The music of the quintessentially Czech composer Dvorák is, above all, enjoyable and is a perennial favourite in the Romantic repertoire. This series of concerts is performed by the Prague Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and the Prague Philharmonic Choir, with three leading Czech conductors on the podium: Petr Altrichter, Jirí Belohlávek and Libor Pesek. Guest soloists include soprano Lucia Popp, alto Eva Randová, tenor Josef Protschka, bass Peter Mikulás, pianist Igor Ardasev, violinist Ivan Zenaty and cellist Mischa Maisky. VOLUME VI includes the world’s famous Requiem.
Brahms, Ein deutsches Requiem op.45
Johannes Brahms composed his Requiem in 1865/66, shortly after the death of his mother. A profoundly moving work for soprano and baritone solo, chorus and orchestra, it is the composer’s largest single composition. No work did more to win Brahms international recognition and, after the first complete performance of the Requiem in Leipzig in 1869, he was regarded as one of the leading composers of his time. It was not the first requiem in German, but the first in which a composer pieced together his text from Bible passages in Martin Luther’s German translation. It is an intensely personal selection, which speaks to the living and seeks to offer hope and comfort. Through his subtle, almost surreal, affinity to Brahms’ unorthodox, elusive worldview, conductor Christian Thielemann has crafted a performance that places him among the best interpreters of this work, such as Maazel, Furtwängler, Karajan, Klemperer.
Shostakovich, Symphony No.8 in C minor, op.65
Mozart, Serenade in D major, K.250 “Haffner” (with March K.249) (Mozartwoche 1999)
The Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg has been the orchestra of the city and Land of Salzburg since 1958 and regularly concertizes at the Salzburg Festival and the Mozartwoche. The principal conductor is the Dutch-born Hubert Soudant, who led the Nouvel Orchestre Philharmonique de France in Paris from 1981 to 1983 and the Utrecht Symphony Orchestra from 1983 to 1986. In addition to his activities in Salzburg, Soudant is also the principal conductor of the Orchestra and Opéra des Pays de Loire in Nantes and Angers, France. This work was commissioned by Siegmund Haffner Jr., whose father had been a respected Salzburg businessman and public figure, to celebrate the marriage of one of his sisters. The wedding took place on 22 July 1776, and the serenade played the previous evening. It was performed on many occasions in subsequent years, also in a shortened version as a symphony.
Poulenc, “L’Histoire de Babar” for Speaker and Orchestra (The Story of Babar, the little Elephant)
Loriot, alias Vicco von Bülow, is one of Germany’s most popular and beloved humorists. He delights in unmasking the foibles of everyday life in many animated shorts, cartoons and stories. With the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin conducted by Marcello Viotti, Loriot gives a memorable performance as an avuncular narrator. Loriot revised the original text to make it even more appealing to children of today.
Mozart, Symphony for Children (Excerpts)
Haydn, Piano Sonata in A flat major, Hob.XVI:46
Ivo Pogorelich was born in Belgrade on 20 October 1958. After his classical training at the Moscow Conservatory, he took master classes from Aliza Kezeradze, whom he married in 1980. In 1978 he won the Casagrande Competition in Italy and in 1980 the International Music Competition in Montreal. At the International Chopin Competition in 1980, his spectacular failure to win the first prize made him famous overnight. Martha Argerich, member of the jury, protested: “Pogorelich is a genius!” Since then, Pogorelich has been pursuing a brilliant international career. His often controversial and always stunning interpretations confirm the originality of his talent and intellect. The artist founded the “Ivo Pogorelich Festival” in Bad Wörishofen in 1989, an event dedicated to the promotion of young artists. In 1993 he launched the Ivo Pogorelich Piano Competition in California. Our program was recorded at the Castello Reale in Racconigi near Turin, one of the residences of the Italian royal family.
Bruckner, Symphony No.9 in D minor
When Leonard Bernstein died in 1990 at the age of 72, music lovers the world over mourned the loss of one of the 20th century’s artistic giants. In addition to his role as conductor, composer, educator and performing artist, Bernstein was one of the early pioneers in bringing the arts to television. As such, he became one of the most internationally recognized musical personalities in the world. He was a man who not only needed music in order to live, but who saw in artistic communication the means to touch the mind, the heart and the spirit all at once. His need to generate this communication dictated his life from the day he discovered music to the day he died. Recorded in March 1990, this performance is Leonard Bernstein’s last concert with the Vienna Philharmonic, an orchestra he deeply loved.
New Year’s Concert 1992
After this sensational, rousing concert, the most popular event of the year for the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the entire Austrian media were unanimous: this was a one-of-a-kind sensation. Broadcast in 25 countries and reaching a potential viewership of a billion viewers and listeners, the concert carried the spirit of Vienna and its most popular son, Johann Strauss Jr., across the entire world. While the waltzes of Johann and Joseph Strauss (as well as an overture by Otto Nicolai) were certainly one reason for the concert’s enormous success, it could not have reached this level of peerlessness without Carlos Kleiber. Known rather as an introspective musician, Kleiber proved in the 1989 New Year’s Concert that he was a master of the light and bubbly as well. All of the works – from the Pizzicato Polka and the Tritsch-Tratsch Polka to the Blue Danube waltz and the Radetzky March – were played with such brilliance, virtuosity and overflowing good spirits that one Vienna daily titled the event “a miracle in 3/4 time.”
Prokofiev, Peter und der Wolf (Symphonic Fairy Tale for Children)
Loriot, alias Vicco von Bülow, is one of Germany’s most popular and beloved humorists. He delights in unmasking the foibles of everyday life in many animated shorts, cartoons and stories. With the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin conducted by Marcello Viotti, Loriot gives a as memorable performance as an avuncular narrator. Moreover, Loriot has slightly revised the original text to make it even more appealing to children of today.