Thomas Quasthoff founded this contest ‘Das Lied’ to ensure that the Lied, which the baritone calls ‘the most beautiful form of music making,’ continues to hold its place in the concert repertoire of the future. The film accompanies some of the young singers during the competition’s three rounds, providing a showcase not only for beautiful voices and poignant Lieder, but also, and above all, for emotions. The hopes and disappointments, the joys and doubts, the tension and exhilaration of the young singers are all captured on film. And it soon emerges that the contest is as stimulating and galvanizing for the jurors as it is for the contestants! Excerpts from the closing gala concert recorded at the sumptuous Apollo Hall of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin round off the film.
Thomas Hampson sings Schumann
If there is one genre of music which baritone Thomas Hampson is exceptionally passionate about, it is the lied. To Hampson, song and singing are ‘the diary of our existence’ and he has invested a great amount of time, work and love to luring this genre out of the shadow of the more spectacular opera. One composer he particularly cherishes is Robert Schumann. Hampson begins this Schumann recital, recorded at Munich’s Prinzregententheater with Wolfram Rieger at the piano, with the cycle Zwölf Gedichte op. 35 on poems by Justinus Kerner. The second part of the recital is devoted to the original version of the popular Dichterliebe op. 48. While Hampson was preparing his first performance of the cycle based on poems by Heinrich Heine, he consulted the composer’s manuscript, only to find that the original cycle of 1840 was a completely distinctive work containing many musical and textual differences. Among the most notable differences was the presence of four songs that were omitted from the later cycle. These works – ‘Dein Angesicht so lieb und schön,’ ‘Lehn deine Wang an meine Wang,’ ‘Es leuchtet meine Liebe’ and ‘Mein Wagen rollet langsam’ – are featured here as first-ever recordings of these rediscovered works.
Documentary: Schumann, Symphony No.3 in E flat major, op.97
Six great composers, six landmark symphonies, a top orchestra and its star conductor Kent Nagano – these are the components of an extraordinary classical-music television event. Shot in High Definition, it takes a bold and innovative approach to the recording of classical music. Boom and tracking shots, quick cuts, remote-controlled cameras – stylistic means previously used chiefly for pop music recordings give the programs an up-to-the-minute look and feel. A team of more than 30 specialists makes sure that viewers enjoy a truly cinematic experience. The programs also go new ways by featuring entertaining, historically founded animated sequences illustrating episodes from the lives of the composers. Backstage interviews with the musicians and excerpts from their rehearsals let us share in the spirit of their music-making. Conductor Kent Nagano also relates what is of special importance to him in each work, and offers fascinating insights on the origin and context of the work in question. Documentaries: Bruckner, Symphony No. 8 – Mozart, Symphony No.41 ‘Jupiter’ – Beethoven, Symphony No.3 ‘Eroica’ – Strauss, Alpensymphonie (An Alpine Symphony) – Schumann, Symphony No.3 – Brahms, Symphony No.4
Kent Nagano Conducts Classical Masterpieces – Documentaries
Six great composers, six landmark symphonies, a top orchestra and its star conductor – these are the components of an extraordinary classical-music television event. Shot in High Definition, it takes a bold and innovative approach to the recording of classical music. Boom and tracking shots, quick cuts, remote-controlled cameras – stylistic means previously used chiefly for pop music recordings give the programs an up-to-the-minute look and feel. A team of more than 30 specialists makes sure that viewers enjoy a truly cinematic experience. The programs also go new ways by featuring entertaining, historically founded animated sequences illustrating episodes from the lives of the composers. Backstage interviews with the musicians and excerpts from their rehearsals let us share in the spirit of their music-making. Conductor Kent Nagano also relates what is of special importance to him in each work, and offers fascinating insights on the origin and context of the work in question. Documentaries: Bruckner, Symphony No. 8 – Mozart, Symphony No.41 ‘Jupiter’ – Beethoven, Symphony No.3 ‘Eroica’ – Strauss, Alpensymphonie (An Alpine Symphony) – Schumann, Symphony No.3 – Brahms, Symphony No.4
Schumann, Symphony No.3 in E flat major, op.97 (Kent Nagano Conducts Classical Masterpieces)
Six great composers, six landmark symphonies, a top orchestra and its star conductor Kent Nagano – these are the components of an extraordinary classical-music television event. Shot in High Definition, it takes a bold and innovative approach to the recording of classical music. Boom and tracking shots, quick cuts, remote-controlled cameras – stylistic means previously used chiefly for pop music recordings give the programs an up-to-the-minute look and feel. A team of more than 30 specialists makes sure that viewers enjoy a truly cinematic experience.
Kent Nagano Conducts Classical Masterpieces
Six great composers, six landmark symphonies, a top orchestra and its star conductor – these are the components of an extraordinary classical-music television event. Shot in High Definition, it takes a bold and innovativeo approach to the recording of classical music. Boom and tracking shots, quick cuts, remote-controlled cameras – stylistic means previously used chiefly for pop music recordings give the programs an up-to-the-minute look and feel. A team of more than 30 specialists makes sure that viewers enjoy a truly cinematic experience.
Introduction: Schumann, “Liederkreis” (Song-Cycle), op.39
Sharing – Leonard Bernstein’s last video recording
After his unforgettable work with young musicians in Tanglewood and Salzau, Leonard Bernstein was invited to conduct a similar summer academy in Asia. His enthusiastic acceptance led to the founding of the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan. Rigorous auditions were held, and young musicians brought together to form an orchestra. They were chosen from all the nations bordering on the Pacific: the U.S., Canada, the South American countries, China, Japan ,Taiwan, Korea, etc. Just before the Pacific Music Festival was inaugurated in June 1990, Leonard Bernstein fell ill. But despite his doctors’ warnings, and marked by his serious illness, he refused to let his “kids” down and flew to Japan. With unbelievable intensity, passion, wit and charm, Bernstein worked with the youths on Schumann’s Symphony No. 2, one of the Maestro’s favorite orchestral pieces. This production is the last visual record of the Maestro at work.
Schumann’s Symphonies – A TV essay by Klaus Lindemann featuring Leonard Bernstein and the Vienna Philharmonic performing Robert Schumann’s symphonies
Produced in 1987, the one-hour television special “Schumann’s Symphonies – An Essay by Klaus Lindemann on the Schumann Cycle with Leonard Bernstein and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra” explores Schumann’s romanticism in the light of the literature and visual arts of the times. The paintings of Caspar David Friedrich – the epitome of German romanticism – provide revealing parallels with Schumann, as well as the works of William Turner, Delacroix, the Nazarene School, Constable, Géricault¿ “With Schumann,” says Lindemann, “we stand in the full flowering of Romanticism and gaze from one peak to another.” In addition to many new insights on Schumann and his relationship to the visual and literary arts of his day, the program also contains many excerpts from Schumann’s four symphonies.
Schumann, Liederkreis (Song-Cycle), op.39 Lieder Cycle based on poems by Joseph von Eichendorff
The internationally acclaimed baritone Hermann Prey was born in Berlin in 1929. He made his breakthrough in 1956 as Figaro in the Vienna State Opera’s production of Rossini’s “Barber of Seville”. He has since performed at all of the world’s great opera houses and festivals. Hermann Prey has always loved lieder, especially the works of Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann. In spite of his many engagements on the opera stage or in the concert hall, in the TV and recordings studios, Hermann Prey always takes the time to pass his knowledge and experience on to younger generations by giving masterclasses in lied singing all over the world.