The Staatskapelle Berlin and its chief conductor Daniel Barenboim continue their symphonic Beethoven cycle with this recording of Beethoven’s First Symphony. The cycle started with an acclaimed performance of the Ninth on Berlin’s Bebelplatz and goes on in the Lindenoper. Beethoven’s First is both a retrospective and a foresight: it is still in the tradition of Mozart and Haydn and nevertheless hints at some of what later made the “mature” Beethoven; it contains the contemporary and the future. The world premiere in April 1800 in Vienna was a temporary high point in the career of the twenty-nine-year-old Beethoven.
450 Years Staatskapelle Berlin
On the occasion of its 450th birthday, the Staatskapelle Berlin under the baton of its chief conductor Daniel Barenboim embarks on a journey through music history. With Wagner and Beethoven, two composers are represented who have shaped the Staatskapelle’s repertoire decisively, in both opera and symphonic works. The programme is complemented by advanced music from the 20th and 21st centuries by Boulez and Widmann, the latter having dedicated a newly composed work to the Staatskapelle. PROGRAM Boulez: Initiale for seven brass instruments; Wagner: Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg; Widmann:Zeitensprünge – 450 Takte für Orchester (World premiere of the commissioned work); Beethoven: Symphony No. 7
Daniel Barenboim plays Beethoven Piano Sonatas
Daniel Barenboim is one of the most accomplished Beethoven experts of our time. From the very beginning of his career, he has been intensively and repeatedly engaged with the composer’s manifold works. Barenboim marked the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth by recording his thirty-two piano sonatas at Berlin’s Pierre Boulez Saal. The exceptional musician has been exploring Beethoven’s music for more than seven decades and his fifth complete survey of the sonatas arose from a period of deep immersion in Beethoven’s scores due to the cancellation of public concerts because of the coronavirus pandemic. With this sonata cycle, the great Daniel Barenboim has set himself a legacy!
Beethoven – The Piano Trios
On the occasion of Beethoven’s 250th birthday Daniel Barenboim, Michael Barenboim and Kian Soltani present his trios for piano, violin and cello on a total of two concert evenings in the intimate Boulez Hall – including the curious and rarely played variations on the song “Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu“. A celebrated concert pianist, Beethoven had various motives as a composer: his piano trios were to show his virtuosity as well as to experiment with musical forms and techniques that would bear fruit in other genres. All of this is illuminated in these special concert evenings by the three outstanding musicians, whose interplay provoked rave reviews: “Kian Soltani’s silky cello tone rises from zero to the highest longing in just a few bars. The unison unanimity with Michael Barenboim is just as beguiling. […] While violin and cello drift into timelessness over softly thundering, tremoloing piano bass, one literally gets into a trance” (Der Tagesspiegel). Daniel Barenboim’s “incontrovertible identification with the music ‘itself’” is as captivating as their whole interplay: “as vigorous as it was euphonious, as impetuous as it was sublime” (Seen and Heard International).
Anne-Sophie Mutter, Yo-Yo Ma & Daniel Barenboim
The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra celebrates its 20th anniversary by giving a concert at the Berlin Philharmonie with world-renowned artists: Anne-Sophie Mutter and Yo-Yo Ma perform Beethoven’s Triple Concerto together with Maestro Barenboim and the young musicians. Yo-Yo Ma, who played with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra at their first concert 20 years ago, and Anne-Sophie Mutter, who made her debut with the orchestra only this year, were named as honorary members of the orchestra on the occasion of this event. “It is fascinating to experience how brilliant, concentrated and at the same time relaxed these three world stars make music together and listen to each other. A masterpiece of harmony“ (RBB24). The second part of the concert features Bruckner’s 9th Symphony, transcendental music which the composer himself dedicated to “the dear God“. The symphony is unfinished not only because Bruckner died during the process of composition, but especially because it seems to perish in nothingness. The musicians of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra are excellently prepared and play technically and tonal flawlessly. A magic moment. PROGRAM Beethoven: Triple Concerto; Bruckner: Symphony No. 9
The Odeonsplatz Concert: Gergiev conducts Beethoven
The Odeonsplatz Concert is entertainment of the highest standard, given the world class of the artists and the quality of the programs presented here year by year. This time Valery Gergiev and the Münchner Philharmoniker present an all Beethoven programme including the Coriolan Overture and the monumental Fifth Symphony, which “becomes a profound, heroic triumph, fabulous, stunning” (Süddeutsche Zeitung). PROGRAM L.v. Beethoven: Coriolan Overture; Symphony No. 5
Nelsons conducts Beethoven No. 9
Performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony have a long tradition in Leipzig: as early as 1826, two years after the premiere in Vienna, there was the first complete performance
in Leipzig with the Gewandhausorchester. Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy then finally established the symphony in the orchestra’s repertoire. The custom of performing the work on New Year’s Eve goes back to Arthur Nikisch in 1918. Later, conductors such as Hermann Scherchen, Wilhelm Furtwängler and Bruno Walter continued the New Year’s Eve concerts that take place regularly since the turn of the year 1945/46. Gewandhauskapellmeister Andris Nelsons is now continuing this tradition at the highest level.
Beethoven Project – Ballet by John Neumeier
Mainly based on the “Eroica Variations” and Symphony No. 3, John Neumeier describes his idea of the Beethoven Project as follows: ” A choreographic poem inspired by Beethoven’s music, and perhaps by Beethoven himself.” Aleix Martínez – “a force of nature” (tanz) – dances the leading role as Beethoven at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. The dancers are phenomenal, a fantastic ensemble performance that can only succeed if a company dances at such a high level as the Hamburg Ballett.
UNESCO Concert for Peace
Sir Georg Solti’s unique “all-star” World Orchestra for Peace, with Donald Runnicles conducting a quartet of world-class soloists, chorus members of Bayerischer Rundfunk and the Bayerischer Chorakademie, give a commemorative performance of Beethoven’s legacy to universal peace and brotherhood. They are joined by players of the newly-formed Würth Philharmoniker to add a touching significance on this occasion of remembrance; that the future after any war lies in the hands of the surviving younger generation. Recorded at the exact ’11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month’, when the guns fell silent and World War 1 came to an end in 1918. PROGRAM Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
Barenboim conducts Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9
A veritable “Ode to Joy”: the Staatsoper Unter den Linden celebrates its reopening with a rousing open-air performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 by General Musical Director Daniel Barenboim, the Staatskapelle Berlin and the Staatsopernchor, featuring Diana Damrau, Okka von der Damerau, Burkhard Fritz and René Pape as stellar soloists. Set in the heart of the German capital, the Bebelplatz is home to Barenboim’s “Staatsoper für alle”, a yearly open-air tradition that has become a firm favourite with audiences: the maestro “turns cultural performances of the highest level into blockbusters”, “meeting visitors in the streets” and thus making the Staatsoper Unter den Linden the city’s “true Volksbühne” (Berliner Zeitung).