For Johann Sebastian Bach, February 15, 1981 was no doubt one of the darkest days of his afterlife: on this day he lost one of his greatest champions in the 20th century, Karl Richter. Over the course of his long career as conductor, organist and harpsichordist, Richter had become synonymous with Bach. He founded the Munich Bach Choir and the Munich Bach Orchestra. He helped trigger the Bach revival in the 1950s. He was the spirit behind the Ansbach Bach Festival. He turned his adopted city of Munich into a Bach center. And he recorded all the major choral and orchestral works of Bach, including more than 100 cantatas.
Mozart, Symphony No.40 in G minor, K. 550
The G minor Symphony is undoubtedly Mozart’s most popular work in this genre. What makes it so exciting to us – and what endeared this work to 19th-century audiences – ar its relentless passion and Romantic tension. The very first bars set the scene: above a nervous, pulsating viola accompaniment enters an equally agitated principal theme. There is nothing spectacular here, and yet the “piano” beginning – unusual for an 18th-century symphony – and the insistent rhythm are nothing less than gripping. The mastery with which Mozart then contrapuntally exploits the opening theme is simply bgreathtaking – particularly in the development section, which darts out into the most distant keys. After the profoundly touching Andante and uncompromising Minuet, the fiery Allegro assai, with its extravagant modulations in the development section, provides a worthy counterpart to the first movement. Nikolaus Harnoncourt (born in 1929) is one of the most profound and intriguing conductors of our time. Considered one of the world’s leading specialists of Baroque music, he has long since turned his attention to Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and even to Jacques Offenbach and Johann Strauss. He spent many years as a cellist with the Wiener Symphoniker before founding the “Concentus Musicus Wien” with his wife Alice in 1953. It soon became one of the world’s most respected ensembles specializing in the performance of early music on original instruments. In the 1970s, Harnoncourt joined forces with Jean-Pierre Ponnelle to stage a series of Monteverdi operas at the Zurich Opera House. This universally acclaimed cycle contributed to a renaissance of Monteverdi’s music and set standards for early Baroque performance practice. Harnoncourt later began to turn his attention more and more to the music of Mozart, whom he considers “the most romantic of all composers”. His concept of Mozart’s music ran counter to the prevailing 20th-century views, however. He sees Mozart’s music as “dramatic, dynamic, often directly and highly emotional.” The Vienna Philharmonic, known for its suave and gracious Mozartian interpretations, initially rebelled against Harnoncourt’s unconventional approach. Yet the compellingness of his vision soon came to be accepted and shared by all members of the orchestra. In this recording, Harnoncourt conducts the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
Mozart, Requiem K. 626
The Requiem is not only Mozart’s last composition, but also the one most shrouded in mystery. The purportedly enigmatic patron who ordered the work and the fatal illness that befell Mozart while he was working on it long nurtured the macabre legend of Mozart composing his own Requiem mass commissioned by Death himself. The Requiem was completed by Mozart’s friend and pupil Franz Saver Süssmayr on the basis of Mozart’s sketches and instructions. The somber woodwinds and brass, the artless melodies and the stirring shifts from intricate contrapuntal writing to mighty homophonic blocks convey an otherworldly, apocalyptic feeling seldom encountered in Mozart’s works. Despite its almost operatic solo passages and large orchestra, the Requiem was intended for the church, and is indeed an ideal work for the theatrically sumptuous and brilliant Baroque churches of Austria and southern Germany. The abbey church in Diessen (Bavaria) is a splendid example: completely rebuilt in the early 18th century by one of the leading South-German Baroque architects, it provides an admirable setting for Leonard Bernstein’s sensitive conducting of the Requiem. This production, which the Maestro dedicated to his wife Felicia Montealegre on the tenth anniversary of her death, is a moving and memorable tribute to commemorate Mozart’s and others’ deaths.
Schumann, Cello Concerto in A minor, op.129
Recorded at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris in November 1976, Schumann’s Cello Concerto marked the high point of a concert given by the Orchestre National de France under Leonard Bernstein. The soloist was Mstislav Rostropovich, the leading cellist of our time and a talented conductor as well.
Mozart, Symphony No.31 in D major, K. 297 “Paris”
Unhappy with his situation in Salzburg, Mozart undertook a journey to Mannheim and Paris with his mother in 1778. The trip was overshadowed by tragedy – Mozart’s mother died in Paris – and was almost a complete failure. Almost, for it did give birth to a masterpiece like the “Paris Symphony,” written for the illustrious “Concerts Spirituels.” Knowing of the Parisians’ taste for brilliance and splendor, Mozart wrote a grand symphony for large orchestra, glowing with mellow woodwinds and ablaze with brass. A musician’s musician, an occasional firebrand and a constant paradox – Nikolaus Harnoncourt (born in 1929) is one of the most profound and intriguing conductors of our time. Considered one of the world’s leading specialists of Baroque music, he has long since turned his attention to Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and even to Jacques Offenbach and Johann Strauss. He spent many years as a cellist with the Wiener Symphoniker before founding the “Concentus Musicus Wien” with his wife Alice in 1953. It soon became one of the world’s most respected ensembles specializing in the performance of early music on original instruments. In the 1970s, Harnoncourt joined forces with Jean-Pierre Ponnelle to stage a series of Monteverdi operas at the Zurich Opera House. This universally acclaimed cycle contributed to a renaissance of Monteverdi’s music and set standards for early Baroque performance practice. Harnoncourt later began to turn his attention more and more to the music of Mozart, whom he considers “the most romantic of all composers”. His concept of Mozart’s music ran counter to the prevailing 20th-century views, however. He sees Mozart’s music as “dramatic, dynamic, often directly and highly emotional.” The Vienna Philharmonic, known for its suave and gracious Mozartian interpretations, initially rebelled against Harnoncourt’s unconventional approach. Yet the compellingness of his vision soon came to be accepted and shared by all members of the orchestra.
