Sir András Schiff has spent many years probing the inexhaustible riches of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. At Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin he continues his series of
lectures & concerts with a presentation of Bach’s six partitas for solo piano. Available are Schiff’s complete performance (A055510070000 / 145′) of the partitas as well as his lecture – held in German (A055509760000 / 120′) and in English (A055509750000 / 115′) that includes musical examples at the piano.
One of the most important Bach interpreters of our time dedicates himself to a work that is one of the most fascinating compositions of the entire pre-Classical era: In this lecture concert Sir András Schiff takes the audience on a journey to discover Bach’s Goldberg Variations in word and sound. Originally published as “Aria with various alterations”, the 30 variations have become an epitome of the Baroque period. Pianist Schiff “is a gifted teacher” (Süddeutsche Zeitung), guiding the audience on his excursion that takes him “from serenity to serenity, with highpoints and pauses for contemplation along the way.” (The Arts Desk) How Schiff commands the smallerscale architectures is just as impressive as his mastery of the whole 30-variation span … its cogency and integrityare peerless … A spellbinding account of the Goldberg Variations!” (The Guardian). Only Concert version available: appr. 60 mins A055506910000
A balmy summer night, musical highlights and the picturesque scenery of Munich’s Feldherrnhalle – The Odeonsplatz Concert grants experiences of classical music on its highest level in a unique atmosphere. The Münchner Philharmoniker open their open air concert with Bach’s Air from Suite No. 3 and Tchaikovsky’s ballet-suite Swan Lake. Chief Conductor Valery Gergiev conducts this piece with “dance-like elegance and a slightly melancholic levity, tackling the frontiers of the feasible in the rapid movements” (Süddeutsche Zeitung). The programme goes on with Richard Strauss’s Suite from Rosenkavalier, “euphonious, fresh, sensual, with plenty of power exactly when it is needed” (TZ), and with Maurice Ravel’s Boléro.
For this edition of the Weimar Bach Cantata Academy, which forms part of the Thuringia Bach Festival, the great Bach interpreter and promoter, Helmuth Rilling, invited young musicians from across the world to come to Germany to study and perform Bach’s cantatas in their authentic location in Weimar. 63 musicians from 18 countries were chosen from countless applicants who evolved in the shortest time into an excellent choir and orchestra with immense enthusiasm and great musical talent. This documentation by director Tilo Krause shows impressions of the Academy as well as of concerts in the historic Bach places in Muehlhausen, Arnstadt and Eisenach. With the Bach Cantata Academy Ensemble and selected soloists Helmuth Rilling performs and explains two cantatas in lecture concerts – an intensive course on the cantatas with one of the leading specialists of our time. PROGRAM Bach: Cantata “Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir”, BWV 131
For this edition of the Weimar Bach Cantata Academy, which forms part of the Thuringia Bach Festival, the great Bach interpreter and promoter, Helmuth Rilling, invited young musicians from across the world to come to Germany to study and perform Bach’s cantatas in their authentic location in Weimar. 63 musicians from 18 countries were chosen from countless applicants who evolved in the shortest time into an excellent choir and orchestra with immense enthusiasm and great musical talent. This documentation by director Tilo Krause shows impressions of the Academy as well as of concerts in the historic Bach places in Muehlhausen, Arnstadt and Eisenach. With the Bach Cantata Academy Ensemble and selected soloists Helmuth Rilling performs and explains two cantatas in lecture concerts – an intensive course on the cantatas with one of the leading specialists of our time. PROGRAM Bach: Cantata “Christ lag in Todesbanden”, BWV 4
Since the first of these annual events in 2000, when the magnificent Frauenkirche was still a building site – destroyed during World War II, it was painstakingly reconstructed out of the ruins – the Advent Concert has become a new holiday tradition in Dresden, to be enjoyed by music lovers throughout the world. That appeal is reflected in the concert’s lineup of artists. This time they are headed by renowned Scottish maestro Donald Runnicles, featured “in the solid, German repertoire which is his chief glory” (Financial Times). His soloists are rising-star soprano Sonya Yoncheva, “charismatic” (New York Times) and bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni. Beginning in a blaze of glory with the opening chorus from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, the thoughtfully compiled programme features seasonally appropriate selections by Handel, Seidel, Weber, Mendelssohn, Humperdinck, Gounod and Reger. “A thrilling concert, festive, ambitious and impressively filmed.” (Sächsische Zeitung)
Program: Dmitri Shostakovich: Festive Overture / Gaetano Donizetti: “Prendi, per me sei libero” from L’elisir d’amore / Carl Maria von Weber: Concertino for Clarinet and Orchestra in E flat major / Alexander Glazunov: Chant du ménestrel for Cello and Orchestra / Johann Sebastian Bach: Cello Suite No. 1 in G major – Sarabande: Irving Berlin Puttin’ on the Ritz / Giacomo Puccini “O mio babbino caro” from Gianni Schicchi / Igor Stravinsky: Three pieces for Clarinet solo / Jules Massenet: Elégie / Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Overture to The Nutcracker
Program: Wolfgang Amadeus MozartÖ: Oboe concerto, D major, Allegro aperto / Pietro Mascagni: Quella è una strada, Aria of Tartaglia from «Le Maschere» / Astor Piazzolla: Otoño Porteño / Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major, Rondo / Robert Schumann / Franz Liszt: Widmung / Erich Wolfgang Korngold: „Mein Sehnen, mein Wähnen“, Aria of Fritz from “Die Tote Stadt” / Johann Sebastian Bach: Concerto for violin and oboe, Andante / Giuseppe Verdi: Il pouveretto / Johannes Brahms: Hungarian Dance No. 6
“A simmering performance that lives up to the high expectations”, wrote the New York Times of the Bach St John Passion presented by the great American director Peter Sellars and star conductor Simon Rattle in the Berlin Philharmonie. This St John Passion shows Simon Rattle, Peter Sellars, the Berlin Philharmonic and “a real dream team of singers” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) building on the brilliant success of the St Matthew Passion and being as wildly applauded as before.
By performing Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Christian Thielemann, the new chief conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden, fulfilled a long-cherished wish: he always wanted to conduct this work and in Dresden he found the ideal conditions. At the same time he brought it back on the schedule of the Staatskappelle after a pause of over 20 years. The Christmas Oratorio BWV 248 by Johann Sebastian Bach was written for the Christmas season of 1734 in Leipzig. Christian Thielemann leads the Staatskapelle Dresden along with a roster of top soloists: Sibylla Rubens (Soprano), Christa Mayer (Alto), Daniel Behle Tenor) and Florian Boesch (Bass).
