In one of the most unusual opening concerts of recent decades, Nikolaus Harnoncourt launched the 2009 Salzburg Festival with an exploration of the dance element in Austrian music. Dances by Schubert and Josef Strauss provided an introduction to the magnificent “Dance of Death” that emerged from the octogenarian maestro´s hands in Schubert´s C major Symphony (“Great”). The perfect orchestra for these authentically Viennese and yet universally valid works was, of course, the Vienna Philharmonic. “An interpretation of incomparable richness” (Münchner Merkusr)
Ivo Pogorelich plays Chopin, Beethoven, Scrjabin
Chopins 200th birthday comes in 2010 and this recital includes some of Chopin´s finest works. At the international Chopin competition in 1980, his spectacular failure to win the first price made him famous overnight. Martha Argerich, a member of the jury resigned in protest, claiming “Pogorelich is a genius!” These fantastic performances are from 1986 and 1987, when Pogorelich was in his late 20s during his high point of his career. Unitel recorded these works with the artist in venues of particularly striking beauty (Vincenca, Vienna, Turin, Padua). Comparing him with Horowitz, the New York Times once wrote: „He was an entire orchestra.” Programm includes A05501579, A05501580, A05501577, A05501576, A05501575, A05501570/71/72
Leonard Bernstein conducts Debussy
With his legendary ability to conjure up magical sonorities, Leonard Bernstein offers his definitive reading of Debussy´s impressionistic sound worlds. His series of concerts with Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome was recorded in 1989, the year before his death, and featured three of the French composer´s masterpieces. Images, La Mer and Prélude à l´après-midi d´un faune, in a feast of Mediterranean sesuality.
“Bernstein´s Debussy is neither ethereal nor gelatinous, but uncommonly vital, caught in the full light of the midday sun” (Il Giornale, Rome).
“An unprecedented triumph” (La Stampa, Turin).
Hermann Prey – The Schubert Song Cycles
“In his finest interpretations Hermann Prey sang Winterreise and Die schöne Müllerin with a captivatingly natural phrasing that flowed organically like a river and as such was the very opposite of the more intellectual approach of his rival, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.” – DIE ZEIT Online, 1998
“The velvety, silky timbre of his soft-grained and yet distinctively striking baritone voice, his charm, his excellent diction and the naturalness of his delivery spiced with a hint of emotion – it is all this that distinguishes the truly outstanding lieder singer.” – Opernglas, 1998. Progamme includes A0550868, A05504159, A05504158 , A05004949, A05501423, A05504146
Let’s Make an Opera!
This operatic entertainment for young people starts in the form of a play, with a group of children preparing an opera, a Victorian tale called The Little Sweep. Then comes the opera itself. Prix Italia-winning director Petr Weigl adds yet another ‘frame’ to Britten’s original in the form of his own zany preamble: a surreal, slapstick sequence introducing a cast of quirky characters who later form the audience for the children’s performance. He sets his film at the turn of the nineteenth century with elegant period costumes and settings.
Gergiev conducts Debussy, Prokofiev and Stravinsky
The energy and excitement of performances under the baton of maestro Valéry Gergiev are thrilling. This concert, with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, was recorded live at the city’s Doelen Hall. The programme includes Debussy’s Fragments Symphoniques for D’Annunzio’s mystery play Le Martyre de St Sébastien, Prokofiev’s Scythian Suite, Stravinsky’s Fireworks and his Piano Concerto. The soloist for the concerto is the Georgian virtuoso Alexander Toradze, a singularly imposing figure at the keyboard.
Stockhausen’s Gruppen
Involving three orchestras playing different but related music simultaneously, Stockhausen’s masterpiece is the ultimate in large-scale musical complexity. State-of-the-art sound technology captures Gruppen’s textural richness in this recording of a rare performance of the work. Lighting and colour are used to striking effect. Sir Simon Rattle, John Carewe and Daniel Harding conduct the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and contribute to an illuminating introduction, which includes film of their preparations and rehearsals.
Penderecki conducts Penderecki
In this programme, recorded in High Definition Television at the Alte Oper Frankfurt, Krzysztof Penederecki, Poland’s leading contemporary composer, conducts the Sinfonietta Cracovia in performances of four of his own works: Sinfonietta for Strings (1992), Viola Concerto (1982/83), Capriccio for Oboe and Strings (1964), and Concerto for Flute and Chamber Orchestra (1992).
Quartet for Clarinet and Strings
In this programme, recorded in High Definition Television at the Alte Oper Frankfurt, Krzysztof Penederecki, Poland’s leading contemporary composer, conducts the Sinfonietta Cracovia in performances of four of his own works: Sinfonietta for Strings (1992), Viola Concerto (1982/83), Capriccio for Oboe and Strings (1964), and Concerto for Flute and Chamber Orchestra (1992).
A Concert of Polish Music
In this programme, recorded in High Definition Television at the Alte Oper Frankfurt, Krzysztof Penederecki, Poland’s leading contemporary composer, conducts the Sinfonietta Cracovia in performances of four of his own works: Sinfonietta for Strings (1992), Viola Concerto (1982/83), Capriccio for Oboe and Strings (1964), and Concerto for Flute and Chamber Orchestra (1992).