Claudio Abbado, who passed away on 20 January 2014 in Bologna, gave Lucerne Festival innumerable outstanding musical experiences. The Lucerne Festival Orchestra honors him with a special memorial concert at the Easter Festival. Opening the program is the first movement from SCHUBERT’s Unfinished Symphony, which Claudio Abbado conducted during his last performance in Lucerne in August 2013 — the final concert of his career. The program continues with Alban BERG’s Violin Concerto, which is dedicated “to the memory of an angel.” The soloist is Isabelle Faust, who recorded this very work with Claudio Abbado in 2011. To conclude the concert, the LFO performs the finale from Gustav MAHLER’s Third Symphony, which the composer originally planned to title “What love tells me.” Conductor is Andris Nelsons. (Cat. No. UNITEL: A955500020000)
Claudio Abbado and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra – A special feature in celebration of the maestro’s 80th birthday!
On the occasion of Claudio Abbado’s 80th birthday in June 2013, this special feature throws a glance at Abbado’s work with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. The close connection between the orchestra and its conductor is documented by excerpts from rehearsals and concert recordings as well as personal interviews with the maestro talking about composers, his approach to their works and the collaboration with the orchestra. —– With excerpts from: Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART “Haffner Symphony” and Requiem (featuring René Pape), Anton BRUCKNER Symphony No. 1, Gustav MAHLER Symphony No. 9 and Adagio from Symphony No. 10, Ludwig van BEETHOVEN Incidental Music to Goethe’s Tragedy “Egmont” featuring Juliane Banse and Bruno Ganz.
Riccardo Chailly – Mahler Cycle
The complete Mahler symphonies with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig conducted by Riccardo Chailly recorded at the Gewandhaus Leipzig. Symphony No. 2 in C minor: 96’ min / / Symphony No. 3 (available in 2015) / Symphony No. 4 in G major: 62’ min / Symphony No. 5: 74′ min / Symphony No. 6: 87′ min / Symphony No. 8 in E flat major: 93’ min / Symphony No. 9: 86′ min.
Jonas Kaufmann – You Mean The World To Me
“You are my Heart’s Delight”, “My Song Goes Round the World”, “My Happiness that Remained” – these evergreens are the musical expression of one of the most artistically rich and thrilling eras in European cultural history: Berlin during the last years of the Weimar Republic. Together with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin under the guidance of Jochen Rieder, Jonas Kaufmann, one of the most sought-after tenors of our time brings these hit numbers alive in the legendary recording studios of the Funkhaus Berlin, Nalepastraße. Also available: Documentary “You Mean The World To Me” (52′), Cat.No. 9160
The original 3 Tenors Concert at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome
Magic was created in July 1990, when Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and José Carreras met onstage at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome and became the Three Tenors. This greatest musical event ever is an awe-inspiring orgy of the greatest hits for the tenor voice. Zubin Mehta exquisitely captures the largeness of this bonanza through the grandiose orchestra.
W. F. Bach – Rediscovered Cantatas
2010 marked the 300th anniversary of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1710 – 1784), the eldest son of Johann Sebastian Bach. While rather unknown today, Wilhelm Friedemann was one of the most outstanding headstrong composers of his time. However, after World War Two, many of his works went missing and, amazingly, were found again by the renowned Bach researcher Christoph Wolff (Harvard) in Kiev (Ukraine) in 1999. For the musical world, the rediscovery of these musically and technically highly sophisticated compositions was a sensation. The international TV audience will have the unique opportunity to take part in the world premiere of these four beautiful cantatas, performed in the impressive Augustiner-Church in Mainz. Cantatas: ‘Ach, dass du den Himmel zerrissest’, ‘Gott fähret auf mit Jauchzen’, ‘Wohl dem, der den Herren fürchtet’, ’O Wunder, wer kann dieses fassen’.
Kronos Quartet & Kimmo Pohjohnen – Uniko
Kimmo Pohjonen is one of the cutting-edge accordion virtuosi and composers of our time. After having heard a record of Pohjonen’s during their concert tour in Finland, Kronos Quartet – who is well known for breaking new musical grounds – decided to get in touch with him. The Kronos/Kluster project entitled “Uniko” is a mutually beneficial sonic/visual adventure with this goal: to create unique and never-before-heard-of sounds from accordion and strings. The Making-Of is a short documentary giving an insight into the collaboration between Kimmo Pohjonen, who has taken the accordion to new dimensions, his Kluster-partner Samuli Kosminen, Finland’s sampling guru, and the world’s most revolutionary string quartet – the Kronos quartet.
Mariss Jansons conducts Richard Strauss
‘ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA’: from the symphonic poems that brought Richard Strauss worldwide fame in the 1880s and 1890s and his florid operas from the first decade of the twentieth century to the resigned metamorphosis of his final masterpieces after the Second World War. In this production, Mariss Jansons is seizing the opportunity to pay tribute with this work, considered to be one of his specialities, to that other big name from the orchestra’s early history. Also on the programme: Strauss’ METAMORPHOSEN and the SUITE FROM DER ROSENKAVALIER.
Lang Lang live in Berlin featuring Herbie Hancock
To celebrate Lang Lang’s 30th birthday, ‘the hottest pianist on the classical music planet’, and iconic jazz pianist, Herbie Hancock, joined forces together for an extraordinary performance at the famous O2 WORLD in Berlin, Germany in June 2012. Lang Lang and Herbie Hancock performed a program including Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Bernstein’s Tonight (from ‘Westside Story’) in arrangement for two pianos and orchestra, arrangements of classical hits like, Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No. 5 and Schubert´s Marche millitaire, where Lang Lang and Hancock were joined by the 50 children pianists. —— VERSION I (Total Length): Happy Birthday, Lang Lang! featuring Herbie Hancock – P. TCHAIKOVSKY: Piano Concerto No. 1 / F. CHOPIN: Étude Op. 25, No. 1 A-flat major op. 25 / L. BERNSTEIN: Tonight from ‘West Side Story’ / F. Schubert: Marche militaire / J. BRAHMS: Hungarian Dance No. 5 / G. GERSHWIN: Rhapsody in Blue / Prelude No. 1 / LU WEN CHEN: Reflections of the Moon on the Calm Lake / M. & P. HILL: Happy Birthday, Length: 96’ min —— VERSION 2: Lang Lang – Live in Berlin! featuring Herbie Hancock – P. TCHAIKOVSKY: Piano Concerto No. 1 / F. CHOPIN: Étude Op. 25, No. 1 A-flat major op. 25 / L. BERNSTEIN: Tonight from ‘West Side Story’ / G. GERSHWIN: Rhapsody in Blue / Prelude No. 1 / LU WEN CHEN: Reflections of the Moon on the Calm Lake, Length: 82’ min.
The Three Tenors – The Lost Concerts
The Three Tenors began their collaboration with a performance at the ancient Baths of Caracalla in Rome, the eve of the 1990 FIFA World Cup Final. Following the big success of the 1990/1994 concerts, The Three Tenors opened a world tour of 31 concerts, the last one in 2003. Seven of these 31 concerts had been recorded for TV but disappeared somewhere in London. All attempts to bring back these invaluable recordings to the audience failed. Now, after all these years, C Major in cooperation with Three Tenors Ltd. managed to assemble the most beautiful moments of six lost concerts in Munich, Tokyo, London, Vienna, New York and Pretoria.