the listener follows the Hero as he asserts his independence, falls in love, confronts his critics, engages in battle, creates a legacy of peace, and eventually comes to life's end.
Program 12: Mozart and A World Premiere
Mozart's magical Posthorn Serenade is paired with the world-premiere of Samuel Jones' Violin Concerto with Anne Akiko Meyers performing on the legendary Vieuxtemps Guarneri del Gesu violin. This rare event showcases the collaboration between composer, soloist, and conductor in bringing a...
Program 11: A Hero's Life in Music
Strauss' orchestral autobiography from 1899 is unique documentary in music, scored for extra-large orchestra - a sonic spectacular, and a showcase for the All-Star musicians. In this highly pictorial music, the listener follows the Hero as he asserts his independence, falls in love, confronts his critics, engages in battle, creates a legacy of peace, and eventually comes to life's end.
Program 12: Mozart and A World Premiere
Mozart's magical Posthorn Serenade is paired with the world-premiere of Samuel Jones' Violin Concerto with Anne Akiko Meyers performing on the legendary Vieuxtemps Guarneri del Gesu violin. This rare event showcases the collaboration between composer, soloist, and conductor in bringing a...
The All-Star Orchestra gives you a front row seat to the world's greatest music, performed by top players chosen from over 30 great American orchestras, and conducted by Gerard Schwarz. The programs feature complete performances of popular masterpieces and world premieres of new works by leading American composers. Filmed in High-Definition with 19 cameras during a once-a-year 'summit' in New York's historic Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center, the All-Star Orchestra celebrates the symphonic experience in the 21st century.
Program 13: Russian Treasures
The beloved orchestral showpiece of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition is a series of imaginative musical portraits, including The Gnome, the Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks in their Shells and the spectacular finale, The Great Gate of Kiev. Excerpts from Sergei Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet includes: Capulets and Montagues, the Dance of the Knights, Portrait of Young Juliet, Scene at the Ball, the Fight, and The Death of Tybalt.
Program 14: Northern Lights
A pinnacle of Nordic Romanticism is Jean Sibelius' Symphony No. 2 . The grand, expansive melodies and searing harmonies have been called the musical equivalents of fire and ice. This is the most famous of the Finnish composer's symphonies.
Program 13: Russian Treasures
The beloved orchestral showpiece of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition is a series of imaginative musical portraits, including The Gnome, the Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks in their Shells and the spectacular finale, The Great Gate of Kiev. Excerpts from Sergei Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet includes: Capulets and Montagues, the Dance of the Knights, Portrait of Young Juliet, Scene at the Ball, the Fight, and The Death of Tybalt.
Program 14: Northern Lights
A pinnacle of Nordic Romanticism is Jean Sibelius' Symphony No. 2 . The grand, expansive melodies and searing harmonies have been called the musical equivalents of fire and ice. This is the most famous of the Finnish composer's symphonies.
ALL-STAR ORCHESTRA (THE): Program 15: British Enigmas / Program 16: Mysterious Mountain (G. Schwarz)
The All-Star Orchestra gives you a front row seat to the world's greatest music, performed by top players chosen from over 30 great American orchestras, and conducted by Gerard Schwarz. The programs feature complete performances of popular masterpieces and world premieres of new works by leading American composers. Filmed in High-Definition with 19 cameras during a once-a-year 'summit' in New York's historic Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center, the All-Star Orchestra celebrates the symphonic experience in the 21st century.
Program 15: British Enigmas
Edward Elgar: Enigma Varations
The score is dedicated to "my friends picture within," and each Variation represents a real person. As he was finishing the work, Elgar wrote: "The enigma I will not explain - its 'dark saying' must be left unguessed, and I warn you that the apparent connection between the Variations and the Theme is often of the slightest texture." A musical mystery of great beauty and endless fascination.
Benjamin Britten: The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra
The perennial family favorite that showcases - one by one - all the instruments in the orchestra. It is a perfect introduction to the symphony orchestra.
Program 16: Mysterious Mountain
Alan Hovhaness: Symphony No. 2, Op. 132, "Mysterious Mountain...
Program 15: British Enigmas
Edward Elgar: Enigma Varations
The score is dedicated to "my friends picture within," and each Variation represents a real person. As he was finishing the work, Elgar wrote: "The enigma I will not explain - its 'dark saying' must be left unguessed, and I warn you that the apparent connection between the Variations and the Theme is often of the slightest texture." A musical mystery of great beauty and endless fascination.
Benjamin Britten: The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra
The perennial family favorite that showcases - one by one - all the instruments in the orchestra. It is a perfect introduction to the symphony orchestra.
Program 16: Mysterious Mountain
Alan Hovhaness: Symphony No. 2, Op. 132, "Mysterious Mountain...
The All-Star Orchestra gives you a front row seat to the world's greatest music, performed by top players chosen from over 30 great American orchestras, and conducted by Gerard Schwarz. The programs feature complete performances of popular masterpieces and world premieres of new works by leading American composers. Filmed in High-Definition with 19 cameras during a once-a-year 'summit' in New York's historic Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center, the All-Star Orchestra celebrates the symphonic experience in the 21st century.
Program 3: The New World and Its Music
Inspired by American dreams and legends, Dvorak created some of his greates works while living in the United States, above all the "New World" Symphony. This program illuminates the multiple stories and influences - Native American, African-American and Czech - that Dvorak transformed in his most beloved work. Ellen Taafe Zwilich's Avanti! offers a contemporary interpretation of the American archetype of "moving on".
Program 4: Politics and Art
Music has sometime reflected, and at other times challenged repressive ideologies. Shostakovich abandoned he premiere of his challenging 4th symphony for fear of reprisals from the Stalinist government. His triumphant 5th Symphony was next, and the authorities were pleased....
Program 3: The New World and Its Music
Inspired by American dreams and legends, Dvorak created some of his greates works while living in the United States, above all the "New World" Symphony. This program illuminates the multiple stories and influences - Native American, African-American and Czech - that Dvorak transformed in his most beloved work. Ellen Taafe Zwilich's Avanti! offers a contemporary interpretation of the American archetype of "moving on".
Program 4: Politics and Art
Music has sometime reflected, and at other times challenged repressive ideologies. Shostakovich abandoned he premiere of his challenging 4th symphony for fear of reprisals from the Stalinist government. His triumphant 5th Symphony was next, and the authorities were pleased....
The All-Star Orchestra gives you a front row seat to the world's greatest music, performed by top players chosen from over 30 great American orchestras, and conducted by Gerard Schwarz. The programs feature complete performances of popular masterpieces and world premieres of new works by leading American composers. Filmed in High-Definition with 19 cameras during a once-a-year 'summit' in New York's historic Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center, the All-Star Orchestra celebrates the symphonic experience in the 21st century.
Program 5: Relationships in Music
Robert Schumann's wife Clara was herself a gifted pianist and composer. She became a lifelong friend and source of inspiration for Schumann's protege Johannes Brahms. This program will explore the turbulent musical and emotional relationships between these three, and the masterpieces that they produced.
Program 6: The Living Art Form
This program explored the creation of new concertos and the artistic process. Outstanding young soloists and leading American composers are featured in performance and in interviews.
Program 5: Relationships in Music
Robert Schumann's wife Clara was herself a gifted pianist and composer. She became a lifelong friend and source of inspiration for Schumann's protege Johannes Brahms. This program will explore the turbulent musical and emotional relationships between these three, and the masterpieces that they produced.
Program 6: The Living Art Form
This program explored the creation of new concertos and the artistic process. Outstanding young soloists and leading American composers are featured in performance and in interviews.
The All-Star Orchestra gives you a front row seat to the world's greatest music, performed by top players chosen from over 30 great American orchestras, and conducted by Gerard Schwarz. The programs feature complete performances of popular masterpieces and world premieres of new works by leading American composers. Filmed in High-Definition with 19 cameras during a once-a-year 'summit' in New York's historic Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center, the All-Star Orchestra celebrates the symphonic experience in the 21st century.
Program 7: Music's Emotional Impact
This program delves into Tchaikovsky's dramatic personal life, his brief marriage, and his intense correspondence with his patroness Nadezhda von Meck, whom he never met, and to whom he dedicated is 4th Symphony. The dramatic brass fanfares that for Tchaikovsky symbolized Fate find a modern echo in David Stock's Blast!
Program 8: Mahler: Love, Sorrow and Transcendence
Mahler's turbulent passions are expressed through his music. His settings of poems by Friedrich Ruckert explore themes of love, nature, and otherworldliness. Mahler was haunted throughout his life by the premonition of his own death. The first movement of his 2nd Symphony, which Mahler called "Totenfeier" (Funerary Rites), draws stark contrasts between...
Program 7: Music's Emotional Impact
This program delves into Tchaikovsky's dramatic personal life, his brief marriage, and his intense correspondence with his patroness Nadezhda von Meck, whom he never met, and to whom he dedicated is 4th Symphony. The dramatic brass fanfares that for Tchaikovsky symbolized Fate find a modern echo in David Stock's Blast!
Program 8: Mahler: Love, Sorrow and Transcendence
Mahler's turbulent passions are expressed through his music. His settings of poems by Friedrich Ruckert explore themes of love, nature, and otherworldliness. Mahler was haunted throughout his life by the premonition of his own death. The first movement of his 2nd Symphony, which Mahler called "Totenfeier" (Funerary Rites), draws stark contrasts between...
The All-Star Orchestra gives you a front row seat to the world's greatest music, performed by top players chosen from over 30 great American orchestras, and conducted by Gerard Schwarz. The programs feature complete performances of popular masterpieces and world premieres of new works by leading American composers. Filmed in High-Definition with 19 cameras during a once-a-year 'summit' in New York's historic Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center, the All-Star Orchestra celebrates the symphonic experience in the 21st century.
Program 9: Visions of New York
Gershwin's immortal Rhapsody in Blue is featured in the rarely heard original jazz-orchestra version from the 1924 premiere, with rising-star pianist Lola Astanova. This iconic work is paired with Aaron Copland's 1925 jazz-age classic Music for the Theatre . Robert Beaser's Ground O offers a modern musical perspective of New York after 9/11.
Program 10: 1001 Arabian Nights - The Legend of Scheherazade
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's exotic orchestral showpiece Scheherazade is based on fantastical tales that - according to tradition - were told by the ingenious wife of a cruel Sultan so as to prolong her life for 1001 nights. Concertmaster David Kim conveys the voice of the wily heroine in virtuosic violin solos. Take...
Program 9: Visions of New York
Gershwin's immortal Rhapsody in Blue is featured in the rarely heard original jazz-orchestra version from the 1924 premiere, with rising-star pianist Lola Astanova. This iconic work is paired with Aaron Copland's 1925 jazz-age classic Music for the Theatre . Robert Beaser's Ground O offers a modern musical perspective of New York after 9/11.
Program 10: 1001 Arabian Nights - The Legend of Scheherazade
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's exotic orchestral showpiece Scheherazade is based on fantastical tales that - according to tradition - were told by the ingenious wife of a cruel Sultan so as to prolong her life for 1001 nights. Concertmaster David Kim conveys the voice of the wily heroine in virtuosic violin solos. Take...
Pixel is a stunning contemporary dance performance for 11 dancers in a virtual and living visual environment. A work on illusion combining energy and poetry, fiction and technical achievement, minimal music and hip-hop. It opens a dialogue between the synthetic world of digital projection and the real bodies of dancers. Pixel appeals to fans of contemporary dance, urban and hip-hop moves, with elements of circus too. Artistic Director and choreograper Mourad Merzouki, together with his Compagnle Kafig has elevated hip-hop to the world stage. In doing so he has created a multicultural contemporary dance form which takes equal place with modern dance and other idioms of the genre. He has incorporated circus elements, martial arts, contemporary dance and puppetry, and brought in performers from Algeria, Brazil and Taiwan in order to develop his ideas. The music was composed by French composer Armand Amar won a Cesar award for his original soundtrack.
Johannn Sebastian Bach was undoubtedly the greatest musical thinker of his age. Dubbed 'the Old Testament of music' by the conductor and pianist Hans von Bulow, The Well-Tempered Clavier is acknowledged to be one of the most significant works ever written for the keyboard. Each of these 24 preludes and fugues encapsulates its own mood, and Bach's delight in mixing technical strictness with freedom of expression has made this work an indispensable element of Western culture for centuries. Sir Andras Schiff is heralded as one of the finest Bach interpreters today, and this first complete performance at the prestigious BBC Promms was summed up as 'stupendous' by The Independent.
Distinguished Bach specialist Sir Andras Schiff returned to the BBC Proms in 2018 to present Book II of the Well-Tempered Clavier . Extending the variety already evident in Book 1, Bach's effortless brilliance and new-found sonorities push harmony and counterpoint further than ever with a combination of ancient and modern styles, church austerity and galant lightness. Schiff has said that 'no-one combines the sacred and the secular as Bach does', and this is comprehensively demonstrated in Bach's fascinating and challenging sequence. This performance in the Royal Albert Hall was described as 'a musical meditation for our troubled times' by the Independent.
The Variations on Ein Madchen oder Weibchen from Mozart's Singspiel Die Zauberflote may have been written in connection with Beethoven's aforementioned trip to Berlin, and therefore possibly date from around the same time as the first two cello sonatas (they were published in September 1798). Even though he did not go as far in giving the instruments an equal footing as he did in his Op. 5 sonatas, it is clear that Beethoven used this set as a type of experimentation to formulate his ideas.
The Variations, WoO 45 on a melody from Handel's oratorio Judas Maccabaeus - the popular chorus 'See the conqu'ring hero comes' (also known today as the hymn 'Thine be the Glory') - may have been written in connection with Beethoven's trip to Berlin, and therefore date from around the same time as the Sonatas, Op. 5 . Published in 1797, this set of variations were very likely written after Beethoven had attended rehearsals of Judas Maccabaeus in Berlin and are designed to demonstrate the pianist's dexterity, while the cello generally takes a more subservient role.
Conversely, his second set of variations based on Die Zauberflote , which appeared in Vienna in 1802 and were probably composed the previous year, finds the two instruments essentially as equal partners. This takes the Act I duet Bei Mannern, welche Liebe fuhlen , as its basis, originally sung by the characters Pamina and Papageno, and Beethoven initially follows the dialogue of the duet, with the piano in the role of Pamina and the cello answering as Papageno. As in the Op. 5 sonatas , light-hearted playfulness and dramatic rivalry characterize the variations that follow, including - towards the very end - a gentle reprise of the original theme, before the brilliant conclusion.
The award-winning Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin has become of the world's leading chamber orchestras on period instruments. These concerts reveal some of the foundations of Beethoven's genius, and capture vital performances from the 2020 SWR Schwetzingen Festival, the biggest radio festival for classical music in the world. These first two concerts of four see Beethoven's revolutionary development through his first three symphonies set against C.P.E. Bach's novel orchestration, Mozart's pre-echo of a theme from Eroica Symphony , and Paul Wranitzky's richly narrative Grande sinfonie caracteristique, a work banned by the Viennese authorities of the day for its provocative movement titles.
The award-winning Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin has become of the world's leading chamber orchestras on period instruments. These concerts reveal some of the foundations of Beethoven's genius, and capture vital performances from the 2020 SWR Schwetzingen Festival, the biggest radio festival for classical music in the world. These first two concerts of four see Beethoven's revolutionary development through his first three symphonies set against C.P.E. Bach's novel orchestration, Mozart's pre-echo of a theme from Eroica Symphony , and Paul Wranitzky's richly narrative Grande sinfonie caracteristique , a work banned by the Viennese authorities of the day for its provocative movement titles.
The award-winning Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin has become one of the world's leading chamber orchestras on period instruments. These concerts reveal some of the foundations of Beethoven's genius, and capture vital performances from the 2020 SWR Schwetzingen Festival, the biggest radio festival for classical music in the world. Robert Schumann pointed out similarities between Mehul's First Symphony and Beethoven's Fifth , and these third and fourth concerts in the series also include a tempest by Holzbauer that precedes Beethoven's by half a century, plus the little-known Le Portrait musical de la Nature by Justin Heinrich Knecht , a work that also anticipates Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony .
The award-winning Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin has become one of the world's leading chamber orchestras on period instruments. These concerts reveal some of the foundations of Beethoven's genius, and capture vital performances from the 2020 SWR Schwetzingen Festival, the biggest radio festival for classical music in the world. Robert Schumann pointed out similarities between Mehul's First Symphony and Beethoven's Fifth , and these third and fourth concerts in the series also include a tempest by Holzbauer that precedes Beethoven's by half a century, plus the little-known Le Portrait musical de la Nature by Justin Heinrich Knecht , a work that also anticipates Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony.
It was in parallel with his work on the Fifth and Sixth symphonies (at a time when he was battling with increasing deafness) that Beethoven began composing the Sonata in A major, Op. 69 , completing it in the autumn of 1808. He dedicated it to Baron Ignaz von Gleichenstein, an amateur cellist and one of his closest supporters, who had helped him in various business matters. Beethoven is supposed to have included a Latin phrase on the dedication copy: 'Inter lacrimas et luctum' ('Amid tears and mourning'). Although this inscription cannot be confirmed (the score in question is now lost), the possibility of its inclusion on that dedication score is intriguing: was it perhaps a reference to the political situation of the time, namely the siege of Vienna by French troops in 1809; or does it refer to something more intimate about the composer's own disposition?
To mark the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth, Russian born arranger Paul Struck has arranged two of the composer's great mid-period chamber masterpieces for soloist and string ensemble. The Cello Sonata No. 3 equally succeeds in conceiving the piano part for ensemble, while exploring fullness of sound and maintaining transparency of texture.
Beethoven used an extended scherzo form in which the trio is heard twice in a contrasting major key between the three appearances of the scherzo section in a minor key. The scherzo theme acquires a rhythmic shift through syncopation, gaining enormous energy in the version for string ensemble.
Beethoven used an extended scherzo form in which the trio is heard twice in a contrasting major key between the three appearances of the scherzo section in a minor key. The scherzo theme acquires a rhythmic shift through syncopation, gaining enormous energy in the version for string ensemble.
Beethoven's most important chamber work for violin - allows the sonata's concertante quality to emerge in a new light. The Cello Sonata No. 3 equally succeeds in conceiving the piano part for ensemble, while exploring fullness of sound and maintaining transparency of texture. Beethoven achieved the greatest possible balance between cello and piano, which Paul Struck has transferred with a sensitive touch to his arrangement for solo cello and string ensemble.
Featuring the third movement, instead of a slow movement, Beethoven composed a short, dreamlike introduction to the lively final rondo, which spurred all participants to render a joyful performance.
Featuring the third movement, instead of a slow movement, Beethoven composed a short, dreamlike introduction to the lively final rondo, which spurred all participants to render a joyful performance.
The shadow of the Op. 5 sonatas continues to be cast over the Sonata Op. 102, No. 1 , begun in late July 1815. Another two-movement work and the briefest of all five sonatas, Beethoven once again dispenses with a slow movement, but introduces each of the two movements marked Allegro vivace - the first in sonata form, the second a rondo ?EUR" with a section in a moderate tempo. Out of the calm C major introduction comes the stormy (but admittedly catchy) A minor first theme in the cello and piano together, while the second theme offers brief moments of repose. The slow introduction to the finale reveals Beethoven experimenting further with form: between the Adagio and the beginning of the Allegro vivace he inserts a seven-bar reminiscence of the Andante that opened the sonata (now in 6/8). This fusion of sonata form with elements of free fantasia style are the hallmarks of the work, and indeed Beethoven even called it Freye Sonate ('free sonata') in the autograph.
He began work on the second sonata of Op. 102 shortly after the first (both were completed by the autumn of 1815). It has the most conventional form of all the sonatas, comprising three movements with, for the first time, a slow middle movement. The opening Allegro con brio begins with one of the most immediately accessible and memorable themes in all Beethoven's chamber music, followed by a more lyrical theme. The life-affirming energy of this first subject, which dominates the development section, could not be more strongly contrasted with what follows in the second movement, which opens with sombre, almost funereal lament in D minor, shared in solemn dialogue between the two instruments. A gently flowing section in D major offers some respite before descending back to the minor, though the movement finishes with a hushed passage that explores completely unexpected tonal territory, from D minor to C sharp minor and back again, before leaving the listener hanging on a dominant chord. And even once the third movement begins, we're still left hanging, as the cello and piano tease with ascending scalic passages. It is only when the third of these phrases (in the cello) morphs into a fugal subject that the resolution is finally granted. Despite the traditional structure of the...
This was the context in which Beethoven hoped to build on the reputation he had developed in Vienna, and to establish contacts with new friends and patrons. Beethoven played the piano before the king many times, and on one of these occasions he was joined by one of the Duport brothers to introduce his two Sonatas for Piano and Cello, Op. 5, which he had just composed. When the composer left Berlin in the summer of 1796, Frederick William II gave him a gold snuffbox filled with Louis d'or, and Beethoven returned the favour by dedicating to the monarch the first edition of the sonatas, published in Vienna the following year.
When the famed double bassist Domenico Dragonetti performed the Cello Sonata, Op 5, No. 2 , accompanied by Beethoven himself, he surprised the composer with the level of his playing to such a degree that at the end, Beethoven immediately leapt up to embrace both player and instrument. Dragonetti must have possessed extraordinary skill, for the cello part of this sonata requires great dexterity at times - though it by no means compares with the nimble fingers demanded of the pianist. If the introduction to the first cello sonata might be considered an augmented upbeat to its first theme, it is harder to put forth such an argument for the second sonata. At twice the duration it is, in effect, a movement in its own right. In character too, this Adagio differs from its somewhat hesitant predecessor: it is full of dramatic gestures, from the dark opening chords to the delicate, rather tragic descending scales in the right hand of the piano. There's an achingly poignant melodic line from the cello, and at the end, extended pauses generate a sense of tension as to what will come next.
Beethoven started composing Leonore in January 1803. The subject - the release to freedom of an unjustly imprisoned man by his devoted wife - was part of the genre of 'rescue operas' which were very popular at the end of the 18th century. The premiere of Leonore, given before an uncomprehending audience at a time of political upheaval, was a failure and Beethoven responded by shortening the work from three acts to two, which was the version performed in 1806. After further revisions it was to emerge in 1814 as Fidelio . This performance is from Opera Lafayette's Leonore Project which included a performance of Pierre Gaveaux's Leonore, ou L'Amour conjugal - the opera on which Beethoven modelled his Leonore.
Beethoven's Missa solemnis is the one work the composer admired above all his compositions. It was written for his great patron and friend Archduke Rudolf of Austria at around the same time that he embarked on his Ninth Symphony and as the writer Donald Tovey noted, 'there is no choral and no orchestral writing, earlier or later, that shows a more thrilling sense of the individual colour of every chord.
Beethoven's sonatas Op. 2 were his calling card in Vienna as a composer. At that point - 1795 - he was already famous as a keyboard virtuoso, but the transition to fame as a composer was not obvious, and he took great care with the first works he published, a set of three trios (Op. 1) and three sonatas (Op. 2).
The F minor sonata , opening the opus, is laconic in its musical language and form, but highly expressive in its emotional content. The first movement sets the tone: very personal and sincere; but reserved, its emotional outbursts never overpowering. It is followed by a serene second movement showing Beethoven already on a quest for lyrical, poetic beauty. The third movement is a hybrid minuet and scherzo, starting off as a melancholy, somewhat stylized dance, which changes its character drastically towards the end. And it is the finale which is perhaps the most striking movement of the four. Beethoven takes the closing chords of the first movement and puts them above a stormy whirlwind of sound, at times furious, at times impassioned, at times haunted and driven. A beautiful middle section, repeated twice, serves as a point of calm, but can only delay the inevitable return of the storm and the final collapse.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply...
The F minor sonata , opening the opus, is laconic in its musical language and form, but highly expressive in its emotional content. The first movement sets the tone: very personal and sincere; but reserved, its emotional outbursts never overpowering. It is followed by a serene second movement showing Beethoven already on a quest for lyrical, poetic beauty. The third movement is a hybrid minuet and scherzo, starting off as a melancholy, somewhat stylized dance, which changes its character drastically towards the end. And it is the finale which is perhaps the most striking movement of the four. Beethoven takes the closing chords of the first movement and puts them above a stormy whirlwind of sound, at times furious, at times impassioned, at times haunted and driven. A beautiful middle section, repeated twice, serves as a point of calm, but can only delay the inevitable return of the storm and the final collapse.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply...
Beethoven's Sonatas Op. 2 were his calling card in Vienna as a composer. At that point - 1795 - he was already famous as a keyboard virtuoso, but the transition to fame as a composer was not obvious, and he took great care with the first works he published, a set of three trios (Op. 1) and three sonatas (Op. 2).
The F minor sonata , opening the opus, is laconic in its musical language and form, but highly expressive in its emotional content. The first movement sets the tone: very personal and sincere; but reserved, its emotional outbursts never overpowering. It is followed by a serene second movement showing Beethoven already on a quest for lyrical, poetic beauty. The third movement is a hybrid minuet and scherzo, starting off as a melancholy, somewhat stylized dance, which changes its character drastically towards the end. And it is the finale which is perhaps the most striking movement of the four. Beethoven takes the closing chords of the first movement and puts them above a stormy whirlwind of sound, at times furious, at times impassioned, at times haunted and driven. A beautiful middle section, repeated twice, serves as a point of calm, but can only delay the inevitable return of the storm and the final collapse.
https://beethoven32.com/
The F minor sonata , opening the opus, is laconic in its musical language and form, but highly expressive in its emotional content. The first movement sets the tone: very personal and sincere; but reserved, its emotional outbursts never overpowering. It is followed by a serene second movement showing Beethoven already on a quest for lyrical, poetic beauty. The third movement is a hybrid minuet and scherzo, starting off as a melancholy, somewhat stylized dance, which changes its character drastically towards the end. And it is the finale which is perhaps the most striking movement of the four. Beethoven takes the closing chords of the first movement and puts them above a stormy whirlwind of sound, at times furious, at times impassioned, at times haunted and driven. A beautiful middle section, repeated twice, serves as a point of calm, but can only delay the inevitable return of the storm and the final collapse.
https://beethoven32.com/
The other sonata of the pair, No. 10 in G major , is a real hidden gem. The outpouring of loving emotion in the first movement - outwardly tender, yet full of inner ardour - presents a Beethoven we haven't really encountered so far in the cycle. The personal nature of the music is reflected in the parlando ('speaking') effect - music which seems to imply spoken words - particularly in the second theme, with its many repeated, entreating notes. None of those were necessarily new or original, but the sincerity of emotion and the lack of theatricality make the music particularly endearing.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
The other sonata of the pair, No. 10 in G major , is a real hidden gem. The outpouring of loving emotion in the first movement - outwardly tender, yet full of inner ardour - presents a Beethoven haven't really encountered so far in the cycle. The personal nature of the music is reflected in the parlando ('speaking') effect - music which seems to imply spoken words - particularly in the second theme, with its many repeated, entreating notes. None of those were necessarily new or original, but the sincerity of emotion and the lack of theatricality make the music particularly endearing.
https://beethoven32.com/
https://beethoven32.com/
Looking back at the sonatas Nos. 8-11, the Sonata No. 11, Op. 22 is the grandest of the four in its scope, probably the most challenging one technically, but curiously also the most conservative in its spirit and musical language. The elegant minuet and the easy-flowing, good-natured finale are even reminiscent of the sonatas Opp. 2 and 7, written 4-5 years earlier.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
Looking back at the sonatas Nos. 8-11, the Sonata No. 11, Op. 22 is the grandest of the four in its scope, probably the most challenging one technically, but curiously also the most conservative in its spirit and musical language. The elegant minuet and the easy-flowing, good-natured finale are even reminiscent of the sonatas Opp. 2 and 7 , written 4-5 years earlier.
https://beethoven32.com/
https://beethoven32.com/
If Sonata No. 11 was a closing, summarising chapter of Beethoven's early sonatas, then Sonata No. 12 is a door leading to exciting, hitherto unexplored musical worlds. Th structural innovation is easy to point out: out of the Sonata's four movements, none are in actual sonata form. Instead, Beethoven brings together a moderately slow opening movement (a theme with variations), a blazing scherzo, a funeral march and a quicksilver finale to form a fascinating story arc.
https://beethoven32.com/
https://beethoven32.com/
If Sonata No. 11 was a closing, summarising chapter of Beethoven's early sonatas, then Sonata No. 12 is a door leading to exciting, hitherto unexplored musical worlds. The structural innovation is easy to point out: out of the Sonata?EUR(TM)s four movements, none are in actual sonata form. Instead, Beethoven brings together a moderately slow opening movement (a theme with variations), a blazing scherzo, a funeral march and a quicksilver finale to form a fascinating story arc.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
Whatever depths of evocative storytelling we encountered in Sonata No. 12 , they come to a glorious culmination in the sister-sonatas Op. 27, Nos. 1 and 2 . They create two worlds, as opposing as they are complementary, similarly rich in atmosphere, and possessing a similar power to transport us elsewhere immediately upon hearing their opening bars.
Beethoven's critics had previously reproached him for writing sonata forms too close to fantasies, too irregular, too free. With Op. 27, it is as if Beethoven decided to show what he could achieve when explicitly attempting to meld a sonata and a fantasy. Both works in that opus are subtitled Sonata quasi una fantasia - sonata in the spirit (or manner) of a fantasy. A fantasy was a free-form musical composition, commonly consisting of several loosely linked sections with abrupt shifts of tempo, mood and key. Interestingly, it is the less famous, unnicknamed Sonata No. 13 which adheres more closely to this ideal. Its four movements, performed without a break, show the ease of transition we might expect from an improvisation, or free associative thinking - or a dream.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to...
Beethoven's critics had previously reproached him for writing sonata forms too close to fantasies, too irregular, too free. With Op. 27, it is as if Beethoven decided to show what he could achieve when explicitly attempting to meld a sonata and a fantasy. Both works in that opus are subtitled Sonata quasi una fantasia - sonata in the spirit (or manner) of a fantasy. A fantasy was a free-form musical composition, commonly consisting of several loosely linked sections with abrupt shifts of tempo, mood and key. Interestingly, it is the less famous, unnicknamed Sonata No. 13 which adheres more closely to this ideal. Its four movements, performed without a break, show the ease of transition we might expect from an improvisation, or free associative thinking - or a dream.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to...
Whatever depths of evocative storytelling we encountered in Sonata No. 12 , they come to a glorious culmination in the sister-sonatas Op. 27, Nos. 1 and 2 . They create two worlds, as opposing as they are complementary, similarly rich in atmosphere, and possessing a similar power to transport us elsewhere immediately upon hearing their opening bars.
Beethoven's critics had previously reproached him for writing sonata forms too close to fantasies, too irregular, too free. With Op. 27, it is as if Beethoven decided to show what he could achieve when explicitly attempting to meld a sonata and a fantasy. Both works in that opus are subtitled Sonata quasi una fantasia - sonata in the spirit (or manner) of a fantasy. A fantasy was a free-form musical composition, commonly consisting of several loosely linked sections with abrupt shifts of tempo, mood and key. Interestingly, it is the less famous, unnicknamed Sonata No. 13 which adheres more closely to this ideal. Its four movements, performed without a break, show the ease of transition we might expect from an improvisation, or free associative thinking - or a dream.
https://beethoven32.com/
Beethoven's critics had previously reproached him for writing sonata forms too close to fantasies, too irregular, too free. With Op. 27, it is as if Beethoven decided to show what he could achieve when explicitly attempting to meld a sonata and a fantasy. Both works in that opus are subtitled Sonata quasi una fantasia - sonata in the spirit (or manner) of a fantasy. A fantasy was a free-form musical composition, commonly consisting of several loosely linked sections with abrupt shifts of tempo, mood and key. Interestingly, it is the less famous, unnicknamed Sonata No. 13 which adheres more closely to this ideal. Its four movements, performed without a break, show the ease of transition we might expect from an improvisation, or free associative thinking - or a dream.
https://beethoven32.com/
It was the true hidden gem of the cycle, Boris Giltburg wrote about Sonata No. 13 . The fault for its being a 'hidden' gem lies at least partially with its sister, the incommensurably more popular 'Moonlight' Sonata, Op. 27, No. 2 . The nickname was coined by Ludwig Rellstab, a German poet and influential music critic, some five years after Beethoven's death, but its colossal popularity certainly dated back to Beethoven's lifetime. Even without a nickname, the starkly painted landscape of its first movement, the forlorn melody, the quiet grief embodied in the accompanying triplets, the fateful descent of the bass line - all those gripped the imagination of the listeners. A middle movement of exquisite, fragile beauty, and a dark whirlwind of a finale with its rage and despair strengthened the impact that much more. And the fact that the first movement is relatively technically undemanding could only increase the work's popularity.
https://beethoven32.com/
https://beethoven32.com/
Seen as part of Op. 27, the Moonlight is like a dark shadow born in the afterglow of No. 13's light. To No. 13's myriad of moods it juxtaposes a single-minded unity of colour and expression, concentrated and powerful. It contrasts No. 13's loosely joined sections with a linear progression of defined, clearly structured movements. And to the wealth of positive, kind and benevolent emotions radiating from No. 13, it answers with a uniquely perceptive exploration of the darker corners of personal feeling.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
A freshness emanates from the opening of the 'Pastoral' Sonata ; its pulsing bass is akin to a beating heart, bearing the promise of a continuous, unstoppable flow.
Whether or not the nickname Pastoral was approved by Beethoven himself, it is wonderfully fitting - the music strongly evokes nature, especially in the first and last movements. There is an unhurried gentleness throughout, climaxes are broad and harmonious, and the many 'simple' chords (triads and their inversions) lend the music an aura of stability and calmness which we rarely associate with Beethoven.
https://beethoven32.com/
Whether or not the nickname Pastoral was approved by Beethoven himself, it is wonderfully fitting - the music strongly evokes nature, especially in the first and last movements. There is an unhurried gentleness throughout, climaxes are broad and harmonious, and the many 'simple' chords (triads and their inversions) lend the music an aura of stability and calmness which we rarely associate with Beethoven.
https://beethoven32.com/
A freshness emanates from the opening of the Pastoral Sonata ; its pulsing bass is akin to a beating heart, bearing the promise of a continuous, unstoppable flow.
Whether or not the nickname 'Pastoral' was approved by Beethoven himself, it is wonderfully fitting - the music strongly evokes nature, especially in the first and last movements. There is an unhurried gentleness throughout, climaxes are broad and harmonious, and the many 'simple' chords (triads and their inversions) lend the music an aura of stability and calmness which we rarely associate with Beethoven.
But more than a simplistic depiction, to me the first movement is an exploration of the mystery of life, from its first beginnings, evoking a sense of wonder and requiring utmost love and care, to the rich abundance of life's full bloom, captured by Beethoven in multifaceted, sensitive, breathing strokes. And through it all, the pulsing bass weaves in and out, speaking of Life's never-ending continuity.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for...
Whether or not the nickname 'Pastoral' was approved by Beethoven himself, it is wonderfully fitting - the music strongly evokes nature, especially in the first and last movements. There is an unhurried gentleness throughout, climaxes are broad and harmonious, and the many 'simple' chords (triads and their inversions) lend the music an aura of stability and calmness which we rarely associate with Beethoven.
But more than a simplistic depiction, to me the first movement is an exploration of the mystery of life, from its first beginnings, evoking a sense of wonder and requiring utmost love and care, to the rich abundance of life's full bloom, captured by Beethoven in multifaceted, sensitive, breathing strokes. And through it all, the pulsing bass weaves in and out, speaking of Life's never-ending continuity.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for...
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
There are, in Beethoven's cycle, numerous sonatas that grab you immediately, whether as a performer or as a listener. Prior to this project, Sonata No. 16 was not one of those for me. I was offered the chance to play it as a teenager; I read through it briefly, decided with typical teenage cockiness that it wasn't 'that awesome', and asked to play Sonata No. 28 instead.
Today, I can both understand my initial reaction and see how superficial it was, and, ultimately, how wrong. Sonata No. 16 is a delight, but a delight perhaps more cerebral than emotional. It is akin to a pocket universe, where rules apply that might not apply elsewhere, and discovering and accepting these rules is a prerequisite to enjoyment. Like great science fiction writing often arises from a simple 'what if' question, the outer movements of the Sonata explore two musical worlds where something fundamental has been altered.
https://beethoven32.com/
Today, I can both understand my initial reaction and see how superficial it was, and, ultimately, how wrong. Sonata No. 16 is a delight, but a delight perhaps more cerebral than emotional. It is akin to a pocket universe, where rules apply that might not apply elsewhere, and discovering and accepting these rules is a prerequisite to enjoyment. Like great science fiction writing often arises from a simple 'what if' question, the outer movements of the Sonata explore two musical worlds where something fundamental has been altered.
https://beethoven32.com/
'Just read The Tempest!' Beethoven allegedly told his sometime secretary Anton Schindler, in reply to a request to provide the key to Sonata No. 17 . This connection with one of Shakespeare's last plays was the source of the Sonata's nickname. But the problem with this story is twofold: first, in Schindler's account, Beethoven's reply applied to both Sonata No. 17 and Sonata No. 23. The latter, by the time of the story's publication, already had a nickname - Appassionata - and so the Tempest nickname only stuck to the sonata that was still unnamed. Secondly, today we know that Schindler was a forger and a fabricator - many of his entries in the written conversation books with Beethoven were inserted by him long after Beethoven's death (as shown by research in the 1970s and '80s), and thus it is impossible to say whether any reply which he had attributed to Beethoven was true or falsified.
In the end, perhaps it doesn't matter. The nickname wouldn't have held, had listeners and performers not felt it reflected some true part of the music's core. Whether or not we link it to the play, the opening of the Sonata is breathtakingly strong. With one simple broken chord, Beethoven creates so much atmosphere and promises so much magic that the music transports us elsewhere...
In the end, perhaps it doesn't matter. The nickname wouldn't have held, had listeners and performers not felt it reflected some true part of the music's core. Whether or not we link it to the play, the opening of the Sonata is breathtakingly strong. With one simple broken chord, Beethoven creates so much atmosphere and promises so much magic that the music transports us elsewhere...
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
The two previous trilogies in Beethoven's sonata cycle - the three sonatas, Op. 2 and the three sonatas, Op. 10 - both had the third sonata in the group as their focal point and climax. Whether this is the case in the Op. 31 is less certain. On the one hand, Sonata No. 18 is the only one in the opus to be written in four movements, like most of Beethoven's Grandes Sonates (Opp. 7, 22, 26 and 28). On the other, the Sonata is so easy-going, so light-spirited, so full of sunshine, that it feels much more like a release after Tempest's dark tension than a further intensification.
https://beethoven32.com/
https://beethoven32.com/
The two previous trilogies in Beethoven's sonata cycle - the three sonatas, Op. 2 and the three sonatas, Op. 10 - both had the third sonata in the group as their focal point and climax. Whether this is the case in our Op. 31 is less certain. On the one hand, Sonata No. 18 is the only one in the opus to be written in four movements, like most of Beethoven's Grandes Sonates (Opp. 7, 22, 26 and 28). On the other, the Sonata is so easy-going, so light-spirited, so full of sunshine, that it feels much more like a release after Tempest's dark tension than a further intensification.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
Based on sketches in one of Beethoven's notebooks, Sonata No. 20, Op. 49, No. 2 was probably composed immediately before Sonata No. 4, Op. 7, while Sonata No. 19, Op 49, No. 1 is likely to date from 1797 or early 1798, around the time of composition of the Sonatas, Op. 10, and before the Pathetique.
The manuscripts then lay unpublished for years until in 1802, Beethoven's brother Kaspar Karl, serving as part-time secretary to Beethoven, included them in an offer to a publisher. They are mentioned almost as an afterthought: 'two little easy sonatas of two movements each', following a list of more major works available for publication: a symphony (No. 2) , a grand piano concerto (No. 3) and two 'adagios for violin with complete instrumental accompaniment' (the violin Romances Nos. 1 and 2). Considering the very long delay since their composition, it is probable that Beethoven never intended these 'two little easy sonatas' to be published at all. To quote Ferdinand Ries, Beethoven's friend and pupil, 'all trivial pieces and many things which he never wanted to publish, because he did not regard them as worthy of his name, secretly came into the world through his brothers?EUR? even small compositions which he had written down in notebooks were thus stolen and engraved.'...
The manuscripts then lay unpublished for years until in 1802, Beethoven's brother Kaspar Karl, serving as part-time secretary to Beethoven, included them in an offer to a publisher. They are mentioned almost as an afterthought: 'two little easy sonatas of two movements each', following a list of more major works available for publication: a symphony (No. 2) , a grand piano concerto (No. 3) and two 'adagios for violin with complete instrumental accompaniment' (the violin Romances Nos. 1 and 2). Considering the very long delay since their composition, it is probable that Beethoven never intended these 'two little easy sonatas' to be published at all. To quote Ferdinand Ries, Beethoven's friend and pupil, 'all trivial pieces and many things which he never wanted to publish, because he did not regard them as worthy of his name, secretly came into the world through his brothers?EUR? even small compositions which he had written down in notebooks were thus stolen and engraved.'...
If the first sonata of Op. 2 showed us a laconic, tense and passionate Beethoven, here in the A major sonata he is charming, good natured, outgoing, eloquent. The form, too, is gradually becoming larger, the textures more generous, the writing more pianistic. The first movement, energetic and at places blazingly virtuosic, contains an unexpected and inspired second subject in the minor key, lending a personal, urgent note to the music. (It also contains a fiendishly difficult canon-like section in the development...) The second movement is a stately procedure, with a very slow, yet steady pulse. There's a feeling of great depth and awe there, but also of elegance and beauty. The third movement is a lovely minuet, gentle and, apart from the more animated trio, carefree. The rondo finale contrasts a wonderfully flowing refrain with more ebullient episodes as well as a highly dramatic middle section. The repeats of the refrain (five in number!) become increasingly varied and ornamented, showing Beethoven's easy ingenuity and delight in exploring the material in an improvisatory way.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of...
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of...
If the first sonata of Op. 2 showed an laconic, tense and passionate Beethoven , here in the A major sonata he is charming, good natured, outgoing, eloquent. The form, too, is gradually becoming larger, the textures more generous, the writing more pianistic. The first movement, energetic and at places blazingly virtuosic, contains an unexpected and inspired second subject in the minor key, lending a personal, urgent note to the music. (It also contains a fiendishly difficult canon-like section in the development). The second movement is a stately procedure, with a very slow, yet steady pulse. There's a feeling of great depth and awe there, but also of elegance and beauty. The third movement is a lovely minuet, gentle and, apart from the more animated trio, carefree. The rondo finale contrasts a wonderfully flowing refrain with more ebullient episodes as well as a highly dramatic middle section. The repeats of the refrain (five in number!) become increasingly varied and ornamented, showing Beethoven's easy ingenuity and delight in exploring the material in an improvisatory way.
https://beethoven32.com/
https://beethoven32.com/
As Boris Giltburg wrote, the two sonatas Op. 49 were not, in fact, written at the time their numbers (19 and 20) would suggest - that is, between Sonata No. 18 (1802) and Sonata No. 21 (1804). Instead, they are much earlier works. Based on sketches in one of Beethoven's notebooks, Sonata No. 20, Op. 49, No. 2 was probably composed immediately before Sonata No. 4, Op. 7 , while Sonata No. 19, Op 49, No. 1 is likely to date from 1797 or early 1798, around the time of composition of the Sonatas, Op. 10 , and before the Pathetique .
The manuscripts then lay unpublished for years until in 1802, Beethoven's brother Kaspar Karl, serving as part-time secretary to Beethoven, included them in an offer to a publisher. They are mentioned almost as an afterthought: 'two little easy sonatas of two movements each', following a list of more major works available for publication: a symphony (No. 2), a grand piano concerto (No. 3) and two adagios for violin with complete instrumental accompaniment' (the violin Romances Nos. 1 and 2 ). Considering the very long delay since their composition, it is probable that Beethoven never intended these 'two little easy sonatas' to be published at all. To quote Ferdinand Ries , Beethoven's friend and pupil, 'all trivial pieces and many...
