The Austrian piano virtuoso Rudolf Buchbinder, a known expert of Mozart plays and conducts three of Mozart’s most beloved piano concertos together with the Staatskapelle Dresden, where he was the first pianist to hold the title of “Capell-Virtous”. In advance to an extensive tour to Germany, Europe and Asia the concert was recorded in Dresden in an unique setting, being the first ultra-high definition recording of this work: especially for this purpose a stage was set up right inside the Gläserne Manufaktur, a luxury car manufacturer in the heart of the city of Dresden.
Beethoven Piano Sonatas Vol. 1
Beethoven’s opus of 32 piano sonatas, known as “the New Testament of piano music”, is a landmark in piano literature. Spanning Beethoven’s entire life, the sonatas reflect his whole development as a human being and a musician, moving from one century into the next, from one epoch in music in to another. With the sonatas “Pathétique”, “Moonlight”, “Waldstein”, “Appassionata”, “Hammerklavier” and the final sonata op. 111, the cycle contains some of the most known piano pieces of all time. Now, for the first time in ist history the complete cycle was performed at the Salzburg Festival. For this challenge the Festival asked no less than the world-renowned and influential Beethoven expert and pianist Rudolf Buchbinder. With more than 45 performances of Beethoven’s complete sonata cycle in concert halls all over the world and his relentless drive to discover new details and facets in the sonatas through meticulous study of the scores, “Buchbinder has set new standards in the interpretation of Beethoven’s works” (Bayerischer Rundfunk).
Mahler Symphonies Nos. 1-10
The hr-Sinfonieorchester has for decades been numbered among the world’s leading Mahler orchestras. Between 2008 and 2013 it gave its most recent Mahler cycle as part of the Rheingau Music Festival under its then principal conductor Paavo Järvi. The recordings were made in the unique space of the Basilica of Eberbach Monastery, in the magnificent ambiance of the Friedrich von Thiersch Hall at the Wiesbaden Kurhaus and in the outstanding acoustics of the Great Hall of the Alte Oper in Frankfurt. In all of these venues Mahler’s symphonies left a particularly fascinating impression.
Bruckner Symphony No. 9
Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Dresden will continue their long-running Bruckner cycle with the Ninth Symphony, the very last work from the composer, in which he drew to the conclusion of his symphonic works. The first three movements of the symphony were composed and completed by Bruckner, but he died on the job whilst writing the final movement. In this interpretation of the three-movement original version, “Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Dresden triumphed … It was a musical and a spiritual event”. (Baden online).
Bruckner: Symphony No. 4
After the release of the Bruckner Symphonies Nos. 5, 8 and 9 with Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Bruckner cycle is continued with Symphony No. 4, “Romantic”, one of Bruckner’s most popular work. It is played here in the presumed original version recovered by Robert Haas, which differs considerably from the first published score, accepted by Bruckner as a stopgap only so that the work could easily be performed. The press cheered the performance: “Tone paintings of the finest quality.”
W.A. Mozart: Davide penitente – Bartabas & Marc Minkowski
For this spectacular production of Mozart’s Davide penitente on the vast stage of the Salzburg Felsenreitschule at the Mozart Week 2015, Marc Minkowski and the equestrian choreographer Bartabas used dancing horses and thus restored the former riding school to its original function. Horses, riders from the Académie équestre de Versailles and Bartabas himself, whose successful productions are unique in the world of art, perform their elegant dressage arabesques within this exceptional setting. Soloists, chorus and orchestra are ranged over three levels on galleries cut from the bare rock. The result is a unique synthesis of the arts.
“A festival of beauty”. (Münchener Abendzeitung)
“Minkowski and Bartabas have created a great piece of theatre”. (NMZ)
Julia Fischer at the BBC Proms
From the pastoral landscapes of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 to the vibrant folk scenes of Strauss’ sound-poem Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche and Dvorak’s Violin Concerto, this Prom takes a vivid journey across Central Europe. At the BBC Proms 2014, the world’s largest classical music festival, David Zinman appeared in his final concert as chief conductor of Zurich’s Tonhalle Orchestra, stepping down after almost 20 years. “This beautiful Prom marked the end of an era. David Zinman’s final concert as chief conductor of the Zurich Tonhalle was a superb example of his intelligent musicianship” (The Guardian). Julia Fischer “was the accomplished and eloquent soloist” (Evening Standard) performing Dvorák’s richly lyrical Violin Concerto with “the kind of flawless technique and steely vibrato that seems impervious to human fallibility” (The Telegraph).
A 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.
Bruckner Symphony No. 2
Thielemann‘s brilliant interpretation of Bruckner´s Symphony No. 2 is performed wonderfully by the Staatskapelle Dresden, completing their critically acclaimed Bruckner cycle with a concert at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. “In the Elbphilharmonie Thielemann once again proved to be the unrestricted Ruler on his ancestral territory, German Romantic repertoire” (Hamburger Abendblatt) and critics praised how lucent and with how much musical intensity Thielemann conducted this symphony in the acoustics of this hall – an exceptional positive example for subsequent conductors and orchestras.
Mahler Symphonies Nos. 9 & 10
Gustav Mahler spent 1909 and 1910 working on his final two symphonies. The Ninth has gone down in history as the culmination of his symphonic output and a prophetic anticipation of musical modernism. But owing to his declining health, he had to stop work on the Tenth after a few months and was unable to resume it before his death. Only the first movement,
included here, was orchestrated to a point where it can be performed without non-authorial additions. – The Mahler cycle by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra under Paavo Järvi is appearing complete on DVD and Blu-ray on the C Major label and has already been internationally acclaimed as one of the most important Mahler projects of the new millennium.
“If I knew Mahler only from his music, I would say that he has a huge heart and a deep connection with the soul and humanity.” – PAAVO JÄRVI