Apollo et Hyacinthus Documentary

“Mozart22” is an enterprise of utterly unique dimensions, the musical project of the century: all of Mozart’s stage works presented over the course of six weeks during the 2006 Salzburg Festival. The project brought together the greatest Mozart singers, conductors, stage directors and ensembles of the day. To make this extraordinary artistic achievement accessible to a broad public, the entire “Mozart22” cycle was recorded with the highest-quality HD technology and 5.1 Dolby Digital sound. The cycle also includes 20 one-hour documentaries containing excerpts from rehearsals, interviews with artists, and background reports that shed light on the meticulously elaborated, multi-layered concepts of the musical interpretations and stage productions. The programs introduce the work in question and situate it in Mozart’s oeuvre. Each documentary is devoted to one opera, whereby the shorter works and fragments are bundled. All the operas, of course, are available from UNITEL CLASSICA. In addition to providing valuable insights from the artists, the documentaries also bear witness to the incredible logistic achievement of the Mozart22 project. At the peak of the project, about 160 people were working on it nearly around the clock. Fifty thousand meters of cable were laid out in seven venues in Salzburg. Parallel to the recording crew of the opera cycle, who required up to twelve cameras for each recording, the documentary filmmakers scurried from rehearsal stage to hotel lounge, from artists’ canteen to make-up studios in their mission to capture the unique dynamics and electrifying atmosphere of this undertaking – a project of superlatives and a landmark in media and music history.

Ascanio in Alba Documentary

“Mozart22” is an enterprise of utterly unique dimensions, the musical project of the century: all of Mozart’s stage works presented over the course of six weeks during the 2006 Salzburg Festival. The project brought together the greatest Mozart singers, conductors, stage directors and ensembles of the day. To make this extraordinary artistic achievement accessible to a broad public, the entire “Mozart22” cycle was recorded with the highest-quality HD technology and 5.1 Dolby Digital sound. The cycle also includes 20 one-hour documentaries containing excerpts from rehearsals, interviews with artists, and background reports that shed light on the meticulously elaborated, multi-layered concepts of the musical interpretations and stage productions. The programs introduce the work in question and situate it in Mozart’s oeuvre. Each documentary is devoted to one opera, whereby the shorter works and fragments are bundled. All the operas, of course, are available from UNITEL CLASSICA. In addition to providing valuable insights from the artists, the documentaries also bear witness to the incredible logistic achievement of the Mozart22 project. At the peak of the project, about 160 people were working on it nearly around the clock. Fifty thousand meters of cable were laid out in seven venues in Salzburg. Parallel to the recording crew of the opera cycle, who required up to twelve cameras for each recording, the documentary filmmakers scurried from rehearsal stage to hotel lounge, from artists’ canteen to make-up studios in their mission to capture the unique dynamics and electrifying atmosphere of this undertaking – a project of superlatives and a landmark in media and music history.

West-Eastern Divan Orchestra in Salzburg – One Day with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra – Concert 1

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. On three afternoons, Daniel Barenboim led a musical workshop called “The School of Listening.” In the first part, Barenboim explores the phenomenon of sound and the importance of the human ear. The second part features the fiery 24-year-old conductor Robin Ticciati in a rehearsal of Beethoven’s third Leonore Overture punctuated by the Maestro’s insightful comments and heated discussions with the young conductor. In the third part the great composer and conductor Pierre Boulez rehearses Béla Bartók’s rarely played “Four Orchestral Pieces,” answering questions from the audience and the musicians. Throughout, Barenboim’s enthusiasm, humor and directness make this three-part series an exceptionally informative and entertaining event. The orchestra’s residency at the 2007 Salzburg Festival will be rounded off with the documentary “Music Is Never The Same,” available in May 2008.

Mozart, Piano Concerto No.25 in C major, K.503

Born on 11 February 1946, Rudolf Buchbinder celebrated his 60th birthday just two weeks after Mozart’s 250th birthday – a happy coincidence of landmark events that prompted the great Austrian pianist to present a series of Mozart piano concertos with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra at the 2006 Vienna Festival. The works, recorded live at the Musikverein in Vienna on 7 May 2006, represent the crème de la crème of Mozart’s concerto output of the years 1784 to 1786.