The manuscripts then lay unpublished for years until in 1802, Beethoven's brother Kaspar Karl, serving as part-time secretary to Beethoven, included them in an offer to a publisher. They are mentioned almost as an afterthought: 'two little easy sonatas of two movements each', following a list of more major works available for publication: a symphony (No. 2), a grand piano concerto (No. 3) and two adagios for violin with complete instrumental accompaniment' (the violin Romances Nos. 1 and 2 ). Considering the very long delay since their composition, it is probable that Beethoven never intended these 'two little easy sonatas' to be published at all. To quote Ferdinand Ries , Beethoven's friend and pupil, 'all trivial pieces and many...
From two of Beethoven's lesser sonatas (Nos. 19-20) to one of his greatest - Sonata No. 21, Op. 53 , known as Waldstein , after its dedicatee, Count von Waldstein, a close friend and early patron of Beethoven. It is very tempting to talk of watershed moments ?EUR" perhaps only visible to us in hindsight - but the Waldstein, its every note radiant with inspiration, is surely a landmark in Beethoven's development, as well as in the development of the sonata genre in Beethoven's hands.
From two of Beethoven's lesser sonatas (Nos. 19-20) to one of his greatest - Sonata No. 21, Op. 53 , known as Waldstein , after its dedicatee, Count von Waldstein, a close friend and early patron of Beethoven. It is very tempting to talk of watershed moments - perhaps only visible to us in hindsight - but the Waldstein, its every note radiant with inspiration, is surely a landmark in Beethoven's development, as well as in the development of the sonata genre in Beethoven's hands.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
Nestled between two titans - the Waldstein and the Appassionata - is an unusual, enigmatic two-movement work. Beethoven's contemporaries and later generations of critics didn't think much of it, and it remains seldom performed today. The Sonata was Beethoven's first serious look at the possibilities of a two-movement form (if we disregard the two 'for the drawer' Sonatas, Op. 49 ), which he went on to explore in the increasingly poetic Opp. 78, 90 and finally 111.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
Nestled between two titans - the Waldstein and the Appassionata - is an unusual, enigmatic two-movement work. Beethoven's contemporaries and later generations of critics didn't think much of it, and it remains seldom performed today. The Sonata was Beethoven's first serious look at the possibilities of a two-movement form (if we disregard the two 'for the drawer' Sonatas, Op. 49 ), which he went on to explore in the increasingly poetic Opp. 78, 90 and finally 111.
https://beethoven32.com/
https://beethoven32.com/
Beethoven , in his core, is a composer of light, his music uplifting and life-affirming. But in a few works he addressed the darkness with a mastery just as absolute, giving us within the sonata cycle the Pathetique, Moonlight , and perhaps most vivid of all, the Appassionata . These three are without doubt among the most popular of his works, attesting to some irresistible attraction these dark soundscapes must exert on us. Perhaps it is also an attestation to Beethoven's mastery of dramaturgy and his profound, relatable humanity: he knows how to grip us in a dark narrative, but we constantly feel that he lived through the same experience as us, felt the same emotions, possibly more strongly than we do. Trusting him, we willingly lower our defences and submit ourselves to this white-knuckle ride.
https://beethoven32.com/
https://beethoven32.com/
Beethoven , in his core, is a composer of light, his music uplifting and life-affirming. But in a few works he addressed the darkness with a mastery just as absolute, giving us within the sonata cycle the Pathetique, Moonlight , and perhaps most vivid of all, the Appassionata . These three are without doubt among the most popular of his works, attesting to some irresistible attraction these dark soundscapes must exert on us. Perhaps it is also an attestation to Beethoven's mastery of dramaturgy and his profound, relatable humanity: he knows how to grip us in a dark narrative, but we constantly feel that he lived through the same experience as us, felt the same emotions, possibly more strongly than we do. Trusting him, we willingly lower our defenses and submit ourselves to this white-knuckle ride.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
The darkness which held us in its grip in the Appassionata could not be counteracted more completely than it is by the sound of Sonata No. 24's opening. Like a hymn rising above the deep octaves in the left hand, these four bars seem to come directly from the heart, devout and almost in awe of being in the presence of something exceedingly pure and beautiful. They lead into the loveliest of first movements, poetic, lyrical and simple in its emotional colour. The key of F sharp major, unique in Beethoven's output, lends the music a special luminosity, a constant sense of striving upwards, which is reflected by the music's frequently residing in the upper part of the keyboard. This is not a detached, crystalline weightlessness, though, as the music is suffused with warmth throughout.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
The darkness which held us in its grip in the Appassionata could not be counteracted more completely than it is by the sound of Sonata No. 24's opening. Like a hymn rising above the deep octaves in the left hand, these four bars seem to come directly from the heart, devout and almost in awe of being in the presence of something exceedingly pure and beautiful.
The sonata's nickname, A Therese , is a simple reflection of its dedicatee, the Countess Therese von Brunsvik, Beethoven's former piano student. Beethoven was much attached to the family: Therese's brother, Franz, was a close friend and the dedicatee of both the Appassionata and the later Fantasy, Op. 77 , while Therese's younger sister, Josephine, has often been suggested as the addressee of Beethoven's letters to an 'Immortal Beloved'. (While this hypothesis remains unproved - and perhaps unprovable, barring a discovery of additional documents - we do know that Beethoven was passionately in love with Josephine, writing her at least 14 love letters between 1804 and 1810, in which he called her 'angel', 'my everything', and his 'only love'.)
https://beethoven32.com/
The sonata's nickname, A Therese , is a simple reflection of its dedicatee, the Countess Therese von Brunsvik, Beethoven's former piano student. Beethoven was much attached to the family: Therese's brother, Franz, was a close friend and the dedicatee of both the Appassionata and the later Fantasy, Op. 77 , while Therese's younger sister, Josephine, has often been suggested as the addressee of Beethoven's letters to an 'Immortal Beloved'. (While this hypothesis remains unproved - and perhaps unprovable, barring a discovery of additional documents - we do know that Beethoven was passionately in love with Josephine, writing her at least 14 love letters between 1804 and 1810, in which he called her 'angel', 'my everything', and his 'only love'.)
https://beethoven32.com/
The genesis of this sonata is closely tied with that of Sonata No. 24 , as both were commissioned by Muzio Clementi , an Italian-born, London-based pianist, composer and publisher. The contract for those and other works was signed on 20 April 1807, with Beethoven agreeing to compose the two sonatas 'in an unspecified time and at his leisure'. This finally happened in the second half of 1809, and both sonatas were published by Clementi in mid-1810.
The G major sonata, Op. 79 , is a work light both in spirit and in technical difficulty, recognized as such by Beethoven , who asked the German publisher to call it Sonata facile ('Easy Sonata') or Sonatine .
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
The G major sonata, Op. 79 , is a work light both in spirit and in technical difficulty, recognized as such by Beethoven , who asked the German publisher to call it Sonata facile ('Easy Sonata') or Sonatine .
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
The genesis of this sonata is closely tied with that of Sonata No. 24 , as both were commissioned by Muzio Clementi , an Italian-born, London-based pianist, composer and publisher. The contract for those and other works was signed on 20 April 1807, with Beethoven agreeing to compose the two sonatas 'in an unspecified time and at his leisure'. This finally happened in the second half of 1809, and both sonatas were published by Clementi in mid-1810.
The G major sonata, Op. 79 , is a work light both in spirit and in technical difficulty, recognized as such by Beethoven, who asked the German publisher to call it Sonata facile ('Easy Sonata') or Sonatine .
https://beethoven32.com/
The G major sonata, Op. 79 , is a work light both in spirit and in technical difficulty, recognized as such by Beethoven, who asked the German publisher to call it Sonata facile ('Easy Sonata') or Sonatine .
https://beethoven32.com/
Sonata No. 26 is the only programmatic one of the entire cycle. It was created during the War of the Fifth Coalition in 1809, in which the Austrian Empire and its allies (Britain, Portugal and Spain) fought the French Empire under Napoleon and its German allies, chiefly Bavaria. It depicts the departure, absence and return of Archduke Rudolph, Beethoven's longtime patron and student, who together with much of the Viennese aristocracy fled Vienna at the approach of Napoleon in May 1809. Beethoven may have begun the sonata before that (it might even not have been planned with Rudolph in mind, but rather meant to depict a more universal emotion), but it was definitely completed during Rudolph's absence, and presented to him as a gift upon his return to Vienna in early 1810.
https://beethoven32.com/
https://beethoven32.com/
Sonata No. 26 is the only programmatic one of the entire cycle. It was created during the War of the Fifth Coalition in 1809, in which the Austrian Empire and its allies (Britain, Portugal and Spain) fought the French Empire under Napoleon and its German allies, chiefly Bavaria. It depicts the departure, absence and return of Archduke Rudolph, Beethoven's longtime patron and student, who together with much of the Viennese aristocracy fled Vienna at the approach of Napoleon in May 1809. Beethoven may have begun the sonata before that (it might even not have been planned with Rudolph in mind, but rather meant to depict a more universal emotion), but it was definitely completed during Rudolph's absence, and presented to him as a gift upon his return to Vienna in early 1810.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
Over four years separate this short two-movement sonata from its predecessor, Les Adieux, Op. 81a . These years saw the creation of the Seventh and Eighth Symphonies , the Archduke piano trio , Violin Sonata No. 10 and the overtures to Egmont and Fidelio , among other works, but none for piano solo. The sonata was dedicated to Beethoven's friend and patron Count Moritz von Lichnowsky, and was for a long time believed to contain an extra-musical narrative, similar to Les Adieux - namely the story of the count's marriage to the opera singer Josepha Stummer, after the death of his first wife, against the wishes of his family.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
Over four years separate this short two-movement sonata from its predecessor, Les Adieux, Op. 81a . These years saw the creation of the Seventh and Eighth Symphonies, the Archduke piano trio, Violin Sonata No. 10 and the overtures to Egmont and Fidelio , among other works, but none for piano solo. The sonata was dedicated to Beethoven's friend and patron Count Moritz von Lichnowsky, and was for a long time believed to contain an extra-musical narrative, similar to Les Adieux - namely the story of the count's marriage to the opera singer Josepha Stummer, after the death of his first wife, against the wishes of his family.
This belief was based on an entry in Beethoven's conversation book dating from 1823, in which his part-time secretary Anton Schindler noted that 'Lichnowsky played the Sonata, Op. 90 containing the story of his marriage.' In later years Schindler elaborated on the story, writing that upon being questioned by Count Lichnowsky about the idea behind the music, Beethoven burst out laughing and told him it was the love story between the count and his wife. The first movement, he suggested, could be titled 'Struggle between mind and heart' and the second 'Conversations with the beloved'. Today we know that the original entry from 1823 was falsified by...
This belief was based on an entry in Beethoven's conversation book dating from 1823, in which his part-time secretary Anton Schindler noted that 'Lichnowsky played the Sonata, Op. 90 containing the story of his marriage.' In later years Schindler elaborated on the story, writing that upon being questioned by Count Lichnowsky about the idea behind the music, Beethoven burst out laughing and told him it was the love story between the count and his wife. The first movement, he suggested, could be titled 'Struggle between mind and heart' and the second 'Conversations with the beloved'. Today we know that the original entry from 1823 was falsified by...
The beautiful opening phrase conceals an unexpected fact: Beethoven starts the sonata off-key, on the dominant (E major). This start in medias res contributes to the openness and questioning character of many of the phrases, and later in the movement Beethoven develops this idea, systematically avoiding a resolution into the home key of A major. This turns out to be part of the sonata's design - Beethoven masterfully builds up a subconscious need for a resolution throughout the movements and manages to delay the appearance of a strong A major until much later in the sonata - the opening of the finale. This also fits with the development of the sonata form in Beethoven's late period, with the last movement increasingly becoming the main weight-bearer and focal aim of the entire work.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
The beautiful opening phrase conceals an unexpected fact: Beethoven starts the sonata off-key, on the dominant (E major). This start in medias res contributes to the openness and questioning character of many of the phrases, and later in the movement Beethoven develops this idea, systematically avoiding a resolution into the home key of A major. This turns out to be part of the sonata's design - Beethoven masterfully builds up a subconscious need for a resolution throughout the movements and manages to delay the appearance of a strong A major until much later in the sonata - the opening of the finale. This also fits with the development of the sonata form in Beethoven's late period, with the last movement increasingly becoming the main weight-bearer and focal aim of the entire work.
https://beethoven32.com/
https://beethoven32.com/
The sonata is conceived on a symphonic scale, with a four movement structure that could be viewed from two different perspectives. On one hand, the narrative flows in one direction - we go from the light of the grand opening movement and the impish Scherzo into the deepest darkness of the slow third movement, gradually re-emerging from it in the connecting Largo, and fully triumphing in the final fugue, which is our goal and aim. On the other, the Hammerklavier's form shows an exquisitely measured symmetry of proportions - both outer movements are eleven to twelve minutes long; going inward from the edges, we find the Scherzo and Largo at three minutes each; finally, at the centre, we reach the slow movement - which, at closer examination, exhibits the same five-part symmetry itself! The heart of this central movement, and thus the heart of the sonata, is the passage at 23:30, one of Beethoven's most powerful personal musical utterances. Both views co-exist, supporting the vast musical tapestry, and helping unite the movements into one cohesive, albeit very complex, whole.
https://beethoven32.com/
https://beethoven32.com/
If Op. 101 is a sonata that inspires love at first hearing, the next sonata in the cycle, Op. 106 - the Hammerklavier - rather tends to inspire awe and admiration at first. It towers above the rest like a musical Mount Everest, alluring and dangerous, dwarfing all others through its complexity and colossal scope. In performing it, one experiences Beethoven's titanic compositional struggle in every note, his vision in this particular work constantly driving him to test the extremes of size and intensity, to push the limits of piano technique beyond anything he attempted before. Later, as one comes to grips with the material, some of the admiration is replaced with love - but the awe always remains.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
As with the 3 Trios Op. 1, also among the 3 Sonatas Op. 2, it was the final, third work which was to be the culmination of the opus. After the passion and darkness of the F minor sonata, and the easy, warm eloquence of the A major sonata, Beethoven turned to C major for a work of explosive brilliance. Virtuosity is the core trait of the music, whether serious or humorous, thundering or quick-fingered. One can imagine Beethoven proclaiming with happy self-assuredness: "look what I can do at the piano, no holds barred!" And yet there's nothing empty or ostentatious here: the technical brilliance rests upon a glowing musical foundation, and there's so much atmosphere, colour and narrative throughout to complement the passagework. The slow movement, too, stands out in its emotional maturity and often exquisite beauty - its deep musicality wonderfully balancing the fireworks of the fast movements.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
As with the 3 Trios Op. 1 , also among the 3 Sonatas Op. 2 , it was the final, third work which was to be the culmination of the opus. After the passion and darkness of the F minor sonata , and the easy, warm eloquence of the A major sonata , Beethoven turned to C major for a work of explosive brilliance. Virtuosity is the core trait of the music, whether serious or humorous, thundering or quick-fingered. One can imagine Beethoven proclaiming with happy self-assuredness: 'look what I can do at the piano, no holds barred!' And yet there's nothing empty or ostentatious here: the technical brilliance rests upon a glowing musical foundation, and there's so much atmosphere, colour and narrative throughout to complement the passage work. The slow movement, too, stands out in its emotional maturity and often exquisite beauty - its deep musicality wonderfully balancing the fireworks of the fast movements.
https://beethoven32.com/
https://beethoven32.com/
The last three sonatas were neither the last piano pieces Beethoven would write - he followed them with the Diabelli Variations, Op. 120 and the 6 Bagatelles, Op. 126 - nor were they his final works in the sonata form - those would be the late string quartets. But after Op. 111 Beethoven's path did not lead him back to the piano sonata genre. In strong contrast to the Hammerklavier , where the bulging, straining creative muscles are evident in every note, the last three sound like an uninhibited stream of inspiration, captured mid-flow by Beethoven and shaped and moulded by him until they appear to us as near miraculous acts of effortless creation. Whereas the Hammerklavier feels probing, exploring, challenging, the last three are completely at ease with themselves, reflecting not the struggles of a creative genius trying to unfetter himself from all convention, but the poetic utterances of a composer who has gone so far ahead of us that one cannot but feel awe facing these inimitable musical worlds, and gratitude at having been granted access to them.
Much unites the three sonatas, besides the overall sense of transcendence suffusing the music. Structurally, they all lead towards their respective finales. All three incorporate large vocally-imagined movements or...
Much unites the three sonatas, besides the overall sense of transcendence suffusing the music. Structurally, they all lead towards their respective finales. All three incorporate large vocally-imagined movements or...
The last three sonatas were neither the last piano pieces Beethoven would write - he followed them with the Diabelli Variations, Op. 120 and the 6 Bagatelles, Op. 126 - nor were they his final works in the sonata form - those would be the late string quartets. But after Op. 111 Beethoven's path did not lead him back to the piano sonata genre. In strong contrast to the Hammerklavier , where the bulging, straining creative muscles are evident in every note, the last three sound like an uninhibited stream of inspiration, captured mid-flow by Beethoven and shaped and moulded by him until they appear to us as near-miraculous acts of effortless creation. Whereas the Hammerklavier feels probing, exploring, challenging, the last three are completely at ease with themselves, reflecting not the struggles of a creative genius trying to unfetter himself from all convention, but the poetic utterances of a composer who has gone so far ahead of us that one cannot but feel awe facing these inimitable musical worlds, and gratitude at having been granted access to them.
Much unites the three sonatas, besides the overall sense of transcendence suffusing the music. Structurally, they all lead towards their respective finales. All three incorporate large vocally-imagined movements or...
Much unites the three sonatas, besides the overall sense of transcendence suffusing the music. Structurally, they all lead towards their respective finales. All three incorporate large vocally-imagined movements or...
The last three sonatas were neither the last piano pieces Beethoven would write - he followed them with the Diabelli Variations, Op. 120 and the 6 Bagatelles, Op. 126 - nor were they his final works in the sonata form - those would be the late string quartets. But after Op. 111 Beethoven's path did not lead him back to the piano sonata genre. In strong contrast to the Hammerklavier, where the bulging, straining creative muscles are evident in every note, the last three sound like an uninhibited stream of inspiration, captured mid-flow by Beethoven and shaped and moulded by him until they appear to us as near miraculous acts of effortless creation. Whereas the Hammerklavier feels probing, exploring, challenging, the last three are completely at ease with themselves, reflecting not the struggles of a creative genius trying to unfetter himself from all convention, but the poetic utterances of a composer who has gone so far ahead of us that one cannot but feel awe facing these inimitable musical worlds, and gratitude at having been granted access to them.
Much unites the three sonatas, besides the overall sense of transcendence suffusing the music. Structurally, they all lead towards their respective finales. All three incorporate large vocally-imagined movements or...
Much unites the three sonatas, besides the overall sense of transcendence suffusing the music. Structurally, they all lead towards their respective finales. All three incorporate large vocally-imagined movements or...
The last three sonatas were neither the last piano pieces Beethoven Variations, Op. 120 and the 6 Bagatelles, Op. 126 - nor were they his final works in the sonata form - those would be the late string quartets. But after Op. 111 Beethoven's path did not lead him back to the piano sonata genre. In strong contrast to the Hammerklavier, where the bulging, straining creative muscles are evident in every note, the last three sound like an uninhibited stream of inspiration, captured mid-flow by Beethoven and shaped and moulded by him until they appear to us as near miraculous acts of effortless creation. Whereas the Hammerklavier feels probing, exploring, challenging, the last three are completely at ease with themselves, reflecting not the struggles of a creative genius trying to unfetter himself from all convention, but the poetic utterances of a composer who has gone so far ahead of us that one cannot but feel awe facing these inimitable musical worlds, and gratitude at having been granted access to them.
Much unites the three sonatas, besides the overall sense of transcendence suffusing the music. Structurally, they all lead towards their respective finales. All three incorporate large vocally-imagined movements or episodes - a 'song with the most heartfelt emotion' in...
Much unites the three sonatas, besides the overall sense of transcendence suffusing the music. Structurally, they all lead towards their respective finales. All three incorporate large vocally-imagined movements or episodes - a 'song with the most heartfelt emotion' in...
In 1796, a year after the successful publication of the three sonatas Op. 2, Beethoven composed the Grande Sonata for Pianoforte, Op. 7 . By the Grande designation, Beethoven wanted to single it out as a special work, which didn't need other sonatas to be published as an opus. Later, he would give the same epithet to the Pathetique , the Waldstein and the Hammerklavier .
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
In 1796, a year after the successful publication of the three sonatas Op. 2, Beethoven composed the Grande Sonata for Pianoforte , Op. 7. By the 'Grande' designation, Beethoven wanted to single it out as a special work, which didn't need other sonatas to be published as an opus. Later, he would give the same epithet to the Pathetique , the Waldstein and the Hammerklavier .
And the grandness totally applies to the music. It is a tangible evolution from the earlier three works, with extra richness in its textures and timbres (the E-flat major key lending itself to glowing brilliance - think the 'Emperor' concerto years later!), and a more organic integration of virtuosity and music. But perhaps the biggest shift is in Beethoven's imagination - the very concept of what a sonata could be seems expanded; it is as if a previously two-dimensional painting began to acquire depth. A bravura first movement, overflowing with effervescent energy and good-natured humour, presents an abundance of melodies and motives. Beethoven's writing is almost orchestral - one could easily hear horns in the opening, jolly oboes and bassoons in the bridge section and multi-layered string tremolos in the codetta. The exposition is so chock-full of material that Beethoven keeps the development to a...
And the grandness totally applies to the music. It is a tangible evolution from the earlier three works, with extra richness in its textures and timbres (the E-flat major key lending itself to glowing brilliance - think the 'Emperor' concerto years later!), and a more organic integration of virtuosity and music. But perhaps the biggest shift is in Beethoven's imagination - the very concept of what a sonata could be seems expanded; it is as if a previously two-dimensional painting began to acquire depth. A bravura first movement, overflowing with effervescent energy and good-natured humour, presents an abundance of melodies and motives. Beethoven's writing is almost orchestral - one could easily hear horns in the opening, jolly oboes and bassoons in the bridge section and multi-layered string tremolos in the codetta. The exposition is so chock-full of material that Beethoven keeps the development to a...
C minor: by far the most iconic Beethoven key. It's the key of the Fifth Symphony , the Third Piano Concerto, the Coriolan Overture, the Pathetique, etc., etc. - so much, in fact, that 'C minor mood' became a semi-official term in Beethoven literature. It's temptingly easy for us to connect the brooding scowl on Beethoven's portraits and busts to the dramatic, stormy, high-intensity music he wrote in this key: works full of deep pathos and possessed by a relentless, sometimes demonic drive.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
C minor: by far the most iconic Beethoven key. It's the key of the Fifth Symphony , the Third Piano Concerto , the Coriolan Overture , the Pathetique , etc., etc. - so much, in fact, that 'C minor mood' became a semi-official term in Beethoven literature. It's temptingly easy for to connect the brooding scowl on Beethoven's portraits and busts to the dramatic, stormy, high-intensity music he wrote in this key: works full of deep pathos and possessed by a relentless, sometimes demonic drive.
It's also temptingly easy to compare the C minor sonata, Op. 10 No. 1 , with its younger sister, the Pathetique, Op. 13 . The two are but a year or two apart and have a similar structure: a lyrical slow movement in A-flat major surrounded by an energetic first movement and finale. Perhaps, though, dubbing Op. 10 No. 1 'the small Pathetique' isn't that helpful. The earlier sonata may not possess the same catchiness or plumb the depths of human emotion to the same degree as Op. 13, but surely it has more than enough individuality to be loved for what it is, and not just as a precursor to a later work.
https://beethoven32.com/
It's also temptingly easy to compare the C minor sonata, Op. 10 No. 1 , with its younger sister, the Pathetique, Op. 13 . The two are but a year or two apart and have a similar structure: a lyrical slow movement in A-flat major surrounded by an energetic first movement and finale. Perhaps, though, dubbing Op. 10 No. 1 'the small Pathetique' isn't that helpful. The earlier sonata may not possess the same catchiness or plumb the depths of human emotion to the same degree as Op. 13, but surely it has more than enough individuality to be loved for what it is, and not just as a precursor to a later work.
https://beethoven32.com/
The F major sonata, Op. 10 No. 2 , is the short, bright, fun-infused interlude between the dark passion and enchanted lyricism of the C minor sonata, Op. 10 No. 1 , on one side and the mature masterpiece which is the D major sonata, Op. 10 No. 3 , on the other.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
The F major sonata, Op. 10 No. 2 , is the short, bright, fun-infused interlude between the dark passion and enchanted lyricism of the C minor sonata, Op. 10 No. 1 , on one side and the mature masterpiece which is the D major sonata, Op. 10 No. 3 , on the other.
https://beethoven32.com/
https://beethoven32.com/
Similar to the trios Op. 1 and the sonatas Op. 2, it's the third work of the sonatas Op. 10 - the sonata No. 7 , in D major - which Beethoven intended as the high point of the trilogy. He returns there to the expanded, four-movement structure of his first four sonatas, and abandons - perhaps with the exception of the finale - the concise, sometimes even abrupt manner of composition he used in the fast movements of sonatas Nos. 5 and 6.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
Similar to the trios Op. 1 and the sonatas Op. 2 , it's the third work of the sonatas Op. 10 - the sonata No. 7 in D major - which Beethoven intended as the high point of the trilogy. He returns there to the expanded, four-movement structure of his first four sonatas, and abandons - perhaps with the exception of the finale - the concise, sometimes even abrupt manner of composition he used in the fast movements of sonatas Nos. 5 and 6.
https://beethoven32.com/
https://beethoven32.com/
The Pathetique! One of Beethoven's most-loved and most popular works, it sent shockwaves throughout the music world of the late 18th century, and its gripping power hasn't diminished in the 220 years since. The immediacy and intensity of emotion is staggering, right from the opening C minor chord. And just in the first-page introduction we are confronted with pain and pathos, nobility and hope, despair and crushing of said hope - a cry straight out of Beethoven's heart and soul, hurled at us without any protective barriers. I can barely imagine the impact this music must have had on its first listeners.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
The Pathetique! One of Beethoven's most-loved and most popular works, it sent shock waves throughout the music world of the late 18th century, and its gripping power hasn't diminished in the 220 years since. The immediacy and intensity of emotion is staggering, right from the opening C minor chord. And just in the first-page introduction we are confronted with pain and pathos, nobility and hope, despair and crushing of said hope - a cry straight out of Beethoven's heart and soul, hurled at us without any protective barriers. I can barely imagine the impact this music must have had on its first listeners.
https://beethoven32.com/
https://beethoven32.com/
Op. 14 - the utterly lovely, fresh, charming couple of short sonatas, are not just an antithesis but an antidote to the Pathetique , as if Beethoven needed to cleanse his spirit with limpid tones after the extreme dark intensity of the preceding sonata. Both are chamber works in nature, content with a restrained emotional and aural palette, for once not straining against the boundaries of the instrument. Beethoven seems more relaxed here, softer, at times genuinely happy.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
Op. 14 - the utterly lovely, fresh, charming couple of short sonatas, are not just an antithesis but an antidote to the Pathetique , as if Beethoven needed to cleanse his spirit with limpid tones after the extreme dark intensity of the preceding sonata. Both are chamber works in nature, content with a restrained emotional and aural palette, for once not straining against the boundaries of the instrument. Beethoven seems more relaxed here, softer, at times genuinely happy.
https://beethoven32.com/
https://beethoven32.com/
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
After a quarrel with virtuoso violinist George Bridgetower, Beethoven dedicated Sonata No. 9 to the French violinist Rodolphe Kreutzer, who is known to players as the author of the Kreutzer Etudes. Unfortunately, Rodolphe Kreutzer never performed the Sonata: to him, a famous violin teacher, it seemed unplayable.
Featuring the second movement, which unfolds multi-faceted variations with an underlying pastoral mood. In the first variation the string ensemble is dominant, while the solo violinist shines in the second, a pizzicato accompaniment from the strings adding charming tonal colour. The third variation plays out in a minor key, while in the fourth, the theme dissolves into figures and trills, to an intricate accompaniment by the string ensemble.
Featuring the second movement, which unfolds multi-faceted variations with an underlying pastoral mood. In the first variation the string ensemble is dominant, while the solo violinist shines in the second, a pizzicato accompaniment from the strings adding charming tonal colour. The third variation plays out in a minor key, while in the fourth, the theme dissolves into figures and trills, to an intricate accompaniment by the string ensemble.
Presto , the final movement is the starting point for the creation of the Kreutzer Sonata . It was the first of the three movements to be composed, and the vivacity of its tarantella rhythm is fascinating. Through skillful contrapuntal interweaving between the solo violin and the strings, it generates a power that is positively explosive.
From McGill University's Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (Montreal, Canada) comes a path-breaking project. Performer and musicologist Tom Beghin , Tonmeister and producer Martha de Francisco , and recording engineer Wieslaw Woszczyk apply the VIRTUAL ACOUSTICS for the first time to a recording of this magnitude. In the "Immersive Presence" Laboratory, surrounded by a semi-sphere of 24 loudspeakers, Tom Beghin plays "as if" in the historical room. His sounds are captured, mixed with reverberation responses identical to those of the actual location, and retransmitted almost instantaneously through the sphere, allowingt him to engage "the room" then and there.
A documentary series about the great tenors and bel canto singing in the first half of the 20th century by Jan Schmidt-Garre .
With the development of sound film in the 1920s and 30s, the great tenors, such as Beniamino Gigli, Richard Tauber and Lauritz Melchior, became movie stars. Countless "singer movies" were made, but great vocal performances were also captured in documentaries and privately made movies. Using a wealth of rare restored material, this thirteen-part documentary series presents the great tenors from Enrico Caruso to Jussi Bjorling, and together with comprehensive essays, offers a deep and inspiring insight into the art of bel canto.
Bel Canto - The Tenors of the 78 Era series was broadcast in thirty countries and awarded at the Columbus International Film Festival and at Classique en Images at the Louvre.
With the development of sound film in the 1920s and 30s, the great tenors, such as Beniamino Gigli, Richard Tauber and Lauritz Melchior, became movie stars. Countless "singer movies" were made, but great vocal performances were also captured in documentaries and privately made movies. Using a wealth of rare restored material, this thirteen-part documentary series presents the great tenors from Enrico Caruso to Jussi Bjorling, and together with comprehensive essays, offers a deep and inspiring insight into the art of bel canto.
Bel Canto - The Tenors of the 78 Era series was broadcast in thirty countries and awarded at the Columbus International Film Festival and at Classique en Images at the Louvre.
Vincenzo Bellini's first great operatic success I Capuleti e i Montecchi is based on an Italian version of Romeo and Juliet in which the feuding clans seek reconciliation through the wedding of Giulietta and Tebaldo. Giulietta's lover, Romeo, begs her to elope with him, but fate has other plans for the couple.
Topped with the 'agile' coloratura runs and lyrical grace' (The New York Times) of soprano Jessica Pratt, this acclaimed production takes places in the historical and beautifully atmospheric Teatro La Fenice, the same venue in which I Capuleti e i Montecchi had its triumphant premiere in 1830.
Topped with the 'agile' coloratura runs and lyrical grace' (The New York Times) of soprano Jessica Pratt, this acclaimed production takes places in the historical and beautifully atmospheric Teatro La Fenice, the same venue in which I Capuleti e i Montecchi had its triumphant premiere in 1830.
I puritani's is one of Bellini's most creative and influential masterpieces, a bel canto opera stamped with vocal and orchestral writing of intoxicating beauty and dramatic intensity. Set in England in the Civil War shortly before Oliver Cromwell's triumph, it involves romantic and political intrigues that drew from Bellini music of melodic raptness and melancholic depth. It also inspired him to composes some of his most breathtakingly virtuosic passages, notably Elvira's Mad Scene, that call for the utmost in theatrical power. This production includes for the first tome all the music performed a the work's Paris premiere.
Based on real events and drawing on Georg Buchner's revolutionary play, Alban Berg's Wozzeck turns a grimly tragic narrative of violence and murder into one of the most powerful and original operas of the 20th century. Berg's uncompromising portrayal of brutality and madness generated much controversy, but the significance of Wozzeck was soon recognised; its compelling lyrical expansiveness, large-scale dramatic gestures and remarkable musical structures producing music of overwhelming emotional intensity. The Financial Times declared this to be a 'beautiful, moving, engrossing production... this is a consummate Wozzeck, blending clarity, lyricism, compassion and crushing force.'
With his affinity for the 16th-century sculptor Benvenuto Cellini's advocacy of artistic freedom, Hector Berlioz went straight for the grand gesture with his first completed opera. Returning to it years after initial production debacles, Berlioz stated that he would 'never again find such verve and Cellinian impetuosity, nor such a variety of ideas'. The plot revolves around Cellini's wooing of Teresa, a match frustrated at every opportunity by his rival, the cowardly Fieramosca. Benvenuto Cellini is a pithy work combining romance, excitement, violence, comedy and spectacle; the perfect stage for Terry Gilliam's stylishly colourful and larger-than-life directing.
Hollywood's supreme film composer was a casualty of the standard narrative - as he himself was bitterly aware. Not only were his movie scores high creative accomplishments; Bernard Herrmann was a formidabale - and formidably unfashionable - concert composer whose Clarinet Quintet may be the most beautiful chamber music by an American. His Psycho Narrative , which also sampled, surpasses the Psycho Suite normally heard.
He hones his gift for dramatizing the spoken word as the pre-eminent composer for a genre no longer remembered: the radio drama. Example, Whitman (1944) - a Norman Corwin radio play that deserves to live as a concert work. It also exemplifies how radio, an unprecedented mass medium, once consolidated the American experience, its biggest star being Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The participants include the Whitman scholar Karen Karbiener, the critic Alex Ross, Murray Horwitz on radio lore, and William Sharp on playing Walt Whitman to music by Bernard Herrmann.
He hones his gift for dramatizing the spoken word as the pre-eminent composer for a genre no longer remembered: the radio drama. Example, Whitman (1944) - a Norman Corwin radio play that deserves to live as a concert work. It also exemplifies how radio, an unprecedented mass medium, once consolidated the American experience, its biggest star being Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The participants include the Whitman scholar Karen Karbiener, the critic Alex Ross, Murray Horwitz on radio lore, and William Sharp on playing Walt Whitman to music by Bernard Herrmann.
The full splendour of Baroque spatial and sonic drama is encountered in these performances of Heinrich Biber's polyphonic masterpiece, the Missa Salisburgensis , and the Venetian choral works of Claudio Monteverdi , from which it takes inspiration.
Composed in an astonishing 53 parts in 1682, the Mass celebrated the acoustic possibilities of the newly completed Cathedral in Salzburg, the very building in which it is performed in this recording. The authentic 360-degree surround sound sends the music ricocheting from platform and galleries in a dazzling display that exploits acoustics and architecture alike.
Composed in an astonishing 53 parts in 1682, the Mass celebrated the acoustic possibilities of the newly completed Cathedral in Salzburg, the very building in which it is performed in this recording. The authentic 360-degree surround sound sends the music ricocheting from platform and galleries in a dazzling display that exploits acoustics and architecture alike.
Jazz Icons: Art Blakey boasts an exceptional one-hour concert by Art Blakey from Paris in 1965. This performance showcases one of the few undocumented Blakey bands, the New Jazzmen, featuring the incomparable Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, as well as Jaki Byard on piano, Reggie Workman on bass, Nathan Davis on sax and, of course, Art Blakey on drums truly a powerhouse quintet!
Freddie Hubbard's incendiary playing on Blue Moon and the blistering 24-minute version of his own Crisis , serves as a cogent reminder that was one of the most innovative trumpeters in jazz history.
Freddie Hubbard's incendiary playing on Blue Moon and the blistering 24-minute version of his own Crisis , serves as a cogent reminder that was one of the most innovative trumpeters in jazz history.
The String Sextets Nos. 1 and 2 , composed in 1860 and 1864 were instrumental in cementing the composer's reputation, and they epitomize the melodic richness and compositional craftsmanship that would define all his chamber music. The first is full of life and colour; the second, with its beautiful Poco adagio at its heart, captures a characteristic chiaroscuro of texture and colour so typical of Brahms .
Adopted from Thomas Mann's 1923 novella, Death in Venice was Benjamin Britten's last opera, the composer insisting on its competition while delaying badly needed heart surgery. The starkly simple narrative of a famous but failing novelist travelling to Venice to seek inspiration only to find unhealthy infatuation and deadly cholera, is given a chamber-like precision and clarity through Britten's score, becoming a haunting drama filled with musical symbols, disquieting mystery and richly evocative atmospheres of Venice and its strange characters.
Jazz Icons: Dave Brubeck boasts two beautifully filmed concerts from one of the most beloved quartets in jazz history. Captured at the pinnacle of their power and popularity, Paul Desmond (alto sax), Joe Morello (drums), Eugene Wright (bass) and Dave Brubeck (piano) explore the trails they blazed into the realm of odd time signatures with "Forty Days" and two versions of their groundbreaking hit "Take Five", as well as forays into world music with two unique interpretations of "Koto Song". Their intimate onstage chemistry and impeccable musicianship made the DBQ an award-winning jazz supergroup.
Choreographer Jiri Bubenicek's Carmen celebrates the incredible inspiration of Bizet's timeless music in a completely new two-act ballet that also includes music by Albeniz, Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Falla , orchestrated and adapted by Gabrielle Bonolis . The production emphasis aspects of the original drama, heightening the erotic atmosphere of the cigar factory and Carmen's wild spirit, and including a spectacular on-stage horse. The sensational choreography closely depicts the storyline of Prosper Merimee's original novella in a production that was hailed by critics as a triumph.
Benet Casablancas is widely acclaimed as one of the leading Spanish composers of his generation, and his first opera, L'enigma de Lea , is the fruit of his close collaboration with award-winning writer Rafael Argullol. Reality and myth intertwine and become one in his story of love, grief and passion, as Lea wanders through time and space, a castaway of existence, and the bearer of immortality and a secret that cannot be revealed. The winner of several awards, L'enigma di Lea was declared 'a roaring theatrical success... beautifully staged and exquisitely sung' by Barcelona Metropolitan.
Emilio de' Cavalieri's Rappresentatione di Anima et di Corpo was premiered in 1600 in Rome. It was conceived to be performed in costume, bringing text and music together in a dramatic form, and is accepted as the first surviving opera, pre-dating works by Peri and Monteverdi . Its theme is the dialogue of Soul and Body, a pivotal concept of the Italian Counter-Reformation, presented in allegorical form. This production by the acclaimed director Robert Carsen was hailed as 'an unmitigated, tremendous success' and its 'musical production was extraordinary' (bachtrack.com).
Francesco Cavalli , a natural successor to Monteverdi , was the most famous and influential Italian opera composer during the mid-17th century. Cardinal Mazarin, chief minister to the king, commissioned Cavalli to create a Parisian spectacle to celebrate the wedding of the 'Sun King' Louis XIVand the Infanta of Spain. Ercole amante ('Hercules in Love') was the flattering subject chosen for this regal extravaganza combining larger-than-life characters with mythology, and genuine human emotions with natural and cosmic phenomena. The result is a sumptuous Baroque spectacle, conceived on a vast scale in this lavish production by directors Valerie Lesort and Christian Hecq.
Pietro Antonio Cesti was one of the most outstanding champions of 17th-century Venetian opera, and La Dori was both his greatest success and a major influence on the genre in the expressiveness of its arias and duets. The story is set in Babylon on the shores of the Euphrates, and is a convoluted and richly tragicomedic tale of lost lovers, disguises and mistake identities filled with larger-than-life and colourfully costumed characters. This revival of a forgotten masterpiece was acclaimed as 'a production of the highest level in every aspect' (musicacultureaonline.it).
Steeped in nostalgia, in his Danbury childhood and the New England Transcendentalists with whom he profoundly identified, in the American experience of race which he absorbed from his Abolitionist grandparents, Ives used the past with consummate empathy and brave artistry. A musical Whitman or Melville, he embodies the American trope of the 'self-made genius', heeding Emerson's call to cut the cultural umbilical cord with Europe, forging an original path. The music at hand here includes his Second Symphony (a milestones in culling the vernacular to set beside Huckleberry Finn ), The Housatonic at Stockridge (possibly the most sublime nature reverie in the American orchestral repertoire), and The St Gaudens in Boston Common (a singular ghost dirge in tribute to Colonel Robert Gould Shaw's Black Civil War regiment). Also heard portions of Ive's Concord Sonata performed by Steven Mayer (an interpretation seasoned by a lifetime of advocacy) and half a dozen Ives songs peerlessly sung (in live performance with Paul Sanchez) by William Sharp. The commentators include the Ives scholars J. Peter Burkholder and Judith Tick, and the conductor James Sinclair
The Places
Beijing (Peking), the capital of China, has been the site of various cities with different names. Under Kubla Khan, who established the Mongolian Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), a new city, Khanbalik (Cambaluc) was built, to be destroyed by the Ming Emperors, the second of whom made Beijing once again the capital. Many of the historical remains come from the period of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and the following Qing (1644-1911). These include the former imperial palace, known as the Forbidden City, and other palaces, parks and dwellings. The Great Wall is represented by the well-known sight of the Jinshanling section of this ancient structure, built during the early years of the Ming dynasty.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Beijing is played on Chinese instruments and makes use of traditional works and more modern arrangements in traditional style. The instruments to be heard include the Chinese flute (dizi), the zither (qin), the Chinese lute (pipa), the three-string lute (sanxian) and the two-string Chinese fiddle (erhu). The Shepherd and His Flute, for example, is played on the Chinese dulcimer (yangqin), The Moon Over Guanshan on the sanxian and Song of the Tea-Pickers, taken from Yue Opera, is arranged for an instrumental ensemble. As with...
Beijing (Peking), the capital of China, has been the site of various cities with different names. Under Kubla Khan, who established the Mongolian Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), a new city, Khanbalik (Cambaluc) was built, to be destroyed by the Ming Emperors, the second of whom made Beijing once again the capital. Many of the historical remains come from the period of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and the following Qing (1644-1911). These include the former imperial palace, known as the Forbidden City, and other palaces, parks and dwellings. The Great Wall is represented by the well-known sight of the Jinshanling section of this ancient structure, built during the early years of the Ming dynasty.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Beijing is played on Chinese instruments and makes use of traditional works and more modern arrangements in traditional style. The instruments to be heard include the Chinese flute (dizi), the zither (qin), the Chinese lute (pipa), the three-string lute (sanxian) and the two-string Chinese fiddle (erhu). The Shepherd and His Flute, for example, is played on the Chinese dulcimer (yangqin), The Moon Over Guanshan on the sanxian and Song of the Tea-Pickers, taken from Yue Opera, is arranged for an instrumental ensemble. As with...
The Places
Guilin, in Guangxi Province, is famous for its scenic beauty, in which nature seems to imitate Chinese art in a remarkable way. Other districts too boast the extraordinary rock formations that are a feature of the area, set against the lakes and rivers. The region is home to a number of the 56 ethnic minorities of China, including the Yao and Tong peoples. Here one may catch glimpses of the spectacular Dragon Spine terraced rice paddies of Longsheng County and the thin ribbon of rushing water that forms the Longsheng Waterfall.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Guilin is played on traditional Chinese instruments. Performing the music are wind and string ensembles known as "silk and bamboo" from their silk strings and bamboo pipes and ensembles that also include percussion. Instruments given prominence include the dizi, a transverse bamboo flute whose characteristic timbre is produced by a vibrating membrane over one of the holes, and the yangqin, a Chinese dulcimer whose strings are struck with two bamboo sticks. Happy Family and Three Five Seven feature the Chinese shawm, or the suona, and the sheng, a free-reed mouth organ, can be heard in the music that accompanies Longsheng Waterfall. Traditional Chinese music, like Chinese painting, is...
