Performing the solo parts of two of the great piano concertos in the concert repertoire – BEETHOVEN’s Piano Concerto no. 3 and TCHAIKOVSKY’s Piano Concerto no. 1 – in one sitting is a feat that few pianists can pull off apart from Daniel Barenboim. Pianist, conductor and chamber musician extraordinaire, Daniel Barenboim hands over the reins of “his” orchestra, the Staatskapelle Berlin, to his close friend and colleague Zubin Mehta. To honor his friend the composer Elliott CARTER, who passed away at the age of 103, Barenboim performs a work written especially for him by Carter. —– Program: BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 3; ELIOTT CARTER: Dialogues II for piano and orchestra; TCHAIKOVSKY: Piano Concerto No. 1
Mehta and Midori perform Brahms and Hindemith
To celebrate her 30th stage jubilee acclaimed Japanese violinist Midori chose a very special partner, conductor Zubin Mehta, who also conducted her concert debut with the New York Philharmonic in 1983 when she was eleven years old. In this concert with the Münchner Philharmoniker she performs a milestone of violin literature: BRAHMS’ Violin Concerto in D major. The concert is accompanied by Brahms’ Tragic Overture and Hindemith’s symphony “Mathis der Maler”. HINDEMITH, once the “bad boy” of the German music scene (New York Musical Courier) composed the symphony – using melodies from his opera of the same name – in commission for Wilhelm Furtwängler and the Berliner Philharmoniker in 1934. Its first performance was a huge success but also caused a hate campaign that made Hindemith emigrate from Germany.
Christian Thielemann – Brahms Cycle: Symphony No. 2 and Piano Concerto No. 2 with Maurizio Pollini
The third part of Christian Thielemann’s Brahms Cycle with the Staatskapelle Dresden. On the program: BRAHMS’ piano concerto no. 2 B major op.83, with Maurizio Pollini as soloist, and Brahms’ symphony no. 2 D major. The evening is completed by Ferruccio Busoni’s: “Lustspiel-Ouvertüre” op. 38
Thielemann Brahms Cycle: Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Violin Concerto D major, Op. 77
Third Part of Christian Thielemann’s Brahms Cycle with the Staatskapelle Dresden. On the program: BRAHMS’ Academic Festival Overture in C minor, Op. 80, the Violin Concerto D major, Op. 77 (with Lisa Batashvili as soloist) and the Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98.
Christian Thielemann – Brahms Cycle: Symphony No. 4 & Violin Concerto
Christian Thielemann and Lisa Batiashvili performing Brahms in Dresden. The concert is part of Christian Thielemann’s Brahms-Cycle with the Staatskapelle Dresden. On the program: Brahms, Academic Festival Overture in C minor, Op. 80, the Violin Concerto D major, Op. 77 and the Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98.
Christian Thielemann celebrates Liszt in Weimar – Festive Concert on the 200th Birthday of Franz Liszt
On the 200th birthday of Franz Liszt, the city of Weimar arranges a special concert for its former Kapellmeister: members of the Staatskapelle Weimar and students of the Musikhochschule FRANZ LISZT play under the baton of conductor Christian Thielemann. Russian pianist Konstantin Sherbakov will perform Liszt’s ‘Totentanz’, a variation cycle for piano and orchestra, and his Second Piano Concerto.
Festive Advent Concert at the Frauenkirche Dresden 2011
Mezzo-soprano Sophie Koch and baritone Thomas Hampson are the stars of this year’s traditional Advent concert in the historic Frauenkirche in Dresden. Conductor Christian Thielemann heads this particularly lavish program with the Staatskapelle Dresden in the famous Baroque church. Together with the State Opera Chorus, and in a setting of resplendent beauty, they perform inspiring and festive works such as arias from Bach’s Mass in B minor and his Christmas Oratorio. The festive Advent concerts have become an institution since the year 2000. The TV broadcast of the concert is watched by almost two million viewers in Germany alone.
Emmanuel Pahud: Works by Frederick the Great
With this programme, Emmanuel Pahud, with no doubt one of the best flute players in the world, honours the 300th anniversary of a great philosopher, musician and composer: the Prussian King Frederick II, also called the Great. Together with the Kammerakademie Potsdam the famous French flutist and member of the Berliner Philharmonics will perform – in one of the palaces build by the King – musical works of Frederick the Great himself, of Johann Joachim Quantz (teacher of Frederick the Great) , of Franz Benda and of Carl Friedrich Emanuel Bach, who was the royal harpsichordist. Also available: Documentary (45’ – A05513518)
Albrecht Mayer and Christian Thielemann: Bruckner, Strauss
Christian Thielemann’s international fame rests to a large extent on his interpretations of BRUCKNER. In this concert with the Berliner Philharmoniker he conducts the composer’s most popular work, the Fourth Symphony. As the epithet “Romantic” implies, Bruckner here creates a vision of a better past. The Oboe Concerto by RICHARD STRAUSS which opens the concert has a similarly nostalgic flavour. The soloist is Albrecht Mayer, principal oboist with the Berliner Philharmoniker since 1992.—– Program: Richard STRAUSS, Oboe Concerto in D major; Johann Sebastian BACH, Sinfonia from Cantata BWV 156, Anton BRUCKNER, Symphony No. 4 in E flat major “Romantic”
Wolf, Songs for Soprano and Orchestra & Bruckner, Symphony No. 7
When conductor Christian Thielemann, master interpreter of the romantic repertoire, and Renée Fleming, late-romantic specialist par excellence, weave their talents into the orchestral tapestry unfolded by the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, one of the oldest and most revered orchestras in the world, they create, as put by the Süddeutsche Zeitung, “romantic music as magic for the ears”. For this special concert, the first concert of Christian Thielemann as the principal conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden, they chose the orchestral songs by the Austrian composer HUGO WOLF and ANTON BRUCKNER’s Symphony No. 7.