In the monumental project BEETHOVEN 9, Christian Thielemann, one of the most widely recognized conductors of our time, joins forces with the prestigious Wiener Philharmoniker for their first-ever highdefinition recording of all nine symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven.
Also available:
Overture ‘Coriolan’, Op. 62 (11’ – A045005410010),
Overture ‘Egmont’, Op. 84 (11’ – A045005410011)
Under the heading “Party in the Felsenreitschule,” the Munich daily Münchner Merkur boldly proclaimed: “Venezuela’s Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra guests at the Salzburg Festival – and delivers the biggest audience hit of the summer.” Two days after the concert reviewed by the Merkur, the ensemble united its massive forces once again for a spectacular concert in the Grosses Festspielhaus – another unqualified success! Rarely has an orchestra reached out and grabbed its audience in such a visceral manner; and even more rarely has such a feat been accomplished by an orchestra of youngsters between the ages of 12 and 26! The Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra, the Salzburg Festival’s resident orchestra of 2008, is a product of the “Sistema de Orquestas” set up to allow children of all social levels to learn a musical instrument and play in an ensemble.
A “triumph of remembrance,” wrote the daily “Die Welt” in its online service following a stirring concert that left its audience hovering between hushed reverence and deafening exultation. The Golden Hall of Vienna’s Musikverein was the dazzling venue for the live recording of one of four concerts given by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa and with Anne-Sophie Mutter. The series began in Berlin’s Philharmonie before going on to Paris, Lucerne and Vienna, where it culminated on 28 January. And there, in Vienna, Karajan’s “Berliner” never sounded better, evoking “a time which self-confidently sought the private and subjective in music, and believed it could find them in the mirror of the works.” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung).
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.
Program: Ludwig van Beethoven: Overture Leonore No. 3
On 7 May 1824, Ludwig van Beethoven’s 9th Symphony was premiered at the Kärntnertortheater in Vienna. The audience of this epochal event greeted Beethoven with frenetic applause and the “Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung” wrote “the impression (was) indescribably great and glorious, the jubilation enthusiastic, which was paid to the exalted master at the top of his lungs, whose inexhaustible genius opened up a new world to us”. Beethoven had truly created music for eternity, which was to conquer the world from then on. To celebrate the 200th anniversary of this great moment in music history, the Ninth will be performed on the day of the premiere with Riccardo Muti conducting the Vienna Philharmonic in the Musikverein. The concerto is also a tribute to the memorable premiere 200 years ago in terms of the instrumentation, as it was played by the orchestra of the Kärntnertortheater, the former court opera – the predecessors of today’s Vienna Philharmonic.
Since the death of Herbert von Karajan in 1989, the prestigious Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra’s concerts around Ascension Day (15 August) have firmly been in the hands of Riccardo Muti. Always sold out, they are among the highlights of every festival summer. For this year’s concert and on occasion of his 80th birthday, the maestro was acclaimed for his interpretation of Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, a piece he has never conducted before. “Muti is a master in conveying extremes: monumentality, where it is compositionally intended, and highest internalization alternate with each other in a dense interplay.” FAZ
The Salzburg Festival presents Ludwig van Beethoven’s one and only opera, his masterpiece: Fidelio, in a new production staged by Claus Guth, conducted by Franz Welser-Möst and starring Jonas Kaufmann as Florestan. The casting is remarkable in this beautiful new production by the Salzburg Festival. Adrianne Pieczonka embodies the faithful Leonore and Jonas Kaufmann, more tragic than ever, lends his voice to Florestan. The Wiener Philharmoniker and the Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor conducted by Franz Welser-Möst join them in this remarkable performance.
‘Be embraced, all you millions!’ Since the earliest days of the Proms, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony has had a special place in each season – and with its climactic choral ‘Ode to Joy’, it’s one of those works that takes on a new meaning every time it’s played. This year, it’s performed by Chineke! – Europe’s first majority Black and ethnically diverse orchestra, along with Chineke! Voices. BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Nicole Cabell leads a world-class team of solo singers, and opens the Prom with the haunting Lilacs, the heartfelt song-cycle with which George Walker became the first African American composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. “A high-voltage performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 that took off from the start and did not hit the tarmac again until the last bars. […] Beethoven’s Ninth should always be as exhilarating as this.” (Financial Times) / Program Walker: Lilacs; Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
The orchestra’s London appearance, as part of the 120th anniversary Proms season, marked a significant date for Barenboim himself: he was celebrating 65 years (less a day) since making his debut in his native Buenos Aires. His programme cleverly contrasts the anti-Romantic terseness and crystalline beauty of Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony – “a taut, rhythmic performance with a fine sense of dramatic momentum” (Evening Standard) – with the tempestuous emotionalism of Tchaikovsky’s opus, where “the orchestra rose to all technical challenges in an interpretation of overwhelming energy and power” (The Guardian), while Beethoven’s Triple Concerto could almost serve as a paradigm for the orchestra’s egalitarian ethos where Barenboim and his partners “offered urbane poise, ideally suited to this relaxed, airily melodic work” (The Telegraph). PROGRAM Schoenberg: Chamber Symphony; Beethoven: Triple concerto; Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4