Guilin, in Guangxi Province, is famous for its scenic beauty, in which nature seems to imitate Chinese art in a remarkable way. Other districts too boast the extraordinary rock formations that are a feature of the area, set against the lakes and rivers. The region is home to a number of the 56 ethnic minorities of China, including the Yao and Tong peoples. Here one may catch glimpses of the spectacular Dragon Spine terraced rice paddies of Longsheng County and the thin ribbon of rushing water that forms the Longsheng Waterfall.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Guilin is played on traditional Chinese instruments. Performing the music are wind and string ensembles known as "silk and bamboo" from their silk strings and bamboo pipes and ensembles that also include percussion. Instruments given prominence include the dizi, a transverse bamboo flute whose characteristic timbre is produced by a vibrating membrane over one of the holes, and the yangqin, a Chinese dulcimer whose strings are struck with two bamboo sticks. Happy Family and Three Five Seven feature the Chinese shawm, or the suona, and the sheng, a free-reed mouth organ, can be heard in the music that accompanies Longsheng Waterfall. Traditional Chinese music, like Chinese painting, is...
The Places
Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province, held a position of importance from the time of the Sui dynasty (581-617 CE), and is sited at the end of the Grand Canal, which linked waterways that provided communication between the provinces of China. It was the capital of the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1276) and was visited by Marco Polo in the following Mongol Yuan dynasty. He compared Hangzhou to Venice, praised its traditional arts and crafts, and commented on its great importance in the spice trade and on the beauty of the West Lake with its bordering pavilions and temples. Historical monuments abound, with temples, pagodas, and buildings that recall ancient China.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Hangzhou is played on traditional Chinese instruments. Unusually there is a Bach minuet, transcribed for the Chinese dulcimer, the yangqin, used to accompany a visit to a silk museum. Other instruments heard include the dizi, the Chinese bamboo transverse flute, and ensembles of wind and strings known as "silk and bamboo" from their silk strings and bamboo pipes. Traditional Chinese music, like Chinese painting, is generally associated with a scene or poem, as revealed in its evocative titles.
Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province, held a position of importance from the time of the Sui dynasty (581-617 CE), and is sited at the end of the Grand Canal, which linked waterways that provided communication between the provinces of China. It was the capital of the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1276) and was visited by Marco Polo in the following Mongol Yuan dynasty. He compared Hangzhou to Venice, praised its traditional arts and crafts, and commented on its great importance in the spice trade and on the beauty of the West Lake with its bordering pavilions and temples. Historical monuments abound, with temples, pagodas, and buildings that recall ancient China.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Hangzhou is played on traditional Chinese instruments. Unusually there is a Bach minuet, transcribed for the Chinese dulcimer, the yangqin, used to accompany a visit to a silk museum. Other instruments heard include the dizi, the Chinese bamboo transverse flute, and ensembles of wind and strings known as "silk and bamboo" from their silk strings and bamboo pipes. Traditional Chinese music, like Chinese painting, is generally associated with a scene or poem, as revealed in its evocative titles.
The Places
The city of Shanghai, China's most important port, owes some of its prosperity to the so-called unequal treaties forced on China during the 19th century. The place had its origin as a settlement during the Tang dynasty (618-906 CE), but the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 ceded Hong Kong to the British and made possible the development of foreign trade through the five "treaty ports," of which Shanghai became the most important. The growth of Shanghai into an international trading centre and the concessions made to various foreign countries explain the interesting mixture of architectural styles, continued today with the high-rise buildings of recent years.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Shanghai is played on traditional Chinese instruments. Performing the music are the wind and string ensembles known as "silk and bamboo," from their silk strings and bamboo pipes, and ensembles that also include percussion. Instruments given prominence include the dizi, heard first in Moonlight Autumn Night by the Lake, a transverse bamboo flute, and the yangqin, a Chinese dulcimer whose strings are struck with two bamboo sticks. Traditional Chinese music, like Chinese painting, is largely representational, its character indicated in its titles, although these may...
The city of Shanghai, China's most important port, owes some of its prosperity to the so-called unequal treaties forced on China during the 19th century. The place had its origin as a settlement during the Tang dynasty (618-906 CE), but the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 ceded Hong Kong to the British and made possible the development of foreign trade through the five "treaty ports," of which Shanghai became the most important. The growth of Shanghai into an international trading centre and the concessions made to various foreign countries explain the interesting mixture of architectural styles, continued today with the high-rise buildings of recent years.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Shanghai is played on traditional Chinese instruments. Performing the music are the wind and string ensembles known as "silk and bamboo," from their silk strings and bamboo pipes, and ensembles that also include percussion. Instruments given prominence include the dizi, heard first in Moonlight Autumn Night by the Lake, a transverse bamboo flute, and the yangqin, a Chinese dulcimer whose strings are struck with two bamboo sticks. Traditional Chinese music, like Chinese painting, is largely representational, its character indicated in its titles, although these may...
The Places
This Naxos China Travelogue tour of Shanxi starts with the ancient walled city of Pingyao, once a thriving commercial center. The former wealth of the province is witnessed by the Courtyard Houses of the Qu and Wang families, extensive compounds dating principally from the 18th century. Shuanglin Temple, part of the Pingyao world heritage site, is seen, with its collection of 2,000 painted statues from the Song and Yuan dynasties. There are views of Mount Wutai, the first of the Four Sacred Mountains for Chinese Buddhism, with some of its many monasteries and temples, and other Buddhist monuments at the Chongsan Monastery and Jinci Temple. The most remarkable of all is the Hanging Monastery at the foot of Mount Heng, one of the Five Sacred Mountains of Taoism, apparently hanging on a sheer cliff face. The Yingxian Wooden Pagoda of Fogong Temple, dating from the 11th century, is the oldest and highest in China. Still earlier are the carvings of the Yungang Grottoes, some 51,000 statues of the Buddha in 252 caverns, dating originally from the 5th and 6th centuries. The tour ends with the sight of the remarkable Hukuo Waterfall, with its 50-metre descent in a gorge on the Yellow River. The journey is accompanied by traditional Chinese instruments and music.
This Naxos China Travelogue tour of Shanxi starts with the ancient walled city of Pingyao, once a thriving commercial center. The former wealth of the province is witnessed by the Courtyard Houses of the Qu and Wang families, extensive compounds dating principally from the 18th century. Shuanglin Temple, part of the Pingyao world heritage site, is seen, with its collection of 2,000 painted statues from the Song and Yuan dynasties. There are views of Mount Wutai, the first of the Four Sacred Mountains for Chinese Buddhism, with some of its many monasteries and temples, and other Buddhist monuments at the Chongsan Monastery and Jinci Temple. The most remarkable of all is the Hanging Monastery at the foot of Mount Heng, one of the Five Sacred Mountains of Taoism, apparently hanging on a sheer cliff face. The Yingxian Wooden Pagoda of Fogong Temple, dating from the 11th century, is the oldest and highest in China. Still earlier are the carvings of the Yungang Grottoes, some 51,000 statues of the Buddha in 252 caverns, dating originally from the 5th and 6th centuries. The tour ends with the sight of the remarkable Hukuo Waterfall, with its 50-metre descent in a gorge on the Yellow River. The journey is accompanied by traditional Chinese instruments and music.
The Places
This Naxos China Travelogue tour of Sichuan (Szechwan) takes us to a land of lakes and snow-capped mountains with a fertile central plain. The tour starts in Chengdu in a park, where there is a replica of the thatched cottage in which the Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu (Tu Fu) took refuge for years. Temples in the province include the elaborate Wuhou Memorial Temple, the temples on Qingcheng Mountain and the legendary Fulong Temple. Most impressive of all, however, must be the natural scenery of the rivers, lakes, waterfalls, and mountains that protected the province from invasion for so many centuries. The tour is accompanied by music played on traditional instruments.
This Naxos China Travelogue tour of Sichuan (Szechwan) takes us to a land of lakes and snow-capped mountains with a fertile central plain. The tour starts in Chengdu in a park, where there is a replica of the thatched cottage in which the Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu (Tu Fu) took refuge for years. Temples in the province include the elaborate Wuhou Memorial Temple, the temples on Qingcheng Mountain and the legendary Fulong Temple. Most impressive of all, however, must be the natural scenery of the rivers, lakes, waterfalls, and mountains that protected the province from invasion for so many centuries. The tour is accompanied by music played on traditional instruments.
The Places
Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, continues to exercise a strange fascination over visitors, traditionally through its very remoteness. This Naxos China Travelogue tour starts with views of the Potala, the White Palace and the Red Palace, built in the 17th century on the site of a palace built a thousand years before. The Jokhang, dating from the 7th century, houses a revered image of the Buddha. Some five kilometers north of central Lhasa is the Sera Monastery, founded in the 15th century, with its colleges, statues and relics of former lamas. Fifty kilometres to the northeast is the Ganden Monastery, founded in the same period and holding important religious relics. The tour ends with a visit to Yumbulagang, said to be the oldest building in Tibet, which was consecrated to its ancient kings. The tour is accompanied by Tibetan music, the chanting of monks and other vocal and instrumental music matched with remarkable views of the country, its buildings and mountain scenery.
Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, continues to exercise a strange fascination over visitors, traditionally through its very remoteness. This Naxos China Travelogue tour starts with views of the Potala, the White Palace and the Red Palace, built in the 17th century on the site of a palace built a thousand years before. The Jokhang, dating from the 7th century, houses a revered image of the Buddha. Some five kilometers north of central Lhasa is the Sera Monastery, founded in the 15th century, with its colleges, statues and relics of former lamas. Fifty kilometres to the northeast is the Ganden Monastery, founded in the same period and holding important religious relics. The tour ends with a visit to Yumbulagang, said to be the oldest building in Tibet, which was consecrated to its ancient kings. The tour is accompanied by Tibetan music, the chanting of monks and other vocal and instrumental music matched with remarkable views of the country, its buildings and mountain scenery.
The Places
The capital of Shaanxi Province, Xi'an, its name translating as "Western Peace," was the Chinese capital during the Tang dynasty (618-906 CE). The Big Wild Goose Pagoda, completed in 704 on the orders of Empress Wu Zetian, is one of the oldest such structures in China. Of particular interest is the tomb of the Emperor Huang, regarded as the founder of the unified Chinese nation, and the remarkable terracotta warriors and horses discovered around the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang Di, founder of the Qin dynasty who died in 210 BCE. The tour ends with views of the precipitous Huashan (Flower Mountain), so called from its five peaks grouped in the shape of a great flower.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Xi'an is played on traditional Chinese instruments. The excerpts include, to accompany the terracotta warriors, a contemporary composition inspired by Zhang Ji's poem Night at the Maple Bridge giving particular prominence to the zhongruan, a form of Chinese lute of ancient origin. Other instruments heard are the Chinese transverse bamboo flute, the dizi; the Chinese plucked zither, the guqin; and the Chinese lute, the pipa. A glimpse of operatic stage performance finds a place for a Shaanxi opera tune, an example of the music to be heard in the many...
The capital of Shaanxi Province, Xi'an, its name translating as "Western Peace," was the Chinese capital during the Tang dynasty (618-906 CE). The Big Wild Goose Pagoda, completed in 704 on the orders of Empress Wu Zetian, is one of the oldest such structures in China. Of particular interest is the tomb of the Emperor Huang, regarded as the founder of the unified Chinese nation, and the remarkable terracotta warriors and horses discovered around the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang Di, founder of the Qin dynasty who died in 210 BCE. The tour ends with views of the precipitous Huashan (Flower Mountain), so called from its five peaks grouped in the shape of a great flower.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Xi'an is played on traditional Chinese instruments. The excerpts include, to accompany the terracotta warriors, a contemporary composition inspired by Zhang Ji's poem Night at the Maple Bridge giving particular prominence to the zhongruan, a form of Chinese lute of ancient origin. Other instruments heard are the Chinese transverse bamboo flute, the dizi; the Chinese plucked zither, the guqin; and the Chinese lute, the pipa. A glimpse of operatic stage performance finds a place for a Shaanxi opera tune, an example of the music to be heard in the many...
The Places
This Naxos China Travelogues tour of Xinjiang (Sinkiang) starts in the old town of Kashgar, with its Uighur shops and alleys. Travelling to Tianchi (Heavenly Lake) in the Tianshan Mountain range, we see Kazakh yurts and flocks of sheep and something of the varied flora and fauna of the area. In Kashgar again, the tomb of Abakh Khoja, a famous local ruler in the early Qing dynasty, makes a contrast with the busy city life of the capital, Urumqi. Some 30 kilometres takes us to the geographical centre of the continent of Asia, while back at the heart of Kashgar itself is the 15th-century yellow-tiled Id Kah Mosque. There are views of strange rock formations in the countryside and of the colourful Lake Sayram, with the alpine scenery of Kanas Lake and the fertile vineyards of Grape Valley. The tour of this varied region, with its Uighur, Mongolian, Kazakh, Tatar, Uzbek, Han and other ethnic groups, ends with the snow-capped Tianshan Mountain with its great glaciers. The tour is accompanied by traditional music and instruments.
This Naxos China Travelogues tour of Xinjiang (Sinkiang) starts in the old town of Kashgar, with its Uighur shops and alleys. Travelling to Tianchi (Heavenly Lake) in the Tianshan Mountain range, we see Kazakh yurts and flocks of sheep and something of the varied flora and fauna of the area. In Kashgar again, the tomb of Abakh Khoja, a famous local ruler in the early Qing dynasty, makes a contrast with the busy city life of the capital, Urumqi. Some 30 kilometres takes us to the geographical centre of the continent of Asia, while back at the heart of Kashgar itself is the 15th-century yellow-tiled Id Kah Mosque. There are views of strange rock formations in the countryside and of the colourful Lake Sayram, with the alpine scenery of Kanas Lake and the fertile vineyards of Grape Valley. The tour of this varied region, with its Uighur, Mongolian, Kazakh, Tatar, Uzbek, Han and other ethnic groups, ends with the snow-capped Tianshan Mountain with its great glaciers. The tour is accompanied by traditional music and instruments.
The Places
A region of mountains and lakes, the province of Yunnan lies to the south of Sichuan. This Naxos China Travelogue tour starts with the Old Town of Lijiang, with its narrow cobbled streets and closely packed traditional buildings. Later the tour moves to Shuhe, otherwise known as Longquan Village, which is a few kilometers north of Lijiang but boasts comparable traditional buildings as a place where the minority Naxi People have long lived. Mountains in Yunnan include Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, its name that of a legendary defender of the region, transformed with his brother into thirteen peaks. The tour visits the historic capital of Yunnan, Kunming, now home to some five million inhabitants. Scenes of Yunnan are matched with traditional music.
A region of mountains and lakes, the province of Yunnan lies to the south of Sichuan. This Naxos China Travelogue tour starts with the Old Town of Lijiang, with its narrow cobbled streets and closely packed traditional buildings. Later the tour moves to Shuhe, otherwise known as Longquan Village, which is a few kilometers north of Lijiang but boasts comparable traditional buildings as a place where the minority Naxi People have long lived. Mountains in Yunnan include Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, its name that of a legendary defender of the region, transformed with his brother into thirteen peaks. The tour visits the historic capital of Yunnan, Kunming, now home to some five million inhabitants. Scenes of Yunnan are matched with traditional music.
The 24 etudes for solo piano that make up Chopin's Opp. 10 and 25 cycles may be technical exercises, but their extra-musicality and picture painting has ensured their sustained popularity and place in the repertoire. Etude in E flat major, Op. 10, No. 11 , with its spread of undulating arpeggios, creates a gently rippling texture
that translates idiomatically to the soft, resonant tones of the marimba. By contrast, Etude in A minor, Op. 25, No. 4 , marked Agitato, is closer in character to a technical study but its syncopated staccato rhythm, which sets left-hand leaps against right-hand chords, creates a narrative of high drama.
that translates idiomatically to the soft, resonant tones of the marimba. By contrast, Etude in A minor, Op. 25, No. 4 , marked Agitato, is closer in character to a technical study but its syncopated staccato rhythm, which sets left-hand leaps against right-hand chords, creates a narrative of high drama.
This selection of music for Christmas brings together East and West in the collaboration of Winchester College Chapel Choir and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded live in Hong Kong in December 2004, this disc features a selection of perennial favourites from the Baroque period, including Bach cantatas and Handel's Messiah , and three exquisite modern carols.
Francisco Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur was inspired by the real-life story of a celebrated actress at the Comedie-Francaise who was much admired by Voltaire. Hailed as a masterpiece, the opera was triumphantly staged in cities around the world after its premiere in 1902. The dramatically effective narrative is a passionate love triangle filled with intrigue and complicated plot twists set in the gallant 19th century. Its subtle ironies and gorgeous cantabile style of music provide a perfect vehicle for the star cast in the stunning production from the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.
L'Italiana in Londra was Domenico Cimarosa's first international triumph, thrilling audiences all over Europe after its premiere in 1778. However, it later became eclipsed by the even bigger success of Il matrimonio segreto , and has become a rarity on stage today. Set in a London hotel, this cheerful Intermezzo in musica has cleverly crafted arias, duets and ensembles that drive the plot along, the story being one of thwarted love, quarrels, and misundertandings. L'Italiana in Londra has been summed up by the director R.B. Schlather as 'incredibly charming and sophisticated... demanding, dark, dirty and very funny ... an impeccable rom-com.'
Described as 'the great Verdian bass'(Le Figaro) and a 'Mefistofele who stood out over all the others' (Der Neue Merker), Carlo Colombra brings some of the most famous bass roles to life in this wide-ranging programme. Emotions range from the pride of Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen , through the terrors of Verdi's Attila , to the tender recollections of Rachmaninov's Aleko . Mephistopheles strides powerfully through both Gounod and Boito's operas, and Rossini's comic with contrasts with the darkness of Mussorgsky's Boris Godonov
Jazz Icons: John Coltrane provides an epic 95-minute overview of a true giant of 20th-century music. Three separate shows reveal Coltrane's ascending creative arc from hard bop innovator as a member of the Miles Davis Quartet in 1960 to consummate bandleader in 1961 to unrivalled jazz visionary in 1965. This video not only features Trane's classic quartet with Elvin Jones (drums), Jimmy Garrison (bass) and McCoy Tyner (piano), but also spotlights him onstage with other jazz legends including Stan Gets, Eric Dolphy and Oscar Peterson. Includes mind-blowing versions of his signature tunes "My Favorite Things" and "Impressions".
Made for the 1939 New York World's Fair ("The World of Tomorrow"), The City is a seminal documentary film distinguished for the organic integration of narration (scripted by city planner Lewis Mumford), cinematography (Ralph Steiner and Willard Van Dyke), and music (Aaron Copland). The score, arguably Copland's highest achievement in film, was also his ticket to Hollywood; it has been called "an astonishing missing link not only in the genesis of Copland's Americana style but in American music and cinema" (Mark Swed, The Los Angeles Times ). As the film contains no dialogue, it is possible to create a fresh soundtrack and discover musical riches inaudible on the original monaural recording. As Copland created no suite from The City, the present video at the same time marks the world premiere recording of this music in its entirety.
Bonus features:
- The City with the original soundtrack (1939) featuring Morris Carnovsky (narrator) and an orchestra conducted by Max Goberman
- Which Playground for your Child: Greenbelt or Gutter? (2000): a documentary film from the Greenbelt Museum featuring interviews with three Greenbelt "pioneers"
- George Stoney in conversation with Joseph Horowitz (2007): a legendary documentary filmmaker revisits The City
Bonus features:
- The City with the original soundtrack (1939) featuring Morris Carnovsky (narrator) and an orchestra conducted by Max Goberman
- Which Playground for your Child: Greenbelt or Gutter? (2000): a documentary film from the Greenbelt Museum featuring interviews with three Greenbelt "pioneers"
- George Stoney in conversation with Joseph Horowitz (2007): a legendary documentary filmmaker revisits The City
This concert film made in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles in 1976 captures a memorable performance conducted by the doyen of American composers, Aaron Copland . It includes some of his greatest and most attractive music, from the patriotic flourish of Fanfare of the Common Man and the spirited orchestral Fantasy El salon Mexico , to the colloquial warmth of his suite from the opera The Tender Land . Of particular importance is the collaboration with the great Benny Goodman in the masterwork he commissioned and premiered, the Clarinet Concerto .
It's all eerily pertinent today, this saga of an iconic American composer jostled by Populist currents on the far left, then the far right - and finally retreating from the fray. The film includes the participation of a couple of distinguished American historians: Michael Kazin (on Populism) and Joseph McCartin (on the Red Scare). It also incorporates extensive excerpts from PCE's Naxos DVD of The City (1939) - Copland's highest achievement as a film composer, and the least known consequential music that he composed.
The works of award-winning composer Chaya Czernowin have been performed worldwide at significant new music festivals and prestigious venues, and she is the first woman to be appointed composition professor at Harvard University. Commissioned by Deutsche Oper Berlin and widely acclaimed in the critical press, Heart Chamber uses voice and stage as internalised sonic and visual landscapes to create a genuine multi-sensory musical experience. With only two characters and a hint of a narrative, this is a grand opera on the smallest of transformations, focusing on the intense beauty and vulnerabilities of falling in love. 'It is seldom that audiences at the Duetsche Oper Berlin have listened with such rapture to a new commission' (Online Merker).
A performer of fierce integrity and dazzling communicative power, young French pianist Lucas Debarque became the most talked-about artist of the fifteenth International Tchaikovsky Competition. The documentary offers unique insights into Debarque's life as a musician at the beginning of a remarkable career, with rehearsals and concerts from Moscow to Chicago via Weimar and Salerno, revealing talents as a composer and jazz improvisor and his first-time entry into a world of recording studios, touring and fame, in a crucial year of discoveries.
Lost after its material records were destroyed by fire in 1883, the spectacular ballet La Source originally portrayed the idealistic vision of a magical domain in which a complex but beautiful love story of mythical figures unfolded. Jean-Guillaume Bart has long been captivated by La Source, and his new choreography retains the ballet's romantic fascinations and its glorious music Delibes and Minkus . Filled with exotic colour and atmosphere, Bart takes the narrative on an odyssey through near- and far-flung realms of classical dance in a brilliant production, further elevated by Christian Lacroix's gorgeous costumes and Eric Ruf's imaginative set designs.
Premiered in 1883, Lakme remains one of the most popular of all French operas. Reflecting contemporary tastes, the original source material presented a tragic liaison between French officer and a Tahitian woman on a Pacific Island, but Delibes moved the location to British-rules India where the two central characters are tor between passion and loyalty, and assailed by a financial religious leader. For this opera Delibes wrote music of indelible beauty, including the much-loved Flower Duet and Bell Song .
Donizetti's Don Pasquale represents the high point of the Italian buff tradition, a sparking comedy using characters from commedia dell'arte in ways that are entertaining, witty and playful. It was the work selected by the Vienna State Opera for its 1977 tour through Austria. Starring famous singers like the bass Oskar Czerwenka, the great lyric tenor Luigi Alva and, on the cusp of international fame, Edita Gruberova (soon to become the 'queen of bel canto') - this filmed performance, in colour and sung in German, showcases on outstanding ensemble at the height of its powers.
Based on Victor Hugo's most sensational play, Lucrece Borgia, a scandalous tale of murder, torture, incest, homosexuality, drunkenness and orgies, Donizetti's opera is one of the great masterpieces of Italian bel canto repertoire. While omitting some of its more excessive elements, the libretto by Felice Romani inspired Donizetti to compose superb arias, duets, ensembles and choruses, bringing each act to a stirring conclusion. Beautifully costumed and designed, brimming with high drama and pathos, this production stars in the infamous title role Greek diva Dimitra Theodossiou, praised for her stupendous acting and singing in Donizetti's Roberto Devereux.
In Donizetti's opera Maria Stuarda the roles of the doomed queen and her cousin, Elizabeth I, have been taken by some of the greatest divas, from Malibran to Gruberova and Tosi to Baltsa, each revelling in the high drama of their tragically linked fates. "Contributing greatly to the success of the work, the young Maestro Riccardo Frizza revealed himself as a deep and sensitive interpreter of this score, managing to capture all the nuances of Donizetti's music?EUR? Laura Polverelli portrayed with elegance and pride the character of Elizabeth, her furies, doubts and jealousies; Maria Pia Piscitelli was a wonderful Maria Stuarda, passionate, sorrowful, proud, dignified when sentenced to death, recalling her past sins yet conscious of her innocence" (MusiCulturA) .
Donizetti's fiftieth opera, Marino Faliero, was first performed in Paris on 12 March 1835 with a cast comprising four of the finest singers of the period before premiering in London a few weeks later. Although these premieres were both overshadowed by Bellini's I Puritani, Marino Faliero subsequently enjoyed a long and successful run on international performances throughout the 19th century before disappearing from the stage until its modern revival in 1966. Set in Venice in 1355, it remains a major work of Italian Romanticism, sentimental, martial, full of conspiratorial adventure and culminating with the execution of the leading role.
One of Donizetti's most emotionally raw operas, Roberto Devereux ossia Il conte di Essex was also the third to be loosely based on episodes in the life of Queen Elizabeth I. It deals with the love of Elizabeth and her favourite, the Earl of Essex, perhaps most tellingly expressed in the Act I duet, Nascondi, frena i palpiti, o misero mio core (Hide, hold back your palpitation, oh my wretched heart!). Elizabeth's subsequent abdication is, however, a matter of dramatic licence, yet provides a memorable operatic conclusion to this tragedy of love and jealousy as she despairs at the death of her lover ?EUR" Quel sangue versato al ciel s'innalza (The blood that is spilt rises up to Heaven). Directed by Francesco Bellotto, this was the inaugural production of the Bergamo Music Festival 2006, featuring the Greek soprano and leading Donizetti specialist, Dimitra Theodossiou, and the young American baritone Andrew Schroeder, both in superb voice.
This first film in the series keys on Dvorak's prophecy and explores its present-day pertinence. In New York City and Spillville, Iowa, Dvorak boldly chose to regard African Americans and Native Americans as representative Americans. That decision was both acclaimed and ridicules at the time. It remains inspirational. His New World Symphony , still the best-known and best-loved symphonic work conceived on American soil, is saturated with the influence of plantation song, and also with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's The Song of Hiawatha . This act of appropriation, the film argues, was an act of empathy performed by a great humanitarian.
The musical selections are mainly taken fro the Hiawatha Melodrama , which co-composed with the music historian Michael Beckerman with orchestrations by Angel Gil-Ordonez. It makes Dvorak with Longfellow.
The participating commentators include the music historians Mark Clague and Lorenzo Candelaria, the literary historian Brian Yothers, the conductor JoAnn Falletta, faculty members from Howard University - and also (sagely commenting on cultural appropriation) the bass-baritone Kevin Deas, with whom Horowitz long enjoyed the privilege of performing the spiritual arrangements of Dvorak's assistant Harry Burleigh.
The musical selections are mainly taken fro the Hiawatha Melodrama , which co-composed with the music historian Michael Beckerman with orchestrations by Angel Gil-Ordonez. It makes Dvorak with Longfellow.
The participating commentators include the music historians Mark Clague and Lorenzo Candelaria, the literary historian Brian Yothers, the conductor JoAnn Falletta, faculty members from Howard University - and also (sagely commenting on cultural appropriation) the bass-baritone Kevin Deas, with whom Horowitz long enjoyed the privilege of performing the spiritual arrangements of Dvorak's assistant Harry Burleigh.
Jazz Icons: Duke Ellington features the earliest-known filmed full-length concert by one of the 20th Century's greatest songwriters and bandleaders. Filmed at Amsterdam's famed Concertgebouw, this 80-minute concert the 16-piece Duke Ellington Orchestra two years after their stunning performance at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival, which Duke considered his second birth. This epic performance includes legendary players Clark Terry, Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, Paul Gonsalves, Quentin Jackson and Ray Nance performimg some of the most beloved American music ever written.
Jazz Icons: Art Farmer highlights an amazing one hour Art Farmer concert from 1964 featuring the great flugelhornist in his prime. Farmer's top-notch band includes legendary guitarist Jim Hall (fresh from Sonny Rollins' band), drummer Pete LaRoca and Steve Swallow on bass. This legendary ensemble plays both standards and originals with ease and finesse and highlights why Farmer was considered one of the most innovative horn players in all of jazz.
Carlisle Floyd is one of America's foremost composers. Though he has also written in other forms, he is renowned for his operas, for which he also writes the libretti. The most famous and popular is his third opera, Susannah , premiered in 1955 and the second most performed of all American operas. Updated and set in Tennessee, it is loosely based on the Apocryphal tale of Susanna and the Elders. The work is rooted in vernacular folk melodies and hymns and contains soaring melodic beauty.
Opera evenings can be life-changing. Anyone who saw Callas still talks about her today. And they still exist, the great heroines: singers who pierce our hearts. This film presents three of them, explores what they do, how they do it and what it does to us: Ermonela Jaho , Barbara Hannigan and Asmik Grigorian . Their cultural backgrounds - Albanian, Canadian, Lithuanian - are remarkably diverse, yet they have one thing in common: they give their utmost on stage and hold nothing back. They merge with their stage personae and strive for the full experience.
Hannigan is the analyst. She dissects every role in minute detail and interprets it with icy fire. Her Lulu, her Melisande, her Marie in Zimmermann's Soldaten are beings from a future world: remote, self-assured, modern women. Masculine desire leaves them cold; even when they succumb, they are still in charge. This is similar to Grigorian, who won acclaim for her Salome in Salzburg. Grigorian's Salome is both victim and perpetrator; she enjoys her desire and the deadly spiral into which she is drawn. With Jaho, on the other hand, everything is in the voice; she carries the whole gamut of emotions in it and captivates audiences - as Violetta, Angelica, Ciocio-san - with her vocal acting.
Hannigan is the analyst. She dissects every role in minute detail and interprets it with icy fire. Her Lulu, her Melisande, her Marie in Zimmermann's Soldaten are beings from a future world: remote, self-assured, modern women. Masculine desire leaves them cold; even when they succumb, they are still in charge. This is similar to Grigorian, who won acclaim for her Salome in Salzburg. Grigorian's Salome is both victim and perpetrator; she enjoys her desire and the deadly spiral into which she is drawn. With Jaho, on the other hand, everything is in the voice; she carries the whole gamut of emotions in it and captivates audiences - as Violetta, Angelica, Ciocio-san - with her vocal acting.
Jazz Icons: Erroll Garner presents two beautifully filmed concerts from 1963 and 1964 featuring his classic trio of bassist Eddie Calhoun and drummer Kelly Martin.
Erroll Garner was one of jazz's true original players and this DVD showcases his improvisational brilliance on a parade of his most classic numbers. The trio delivers throughout both shows including favorites Fly Me To The Moon and I Get A Kick Out Of You as well as originals Erroll's Theme , Mambo Erroll and his best-known composition, Misty .
Erroll Garner was one of jazz's true original players and this DVD showcases his improvisational brilliance on a parade of his most classic numbers. The trio delivers throughout both shows including favorites Fly Me To The Moon and I Get A Kick Out Of You as well as originals Erroll's Theme , Mambo Erroll and his best-known composition, Misty .
A political prisoner awaits death in his cell. A woman puts herself in mortal danger to seek justice. With its atmosphere of revolution and tale of devotional romance and a dramatic rescue from captivity, Pierre Gaveaux's Leonore, ou L'Amour conjugal was the direct forerunner to Beethoven's Fidelio . Having been entirely overshadowed by its famous successor and lain hidden for centuries, this both darkly sombre and entertainingly celebratory opera comique is seen here in an acclaimed modern premiere. Opera Lafayette's production was filmed at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater, John Jay College, New York, in 2017. It is a timeless and inspiring story of female heroism and political injustice which is as relevant today as ever.
From Gangnam Style to BTS - the Korean music industry is a global phenomenon. Teens with the perfect look are launched all the time, on social media and in choreographed music videos with easy-listening hits.
Carlo Gesualdo - beastly murderer and divine composer - is one of the most striking figures in the history of music. Based on his dramatic honour killing, the film tells the story of multifaceted, revolutionary music and the search for forgiveness.
Gesualdo, 47, is the Prince of Venosa, a musical genius and insomniac. Every night he lies awake, haunted by the gruesome act he committed on the 16th of October 1590. Developing from this opening sequence, the documentary tells the story of this extraordinary character, well-illustrated through visits to the original settings in Naples and the village of Gesualdo, as well as enacted scenes.
Through the power of music, the film explores the thin line between fascination and disgust. How is it possible to commit a capital crime, yet write divine music? Are crime and genius interwoven? And can salvation through music be achieved?
Gesualdo, 47, is the Prince of Venosa, a musical genius and insomniac. Every night he lies awake, haunted by the gruesome act he committed on the 16th of October 1590. Developing from this opening sequence, the documentary tells the story of this extraordinary character, well-illustrated through visits to the original settings in Naples and the village of Gesualdo, as well as enacted scenes.
Through the power of music, the film explores the thin line between fascination and disgust. How is it possible to commit a capital crime, yet write divine music? Are crime and genius interwoven? And can salvation through music be achieved?
Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer.
These exceptional performances received widespread critical acclaim upon their original digital release, and this premiere 9-disc boxed set includes extended personal and informative booklet notes written by the pianist. From the vivid energy of the early sonatas, through the dark passions and enchanted lyricism of Beethoven's middle period, to the awe-inspiring transcendence of the final sonatas - this cycle runs the full gamut of human emotion.
These exceptional performances received widespread critical acclaim upon their original digital release, and this premiere 9-disc boxed set includes extended personal and informative booklet notes written by the pianist. From the vivid energy of the early sonatas, through the dark passions and enchanted lyricism of Beethoven's middle period, to the awe-inspiring transcendence of the final sonatas - this cycle runs the full gamut of human emotion.
This centenary performance of Umberto Giordano's Marcella was prepared from the composer's manuscript, the score and parts having been destroyed during World War II. Recalling Verdi's La Traviata and Puccini's La Rondine , as well as Giordano's own Andrea Chenier and Fedora , Marcella is the story of a poor girl and a painter whose idyllic affair is shattered when events reveal that her true love is actually a prince incognito.
The famous traditional Chinese tale La Fresque (The Painting on the Wall) tells of two travellers who take shelter at a small temple, one of whom becomes so enraptured by the image of a beautiful girl in a fresco that he is transported into another dimension.
Angelin Preljocaj, one of France's leading contemporary choreographers, explores this mysterious relationship between representation and reality with a spectacular and unforgettable ballet filled with dynamic action, emotive lyricism and powerful responses to the music of Nicolas Godin , one half of the celebrated music duo Air. La Fresque has been admired for its 'breath-taking scenes' (La Terresse) and its 'dark and splendid' (L'Humanite).
Angelin Preljocaj, one of France's leading contemporary choreographers, explores this mysterious relationship between representation and reality with a spectacular and unforgettable ballet filled with dynamic action, emotive lyricism and powerful responses to the music of Nicolas Godin , one half of the celebrated music duo Air. La Fresque has been admired for its 'breath-taking scenes' (La Terresse) and its 'dark and splendid' (L'Humanite).
Jazz Icons: Dexter Gordon features three concerts filmed in 1963 and 1964 in Holland, Switzerland and Belgium that highlight the bebop legend's classic style and silky tone. Filmed while Dexter was living in Europe, these shows feature legendary side musicians such as Art Taylor (drums) and Kenny Drew (piano) and jazz classics "Blues Walk", "A Night In Tunisia", "Body And Soul" and others. One of the most influential saxophonists in jazz history (both John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins claim him as an influence), Dexter Gordon is captured in sharp form and style on this 70-minute tour de force.
Charles Gounod was enchanted by the young Provencal-born Frederic Mistral's epic love poem Mireio, and enlisted the distinguished Michel Carre to fashion a libretto. Against the grain of prevailing operatic practice in the 1860s, and its promotion of glamour and spectacle, Gounod relished instead the lives of modest country people and their idyllic world. He utilizes folk dances and a shepherd's lament to chart the story of his tragic heroine whose desire to marry her true love ends in her death. 'Everything feels true to the opera's pastoral spirit' wrote Gramophone about this production, which marked the opera's first appearance at the Paris Opera.
On 7 April 1923, Ciboulette premiered at the Theatre des Varieties in Paris, and, as one of Reynaldo Hahn's most elegant and refined works, it is considered one of the last masterpieces of French operetta. The story tells of the pretty market gardener Ciboulette who, after an encounter with a fortune teller, decides to throw herself into a hedonistic future. She comes across a whole collection of Parisian characters, but true love eventually triumphs as the prophecy is fulfilled. Although Hahn wrote other works in this genre none of them would match Ciboulette's success. This Opera Comique production has been acclaimed by BBC Music Magazine for a cast that was 'impeccable'.
Jazz Icons: Lionel Hampton spotlights a fiery hour-long concert from one of the most beloved bandleaders in jazz history. Hamp, the irrepressible king of entertainers, plays vibes, drums, piano, and sings and dances as he and his legendary big band absolutely delight this Belgian audience.
Featuring stalwart jazz soloists such as Andy McGhee, Art Hoyle, Billy Mackel, Lou Blackburn, Bobby Plater, Wilbert Hogan, and Eddie Williams, the Hampton Orchestra plays Hamp's signature blend of jump blues, jazz, and rhythm 'n' blues, whipping the audience into a frenzy.
Hamp made it his mission to bring the joys of American music to the rest of the world and this video preserves an incredible example of his work for ages to come.
Featuring stalwart jazz soloists such as Andy McGhee, Art Hoyle, Billy Mackel, Lou Blackburn, Bobby Plater, Wilbert Hogan, and Eddie Williams, the Hampton Orchestra plays Hamp's signature blend of jump blues, jazz, and rhythm 'n' blues, whipping the audience into a frenzy.
Hamp made it his mission to bring the joys of American music to the rest of the world and this video preserves an incredible example of his work for ages to come.
During his years in Italy, Handel absorbed the music of his contemporaries and mastered new stylistic trends. Though the staging of La resurrezione was a memorable event in the Roman musical world, it was the production of Agrippina that marked Handel's definitive investiture as an operatic composer. It met with enormous success and an unprecedented number of performances followed. Its melodic power is overwhelming and in his creation of credible and vivid characters, the alternation of recitative and arias, and sheer theatrical power, Handel established the template that was to last for the remainder of his operatic career.
Influential German poet Barthold Heinrich Brockes reinvented the Passion oratorio tradition, transforming its textures into a much-admired poetic meditation that tool hold of the immigration of many German Baroque composers. Of several settings Handel's is by far the most famous, creating an eloquent and moving score from his friend's libretto. This acclaimed staged version directed by Walter Sutcliffe extends the vision of the original by asking fundamental questions about the evolution of mankind and its dangerous implications for planet Earth.
Initially a failure when first performed in London in 1750, Theodora has proved to be one of Handel's most enduring and compassionate masterpieces - a work of introspective depth about the redemptive power of tolerance. Theodora's determination to die in defence of her religious freedom offers her the promise of eternal salvation. In this acclaimed Viennese production, award-winning stage director Stefan Herheim contrasts Theodora's self-sacrifice with the lake of spiritual direction of our own time. La Folia Barockorchester and the Arnold Schoenberg Chor are conducted by the acclaimed countertenor and Handel specialist Bejun Mehta.
Jazz Icons: Coleman Hawkins from 1962 and 1964 featuring 140 minutes of music. Both concerts featured stellar European and American side-musicians including Harry "Sweets" Edison on trumpet and drummer Papa Joe Jones - both jazz legends in their own right.
The 1962 show is a newly-discovered one-hour concert from the Adolphe Sax Festival in Belgium, which has never been seen. Coleman Hawkins, "The Father of Jazz Saxophone" demonstrates in these two concerts why he is still considered one of the most important innovators in the history of jazz
The 1962 show is a newly-discovered one-hour concert from the Adolphe Sax Festival in Belgium, which has never been seen. Coleman Hawkins, "The Father of Jazz Saxophone" demonstrates in these two concerts why he is still considered one of the most important innovators in the history of jazz
Fresh from their critically acclaimed series of the complete symphonies of Beethoven and Brahms , the Danish Chamber Orchestra and Adam Fischer turn to Haydn's late symphonies, beginning with the first three of the twelve London symphonies, composed during Haydn's first visit to the capital. Arguably his greatest achievements in the genre, they include the enduringly popular surprise in the slow movement of No. 94 . Fischer and his orchestra, who have performed together for over two decades, employ varied bowing and playing styles in the strings and innovative dynamic techniques in the winds that bring new levels of excitement to these masterpieces.
The second volume in Haydn's Late symphonies series is devoted to three more London symphonies. No. 96 in D major, The Miracle - so named, as the legend goes, after a falling chandelier narrowly missed the audience during its Hanover Square Rooms premiere - exemplifies the grandeur of these works. The structural surprises of No. 97 in C major and the hymnal slow movement of No. 98 in B flat major reinforce Haydn's inexhaustible compositional versatility and inventiveness. These programs are the product of a two-decade partnership between Adam Fischer and the Danish Chamber Orchestra during which they have explored the most effective technical solutions necessary for performing these works.
Haydn's oratorio Die Schopfung (The Creation) is one of the greatest masterpieces in the repertoire. Its libretto was constructed by Gottfried van Swieten who took texts from the Book of Genesis, the Psalms and employed his own original poetry. In this radical and compelling staging by the ground-breaking Catalan theatre collective, La Fura dels Baus, and internationally acclaimed stage director Carlus Padrissa, the oratorio is seen through the prism of a stream of refugees expelled from Paradise. Stunning light projections encapsulate the stage space and incorporated philosophical and scientific perspectives makes this truly an oratorio for our time.
Joseph Haydn's last symphonies, first performed in 1794 and 1795, were created for his second visit to the British capital. He had captivated London during his first trip in 1791/92, with countless premieres and ensuing worldwide fame. The splendid monument to Haydn in the square of his birthplace, Rohrau, was erected as early as 1793, while he was still very much alive and well. Symphony No. 100 is often called The Military Symphony because of its grand second movement featuring both cymbals and triangle.
Franz Joseph Haydn's last great symphonies electrified his London audiences, and with these programs Adam Fischer and the Danish Chamber Orchestra recreate the powerful, stormy and exciting effects that caused such a sensation in the 1790s. The Symphony No. 101 in D major has long been nicknamed The Clock due to the ticking rhythm in the second movement for plucked strings and bassoons.
Pieces for orchestra are on their way to winning the same status as operas. Something as simple as a symphony can henceforth have artistic weight. Joseph Haydn's symphonies from his second visit to London thus stand as a milestone in the transition from Viennese Classicism to Romanticism.
No. 102 premiered at the King's Theatre under dramatic circumstances: a chandelier fell from the ceiling during the performance, apparently without causing injuries to the audience. For many years, scholars believed the work performed that evening was Symphony No. 96 - hence, the nickname The Miracle should be transferred from one symphony to the other!
No. 102 premiered at the King's Theatre under dramatic circumstances: a chandelier fell from the ceiling during the performance, apparently without causing injuries to the audience. For many years, scholars believed the work performed that evening was Symphony No. 96 - hence, the nickname The Miracle should be transferred from one symphony to the other!
Symphony No. 103 bears the nickname Drumroll due to the very first bar of the piece. Haydn did not write any details regarding the roll's volume or the like, thus leaving the actual execution up to the timpanist. The piece's surprising repetition of the motif from the slow introduction in several places in the first movement became a great inspiration for Beethoven a few years later.
An event on 30 March 1795 was downright irritating: the Freemasons were to entertain with 'one of my great symphonies' in their banquet hall. "But the orchestra did not want any rehearsals" he writes. "So I refused to participate. I was actually completely absent."
