The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace by Welsh composer Sir Karl Jenkins is the most performed work by any living composer. This performance is the largest ever staged and was uniquely performed in synchronisation with a specially commissioned war-archive film reinforcing the narrative of the work – the build up to war, war itself and the consequences of war. Projected on to five giant screens, the film delivers a poignant backdrop to the moving musical narration providing the audience with a powerful and emotional multimedia experience. In this truly unique historic occasion Sir Karl Jenkins conducts The World Orchestra for Peace and around 2,000 singers from nearly 30 countries who joined together to Sing for Peace in Berlin.
Missa solemnis
Longstanding artistic collaborators, the conductor Herbert von Karajan and the Berliner Philharmoniker present a magnificent performance of one of Beethoven’s greatest masterpieces. At the age of 54 in 1824, Beethoven was at the height of his art: he would premiere both his Missa Solemnis and his celebrated Ninth Symphony in the same year! Despite total deafness, it is a testament to the brilliance of his works that they would influence European contemporary composers of all stripes, from Rossini and Schubert to Weber and Liszt. Beethoven suffered from illness constantly beginning in 1825, eventually dying two years later during a violent storm.
Beethoven Cycle – Symphony No. 1
The Berliner Philharmoniker and the exceptional maestro Herbert von Karajan present a beautiful performance of Beethoven’s First Symphony. Premiered in 1800 at Vienna’s Burgtheater, the work is dedicated to one of the composer’s first protectors, the Baron van Swieten. Just 30 years old at the time of the symphony’s composition, the young Beethoven’s work shows the influence of both his admiration for Mozart and his studies with Haydn.
ECM Exploration: Arvo Pärt
Contemporary Estonian music beats at the heart of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir’s repertoire. Arvo Pärt is its figurehead and inspirational soul. With him, Tönu Kaljuste’s ensemble questions the accuracy of its a cappella, the center of gravity of its voices, the dynamics of the choral fresco and the sparkle of the soloists’ bouquet. This selection of vocal pieces composed between 1989 and 2007 bears witness to the Estonian composer’s interest in medieval polyphony from the 1980s onwards, and his sensitivity to Christian spirituality. A benevolent call to introspection, meditation and contemplation.
The Book of Madrigals
In their new Book of Madrigals, the a capella ensemble amarcord presents outstanding compositions from the European Renaissance by Dowland, Banchieri, Monteverdi, Palestrina, Josquin and Willaert. Along with Michael Metzler (percussion), Hille Perl (viol) and the American lutenist Lee Santana, the ensemble met in the fall of 2013 in the Venetia region of northern Italy. In the unique setting of the Villa Caldogno, built by the Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, the madrigals were recorded under studio conditions with several cameras. The program is available in three different formats: 78 or 44 minutes with interviews about the Renaissance period, the repertoire and the location. 58 minutes without interviews (music only).
Happy Birthday, Lucerne! Anniversary Season Opening Concert conducted by Claudio Abbado
2013 marked the 75th birthday of Lucerne Festival. Additionally, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra celebrates its 10th anniversary, and its founder, Claudio Abbado, celebrates his 80th birthday! For the anniversary season opening concert in 2013 Abbado gathers world-famous soloists, who are willing to ‘do the craziest things I ask of them in the interest of the compositions: to fly or to go through the fire.’ The maestro spans a wide and quite contrasting range, from the romantic sounds of BRAHMS’ Tragic Overture to the orchestral interlude and the Song of the Wood-Dove from SCHOENBERG’s Gurrelieder, back to BEETHOVEN’s Eroica. —– PROGRAM: Johannes Brahms: Tragic Overture, Op. 81 / Arnold Schoenberg: Orchestral Interlude and Song of the Wood-Dove from ‘Gurrelieder’ (with Mihoko Fujimura, Mezzo-soprano) / Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55 ‘EROICA’
Lucerne Festival 2013: Simon Rattle conducts Mozart – The Last Three Symphonies
Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic take on a myth with their complete performance of the last three symphonies by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. For the Romantics, these three scores represented Mozart’ legacy to posterity – but for Rattle they signify an interpretive challenge of the first order: “Here human emotions are pushed to the absolute extreme,” he explains. Mozart’s music is in any case incomparable: “It is deeply emotional and passionate and dark and dangerous and cheerful like no other music that has ever been written.” —– PROGRAM: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony in E-flat major, K. 543 / Symphony in G minor, K. 550 / Symphony in C major, K. 551 (Jupiter)
200 Years of Verdi – A Gala Concert
Gala Concert from the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing on occation of the 200th birthday of Giuseppe Verdi in 2013. On the program highlights from Verdi’s most famous works. —- PROGRAM: Messa da Requiem – Dies Irae / Macbeth – Ambizioso spirto; Patria oppressa; O figi miei / Rigoletto – Caro nome Cortigliani, vil razza / I vespri siciliani – O tu Palermo / Il trovatore – Tacea la notte placida; Il balen del suo sorriso; Di quella pira / La forza del destino – Pace, pace, mio dio; Il santo nome di Dio Signore; La vergine degli angeli / La traviata – Preludio I Atto; E strano; Di provenza il mare e il suol / Don Carlo – Ella giammai m‘amò; Tu che le vanità; O don fatale, o don crudel / Aida – O patria mia; Celeste Aida; Marcia trionfale / Falstaff – È sogno o realtà; Tutto nel mondo è burla
Lucerne Festival: Simon Rattle conducts Stravinsky and Rachmaninov
The Berliner Philharmoniker have been a regular festival guest in Lucerne since 1958 performing much acclaimed concerts every year. In 2014, the orchestra completed their cycle “Moving to Modern Times” under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle with Igor Stravinsky’s “Firebird”, set to gorgeous, scintillatingly colorful ballet music in 1909-10. Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker paired this lush score of oriental lyricism with another masterpiece of the Russian late romanticism: Sergei Rachmaninov’s rousing Symphonic Dances, which likewise escorted listeners into a magical realm of fantasy and “made the Russian soul dance, too.” (Der Spiegel) – PROGRAM: Rachmaninov: Symphonic Dances, op. 45; Stravinsky: The Firebird. Fairy-tale ballet in two tableaux for orchestra. (Cat. No. UNITEL: A955500050000)
Bach, Mass in B minor
Under the direction of Bach’s successor as “Thomaskantor”, Georg Christoph Biller, the St. Thomas Boys Choir and an outstanding soloist quintet perform with the prestigious Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, playing on authentic period instruments.