Put one of the world’s greatest orchestras in the hands of one of the foremost specialists of 20th century music, add a soloist who is one of today’s leading pianists and conductors, and you are assured of a concert of superlatives that pays glowing tribute to three major works of the past century. The official Salzburg Festival opening concert of the Wiener Philharmoniker is conducted by Pierre Boulez, once the ‘enfant terrible’ of the musical world, now a sensitive, analytical conductor of works from the 19th and 20th centuries. Combining Béla Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 1 – Daniel Barenboim is the soloist – with Maurice Ravel’s ‘Valses nobles et sentimentales’ and Igor Stravinsky’s ‘Firebird’ ballet in its full-length version of 1910, Boulez weaves a compelling musical texture that uncovers the links among the three works and the three composers.
Liszt Celebration Concert
For the very first time Daniel Barenboim tackled Franz Liszt’s two highly virtuosic piano concertos in a single concert. With Pierre Boulez, his friend and esteemed colleague of many years, conducting Barenboim’s own orchestra, the Staatskapelle Berlin, they were showered with praise on their tour across Europe. For both musicians, Liszt was one of the most important pioneers of modern music, as composer, conductor and pianist. He influenced revolutionary contemporaries such as Robert Schumann and Richard Wagner. Two examples of the latter’s magnificent orchestral work round off this concert programme celebrating Liszt’s bicentenary.
RCO: Mahler No. 7
After the two famous Mahler festivals in 1920 and 1995, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam is now presenting a special twoseason Mahler series, which includes ten large-scale symphonies plus ‘Das Lied von der Erde’, performed in chronological order by the world’s greatest orchestra under the direction of great conductors – all brought to life in the wonderful acoustics of the Main Hall of the Concertgebouw.
Gustav Mahler: All Symphonies – The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
After the two famous Mahler festivals in 1920 and 1995, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam is now presenting a special two-season Mahler series, which
includes ten large-scale symphonies, plus Das Lied von der Erde, performed in chronological order by the world’s greatest orchestra under the direction of great conductors – all brought to life in the wonderful acoustics of the Main Hall of the Concertgebouw.
RCO: Mahler Nos 1-10
After the two famous Mahler festivals in 1920 and 1995, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam, presents a special two-season Mahler series, which includes Mahler’s ten large-scale symphonies, performed in chronological order by the world’s greatest orchestra under the direction of great conductors – all brought to life in the wonderful acoustics of the Main Hall of the Concertgebouw.