The demand for quality reflects not only his care for the works as such. His demand also expresses a new era. Pieces for orchestra are on their way to winning the same status as operas. Something as simple as a symphony can henceforth have artistic weight. Joseph Haydn's symphonies from his second visit to London thus stand as a milestone in the transition from Viennese Classicism to Romanticism.
Symphony No. 104 , sometimes designated The London Symphony , finally gathers the experiences through its pompous expression, its inspiration from folk music, and its general pre-Romantic sentiments.
The demand for quality reflects not only his care for the works as such. His demand also expresses a new era. Pieces for orchestra are on their way to winning the same status as operas. Something as simple as a symphony can henceforth have artistic weight. Joseph Haydn's symphonies from his second visit to London thus stand as a milestone in the transition from Viennese Classicism to Romanticism.
Symphony No. 104 , sometimes designated The London Symphony , finally gathers the experiences through its pompous expression, its inspiration from folk music, and its general pre-Romantic sentiments.
Symphony No. 93 in D major was performed at the first of the second season of Salomon concerts in which Haydn was concerned, on 17 February 1792. The programme was of the usual variety, including concertos for oboe, for harp and for violin, songs and a new Grand Overture by Haydn, the first of his symphonies for London, acclaimed by one critic as 'grand, scientific, charming and original'. Scored for pairs of flutes and oboes, bassoons, horns, timpani and strings, the symphony was presumably written in London in the preceding year, relying now on Haydn's familiarity with the abilities of the players at his disposal. The work opens with a slow introduction, based on a figure derived from the descending notes of the triad.
Symphony No. 94 in G major was first performed at a subscription concert at the Hanover Square Rooms on 23 March 1792, the sixth of the new series, and proved to have an enduring popularity. The first movement opens with a slow introduction, followed by a gentle enough first subject and a double second subject. The well-known C major slow movement provides the surprise of a sudden burst of sound, interrupting the steady progress of the melody, which is then varied. The Menuetto is much quicker than is usually the case, its Trio opening with first violins and bassoon in octaves. The Finale is launched, as usual, by the strings, with a cheerful first subject, succeeded by a contrasting second subject in sonata form.
Haydn's Symphony No. 95 in C minor was also written in London in 1791, and was performed at some time during Haydn's first season there. The strong opening figure of the first movement is announced by woodwind and strings, followed by a gentler answer from the strings. The second subject, in E flat major, is derived from the descending arpeggio. The opening figure starts the central development, now used in transposition and contrapuntally. The gentle first subject appears in recapitulation, followed by the second theme, now in C major, with brief additions, as it proceeds, from a solo violin.
Franz Joseph Haydn's last great symphonies electrified his London audiences, and with these recordings Adam Fischer and the Danish Chamber Orchestra recreate the powerful, stormy and exciting effects that caused such a sensation in the 1790s.
Symphony No. 99 in E flat major was Haydn's first ever symphony to use clarinets; No. 100 in G major gained its 'Military' appellation due to its grand second movement featuring cymbals and triangle; and No. 101 in D major has long been nicknamed The Clock due to the ticking rhythm in the second movement for plucked
strings and bassoons.
Symphony No. 99 in E flat major was Haydn's first ever symphony to use clarinets; No. 100 in G major gained its 'Military' appellation due to its grand second movement featuring cymbals and triangle; and No. 101 in D major has long been nicknamed The Clock due to the ticking rhythm in the second movement for plucked
strings and bassoons.
Der Prinz von Hamburg resonates powerfully with Hans Werner Henze's pacifist perspective. The opera is based on a play by Heinrich von Kleist that opposes authority, celebrating a dreamer rather than a classical hero, and individualist freedom rather than militarist nationalism. Ingeborg Bachmann's libretto heightens this message, and Henze's chamber-music setting is at once powerful and unpredictable. This visually stunning production stretches from intimate transparency to dramatic heights, in a critically acclaimed staging by the award-winning director Stephan Kimmig.
Jazz Icons: Wood Herman features a blistering one-hour concert from 1924 showcasing one of the very hottest line-ups of the "Swinging Herd," including trumpeter Bill Chase, trombonist Phil Wilson and the amazing saxophonist Sal Nistico on the front line, as well as drummer Jake Hanna, bassist Chuck Andrus and pianist-arranger Nat Pierce in the rhythm section.
Woody and his band roar throughout the entire show which includes standards such as Lonesome Old Town and After You've Gone as well as new originals including Charles Mingus' Better Git It in Your Soul .
Woody and his band roar throughout the entire show which includes standards such as Lonesome Old Town and After You've Gone as well as new originals including Charles Mingus' Better Git It in Your Soul .
Hindemith conceived Mathis der Maler , his 'opera in seven tableaux', as a reimagining of Matthias Grunewald's Isenheim Alterpiece, a depiction of Christ's intense suffering and crucifixion. Set during the turbulence of the German Peasants' revolt in the early 16th century, the work's focus is on artistic freedom of expression and human isolation during a time of plague, repression and violence. Hindemith wrote his own libretto finding in Grunewald a metaphor for his own times. Performances of the opera in Germany were duly banned by the Naxis.
Hansel und Gretel brought Humperdinck worldwide fame but his tragic fairy story Konigskinder (The King's Children') offers a stark contrast to it and has only begun to be revived in recent years. The doomed love of a goose girl and a prince - as they battle prejudice and are obstructed by magic - ends in their loving deaths, and with it a rebuke to the villagers who rejected them. This acclaimed production by the renowned German director Christof Loy features the award-winning singers ?EUR" tenor Daniel Behle and Ukrainian soprano Olga Kulchynska.
70 years after Det Norske Teatret first staged Peer Gynt , Erik Ulfsby and his excellent team have developed a new version, with the role of old Peer congenially filled by Toralv Maurstad. The play's original chronology has been broken up and fragments of Peer's life reordered - all observed by an aged spirit who is on the threshold to the other side. Maurstad's acting is "overwhelmingly great. He carries the role of Peer Gynt on his 92-year-old shoulders. This is pure theatrical magic." "A Peer Gynt for eternity." (Aftenposten) "A masterly Maurstad. There is still a roguish rabble-rouser in his old Peer Gynt. Svein Tindberg as the button moulder is perfect casting." (VG)
Niccolo Jommelli was an innovative superstar among composers in his day, and is now recognised as precursor of the new Viennese Classical taste in music. With its intense story of love, life and death, Il Vologeso sets one of the most powerful libretti written for the European opera stage. This is critically acclaimed production is considered to be its first staged performance for over two centuries, and the highly successful opera directors Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito have revived a Baroque gem with their exciting, present-day staging.
Jazz Icons: Rahsaan Roland Kirk presents three astounding concerts by this musical superhero playing his entire instrumental arsenal of saxophone, flute, manzello, stritch, clarinet, siren and whistles - oftentimes simultaneously!
Kirk is backed by extraordinary side musicians including legendary bassist Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, drummers Alex Riel and Daniel Humair, and long-time pianist Ron Burton who keep the fire and swing burning throughout Rahsaan's blazing workouts.
This collection also includes two different renditions of "Three For The Festival", arguably Kirk's most spectacular performance piece, showcasing Rahsaan as a thunderous acrobatic player whose multiple horn work was all jazz and no gimmick.
Kirk is backed by extraordinary side musicians including legendary bassist Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, drummers Alex Riel and Daniel Humair, and long-time pianist Ron Burton who keep the fire and swing burning throughout Rahsaan's blazing workouts.
This collection also includes two different renditions of "Three For The Festival", arguably Kirk's most spectacular performance piece, showcasing Rahsaan as a thunderous acrobatic player whose multiple horn work was all jazz and no gimmick.
Well-used technical exercises enable cellists to master great cello works. Yet many pieces still contain their own peculiar stumbling blocks, and there are many obstacles that can only be overcome with a certain expertise.
In her book and video project Using Technique and Imagination to achieve Artistic Expression, "Quintessence" in three parts, the famous cellist Maria Kliegel opens up a new avenue that is intended to help advanced cellists over these obstacles. Through her experience as a concert performer, recording artist, and teacher, she has gathered considerable knowledge about specific aspects and pitfalls of cello technique. Using numerous examples from the cello repertoire, the book is a distillation of her experience, while the videos provide a demonstration of the cello techniques described in the book. She also plays and analyses the "infamous" passages from the Cello Concertos by Haydn (D) and Schumann and from Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations. Frequent sources of errors are exposed, tricks are shown, and various tips on how to get more out of practising are given along with helpful interpretative suggestions.
In her book and video project Using Technique and Imagination to achieve Artistic Expression, "Quintessence" in three parts, the famous cellist Maria Kliegel opens up a new avenue that is intended to help advanced cellists over these obstacles. Through her experience as a concert performer, recording artist, and teacher, she has gathered considerable knowledge about specific aspects and pitfalls of cello technique. Using numerous examples from the cello repertoire, the book is a distillation of her experience, while the videos provide a demonstration of the cello techniques described in the book. She also plays and analyses the "infamous" passages from the Cello Concertos by Haydn (D) and Schumann and from Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations. Frequent sources of errors are exposed, tricks are shown, and various tips on how to get more out of practising are given along with helpful interpretative suggestions.
Erich Wolfgang Korngold spoke of this work as his 'masterpiece'. The Miracle of Heliane bears all the hallmarks of Korngold's musical theatre - and goes one step further in scale, with a huge score and orchestra, intoxicating pathos and exquisitely expressive harmonies that play with polytonality - resulting in a gripping and sensuous drama. The world premiere in Hamburg in 1927 was a triumph, with more than a dozen houses booking the latest work by Korngold, at the time the second most performed composer of opera after Richard Strauss . With the Jewish Korngold prevented by the Nazis from presenting his works to the public, The Miracle of Heliane vanished from the repertoire, never to return.
This is a timeless fairy tale portraying a cold ruler incapable of loving anyone, his wife Heliane, devoted to a Dionysian stranger, and a people waiting for a redemptory miracle to occur.
An outstanding cast in all roles, staging of Christof Loy and the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper conducted by Mark Albrecht awaken Korngold's grand and opulent music from decades of slumber and made this production a real triumph, acclaimed by audience and international critics alike.
This is a timeless fairy tale portraying a cold ruler incapable of loving anyone, his wife Heliane, devoted to a Dionysian stranger, and a people waiting for a redemptory miracle to occur.
An outstanding cast in all roles, staging of Christof Loy and the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper conducted by Mark Albrecht awaken Korngold's grand and opulent music from decades of slumber and made this production a real triumph, acclaimed by audience and international critics alike.
Playing on Fritz Kreisler's own 'Bergonzi' violin (from c.1740), the brilliant young violinist Henning Kraggerud presents a programme of Kreisler's compositions for violin. Filmed in the intimate surroundings of Oslo's historic Old Lodge, this is a world premiere recording of many of these arrangements for violin and orchestra. Kraggerud introduces the works himself, and leads the Oslo Camerata in a sparkling, thrilling concert.
A forest engaging in dialogue with the exuberant fauna. A restless river cascades towards the sea. One of the monuments of Brazilian symphonic music, Canticum Naturale , by Edino Krieger , is revisited fifty years after its premiere by means of digital art in Canticum Digitale (2022), an audiovisual piece of digital art, or visual music, in which rhythm, harmony, and melody are transposed into the domain of imagery.
Canticum Digitale is an immersive and synesthetic work, where sound and visual stimuli merge harmoniously to create a unique audiovisual experience for the viewer on the volumetric membrane of the eight screens in the Brazil pavilion at Dubai Expo. This performance features soprano Flavia Fernandes and the Goias Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Neil Thomson.
Canticum Digitale is an immersive and synesthetic work, where sound and visual stimuli merge harmoniously to create a unique audiovisual experience for the viewer on the volumetric membrane of the eight screens in the Brazil pavilion at Dubai Expo. This performance features soprano Flavia Fernandes and the Goias Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Neil Thomson.
A forest engaging in dialogue with the exuberant fauna. A restless river cascades towards the sea. One of the monuments of Brazilian symphonic music, Canticum Naturale , by Edino Krieger , is revisited fifty years after its premiere by means of digital art in Canticum Digitale (2022), an audiovisual piece of digital art, or visual music, in which rhythm, harmony, and melody are transposed into the domain of imagery.
Canticum Digitale is an immersive and synesthetic work, where sound and visual stimuli merge harmoniously to create a unique audiovisual experience for the viewer on the volumetric membrane of the eight screens in the Brazil pavilion at Dubai Expo. This performance features soprano Flavia Fernandes and the Goias Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Neil Thomson in a multiscreen version.
Canticum Digitale is an immersive and synesthetic work, where sound and visual stimuli merge harmoniously to create a unique audiovisual experience for the viewer on the volumetric membrane of the eight screens in the Brazil pavilion at Dubai Expo. This performance features soprano Flavia Fernandes and the Goias Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Neil Thomson in a multiscreen version.
Stefano Landi was an influential early opera composer, and La morte d'Orfeo is regarded as a milestone in the development of the genre. The narrative starts where Monteverdi's L'Orfeo ends, taking is through the remaining adventures of Orpheus in the underworld. Beaten to death and torn apart by the fearsome maenads, Orpheus survives as a wandering soul and is finally reincarnated as a star in the sky. Landi succeeded in turning Greek tragedy into timeless music-drama, the staring point of all opera, and Seen and Heard International declared that it had 'never before encountered such technical perfection' in Pierre Audi's Amsterdam production.
Rued Langgaard's remarkable opera Antikrist confronts the decline and fall of Western civilization, critiquing modern lifestyles and ways of thinking, which resonates with our times more than ever before. Never performed in the composer's lifetime, Antikrist blends Romantic and contemporary styles to create a score that is both seductive and opulent, while the lack of a conventional plot creates space for an ironic and sarcastic expose of contemporary civilization's weaknesses.
This spectacular Deutsche Oper Berlin production was acclaimed in The New York Times as a "riotously colourful, boldly stylised staging [in] a near-breathless swirl".
This spectacular Deutsche Oper Berlin production was acclaimed in The New York Times as a "riotously colourful, boldly stylised staging [in] a near-breathless swirl".
These two pinnacle of Italian opera, Pagliacci and Cavalleria rusticana have it all - love, infidelity, betrayal, jealousy and murder. Both are classic examples of verismo operas that dramatise the lives of ordinary people: Pagliacci fuelled by the tension between everyday life and the aesthetic world of the stage. Cavalleria rusticana juxtaposing unbridled passion with profound faith. Robert Carsen's widely acclaimed 2019 production plays a masterful game of theatre-in-theatre, avoiding cliches and calling into question the nature of reality
Treading a tightrope between death, life and intense romance in the opulent world of 19th-century Habsburg royalty. Elisabeth tells the story of the beautiful Empress of Austria, from her wedding, to her tragic assassination by the hand of the Italian anarchist Luigi Lucheni. Ongoing dark obsessions and inner turmoil are undercurrents family schisms flare up amidst a crumbling empire. These powerful themes and potent score brimming with fabulous music have combine to establish Elisabeth as the most successful German-language musical of all time. This spectacular open-air event presents Elisabeth at the fabled empress's real-life home - Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna.
Franz Liszt was a unique personality in the musical world of the 19th century. He was a model and inspiration for many generations of musicians and was magnificently successful as a virtuoso pianist, education, composer and conductor. Presenting a cornucopia of musical delights, this selection of Liszt favourites includes works inspired by folklore and Italian culture, literary texts ad poetry, opera, the brilliance of Paganini and a sheer delight in a pianistic virtuosity.
Award-winning composer and trumpet player Hannibel Lokumbe is a leader in expressing the Aprican-American experience through his orchestral and choral music, with a special focus on civil rights leaders. Can You Hear God Crying? is a spiritatorio which takes us on a journey from hardship and suffering to healing and celebrations of courage and peace, told through the forced migration aboard a slave ship endured by Lokumbe's great-grandfather Silas Burgess. Combining jazz, gospel and chamber music together with West African prayers and songs, this is both a moving commemoration and a spectacularly festive event which faces past and present with honesty and deep spiritual understanding.
No non-Western musical idiom has so impacted on the Western concert tradition as Indonesian gamelan, beginning with the Javanese Pavilion at the 1889 Paris Exposition: an epiphany. Sampling gamelan-inspired works by Debussy, Ravel , and McPhee , the film arrives at a paragon exemplar of cultural fusion - Lou Harrison - and a pair of concertos for violin and piano, unsurpassed by those of any other American. The composer/scholar Bill Alves demonstrates the layered complexity of Javanese gamelan, and how it translates into keyboard textures composed by Harrison for Keith Jarrett. For Harrison's Concerto for Violin and Percussion , tour the 'junk percussion' - including flower pots and washtubs - that Harrison made sing and dance.
Participants include the gamelan scholars Jody Diamond and Sumarsam, and the conductor Dennis Russell Davies, who has long championed Harrison on both sides of the Atlantic.
Participants include the gamelan scholars Jody Diamond and Sumarsam, and the conductor Dennis Russell Davies, who has long championed Harrison on both sides of the Atlantic.
Jean-Baptiste Lully's Atys , a tragedie en musique, became known as the 'king's opera' due to Louis XIV's fondness for it. The work stands as a testament to the Sun King's courtly refinement, as well as his moves to make France the centre of European artistic culture. The opera's themes of romantic dilemmas and ultimate tragedy, set amidst the poetic atmosphere of Ovid's classical mythology, create expressive arias and duets. William Christie conducts this acclaimed production - hailed by the New York Times as being 'as satisfying as it is bold'.
Guided by his idol George Balanchine, Hans van Manen has striven all his life to create meaning in his choreography. Alongside conversations with colleagues and collaborators, in the documentary Moving to Music , van Manen talks about his life and work, and from where his inspiration came in ballets that are charged with drama and eroticism. Also included are three complete works from Dutch National Ballet - the early Metaforen; Adagio Hammerklavier , which presents the slow movement of Beethoven's Op. 106 sonata performed live on stage with three couples in various configurations; and Frank Bridge Variations , a late masterpiece that plays with balance and counterpoint to music by Benjamin Britten .
As he matured as a composer, Martucci returned to genres with much more depth, as the Nocturne in G flat major, Op. 70, No. 1 shows. This is probably the most famous of Martucci's piano pieces, not least because he later transcribed it for orchestra. Here we find the composer developing highly embellished, fast-flowing melodic lines, their strong singing quality pervaded by a melancholic tone, which are paired with a constantly syncopated accompaniment that gives the sense of endless forward movement.
Giuseppe Martucci was one of the formative figures in the re-establishment of the Italian instrumental music in the second half of the 19th century. His orchestral music had advocates as powerful as Mahler and Toscanini , and his piano concertos won admirers. His solo piano music was performed mostly by him, and today remains virtually unknown. These compositions offers verdant, colourful melodies, striking dance themes, and elegant music crafted for the salon. There are also some flamboyant and virtuoso challenges, tracing a lineage back to Scarlatti
Pietro Mascagni explored many different musical styles, from the verismo of his ever-popular Cavalleria rusticana to the sentimental lyricism of Lodoletta . Amica was composed at breakneck speed, reaching completion only a month before its Monte Carlo premire in 1905 conducted by the composer, and combined a return to 'realism' with a more sophisticated style of writing. Its extravagant scenic and vocal demands contributed to the opera's neglect until recent times. Set in the Savoy mountains around 1900, Amica is a 'dramatic poem in two acts' involving two brothers, Giorgio and Rinaldo, whose love for the same woman, Amica, culminates in tragedy. While today numbering among his least performed works, Amica was initially a triumph, praised for its 'passionate accent' and 'impulsive sincerity' by a contemporary critic, and deemed 'most worthy of re-evaluation' according to the composer's biographer Roger Flury.
Jules Massenet's fairy-tale opera Cendrillon (Cinderella) was an immediate success at its premiere in 1899 at the Opera-Comique in Paris. Massenet, then at the height of his powers, creates a magical sound-world full of wit, enchantment and perfumed elegance to match librettist Henri Cain's coming-of-age adaptation of this classic fairy tale. The colorful fantasy world created by the acclaimed stage director Barbara Mundel and set designer Olga Motta features the British-Swiss soprano, Kim-Lillian Strebel, in her critically acclaimed title role.
Premiered in 1951, Amahl and the Night Visitors was the first opera specifically composed for television, though Gian Carlo Menotti admitted that he had conceived it for the stage.
The magical story tells of Amahl, a disabled boy who befriends the Three Kings when they stop at his house on their journey to see the newborn Jesus. Amahl decides to give his crutch to Jesus, at which point his legs is miraculously healed. Long a Christmas favourite, this new Viennese production, sung in German, boldly re-examines the story finding its key elements to be fantasy, empathy and the enduring power of love.
The magical story tells of Amahl, a disabled boy who befriends the Three Kings when they stop at his house on their journey to see the newborn Jesus. Amahl decides to give his crutch to Jesus, at which point his legs is miraculously healed. Long a Christmas favourite, this new Viennese production, sung in German, boldly re-examines the story finding its key elements to be fantasy, empathy and the enduring power of love.
Saverio Mercadante led the way for the baroque opera to transform into the Romantic operatic drama Italy was to become famous for. Conductor and pioneer Alessandro De Marchi is repeatedly delighted to find that operas by Mercadante and his contemporaries display the musical ideas of this period of Italian music to full effect only in historically informed performances. The sound becomes more subtle, the musicians are in a chamber music frame of mind when they play historically informed performances, which allows the vocal language to come into its own. Moreover, Mercadante's Didone abbandonata also demonstrates that a classical libretto by Viennese court poet Metastasio still had plenty of substance for a composition even in the 19th century.
Didone abbandonata contains all that sets a Romantic Italian operatic drama apart: great scenes with cantabile and cabaletta for all the main characters, rousing composed ensembles, exciting duets and grand final scenes. The suicide of the Carthaginian Queen Dido, abandoned by Aeneas and betrayed by Jarba, is only a short recitative in Metastasio's libretto.
In contrast, Mercadante composed it as a great death scene. Conversely, he still made use of the long-established recitatives of the baroque tradition. Sizzling both in...
Didone abbandonata contains all that sets a Romantic Italian operatic drama apart: great scenes with cantabile and cabaletta for all the main characters, rousing composed ensembles, exciting duets and grand final scenes. The suicide of the Carthaginian Queen Dido, abandoned by Aeneas and betrayed by Jarba, is only a short recitative in Metastasio's libretto.
In contrast, Mercadante composed it as a great death scene. Conversely, he still made use of the long-established recitatives of the baroque tradition. Sizzling both in...
Andre Messager's Fortunio premiered in 1907 at the Opera Comique, where it received acclaim that was to last decades. One of the last composers to devote his entire career to opera and operetta, Messager exemplified in his music a feeling for dramatic pacing and the spirit of the Belle Epoque, qualities that permeate Fortunio, a comedie lyrique in which the dialogue in the libretto is given a continuous musical setting. Taking Alfred de Musset's play Chandelier as his source, Messager explores upper-class society at the turn of the 19th century with subtlety of characterisation and a thoroughly French orchesral transparency.
Minoru Miki completed Marimba Spiritual between Christmas Day 1983 and 13 January 1984. The world premiere was given at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam two months later, after which Keiko Abe took it on a European tour. In 1988 the Safri Duo made a successful arrangement for two players; The DoubleBeats version featured here is for marimbas and a range of percussion: an odaiko, shime, bongo, bass drum, waterphone, spiral cymbal, caxixi (a shaker) and Asian gongs.
Jean-Joseph Cassanea de Mondonville was greatly admired in his day. His opera Titon et l'Aurore was one of his most popular works, being held up as a triumph over the rival Italian style during the Parisian Querelle des Bouffons in the 1750s. The narrative of this spectacular opera-ballet follows the tumultuous and seemingly unbreakable liaison between the goddess L'Aurore and her lover the shepherd Titon. Jealous gods and goddesses try to interfere through murderous intent and dramatic abduction, but true love ultimately conquers all in stage director Basil Twist's acclaimed feast for the senses.
Claudio Monteverdi's Fourth Book of Madrigals (1603) explores differing emotional states of abandoned lovers through the most dramatic and amazingly modern music for vocal ensemble. The Full Monteverdi follows the simultaneous break-up of six couples through shocking revelation, vengeful anger and erotic longing for reconciliation. Vulnerable and disarming, this ensemble film will draw you into its emotional journey and intensely moving portrait of contemporary love.
Monteverdi's L'Orfeo was premiered in 1607 and is the oldest opera still performed today. The narrative is based on the Greek legend Orpheus who, armed with the weapons of music and love, descends into Hades in an attempt to bring his lost bride Eurydice back to the living world. The opera's dramatic power is brought to life in this acclaimed production conducted by the great Monteverdi expert and interpreter Jordi Savall. Filmed at the Opera Comique in Paris L'Orfeo features a virtuoso cast with the service of text and music always at its core.
The focus of Lorenzo Da Ponte's libretto for Cosi fan tutte is on female infidelity, two partner-swapping couples and a wager. Its enigmatic ambiguity and lightness of touch, its razor's edge balance between irony and empathy, detachment and involvement, and on-stage reality and illusion is structured with perfect Classical symmetry. More than any other opera it explores the depths and darker impulses of the experience of love. This production by director Sven-Eric Bechtolf was given in Florence with a staging that 'holds a balance between philosophy and humour' (Bachtrack.com)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote his Violin Concertos in 1775 while still living in his home town of Salzburg and in service to Prince-Archbishop Hieronymus Colloredo. Mozart had already toured internationally and found his parochial environment restricting, but as ever he rose above circumstances to create sublime and thrillingly unconventional masterpieces filled with wit and charm. The finely sustained melodic expression of each concerto's slow centre provides the perfect foil for Inventive sparkle in outer movements that include a cheeky reference to the opera Il re pastore, K. 216 , and an exotic moment in the finale of Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major, K. 219, "Turkish"
The Places
The tour starts in Vienna at the Christkindl Market, and other Christmas scenes include the grotesque Krampus masqueraders with St. Nicholas in Steyr. In Switzerland we see the great monastery church at Einsiedeln and in Bavaria the Abbey Church at Ottobeuren. In Austria scenes of Salzburg and its Christmas market are followed by Christmas cribs at Steyr and in the great cathedral at Linz, ending gazing upwards at the great Christmas fresco that decorates the dome of the monastery church at Einsiedeln.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour is principally taken from the works of Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach, including excerpts from the former's Messiah and from two organ concertos, and from Bach's Christmas Oratorio, with the carol "Silent Night" heard in its original setting at the little church in Oberndorf, for which it was written.
The tour starts in Vienna at the Christkindl Market, and other Christmas scenes include the grotesque Krampus masqueraders with St. Nicholas in Steyr. In Switzerland we see the great monastery church at Einsiedeln and in Bavaria the Abbey Church at Ottobeuren. In Austria scenes of Salzburg and its Christmas market are followed by Christmas cribs at Steyr and in the great cathedral at Linz, ending gazing upwards at the great Christmas fresco that decorates the dome of the monastery church at Einsiedeln.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour is principally taken from the works of Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach, including excerpts from the former's Messiah and from two organ concertos, and from Bach's Christmas Oratorio, with the carol "Silent Night" heard in its original setting at the little church in Oberndorf, for which it was written.
The Places
The tour relates to the life of Mozart , from his native Salzburg to his final precarious independence in Vienna. There are glimpses of the Salzburg Church of St. Peter and of the Cathedral, with which Mozart of his father, members of the musical establishment of the ruling Prince-Archbishops of Salzburg, were closely concerned. Memorials of Mozart and other composers are seen in Vienna, while a brief detour to Belgium to the idiosyncratic Musee Wiertz and to the Tournai Musee des Beaux Arts, brings another aspect to the journey.
The Music
Mozart's Requiem Mass was commissioned anonymously in July 1791 by Count Franz Walsegg zu Stuppach, who sought to commemorate the recent death of his wife by the performance of a work of this kind that he might, at least by implication, claim of his own. An initial fee of sixty ducats was paid, with promise of a further sum when when the Requiem was complete. But in November Mozart was taken ill and within a fortnight he was dead. His widow, Constanze, who needed the rest of the fee for the work, asked Joseph Eybler, who has assisted Mozart in rehearsals for Cosi fan tutte , to finish the composition and the scoring. He later gave up the task and the unfinished score finally came into the hands of Franz Xaver Sussmayr...
The tour relates to the life of Mozart , from his native Salzburg to his final precarious independence in Vienna. There are glimpses of the Salzburg Church of St. Peter and of the Cathedral, with which Mozart of his father, members of the musical establishment of the ruling Prince-Archbishops of Salzburg, were closely concerned. Memorials of Mozart and other composers are seen in Vienna, while a brief detour to Belgium to the idiosyncratic Musee Wiertz and to the Tournai Musee des Beaux Arts, brings another aspect to the journey.
The Music
Mozart's Requiem Mass was commissioned anonymously in July 1791 by Count Franz Walsegg zu Stuppach, who sought to commemorate the recent death of his wife by the performance of a work of this kind that he might, at least by implication, claim of his own. An initial fee of sixty ducats was paid, with promise of a further sum when when the Requiem was complete. But in November Mozart was taken ill and within a fortnight he was dead. His widow, Constanze, who needed the rest of the fee for the work, asked Joseph Eybler, who has assisted Mozart in rehearsals for Cosi fan tutte , to finish the composition and the scoring. He later gave up the task and the unfinished score finally came into the hands of Franz Xaver Sussmayr...
The Places
In the peace treaty of 1919 the Tyrol was divided into three regions, Southern Tyrol being ceded to Italy. The Eastern Tyrol, Austrian territory, is bounded to the south by the Lienz Dolomites, with the town of Lienz the regional capital. The region is popular with summer visitors, its climate relatively mild in spite of its height above sea level. There is also a glimpse of the Earth Pyramids at Ritten (Renon) in the Italian Southern Tyrol.
The Music
Music for the tour is by Franz Schubert, the son of a schoolmaster who had settled in Vienna. Although his life was chiefly spent in Vienna, he was nevertheless able to enjoy the Austrian countryside during holidays spent with friends. The beauty of the landscape is reflected in his music and, in particular, in his songs. The tour of the Lienz Dolomites is accompanied by music by Schubert for piano trio, written towards the end of his short life.
In the peace treaty of 1919 the Tyrol was divided into three regions, Southern Tyrol being ceded to Italy. The Eastern Tyrol, Austrian territory, is bounded to the south by the Lienz Dolomites, with the town of Lienz the regional capital. The region is popular with summer visitors, its climate relatively mild in spite of its height above sea level. There is also a glimpse of the Earth Pyramids at Ritten (Renon) in the Italian Southern Tyrol.
The Music
Music for the tour is by Franz Schubert, the son of a schoolmaster who had settled in Vienna. Although his life was chiefly spent in Vienna, he was nevertheless able to enjoy the Austrian countryside during holidays spent with friends. The beauty of the landscape is reflected in his music and, in particular, in his songs. The tour of the Lienz Dolomites is accompanied by music by Schubert for piano trio, written towards the end of his short life.
The Places
This tour of Austria takes us from the historic towns of Stein-Krems and Salzburg to the former imperial country residence at Laxenburg, the Imperial Treasury in Vienna and the vivid contemporary architecture of Fritz Stowasser, better known as Hundertwasser.
The Music
The music for this tour of Austria is taken from two concertos by Mozart, his Clarinet Concerto, written in Vienna a month or so before his death in 1791, and his Oboe Concerto, K.314, written in Salzburg in 1777.
This tour of Austria takes us from the historic towns of Stein-Krems and Salzburg to the former imperial country residence at Laxenburg, the Imperial Treasury in Vienna and the vivid contemporary architecture of Fritz Stowasser, better known as Hundertwasser.
The Music
The music for this tour of Austria is taken from two concertos by Mozart, his Clarinet Concerto, written in Vienna a month or so before his death in 1791, and his Oboe Concerto, K.314, written in Salzburg in 1777.
MUSICAL JOURNEY (A) - AUSTRIA: Hohenwerfen / Weissensee / Styria / Linz / Aggstein / Hallein / Baden
The Places
The places visited include Hohenwerfen Castle, the Weissensee, Styria, Linz, Aggstein, Hallein and Baden.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Austria consists of Mozart's Violin Concertos Nos. 3 and 5 , written during his early adulthood in Salzburg.
The places visited include Hohenwerfen Castle, the Weissensee, Styria, Linz, Aggstein, Hallein and Baden.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Austria consists of Mozart's Violin Concertos Nos. 3 and 5 , written during his early adulthood in Salzburg.
The Places
The journey starts in the Austrian region of Muhlviertel, shows the Lippizaner horses of Piber in Styria and the storks and vineyards of Rust by the Neusiedlersee.
The Music
The music of the tour consists of two of Beethoven's best known sonatas for violin and piano, the Spring Sonata and the Kreutzer Sonata .
The journey starts in the Austrian region of Muhlviertel, shows the Lippizaner horses of Piber in Styria and the storks and vineyards of Rust by the Neusiedlersee.
The Music
The music of the tour consists of two of Beethoven's best known sonatas for violin and piano, the Spring Sonata and the Kreutzer Sonata .
The Places
The tour starts in Salzburg, with glimpses of the Austrian countryside, often in winter snow. It ends in the district of Salzburg, where it began.
The Music
The music is taken from three serenades by Mozart . The most famous, Eine kleine Nachtmusik , written in 1787 in Vienna, is followed by two serenades written ten years earlier for social occasions in Salzburg
The tour starts in Salzburg, with glimpses of the Austrian countryside, often in winter snow. It ends in the district of Salzburg, where it began.
The Music
The music is taken from three serenades by Mozart . The most famous, Eine kleine Nachtmusik , written in 1787 in Vienna, is followed by two serenades written ten years earlier for social occasions in Salzburg
The Places
The tour begins in the Salzkammergut, most of which lies nowadays in Upper Austria. It includes Hellbrunn Palace and the Residenz in Salzburg and the Styrian city of Graz.
The Music
The music for our journey is taken from Mozart's Haffner Serenade , written in honour of a friend in Mozart's native city of Salzburg.
The tour begins in the Salzkammergut, most of which lies nowadays in Upper Austria. It includes Hellbrunn Palace and the Residenz in Salzburg and the Styrian city of Graz.
The Music
The music for our journey is taken from Mozart's Haffner Serenade , written in honour of a friend in Mozart's native city of Salzburg.
The Places
The journey takes us from the vineyards of Grinzing, to the spa of Baden and to Gumpoldskirchen, famous for its wine. Scenes from the Salzkammergut lead to Steyr, Styria and Upper Austria.
The Music
Unlike other great classical composers who worked in Vienna ?EUR" Haydn, Mozart or Beethoven - Franz Schubert was born there and spent much of his short life in the city. At the same time he took pleasure in the Austrian countryside, reflected in his Trout Quintet , written for friends in Steyr whom he had met during a summer holiday.
The journey takes us from the vineyards of Grinzing, to the spa of Baden and to Gumpoldskirchen, famous for its wine. Scenes from the Salzkammergut lead to Steyr, Styria and Upper Austria.
The Music
Unlike other great classical composers who worked in Vienna ?EUR" Haydn, Mozart or Beethoven - Franz Schubert was born there and spent much of his short life in the city. At the same time he took pleasure in the Austrian countryside, reflected in his Trout Quintet , written for friends in Steyr whom he had met during a summer holiday.
The Places
The tour visits the Tin Soldier Museum at Kulmbach, the National Army Museum, the Wellington Memorial and St. Paul's Cathedral in London, and the Bavarian Army Museum at Ingolstadt, with its relics of the Thirty Years of War and of conflicts with the Ottoman Empire.
The Music
The tour brings Beethoven's musical celebration of Wellington's victorious campaign in Spain, Liszt's Battle of the Huns and a Georgian war march by Ippolitov-Ivanov . The tour ends with two military works by Rimsky-Korsakov , King Dodon on the Battlefield , from his last opera, The Golden Cockerel , and The Massacre at Kerzhenets from The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh.
The tour visits the Tin Soldier Museum at Kulmbach, the National Army Museum, the Wellington Memorial and St. Paul's Cathedral in London, and the Bavarian Army Museum at Ingolstadt, with its relics of the Thirty Years of War and of conflicts with the Ottoman Empire.
The Music
The tour brings Beethoven's musical celebration of Wellington's victorious campaign in Spain, Liszt's Battle of the Huns and a Georgian war march by Ippolitov-Ivanov . The tour ends with two military works by Rimsky-Korsakov , King Dodon on the Battlefield , from his last opera, The Golden Cockerel , and The Massacre at Kerzhenets from The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh.
The Places
The musical tour starts in the Bernese Alps, which offer some of the finest scenery in Switzerland, with glaciers and snow-covered expanses, waterfalls, mountain lakes, and the towering Matterhorn. The Nymphenburg Palace and Park, in Munich, present a contrast in their baroque elegance. The tour ends with glimpses of the Chiemsee, the largest of the Bavarian lakes, with its three wooded islands, on one of which Wagner's patron, King Ludwig II, built his folly, the Schloss Herrenchiemsee.
The Music
Music for the tour is taken from Tchaikovsky?EUR(TM)s Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, one of the best known of all romantic concertos. This is followed by his Souvenir d'un lieu cher, three pieces originally for violin and piano, but here orchestrated by the composer Glazunov. These pieces are a gentler memento of a stay at the country estate in Ukraine of his generous and unseen patron, Nadezhda von Meck, at a time of some personal difficulty after the failure of his marriage.
The musical tour starts in the Bernese Alps, which offer some of the finest scenery in Switzerland, with glaciers and snow-covered expanses, waterfalls, mountain lakes, and the towering Matterhorn. The Nymphenburg Palace and Park, in Munich, present a contrast in their baroque elegance. The tour ends with glimpses of the Chiemsee, the largest of the Bavarian lakes, with its three wooded islands, on one of which Wagner's patron, King Ludwig II, built his folly, the Schloss Herrenchiemsee.
The Music
Music for the tour is taken from Tchaikovsky?EUR(TM)s Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, one of the best known of all romantic concertos. This is followed by his Souvenir d'un lieu cher, three pieces originally for violin and piano, but here orchestrated by the composer Glazunov. These pieces are a gentler memento of a stay at the country estate in Ukraine of his generous and unseen patron, Nadezhda von Meck, at a time of some personal difficulty after the failure of his marriage.
The Places
Berlin was transformed into the capital of Brandenburg under the Elector Friedrich II in the 14th century, to become the capital of Prussia and then, in the 19th century, of a united Germany.
The Music
Beethoven's Fifth Symphony accompanies the tour to Berlin, with his third Leonora Overture and his overture to Goethe's play Egmont
Berlin was transformed into the capital of Brandenburg under the Elector Friedrich II in the 14th century, to become the capital of Prussia and then, in the 19th century, of a united Germany.
The Music
Beethoven's Fifth Symphony accompanies the tour to Berlin, with his third Leonora Overture and his overture to Goethe's play Egmont
The Places
Brittany and Normandy, one Celtic in origin, culture and language, the other taking its name from the conquering Norsemen, have an enchantment all their own. The landscape, tinged by the magic of history, the ancient buildings and, above all, the sea, combine to
offer an unforgettable panorama of the two regions.
The Music
The French composer Claude Debussy suggested new paths for the future, introducing innovations in harmony, structure and orchestral colouring, the last often with a large orchestra delicately used. The music used here includes the evocative Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune , later transformed into a ballet by Nijinsky, the three Nocturnes , orchestral pieces that again suggest the beauty and variety of the landscapes and views of the sea that they here accompany, and finally La mer , in all its changes from dawn to dusk.
Brittany and Normandy, one Celtic in origin, culture and language, the other taking its name from the conquering Norsemen, have an enchantment all their own. The landscape, tinged by the magic of history, the ancient buildings and, above all, the sea, combine to
offer an unforgettable panorama of the two regions.
The Music
The French composer Claude Debussy suggested new paths for the future, introducing innovations in harmony, structure and orchestral colouring, the last often with a large orchestra delicately used. The music used here includes the evocative Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune , later transformed into a ballet by Nijinsky, the three Nocturnes , orchestral pieces that again suggest the beauty and variety of the landscapes and views of the sea that they here accompany, and finally La mer , in all its changes from dawn to dusk.
The Places
The journey is concerned largely with places of importance in the life of Anton Bruckner , his birth-place, the monastery of St. Florian where he was trained and worked, and Vienna, where he spent his final years.
The Music
A man of modest origins, the composer Anton Bruckner continued and developed the symphonic tradition of Vienna in a series of imposing works that also drew inspiration from Wagner .
The journey is concerned largely with places of importance in the life of Anton Bruckner , his birth-place, the monastery of St. Florian where he was trained and worked, and Vienna, where he spent his final years.
The Music
A man of modest origins, the composer Anton Bruckner continued and developed the symphonic tradition of Vienna in a series of imposing works that also drew inspiration from Wagner .
The Places
The great chateaux and country houses of the Loire arose largely from the decision of Francois I, who came to the throne in 1515, to move his court for part of the year to the Loire valley. This coincided with a period of French architecture in which the Italian Renaissance style was notably influential, often combined with the existing Gothic. An extraordinarily large number of imposing chateaux resulted, from Chambord and Blois to Azay-le-Rideau.
The Music
The music accompanying this tour of the Loire is all by Fryderyk Chopin. Born in Poland of a Polish mother and emigre French father, Chopin settled in Paris, and his liaison with the writer George Sand (Aurore Dudevant) allowed him generally to spend summer months with her at her Chateau de Nohant in the upper valley of the Indre, the so-called Black Valley. The music chosen here is taken from his many waltzes, a popular dance that he elevated from the ballroom to the concert salon.
The great chateaux and country houses of the Loire arose largely from the decision of Francois I, who came to the throne in 1515, to move his court for part of the year to the Loire valley. This coincided with a period of French architecture in which the Italian Renaissance style was notably influential, often combined with the existing Gothic. An extraordinarily large number of imposing chateaux resulted, from Chambord and Blois to Azay-le-Rideau.
The Music
The music accompanying this tour of the Loire is all by Fryderyk Chopin. Born in Poland of a Polish mother and emigre French father, Chopin settled in Paris, and his liaison with the writer George Sand (Aurore Dudevant) allowed him generally to spend summer months with her at her Chateau de Nohant in the upper valley of the Indre, the so-called Black Valley. The music chosen here is taken from his many waltzes, a popular dance that he elevated from the ballroom to the concert salon.
The Places
The tour lingers for some time in Zurich, in its celebration of Christmas. There is a visit to the famous Toy Museum at Nuremberg, a city well known as the centre of the German toy-making industry. Churches seen are the Great Minster in Zurich, where Zwingli once preached, and the monastery at Einsiedeln, at the heart of Catholic Switzerland.
The Music
The tour is accompanied by witty arrangements of Christmas favourites in the style of Baroque masters, of Bach, Handel and Vivaldi , by the Slovak-born composer Peter Breiner.
The tour lingers for some time in Zurich, in its celebration of Christmas. There is a visit to the famous Toy Museum at Nuremberg, a city well known as the centre of the German toy-making industry. Churches seen are the Great Minster in Zurich, where Zwingli once preached, and the monastery at Einsiedeln, at the heart of Catholic Switzerland.
The Music
The tour is accompanied by witty arrangements of Christmas favourites in the style of Baroque masters, of Bach, Handel and Vivaldi , by the Slovak-born composer Peter Breiner.
The Places
The tour starts in Steyr, in Upper Austria, bringing scenes associated with Christmas there, in Salzburg, the Salzkammergut and finally Switzerland.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour is principally taken from baroque concertos evoking Christmas.
The tour starts in Steyr, in Upper Austria, bringing scenes associated with Christmas there, in Salzburg, the Salzkammergut and finally Switzerland.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour is principally taken from baroque concertos evoking Christmas.
The Places
The principal place visited is Cordoba, with its historical records of its Moorish past and of the reconquest.
