‘Abbado’s approach to the music of Bruckner is soft and songlike, at times tense and urgent, but constantly filles with warmth of feeling (…)’ wrot critic Peter Hagmann in the ‘Neue Züricher Zeitung’. On 19 August 2011 Claudio Abbado and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra presented Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 5 and did credit to this review. The handpicked players of the orchestra filled the famous concert hall in the Culture and Convention Centre Lucerne with impressive and unforgettable sounds.
Lucerne Festival: Simon Rattle conducts Britten and Bruckner
Another late summer highlight at Lucerne Festival: Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker presenting works by Benjamin Britten and Anton Bruckner. Britten gethered eight musical-poetic night pieces together under the title ‘Nocturne’: Musical settings of English poets throughout the centuries perfomed by tenor Ian Bostridge. This cycle of orchestral songs is coupled with Bruckner’s ‘Swan Song,’ his last symphony, which was unfinished and which he dedicated to ‘Dear God’ – Symphony No. 9 in D minor.
Chailly conducts Mahler – Symphony No. 8
Mahler’s Eighth Symphony is agruably the grandest and most ambitious piece of symphonic music ever written. The composer himself regarded it as his ‘opus summum’, and an incredible number of partipicians at the hugely successful Munich premiere in 1910 earned it the nickname ‘Symphony of a Thousand’. At Leipzig’s International Mahler Festival 2011, Riccardo Chailly commanded almost 500 musicians. The perfomance celebrated overwhelming success by audience and critics.
Claudio Abbado conducts the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra
The Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela was the orchestra in residence at the Lucerne Festival at Easter 2010. Under the baton of their strong supporter Claudio Abbado, the orchestra once again reaches out to the audience on this special evening, spreading its lively enthusiasm at highest musical level, it is both famous and loved for. After a brilliant performance of Prokofiev’s Scythian Suite Op. 20, the ensemble is accompanied by the young and talented Austrian soprano Anna Prohaska. The evening is concluded by a most emotional interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Pathétique’.
Frédéric Chopin – The Anniversary Gala Concert
The internationally celebrated concert event from Warsaw on the occasion of Frédéric Chopin’s 200th birthday – two Russian piano stars in one program: Nikolai Demidenko with a marvelous performance of Chopin’s Concerto No. 1, Evgeny Kissin with a most thrilling interpretation of Concerto No. 2. The former wunderkind delights the audience, which still can not get enough even after three encores. A unique performance and truly a gift for Chopin lovers all over the world.
Claudio Abbado & Lucerne Festival Orchestra – Mahler 9
The Mahler cycle of Claudio Abbado and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra has long since become legendary. Now they’re nearing the conclusion of their project as they take up the Ninth – the final symphony Mahler was able to complete. ‘If music was heard in the earthly paradise, it could not have sounded more glorious than the performance of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony led by Claudio Abbado,’ (Süddeutsche Zeitung, 2009)
A Concert for New York – 9/11 Memorial Concert
The concert presents Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 featuring soprano Dorothea Röschmann, mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung and the New York Choral Artists. The New York Philharmonic will be conducted by its Music Director Alan Gilbert. Commemorating the tenth anniversary of the events of 9/11, the New York Philharmonic strives to truly give a concert to the city of New York. Programming Mahler’s 2nd the orchestra seeks to set a sign of hope, since this work is often referred to as the ‘Resurrection’ Symphony. ‘Mahler’s Second Symphony, ‘Resurrection’, powerfully and profoundly explores the range of emotions provoked by the memories of 9/11,’ said Music Director Alan Gilbert. ‘This great masterpiece has a very special place in the history and psyche of the New York Philharmonic, but its message of renewal and rebirth is universal. We offer it as a tribute to those lost ten years ago.
Daniel Barenboim plays Chopin – The Warsaw Recital
Chopin Year 2010 coincides with the 60th anniversary of Daniel Barenboim’s stage début, and as a pianist he has decided to devote this year to the great Romantic master of the keyboard. Chopin was born on 1 March 1810 in a small village near Warsaw, and on the eve of the 200th anniversary of this date Barenboim gave this wildly acclaimed Warsaw recital as part of an extensive European tour. The programme included some of the composer’s best-known works, including the great B flat minor Sonata with its famous Funeral March, which sounded to many ‘as the composer may well have imagined it.’
Programme: F. Chopin: Fantasy in F Minor Op. 49 · Nocturne in D Flat Major Op. 27/2 · Sonata No. 2 in B Flat Minor Op. 35 (Funeral March) · Barcarole in F Sharp Major Op. 60 · Waltz in F Major Op. 34 No. 3 · Waltz in A Minor Op. 34 No. 2 · Waltz in C Sharp Minor Op. 64 No. 2 · Berceuse in D Flat Major Op. 57 · Polonaise in A Flat Major Op. 53
C.P.E. Bach – 300 Years: The 1786 Charity Concert
A concert in celebration of the 300th birthday of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach from the Konzerthaus Berlin. The famous RIAS Kammerchor and the Akademie für Alte Musik are performing works by C.P.E. Bach, his father J. S. Bach and G. F. Haendel. ——- PROGRAM: C.P.E. Bach · Introduction / J.S. Bach · Credo (Symbolum Nicenum) / G.F. Händel · Arie: Ich weiß, daß mein Erlöser lebt / G.F. Händel · Hallelujah / C.P.E. Bach · Sinfonie / Magnificat (Lobgesang Mariens) / Heilig with double chorus. Length: approx. 105′ / 58′ (2nd half) / 43′ (Magnificat)
LA Opening Gala: John Williams Celebration
For the 2014/15 Opening Night Concert and Gala, the Los Angeles Philharmonic paid loving tribute to composer John Williams, long a champion and close friend of the LA Phil. Gustavo Dudamel, an awestruck fan of the musical icon, led the orchestra in a crosssection of Maestro Williams’ matchless canon, including Star Wars, Jaws, Schindler´s List, Catch Me If You Can, Amistad and Fiddler On The Roof. Also featuring very special musical performances by Itzhak Perlman.