In midst of the ruins of the Ancient Ecclesiastical Hall, accompanied by the rhythmic chirping of cicadas, Leonidas Kavakos and his Apollon Ensemble perform Bach. The atmosphere is electric, and the music is divinely beautiful. Night falls as the virtuosic Kavakos leads the musicians through the three Bach violin concertos “creating a fascinating dialogue between the ancient Greek aesthetic and the harmony and rhythm of classical music” (AMNA:Athens). And indeed, the timeless sounds of Bach seem to be at home in Ancient Messene. PROGRAM: Bach – Violin Concerto in A minor, BWV 1041; Violin Concerto in E major, BWV 1042; Violin Concerto in G minor (reconstruction from the Cembalo Concerto), BWV 1056; Violin Concerto in D minor (reconstruction from the Cembalo Concerto), BWV 1052
Albrecht Mayer New Seasons – Händel for Oboe and Orchestra
Unlike the piano, the violin or even the flute, the oboe is a relatively rare instrument for a solo career. And when a soloist such as Albrecht Mayer plays the oboe, one wishes composers had written more works for this weetly mellow instrument. Critics write about the “divine spark” that inspires his playing, and about the “miraculous oboe” that turns into “an instrument of seduction.” With his particularly warm tone and exceptionally broad palette of nuances, it’s no surprise that Albrecht Mayer is one of today’s most sought-after international oboists. In this documentary portrait of the oboist, we retrace the musician’s impressive career and witness some of its many high points. Mayer embarked on a professional career in 1990, when he joined the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra as solo oboist. Two years later, he made the transition to the absolute top league with his appointment as solo oboist of the Berlin Philharmonic, and since then he has made countless international appearances, playing under such eminent conductors as Abbado, Rattle and Harnoncourt. In addition to his work as a soloist, Mayer also attaches great importance to chamber music. He is a permanent member of the Sabine Meyer Wind Ensemble and also plays with such partners as Thomas Quasthoff, Matthias Goerne and Leif Ove Andsnes.
Mariss Jansons conducts Shostakovich Symphony No. 5
In the first concert of their tournee through the musical metropolises of South-America starting in Buenos Aires, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks under the baton of their musical director Mariss Jansons were celebrated by the audience for their interpretation of the 5th symphony by Shostakovich. In the sold out Teatro Colón, one of the biggest and most beautiful opera houses in the world, they “succeeded in delivering a moving, profound interpretation at the highest musical level” (SZ).
Teatro Colón – West-Eastern Divan Orchestra Opening Concert
“A city in a state of emergency” was the euphoric title of the article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung describing the performance of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra in Buenos Aires. Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra make a guest appearance every year during their Summer Residency in several evening concerts at the Teatro Colón. With the greatest of ease, they represent one of the highlights of the Festival de Música y Reflexión: the musicians enthralled their audience with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 – the piece Martha Argerich played at her debut at the Teatro Colón at the age of eight and with which she returned to the Teatro after a prolonged abstinence – plus two premieres of works by Roustom and Adler and Ravel’s evergreens. In the Ravel in particular, the Divan musicians were able to prove “their filigree tone, their mastery of pianissimo through to the barely audible and many other merits”. (FAZ)
Piano Duos at the Teatro Colón – Martha Argerich & Daniel Barenboim
“Martha Argerich and Daniel Barenboim wow their hometown of Buenos Aires” proclaimed the FAZ newspaper. This is the first time the two musicians have performed together in the city of their birth. So this concert, which formed part of the Festival de Música y Reflexión was a sort of “home game” for them, and one for which Argentinians had waited long. “The opera house has not been so packed for a long time as for the concerts featuring these two great artists.” (FAZ) “The Colón seemed to burst at the seams”. (Buenos Aires Herald) Martha Argerich delights the audience as “the untamed lioness of the keyboard” no less than Daniel Barenboim, who radiates “an unusually exuberant sparkling sound” (FAZ). Works by Mozart, Schubert and Stravinsky were followed by frenetic demands from the audience for encores and so, accompanied by three musicians from the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Argerich and Barenboim gave Schumann’s Variations for two pianos, Rachmaninoff’s Suite No. 2 and pieces by Guastavino and Milhaud. The Buenos Aires Herald summed up: a “grand tour de force”.