The Music
The music includes works by Russian and French composers, with only two pieces by Spanish composers. Nevertheless all the music breathes the very spirit of Spain.
The principal place visited is Cordoba, with its historical records of its Moorish past and of the reconquest.
The Music
The music includes works by Russian and French composers, with only two pieces by Spanish composers. Nevertheless all the music breathes the very spirit of Spain.
The Places
The tour starts in Uzbekistan , of which there are later glimpses. There is a visit to the historic Russian town of Suzdal and scenes from Crimea . Two important religious centres are seen, the Trinity Monastery at Sergiyev Posad (formerly Zagorsk) and the Monastery of the Caves in Kiev.
The Music
The music for the tour is taken from Russian composers who were,by and large, thoroughly imbued with the spirit of their country and its exotic territories. This is reflected in Borodin's Overture to his unfinished opera Prince Igor and in the work of the pioneer Glinka , the Armenian Khachaturian and Rimsky-Korsakov .
The tour starts in Uzbekistan , of which there are later glimpses. There is a visit to the historic Russian town of Suzdal and scenes from Crimea . Two important religious centres are seen, the Trinity Monastery at Sergiyev Posad (formerly Zagorsk) and the Monastery of the Caves in Kiev.
The Music
The music for the tour is taken from Russian composers who were,by and large, thoroughly imbued with the spirit of their country and its exotic territories. This is reflected in Borodin's Overture to his unfinished opera Prince Igor and in the work of the pioneer Glinka , the Armenian Khachaturian and Rimsky-Korsakov .
The Places
The tour visits historic sites in the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium. These include the castles of Litomysl and Konopiste in Bohemia, and the historic town of Melnik, the Horological Museum of Le Locle in Switzerland, relics of war from the Bavarian Army Museum in Ingolstadt, and a glimpse of the Belgium Chateau of Gaasbeek.
The Music
The tour brings two of Joseph Haydn's most famous symphonies, written for a London concert season in 1794, Symphony No. 100 , the so-called Military Symphony , and Symphony No. 101 , nicknames The Clock
The tour visits historic sites in the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium. These include the castles of Litomysl and Konopiste in Bohemia, and the historic town of Melnik, the Horological Museum of Le Locle in Switzerland, relics of war from the Bavarian Army Museum in Ingolstadt, and a glimpse of the Belgium Chateau of Gaasbeek.
The Music
The tour brings two of Joseph Haydn's most famous symphonies, written for a London concert season in 1794, Symphony No. 100 , the so-called Military Symphony , and Symphony No. 101 , nicknames The Clock
The Places
Our tour of the Czech Republic follows the Vltava River through the countryside to the capital city of Prague, visiting some of the great buildings that lie on its course.
The Music
The music chosen for our tour starts with the first great Czech nationalist composer, Bedrich Smetana, who left a monument to his country in his cycle of orchestral pieces, Ma Vlast (My Country). The younger composer Antonn Dvorak established a still greater reputation in music that reflected his native Bohemia in all its variety.
Our tour of the Czech Republic follows the Vltava River through the countryside to the capital city of Prague, visiting some of the great buildings that lie on its course.
The Music
The music chosen for our tour starts with the first great Czech nationalist composer, Bedrich Smetana, who left a monument to his country in his cycle of orchestral pieces, Ma Vlast (My Country). The younger composer Antonn Dvorak established a still greater reputation in music that reflected his native Bohemia in all its variety.
The Places
The churches and palaces of Prague are seen, with the great River Vltava (the Moldau), which flows through the city, the outline of city buildings reflected in its waters. The Strahov Monastery and the Villa Bertramka are practical examples of Mozart's contact with Prague. On a visit to the monastery he improvised on the organ, and at the Villa Bertramka he and his wife Constanze were guests of the Czech composer Dusek . There is also a visit to Southern Moravia and Lednice, with its Neo-Gothic castle, its folly, a slender minaret, in its English gardens, with its trees and artificial lakes.
The Music
Mozart had happy memories of Prague. When, during the last ten
years of his life, circumstances in Vienna proved increasingly difficult, he was always welcome in the Bohemian capital. It was for Prague that he wrote his opera Don Giovanni in 1787 and for Prague that he wrote one of his last operas, La clemenza di Tito , commissioned for the coronation of Leopold II as King of Bohemia, and for his unappreciative wife, who described the work as 'porcheria tedesca', German porkery. Prague continues to honour Mozart in various festivals, concerts and memorabilia.
The churches and palaces of Prague are seen, with the great River Vltava (the Moldau), which flows through the city, the outline of city buildings reflected in its waters. The Strahov Monastery and the Villa Bertramka are practical examples of Mozart's contact with Prague. On a visit to the monastery he improvised on the organ, and at the Villa Bertramka he and his wife Constanze were guests of the Czech composer Dusek . There is also a visit to Southern Moravia and Lednice, with its Neo-Gothic castle, its folly, a slender minaret, in its English gardens, with its trees and artificial lakes.
The Music
Mozart had happy memories of Prague. When, during the last ten
years of his life, circumstances in Vienna proved increasingly difficult, he was always welcome in the Bohemian capital. It was for Prague that he wrote his opera Don Giovanni in 1787 and for Prague that he wrote one of his last operas, La clemenza di Tito , commissioned for the coronation of Leopold II as King of Bohemia, and for his unappreciative wife, who described the work as 'porcheria tedesca', German porkery. Prague continues to honour Mozart in various festivals, concerts and memorabilia.
The Places
The visit to the Czech Republic starts with Hluboka Castle, a massive building that for over three hundred years belonged to the Schwarzenberg family. The present building is modelled in part on England's Windsor Castle. Other sites visited include Konopiste Castle, the picturesque town of Telc, and Vranov Castle.
The Music
Music for the visit is by Mozart and consists of his four Horn Concertos , written during the last decade of his life, when he was in Vienna, They were intended for his old Salzburg friend Ignaz Leutgeb, who has also settled in Vienna, prudently married there, and, in tandem with his musical activities, had become the owner of a small cheese-shop. The concertos, one of them unfinished at the time of Mozart's death, represent his work at its height.
The visit to the Czech Republic starts with Hluboka Castle, a massive building that for over three hundred years belonged to the Schwarzenberg family. The present building is modelled in part on England's Windsor Castle. Other sites visited include Konopiste Castle, the picturesque town of Telc, and Vranov Castle.
The Music
Music for the visit is by Mozart and consists of his four Horn Concertos , written during the last decade of his life, when he was in Vienna, They were intended for his old Salzburg friend Ignaz Leutgeb, who has also settled in Vienna, prudently married there, and, in tandem with his musical activities, had become the owner of a small cheese-shop. The concertos, one of them unfinished at the time of Mozart's death, represent his work at its height.
The Places
Our tour takes us to three great English houses. The first, near Oxford, is Blenheim Palace, built for the first Duke of Marlborough by Sir John Vanbrugh. The second is the romantic Leeds Castle, in Kent, known for its spectacular setting, and the third is Castle Howard in North Yorkshire, designed for the Howard family by Vanbrugh.
The Music
The music chosen to accompany our tour is by George Frideric Handel, who finally settled in England in 1712, assuming a dominant position in English music. His Water Music was written to entertain King George I, probably in 1717, as he sailed up the Thames, and the second, the Music for the Royal Fireworks, was commissioned to celebrate the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1749, accompanying a firework display in Green Park.
Our tour takes us to three great English houses. The first, near Oxford, is Blenheim Palace, built for the first Duke of Marlborough by Sir John Vanbrugh. The second is the romantic Leeds Castle, in Kent, known for its spectacular setting, and the third is Castle Howard in North Yorkshire, designed for the Howard family by Vanbrugh.
The Music
The music chosen to accompany our tour is by George Frideric Handel, who finally settled in England in 1712, assuming a dominant position in English music. His Water Music was written to entertain King George I, probably in 1717, as he sailed up the Thames, and the second, the Music for the Royal Fireworks, was commissioned to celebrate the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1749, accompanying a firework display in Green Park.
The Places
The tour of London takes us to the best-known parts of the British capital, with views of the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, Hampton Court and down river to Greenwich.
The Music
The music for this tour of London is taken from the last two of Joseph Haydn's twelve London Symphonies, the last such works that he would write, composed specially for a series of concerts he gave in London in the 1790s, during two extended visits.
The tour of London takes us to the best-known parts of the British capital, with views of the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, Hampton Court and down river to Greenwich.
The Music
The music for this tour of London is taken from the last two of Joseph Haydn's twelve London Symphonies, the last such works that he would write, composed specially for a series of concerts he gave in London in the 1790s, during two extended visits.
The Places
The places visited are principally in the west of England, the heart of "Elgar country," with its half-timbered houses, great cathedrals and churches, rivers and verdant landscape. There are glimpses of the Malvern hills, of Hereford and Worcester, and excursions to London and to Scotland, in views largely associated with the life of the composer Edward Elgar.
The Music
The music of Elgar was rooted in his own part of England. His Enigma Variations offers portraits of his friends and neighbours, the enigma lying in the unrevealed melody that he claimed would be generally known and that would go with the whole set of variations. The puzzle remains unsolved. Other music used includes Elgar's Serenade for Strings, Pomp and Circumstance March, No. 1 and Salut d'amour.
The places visited are principally in the west of England, the heart of "Elgar country," with its half-timbered houses, great cathedrals and churches, rivers and verdant landscape. There are glimpses of the Malvern hills, of Hereford and Worcester, and excursions to London and to Scotland, in views largely associated with the life of the composer Edward Elgar.
The Music
The music of Elgar was rooted in his own part of England. His Enigma Variations offers portraits of his friends and neighbours, the enigma lying in the unrevealed melody that he claimed would be generally known and that would go with the whole set of variations. The puzzle remains unsolved. Other music used includes Elgar's Serenade for Strings, Pomp and Circumstance March, No. 1 and Salut d'amour.
The Places
Scenes of Finland, its capital Helsinki and its countryside are intercut with the work of the painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela, who, like his contemporary Jean Sibelius, captured the spirit of his country and its legends in his work.
The Music
Jean Sibelius is the greatest of all Finnish composers, and it is his music that accompanies scenes from his native Finland, its landscape and legends. He drew inspiration from the ancient stories of his country included in the great collections of legends that make up the Kalevala and from the Finnish landscape.
Scenes of Finland, its capital Helsinki and its countryside are intercut with the work of the painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela, who, like his contemporary Jean Sibelius, captured the spirit of his country and its legends in his work.
The Music
Jean Sibelius is the greatest of all Finnish composers, and it is his music that accompanies scenes from his native Finland, its landscape and legends. He drew inspiration from the ancient stories of his country included in the great collections of legends that make up the Kalevala and from the Finnish landscape.
The Places
Scenes of Finland and its capital Helsinki , the interlinked islands of Savonlinna , site of an ancient castle and Kerimaki , with its wooden church, suggest a vision of a remarkable country, moulded by its geographical features and its varied and long history.
The Music
Finland found its musical identity largely through the work of Jean
Sibelius . The son of a doctor, Sibelius belonged to a class of which the culture and language was Swedish. He learned Finnish and acquired his knowledge of Finnish literature and legend at school, developed his understanding of music in Germany, principally in Berlin, and established himself as one of the most considerable of the late Romantic symphonists, exploring new possibilities in a vein that might have seemed overworked. Here and in his tone-poems, based largely on Finnish legend, he created a national music that has defied imitation in the very breadth of his conception of the symphonic form.
Scenes of Finland and its capital Helsinki , the interlinked islands of Savonlinna , site of an ancient castle and Kerimaki , with its wooden church, suggest a vision of a remarkable country, moulded by its geographical features and its varied and long history.
The Music
Finland found its musical identity largely through the work of Jean
Sibelius . The son of a doctor, Sibelius belonged to a class of which the culture and language was Swedish. He learned Finnish and acquired his knowledge of Finnish literature and legend at school, developed his understanding of music in Germany, principally in Berlin, and established himself as one of the most considerable of the late Romantic symphonists, exploring new possibilities in a vein that might have seemed overworked. Here and in his tone-poems, based largely on Finnish legend, he created a national music that has defied imitation in the very breadth of his conception of the symphonic form.
The Places
This tour of Finland concentrates on the capital, Helsinki, and the work of the Finnish artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela.
The Music
Finland found its musical identity largely through the work of Jean
Sibelius . He established himself as one of the most considerable of the late Romantic symphonists, and in his tone-poems created a national music that has defied imitation.
This tour of Finland concentrates on the capital, Helsinki, and the work of the Finnish artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela.
The Music
Finland found its musical identity largely through the work of Jean
Sibelius . He established himself as one of the most considerable of the late Romantic symphonists, and in his tone-poems created a national music that has defied imitation.
The Places
Our tour of the interlinked islands of Savonlinna in south-east Finland begins with the medieval castle of Ovanlinna , the venue nowadays for an international opera festival, and the town of Savonlinna that has developed round it over the last four hundred years.
The Music
The music is by Sibelius , the greatest of Finnish composers, who single-handedly created a national music evoking the traditional epics of Finnish history and legend. We hear the first of his seven surviving symphonies and the symphonic poem En Saga (A Story) .
Our tour of the interlinked islands of Savonlinna in south-east Finland begins with the medieval castle of Ovanlinna , the venue nowadays for an international opera festival, and the town of Savonlinna that has developed round it over the last four hundred years.
The Music
The music is by Sibelius , the greatest of Finnish composers, who single-handedly created a national music evoking the traditional epics of Finnish history and legend. We hear the first of his seven surviving symphonies and the symphonic poem En Saga (A Story) .
The Places
Florence grew rich and powerful on the silk trade and banking, evidenced by an incredible wealth of cultural history preserved in its buildings and other works of art. The city is dominated by its great cathedral and adjacent bell tower and the famous Baptistery. Running through it is the river Arno, crossed by the old bridge, the Ponte Vecchio, and around it rise the Tuscan hills.
The Music
Ranging from Palestrina to Puccini, the music includes an excerpt from the latter's opera Gianni Schicchi , set in Florence, arias from Verdi, and instrumental excerpts by Rossini. It also includes a poignant extract from Mozart's Concerto for Flute and Harp and his mock serenade from Don Giovanni, and it ends with a transcription for guitar of a caprice by the demon violinist Paganini.
Florence grew rich and powerful on the silk trade and banking, evidenced by an incredible wealth of cultural history preserved in its buildings and other works of art. The city is dominated by its great cathedral and adjacent bell tower and the famous Baptistery. Running through it is the river Arno, crossed by the old bridge, the Ponte Vecchio, and around it rise the Tuscan hills.
The Music
Ranging from Palestrina to Puccini, the music includes an excerpt from the latter's opera Gianni Schicchi , set in Florence, arias from Verdi, and instrumental excerpts by Rossini. It also includes a poignant extract from Mozart's Concerto for Flute and Harp and his mock serenade from Don Giovanni, and it ends with a transcription for guitar of a caprice by the demon violinist Paganini.
The Places
Brittany and Normandy , in Northern France, have a character all their own, preserving, as they do, ancient Celtic traditions in a countryside bounded on one side by a rocky coast-line. The great Abbey of Mont St-Michel remains a centre of pilgrimage and secular interest, and in Normandy we catch glimpses of the Bayeux Tapestry, with its near contemporary record of William of Normandy's successful expedition in 1066 to conquer England.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Northern France is the Organ Symphony of Camille Saint-Saens , a work written in memory of Franz
Liszt that takes its name from the use of the organ in its grandiose
final movement. The other music to be heard is an orchestral version of the Belgian-born composer Cesar Franck's Prelude and Chorale , written two years earlier, in 1884, and the Romance in C major, Op. 48 , of Saint-Saens.
Brittany and Normandy , in Northern France, have a character all their own, preserving, as they do, ancient Celtic traditions in a countryside bounded on one side by a rocky coast-line. The great Abbey of Mont St-Michel remains a centre of pilgrimage and secular interest, and in Normandy we catch glimpses of the Bayeux Tapestry, with its near contemporary record of William of Normandy's successful expedition in 1066 to conquer England.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Northern France is the Organ Symphony of Camille Saint-Saens , a work written in memory of Franz
Liszt that takes its name from the use of the organ in its grandiose
final movement. The other music to be heard is an orchestral version of the Belgian-born composer Cesar Franck's Prelude and Chorale , written two years earlier, in 1884, and the Romance in C major, Op. 48 , of Saint-Saens.
The Places:
The region of southern France known as Provence has enjoyed a varied history, occupied by Ligurian and Celtic tribes, followed by Greek settlers, and finally by absorption into the Roman Empire. The succeeding centuries brought invasions, then rule by the Counts of Toulouse, before the region became, by inheritance, part of France. The local language, the langue d'oc, reflects something of this history, as do surviving popular customs. The Roman period is represented by surviving buildings, the Middle Ages by the Romanesque and Gothic.
The Music:
Music for the tour consists of string quartets by Claude Debussy and by Maurice Ravel, thirteen years his junior. Debussy's String Quartet, Op. 10, dates from 1893, while Ravel's single string quartet was written in 1902. Both works are highly characteristic of their relative composers.
The region of southern France known as Provence has enjoyed a varied history, occupied by Ligurian and Celtic tribes, followed by Greek settlers, and finally by absorption into the Roman Empire. The succeeding centuries brought invasions, then rule by the Counts of Toulouse, before the region became, by inheritance, part of France. The local language, the langue d'oc, reflects something of this history, as do surviving popular customs. The Roman period is represented by surviving buildings, the Middle Ages by the Romanesque and Gothic.
The Music:
Music for the tour consists of string quartets by Claude Debussy and by Maurice Ravel, thirteen years his junior. Debussy's String Quartet, Op. 10, dates from 1893, while Ravel's single string quartet was written in 1902. Both works are highly characteristic of their relative composers.
The Places
The tour opens with views of the Camargue, the marshy region near Arles with its wild life. Views of the Cote d'Azur are intercut with glimpses of the Munich Glyptothek with its collections of Roman and Greek statuary. Near Arles is the ancient Abbey of Montmajour and the fortified monastery and Abbey of Saint-Honorat, one of the Iles de Lerins. In Arles we see the Roman theatre and necropolis and, at Saint-Remy-de-Provence, the remains of the ancient Gallo-Greek town of Glanum.
The Music
Music for the tour includes Debussy's evocative Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune , two Gymnopedies by Erik Satie and Ravel's two suites from his ballet Daphnies et Chloe , followed by his Introduction and Allegro for Harp, Flute, Clarinet and String Quartet.
The tour opens with views of the Camargue, the marshy region near Arles with its wild life. Views of the Cote d'Azur are intercut with glimpses of the Munich Glyptothek with its collections of Roman and Greek statuary. Near Arles is the ancient Abbey of Montmajour and the fortified monastery and Abbey of Saint-Honorat, one of the Iles de Lerins. In Arles we see the Roman theatre and necropolis and, at Saint-Remy-de-Provence, the remains of the ancient Gallo-Greek town of Glanum.
The Music
Music for the tour includes Debussy's evocative Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune , two Gymnopedies by Erik Satie and Ravel's two suites from his ballet Daphnies et Chloe , followed by his Introduction and Allegro for Harp, Flute, Clarinet and String Quartet.
The Places
The tour starts in the formal gardens of the Palace of Versailles and
moves on to the Chateau of Chantilly. In Paris Montmartre presents a
simpler world, with scenes from the Canal Saint-Martin. The writer Rabelais is celebrated in Chinon, his birth-place, and there is a glimpse of Bluebeard's castle before we enter the traditional brasserie, La Cigale, in Nantes. In Paris again, the restaurant, the Train Bleu, celebrates an earlier age of luxury and from the historic railway stations of the capital we continue to Pere Lachaise Cemetery, before finally visiting the Place de la Concorde and the major sights of Paris.
The Music
In 1809 Vienna was once again under attack from the forces of Napoleon. Most of the leading families, including the imperial family,
had taken refuge elsewhere, the occasion of Beethoven's Sonata Les
Adieux . On 12th May the city surrendered, the French occupation
bringing with it hardship for the Viennese people. In these circumstances Beethoven, now 39 and increasingly deaf, worked on the
last of his five piano concertos, to be popularly known as the Emperor . It was probably completed in the following year and was given its first performance in Leipzig in November, 1811.
The tour starts in the formal gardens of the Palace of Versailles and
moves on to the Chateau of Chantilly. In Paris Montmartre presents a
simpler world, with scenes from the Canal Saint-Martin. The writer Rabelais is celebrated in Chinon, his birth-place, and there is a glimpse of Bluebeard's castle before we enter the traditional brasserie, La Cigale, in Nantes. In Paris again, the restaurant, the Train Bleu, celebrates an earlier age of luxury and from the historic railway stations of the capital we continue to Pere Lachaise Cemetery, before finally visiting the Place de la Concorde and the major sights of Paris.
The Music
In 1809 Vienna was once again under attack from the forces of Napoleon. Most of the leading families, including the imperial family,
had taken refuge elsewhere, the occasion of Beethoven's Sonata Les
Adieux . On 12th May the city surrendered, the French occupation
bringing with it hardship for the Viennese people. In these circumstances Beethoven, now 39 and increasingly deaf, worked on the
last of his five piano concertos, to be popularly known as the Emperor . It was probably completed in the following year and was given its first performance in Leipzig in November, 1811.
The Places
The places visited include Arles, with its Roman arena, the mill made famous by Alphonse Daudet in his Lettres de mon moulin and the celebrations of the gardians of the Camargue, with its wild horses. Accompanying the Zoological Fantasy of Saint-Saens are scenes from zoos, the nature reserve at Sigean, near Narbonne, and the Swiss children's zoo at Rapperswil.
The places visited include Arles, with its Roman arena, the mill made famous by Alphonse Daudet in his Lettres de mon moulin and the celebrations of the gardians of the Camargue, with its wild horses. Accompanying the Zoological Fantasy of Saint-Saens are scenes from zoos, the nature reserve at Sigean, near Narbonne, and the Swiss children's zoo at Rapperswil.
The Places
The tour of France takes us to Burgundy , to the Pays de la Loire , to Franche-Comte and elsewhere and includes glimpses of the 17th century Chateau de Cheverny , with its hunting museum and souvenirs of the chase, and the Chateau d'Arlay, with its site for falconry. The Chateau de Bussy-Rabutain was rebuilt in the middle of the 17th century by Count Roger of Bussy-Rabutain, exiled from the French court after his scandalous Histoire amoureuse des Gaules, a literary preoccupation reflected in his collection of pictures. The restored gardens of the Chateau de Villandry are seen in their formal lay-out.
The Music
The music chosen to accompany the tour of the fertile and varied
landscapes of France is by Beethoven and consists principally of his Pastoral Symphony , a work that reflects his feelings, as he recollects a visit to the countryside. The symphony includes elements of realism in its versions of bird-calls and its depiction of a storm, followed by a song of the thanksgiving, when the storm has passed. Also included is the Romance in G Major , a single movement for solo violin and orchestra, possibly intended for a violin concerto that was never written.
The tour of France takes us to Burgundy , to the Pays de la Loire , to Franche-Comte and elsewhere and includes glimpses of the 17th century Chateau de Cheverny , with its hunting museum and souvenirs of the chase, and the Chateau d'Arlay, with its site for falconry. The Chateau de Bussy-Rabutain was rebuilt in the middle of the 17th century by Count Roger of Bussy-Rabutain, exiled from the French court after his scandalous Histoire amoureuse des Gaules, a literary preoccupation reflected in his collection of pictures. The restored gardens of the Chateau de Villandry are seen in their formal lay-out.
The Music
The music chosen to accompany the tour of the fertile and varied
landscapes of France is by Beethoven and consists principally of his Pastoral Symphony , a work that reflects his feelings, as he recollects a visit to the countryside. The symphony includes elements of realism in its versions of bird-calls and its depiction of a storm, followed by a song of the thanksgiving, when the storm has passed. Also included is the Romance in G Major , a single movement for solo violin and orchestra, possibly intended for a violin concerto that was never written.
The Places
Starting from the great Cathedral of Chartres, our tour takes us to Brittany and Normandy in northern France and to Franche Comte and Burgundy. Many of the scenes chosen match closely the music of Faure, particularly his Requiem, with a wide range of images from the cavalries of Brittany, the startling architecture of Le Corbusier in his church of Notre Dame du Haut at Ronchamp, The Last Judgment by Rogier van der Weyden in Beaune, and the tapestries of Jean Lurcat at Angers.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of France is by Gabriel Faure. It includes his Requiem, the evocative Pavane, his Sicilienne, probably originally intended as part of incidental music for Moliere's Le bourgeois gentilhomme, and the Berceuse.
Starting from the great Cathedral of Chartres, our tour takes us to Brittany and Normandy in northern France and to Franche Comte and Burgundy. Many of the scenes chosen match closely the music of Faure, particularly his Requiem, with a wide range of images from the cavalries of Brittany, the startling architecture of Le Corbusier in his church of Notre Dame du Haut at Ronchamp, The Last Judgment by Rogier van der Weyden in Beaune, and the tapestries of Jean Lurcat at Angers.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of France is by Gabriel Faure. It includes his Requiem, the evocative Pavane, his Sicilienne, probably originally intended as part of incidental music for Moliere's Le bourgeois gentilhomme, and the Berceuse.
The Places
The places visited are on the coast of Southern France , from Frejus and Cannes to Marseille. They include the Chateau of King Rene in Tarascon and the famous island Chateau d'If, where the fictional Edmond Dantes was held prisoner in The Count of Monte Cristo . There is particular attention given to the flat marshland of the Camargue, with its wild horses and its associated festivities in Arles.
The Music
The music that accompanies the tour is all by French composers, from Saint Saens and Offenbach to Debussy and Ravel's nostalgic Pavane sur une infante defunte . The tour starts in cheerful mood with Chabrier's Marche Joyeuse
The places visited are on the coast of Southern France , from Frejus and Cannes to Marseille. They include the Chateau of King Rene in Tarascon and the famous island Chateau d'If, where the fictional Edmond Dantes was held prisoner in The Count of Monte Cristo . There is particular attention given to the flat marshland of the Camargue, with its wild horses and its associated festivities in Arles.
The Music
The music that accompanies the tour is all by French composers, from Saint Saens and Offenbach to Debussy and Ravel's nostalgic Pavane sur une infante defunte . The tour starts in cheerful mood with Chabrier's Marche Joyeuse
The Places
This musical tour of France starts in Paris with scenes that reflect the modenisation of the city in the 19th century under Baron Haussmann. From Paris the tour passes to Burgundy, with its vineyards, to Provence, with its Fete des Gardiens in Arles and Roman aqueduct, and thence to the Loire, with its great castles and country houses. The tour ends with a visit to Brittany and Normandy, the northern coasts and the great monastery of Mont Saint-Michel.
The Music
Music for the tour is taken from Fryderyk Chopin's two piano concertos. The son of a French Emigre and a Polish mother, Chopin left his native Warsaw in 1830, settling in the following year in Paris, where he lived until his death in 1849. His piano concertos were written and first performed in Warsaw in 1830 and seemed a necessary part of his stock-in-trade for a planned career as a virtuoso. Eventually Chopin found a more congenial role in Paris as a performer in private society salons and as a fashionable teacher.
This musical tour of France starts in Paris with scenes that reflect the modenisation of the city in the 19th century under Baron Haussmann. From Paris the tour passes to Burgundy, with its vineyards, to Provence, with its Fete des Gardiens in Arles and Roman aqueduct, and thence to the Loire, with its great castles and country houses. The tour ends with a visit to Brittany and Normandy, the northern coasts and the great monastery of Mont Saint-Michel.
The Music
Music for the tour is taken from Fryderyk Chopin's two piano concertos. The son of a French Emigre and a Polish mother, Chopin left his native Warsaw in 1830, settling in the following year in Paris, where he lived until his death in 1849. His piano concertos were written and first performed in Warsaw in 1830 and seemed a necessary part of his stock-in-trade for a planned career as a virtuoso. Eventually Chopin found a more congenial role in Paris as a performer in private society salons and as a fashionable teacher.
The Places
Gardens, formal and informal, French, Italian, German and English, are an important element of European culture.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of European garden and parks is matched carefully with the places chosen.
Gardens, formal and informal, French, Italian, German and English, are an important element of European culture.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of European garden and parks is matched carefully with the places chosen.
The Places
Our journey takes us principally to the city of Genoa, for centuries an independent republic, held by Austria, seized by Napoleon, and later joined to Piedmont.
The Music
Violinist, priest and most prolific composer, Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice 1678 and spent most of his life there, associated for much of the time with the Ospedale della Pieta, a charitable institution for girls, with strong musical tradition. The music for the tour is taken from concertos for various instruments.
Our journey takes us principally to the city of Genoa, for centuries an independent republic, held by Austria, seized by Napoleon, and later joined to Piedmont.
The Music
Violinist, priest and most prolific composer, Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice 1678 and spent most of his life there, associated for much of the time with the Ospedale della Pieta, a charitable institution for girls, with strong musical tradition. The music for the tour is taken from concertos for various instruments.
The Places
On a hill above the ancient town of Kulmbach stands the imposing 12th century Hohenzollern fortress of Plassenburg. Among various collections on display is the remarkable Tin Soldier Museum, with various figures and dioramas that re-create battles and mirror the great castle itself, with a variety of scenes from all period of human history.
The Music
The March has an inevitable part to play in human history. Marco Polo remarked on the use of music by the armies of China to terrify the enemy before a battle. Military music, however, has a more precise purpose, whatever alarm it may strike into the hearts of those who hear it. Drums and trumpets may serve as useful signals, to advance or retreat, to eat or to sleep. The same instruments and their near relations may serve to keep an army moving together, and may serve to inspire feelings feelings of bravery and patriotism. At the same time a march can provide a suitable accompaniment to an occasion of solemnity, a wedding, a funeral or a state economy. The music chosen for this tour offers a series of Marches by different composers, culminationg in Mendelssohn's Wedding March
On a hill above the ancient town of Kulmbach stands the imposing 12th century Hohenzollern fortress of Plassenburg. Among various collections on display is the remarkable Tin Soldier Museum, with various figures and dioramas that re-create battles and mirror the great castle itself, with a variety of scenes from all period of human history.
The Music
The March has an inevitable part to play in human history. Marco Polo remarked on the use of music by the armies of China to terrify the enemy before a battle. Military music, however, has a more precise purpose, whatever alarm it may strike into the hearts of those who hear it. Drums and trumpets may serve as useful signals, to advance or retreat, to eat or to sleep. The same instruments and their near relations may serve to keep an army moving together, and may serve to inspire feelings feelings of bravery and patriotism. At the same time a march can provide a suitable accompaniment to an occasion of solemnity, a wedding, a funeral or a state economy. The music chosen for this tour offers a series of Marches by different composers, culminationg in Mendelssohn's Wedding March
The Places
Ludwig II of Bavaria followed family precedent in undertaking an extravagant building programme during his relatively short reign from 1864 to 1886. The castles constructed on his orders included the romantic Neuschwanstein and the magnificent Schloss Linderhof, with its elaborate formal gardens, grottoes and fountains. The tour ends with a brief glimpse of the mountainous Southern Tyrol in winter snow.
The Music
Richard Wagner's innovative and immensely influential music-dramas were largely based on older German legend, notably on the Nibelungenlied, the basis of his tetralogy, The Ring . Ludwig II was fascinated by Wagner and by his operas, on subjects that had long been dear to him. These include the opera Lohengrin , which Ludwig first saw in 1861, the beginning of his preoccupation with Wagner, and the earlier opera Tannhauser . The music chosen also includes an overture by Heinrich Marschner to an opera based on the Old Bohemian legend of Hans Heiling, son of an Earth Spirit.
Ludwig II of Bavaria followed family precedent in undertaking an extravagant building programme during his relatively short reign from 1864 to 1886. The castles constructed on his orders included the romantic Neuschwanstein and the magnificent Schloss Linderhof, with its elaborate formal gardens, grottoes and fountains. The tour ends with a brief glimpse of the mountainous Southern Tyrol in winter snow.
The Music
Richard Wagner's innovative and immensely influential music-dramas were largely based on older German legend, notably on the Nibelungenlied, the basis of his tetralogy, The Ring . Ludwig II was fascinated by Wagner and by his operas, on subjects that had long been dear to him. These include the opera Lohengrin , which Ludwig first saw in 1861, the beginning of his preoccupation with Wagner, and the earlier opera Tannhauser . The music chosen also includes an overture by Heinrich Marschner to an opera based on the Old Bohemian legend of Hans Heiling, son of an Earth Spirit.
The Places
This tour of Germany and, in particular, Thuringia, takes us to places associated with Johann Sebastian Bach, to his birthplace, Eisenach, to Arnstadt where he had early employment, and to Leipzig, where he spent the last 27 years of his life. We also see the historic town of Gotha with Schloss Friedenstein and its surviving baroque theatre, Erfurt, and Naumburg, with its Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul.
The Music
The music for this tour of Germany is taken from three keyboard concertos by Bach, originally written for harpsichord but here heard on the piano, an instrument only beginning to develop in Bach's time. Bach's keyboard concertos, many of them arrangements of earlier works for other solo instruments, were written in Leipzig, where, in 1729, Bach took over direction of the University Collegium Musicum. This ensemble of talented amateurs and professionals met on Wednesday afternoons at Gottfried Zimmermann's coffee house or in summer on Friday evenings in his garden outside Leipzig.
This tour of Germany and, in particular, Thuringia, takes us to places associated with Johann Sebastian Bach, to his birthplace, Eisenach, to Arnstadt where he had early employment, and to Leipzig, where he spent the last 27 years of his life. We also see the historic town of Gotha with Schloss Friedenstein and its surviving baroque theatre, Erfurt, and Naumburg, with its Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul.
The Music
The music for this tour of Germany is taken from three keyboard concertos by Bach, originally written for harpsichord but here heard on the piano, an instrument only beginning to develop in Bach's time. Bach's keyboard concertos, many of them arrangements of earlier works for other solo instruments, were written in Leipzig, where, in 1729, Bach took over direction of the University Collegium Musicum. This ensemble of talented amateurs and professionals met on Wednesday afternoons at Gottfried Zimmermann's coffee house or in summer on Friday evenings in his garden outside Leipzig.
The Places
The tour visits four notable baroque churches in Bavaria, the Monastic Church of the Assumption at Rohr, the Benedictine Abbey Church of Ottobeuren, the Alte Kapelle in Regensburg and the Monastic Church of St. George and St. Martin at Weltenburg near Kelheim.
The Music
Music for the tour is by Johann Sebastian Bach and is taken from the works Bach wrote for the organ. He had been familiar with the instrument from childhood, and apart from a short period from 1717 to 1723 as Court Kapellmeister to Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cthen, remained a respected performer on the instrument, a composer of organ music and an expert on the construction of the instrument.
The tour visits four notable baroque churches in Bavaria, the Monastic Church of the Assumption at Rohr, the Benedictine Abbey Church of Ottobeuren, the Alte Kapelle in Regensburg and the Monastic Church of St. George and St. Martin at Weltenburg near Kelheim.
The Music
Music for the tour is by Johann Sebastian Bach and is taken from the works Bach wrote for the organ. He had been familiar with the instrument from childhood, and apart from a short period from 1717 to 1723 as Court Kapellmeister to Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cthen, remained a respected performer on the instrument, a composer of organ music and an expert on the construction of the instrument.
The Places
Bavaria, in south Germany, in earlier times ruled by an elector whose capital was Munich, is a region of the greatest variety. The places seen here start with the Bavarian Forest and its traditional craft of glass-blowing. Other scenes are of the great palace of the Thurn und Taxis Princes at Regensburg and the fine baroque monastery church of St. George and St. Martin at Weltenburg.
The Music
Music for the tour is by Telemann, a friend and contemporary of Johann Sebastian Bach, founder of the Leipzig Collegium Musicum later directed by Bach, godfather to Bach's second son and for many years in charge of music in Hamburg, where he was later succeeded by his godson. The music here includes a suite for recorder and strings and two concertos from his Tafelmusik, one for three violins and the other for two horns.
Bavaria, in south Germany, in earlier times ruled by an elector whose capital was Munich, is a region of the greatest variety. The places seen here start with the Bavarian Forest and its traditional craft of glass-blowing. Other scenes are of the great palace of the Thurn und Taxis Princes at Regensburg and the fine baroque monastery church of St. George and St. Martin at Weltenburg.
The Music
Music for the tour is by Telemann, a friend and contemporary of Johann Sebastian Bach, founder of the Leipzig Collegium Musicum later directed by Bach, godfather to Bach's second son and for many years in charge of music in Hamburg, where he was later succeeded by his godson. The music here includes a suite for recorder and strings and two concertos from his Tafelmusik, one for three violins and the other for two horns.
The Places
The Road of Romance, in South Bavaria, leads through the countryside to the great castle of Weikersheim, former residence of the Counts and Princes Hohenlohe. Further exploration of Bavaria and the Bavarian Forest leads to Prunn Castle on its rocky eminence, and finally to Wrzburg on the river Main and the Marienberg Fortress.
The Music
Max Bruch, a native of Cologne, enjoyed a career that took him as a conductor to Liverpool, Coblenz, Breslau and Bonn before his final years in Berlin. His first Violin Concerto remains among his most popular works. Carl Maria von Weber led an even more varied life that took him to musical centres in Germany and Austria. He was a pioneer of German romantic opera, and three opera overtures are chosen here. Der Freischtz (The Marksman) evokes the spirit of the German forest, while Euryanthe explores more exotic territory, as does Oberon, Weber's final opera, written for London in 1826, the last year of his life.
The Road of Romance, in South Bavaria, leads through the countryside to the great castle of Weikersheim, former residence of the Counts and Princes Hohenlohe. Further exploration of Bavaria and the Bavarian Forest leads to Prunn Castle on its rocky eminence, and finally to Wrzburg on the river Main and the Marienberg Fortress.
The Music
Max Bruch, a native of Cologne, enjoyed a career that took him as a conductor to Liverpool, Coblenz, Breslau and Bonn before his final years in Berlin. His first Violin Concerto remains among his most popular works. Carl Maria von Weber led an even more varied life that took him to musical centres in Germany and Austria. He was a pioneer of German romantic opera, and three opera overtures are chosen here. Der Freischtz (The Marksman) evokes the spirit of the German forest, while Euryanthe explores more exotic territory, as does Oberon, Weber's final opera, written for London in 1826, the last year of his life.
The Places
The city of Nuremberg owes its importance partly to its geographical position, which made it a significant centre for trade. In spite of considerable war damage, its old medieval city, now restored, remains as a monument to its importance in the late Middle Ages. By the 16th century Nuremberg had become a centre of trade and of artistic activity. In art it could boast the presence of Albrecht Durer and in poetry Hans Sachs and the Guild of Mastersingers, later to be celebrated by Wagner.
The Music
The son of Leopold Mozart, the Deputy Kapellmeister at the court of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had grown up at the archiepisopcal court, to be employed there, like his father, in a childhood and early adolescence interrupted by long concert tours as an infant prodigy. He excelled as a pianist, but was also a proficient violinist, and two of the three Violin Sonatas included here date from years in which he tried briefly to escape from Salzburg and find employment elsewhere, with the third written in 1781, when he was first establishing himself in independence in Vienna, where he was to die ten years later.
The city of Nuremberg owes its importance partly to its geographical position, which made it a significant centre for trade. In spite of considerable war damage, its old medieval city, now restored, remains as a monument to its importance in the late Middle Ages. By the 16th century Nuremberg had become a centre of trade and of artistic activity. In art it could boast the presence of Albrecht Durer and in poetry Hans Sachs and the Guild of Mastersingers, later to be celebrated by Wagner.
The Music
The son of Leopold Mozart, the Deputy Kapellmeister at the court of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had grown up at the archiepisopcal court, to be employed there, like his father, in a childhood and early adolescence interrupted by long concert tours as an infant prodigy. He excelled as a pianist, but was also a proficient violinist, and two of the three Violin Sonatas included here date from years in which he tried briefly to escape from Salzburg and find employment elsewhere, with the third written in 1781, when he was first establishing himself in independence in Vienna, where he was to die ten years later.
The Places
The Abbey of Ottobeuren was founded in 764 under the Frankish Emperor Pippin III, father of Charlemagne, and housed the relics of the Roman martyr St Alexander. In 960 Bishop Ulrich of Augsburg acquired the relics of the martyr St. Theodore for the Abbey, which remains dedicated to St. Alexander and St. Theodore. In the following years the Abbey underwent various vicissitudes, periods of prosperity and of warfare and destruction. The present buildings owe their existence to the Abbot Rupert II Ness, who in 1711 embarked on a program of restoration. The secularisation of the earlier 19th century brought its problems, but Ottobeuren finally regained its independent status in 1918, and the church, under Pope Pius XI, was
declared a Basilica Minor.
The Music
Written in 1741, Messiah is Handel's English language oratorio with text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible, and from the version of the Psalms included with the Book of Common Prayer. First performed in Dublin in 1741 but only achieved its lasting success after performances in 1750 in aid of the Foundling Hospital, established ten years earlier by Captain Thomas Coram. At his death in 1759 Handel left a fair copy of the score and all parts to the Hospital, an institution that continued...
The Abbey of Ottobeuren was founded in 764 under the Frankish Emperor Pippin III, father of Charlemagne, and housed the relics of the Roman martyr St Alexander. In 960 Bishop Ulrich of Augsburg acquired the relics of the martyr St. Theodore for the Abbey, which remains dedicated to St. Alexander and St. Theodore. In the following years the Abbey underwent various vicissitudes, periods of prosperity and of warfare and destruction. The present buildings owe their existence to the Abbot Rupert II Ness, who in 1711 embarked on a program of restoration. The secularisation of the earlier 19th century brought its problems, but Ottobeuren finally regained its independent status in 1918, and the church, under Pope Pius XI, was
declared a Basilica Minor.
The Music
Written in 1741, Messiah is Handel's English language oratorio with text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible, and from the version of the Psalms included with the Book of Common Prayer. First performed in Dublin in 1741 but only achieved its lasting success after performances in 1750 in aid of the Foundling Hospital, established ten years earlier by Captain Thomas Coram. At his death in 1759 Handel left a fair copy of the score and all parts to the Hospital, an institution that continued...
The Places
Bavaria has a place of its own in Germany, both geographically and culturally. The tour stars with the Alpine lake known as Knigssee and explores the surrounding landscape, including the Berchtesgaden National Park and the gardens of Ludwig II's answer to Versailles, his grandiose Schloss Herrenchiemsee. The tour ends with the Chiemsee, its islands and its tranquil waters.
The Music
The music for the tour is by Johannes Brahms and his colleague and collaborator, the violinist Joseph Joachim. Brahms' second symphony, which accompanies the earlier parts of the tour, was described by some contemporaries as Brahms' "pastoral" symphony and provides, in its generally cheerful serenity, an apt accompaniment to views of the Bavarian countryside. Joachim's Overture In memoriam Heinrich von Kleist, written probably in the same year as Brahms' symphony, 1877, commemorates the centenary of the birth of the great German writer.
Bavaria has a place of its own in Germany, both geographically and culturally. The tour stars with the Alpine lake known as Knigssee and explores the surrounding landscape, including the Berchtesgaden National Park and the gardens of Ludwig II's answer to Versailles, his grandiose Schloss Herrenchiemsee. The tour ends with the Chiemsee, its islands and its tranquil waters.
The Music
The music for the tour is by Johannes Brahms and his colleague and collaborator, the violinist Joseph Joachim. Brahms' second symphony, which accompanies the earlier parts of the tour, was described by some contemporaries as Brahms' "pastoral" symphony and provides, in its generally cheerful serenity, an apt accompaniment to views of the Bavarian countryside. Joachim's Overture In memoriam Heinrich von Kleist, written probably in the same year as Brahms' symphony, 1877, commemorates the centenary of the birth of the great German writer.
