For the very first time in its history, the Wiener Philharmoniker are performing a complete Bruckner cycle with worlwide renowned Bruckner expert Christian Thielemann at the podium. The second symphony is part of this large-scale Bruckner Cycle, which extends to the composer‘s 200th birthday in 2024, performed at Vienna’s beautiful Musikverein. The orchestra, which premiered four of the nine Bruckner symphonies, is more familiar with this music than any other ensemble. Bruckner’s powerful and sonically grandiose symphonies never cease to amaze. For the performance of the second symphony the press was full of praise: With the Wiener Philharmoniker, Thielemann creates a “combination of formal perfection, stringency and nuances, complemented by wonderful wind solos” (Wiener Zeitung).
Elektra
It is the concertante performance of Elektra in which the Staatskapelle Dresden under the baton of its principal conductor Christian Thielemann does justice once again to its reputation as Richard Strauss’s favourite orchestra and leaves us in no doubt: this is where the Strauss sound is at home! Evelyn Herlitzius leads a brilliant cast including Waltraud Meier, René Pape and Anne Schwanewilms.
Ein deutsches Requiem
Ein deutsches Requiem, Brahm´s majestic masterpiece, in a definite performance: Christian Thielemann and the Münchner Philharmoniker are a synonym for excellence in German late-Romantic repertoire. Soloists Christine Schäfer and Christian Gerhaher also rank among the best in their voice ranges. Through his almost surreal affinity to Brahm´s music, Thielemann has crafted a perfromance that places him among the best interpreters of this work, such as Furtwängler, Karajan or Guilini. “In Thielemann´s hands, this dying fall became the Requiem´s gently expressive high point.” (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
Tristan und Isolde
“It would be most wonderful if this Tristan never ended.” (Opernmagazin) “Brilliant performances that bring you to your knees” (Sächsische Zeitung) Every piece of the puzzle fell perfectly into place for this historic performance of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde at the Semperoper Dresden. In front of a pared down, timeless staging by Marco Arturo Marelli, the vocal performances could truly shine. Klaus Florian Vogt is “fully present” (Opernmagazin) and Camilla Nylund as Isolde at his side “convinced with her still incredibly lyrical, light soprano” (Sächsische Zeitung). At the zenith of his career, Christian Thielemann manages to set a new standard with his permeation of this difficult score and leads the Staatskapelle Dresden to new heights of artistic expression.
Siegfried
Thielemann/Tcherniakov Ring from Berlin’s Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin was a project of truly Wagnerian scale and ambition – one that captured the attention of the opera world and set new standards: “Musically, this ‘Ring’ blew away everything that had gone before – and we are talking about a performance history of more than one hundred years.” (Die Welt) In the third part of his Ring tetralogy, Wagner incorporates fairy-tale motifs into his epic mythological story. The well-known tale of “The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn Fear” is echoed in ”Siegfried” as well as episodes from the medieval “Nibelungenlied”. “One wishes for such a “Ring” all over the world.” (Kurier)
Götterdämmerung
Wagner’s immense imagination reveals itself in the composer’s 16-hour Ring cycle, being able to fully captivate worldwide audiences since its complete performance in 1876 in Bayreuth. Christian Thielemann’s conducting of “Velvety sound of unmatched beauty” (The Guardian) leads an extremely sophisticated production, with Tcherniakov’s stage that meets the highest technical standards, evolved in ever new, impressive spaces. “Götterdämmerung” is the concluding chapter of Wagner’s monumental four-part opus, which he conceived in the light of the revolution of 1848/49 and completed in 1874 after numerous attempts and a long interruption. In many ways, the thematic and musical threads are intertwined in a highly artistic and complex manner. “Tcherniakov, as usual, manages details on a level rarely seen in opera.” (The New York Times)
Das Rheingold
“Michael Volle’s Wotan […] is an event, […] Rolando Villazón plays a fabulous Loge.” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) A myth, a heroic epic, a family saga – perhaps all of these together – make up Richard Wagner’s Ring tetralogy. This epic production of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden sees a remarkable collaboration between Christian Thielemann , one of the most distinguished Wagner conductors of our time, and Dmitri Tcherniakov, one of the great, internationally celebrated opera directors of our time. The result is “A glittering feast of voices, sounds, ideas and precise direction of characters. Wagner at his best.” (BR Klassik) The Rheingold gives the background to the events that drive the main dramas of the whole Ring cycle. “In this Rheingold, Thielemann mastered the art of nuance and varied interpretation like no other, and without having to bank on exaggeration.” (Bachtrack.com)
Die Walküre
Raising the curtain on a work of superlatives: the Staatsoper Unter den Linden represents the ultimate challenge for any opera house, Wagner’s “Der Ring des Nibelungen”. Christian Thielemann conducts the Ring tetralogy, and Dmitri Tcherniakov, highly praised for his psychologically sophisticated productions, led the playful all-star ensemble coherently through the panorama of characters, situations and events that unfolded like a universe and consistently interpreted the sheer vastness and the manifold twists and turns of the Ring cosmos. With the “Walküre” score, composed in the mid-1850s, Wagner reached new heights with his music, giving the orchestra remarkable communicative powers, layers of meaning were thus developed and incorporated into the work. “Enchanting magic of sound” (Die Zeit) / “A triumph for the Staatsoper” (Neue Zürcher Zeitung)
Aida
Even though Christian Thielemann conducted a lot of Italian operas during his “journeyman years” in Italy, this production at the Semperoper is his very first Aida. He tells this stirring drama by Giuseppe Verdi at the Semperoper Dresden with a great symphonic arc and a sense of detail. No blaring, no crashing: Everything is carefully balanced and lovingly modelled. With small breakes when it’s important, and otherwise a high basic pulse, Thielemann and the luxurious Staatskapelle Dresden counter the oratorical, statuesque nature of the piece with a lot of dramatic tension. Katharina Thalbach, known for her innovative and thought-provoking productions, created a classical set for the Semperoper and hence laid all the focus on the portrayal of the characters and their relationships and on the music. The “outstanding ensemble of singers” (Deutschlandfunk). “The crowning glory of this feast of voices is provided by Francesco Meli … currently the best Radamès” (Der Merkur), Krassimira Stoyanova as Aida, who beguiles with her power as well as with piani, and Oksana Volkova as Amneris, who comes up with darkly blazing passion” (Neue Musikzeitung).
Thielemann conducts Strauss
Following the complete recordings of the symphonies of Brahms and Schumann, the Staatskapelle Dresden and Christian Thielemann are turning their attention to the work of Richard Strauss. While the Sächsische Zeitung wrote about Morley that she “indulged the songs with great delight and the finest feeling”, Der Standard wrote about Thielemann: “Great clarity, great class. The inner charge of the instrumental, this intensity palpable in every note, with which the Staatskapelle Dresden immediately stormed into Strauss’s Heldenleben, revealed Thielemann’s well-known strengths: he succeeds in uniting impulsivity and balance in the sound as well as expressive melodic surging and structural clarity.” PROGRAM: Strauss “An die Nacht“, “Ich wollt ein Sträußlein binden“, “Säusle, liebe Myrthe!“, “Als mir dein Lied erklang“, “Amor“ from Op. 68 “Muttertändelei“, “Ein Heldenleben“; Hennig: “Nacht“