Debussy, La mer
“The sea has been very good to me”, wrote Debussy to his publisher shortly before he finished “La Mer”. “She has shown me all her moods.” Debussy began his three symphonic sketches in 1903. The work was premiered in Paris on 15 October 1905. The first piece, “From Dawn Until Noon on the Sea”, begins with low, sustained strings which give an impression of the immense power of the ocean. In the second piece, “The Play of the Waves”, the ocean whips itself into a fury, with rainbow colorings appearing and vanishing in fountains of spray. The “Dialogue of the Wind and the Sea” opens on a deep, threatening note, as if announcing a coming storm. After a siren-like call, the chorale heard in the first movement returns in an exultant climax. “I truly admire this orchestra and hope it becomes better known abroad,” confided Leonard Bernstein in 1989 to the audience in Rome’s Auditorio Pio before his concert of works by Claude Debussy (1862-1918) with the prestigious “Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia.” In the words of Rome’s “Il Giornale,” Bernstein served up a “Debussy that is neither ethereal nor shapeless, but uncommonly vital, caught in the full light of noon.”
Beethoven, Symphony No.7 in A major, op.92
The first performance of this work in 1813 was a spectacular event. The long awaited Seventh was completed in May 1812 when the Austrian capital was recovering from the French occupation. The defeat of Napoleon’s armies made the concert an occasion for celebration, and this historical event helped ensure the work’s enormous popularity and the composer’s lasting fame. The Seventh Symphony is one of the best examples of how Beethoven used simple harmonies and filled them with energetic, repetitive rhythms, which never become monotonous because of the fresh harmonic progressions that accompany them. This recording is part of Bernstein’s complete cycle of Beethoven symphonies recorded with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra live in Vienna. The series won the Ace Award, the U.S. Cable TV Association’s top award for outstanding quality and entertainment value. Bernstein’s impassioned renderings of Beethoven move audiences in a unique way. “Beethoven has always meant universality to me, ever since my early adolescence, when I first heard that unforgettable cry of ‘Brüder!’. From that moment on, every… symphony came to mean heart-to-heart communication, travelling satellite-fashion via the cosmos itself. I offer [this cycle] to all music-loving ears as a testament of faith and of my most profound reactions to this greatest of all composers.” (Leonard Bernstein, 1980)
Beethoven, Symphony No.3 in E flat major, op.55 “Eroica”
When, in the mid 1960s, Herbert von Karajan decided to record on film all nine Beethoven symphonies with the Berlin Philharmonic, he began with the “Fifth” and asked the famous French movie director Henri-Georges Clouzot (Quai des Orfèvres) to direct. Recognizing in the music-loving director a kindred soul and master of the symbolic image, Karajan found an inspired partner. In another of Karajan’s first efforts, he asked six directors to “stage” one movement each of a Beethoven symphony. For a full week, the directors had the Berlin Philharmonic and Herbert von Karajan – all in full dress – at their disposal, with all the 35mm film, cameras, lighting and technical assistance they needed. Karajan’s most controversial production was Hugo Niebeling’s highly personal interpretation of the “Pastorale”, with its abstract shots of instruments, rapid rhythms, fade-ins and symbolically arranged colors.
Brahms, Symphony No.4 in E minor, op.98
Commanding the podium with his slender figure, theatrical shock of hair and penetrating blue eyes, Herbert von Karajan projected the hieratic image of the conductor as officiant of some quasi-mystic rite. And anyone who ever saw him conduct live or on his many audiovisual recordings will agree that in his performances, music did indeed become a religion and Karajan its high-priest. Karajan (1908-1989) embodied classical music in the general consciousness as an epoch-making conductor, media star, opera producer, festival director and festival founder. But in spite of his Promethean and widely varied activities, he remained a superb conductor, with a grasp of the standard orchestral and operatic repertory from Mozart to Schoenberg that was unsurpassed among his peers. The Symphony No. 4 was recorded live at the Berlin Philharmonie in 1973.
Beethoven, Symphony No.9 in D minor, op.125 “Choral”
Completed in 1824, after six years of work, the Ninth is the most awesome and inspiring of Beethoven’s symphonies, employing a large orchestra, four vocal soloists and chorus. The final movement is considered by many to be the composer’s crowning glory. It had been Beethoven’s lifelong dream to set Schiller’s “Ode to Joy” to music, for the poem put into words Beethoven’s most impassioned desire: peace and brotherhood in the world. The Ninth is an affirmation of optimism and beauty, written when Beethoven was almost completely deaf. This work is part of Leonard Bernstein’s complete cycle of Beethoven symphonies recorded with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra live in Vienna. The series won the Ace Award, the National (U.S.) Cable TV Association’s top award for outstanding quality and entertainment value. Bernstein’s impassioned renderings of Beethoven – so transparent and contemporary in their message – move audiences in a unique way. “Beethoven has always meant universality to me, ever since my early adolescence, when I first heard that unforgettable cry of ‘Brüder!’. From that moment on, every… symphony came to mean heart-to-heart communication, travelling satellite-fashion via the cosmos itself. I offer [this cycle] to all music-loving ears as a testament of faith and of my most profound reactions to this greatest of all composers.” (Leonard Bernstein, 1980)