The Places
Scenes of Italy range from the bay of Sestri Levante in Liguria to the Tuscan vineyards of Montepulciano, Florence and Venice.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Italy is chiefly from foreign composers who drew inspiration from Italy.
Scenes of Italy range from the bay of Sestri Levante in Liguria to the Tuscan vineyards of Montepulciano, Florence and Venice.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Italy is chiefly from foreign composers who drew inspiration from Italy.
The Places
Northern Italy has been ruled by various powers over the centuries. The Southern Tyrol, seen here, retains much of its Austrian past, with some regions predominantly German-speaking and others Italian. Scenes are shown of the Dolomites, the strangely shaped rock formations, a typical castle and mountain lakes. There are also views of the neighbouring Swiss-Italian canton of Ticino.
The Music
Music for the tour is by Beethoven, with his Violin Concerto, written and first performed in Vienna, and one of his two Romances for solo violin and orchestra, independent pieces perhaps intended as slow movements for another concerto that was never completed.
Northern Italy has been ruled by various powers over the centuries. The Southern Tyrol, seen here, retains much of its Austrian past, with some regions predominantly German-speaking and others Italian. Scenes are shown of the Dolomites, the strangely shaped rock formations, a typical castle and mountain lakes. There are also views of the neighbouring Swiss-Italian canton of Ticino.
The Music
Music for the tour is by Beethoven, with his Violin Concerto, written and first performed in Vienna, and one of his two Romances for solo violin and orchestra, independent pieces perhaps intended as slow movements for another concerto that was never completed.
The Places
The Tuscan city of Siena has a long history and is the site of one of the earliest great Gothic churches of the region, instantly recognisable from the polychrome marble and sculptures of its facade. From Siena our tour goes to Pisa , where, inevitably, the famous leaning tower and its adjacent buildings are the centre of our attention. The tour ends with a visit to Nervi , a resort that is now part of the city of Genoa, and the Villa Luxoro, with its
collections of objets d'art.
The Music
Music for the tour is by Beethoven, with his Piano Concerto No. 1 , completed in 1795, and his first numbered Piano Sonata in F Minor , one of a set of three, published in 1796 and dedicated to his teacher, Joseph Haydn.
The Tuscan city of Siena has a long history and is the site of one of the earliest great Gothic churches of the region, instantly recognisable from the polychrome marble and sculptures of its facade. From Siena our tour goes to Pisa , where, inevitably, the famous leaning tower and its adjacent buildings are the centre of our attention. The tour ends with a visit to Nervi , a resort that is now part of the city of Genoa, and the Villa Luxoro, with its
collections of objets d'art.
The Music
Music for the tour is by Beethoven, with his Piano Concerto No. 1 , completed in 1795, and his first numbered Piano Sonata in F Minor , one of a set of three, published in 1796 and dedicated to his teacher, Joseph Haydn.
The Places
South Tyrol , in Northern Italy, has had a varied history, for many years as part of Austrian territory. The region remains largely German-speaking, although both German and Italian are used. Looming over the territory are the mountains, the Dolomites, with their strange shapes, and the Alps, while the valleys provide fertile ground for the production of wine.
The Music
Music for the tour is taken from four Concerti grossi by Handel . Born in Halle in 1685, Handel had his first musical employment there and then in Hamburg, before moving in 1706 to Italy, where he remained until 1710, when he was appointed Kapellmeister to the Elector of Hanover. He travelled almost at once to London, where he had been engaged to compose an Italian opera, and from 1712 until his death in 1759 settled in England, winning fame first as a composer of Italian opera and then as the creator of English oratorio.
South Tyrol , in Northern Italy, has had a varied history, for many years as part of Austrian territory. The region remains largely German-speaking, although both German and Italian are used. Looming over the territory are the mountains, the Dolomites, with their strange shapes, and the Alps, while the valleys provide fertile ground for the production of wine.
The Music
Music for the tour is taken from four Concerti grossi by Handel . Born in Halle in 1685, Handel had his first musical employment there and then in Hamburg, before moving in 1706 to Italy, where he remained until 1710, when he was appointed Kapellmeister to the Elector of Hanover. He travelled almost at once to London, where he had been engaged to compose an Italian opera, and from 1712 until his death in 1759 settled in England, winning fame first as a composer of Italian opera and then as the creator of English oratorio.
The Places
The Southern Tyrol was in earlier times part of the Habsburg Empire, governed from Vienna, and ceded to Italy in 1919. The region remains largely German-speaking and enjoys a considerable degree of autonomy. Of particular interest are the rock formations of the Dolomites and the many castles and fortified houses of the province. The tour shows two historic buildings, Schloss Velthurns and Schloss Runkelstein.
The Music
Music for the tour is by Mozart, born in Salzburg in 1756. With his father, Leopold Mozart, Vice-Kapellmeister in Salzburg, he made three notable visits to Italy, and on various occasions he broke his journey at Bozen (Bolzano) and visited Brixen (Bressanone). The music heard here is the "Posthorn" Serenade, written in Salzburg in 1779, and the Notturno, another serenade, written there in the winter of 1776?EUR"77.
The Southern Tyrol was in earlier times part of the Habsburg Empire, governed from Vienna, and ceded to Italy in 1919. The region remains largely German-speaking and enjoys a considerable degree of autonomy. Of particular interest are the rock formations of the Dolomites and the many castles and fortified houses of the province. The tour shows two historic buildings, Schloss Velthurns and Schloss Runkelstein.
The Music
Music for the tour is by Mozart, born in Salzburg in 1756. With his father, Leopold Mozart, Vice-Kapellmeister in Salzburg, he made three notable visits to Italy, and on various occasions he broke his journey at Bozen (Bolzano) and visited Brixen (Bressanone). The music heard here is the "Posthorn" Serenade, written in Salzburg in 1779, and the Notturno, another serenade, written there in the winter of 1776?EUR"77.
The Places
The journey starts in the countryside near Arezzo, and passes from there to other districts of Tuscany, to the wine-producing fields near Montalcino, and thence to Rome and to the volcanic Lake Bracciano. The tour ends in the ancient town of Perugia, for long an artistic centre.
The Music
The music of the tour consists of Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 of 1812 and two overtures, Coriolanus and The Consecration of the House . The Coriolanus overture was written for a play by Heinrich von Collin on the plot familiar from Shakespeare, and the second overture for the opening of a new theatre in Vienna in 1822.
The journey starts in the countryside near Arezzo, and passes from there to other districts of Tuscany, to the wine-producing fields near Montalcino, and thence to Rome and to the volcanic Lake Bracciano. The tour ends in the ancient town of Perugia, for long an artistic centre.
The Music
The music of the tour consists of Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 of 1812 and two overtures, Coriolanus and The Consecration of the House . The Coriolanus overture was written for a play by Heinrich von Collin on the plot familiar from Shakespeare, and the second overture for the opening of a new theatre in Vienna in 1822.
The Places
Our tour of Italy starts in the countryside near Orvieto, moves to the Baths of Caracalla in Rome, then to Montalcino and its ancient abbey. We see the Tuscan landscape around Montepulciano, glimpse Siena and finally see something of the historic buildings of Florence.
The Music
As part of his Grand Tour of Europe, the young Felix Mendelssohn visited Italy in the autumn of 1830 and it was there that he began his Italian Symphony, completed in 1833 in Berlin and first performed in that year in London. His Violin Concerto in E Minor was completed in 1844 and remains an essential element in any violinist's solo repertoire.
Our tour of Italy starts in the countryside near Orvieto, moves to the Baths of Caracalla in Rome, then to Montalcino and its ancient abbey. We see the Tuscan landscape around Montepulciano, glimpse Siena and finally see something of the historic buildings of Florence.
The Music
As part of his Grand Tour of Europe, the young Felix Mendelssohn visited Italy in the autumn of 1830 and it was there that he began his Italian Symphony, completed in 1833 in Berlin and first performed in that year in London. His Violin Concerto in E Minor was completed in 1844 and remains an essential element in any violinist's solo repertoire.
The Places
Our journey starts with Assisi, the home of St Francis, and proceeds to the vineyards of Tuscany and the wineries of Montepulciano.
The Music
The music for our journey is taken from overtures and ballet music by Giuseppe Verdi , the leading composer of Italian opera of the mid-nineteenth century.
Our journey starts with Assisi, the home of St Francis, and proceeds to the vineyards of Tuscany and the wineries of Montepulciano.
The Music
The music for our journey is taken from overtures and ballet music by Giuseppe Verdi , the leading composer of Italian opera of the mid-nineteenth century.
The Places
The tour starts at the great Augustinian foundation, Kloster Neustift (Novacella), at Brixen (Bressanone) in Southern Tyrol, with its rococo church interior and collection of late medieval paintings. This is followed by a visit to Innsbruck, the capital of the Tyrol, with its famous Goldenes Dachl (Golden Roof) and rococo Wilten Basilica and Collegiate Church.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Brixen and Innsbruck is by Mozart and includes two symphonies, with other works. Symphony No. 40 is the second of the group of three final symphonies, written in Vienna in 1787, and Symphony No. 28 was written in Salzburg in 1773 or 1774. Other works included are overtures to the early opera Il r pastore, to The Abduction from the Seraglio, Mozart's first operatic success in Vienna, and to La clemenza di Tito, written in 1791, a few months before his death.
The tour starts at the great Augustinian foundation, Kloster Neustift (Novacella), at Brixen (Bressanone) in Southern Tyrol, with its rococo church interior and collection of late medieval paintings. This is followed by a visit to Innsbruck, the capital of the Tyrol, with its famous Goldenes Dachl (Golden Roof) and rococo Wilten Basilica and Collegiate Church.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Brixen and Innsbruck is by Mozart and includes two symphonies, with other works. Symphony No. 40 is the second of the group of three final symphonies, written in Vienna in 1787, and Symphony No. 28 was written in Salzburg in 1773 or 1774. Other works included are overtures to the early opera Il r pastore, to The Abduction from the Seraglio, Mozart's first operatic success in Vienna, and to La clemenza di Tito, written in 1791, a few months before his death.
The Places
The tour starts with the Baroque Villa Mansi in Lucca, followed by Hadrian's villa at Tivoli. Other sites include the villages of Cinque Terre on the Ligurian coast, Lake Bolsano and Chianti.
The Music
The music for this journey is by Johann Sebastian Bach , who spent his life in his native Germany, but drew on influences from Italy and France in a late Baroque synthesis. The three Violin Concertos heard were written during Bach's period as Court Music Director from 1717 to 1723 at the small court of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen, where his duties involved secular rather than sacred music.
The tour starts with the Baroque Villa Mansi in Lucca, followed by Hadrian's villa at Tivoli. Other sites include the villages of Cinque Terre on the Ligurian coast, Lake Bolsano and Chianti.
The Music
The music for this journey is by Johann Sebastian Bach , who spent his life in his native Germany, but drew on influences from Italy and France in a late Baroque synthesis. The three Violin Concertos heard were written during Bach's period as Court Music Director from 1717 to 1723 at the small court of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen, where his duties involved secular rather than sacred music.
The Places
Our tour of Italy stars in Verona, with its reminiscences of Romeo and Juliet. It then goes to Florence, for some 300 years from 1434 the seat of the powerful Medici family, whose artistic patronage has left an impressive cultural legacy. The tour ends in the south with Naples, originally a Greek colony and later a Roman port. It then became the capital of a kingdom ruled first by Normans and later the Spanish. Briefly a Habsburg possession, from 1734 it belonged to the Bourbons until the unification of Italy in 1860.
The Music
Tchaikovsky stayed in Florence on two occasions in 1878, after the disaster of his marriage, hastily contracted, had led him to seek respite abroad. A visit to Rome in 1880 led to the composition of Capriccio Italien, and his opera The Queen of Spades, written in 1890 in Florence, was recalled in the same year in his Souvenir de Florence. The other music heard here is the Fantasy Overture from Romeo and Juliet, written in 1869 and based on Shakespeare's play, set in Verona.
Our tour of Italy stars in Verona, with its reminiscences of Romeo and Juliet. It then goes to Florence, for some 300 years from 1434 the seat of the powerful Medici family, whose artistic patronage has left an impressive cultural legacy. The tour ends in the south with Naples, originally a Greek colony and later a Roman port. It then became the capital of a kingdom ruled first by Normans and later the Spanish. Briefly a Habsburg possession, from 1734 it belonged to the Bourbons until the unification of Italy in 1860.
The Music
Tchaikovsky stayed in Florence on two occasions in 1878, after the disaster of his marriage, hastily contracted, had led him to seek respite abroad. A visit to Rome in 1880 led to the composition of Capriccio Italien, and his opera The Queen of Spades, written in 1890 in Florence, was recalled in the same year in his Souvenir de Florence. The other music heard here is the Fantasy Overture from Romeo and Juliet, written in 1869 and based on Shakespeare's play, set in Verona.
The Places
Scenes from London include major sights, from Big Ben to Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, with glimpses of St. Paul's Cathedral, Piccadilly and memorials to Wellington and Queen Victoria. From Oxford comes a panorama of the city and visits to Christ Church and to Blenheim Palace.
The Music
The music here included ranges from Byrd to Elgar by way of Handel and excerpts from Haydn's "London" Symphony, Beethoven's Wellington's Victory, Verdi's Macbeth and Mendelssohn's music for A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Scenes from London include major sights, from Big Ben to Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, with glimpses of St. Paul's Cathedral, Piccadilly and memorials to Wellington and Queen Victoria. From Oxford comes a panorama of the city and visits to Christ Church and to Blenheim Palace.
The Music
The music here included ranges from Byrd to Elgar by way of Handel and excerpts from Haydn's "London" Symphony, Beethoven's Wellington's Victory, Verdi's Macbeth and Mendelssohn's music for A Midsummer Night's Dream.
The Places
Our journey takes us principally to the old city of Lucca, for centuries independent until seized by Napoleon, who made his sister, Elisa Baciocchi, and her husband its rulers. Lucca was the birth-place of Boccherini and of Puccini and for some time Paganini was employed at the Baciocchi court.
The Music
Violinist, priest and most prolific composer, Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice in 1678 and spent most of his life there, associated for much of the time with the Ospedale della Pieta, a charitable institution for girls, with a strong musical tradition. The music for the tour is taken from concertos for various wind instruments.
Our journey takes us principally to the old city of Lucca, for centuries independent until seized by Napoleon, who made his sister, Elisa Baciocchi, and her husband its rulers. Lucca was the birth-place of Boccherini and of Puccini and for some time Paganini was employed at the Baciocchi court.
The Music
Violinist, priest and most prolific composer, Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice in 1678 and spent most of his life there, associated for much of the time with the Ospedale della Pieta, a charitable institution for girls, with a strong musical tradition. The music for the tour is taken from concertos for various wind instruments.
The Places
We explore the streets, palaces and parks of Madrid, the capital of Castile and of Spain, before turning south to La Mancha, the country of the immortal Don Quixote, and to Toledo, the home of Cervantes and of the great painter known as El Greco.
The Music
The music of Spain held an exotic attraction for composers from other lands. The Russians Glinka and Rimsky-Korsakov found inspiration here, as did the French composers Lalo, Massenet and Ravel, who claimed Basque descent on his mother's side, and Bizet, whose opera Carmen is imbued with the spirit of the country. Spain provided Verdi with a narrative source, and another Italian, the demon violinist Paganini, was equally a master of the quintessential Spanish instrument, the guitar.
We explore the streets, palaces and parks of Madrid, the capital of Castile and of Spain, before turning south to La Mancha, the country of the immortal Don Quixote, and to Toledo, the home of Cervantes and of the great painter known as El Greco.
The Music
The music of Spain held an exotic attraction for composers from other lands. The Russians Glinka and Rimsky-Korsakov found inspiration here, as did the French composers Lalo, Massenet and Ravel, who claimed Basque descent on his mother's side, and Bizet, whose opera Carmen is imbued with the spirit of the country. Spain provided Verdi with a narrative source, and another Italian, the demon violinist Paganini, was equally a master of the quintessential Spanish instrument, the guitar.
The Places
The journey starts in Switzerland , in the canton of Thurgau, leading from Steckborn and the Bodensee to the Rhine Falls. From Styria, in Austria , comes Hochosterwitz Castle and from Bavaria Weikersheim Castle, the latter intercut with wild life from the Austrian Assling Nature Park. The tour ends amid the strangely shaped mountains of the Dolomites in Southern Tyrol, a region divided between Austria and Italy .
The Music
In a remarkable way Mahler , in his symphonies and songs, has seemed to reflect the world of today in all its bewildering variety and has now won an established place in concert repertoire. Distinguished as a conductor, his fame as a composer has grown over the years since his death. The music included here is Mahler's Symphony No. 1 , nick-named Titan, not for its massive power, but after the book by Jean Paul, a strong influence over earlier romantics and over Mahler at this stage in his career. The symphony breathes the spirit of the Austrian countryside, reflected in Mahler's songs.
The journey starts in Switzerland , in the canton of Thurgau, leading from Steckborn and the Bodensee to the Rhine Falls. From Styria, in Austria , comes Hochosterwitz Castle and from Bavaria Weikersheim Castle, the latter intercut with wild life from the Austrian Assling Nature Park. The tour ends amid the strangely shaped mountains of the Dolomites in Southern Tyrol, a region divided between Austria and Italy .
The Music
In a remarkable way Mahler , in his symphonies and songs, has seemed to reflect the world of today in all its bewildering variety and has now won an established place in concert repertoire. Distinguished as a conductor, his fame as a composer has grown over the years since his death. The music included here is Mahler's Symphony No. 1 , nick-named Titan, not for its massive power, but after the book by Jean Paul, a strong influence over earlier romantics and over Mahler at this stage in his career. The symphony breathes the spirit of the Austrian countryside, reflected in Mahler's songs.
The Places
Scenes from Moscow and the Golden Ring, the cluster of historic towns to the northeast of the city, including Vladimir, Suzdal, Rostov and Zagorsk, show the historic heart of Russia in winter and summer.
The Music
The music included here ranges from folk song and extracts from the Russian Orthodox liturgy to works by Russian nationalist composers of the later nineteenth century, including Balakirev, Arensky and the more cosmopolitan Tchaikovsky.
Scenes from Moscow and the Golden Ring, the cluster of historic towns to the northeast of the city, including Vladimir, Suzdal, Rostov and Zagorsk, show the historic heart of Russia in winter and summer.
The Music
The music included here ranges from folk song and extracts from the Russian Orthodox liturgy to works by Russian nationalist composers of the later nineteenth century, including Balakirev, Arensky and the more cosmopolitan Tchaikovsky.
The Places
Most of the places visited reflect a spirit of calm and tranquility, although the glimpse of Venice dwells briefly on carnival revellers. Other scenes range from the Bavarian Chiemsee and the Swiss Engadin to the marshy tracts of the Camargue in the South of France, with its wild horses.
The Music
The music matches the reflective mood of the scenes shown. Included are movements from Mozart's famous Eine kleine Nachmusik and Symphony No. 40 , and from Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata , with Pachelbel's ingenious Canon . From Tchaikovsky comes a Melodie , a composition that formed part of a thank-you letter to his hostess and patron, whom he was never to meet face to face, and from Debussy the popular Clair de lune . The recording ends with Faure's Sicilienne , familiar in so many forms and transcriptions.
Most of the places visited reflect a spirit of calm and tranquility, although the glimpse of Venice dwells briefly on carnival revellers. Other scenes range from the Bavarian Chiemsee and the Swiss Engadin to the marshy tracts of the Camargue in the South of France, with its wild horses.
The Music
The music matches the reflective mood of the scenes shown. Included are movements from Mozart's famous Eine kleine Nachmusik and Symphony No. 40 , and from Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata , with Pachelbel's ingenious Canon . From Tchaikovsky comes a Melodie , a composition that formed part of a thank-you letter to his hostess and patron, whom he was never to meet face to face, and from Debussy the popular Clair de lune . The recording ends with Faure's Sicilienne , familiar in so many forms and transcriptions.
The Places
The scenes shown all breathe an air of peace and tranquillity. Starting with an evening landscape in Bohemia, we move to a lake in the Tyrol, to the Museo Vela, with its gesso figures, Bavarian craftsmen fashioning glass and the Corniche near Cannes, in the South of France. Other scenes include the ancient Chapel of St. Sixtus at Eygalieres, the Church of St. Jakob at Tramin, night in Madrid, and a nocturnal view of Seville, the whole culminating in the great Basilica of St. Mark in Venice.
The Music
The music chosen, like the scenes it accompanies, suggest the calm of night. There are movements from Handel and Telemann , from concertos by Mozart for horn and for flute, and a Chopin Prelude . There is a Spanish element in the music of two French composers, Bizet and Massenet , and an air of nostalgia evoked in Faure's Pavane.
The scenes shown all breathe an air of peace and tranquillity. Starting with an evening landscape in Bohemia, we move to a lake in the Tyrol, to the Museo Vela, with its gesso figures, Bavarian craftsmen fashioning glass and the Corniche near Cannes, in the South of France. Other scenes include the ancient Chapel of St. Sixtus at Eygalieres, the Church of St. Jakob at Tramin, night in Madrid, and a nocturnal view of Seville, the whole culminating in the great Basilica of St. Mark in Venice.
The Music
The music chosen, like the scenes it accompanies, suggest the calm of night. There are movements from Handel and Telemann , from concertos by Mozart for horn and for flute, and a Chopin Prelude . There is a Spanish element in the music of two French composers, Bizet and Massenet , and an air of nostalgia evoked in Faure's Pavane.
The Places
The tour starts in northern Italy, in the city of Mantua, once the domain of the Gonzaga family. We visit Cremona, the centre of violin making, and Milan, where Mozart stayed on more than one occasion during his Italian journeys. Sicily has a remarkably varied history, held by Phoenicians and Carthaginians before becoming part of Roman territory, later to be occupied by Ostrogoths, recaptured by the Byzantines, ruled by Saracens, and held by Normans, Germans, French and Spanish. Only in the mid-nineteenth century was Sicily drawn into the unified country of Italy.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour is by Mozart and includes his final Symphony No. 41, known as the "Jupiter," written in Vienna in August 1788, and the earlier Symphony No. 25, completed in Mozart's native city of Salzburg in early October 1773. Mozart had made three extended Italian tours between 1771 and 1773, and his father Leopold had hoped that his family might be able to settle there, if a position could be found for his son. In this, however, they were unsuccessful, and the third Italian tour was Mozart's last.
The tour starts in northern Italy, in the city of Mantua, once the domain of the Gonzaga family. We visit Cremona, the centre of violin making, and Milan, where Mozart stayed on more than one occasion during his Italian journeys. Sicily has a remarkably varied history, held by Phoenicians and Carthaginians before becoming part of Roman territory, later to be occupied by Ostrogoths, recaptured by the Byzantines, ruled by Saracens, and held by Normans, Germans, French and Spanish. Only in the mid-nineteenth century was Sicily drawn into the unified country of Italy.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour is by Mozart and includes his final Symphony No. 41, known as the "Jupiter," written in Vienna in August 1788, and the earlier Symphony No. 25, completed in Mozart's native city of Salzburg in early October 1773. Mozart had made three extended Italian tours between 1771 and 1773, and his father Leopold had hoped that his family might be able to settle there, if a position could be found for his son. In this, however, they were unsuccessful, and the third Italian tour was Mozart's last.
The Places
Scenes of Finland and its capital Helsinki, the interlinked islands of Suomenlinna, site of an ancient castle and fortifications, and the hills, valleys and fjords of Norway follow a journey through varied Nordic landscapes.
The Music
Finland found its musical identity largely through the work of Jean Sibelius , whose Violin Concerto is the principal work included in the video. Other works are by the Norwegian composers Johan Svendsen, Johan Halvorsen and Christian Sinding .
Scenes of Finland and its capital Helsinki, the interlinked islands of Suomenlinna, site of an ancient castle and fortifications, and the hills, valleys and fjords of Norway follow a journey through varied Nordic landscapes.
The Music
Finland found its musical identity largely through the work of Jean Sibelius , whose Violin Concerto is the principal work included in the video. Other works are by the Norwegian composers Johan Svendsen, Johan Halvorsen and Christian Sinding .
The Places
The tour of Norway takes us from the capital, Oslo, with its harbours, parks and imposing buildings, to Bergen, the birthplace of Edvard Grieg, and its surrounding countryside, with a glimpse of Grieg's house at Troldhaugen. Trolls make their presence known before a final return to Oslo and to the sculpture display of Vigeland Park.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Norway is by Norwegian composers, of whom the best known is Edvard Grieg. Included are excerpts from his incidental music for Ibsen's drama Peer Gynt and for Bjornstjerne Bjornson's Sigurd Jorsalfar. Other composers featured are Christian Sinding, composer of the famous Rustle of Spring, and Johan Halvorsen.
The tour of Norway takes us from the capital, Oslo, with its harbours, parks and imposing buildings, to Bergen, the birthplace of Edvard Grieg, and its surrounding countryside, with a glimpse of Grieg's house at Troldhaugen. Trolls make their presence known before a final return to Oslo and to the sculpture display of Vigeland Park.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Norway is by Norwegian composers, of whom the best known is Edvard Grieg. Included are excerpts from his incidental music for Ibsen's drama Peer Gynt and for Bjornstjerne Bjornson's Sigurd Jorsalfar. Other composers featured are Christian Sinding, composer of the famous Rustle of Spring, and Johan Halvorsen.
The Places
The tour of Norway takes us to the countryside, with its mountains, lakes, fjords, rivers and waterfalls. We see Edvard Grieg's house at Troldhaugen, and then Bergen, Grieg's birthplace, with its colourful traditional houses.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Norway is by the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg , and includes his popular Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16 , as well as his 2 Elegiac Melodies, Op. 34 , with other pieces.
The tour of Norway takes us to the countryside, with its mountains, lakes, fjords, rivers and waterfalls. We see Edvard Grieg's house at Troldhaugen, and then Bergen, Grieg's birthplace, with its colourful traditional houses.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Norway is by the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg , and includes his popular Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16 , as well as his 2 Elegiac Melodies, Op. 34 , with other pieces.
The Places
The tour of Norway takes us from the countryside between Gaupne and Sogndal to Bergen, the birthplace of Edvard Grieg, and its surrounding countryside. Trolls make their presence known, and there are views of traditional farm buildings and stave churches from the open-air museum at Maihaugen.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Norway is by Norwegian composers, of whom the best known is Edvard Grieg. His Holberg Suite, Norwegian Dances and "Erotikon" from his Lyric Pieces are heard on this video. Other composers featured are Christian Sinding, composer of the famous Rustle of Spring, and Johan Svendsen.
The tour of Norway takes us from the countryside between Gaupne and Sogndal to Bergen, the birthplace of Edvard Grieg, and its surrounding countryside. Trolls make their presence known, and there are views of traditional farm buildings and stave churches from the open-air museum at Maihaugen.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Norway is by Norwegian composers, of whom the best known is Edvard Grieg. His Holberg Suite, Norwegian Dances and "Erotikon" from his Lyric Pieces are heard on this video. Other composers featured are Christian Sinding, composer of the famous Rustle of Spring, and Johan Svendsen.
The Places
The tour of Norway takes us to the Maihaugen Open-Air Museum of Lillenhammer, with its display of items from the traditional culture of Norway, and, briefly, to the Norwegian Folk Museum in Oslo.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Norway is by the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg , taken from his many Lyric Pieces , short piano pieces that reflect the culture and life of Norway
The tour of Norway takes us to the Maihaugen Open-Air Museum of Lillenhammer, with its display of items from the traditional culture of Norway, and, briefly, to the Norwegian Folk Museum in Oslo.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Norway is by the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg , taken from his many Lyric Pieces , short piano pieces that reflect the culture and life of Norway
The Places
The legendary Norwegian figure Peer Gynt is widely known through Henrik Ibsen's play that follows Peer's unscrupulous adventures, a work that enjoys still further fame through the incidental music written for it by Edvard Grieg . Parts of the Norwegian countryside are identified with some of Peer Gynt's adventures.
The Music
Grieg collaborated with the greatest of Norwegian dramatists, Henrik Ibsen, in his music for the play Peer Gynt , from which he drew two orchestral suites. Grieg also worked with Bjornstjerne Bjornson, providing incidental music for the historical play Sigurd Jorsalfar .
The legendary Norwegian figure Peer Gynt is widely known through Henrik Ibsen's play that follows Peer's unscrupulous adventures, a work that enjoys still further fame through the incidental music written for it by Edvard Grieg . Parts of the Norwegian countryside are identified with some of Peer Gynt's adventures.
The Music
Grieg collaborated with the greatest of Norwegian dramatists, Henrik Ibsen, in his music for the play Peer Gynt , from which he drew two orchestral suites. Grieg also worked with Bjornstjerne Bjornson, providing incidental music for the historical play Sigurd Jorsalfar .
The Places
Our tour takes us to Oxford, site of the oldest university in England, with scenes of the city and some of the colleges.
The Music
The music chosen to accompany our tour is by Joseph Haydn , whose Oxford Symphony was performed there to celebrate the award of a doctorate by the university. His Surprise Symphony was written for performance in London 1791.
Our tour takes us to Oxford, site of the oldest university in England, with scenes of the city and some of the colleges.
The Music
The music chosen to accompany our tour is by Joseph Haydn , whose Oxford Symphony was performed there to celebrate the award of a doctorate by the university. His Surprise Symphony was written for performance in London 1791.
The Places
In addition to characteristic scenes from Paris, its buildings and its people, there is a glimpse of the Chteau at Chantilly, the magnificent palace of Versailles, and the Cathedral at Chartres.
The Music
The music included here is largely associated with Paris, although not all by French composers. It includes a movement from a symphony that Mozart wrote in Paris in 1778 and excerpts from Verdi's opera La Traviata, set principally in the city. Other music ranges from that of the seventeenth-century French viol player Marais to works by Debussy and the eccentric Erik Satie.
In addition to characteristic scenes from Paris, its buildings and its people, there is a glimpse of the Chteau at Chantilly, the magnificent palace of Versailles, and the Cathedral at Chartres.
The Music
The music included here is largely associated with Paris, although not all by French composers. It includes a movement from a symphony that Mozart wrote in Paris in 1778 and excerpts from Verdi's opera La Traviata, set principally in the city. Other music ranges from that of the seventeenth-century French viol player Marais to works by Debussy and the eccentric Erik Satie.
The Places
The tour of Paris starts with the Eiffel Tower and includes the famous landmarks of the French capital, the Churches of Notre-Dame and the Sacr Coeur, the Opra Garnier and the great river, the Seine, that runs through the city. The tour ends with a nocturnal view of Paris and an excursion to Chartres, with its magnificent cathedral.
The Music
Music for the tour is by Beethoven, who at one time seemed to hope for employment in Paris. His "Eroica" Symphony was at first intended as a celebration of his one-time hero, Napoleon, but reflected in the end his disillusionment when Napoleon had himself crowned as emperor. The music used also includes Beethoven's Coriolanus Overture, written, not for Shakespeare's play, but for a contemporary drama by Heinrich von Collin.
The tour of Paris starts with the Eiffel Tower and includes the famous landmarks of the French capital, the Churches of Notre-Dame and the Sacr Coeur, the Opra Garnier and the great river, the Seine, that runs through the city. The tour ends with a nocturnal view of Paris and an excursion to Chartres, with its magnificent cathedral.
The Music
Music for the tour is by Beethoven, who at one time seemed to hope for employment in Paris. His "Eroica" Symphony was at first intended as a celebration of his one-time hero, Napoleon, but reflected in the end his disillusionment when Napoleon had himself crowned as emperor. The music used also includes Beethoven's Coriolanus Overture, written, not for Shakespeare's play, but for a contemporary drama by Heinrich von Collin.
The Places
Potsdam owes its development as a garrison town to the soldier King of Prussia, Frederick William I. The park and places of Sanssouci, however, largely reflect the very different taste of his son, Frederick the Great, who reigned from 1740 to 1786. The park of Sanssouci, established first in 1725, includes later changes in a number of distinct horticultural styles, with lay-out in Dutch, French and English taste.
The Music
Bach's set of six concertos known as the Brandenburg Concertos was completed in 1721 at Cothen, where Bach was director of court music, possibly using some compositions written during earlier years at the court of Weimar. Bach presented the set to the Margrave of Brandenburg, prefaced by a dedication in French, from which it seems that the prince has asked Bach for something of his at a meeting some two years earlier in Berlin. There is no indication that the works were performed, and at the Margrave's death in 1734 the manuscripts were sold, apparently in a lot of 77 concertos by different masters.The fame and wide popularity of the Brandenburg Concertos was to come later. Included here are the first three concertos and a Siciliano
Potsdam owes its development as a garrison town to the soldier King of Prussia, Frederick William I. The park and places of Sanssouci, however, largely reflect the very different taste of his son, Frederick the Great, who reigned from 1740 to 1786. The park of Sanssouci, established first in 1725, includes later changes in a number of distinct horticultural styles, with lay-out in Dutch, French and English taste.
The Music
Bach's set of six concertos known as the Brandenburg Concertos was completed in 1721 at Cothen, where Bach was director of court music, possibly using some compositions written during earlier years at the court of Weimar. Bach presented the set to the Margrave of Brandenburg, prefaced by a dedication in French, from which it seems that the prince has asked Bach for something of his at a meeting some two years earlier in Berlin. There is no indication that the works were performed, and at the Margrave's death in 1734 the manuscripts were sold, apparently in a lot of 77 concertos by different masters.The fame and wide popularity of the Brandenburg Concertos was to come later. Included here are the first three concertos and a Siciliano
The Places
Prague is the ancient capital of Bohemia and now of the Czech Republic. Its history is reflected in its buildings, recalling the splendours of the past under changing dynasties and the 400 or so years as part of the Habsburg Empire, until the establishment of the new republic of Czechoslovakia in 1918. At the heart of Europe, the region has always been a fertile ground for musicians.
The Music
The music included here is associated in one way or another with Prague or Bohemia. It includes works by the Bohemian composers Smetana and Dvorak, by the Moravian composer Janacek, and by Fibich who, with Mozart, always found a ready welcome for his music in Prague.
Prague is the ancient capital of Bohemia and now of the Czech Republic. Its history is reflected in its buildings, recalling the splendours of the past under changing dynasties and the 400 or so years as part of the Habsburg Empire, until the establishment of the new republic of Czechoslovakia in 1918. At the heart of Europe, the region has always been a fertile ground for musicians.
The Music
The music included here is associated in one way or another with Prague or Bohemia. It includes works by the Bohemian composers Smetana and Dvorak, by the Moravian composer Janacek, and by Fibich who, with Mozart, always found a ready welcome for his music in Prague.
The Places
The tour starts in northern Italy, in Ravenna, once the capital of the Roman Emperor Honorius, who moved there from Milan with his court in CE 402. The place is famous for its mosaics. The tour also takes us to Faenza, famous for its majolica ware, known as faence, and to the great Basilica of San Marco in Venice and its carnival.
The Music
The music for this tour of Italy is by Mozart and includes his two flute concertos, written for a patron during a visit to Mannheim in 1777?EUR"78. The Andante, K.315, is thought to date from the same period. Mozart had made three extended Italian tours between 1771 and 1773, and his father Leopold had hoped that his family might be able to settle there if a position could be found for his son. Northern Italy had become part of the Hapsburg Empire, but attempts to find a place in Milan or Florence were unsuccessful. By 1777 he was again anxious to find a position away from his native Salzburg, but it was only in 1781 that he was able to make a break with his patron, the Archbishop of Salzburg, thereafter settling in Vienna for the last decade of his life.
The tour starts in northern Italy, in Ravenna, once the capital of the Roman Emperor Honorius, who moved there from Milan with his court in CE 402. The place is famous for its mosaics. The tour also takes us to Faenza, famous for its majolica ware, known as faence, and to the great Basilica of San Marco in Venice and its carnival.
The Music
The music for this tour of Italy is by Mozart and includes his two flute concertos, written for a patron during a visit to Mannheim in 1777?EUR"78. The Andante, K.315, is thought to date from the same period. Mozart had made three extended Italian tours between 1771 and 1773, and his father Leopold had hoped that his family might be able to settle there if a position could be found for his son. Northern Italy had become part of the Hapsburg Empire, but attempts to find a place in Milan or Florence were unsuccessful. By 1777 he was again anxious to find a position away from his native Salzburg, but it was only in 1781 that he was able to make a break with his patron, the Archbishop of Salzburg, thereafter settling in Vienna for the last decade of his life.
The Places
Scenes are shown of the glory that was Rome in monuments of the great empire that ruled Europe and the Near East in its heyday. There are also glimpses of St. Peter's and of the modern city.
The Music
The music included here is all associated in one way or another with Rome and its traditions. It ranges from the overture to Mozart's Roman opera La clemenza di Tito to Wagner's Tannhauser, whose hero seeks pardon for his sins in the Eternal City, from Puccini's opera Tosca, set in Rome dominated by a corrupt chief of police, to Berlioz's evocation of the city in the age of Benvenuto Cellini, his Roman Carnival Overture.
Scenes are shown of the glory that was Rome in monuments of the great empire that ruled Europe and the Near East in its heyday. There are also glimpses of St. Peter's and of the modern city.
The Music
The music included here is all associated in one way or another with Rome and its traditions. It ranges from the overture to Mozart's Roman opera La clemenza di Tito to Wagner's Tannhauser, whose hero seeks pardon for his sins in the Eternal City, from Puccini's opera Tosca, set in Rome dominated by a corrupt chief of police, to Berlioz's evocation of the city in the age of Benvenuto Cellini, his Roman Carnival Overture.
The Places
Starting from the Pantheon and the Colosseum, our tour takes us to the Forum of Augustus and the Forum of Trajan, the Arch of Constantine and the Capitol, with the later city represented by the Piazza di Spagna, the Trevi Fountain, and the great piazza before St Peter's in Vatican City.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Rome is by Franz Liszt, who divided the last 25 years of his life between Rome, Hungary and Weimar after an early career as a travelling virtuoso, one of the greatest pianists of his time, and a period settled in Weimar as Director of Music Extraordinary to the Grand Duchy. In Rome he took minor orders and developed further his interest in the music of the Church.
Starting from the Pantheon and the Colosseum, our tour takes us to the Forum of Augustus and the Forum of Trajan, the Arch of Constantine and the Capitol, with the later city represented by the Piazza di Spagna, the Trevi Fountain, and the great piazza before St Peter's in Vatican City.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Rome is by Franz Liszt, who divided the last 25 years of his life between Rome, Hungary and Weimar after an early career as a travelling virtuoso, one of the greatest pianists of his time, and a period settled in Weimar as Director of Music Extraordinary to the Grand Duchy. In Rome he took minor orders and developed further his interest in the music of the Church.
The Places
Peter the Great founded St. Petersburg in 1703 on Swedish territory, a provocation to Sweden, then the most powerful state in the region. Over a few years, he created a new city with an outlet to the Baltic, a city to challenge Moscow and force Russia to face Western Europe. Victory over the Swedes at Poltava in 1709 secured the city's future.
The tour takes in Odessa , in the Ukraine, an important naval base for Russia on the Black Sea, and concludes with a visit to Uzbekistan .
The Music
Mussorgsky was originally an army officer, ending his life in intermittent government service, as addiction to alcohol took its toll. At his death in 1881, at the age of 42, he left much unfinished. His Pictures at an Exhibition was written in 1874 as a set of piano pieces, a translation into music of paintings, designs, models and drawings by his friend Victor Hartmann, who had died the year before, heard here in the colourful orchestration by Ravel . Borodin had a successful career as an analytical chemist, a professor at the Medico-Surgical Academy. His activities as a scientist limited the attention he could give to music, so that a number of his compositions remained incomplete at his relatively early death at the age of 53 in 1887.
Peter the Great founded St. Petersburg in 1703 on Swedish territory, a provocation to Sweden, then the most powerful state in the region. Over a few years, he created a new city with an outlet to the Baltic, a city to challenge Moscow and force Russia to face Western Europe. Victory over the Swedes at Poltava in 1709 secured the city's future.
The tour takes in Odessa , in the Ukraine, an important naval base for Russia on the Black Sea, and concludes with a visit to Uzbekistan .
The Music
Mussorgsky was originally an army officer, ending his life in intermittent government service, as addiction to alcohol took its toll. At his death in 1881, at the age of 42, he left much unfinished. His Pictures at an Exhibition was written in 1874 as a set of piano pieces, a translation into music of paintings, designs, models and drawings by his friend Victor Hartmann, who had died the year before, heard here in the colourful orchestration by Ravel . Borodin had a successful career as an analytical chemist, a professor at the Medico-Surgical Academy. His activities as a scientist limited the attention he could give to music, so that a number of his compositions remained incomplete at his relatively early death at the age of 53 in 1887.
The Places
The tour starts in Uzbekistan , of which there are later glimpses. There is a visit to the historic Russian town of Suzdal and scenes from St. Petersburg as well as from Ukraine . It would be impossible to avoid the Russian winter, which appears in various guises, providing entertainment for some and for others a seemingly enchanted snow-bound landscape.
The Music
The music for the tour is taken from Russian composers who were, by and large, thoroughly imbued with the spirit of their country. This is reflected in Lyadov's arrangement of a series folk-songs and his translation of Russian legend into music. Other composers represented are Ippolitov-Ivanov, Kabalevsky and Anton Rubinstein , with two well known excerpts from unfinished operas by Mussorgsky .
The tour starts in Uzbekistan , of which there are later glimpses. There is a visit to the historic Russian town of Suzdal and scenes from St. Petersburg as well as from Ukraine . It would be impossible to avoid the Russian winter, which appears in various guises, providing entertainment for some and for others a seemingly enchanted snow-bound landscape.
The Music
The music for the tour is taken from Russian composers who were, by and large, thoroughly imbued with the spirit of their country. This is reflected in Lyadov's arrangement of a series folk-songs and his translation of Russian legend into music. Other composers represented are Ippolitov-Ivanov, Kabalevsky and Anton Rubinstein , with two well known excerpts from unfinished operas by Mussorgsky .
The Places
Our visit starts in St. Petersburg , with its palaces and gardens and strange white nights by the River Neva. It continues with scenes of life in Moscow, Red Square, the Kremlin, monasteries and the
Bolshoy Theatre. There is a final homage to the poet Pushkin, with portraits and memorabilia from Ukraine and from Russia.
The Music
Tchaikovsky completed his Fifth Symphony in 1888, and regarded it with his usual critical diffidence. "Having played my symphony twice in St. Petersburg and once in Prague, I have decided it is a failure. There is something repellent in it, some over-exaggerated colour, some insincerity of invention, which the public instinctively recognises", he wrote, in a letter to his patroness Nadezhda von Meck. It nevertheless achieved considerable success, eventually winning Tchaikovsky's own approval, and has remained a popular element in Russian symphonic repertoire ever since. His Marche Slave of 1876 reflects patriotic Russian feelings at a time of Balkan conflict with Turkey.
Our visit starts in St. Petersburg , with its palaces and gardens and strange white nights by the River Neva. It continues with scenes of life in Moscow, Red Square, the Kremlin, monasteries and the
Bolshoy Theatre. There is a final homage to the poet Pushkin, with portraits and memorabilia from Ukraine and from Russia.
The Music
Tchaikovsky completed his Fifth Symphony in 1888, and regarded it with his usual critical diffidence. "Having played my symphony twice in St. Petersburg and once in Prague, I have decided it is a failure. There is something repellent in it, some over-exaggerated colour, some insincerity of invention, which the public instinctively recognises", he wrote, in a letter to his patroness Nadezhda von Meck. It nevertheless achieved considerable success, eventually winning Tchaikovsky's own approval, and has remained a popular element in Russian symphonic repertoire ever since. His Marche Slave of 1876 reflects patriotic Russian feelings at a time of Balkan conflict with Turkey.
