Leonard Bernstein Box Vol. 2

This Blu-ray box contains legendary concerts from 1977 – 1990 of Leonard Bernstein conducting the Wiener Philharmoniker, Orchestre National de France and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks. Additional included is the Centennial Celebration Concert at Tanglewood, featuring John Williams, Yo-Yo Ma, Andris Nelsons, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Tony Yazbeck and many more, performing works by Bernstein, Williams, Mahler and Copland. CONTENT: BD 1 Jean Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 1, 2, 5, 7 // BD 2 Beethoven & Haydn // BD 3 Haydn: Symphonies: Nos. 94, 92, 88 // BD 4 Berlioz, Roussel, Saint-Saëns, Thomas // BD 5 Bernstein at 100

Thomas Dausgaard, Danish National Symphony Orchestra 4 Symphonies

4 great symphonies that have all played a special role in the close collaboration between Danish National Symphony Orchestra and conductor Thomas Dausgaard. The symphonies are recorded in the beautiful concert hall Koncerthuset in Copenhagen, designed by architect Jean Nouvel and acoustician Toyota Yasuhisa. Bonus material In a series of exclusive interviews Thomas Dausgaard explains about his close collaboration with the orchestra, the concerts and about the four great yet altogether very different master pieces by Brahms, Dvorák, Sibelius and Nielsen.

Oramo conducts Rautavaara, Prokofiev & Sibelius – with Olli Mustonen

With its opening sunrise and vaulting “Swan Hymn”, Sibelius’s Fifth Symphony is one of the defining masterpieces of Finnish music, and it’s been at the centre of Sakari Oramo’s repertoire since the start of his conducting career. This concert finds him on tour in 2000 as music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra – an ensemble with a long Sibelius tradition of its own – and striking sparks off his young compatriot Olli Mustonen in Prokofiev’s dazzling Piano Concerto No. 3. Oramo opens with the haunting Lintukoto by the late Einojuhani Rautavaara: one of the undisputed masters of Finnish music in the generation since Sibelius.

Järvi & Sidorova – Münchner Philharmoniker

“Latvian soloist Ksenija Sidorova…has true star quality – and yet always lets her instrument take centre stage” (Münchner Merkur) The Münchner Philharmoniker concert features Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi and Latvian accordionist Ksenija Sidorova. The program includes Debussy’s early piece “Printemps,” showcasing the orchestra’s subtlety. Sidorova performs “Prophecy,” an accordion and orchestra work by Erkki-Sven Tüür, known for its virtuosity and emotional final movement. The concert concludes with Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5, highlighting its bright mid-summer qualities. PROGRAM: Debussy – “Printemps”, Suite (arr. by Henri Büsser); Tüür – “Prophecy”; Sibelius – Symphony No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 82

BBC Proms 2022: Yuja Wang & Klaus Mäkelä

Superstar pianist Yuja Wang takes centrestage in the first Proms appearance of the Oslo Philharmonic under its new Chief Conductor Klaus Makëlä. Richard Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben ends the concert in roof-raising style. “Boundless imagination matched to phenomenal technique made something far more fascinating than usual of Liszt’s First Piano Concerto.” (The Arts Desk) / “It was all something of a revelation […] Stunning, all of it.” (The Guardian) PROGRAM: Sibelius: Tapiola; Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1; Vladimir Horowitz: Variations on a Theme from Bizet’s Carmen; Gluck: Dance of the Blessed Spirits from Orfeo ed Euridice; R. Strauss: Ein Heldenleben; J. Strauss II: Csárdás from Ritter Pásmán.

BBC Proms 2018: Paavo Järvi conducts a Nordic Night

A concert with a Nordic flavour from Paavo Järvi and the Estonian Festival Orchestra (making its Proms debut) pairs music by Grieg and Sibelius with Estonia’s own national composer, Arvo Pärt. Celebrated Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili performs one of the great Romantic piano concertos. Beloved for ist generous melodies and dramatic gestures, Grieg’s concerto is matched for sonic drama by Sibelius’s stirring Fifth Symphony. Arvo Pärt’s eclectic Third Symphony, with ist echoes of Renaissance polyphony and Orthodox chant, opens the concert.“One of this season’s special Proms!” (The Guardian) PROGRAM Pärt: Symphony No 3; Grieg: Piano Concerto; Jean Sibelius: Symphony No 5

Simon Rattle conducts Sibelius

For the recent major London residency of the Berliner Philharmoniker at the Barbican Sir Simon Rattle has chosen music that means most to him, the complete cycle of Sibelius symphonies in honour of the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth: “Sibelius is so concentrated and exact. With Sibelius you feel that if one drop touches your skin it would burn right through the bone.“ “High-voltage Sibelius kicks off Rattle’s London Residency” raved the press consequently over the opening of the cycle. The Telegraph agreed: “Sibelius’s symphonies sounded thrillingly new in the hands of Simon Rattle and the Berlin Phil”, in a way, that “a great orchestra and conductor can make familiar music seem the hottest thing in town”.

Lucerne Festival: Moving to Modern Times: Simon Rattle conducts works by Ligeti, Wagner, Sibelius, Debussy and Ravel

In 2011, theBerliner Philharmoniker under Sir Simon Rattle started their Lucerne series ‘Moving to Modern Times’. In 2012 they continued their celebrated and acclaimed start with pieces by Ligeti, Sibelius and Wagner. —— PROGRAM: György LIGETI ‘Atmosphères’ for full orchestra; Richard WAGNER: Prelude to ‘Lohengrin’; Jean SIBELIUS: Symphony No.4 in A minor, op. 63; Claude DEBUSSY ‘Jeux. Poème dansé pour orchestre’; Maurice RAVEL: ‘Daphnis et Chloé’. 2ème Suite

New Year‘s Eve Concert 1983

Herbert von Karajan leads the Berliner Philharmoniker in a concert program exploring the idea of homeland. Rossini’s William Tell tells the story of the legendary folk hero whose love for his son led him to confront the menacing Hapsburg invaders. The opera’s overture counts among classical music’s greatest hits. Next Smetana’s unforgettable melodies bring the beautiful Bohemian countryside near the banks of the Moldau river to life in his symphonic cycle “My Homeland” (Má vlast). Finnish composer Jean Sibelius’s Valse triste was originally written as incidental music for his brother-in-law’s play Kuolema (Death). The famed maestro presents an exquisite reading of these works before closing the program with two typically brilliant waltzes by the great Austrian waltz-master Johann Strauss: Delirien and the Overture to Der Zigeunerbaron.