New Year’s Concert 1989

For the 30th anniversary of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra’s New Year’s concerts, Carlos Kleiber appeared at the conductor’s podium to conduct his first Strauss family extravaganza. “What Carlos Kleiber presents here is the fulfillment of all waltz dreams,” wrote the trade magazine “Fono Forum.” All the beloved Viennese melodies such as the “Fledermaus” overture, the “Accelerationen” waltz, “Bei uns zu Haus,” “Csardas,” “Pizzicato Polka” and, of course, the “Blue Danube” waltz and the “Radetzky March” – all these Viennese warhorses took on an unexpected elegance, spirit and wit. Kleiber’s rubati and accelerandi, his sensitivity towards everything that is found between the staves of the music invest these pieces with a new urgency. Pieces that we thought were so overplayed as to be trite and meaningless assume a freshness and vitality that is nothing less than amazing. “There won’t be anything more beautiful this year,” gushed one of Vienna’s leading dailies – and it was probably right.

Recital Diana Damrau

One of the warmest personalities on the opera and concert stage today, soprano Diana Damrau has put together a beguiling program for her recital at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. The selection of Romantic to fin-de-siècle pieces not only underscores her own vocal artistry, but also pays tribute to her accompanist Xavier de Maistre and, in particular, to the diaphanous delicacy of his instrument, the harp. The use of the harp to replace the piano in a voice recital is a truly unique and unexpected musical treat. De Maistre does more than simply transpose the piano part to his instrument; under the fingers of the Wiener Philharmoniker’s solo harpist, the ethereal sound of this instrument melds consummately with the soprano’s finely honed vocal part, so that the masterpieces by composers such as Schumann, Fauré and Debussy sound as if they had been conceived for voice and harp.

Vienna at the Turn of the 20th Century – A Recital with Renée Fleming

Renée Fleming has always been willing to expand her repertoire into new territory. This recital is a foray into musical jugendstil as embodied in works by composers active in Vienna at the turn of the 20th century – a natural progression from her long association with music by Richard Strauss: Familiar cycles from WOLF and MAHLER morph into the more progressive textures of ZEMLINSKY and SCHOENBERG, with KORNGOLD (and echoes of Johann Strauss II) supplying the necessary dose of kitschy gemütlichkeit. Renée Fleming and her piano partner Maciej Pikulski succeed in creating the “ideal combination of emotion and interpretation” (Der Kurier).

Salzburg Festival 2012: Mariss Jansons

With four opera productions and its concert cycle, the Vienna Philharmonic once again forming the centre of the Salzburg Festival. Furthermore, in 2012, its concerts bring the musicians not only to the Grosses Festspielhaus, where they are heard under the baton of four of the most important conductors of our times, but – with smaller forces – also to the Main Auditorium of the Mozarteum. With a programme dedicated to the second half of the 19th century, Mariss Jansons, the Vienna Philharmonic and soprano Nina Stemme offer a “superlative concert experience.” (Kurier).

BEETHOVEN 9

In the monumental project BEETHOVEN 9, Christian Thielemann, one of the most widely recognized conductors of our time, joins forces with the prestigious Wiener Philharmoniker for their first-ever highdefinition recording of all nine symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven.

Also available:

Overture ‘Coriolan’, Op. 62 (11’ – A045005410010),

Overture ‘Egmont’, Op. 84 (11’ – A045005410011)

BEETHOVEN 9 – Symphony No.2 in D major, op.36

of the most widely recognized conductors of our time, joins forces with the prestigious Wiener Philharmoniker for their first-ever highdefinition recording of all nine symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven.

Also available:

Overture ‘Coriolan’, Op. 62 (11’ – A045005410010),

Overture ‘Egmont’, Op. 84 (11’ – A045005410011)