The Places
The places visited include St. Petersburg , Peter the Great's new westward-looking capital, and the traditional capital, Moscow . In Ukraine we see Odessa with the famous Potemkin Steps and something of the surrounding countryside of a region that for long offered holiday resorts to those living in Moscow or St. Petersburg.
The Music
The music of the Russian composer Tchaikovsky has come to enjoy
wide popularity throughout the world. He lived at a time when composers were creating a new national form of Russian music, and this element of national inspiration he was able to combine with a sound and acceptable command of technique and particularly of colourful orchestration. His Symphony No. 6, Pathetique , was the last of his symphonies, first performed a few days before his sudden and unexpected death in 1893, which it seemed to portend. Other music consists of two dances from his opera Eugene Onegin , elements that have a poignant part to play in the drama.
The places visited include St. Petersburg , Peter the Great's new westward-looking capital, and the traditional capital, Moscow . In Ukraine we see Odessa with the famous Potemkin Steps and something of the surrounding countryside of a region that for long offered holiday resorts to those living in Moscow or St. Petersburg.
The Music
The music of the Russian composer Tchaikovsky has come to enjoy
wide popularity throughout the world. He lived at a time when composers were creating a new national form of Russian music, and this element of national inspiration he was able to combine with a sound and acceptable command of technique and particularly of colourful orchestration. His Symphony No. 6, Pathetique , was the last of his symphonies, first performed a few days before his sudden and unexpected death in 1893, which it seemed to portend. Other music consists of two dances from his opera Eugene Onegin , elements that have a poignant part to play in the drama.
The Places
Our tour of Russia starts in St. Petersburg, including churches and palaces and, above all, the river Neva, on the banks of which Peter the Great's city stands. We visit Tchaikovsky's house at Klin, near Moscow, and travel south to Ukraine to see Sebastopol in the Crimea and Odessa. Finally we return to St. Petersburg, seeing the surrounding countryside, the city by night, the bridges and the people.
The Music
Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky succeeded in uniting strands of Russian musical nationalism with music in the cosmopolitan forms of his training. He spent his childhood and adolescence in St. Petersburg, later moving to Moscow and finally finding some refuge in the country at Klin, where his house is preserved. The music accompanying our tour is Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto and his Serenade for Strings.
Our tour of Russia starts in St. Petersburg, including churches and palaces and, above all, the river Neva, on the banks of which Peter the Great's city stands. We visit Tchaikovsky's house at Klin, near Moscow, and travel south to Ukraine to see Sebastopol in the Crimea and Odessa. Finally we return to St. Petersburg, seeing the surrounding countryside, the city by night, the bridges and the people.
The Music
Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky succeeded in uniting strands of Russian musical nationalism with music in the cosmopolitan forms of his training. He spent his childhood and adolescence in St. Petersburg, later moving to Moscow and finally finding some refuge in the country at Klin, where his house is preserved. The music accompanying our tour is Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto and his Serenade for Strings.
The Places
Our visit starts in Moscow, with the Kremlin, the famous Conservatory
of Music and the Tretyakov Art Gallery, with its unrivalled collection of Russian paintings. We see the splendour of some of the Metro stations in St. Petersburg and much of the winter landscape in Moscow and in St Petersburg. We end with commemoration of Napoleon's defeat in 1812 and his retreat from Moscow during a bitter winter.
The Music
Tchaikovsky's disastrous marriage to an infatuated admirer in July 1877 ended after just a few weeks, when he left for his brother-in-law's estate at Kamenka to escape from a wife to whom he had taken an invincible aversion. By the end of September, after attempted suicide, his marriage was at an end, and in October he left Russia to find relief in travel. In these extraordinary circumstances he nevertheless continued to work on the fourth of his six symphonies, completing it in early January 1878. Its first performance was given six weeks later in Moscow under the direction of Nikolay Rubinstein, attended by his new patroness Nadezhda von Meck, to whom it was dedicated, but in the composer's absence.
Our visit starts in Moscow, with the Kremlin, the famous Conservatory
of Music and the Tretyakov Art Gallery, with its unrivalled collection of Russian paintings. We see the splendour of some of the Metro stations in St. Petersburg and much of the winter landscape in Moscow and in St Petersburg. We end with commemoration of Napoleon's defeat in 1812 and his retreat from Moscow during a bitter winter.
The Music
Tchaikovsky's disastrous marriage to an infatuated admirer in July 1877 ended after just a few weeks, when he left for his brother-in-law's estate at Kamenka to escape from a wife to whom he had taken an invincible aversion. By the end of September, after attempted suicide, his marriage was at an end, and in October he left Russia to find relief in travel. In these extraordinary circumstances he nevertheless continued to work on the fourth of his six symphonies, completing it in early January 1878. Its first performance was given six weeks later in Moscow under the direction of Nikolay Rubinstein, attended by his new patroness Nadezhda von Meck, to whom it was dedicated, but in the composer's absence.
The Places
Starting in St. Petersburg, once the capital of Russia under Peter the Great, our tour takes us to Ukraine and to Uzbekistan before returning first to Moscow and then to St. Petersburg and the famous Marinsky Theatre, where Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty and Nutcracker were first performed.
The Music
The Russian composer Tchaikovsky had a mastery of the smaller forms demanded by ballet, with its series of relatively short scenes. Excerpts from his three famous ballet scores, The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, and Nutcracker, provide the music to accompany a tour of Russia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
Starting in St. Petersburg, once the capital of Russia under Peter the Great, our tour takes us to Ukraine and to Uzbekistan before returning first to Moscow and then to St. Petersburg and the famous Marinsky Theatre, where Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty and Nutcracker were first performed.
The Music
The Russian composer Tchaikovsky had a mastery of the smaller forms demanded by ballet, with its series of relatively short scenes. Excerpts from his three famous ballet scores, The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, and Nutcracker, provide the music to accompany a tour of Russia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
The Places
Mozart's father Leopold settled in Salzburg in 1737 and in 1744 entered the service of the city's ruling Prince-Archbishop as a violinist. The city underwent various changes of regime in the first years of the nineteenth century, but in 1825 Schubert could express his wonder at the fine churches and palaces of the place.
The Music
The music includes movements directly connected with Salzburg, compositions for distinguished local families, members of the Mozarts' social circle, and works resulting from his visit in 1777-78 to Mannheim. Other compositions come from the remarkable final decade of Mozart's life, when he was living in Vienna, culminating in the Lacrimosa from the unfinished Requiem of 1791, a movement that he is said to have tried to sing, with his friends, on his deathbed.
Mozart's father Leopold settled in Salzburg in 1737 and in 1744 entered the service of the city's ruling Prince-Archbishop as a violinist. The city underwent various changes of regime in the first years of the nineteenth century, but in 1825 Schubert could express his wonder at the fine churches and palaces of the place.
The Music
The music includes movements directly connected with Salzburg, compositions for distinguished local families, members of the Mozarts' social circle, and works resulting from his visit in 1777-78 to Mannheim. Other compositions come from the remarkable final decade of Mozart's life, when he was living in Vienna, culminating in the Lacrimosa from the unfinished Requiem of 1791, a movement that he is said to have tried to sing, with his friends, on his deathbed.
The Places
The places visited are associated in one way or another with Mozart . He was born in 1796 in Salzburg, where his father was a leading musician at the court of the ruling Prince-Archbishop, and remained there, with occasional breaks for foreign concert tours, until he was finally able to break free in 1781 and settle in Vienna, where he spent the last ten years of his short life.
The Music
The music chosen for the tour of Salzburg and its surroundings consist of two piano concertos by Mozart, written during his earlier successful years of independence in Vienna for subscription concerts at which he performed as soloist.
The places visited are associated in one way or another with Mozart . He was born in 1796 in Salzburg, where his father was a leading musician at the court of the ruling Prince-Archbishop, and remained there, with occasional breaks for foreign concert tours, until he was finally able to break free in 1781 and settle in Vienna, where he spent the last ten years of his short life.
The Music
The music chosen for the tour of Salzburg and its surroundings consist of two piano concertos by Mozart, written during his earlier successful years of independence in Vienna for subscription concerts at which he performed as soloist.
The Places
The tour takes us first to the carnival celebrations in Basel, with its elaborate displays. There follows a visit to Vigeland Park in Oslo, with its characteristics figures, the work of Gustav Vigeland
The Music
The music chosen for this tour is by Robert Schumann . His Carnaval accompanies the carnival in Basel, flowers in the countryside are depicted in Blumenstuck and the granite figures in Vigeland Park, in Oslo, are matched with Scenes of Childhood
The tour takes us first to the carnival celebrations in Basel, with its elaborate displays. There follows a visit to Vigeland Park in Oslo, with its characteristics figures, the work of Gustav Vigeland
The Music
The music chosen for this tour is by Robert Schumann . His Carnaval accompanies the carnival in Basel, flowers in the countryside are depicted in Blumenstuck and the granite figures in Vigeland Park, in Oslo, are matched with Scenes of Childhood
The Places
The journey starts at Blair Castle, the gateway to the Highlands, moving then to the Isles of Skye and Mull, ending with the sights of the capital, Edinburgh.
The Music
The music chosen is by Sir Edward Elgar , including his famous Cello Concerto , his Introduction and Allegro for Strings and his Serenade for Strings
The journey starts at Blair Castle, the gateway to the Highlands, moving then to the Isles of Skye and Mull, ending with the sights of the capital, Edinburgh.
The Music
The music chosen is by Sir Edward Elgar , including his famous Cello Concerto , his Introduction and Allegro for Strings and his Serenade for Strings
The Places
Scotland's rugged landscape has a unique quality that marks it out from the rest of Britain, contrasting most clearly with England, the traditional enemy and occupier. We visit the remote Hebrides, traveling through wild scenery to the mellower Lowlands and to Edinburgh, Scotland's capital, with its royal palace and castle.
The Music
Although none of the pieces are Scottish in origin, they complement beautifully the places visited. A mass by Byrd accompanies the old Abbey of Iona. Mendelssohn's "Scottish" Symphony and Hebrides Overture draw respectively on historical Edinburgh and the wild scenery of Fingal's Cave. And Donizetti's opera Lucia di Lammermoor is based on the novel The Bride of Lammermoor by the great Scottish romantic novelist Walter Scott.
Scotland's rugged landscape has a unique quality that marks it out from the rest of Britain, contrasting most clearly with England, the traditional enemy and occupier. We visit the remote Hebrides, traveling through wild scenery to the mellower Lowlands and to Edinburgh, Scotland's capital, with its royal palace and castle.
The Music
Although none of the pieces are Scottish in origin, they complement beautifully the places visited. A mass by Byrd accompanies the old Abbey of Iona. Mendelssohn's "Scottish" Symphony and Hebrides Overture draw respectively on historical Edinburgh and the wild scenery of Fingal's Cave. And Donizetti's opera Lucia di Lammermoor is based on the novel The Bride of Lammermoor by the great Scottish romantic novelist Walter Scott.
The Places
Our tour of Scotland takes us from Edinburgh, with its castle, Scott monument and Palace of Holyrood, to the Highlands and then to The Hebrides, recalling the journey undertaken by the young Mendelssohn.
The Music
In 1829 Mendelssohn visited England and, after the summer season, travelled north to Scotland, accompanied by his friend Karl Klingemann. In Edinburgh he visited the Palace of Holyrood, recalling the tragic story of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the murder there of her secretary David Rizzio. Further north he took the steamer to the island of Staffa, where he saw Fingal's Cave and in spite of sea-sickness immediately sketched the opening theme of his Hebrides Overture . It was not until 1842 that his Scottish Symphony was completed, a work inspired by memories of his visit to Scotland
Our tour of Scotland takes us from Edinburgh, with its castle, Scott monument and Palace of Holyrood, to the Highlands and then to The Hebrides, recalling the journey undertaken by the young Mendelssohn.
The Music
In 1829 Mendelssohn visited England and, after the summer season, travelled north to Scotland, accompanied by his friend Karl Klingemann. In Edinburgh he visited the Palace of Holyrood, recalling the tragic story of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the murder there of her secretary David Rizzio. Further north he took the steamer to the island of Staffa, where he saw Fingal's Cave and in spite of sea-sickness immediately sketched the opening theme of his Hebrides Overture . It was not until 1842 that his Scottish Symphony was completed, a work inspired by memories of his visit to Scotland
The Places
Andalusia, in the south of the Iberian peninsula, is one of the fifteen autonomous administrative regions of modern Spain. It includes the provinces of Sevilla and Granada, which have their capitals at the cities of the same name.
The Music
Spanish composers are represented here by Granados and Albeniz, whose successful careers extended into the 20th century. Music by other composers reflects various connections with Spain. Seville is the setting for Mozart's operas The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni , and for Rossini's Figaro opera, The Barber of Seville . Bizet's Carmen is centred on Seville, while Verdi's tragic opera The Force of Destiny , set in Spain and based on a Spanish play, ranges over a wider area.
Andalusia, in the south of the Iberian peninsula, is one of the fifteen autonomous administrative regions of modern Spain. It includes the provinces of Sevilla and Granada, which have their capitals at the cities of the same name.
The Music
Spanish composers are represented here by Granados and Albeniz, whose successful careers extended into the 20th century. Music by other composers reflects various connections with Spain. Seville is the setting for Mozart's operas The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni , and for Rossini's Figaro opera, The Barber of Seville . Bizet's Carmen is centred on Seville, while Verdi's tragic opera The Force of Destiny , set in Spain and based on a Spanish play, ranges over a wider area.
The Places
Sicily has a remarkably varied history. From the ninth century BC it served as a Phoenician outpost and was later colonised by the Greeks, then became part of the Carthaginian Empire until absorbed by the Romans in the third century BC. After occupation by the Ostrogoths, in AD 353 it was reconquered by the Byzantines and subsequently ruled in turn by Saracens, Normans, Germans, French and Spanish. Only in the mid-nineteenth century was the island drawn into the unified country of Italy. The historical changes that Sicily has undergone are reflected in its culture.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Sicily is largely Italian, ranging from the Vienna court composer Salieri to Verdi and Leoncavallo. Other composers included are Mozart, Mendelssohn and Bach, the last represented by a characteristic Sicilian dance, and the Italian violinist and composer Paganini.
Sicily has a remarkably varied history. From the ninth century BC it served as a Phoenician outpost and was later colonised by the Greeks, then became part of the Carthaginian Empire until absorbed by the Romans in the third century BC. After occupation by the Ostrogoths, in AD 353 it was reconquered by the Byzantines and subsequently ruled in turn by Saracens, Normans, Germans, French and Spanish. Only in the mid-nineteenth century was the island drawn into the unified country of Italy. The historical changes that Sicily has undergone are reflected in its culture.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Sicily is largely Italian, ranging from the Vienna court composer Salieri to Verdi and Leoncavallo. Other composers included are Mozart, Mendelssohn and Bach, the last represented by a characteristic Sicilian dance, and the Italian violinist and composer Paganini.
The Places
Sicily has enjoyed a remarkably varied history, held by Phoenicians and Carthaginians, it became part of Roman territory, later to be occupied by Ostrogoths, recaptured by the Byzantines, ruled by Saracens, and occupied by the Normans, followed by German, French and Spanish overlords. It was only in the mid-nineteenth century that the island was drawn into the unified country of Italy. The historical changes that Sicily has undergone are reflected in its culture.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Sicily is by Beethoven and consists of three of his best known piano sonatas, the Pathetique , the Moonlight and the Appassionata .
Sicily has enjoyed a remarkably varied history, held by Phoenicians and Carthaginians, it became part of Roman territory, later to be occupied by Ostrogoths, recaptured by the Byzantines, ruled by Saracens, and occupied by the Normans, followed by German, French and Spanish overlords. It was only in the mid-nineteenth century that the island was drawn into the unified country of Italy. The historical changes that Sicily has undergone are reflected in its culture.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Sicily is by Beethoven and consists of three of his best known piano sonatas, the Pathetique , the Moonlight and the Appassionata .
The Places
Scenes of Provence, with its ancient Roman remains and ancestral traditions, mingle with the coast of the Cote d'Azur with its blue seas, rocks and islands and with the great nature reserve of Camargue, land of wild bulls and horses.
The Music
Chopin and Puccini may seem outsiders in a gathering of French musicians. The former, however, was the son of an emigre French father and spent the greater part of his life in Paris, while Puccini finds a place here with his transformation of the Abbe Prevost's novel Manon Lescaut into an immensely moving opera. Other composers reflect a French tradition ranging from Berlioz to Ravel.
Scenes of Provence, with its ancient Roman remains and ancestral traditions, mingle with the coast of the Cote d'Azur with its blue seas, rocks and islands and with the great nature reserve of Camargue, land of wild bulls and horses.
The Music
Chopin and Puccini may seem outsiders in a gathering of French musicians. The former, however, was the son of an emigre French father and spent the greater part of his life in Paris, while Puccini finds a place here with his transformation of the Abbe Prevost's novel Manon Lescaut into an immensely moving opera. Other composers reflect a French tradition ranging from Berlioz to Ravel.
The Places
From Caserta and Naples in southern Italy we travel to Sicily, an island with a remarkably varied history, held by Phoenicians and Carthaginians before becoming part of Roman territory, later to be occupied by Ostrogoths, recaptured by the Byzantines, ruled by Saracens, and held by Normans, Germans, French and Spanish. Only in the mid-nineteenth century was Sicily drawn into the unified country of Italy.
The Music
The music is by Mozart, his Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K.467, written in Vienna in March 1785, and the second of his two piano concertos in a minor key, the Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K.491, composed in Vienna in the following year. Mozart had made three extended Italian tours between 1771 and 1773, and his father Leopold had hoped that his family might be able to settle there if a position could be found for his son. In this, however, they were unsuccessful, and the third Italian tour was Mozart's last.
From Caserta and Naples in southern Italy we travel to Sicily, an island with a remarkably varied history, held by Phoenicians and Carthaginians before becoming part of Roman territory, later to be occupied by Ostrogoths, recaptured by the Byzantines, ruled by Saracens, and held by Normans, Germans, French and Spanish. Only in the mid-nineteenth century was Sicily drawn into the unified country of Italy.
The Music
The music is by Mozart, his Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K.467, written in Vienna in March 1785, and the second of his two piano concertos in a minor key, the Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K.491, composed in Vienna in the following year. Mozart had made three extended Italian tours between 1771 and 1773, and his father Leopold had hoped that his family might be able to settle there if a position could be found for his son. In this, however, they were unsuccessful, and the third Italian tour was Mozart's last.
The Places:
The ancient city of Seville, capital of Andaluca, was an Iberian settlement of importance during the period of Roman domination and, after the Moorish conquest of the 8th century, part of the Caliphate of Crdoba. It retained importance under other Moorish rulers until its reconquest by Fernando III in 1248. It enjoyed the height of prosperity after the discovery of America in 1492.
The Music:
Music for the tour includes two of the suites drawn from the French composer George Bizet's opera Carmen, first staged in Paris in 1875 and drawing on Spanish traditions for its plot and setting and for its transformation of traditional Spanish dances. There is also Spanish Dances by the composer Enrique Granados.
The ancient city of Seville, capital of Andaluca, was an Iberian settlement of importance during the period of Roman domination and, after the Moorish conquest of the 8th century, part of the Caliphate of Crdoba. It retained importance under other Moorish rulers until its reconquest by Fernando III in 1248. It enjoyed the height of prosperity after the discovery of America in 1492.
The Music:
Music for the tour includes two of the suites drawn from the French composer George Bizet's opera Carmen, first staged in Paris in 1875 and drawing on Spanish traditions for its plot and setting and for its transformation of traditional Spanish dances. There is also Spanish Dances by the composer Enrique Granados.
The Places
The tour starts in the countryside near Sancti Petri, and shows other aspects of the fertile landscape of Andalusia , leading to the historic hillside town of Medina-Sidonia, seat of the Guzman family, whose Duke led the Spanish Armada in 1588. The resort of Sitges in
Catalonia is followed by the great Cathedral of Seville, reputedly the largest Gothic church in the world, and towns that reflect the Moorish past of this region of Spain .
The Music
The French composer Maurice Ravel inherited from his mother, of Basque origin, a strong interest in Spain. Spanish elements influence much of his music including the Rapsodie espagnole , completed in 1908, Ravel's first major orchestral work and a demonstration of his originality and of his gifts as an orchestrator. The music moves from the stillness of night to two characteristic Spanish dances and a final Spanish fiesta. Isaac Albeniz enjoyed a double career, winning an international reputation as a virtuoso pianist and doing much to establish Spanish music in a form acceptable at home and abroad. He divided the later years of his life, a period of deteriorating health, between Paris, Barcelona and Nice, years which saw the composition of his Iberia .
The tour starts in the countryside near Sancti Petri, and shows other aspects of the fertile landscape of Andalusia , leading to the historic hillside town of Medina-Sidonia, seat of the Guzman family, whose Duke led the Spanish Armada in 1588. The resort of Sitges in
Catalonia is followed by the great Cathedral of Seville, reputedly the largest Gothic church in the world, and towns that reflect the Moorish past of this region of Spain .
The Music
The French composer Maurice Ravel inherited from his mother, of Basque origin, a strong interest in Spain. Spanish elements influence much of his music including the Rapsodie espagnole , completed in 1908, Ravel's first major orchestral work and a demonstration of his originality and of his gifts as an orchestrator. The music moves from the stillness of night to two characteristic Spanish dances and a final Spanish fiesta. Isaac Albeniz enjoyed a double career, winning an international reputation as a virtuoso pianist and doing much to establish Spanish music in a form acceptable at home and abroad. He divided the later years of his life, a period of deteriorating health, between Paris, Barcelona and Nice, years which saw the composition of his Iberia .
The Places
The musical tour of Spain starts at the present capital, Madrid, the principal city of Castile. From Madrid it is not too far to the plains of La Mancha, a region always remembered for its association with the great hero of Miguel Cervantes, Don Quijote de la Mancha, whose windmills, mistaken by him for giants, form a characteristic element in the landscape. The varied history of Spain is seen in the city of Cordoba, once capital of a Moorish kingdom, and the gardens of the Alcazar of the Christian Kings.
The Music
The music chosen for the tour of Spain may be characteristically Spanish in its rhythms and turns of melody, but is all the work of foreigners, two of the composers, Chabrier and Massenet , French, and two of them, Glinka and Rimsky-Korsakov , Russian. For France, geographically adjacent to Spain, there was an obvious connection with Spain, which continued to exercise a certain fascination over its neighbour. Russian composers in the 19th century embarked on the creation of a new national music, but at the same time drew on remoter countries for inspiration, whether on the different regions of the vast Russian Empire or still further afield.
The musical tour of Spain starts at the present capital, Madrid, the principal city of Castile. From Madrid it is not too far to the plains of La Mancha, a region always remembered for its association with the great hero of Miguel Cervantes, Don Quijote de la Mancha, whose windmills, mistaken by him for giants, form a characteristic element in the landscape. The varied history of Spain is seen in the city of Cordoba, once capital of a Moorish kingdom, and the gardens of the Alcazar of the Christian Kings.
The Music
The music chosen for the tour of Spain may be characteristically Spanish in its rhythms and turns of melody, but is all the work of foreigners, two of the composers, Chabrier and Massenet , French, and two of them, Glinka and Rimsky-Korsakov , Russian. For France, geographically adjacent to Spain, there was an obvious connection with Spain, which continued to exercise a certain fascination over its neighbour. Russian composers in the 19th century embarked on the creation of a new national music, but at the same time drew on remoter countries for inspiration, whether on the different regions of the vast Russian Empire or still further afield.
The Places
Our visit to Spain centres on the old capital of Castile, Toledo, historically famous for its steel and swords and as the home of the great painter known as El Greco. There are views of Cordoba, with its relics of Moorish occupation, and a brief glimpse of the windmills on the plains of La Mancha, buildings Don Quixote once mistook for giants.
The Music
The music of Spain held an exotic attraction for composers from other countries. The French composer Lalo was of remote Spanish origin himself, and his Symphonie espagnole, written for the great Spanish violinist Pablo Sarasate, evokes the spirit of the country. Sarasate himself is represented here by a gypsy piece, Zigeunerweisen, and the versatile and prolific French composer Saint-Saens, who also dedicated a number of works to Sarasate, by his Spanish Havanaise.
Our visit to Spain centres on the old capital of Castile, Toledo, historically famous for its steel and swords and as the home of the great painter known as El Greco. There are views of Cordoba, with its relics of Moorish occupation, and a brief glimpse of the windmills on the plains of La Mancha, buildings Don Quixote once mistook for giants.
The Music
The music of Spain held an exotic attraction for composers from other countries. The French composer Lalo was of remote Spanish origin himself, and his Symphonie espagnole, written for the great Spanish violinist Pablo Sarasate, evokes the spirit of the country. Sarasate himself is represented here by a gypsy piece, Zigeunerweisen, and the versatile and prolific French composer Saint-Saens, who also dedicated a number of works to Sarasate, by his Spanish Havanaise.
The Places
St. Petersburg, the former Russian capital established in 1712 by Peter the Great, represented an era of modernisation. Built around the river Neva, which flows into the seas of the Gulf of Finland, its palaces, streets and parks reflect the age of its construction and wider European influences to which the tsar sought to direct his country.
The Music
The composers whose music is here included - Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Cui, Liadov and Ippolitov-Ivanov - were themselves closely associated with Russian music of the later nineteenth century and, inevitably, with St. Petersburg and its Conservatory.
St. Petersburg, the former Russian capital established in 1712 by Peter the Great, represented an era of modernisation. Built around the river Neva, which flows into the seas of the Gulf of Finland, its palaces, streets and parks reflect the age of its construction and wider European influences to which the tsar sought to direct his country.
The Music
The composers whose music is here included - Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Cui, Liadov and Ippolitov-Ivanov - were themselves closely associated with Russian music of the later nineteenth century and, inevitably, with St. Petersburg and its Conservatory.
The Places
The tour starts with views of Catherine the Great's Palace at Tsarskoe
Selo and leads eventually to the resort of Pavlovsk, after scenes from
Ukraine.
The Music
The music is taken from two of Rachmaninov's four piano concertos. The Second Concerto is among the most popular in romantic repertoire, while the Third Concerto is among the most challenging.
The tour starts with views of Catherine the Great's Palace at Tsarskoe
Selo and leads eventually to the resort of Pavlovsk, after scenes from
Ukraine.
The Music
The music is taken from two of Rachmaninov's four piano concertos. The Second Concerto is among the most popular in romantic repertoire, while the Third Concerto is among the most challenging.
The Places
The journey starts in Switzerland, in the canton of Thurgau, leading from Steckborn and the Bodensee to the Rhine falls. From Styria, in Austria, comes Hochosterwitz Castle and from Bavaria Weikersheim Castle, the latter intercut with wild life from the Austrian Assling Nature Park. The tour ends amid the strangely shaped mountains of the Dolomites in Southern Tyrol, a region divided between Austria and Italy.
The Music
In a remarkable way Mahler , in his symphonies and songs, has seemed to reflect the twentieth century in all its bewildering variety and has now won an established place in concert repertoire. Distinguished as a conductor, his fame as a composer has grown over the years since his death. The music included here is Mahler's Symphony No. 1 , nick-name Titan , not for its massive power, but after the book by Jean Paul, a string influence over earlier romantics and over Mahler at this stage in his career. The symphony breathes the spirit of the Austrian countryside, reflected in Mahler's songs.
The journey starts in Switzerland, in the canton of Thurgau, leading from Steckborn and the Bodensee to the Rhine falls. From Styria, in Austria, comes Hochosterwitz Castle and from Bavaria Weikersheim Castle, the latter intercut with wild life from the Austrian Assling Nature Park. The tour ends amid the strangely shaped mountains of the Dolomites in Southern Tyrol, a region divided between Austria and Italy.
The Music
In a remarkable way Mahler , in his symphonies and songs, has seemed to reflect the twentieth century in all its bewildering variety and has now won an established place in concert repertoire. Distinguished as a conductor, his fame as a composer has grown over the years since his death. The music included here is Mahler's Symphony No. 1 , nick-name Titan , not for its massive power, but after the book by Jean Paul, a string influence over earlier romantics and over Mahler at this stage in his career. The symphony breathes the spirit of the Austrian countryside, reflected in Mahler's songs.
The Places:
The canton of the Graubunden, the Grey Leagues, covers the largest territory of all Swiss cantons while remaining the most sparsely populated. Geographically it borders the Southern Tyrol, Austria and Liechtenstein, and much of its population speaks Romansch, though other languages spoken include German, Italian and, to a much lesser extent, French. The canton has traditional importance as a crossing point between south and north in Europe.
The Music:
Music for the tour is taken from four concerti grossi by Handel. Born in Halle in 1685, Handel had his first musical employment there and then in Hamburg, before moving in 1706 to Italy, where he remained until 1710, when he was appointed Kapellmeister to the Elector of Hanover. He travelled almost at once to London, where he had been engaged to compose an Italian opera, and from 1712 until his death in 1759 settled in England, winning fame first as a composer of Italian opera and then as the creator of English oratorio.
The canton of the Graubunden, the Grey Leagues, covers the largest territory of all Swiss cantons while remaining the most sparsely populated. Geographically it borders the Southern Tyrol, Austria and Liechtenstein, and much of its population speaks Romansch, though other languages spoken include German, Italian and, to a much lesser extent, French. The canton has traditional importance as a crossing point between south and north in Europe.
The Music:
Music for the tour is taken from four concerti grossi by Handel. Born in Halle in 1685, Handel had his first musical employment there and then in Hamburg, before moving in 1706 to Italy, where he remained until 1710, when he was appointed Kapellmeister to the Elector of Hanover. He travelled almost at once to London, where he had been engaged to compose an Italian opera, and from 1712 until his death in 1759 settled in England, winning fame first as a composer of Italian opera and then as the creator of English oratorio.
The Places
The Canton of Ticino (German Tessin) is the only Swiss canton to have Italian as its official language. It is bounded on three sides by Italy and boasts spectacular mountain scenery, with waterfalls, rivers and lakes. The capital of the canton is now Bellinzona, but was earlier shared with Locarno and Lugano. A feature of the landscape lies in the great lakes that are within its territory, including part of Lago Maggiore, into which the Ticino and Maggia flow.
The Music
Robert Schumann was born in 1810 in Saxony, studied in Leipzig,
lived in Dresden and, in 1850 moved to Dusseldorf as director of music to the city. He died in 1856, after a severe mental breakdown, from which he never recovered. In 1840, in spite of the objections of her father, he had married the young pianist Clara Wieck, daughter of his former teacher. It was particularly after his marriage that he turned his attention to larger scale compositions, of which his Piano Concerto is an example, inspired by his wife. The other work heard here, the Intermezzi, Op. 4 , dates from an earlier period, devoted in particular to the composition of shorter piano pieces, when a career as a pianist still seemed possible for him.
The Canton of Ticino (German Tessin) is the only Swiss canton to have Italian as its official language. It is bounded on three sides by Italy and boasts spectacular mountain scenery, with waterfalls, rivers and lakes. The capital of the canton is now Bellinzona, but was earlier shared with Locarno and Lugano. A feature of the landscape lies in the great lakes that are within its territory, including part of Lago Maggiore, into which the Ticino and Maggia flow.
The Music
Robert Schumann was born in 1810 in Saxony, studied in Leipzig,
lived in Dresden and, in 1850 moved to Dusseldorf as director of music to the city. He died in 1856, after a severe mental breakdown, from which he never recovered. In 1840, in spite of the objections of her father, he had married the young pianist Clara Wieck, daughter of his former teacher. It was particularly after his marriage that he turned his attention to larger scale compositions, of which his Piano Concerto is an example, inspired by his wife. The other work heard here, the Intermezzi, Op. 4 , dates from an earlier period, devoted in particular to the composition of shorter piano pieces, when a career as a pianist still seemed possible for him.
The Places
The Museo Vela is at Ligornetto in the Swiss-Italian canton of Ticino. The galleries have remarkable collections of the works of the Vela family, Lorenzo, Vincenzo and his son Spartaco. The principal part of the collection includes works in gesso of Vincenzo (1821?EUR"1891), plaster-cast figures later reworked in stone. The Museo Vela houses the largest such exhibition in the world.
The Music
Music for the visit is by Chopin, with his piano preludes, written principally during the winter of 1838?EUR"39 that he spent in Mallorca with his mistress, the writer George Sand. The stay there brought many difficulties, not least the early signs of illness that was to bring about Chopin's death ten years later. Other music included is Chopin's Variations brillantes, written in 1833, based on a melody from an opera by Hrod and Halvy.
The Museo Vela is at Ligornetto in the Swiss-Italian canton of Ticino. The galleries have remarkable collections of the works of the Vela family, Lorenzo, Vincenzo and his son Spartaco. The principal part of the collection includes works in gesso of Vincenzo (1821?EUR"1891), plaster-cast figures later reworked in stone. The Museo Vela houses the largest such exhibition in the world.
The Music
Music for the visit is by Chopin, with his piano preludes, written principally during the winter of 1838?EUR"39 that he spent in Mallorca with his mistress, the writer George Sand. The stay there brought many difficulties, not least the early signs of illness that was to bring about Chopin's death ten years later. Other music included is Chopin's Variations brillantes, written in 1833, based on a melody from an opera by Hrod and Halvy.
The Places
The musical tour starts in Zrich and moves to the hilltop village of Regensberg. The farmland of Emmental is seen, with Lake Thun and the waterfalls of Lauterbrunnen. Still more impressive is the great Matterhorn and a tribute to mountaineers who have lost their lives there. Zermatt, a popular ski resort as well as a base for climbers, is also seen in the milder days of summer.
The Music
Music for the tour is taken from the first two of Mozart's violin concertos, written in Salzburg in 1773 and in 1775 respectively. Mozart composed his five violin concertos either for his own use or for the Italian violinist Antonio Brunetti, who was employed with Mozart in the musical establishment of the Prince-Archbishop in Salzburg.
The musical tour starts in Zrich and moves to the hilltop village of Regensberg. The farmland of Emmental is seen, with Lake Thun and the waterfalls of Lauterbrunnen. Still more impressive is the great Matterhorn and a tribute to mountaineers who have lost their lives there. Zermatt, a popular ski resort as well as a base for climbers, is also seen in the milder days of summer.
The Music
Music for the tour is taken from the first two of Mozart's violin concertos, written in Salzburg in 1773 and in 1775 respectively. Mozart composed his five violin concertos either for his own use or for the Italian violinist Antonio Brunetti, who was employed with Mozart in the musical establishment of the Prince-Archbishop in Salzburg.
The Places
The places visited range from the icy slopes of the Jungfraujoch, approached by the highest railway in Europe, to the tranquility of Lake Thun, the imposing waterfalls of Trmmelbach and the distinctive French, German, Italian and Romansch regions of the country.
The Music
The music for this tour of Switzerland is by Franz Schubert, a composer who spent his life largely in his native Vienna. His famous "Unfinished" Symphony, the two movements of which were written in 1822, were not performed until 37 years after Schubert's death, when the manuscripts were discovered at the home of Schubert's friend Anselm Httenbrenner. The music continues with Schubert's Fifth Symphony, written in the space of a few weeks in 1816 when the composer was nineteen.
The places visited range from the icy slopes of the Jungfraujoch, approached by the highest railway in Europe, to the tranquility of Lake Thun, the imposing waterfalls of Trmmelbach and the distinctive French, German, Italian and Romansch regions of the country.
The Music
The music for this tour of Switzerland is by Franz Schubert, a composer who spent his life largely in his native Vienna. His famous "Unfinished" Symphony, the two movements of which were written in 1822, were not performed until 37 years after Schubert's death, when the manuscripts were discovered at the home of Schubert's friend Anselm Httenbrenner. The music continues with Schubert's Fifth Symphony, written in the space of a few weeks in 1816 when the composer was nineteen.
The Places
Our journey takes us principally to the Tuscan spa resort of Montecatini and its neighbourhood.
The Music
Violinist, priest and most prolific composer, Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice in 1678 and spent most of his life there, associated for much of the time with Ospedale della Pieta, a charitable institution for girls, with a strong musical tradition. The music for the tour is taken from his concertos for flute.
Our journey takes us principally to the Tuscan spa resort of Montecatini and its neighbourhood.
The Music
Violinist, priest and most prolific composer, Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice in 1678 and spent most of his life there, associated for much of the time with Ospedale della Pieta, a charitable institution for girls, with a strong musical tradition. The music for the tour is taken from his concertos for flute.
The Places
Tuscany (Toscana) draws its modern name from the ancient kingdom of Etruria and its inhabitants, the Etruscans, whose early history is inextricably entangled with the rise to power of Rome. The region stretches from the Apennines to the Tyrrhenian Sea and includes, among its nine provinces, Pisa, Siena and Lucca.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Tuscany is largely Italian, ranging from the sixteenth-century Milanese lutenist Francesco Canova da Milano to the Venetian Vivaldi, the Genoese-born violinist Paganini and the opera composers Donizetti, Verdi, Catalani and Puccini. Place is also found for appropriate music by the Italian-trained Gluck and from Mozart's Italian opera Don Giovanni .
Tuscany (Toscana) draws its modern name from the ancient kingdom of Etruria and its inhabitants, the Etruscans, whose early history is inextricably entangled with the rise to power of Rome. The region stretches from the Apennines to the Tyrrhenian Sea and includes, among its nine provinces, Pisa, Siena and Lucca.
The Music
The music chosen for this tour of Tuscany is largely Italian, ranging from the sixteenth-century Milanese lutenist Francesco Canova da Milano to the Venetian Vivaldi, the Genoese-born violinist Paganini and the opera composers Donizetti, Verdi, Catalani and Puccini. Place is also found for appropriate music by the Italian-trained Gluck and from Mozart's Italian opera Don Giovanni .
The Places
This tour of Uzbekistan takes us to Bukhara and to Khiva, former oases on the old Silk Road that joined East and West. Their great buildings, mosques and medrese reflect their former importance under successive rulers with monuments of Islamic architecture and decorative art.
The Music
Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov held a leading position among the Russian nationalist composers of the nineteenth century. His symphonic suite Sheherazade, based on episodes from The Arabian Nights, provides an apt accompaniment to a tour of Uzbekistan. The music chosen also includes the musical picture Sadko, based on a watery legend that takes the hero of the title into the depths of the sea.
This tour of Uzbekistan takes us to Bukhara and to Khiva, former oases on the old Silk Road that joined East and West. Their great buildings, mosques and medrese reflect their former importance under successive rulers with monuments of Islamic architecture and decorative art.
The Music
Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov held a leading position among the Russian nationalist composers of the nineteenth century. His symphonic suite Sheherazade, based on episodes from The Arabian Nights, provides an apt accompaniment to a tour of Uzbekistan. The music chosen also includes the musical picture Sadko, based on a watery legend that takes the hero of the title into the depths of the sea.
The Places
Venice is one of the most famous of all cities, its buildings reflecting its former commercial importance and wealth. Its canals and its position at the head of the Adriatic have given it a unique character that has continued to attract visitors.
The Music
The music included here is either associated directly with Venice or familiar there in the heyday of the Serenissima. It includes music by the Venetian composers Vivaldi and Marcello, and by Domenico Scarlatti, Neapolitan by birth, who was sent to study there by his father.
Venice is one of the most famous of all cities, its buildings reflecting its former commercial importance and wealth. Its canals and its position at the head of the Adriatic have given it a unique character that has continued to attract visitors.
The Music
The music included here is either associated directly with Venice or familiar there in the heyday of the Serenissima. It includes music by the Venetian composers Vivaldi and Marcello, and by Domenico Scarlatti, Neapolitan by birth, who was sent to study there by his father.
The Places
A city built on an archipelago of 117 islets, Venice is remarkable in many ways. Unsullied by modern traffic, its buildings retain much of their historic character and something of the magic of the place is reflected in our tour which starts and ends with the lagoon, after visiting the islands of Burano, Murano, Torcello and San Michele.
The Music
Violinist, priest and most prolific composer, Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice in 1678 and spent most of his life there, associated for much of the time with the Ospedale della Pieta, a charitable institution for girls, with a strong musical tradition. The music for the tour is taken from his collection of twelve concertos, L'Estro Armonico (Harmonic Inspiration), published in Amsterdam in 1711.
A city built on an archipelago of 117 islets, Venice is remarkable in many ways. Unsullied by modern traffic, its buildings retain much of their historic character and something of the magic of the place is reflected in our tour which starts and ends with the lagoon, after visiting the islands of Burano, Murano, Torcello and San Michele.
The Music
Violinist, priest and most prolific composer, Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice in 1678 and spent most of his life there, associated for much of the time with the Ospedale della Pieta, a charitable institution for girls, with a strong musical tradition. The music for the tour is taken from his collection of twelve concertos, L'Estro Armonico (Harmonic Inspiration), published in Amsterdam in 1711.
The Places
A city built on an archipelago of 117 islets, Venice is remarkable in many ways. Unsullied by modern traffic, its buildings retain much of their historic character, and something of the magic of the place is reflected in our tour, which visits a number of the principal sites and reflects the changing light, which casts a spell of its own.
The Music
Violinist, priest and most prolific composer Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice in 1678 and spent most of his life there, associated for much of the time with the Ospedale della Piet, a charitable institution for girls with a strong musical tradition. The music for the tour is taken from his collection of twelve concertos Il Cimento dell'Armonia e dell'Inventione (The Contest of Harmony and Invention), published in Paris in 1725.
A city built on an archipelago of 117 islets, Venice is remarkable in many ways. Unsullied by modern traffic, its buildings retain much of their historic character, and something of the magic of the place is reflected in our tour, which visits a number of the principal sites and reflects the changing light, which casts a spell of its own.
The Music
Violinist, priest and most prolific composer Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice in 1678 and spent most of his life there, associated for much of the time with the Ospedale della Piet, a charitable institution for girls with a strong musical tradition. The music for the tour is taken from his collection of twelve concertos Il Cimento dell'Armonia e dell'Inventione (The Contest of Harmony and Invention), published in Paris in 1725.
The Places
Scenes from Vienna include historical and modern buildings, monuments of the glorious past and the present day from the Emperor's Palace of Schonbrunn to the colourful buildings of the controversial artist Hundertwasser.
The Music
The music included here is all closely associated with Vienna, where Mozart spent the last ten years of his life, where Schubert was born in 1797, and where Beethoven, from 1792 until his death in 1827, was a dominant musical figure.
Scenes from Vienna include historical and modern buildings, monuments of the glorious past and the present day from the Emperor's Palace of Schonbrunn to the colourful buildings of the controversial artist Hundertwasser.
The Music
The music included here is all closely associated with Vienna, where Mozart spent the last ten years of his life, where Schubert was born in 1797, and where Beethoven, from 1792 until his death in 1827, was a dominant musical figure.
The Places
Vienna was already an ancient Celtic town called Vindobona when
around 15 BC the Romans fortified it with a military camp. The town
prospered and grew, undergoing considerable further development under the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, who died there in AD 180. In later times Vienna assumed the greatest importance as the capital of the Habsburg Empire and as a bulwark defending Western Europe from invasion from the East, although it failed to repel Napoleon, who occupied the city twice in the first decade of the 19th century.
The Music
The eldest son of Johann Strauss I , the younger Johann Strauss was born in 1825, the year in which his father established his popular dance orchestra. The father intended other professions for his sons, but in 1844, two years after his father had abandoned his wife in favour of his mistress, the younger Strauss set up his own orchestra, an enterprise in which he later compelled his younger brothers, Joseph and Eduard, to share. In 1863 Strauss was appointed Imperial Music Director for the balls held at court, a position he held until 1871, when he was succeeded by his brother Eduard. He then began writing a series of operettas, including in 1874 the best known of all, Die Fledermaus . He died in 1899 after a busy and successful...