Martha Argerich & Daniel Barenboim – Piano Duos at the Teatro Colon
The return to their native city of Martha Argerich and Daniel Barenboim – two childhood friends from Buenos Aires, born just a year apart, who both grew up to become global superstars – proved an unforgettable evening of pianistic magic. “Coexistence”, as symbolisation of the festival motto, was in terms not just of two musical parts coming together in the hands of two very different yet equally distinctive artistic personalities – “the mercurial Martha and Daniel the master-architect” (Buenos Aires Herald) PROGRAM Schumann: Six Studies in the Form of Canons for Pedal Piano; Debussy: En blanc et noire; Bartok: Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion
Barenboim conducts Beethoven & Tchaikovsky
In the course of their Buenos Aires residency Barenboim and his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra together with “honorary member of the Divan” Martha Argerich, gave “a concert that proved to be the hottest ticket in the festival.” Opening with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2, the orchestra confirmed that “it is, simply, one of the great orchestras in the world today” while “Argerich proved again that she has lost none of her magical tone or perfect articulation” (Buenos Aires Herald). In Tchaikovsky’s emotionally tempestuous Symphony No. 4, Barenboim’s reading “rose to all the big moments” (Buenos Aires Herald). As a surprise encore, Argerich and Barenboim played a two-piano arrangement of the sweetly nostalgic Bailecito by their compatriot Carlos Guastavino.
West-Eastern Divan Orchestra at Teatro Colón – A Tango Evening
On the occasion of the “Festival de Música y Reflexión” at the Teatro Colón, Daniel Barenboim and his West Eastern Divan Orchestra celebrate the centennials of two extraordinary Argentinian musicians in 2016: Alberto Ginastera, eminent creator of modern classical music interfused with folkloristic elements, and Horacio Salgán, whose voice was distinctive in the development of Argentine tango during the 20th century. Barenboim and the WEDO present with “solidity and agility” Ginastera’s Violin Concerto as well as three tango compositions by Salgán. “It was the most particular concert of those Daniel Barenboim and the WEDO had programmed” (La Nación).
Martha Argerich & Daniel Barenboim – Piano Duos at the Teatro Colón III
In order to continue their incredibly successful piano duos series, Daniel Barenboim and Martha Argerich return to the stage of beautiful Teatro Colón at their hometown Buenos Aires, putting the “city in a state of emergency” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) with a fulminant concert evening. Argerich and Barenboim perform Johannes Brahms’ Variations On A Theme by Haydn, Arnold Schönberg’s Five pieces for Orchestra in Anton Webern’s arrangement for two pianos and Franz Liszt’s Concerto Pathétique. “An unforgettable concert […] Words were not needed. Barenboim and Argerich met again doing what they can do best and what they do in the best way it can possibly be done in this world” (La Nación).
Eldbjørg Hemsing rediscovers Hjalmar Borgstrøm’s Violin Concerto
Under the mesmerizing northern lights at the Stormen Concert Hall in Bodo, Norway, Eldbjorg Hemsing rediscovers a forgotten national treasure, Hjalmar Borgstrom’s Violin Concerto, in a splendid performance with the Arctic Philharmonic, conducted by Eivind Gullberg Jensen. The violin concerto has only received a handful of performances in 100 years. Borgstrom, who gained inspiration from Wagner and Beethoven, created this work in 1914. Ist notes were found by conductor Terje Boye Hansen, who forwarded them to Hemsing, one of Norway’s biggest musical talents today. And she demonstrates why Borgstrom’s composition has the potential to achieve the same significance among violin concertos in Norway as Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto, the Norwegian piano concerto par excellence. Hemsing shines “with a brilliant technique, her tone is bright and soft” (RP Online), breathing new life into the virtuosic music “with her vivacious personality and a wonderfully clear and pure lyrical tone” (Rondo).