The LaSalle Quartet Plays Music by Berg and Webern

In this live recording from the magnificent baroque library of the monastery at Polling, near Munich, the highly-acclaimed American LaSalle Quartet plays Berg’s String Quartet Op. 3, and a rondo and Six Bagatelles Op. 9 by Webern. An illuminating commentary by violinist Walter Levin on the Bagatelles is included in the programme.

Salzburg Festival: Opening Concert 2009

The opening of the Salzburg Festival, for many regarded as the world’s most renowned music festival, is by tradition a high-profile event. In 2009,this first concert given by the Wiener Philharmoniker was conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. The program is, in honor of the 80th birthday of the great Austrian conductor (6 Dec. 2009), a purely Austrian. Though it may seem unusual at first glance, under Harnoncourt’s direction, the disparate works fuse into a moving, slightly melancholy portrait of the Viennese dance in the early 19th century. The concert opens with Anton Webern’s delicate orchestration of Schubert’s “Six German Dances,” which segue into two polkas and a waltz by Josef Strauß, the younger – and bolder – composer brother of “Walzerkönig” Johann Strauß Jr. With this alternation of bittersweet and brassy dances, the stage is set for Harnoncourt’s staggering reading of Schubert’s “Great” C major Symphony, in which the dance of death – so Viennese yet so universal – seems to have served as the composer’s model. This concert adds a new milestone to UNITEL CLASSICA’s longtime partnership with the Salzburg Festival, as well as with Harnoncourt and the Wiener Philharmoniker.

West-Eastern Divan Orchestra in Salzburg – One Day with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra – Concert 1

The idea of uniting young musicians from Israel, Palestine and various Arab countries into a musical ensemble still seems incredible today. Yet such an orchestra has been flourishing since 1999, when Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said founded the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. The project, says Barenboim, brings together these young people “not so that they forget or hide their differences, but so that they can understand them.” He adds that “making music together gives us the best opportunity to learn to live with one another.” The concerts presented here were recorded at the 2007 Salzburg Festival, during the orchestras residency. The ensemble “proved its status as a first-class orchestra that has no need to shy from comparisons with the philharmonic ‘top dogs’ from Vienna or Berlin” (Munich’s Abendzeitung). Among the highlights of the concerts are Mozart’s “Sinfonia concertante” K. 297b, which gives four young soloists a chance to dazzle, and Igor Stravinsky’s “L’histoire du soldat,” an airy piece with a demanding percussion part. Songs and chamber music, including Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet, showcase the individual talents of the young players. The major orchestral concert comprises a Beethoven overture, an intricate and multi-layered piece by Schoenberg, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, the “Pathétique,” in which Barenboim pulls out all the stops and coaxes rarely heard instrumental lines and accents from the depth of his ensemble. On three afternoons, Daniel Barenboim led a musical workshop called “The School of Listening.” In the first part, Barenboim explores the phenomenon of sound and the importance of the human ear. The second part features the fiery 24-year-old conductor Robin Ticciati in a rehearsal of Beethoven’s third Leonore Overture punctuated by the Maestro’s insightful comments and heated discussions with the young conductor. In the third part the great composer and conductor Pierre Boulez rehearses Béla Bartók’s rarely played “Four Orchestral Pieces,” answering questions from the audience and the musicians. Throughout, Barenboim’s enthusiasm, humor and directness make this three-part series an exceptionally informative and entertaining event. The orchestra’s residency at the 2007 Salzburg Festival will be rounded off with the documentary “Music Is Never The Same,” available in May 2008.