Vienna was already an ancient Celtic town called Vindobona when
around 15 BC the Romans fortified it with a military camp. The town
prospered and grew, undergoing considerable further development under the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, who died there in AD 180. In later times Vienna assumed the greatest importance as the capital of the Habsburg Empire and as a bulwark defending Western Europe from invasion from the East, although it failed to repel Napoleon, who occupied the city twice in the first decade of the 19th century.
The Music
The eldest son of Johann Strauss I , the younger Johann Strauss was born in 1825, the year in which his father established his popular dance orchestra. The father intended other professions for his sons, but in 1844, two years after his father had abandoned his wife in favour of his mistress, the younger Strauss set up his own orchestra, an enterprise in which he later compelled his younger brothers, Joseph and Eduard, to share. In 1863 Strauss was appointed Imperial Music Director for the balls held at court, a position he held until 1871, when he was succeeded by his brother Eduard. He then began writing a series of operettas, including in 1874 the best known of all, Die Fledermaus . He died in 1899 after a busy and successful...
The Places
Our journey takes us to places in Austria, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Scotland, largely following the order of the seasons, from the hope of spring to the snow of winter.
The Music
Violinist, priest and highly prolific composer, Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice in 1678 and spent most of his life there. The most popular of his 500 or more concertos, then and now, has been The Four Seasons , eventually published in 1725, each concerto accompanied by an explanatory sonnet.
Our journey takes us to places in Austria, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Scotland, largely following the order of the seasons, from the hope of spring to the snow of winter.
The Music
Violinist, priest and highly prolific composer, Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice in 1678 and spent most of his life there. The most popular of his 500 or more concertos, then and now, has been The Four Seasons , eventually published in 1725, each concerto accompanied by an explanatory sonnet.
Filmed in Chester Cathedral during the National Youth Orchestra of Spain's 2007 European tour, this concert features Leopold Stokowski's inimitable and colourful transcriptions of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhbition and "A Night on Bare Mountain," the latter made famous by its inclusion in the 1940 Walt Disney film Fantasia. Jose Serebrier's "Symphonie mystique," for strings, was written in the space of just one week in 2003. Serebrier's earlier recording of this work was hailed by FonoForum magazine as "a vital, elegant masterwork…a shimmering prism of tone…clearly formed and with a sure hand for reaching great heights of ecstasy."
Virtuoso Music of the 19th Century
The 19th century brought astonishing developments in instrumental skill, marking, with Paganini and his innovations in violin technique, the true age of the virtuoso. Earlier periods had seen great performers, but it was now combined with changes in technique and with the development of particular instruments, notably the piano, with which Liszt at first set out to rival Paganini. A distinctive feature of the age was the pre-eminence of performer-composers. Bach, Handel, Mozart and Beethoven had all been players, but now, changing technical demands and possibilities opened a new world of virtuosity, the world of Liszt and his successor Busoni, and of Sarasate, Ernst, Joachim and Ries.
The 19th century brought astonishing developments in instrumental skill, marking, with Paganini and his innovations in violin technique, the true age of the virtuoso. Earlier periods had seen great performers, but it was now combined with changes in technique and with the development of particular instruments, notably the piano, with which Liszt at first set out to rival Paganini. A distinctive feature of the age was the pre-eminence of performer-composers. Bach, Handel, Mozart and Beethoven had all been players, but now, changing technical demands and possibilities opened a new world of virtuosity, the world of Liszt and his successor Busoni, and of Sarasate, Ernst, Joachim and Ries.
Welcome to Naxos' 30th Anniversary Gala Concert! The gala concert features Naxos' house artists Boris Giltburg, Gabriel Schwabe, Tianwa Yang and Nicholas Rimmer. Recorded live at Allerheiligen-Hofkirche, Munich on May 16, 2017
Against the backdrop of St Petersburg's beautiful Court Capella, Eldar Nebolsin performs the piano concertos of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov with a passion and sincerity as palpable on screen as live in the hall. With such evident pleasure and seemingly with ease, he transforms the familiar into something fresh and wonderful. He is seen live with Vladimir Lande and the St Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra. Bonus material shows Nebolsin as soloist in an intimate and equally engaging performance of Beethoven's Fourth Piano Sonata.
Nielsen's Maskarade is regarded as Denmark's national opera. It combines folk-song character, Mozartean elegance and virtuoso surprises to create what conductor Titus Engel describes as 'musical comedy that's both witty and of the highest calibre'. Based on an 18th-century play by Ludwig Holberg, the story revolves around Leander and Leonoara who meet at a masquerade ball, swear undying love, and then have to deal with the complicated consequences of their situation, all accompanied by Nielsen's irresistibly sparkling score. This acclaimed contemporary staging from Oper Frankfurt is sung in new German translation and directed by Tobias Kratzer.
Finnish opera star Camilla Nylund sings masterpieces from the Great American Songbook in this unique collaboration with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra under their music director Marin Alsop. The classic songs in this film were specially arranged to suit Nylund's performance style, vocals and personality, as if they had been written for her.
La Perricholi - in reality, Micaela Villegas - was Lima's leading theatrical lady in the 1770's when Peru was a Spanish colony. Her life was fictionalised in a one-act play by Prosper Merimee and a libretto was fashioned in which Offenbach created his opera bouffe Le Perichole , reflecting the creative mania in Paris at the time for Spanish life and art. La Perichole and Piquillo, her lover and companion in misfortune, are impoverished street singers. Meanwhile the Viceroy Don Andres de Ribeira wishes to make her his lover. In music of vivacious rhythms including boleros, seguidillas and rich arias, Offenbach plays out their love against a broader social canvas.
Jacques Offenbach had already achieved fame as an operetta composer by 1866, but that year's premier of La Vie parisienne was his first portrayal of contemporary Parisian life. With its tale of romantic intrigues, disguises and comic celebrations of the mad gaiety of life in the French capital, La Vie parisienne became popular in the nationa's theatres, but not after a hasty re-working of its final acts after protests from the original performers. With significant new musical discoveries and the final act restored, this opera-bouffe masterpiece now speaks for itself given the resources of a superb cast and Christian Lacroix's colourful and much acclaimed Bru Zane France production.
This cinematic production of a contemporary opera by composer Jocy de Oliveira , tells the story of Mathilda Segalescu, an opera singer aboard the Sturma, the last jewish ship to leave Romania during World War II, that sank in the Black sea killing all its passengers. Years later, a Turkish fisherman rescues her piano from the waters and falls in love with her spirit kept safe by the memory of the waters. A true homage to all refugees of war.
After her remarkable Lucerne Festival debut in 2014, the Argentinian cellist Sol Gabetta returned to the idyllic Swiss city in 2018 for a performance of Martini's First Cello Concerto , one of her favorite virtuosic works for her instrument, accompanied by the Mahler Chamber Orchestra under Francois-Xavier Roth's baton. As she describes it, "The orchestral writing is opulent, the themes - which draw on superb popular Czech melodies - and a very interesting rhythmic structure." Martinu's masterpiece is framed by the folk melodies of Bartok's Divertimento , Haydn's Parisian Symphony "The Hen" (listen for the oboe's unmistakable pecking sounds!), and the carefree delights of dolls, spinning tops, and soap bubbles in Bizet's Jeux d'enfants .
Valery Gergiev , fresh from his appointment as chief conductor of the Munchner Philharmoniker in 2015, takes his new ensemble to the BBC Proms for a concert at the utmost in drama and vivid musicianship. The brilliant young Uzbek pianist Behzod Abduraimov performs Rachmaninov's thrillingly virtuosic Piano Concerto No. 3 , while the Russian stage and film actor Alexei Petrenko recites the text in Galina Ustvolkskaya's resonant and profound Symphony No. 3, "Jesus Messiah, Saves Us!" . The programme also features a hypnotic Ravel Bolero , an alternately tender, florid and witty Rosenkavalier Suite , and the rousing Hungarian March by Berlioz .
These live performances from Snape Maltings Concert Hall present some of the most popular classical characterization, and, in three works, the use of spoken texts to illuminate the narrative. Whether composed to amuse, entertain or educate, each possesses marvelous vitality, lyricism and bravura. The performances are conducted and narrated by Marin Alsop, one of the world's most inspirational musical communicators.
Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla wrote Histoire du Tango for flute and guitar in 1986, but over the years the work has proved equally effective in a number of different instrumental combinations, with the marimba often substituted for the guitar. The work acts as an entry point to the tango, detailing the history of the dance
in four movements.
Nightclub 1960 , the third movement takes account of the changes in Buenos Aires at the turn of that decade, notably the integration of tango with the Brazilian bossanova. The marimba duo builds up to to a thrilling finish.
in four movements.
Nightclub 1960 , the third movement takes account of the changes in Buenos Aires at the turn of that decade, notably the integration of tango with the Brazilian bossanova. The marimba duo builds up to to a thrilling finish.
A unique collaboration: the All-Star Orchestra's Music Director Gerard Schwarz guest conducts the United States Marine Band. Founded by an Act of Congrass in 1787, it is America's oldest continually active musical ensemble. Three programs feature masterpieces for symphonic band and the history of the famed ensemble.
Program 1: Above and Beyond
The beloved folk melodies and lively dances of Percy Grainger's Lincolnshire Posy are followed by Maestro Schwarz's own Above and Beyond and Pulitzer Prize-winner Jennifer Higdon's Fanfare Ritmico . John Philip Sousa's march, Semper Fidelis , is led by the Director of the United States Marine Band, Col. Jason K. Fettig.
Program 2: New England Spirit
Revolutionary war melodies inspire William Schumann's New England Triptych including When Jesus Wept and the thrilling Chester (as heard at several Presidential inaugurations). Vincent Persichetti's colorful Masquerade shows off the Marine Band's amazing virtuosity. The program conclude with Sousa's The Stars and Stripes Forever .
Program 3: Classic Band Masterpieces
The masterful First Suite for Military Band by composer of the The Planets, Gustav Holst , is paired with the landmark Symphony for Band in B flat by the great Paul Hindemith . The splendor of Chinese...
Program 1: Above and Beyond
The beloved folk melodies and lively dances of Percy Grainger's Lincolnshire Posy are followed by Maestro Schwarz's own Above and Beyond and Pulitzer Prize-winner Jennifer Higdon's Fanfare Ritmico . John Philip Sousa's march, Semper Fidelis , is led by the Director of the United States Marine Band, Col. Jason K. Fettig.
Program 2: New England Spirit
Revolutionary war melodies inspire William Schumann's New England Triptych including When Jesus Wept and the thrilling Chester (as heard at several Presidential inaugurations). Vincent Persichetti's colorful Masquerade shows off the Marine Band's amazing virtuosity. The program conclude with Sousa's The Stars and Stripes Forever .
Program 3: Classic Band Masterpieces
The masterful First Suite for Military Band by composer of the The Planets, Gustav Holst , is paired with the landmark Symphony for Band in B flat by the great Paul Hindemith . The splendor of Chinese...
The Facebook Live Q&A event, with violinist Tianwa Yang and conductor Jun Markl moderated by Raymond Bisha , and it features the artists' recent Naxos release of Violin Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 by Prokofiev .
The Bohemians is an exciting new movie version of La Boheme , set in present-day Williamsburg, Brooklyn. As the current hotbed of counter-cultural artistic expression, Williamsburg presents the perfect modern counterpart to the Latin Quarter of Paris in the mid-1800s. The film stars well-known performers as well as aspiring new opera singers like Israel Lozano, a three-time winner of Placido Domingo's Operalia competition, and Suzanne Kantorski-Merrill, who both have approached the project with an amazing passion. The film also relies on the contributions of a number of graduates from Juilliard, the Academy of Vocal Arts and Manhattan School of Music.
Based on stories by Henri Merger but also infused with the composer's own experiences as a penniless graduate, Puccini's powerful opera La Boheme portrays its youthful characters' romantic outlook on life and the brutally tragic end to their innocence. The story is set around 1830 but director Orpha Phelan sees Puccini's characters as equally at home in our times: "their story is universal, all that is needed is to understand what it is like to be young and in love!" This Malmo production was acclaimed in the Svenska Dagbladet as "one of the most moving renditions of Puccini's opera I have ever seen".
Set in the artistic but impoverished milieu of early 19th-century Paris, the tragic love of the poet Rodolfo and seamstress Mimi is on the most affecting in all opera. La Boheme's arias are also some of the most intensely passionate Puccini ever wrote, making it is one of the best-loved of all his works.
In what Opera News called a 'through rethinking and brilliant re-creation' this exceptional Oslo production, strongly cast and conducted, and staged by internationally acclaimed director Stefan Herheim, explores the work as never before to create what The New York Times called an 'ultimately haunting' experience.
In what Opera News called a 'through rethinking and brilliant re-creation' this exceptional Oslo production, strongly cast and conducted, and staged by internationally acclaimed director Stefan Herheim, explores the work as never before to create what The New York Times called an 'ultimately haunting' experience.
Although one of his most consistently lyrical operas, La rondine (The Swallow) remains one of Puccini's least known. Dissatisfied with the result of his work, Puccini wrote three versions, with two different endings, and continued to make further revisions up to his death in 1924. The innovative 2007 production at the Torre del Lago Giacomo Puccini Festival, presented here, is in effect a fourth version, which combines Acts I and II of the first version (1917), with Lorenzo Ferrero?EUR(TM)s 1994 orchestration of parts of the Finale of Act III of the incomplete third version (1921), some of which had survived only in piano score, as well as Ruggero's Act I romanza, Parigi e la citta dei desideri , from the second version (1920).
With a sparkling score reminiscent of Franz Lehar and Richard Strauss, La rondine , set in mid-19th century Paris, tells the story of Magda de Civry, a young courtesan who falls in love one evening with Ruggero Lastouc, the handsome son of a childhood friend of her protector, Rambaldo Fernandez. Although Magda believes that her compromised social position prevents their marrying, in Puccini's third version it is Ruggero who leaves Magda when he discovers that she is the mistress of Rambaldo.
With a sparkling score reminiscent of Franz Lehar and Richard Strauss, La rondine , set in mid-19th century Paris, tells the story of Magda de Civry, a young courtesan who falls in love one evening with Ruggero Lastouc, the handsome son of a childhood friend of her protector, Rambaldo Fernandez. Although Magda believes that her compromised social position prevents their marrying, in Puccini's third version it is Ruggero who leaves Magda when he discovers that she is the mistress of Rambaldo.
Tosca is a melodrama of love, betrayal and death set in the revolutionary unrest of 1800. The story concerns the opera singer Floria Tosca who tries to save her lover, the painter Mario Cavaradossi, from the brutal chief police, Scarpia. Through-composed and expertly orchestrated it contains some of Puccini's best-known lyrical arias and remains one of this most performed operas.
Henry Purcell was a genius whose ability to combine French and Italian influences transported the English language to new levels of expression in music. Dido and Aeneas was pioneering in its day and is considered one of Purcell's foremost theatrical works, with a moving tale of love, betrayal and tragedy that has proved to be of unceasing appeal to audiences for centuries. Deborah Warner's affection for this opera shines through in an overwhelmingly acclaimed performance filmed in December 2008 at the Opera Comique in Paris.
The collaboration of the poet John Dryden and Henry Purcell marked a conspicuous leap forward for English opera. Their greatest project, King Arthur , is a five-act 'dramatic opera', the text of which had its origins in a patriotic musical play Dryden had written in 1684 but which he radically overhauled. The result was a work that appealed to the audience's enthusiasm for fine costumes, lavish sets, ingenious stage machinery and a cast of singers, dancers and instrumentalists, containing vocal show-stoppers such as the imperishable Frost Scene and Fairest Isle. This critically acclaimed staging uses a new performing edition by Rene Jacobs, and is sung in English with German dialogue
Rachmaninov , like several other notable composers, wrote a set of his own Preludes. His 24 Preludes , one in each key, were originally published in installments, building on the popularity of his early Prelude in C sharp minor, Op. 3, No. 2 from 1892. The Prelude in G minor, Op. 23, No. 5 , completed in 1901, appears early in the cycle. Its percussive nature, with its ominous and obsessive 'rat-a-tat' rhythm heard in the lower right-hand, dominates the outer sections of the piece, while the flowing middle section divides naturally between the two marimbas. The ending disappears like a breath of air.
The Isle of the Dead employs Georgy Kirkor's 1957 transcription which Boris Giltburg has revised significantly. Giltburg's authority in Rachmaninov has been universally acknowledged, with his performances termed 'characterful, sensitive and technically dazzling' by BBC Music Magazine.
Symphonic in scale and with great dramatic power, Rachmaninov's Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor is an underappreciated masterpiece, depicting a tremendous range of human emotions.
The turbulent and brilliant Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor is heard in the 1931 revised version which clarifies textures and streamlines the work, heightening its emotional impact.
Les fetes de l'Hymen et de l'Amour was Rameau's first exploration of the world of Egyptian mythology. Its libretto called for magic, gods and extraordinary natural effects to which he responded with one his most comprehensively brilliant scores, blending a gallant and pastoral inspiration of extreme refinement with powerful vocal and orchestral writing. In his use of a fluid and continuous flow of music, in the theatrical deployment of choruses, and in the blurring of the distinction between recitatives and airs, Rameau entered a new and pioneering stage of development. The score heard in his performance is the authoritative version.
Rameau's first opera Hippolyte et Aricie delivered a lyrical tragedy of such extraordinary intensity it changed the course of French music, stunning and overwhelming its audiences. This breathtaking spectacle involves prince Hippolyte, who asks his mother-in-law Queen Phedre for help in wooing the beautiful Aricie, not knowing the Phedre secretly wants Hippolyte for herself. In a single work Rameau re-invented tragedie en musique with dramatic expressiveness and shocking harmonic innovations. It is seen here in an acclaimed Opera Comique production that personifies Rameau's assertion that 'music must speak to the sould, it's true aim must be to express thoughts, feelings, and passions'.
The Tre Liriche includes Notte (Night), Nebbie (Fog) and Pioggia (Rain), which Respighi had originally set as separate works for mezzo and piano between 1906 and 1912. He then decided to orchestrate the three songs as a song cycle in 1913 for mezzo Chiarina Fino Savio, for the world premiere on 6 February 1914 with Orchestra dell'Augusteo (now the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia) in Rome under conductor Bernardino Molinari. Luciano Pavarotti championed two of the three songs in the 1970s, following their individual successes with singers in recitals. Potito Pedarra, the cataloguer of Respighi's works, then rediscovered the existence of the lost (incomplete) opus with all three songs in the 1990s, well after the publication of his Respighi works list. Pedarra subsequently numbered the rediscovered opus as Tre Liriche, P. 99a.
Di Vittorio completed Respighi's orchestration of the extant orchestral manuscript (pages), as provided by the Respighi family, for its first engraved critical edition in anticipation of its 100th anniversary in 2013. Tre Liriche is available for rental under publisher Casa Ricordi (Universal Music) in Italy in two versions: the original for mezzo-soprano (or baritone) and orchestra, and for soprano (or tenor) and orchestra...
Di Vittorio completed Respighi's orchestration of the extant orchestral manuscript (pages), as provided by the Respighi family, for its first engraved critical edition in anticipation of its 100th anniversary in 2013. Tre Liriche is available for rental under publisher Casa Ricordi (Universal Music) in Italy in two versions: the original for mezzo-soprano (or baritone) and orchestra, and for soprano (or tenor) and orchestra...
Ottorino Respighi's La bella dormente nel bosco (Sleeping Beauty) was originally commissioned by the renowned puppeteer Vittorio Podrecca. The revised version we hear today preserves much of the kaleidoscopic approach and magnified characters and emotions of that original, now enhanced by the composer's matchless orchestration. This famous story in which the Princess pricks her finger on a spindle and sleeps for centuries until kissed by her Prince is given a magical atmosphere through director Leo Muscato's colourful staging, and the superb cast of this Teatro Lirico di Cagliari production truly inhabits an enchanted realm.
The Berceuse for strings is a short lullaby composed in 1902. Similar to the Aria for strings, also edited by Di Vittorio and part of the Chamber Orchestra of New York's Naxos debut in 2011, the music shows the blossoming of Respighi's string and vocal-inspired writing as a prelude to such later works as his masterful Ancient Airs, Suites Nos. 1-3 , the third of which is for string orchestra. The premiere of the published work was given on 22 April 2022 at The DiMenna Center for Classical Music in New York, with the Italian premiere with the Orchestra of the Teatro Massimo Opera of Palermo, Italy - both performances under the direction of Di Vittorio.
The opera La campana sommersa (The Sunken Bell) is Respighi's operatic masterpiece. A symbolist drama on a supernatural theme. It is steeped in beauty, mystery and foreboding and orchestrated with the Romantic opulence familiar from his sumptuous trilogy of Roman tone-poems. Its triumph at the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1928 was repeated at La Scala, Milan, and this most recent production at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, world-renowed for its staging of rarities, was hailed for its 'brilliant production' and magnificent performances.
The Lamento d'Arianna was given its world premiere in 1908 by the Berlin Philharmonic under conductor Arthur Nikisch. Respighi had gone to Berlin to accompany the singing class of Etelka Gerster, and his experiences as piano accompanist for opera singers evolved his sensibility for writing for the voice. This early choice of arranging the music of Claudio Monteverdi shows Respighi's innate interest in Early Music.
Not to be mistaken with other Monteverdi works of the same name, this Lamento is the only extant music from Monteverdi's lost second opera L'Arianna. Monteverdi later used the music, including the now famous Lasciatemi morire motif, in three other works of the same name, including the well-known madrigal Lamento d'Arianna which is part of his Madrigals, Book VI . This masterful orchestration of Monteverdi's Lamento was the first work that brought Respighi attention, garnering ecstatic reviews.
Not to be mistaken with other Monteverdi works of the same name, this Lamento is the only extant music from Monteverdi's lost second opera L'Arianna. Monteverdi later used the music, including the now famous Lasciatemi morire motif, in three other works of the same name, including the well-known madrigal Lamento d'Arianna which is part of his Madrigals, Book VI . This masterful orchestration of Monteverdi's Lamento was the first work that brought Respighi attention, garnering ecstatic reviews.
Il tramonto is scored for strings, and was also written in 1914 for the mezzo-soprano Chiarina Fino-Savio. The poem is based on the words of Percy Bysshe Shelley, and deals with a young woman's tragic story of passionate love and eventual despair over her lover's death. The work is very reminiscent of the music of Richard Wagner , and his Siegfried Idyll in particular, completed prior to the evolution of Respighi's compositional style away from selected
German influences.
German influences.
An iconic product of the Mexican Revolution, Redes (1935) combines the talents of a master composer, Silvestre Revueltas , and a master cinematographer, Paul Strand . Its marriage of music and the moving image attains heights of epic grandeur. The co-directors are Fred Zinnemann (en route to Hollywood) and Emilio Gomez Muriel. Because dialogue rarely overlaps music, it is possible to re-record Revueltas' galvanizing score and discover musical riches inaudible on the original monaural soundtrack. As the Redes concert suites by Revueltas and Erich Kleiber omit much, the present recording is the the world premiere of Revueltas' full score, one of the highest achievements in the history of film music.
Composed using his own libretto, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov created this magical opera based on the short story Nikolay Gogol in which Vakula the handsome blacksmith wants to marry the rich farmer's daughter Oksana, who in turn demands that he must first bring her the Tsarina's shoes. Meanwhile a witch on her broomstick gathers the stars on the devil steals the moon - demonic forces trying to hinder this romantic union. Enchantment and enlightenment come together happily in Rimsky-Korsakov's fairy-tale opera, and this Oper Frankfurt production was considered 'a perfect seasonal tonic' by the Financial Times.
Rimsky-Korsakov's The Golden Cockerel (Le Coq d'or) is based on a Pushkin fold take, but the opera's Orientalism, comedy and sultry elements go far beyond its original influence. The composer saw in the story of Tsar, punished for his cowardice and despotism, and opportunity to employ satire to condemn Russian's autocratic ruler, Nicholas II.
This new production premiered in May 2021 and was staged by the Australian director, Barrie Kosky, a specialist in Russian opera. Critics hailed the 'glorious' singing of Dmitry Ulyanov and the 'exquisite' performance of Nina Minasyan calling the event 'a triumphant evening for all concerned' (Bachtrack.com).
This new production premiered in May 2021 and was staged by the Australian director, Barrie Kosky, a specialist in Russian opera. Critics hailed the 'glorious' singing of Dmitry Ulyanov and the 'exquisite' performance of Nina Minasyan calling the event 'a triumphant evening for all concerned' (Bachtrack.com).
The Invisible City of Kitezh , completed in 1905, is a remarkable opera that fuses folklore, mysticism and realism. Its subject is the story of the advancing Mongol army's entry to the Great Kitezh and the city's subsequent miraculous survival. Rejecting archaisms and the more religiously inclined suggestions of his librettist, Rimsky-Korsakov sought to create an opera that is contemporary and even fairly advanced. It is therefore through-composed, hinting at times at Wagnerian procedure, and flooded with the composer's rich, apt and brilliant orchestral palette, fully supportive of the powerful vocal writing.
Rossini's comic masterpiece was based on Pierre-Agustin Caron de Beaumarchais's French play Le Barbier de Seville and is the ultimate opera buffa. The score is a compendium of the composer's wittiest and most brilliant writing, and includes the famous entrance aria Largo al factotum and a raft of superbly dynamic ensembles. This vibrant and youthful production features Florian Sempey, one of the world's best Figaros, the 'Rossini tenor' Michelle Angelini, vivacious and critically admired Catherine Trottmann, and the award-winning team of acclaimed director Laurent Pelly and conductor Jeremie Rhorer who directs his spirited period ensemble Le Cercle de l'Harmonie.
The plot of La cambiale di matrimonio , which Rossini composed when he was just eighteen years old, revolves around the farcical attempts of Tobia Mill, a rich English merchant, to combine business with pleasure by forcing his daughter, the lovely Fanny ("the merchandise") to marry Slook, his rich colonial correspondent from America, by means of a bill of exchange. Eventually it is the gallant Slook himself who persuades Mill to allow Fanny to marry her true love, Edoardo Milfort. This Rossini Opera Festival ?EUR" Pesaro production features two well-established singers, Desiree Rancatore and Saimir Pirgu, who are joined by three promising young singers: Fabio Maria Capitanucci, Enrico Maria Marabelli and Maria Gortsevskaya.
Rossini wrote L'equivoco stravagante ('The Curious Misunderstanding'), his first full-length opera, when he was only 19 years old. As its title suggests, the plot of this dramma giocoso offers a panoply of absurdist stagecraft with one character being led to believe that the work's heroine is in fact a castrato trying to avoid military service. Full of his trademark buffo humuor, melodious and musically buoyant, the opera ran foul of the censors and was swiftly banned, which accounts for its rarity in performances and recordings. The new edition of the score was used in this production corrects numerous previous errors.
L'occasione fa il ladro (Opportunity Makes a Thief) was composed by the young Rossini in just evelen days, working alongside his librettist Luigi Prividali. The tale presents a comedy of multiple confusions in one act. Count Alberto, travelling to marry a fiancee he has yet to meet, leaves an inn with the wrong suitcase. Left holding the Count's papers and possessions, Don Parmenione audaciously adopts Alberto's identity intent on taking the bride for himself. Jochen Schonleber's acclaimed production adapts Rossini's swift and deftly plotted moral drama to give present-day relevance to Rossini's exuberant ensemble burletta.
Filmed live in 2007 at the prestigious Rossini Opera Festival in the composer's birthplace, Pesaro, Il Turco in Italia is a madcap ensemble opera with an inspired score that boasts music of both comic genius and extraordinary beauty. Set in Naples, it spins a crazy tale around a poet who uses the romantic entanglements of the inhabitants with a Turkish prince as inspiration for the plot of his next play. Ultimately, life imitates art as all ends happily, but not before a planned abduction leads to a chaotic situation of mistaken identity?EUR?
The Indomitable Bow is a unique portrait of Mstislav Rostropovich , a formidable personality as well as a complex, deeply political musician constantly engaged in a whirlwind of activities. Including unreleased documents, archive films, interviews and concert performances from this key figure of the 20th century. The Indomitable Bow is a remarkable testimony of the life and work of the legendary Slava
A brilliant swordsman, athlete, violin virtuoso and composer, Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges might well lay claim to being the most talented figure in an age of remarkable individuals. The string quartet was still in its infancy in France in the 1770s, but while these pieces are small in scale they are exceptionally rewarding.
Saint-Georges appreciated the intimate nature of this genre, avoiding overt soloistic virtuosity and exploring chamber music timbres, amply demonstrating his rich lyrical gifts and a natural ability to delight performers and audiences alike.
Saint-Georges appreciated the intimate nature of this genre, avoiding overt soloistic virtuosity and exploring chamber music timbres, amply demonstrating his rich lyrical gifts and a natural ability to delight performers and audiences alike.
Franz Schreker's career was cut short by the events of 1933 in Germany but he achieved real fame with his operas, and the huge success of Der Schatzgraber (The Treasure Hunter) in the 1920s was the high point of his career. In a complex and ultimately tragic tale of destructive greed, desire and toxic social hierarchy, the innkeeper's daughter Els is forced to confront the consequences of her murderous intent in what conductor Marc Albrecht considers 'a work of exceptional quality, concentration and significance.' Following the huge success of Korngold's Das Wunder der Heliane , director Christof Loy continues his exploration of strong female characters and neglected 20th-century masterpieces with this highly acclaimed Deutsche Oper Berlin production.
Together with the internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, Christof Loy creates an intimate evening of music theatre. Inspired by the songs of Franz Schubert , which oscillate between the joy of life and the longing for death, the two tell of the extremes of human feelings. In addition to the Winter Journey song cycle, other works of the composer will be performed. Anne Sofie von Otter, whose?career began in Basel, is one of the most celebrated singers in the world. She will be accompanied on the piano forte by the internationally acclaimed pianist Kristian Bezuidenhout.
Springtime in Amsterdam is a joyful feature film created by director Christof Loy, world renowned for his work in international opera houses. Meeting accidentally in Amsterdam, a group of four people experience a series of confusions that must be resolved in 48 hours. A richly varied musical score that includes Viennese operetta, Dutch and French chansons, and songs from the American song book, is performed by a renowned cast of singers and conducted by Marko Letonja, well versed in popular music. In a magical dream world, dilemmas are resolved in this enchanting fable.
The State Opera is the first film ever made about the Bavarian State Opera, one of the world's oldest, most prestigious and internationally esteemed companies. It charts the course of three operas - Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg , Les Indes galantes and Un ballo in maschera - as they come to life on the stage.
We meet some of the great singers, such as Jonas Kaufmann and Anja Harteros, in performance and behind the scenes, as well as artistic directors past and present, and two of the music directors in Kirill Petrenko and his predecessor Zubin Mehta. As both a celebration and an exploration, this entertaining film is a declaration of love for the operatic form.
We meet some of the great singers, such as Jonas Kaufmann and Anja Harteros, in performance and behind the scenes, as well as artistic directors past and present, and two of the music directors in Kirill Petrenko and his predecessor Zubin Mehta. As both a celebration and an exploration, this entertaining film is a declaration of love for the operatic form.
Richard Strauss's Arabella is a lyric comedy that portrays hardships and obsessions in a society whose late-bourgeois values are crumbling. An addiction to gambling has driven the family of cavalry officer Waldner into financial ruin, and their only hope for salvation lies in marrying of their daughter Arabella into a wealthy family. Strauss's orchestral opulence couples with its period Viennese setting as seen Arabella perceived as a light-hearted comedy of errors, but Tobias Kratzer's multi-faceted production also explores the disunity between its characters, spotlighting tensions that connect 19th-century to the present day.
Originally set in the 15th century, Tchaikovsky's The Echantress is updated to the present day in this innovative production. The charismatic, emancipated Nastasya, who rejects the advances of the devious Mamirov, duly faces the implacable forces of traditional values in a society riven by divisions between liberal freedoms and religious orthodoxies. The tragic outcome engulfs everyone.
Tchaikovsky's lyric opera Eugene Onegin is based on Alexander Pushkin's novel in verse - a masterpiece of Russian literature. The narrative tells the story of Onegin's remorse in rejecting the young Tatyana and his instigation of a fatal duel in which his friend Lensky dies. The opera is constructed in what Tchaikovsky termed 'lyrical scenes', with music that articulates the feelings of the characters with great sensitivity and subtlety. With a minimalist set design, director Laurent Pelly's staging underlines the lightness and sadness of the subject while fully expressing the characters' fantasies and inner torments. After his forays into the Russian repertoire, Alain Altinoglu conducts La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra and Chorus with a cast of outstanding singers.
Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt ('None but the lonely heart') , probably the best known of Tchaikovsky's songs, lends its name to an intimate theatrical evening in which Christof Loy has combines songs or 'romances' and instrumental music to create a chamber opera of striking beauty and intensity. Tchaikovsky's songs cover a stylistic diversity and unsayable create expressive tensions and encapsulate true human emotions. Given a sumptuous period setting, these qualities create a unique drama in which suppressed love is confronted with longed for moments of passion, and sadness over broken relationships leads to withdrawal and lonelines.
If George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess - the highest creative achievement in American classical music - embodies a glorious (and controversial) fulfillment of Dvorak's prophecy, there also exists a buried lineage of exceptional compositions of Black composers following in Dvorak's wake. Coming first was his assistant Harry Burleigh whose seminal settings of Deep River are as much compositions as transcriptions. Burleigh's initiative was sealed by singers like Paul Robeson and Marian Anderson. But William Levi Dawson's oracular Negro Folk Symphony , though triumphantly premiered by Leopold Stokowski and his Philadelphia Orchestra in 1934, gathered dust - and Dawson was never to create the symphonic catalogue he seemed destined to undertake.
The commentators include George Shirley, the most legendary name in present-day Black classical music, also Kevin Deas, who sings Burleigh with singular authority, and the conductors Roderick Cox and the late Michael Morgan.
The commentators include George Shirley, the most legendary name in present-day Black classical music, also Kevin Deas, who sings Burleigh with singular authority, and the conductors Roderick Cox and the late Michael Morgan.
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Pare Lorentz's The Plow that Broke the Plains (1936) and The River (1937) are landmark American documentary films. Aesthetically, they break new ground in seamlessly marrying pictorial imagery, symphonic music, and poetic free verse, all realized with supreme artistry. Ideologically, they indelibly encapsulate the strivings of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "New Deal." Virgil Thomson's scores for both films are among the most famous ever composed for the movies. Aaron Copland praised the music for The Plow for its "frankness and openness of feeling," calling it "fresher, more simple, and more personal" than the Hollywood norm. He called the music for The River "a lesson in how to treat Americana."
Bonus Features:
- George Stoney on The Plow and The River
- The New Deal, The River, and Race
- Charles Fussell on Virgil Thomson
- Virgil Thomson on Virgil Thomson (audio only)
- The original ending of The Plow that Broke the Plains
- The original beginning of The Plow that Broke the Plains
Bonus Features:
- George Stoney on The Plow and The River
- The New Deal, The River, and Race
- Charles Fussell on Virgil Thomson
- Virgil Thomson on Virgil Thomson (audio only)
- The original ending of The Plow that Broke the Plains
- The original beginning of The Plow that Broke the Plains
The Verbier Festival is one of classical music's greatest events. In celebration of the festival's 25th anniversary, this unique concert brings together 36 classical stars in an unprecedented evening of ingenious programming and captivating performances. The line-up includes the world's greatest violinists, violists, cellists and pianists as well as other other leading performers conducted by Valery Gergiev and Gabor Takacs-Nagy.
Verdi was justifiably pleased with Macbeth, his tenth opera and his first on a Shakespearian subject ?EUR" it would long remain his own favourite among his "early period" operas. Eighteen years later, at the invitation of the Theatre Lyrique in Paris, he substantially revised the score, and this version (sung in Italian) is presented here in Pier Luigi Pizzi's visually arresting 2007 production. The talented young cast is headed by Giuseppe Altomare as Macbeth, one of Verdi's most profoundly modern anti-heroes, a political animal driven to bloody regicide yet doomed by his very success. Olha Zhuravel plays his obsessively ambitious wife, driven to madness by her own guilt.
Commissioned in 1846, Macbeth offered Verdi the opportunity to make a qualitative leap in his career and its premiere was triumphantly received by audiences. Yet the libretto had proved problematic and many Italian critics did not share the composer's reverence for Shakespeare . Verdi surmounted all concerns with an opera that valued brevity but also preserved the play's most important elements. The formidable final concertato stands as one of his greatest achievements thus far, his pacing and detailing of the opera as a whole far surpassing his previous works. This production preserves the preferred 1865 revision of the work, sung in Italian and retaining the original 1847 finale.
Verdi's Stiffelio is a tense moral drama in which a Protestant minister learns of his wife's betrayal and is torn between thirst for revenge and his religious duty of forgiveness. These themes of adultery and divorce were social taboos in 1850, and Stifellio was met with such censorship and disapproval that it was soon withdrawn. Today we can appreciate both the title character's significance as the first true Verdi tenor, and the many wonderful moments in this 'most unjustly neglected of Verdi's operas'. The unique and dynamic production from Parma was acclaimed for taking us to 'a whole new theatrical world' (Huffington Post), and as 'nothing short of a coup' (bachtrack.com).
The tetralogy of four operas that form Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) explores the conjunction of love and power in a mythic landscape in which true power resides in possession of the Ring. Composed over more than a quarter of a century, monumental in scale, and structured after the precedent of Greek drama, the cycle was first performed in 1876. Staged by the award-winning director Stefan Herheim, this innovative new production from Deutsche Oper Berlin features a leading international cast conducted by Sir Donald Runnicles.
Global Wagner - From Bayreuth to the World is not a biography of Richard Wagner , nor is it a musicological analysis of his work. This is a documentary dedicated solely to the world's fascination with the man, and an exploration of the question as to how such massive hype and world-wide cult following developed around this highly controversial artist. The program is a revealing feature-length study of life with Wagner's legacy from one Bayreuth Festival to the next, and we travel the world to meet devoted Wagnerians and those most intimately involved in commenting on and producing his work today.
Triumphantly premiered in 1868, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg evokes the singing guilds of mid-16th-century Nuremburg, a focal poing of the Northern European Renaissance. Wagner's only mature comic opera concerns the young knight Walther von Stolzing's love for Eva whom the town clerk Beckmesser also covets. Against the background of a singing contest, cobbler-singer Hans Sachs' nobility ensures the reconciliation of youth and age, and tradition and innovation. Deutsche Oper Berlin's provocative new staging was considered 'entertaining throughout' and 'thought-provoking' by BR Klassik.
The tetralogy of four operas that form Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) explores the conjunction of love and power in a mythic landscape in which true power resides in possession of the Ring. Composed over more than a quarter of a century, monumental in scale, and structured after the precedent of Greek drama, the cycle was first performed in 1876. Staged by the award-winning director Stefan Herheim, this innovative new production from Deutsche Oper Berlin features a leading international cast conducted by Sir Donald Runnicles.
The tetralogy of four operas that form Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) explores the conjunction of love and power in a mythic landscape in which true power resides in possession of the Ring. Composed over more than a quarter of a century, monumental in scale, and structured after the precedent of Greek drama, the cycle was first performed in 1876. Staged by the award-winning director Stefan Herheim, this innovative new production from Deutsche Oper Berlin features a leading international cast conducted by Sir Donald Runnicles.
The tetralogy of four operas that form Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) explores the conjunction of love and power in a mythic landscape in which true power resides in possession of the Ring. Composed over more than a quarter of a century, monumental in scale, and structured after the precedent of Greek drama, the cycle was first performed in 1876. Staged by the award-winning director Stefan Herheim, this innovative new production from Deutsche Oper Berlin features a leading international cast conducted by Sir Donald Runnicles.
Weber's 'great heroic-romantic' opera Euryanthe premiered in Vienna in 1823. It concerns the wronged Euryanthe, victim of a plot to establish her unfaithfulness, but her love imbues her with colossal strength which Weber characterises with acute psychological insight. Through-composed and dispensing with spoken dialogue, its chivalric plot provides opportunities for a series of arias, ariosos, duets, cavatinas and choruses that contain some of his greatest operatic music. This production employs the opera's original version with a few, very minor cuts.
Weber was the forefront of the rise of German Romantic opera and sought to dethrone Rossini from his position as the leading operating composer in Europe. In his breakthrough and most popular opera Der Freischutz (The Marksman) composed in 1821, he succeeded in his aim of establishing a truly German form. Turning to the folklore and folk songs of his native land he took a story of a marksman who makes a pact with the Devil, vesting it with powerful intensity - not least in the famous Wolf's Glen scene - and an astonishing control of orchestral colour and atmosphere.
Mieczyslaw Weinberg's powerful Holocaust drama Die Passagierin channels his and his family's ordeals of wartime and Soviet persecution, applying them musically to Zofia Posmysz's autobiographical novel. The score was praised by Shostakovich for its 'beauty and greatness', with a narrative that unfolds on an ocean liner bound for Brazil on which a former Auschwitz guard and one of her Polish prisoners confront impossible moral conflict and harrowing flashbacks in music that is sparse, dark, sardonic and intermittently tender. This acclaimed Oper Graz production draws us movingly into the raw unimaginable madness of this imperishable moment in history.
Czech-born composer Jaromir Weinberger , best known for his opera Schwanda the Bagpiper , was forced to flee to America in order escape Nazi terror. Fruhlingssturme , staged in 1933 but soon closed down by the Nazi government, was the last operetta of the Weimar Republic. It is filed with cultural complexity, combining serious operatic style with light comedy, and presents a thrilling story involving a doomed love affair set against war between Japan and Russia. This lavish production is staged by the award-winning Australian director Barrie Kosky.
Written on Water is a dance feature film about an artist whose happy and comfortable married life is upended when she unexpectedly falls in love with someone else. Featuring Paris Opera Ballet's Aurelie Dupont, Ballet Zurich principal dancer Alexander Jones, and choreographer, dancer, writer and director Pontus Lidberg , Written on Water conveys the drama of desire and the turmoil of the creative process.
This is the accomplished and stylish Russian debut of Tianwa Yang - one of the most unusual and energetic violinist of our time. To an enthusiastic audience within the walls of the beautiful Court Capella in St Petersburg, she performs the much-loved concertos of Tchaikovsky and Brahms with the St Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra under the sensitive direction of Vladimir Lande. The remarkable intensity of her playing is just as apparent in both her encore - Ysaye's Violin Sonata No. 3 - and her separate performance of Bach's solo Partita No. 2.
Riccardo Zandonai's Francesco da Rimini is a four-act opera set during the Renaissance period. The plot concerns an arranged marriage between Francesca and Giovanni, also known as Gianciotto, who is impersonated by his handsome brother Paolo, and with whom Francesca falls passionately in love. Sometimes referred to as the 'Italian Tristan', the opera ends in betrayal and a double murder. The production of the rarely performed opera from the Deutsche Oper Berlin proved to be a huge critical success.
Based on Oscar Wilde's story The Birthday of the Infanta Zemlinky's single-act opera Der Zwerg is the tragic tale of a dwarf who is presented at court, falls in love with the beautiful Donna Clara, but is ultimately forced to see himself as others see him and to die of a broken heart. Preceded by Schoenberg's Accompaniment to a Cinematographic Scene, Op. 34 , Zemlinsky's Romantic score is full of psychological intrigue. Is Der Zwerg a critique of society's superficiality? Is it the composer's self-portrait in his doomed affair with Alma Schindler? Director Tobias Kratzer's stunnng, transparent production creates a space in which each character is thrown into sharp relief in this fine, noble and melancholy work' (Bachtrack.com).
An exile from his native land following the failed revolution of 1848, the impoverished Richard Wagner's is in Zurich working on his opera Tristan und Isolde . There he meets Otto and Mathilde Wesendonck, ardent admirers of his music. Wagner's passionate and scandalous affair with Mathilde, whose poems he set to music, is explored in this featuring film by director Jen's Neubert. After their relationship ended, Wagner left Zurich for Italy, forever remembering Mathilde as 'my first and only love'.