Mariss Jansons is one of the most influential conductors of our age. In 2012 the charismatic Latvian musician conducted his second New Year Concert in Vienna, an honour that very few conductors have enjoyed. For the present documentary portrait, the film maker Robert Neumüller observed Jansons at work in Amsterdam, Riga, St Petersburg, Vienna and Salzburg. The film shows Jansons working with his various orchestras, including rehearsals for the 2012 New Year Concert, and also explores his private life, resulting
in a number of fascinating insights into Jansons’ artistic development and philosophy. By way of a bonus, this release features a complete performance of Mahler’s Second Symphony with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Mariss Jansons.
Bernard Haitink conducts the NOS Radio Choir and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra in a performance of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 in C minor (Resurrection), recorded live from the Doelen Concert Hall in Rotterdam. The soloists are Charlotte Margiono (soprano) and Jard van Nes (contralto).
Recorded live from the Philharmonie in Munich, Sir Colin Davis conducts the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra for this performance of Mahler’s great song symphony.
In this live concert recording from the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Haitink conducts the NOS Women’s Choir, the North Holland Boys’ Choir and the Concertgebouw Orchestra in a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 in D minor, with soloist Carolyn Watkinson (contralto).
Recorded live from the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Haitink conducts the Concertgebouw Orchestra in a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 in G major. Maria Ewing sings the soprano solo in the work’s finale.
From the time-honoured and acoustically superb Prague Rudolfinum, this concert of the Czech Philharmonic under its music director Jirí Belohlávek marks the beginning of the first-ever filmed, complete cycle of all six symphonies by Bohuslav Martinu. Belohlávek and the Czech Philharmonic have a reputation to interpret his works like no other. ClassicsToday declared their Martinu cycle to “live up to the highest expectations […] With an orchestra that knows the music this well, Belohlávek can focus on details of rhythm and texture that create a powerful feeling of symphonic continuity without stinting on the work’s evocative colors.” Following Martinu’s First Symphony is Mahler’s First Symphony. With an equally deep Mahler tradition, the orchestra gave proof of why the New York Times called them “a jewel in Prague’s cultural life”.
Meet the exceptionnal Teodor Currentzis at the helm of musicAeterna for a memorable concert at Luzern’s KKL! On the program: Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, a favorite of the ensemble, with its gorgeous Adagietto whose direction is a challenge to all conductors, the perfect opportunity for the maestro to showcase his style. Then, we move on to Anaphora by contemporary composer Alexey Retinsky, a work which plays on the contrasting sound textures between acoustic and electric instruments to create innovative and rich harmonic colors. PROGRAM Mahler: Symphony No. 5; Retinsky: Anaphora
Charismatic Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel returns to Palau de la Música Catalana, world heritage site and one of the most beautiful concert halls in the world, conducting Mahler’s existential Second Symphony with the outstanding Münchner Philharmoniker. Mahler was keen to emphasize life and death in all its terrible and stunning splendour in this overwhelming opus, also referred to as “Resurrection Symphony”: “In my two symphonies there is nothing except the complete substance of my whole life” he remarked on his all-embracing oeuvre American mezzo-soprano Tamara Mumford and Israeli soprano Chen Reiss as well as the seemingly weightless choirs of Orfeó Català and
Cor de Cambra del Palau de la Música Catalana perform “a mark-shattering finale with goosebumps” (Münchner Merkur). “The dynamic range is enormous. But most fascinating are the moments of absolute silence, in which you can feel how the dramaturgy of the evening comes together: An audience holds its breath” (Süddeutsche Zeitung).
Chief conductor Daniele Gatti and star violinist Janine Jansen unite in Max Bruch’s First Violin Concerto, a warm-blooded work which fits Jansen like a glove. Listening to the concerto, with its sweetly flowing melodies and blazing solo passages, one would never know that it took Bruch four years of frustration to write. Almost immediately after it was premiered, it was considered one of the most popular violin concertos in the repertoire. Daniele Gatti and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra are pursuing their Mahler series with the First Symphony. At the premiere in 1889, the audience was ill-prepared for Mahler’s bold orchestration, but the symphony gradually gained in popularity. The Concertgebouw Orchestra, conducted by the composer himself, gave the Dutch premiere in 1903. Mahler was absolutely delighted, exclaiming, ‘The musical culture in this country is stupendous! The way the people can just listen!’ PROGRAM: Bruch: Violin Concerto; Mahler: Symphony No. 1
The inaugural concert of Daniele Gatti as the new music director of Amsterdam’s fabled Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra – only the seventh in its 128-year history. Together with baritone Christian Gerhaher, Gatti presented a bouquet of works including Mozart arias and the Wayfarer Songs by Gustav Mahler, with whom the “world’s best orchestra” (Gramophone international music critics’ poll) has a unique tradition going back to the composer himself – who called Amsterdam his “second musical home”. The programme also includes Respighi’s Fountains of Rome as well as overtures by Verdi and Beethoven – with 30 members of the Netherlands Youth Orchestra joining the RCO musicians for the Overture to Egmont.
