When Anna Netrebko sings one of the most beautiful sacred works of the 18th century, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s “Stabat mater”, many music lovers will see this as the highlight of the “Pergolesi year”. Her appearance together with contralto Marianna Pizzolato and with Bertrand de Billy at the head of the Sächsische Staatskapelle in Dresden’s exuberantly Baroque Frauenkirche radiates “nothing less than bewitching depth and beauty” (Morgenpost). In addition to the Pergolesi, the concert features an excerpt from Joseph Haydn’s “Sieben letzte Worte des Erlösers am Kreuze” as well as Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Erbarme Dich”.
Thielemann conducts Faust
Under the direction of romantic-music specialist Christian Thielemann, the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden performs a special Franz Liszt memorial concert at the Semperoper in Dresden to commemorate the 200th anniversary year of one of the 19th century’s greatest composers. The “Faust”-themed concert opens with the Overture to “Faust” in D minor by Richard Wagner, who was Liszt’s son-in-law, before leading into Franz Liszt’s symphonic masterpiece “A Faust Symphony”. “A top orchestra and a top conductor have found one another” (Die Welt).
3 Stars in Berlin – Live from the Waldbühne 2011
When Anna Netrebko, Jonas Kaufmann and Erwin Schrott join forces, the result is a summit of vocal giants, recorded for posterity at Berlin’s spectacular outdoor Waldbühne. Accompanied by the Prague Philharmonia under Marco Armiliato, the three singers beguiled the audience with a program ranging from famous arias to forgotten gems. There’s something for everyone, from the connoisseur to the layman who rarely listens to classical music. Also of the highest standard is the recording itself, with expert camerawork ensuring that the concert’s unique atmosphere is vividly transposed to the screen.
Stars of Tomorrow presented by Rolando Villazón – Episode 1
PROGRAM: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Overture from Die Entführung aus dem Serail // Johannes Brahms: Hungarian Dance No. 1 // Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky: Souvenir d’un lieu cher – Mélodie (Soloist: Valery Sokolov) // Gioachino Rossini: “Non si da follia maggiore” from Il Turco in Italia (Soloist: Olga Peretyatko) // Spanish Romance (Soloist: Miloš Karadaglic) // Isaac Albéniz: Asturias (Soloist: Miloš Karadaglic) // Johann Nepomuk Hummel: Trumpet Concerto – Rondo (Soloist: Francisco Pacho Flores) // Jorge del Moral: Besos robados (Soloists: Rolando Villazón & Francisco Pacho Flores) // Johannes Brahms: Guten Abend, gute Nacht
Stars of Tomorrow presented by Rolando Villazón – Episode 2
PROGRAM: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Overture from Die Entführung aus dem Serail // Johannes Brahms: Hungarian Dance No. 3 // Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Eine kleine Nachtmusik // Johann Strauß: “Mein Herr Marquis” from Die Fledermaus (Soloist: Chen Reiss) // Franz Liszt: Rigoletto Paraphrase (Soloist: Benyamin Nuss) // Nobuo Uematso: Final Fantasy VI (Soloist: Benyamin Nuss) // Claude Debussy: Danse profane (Soloist: Teresa Zimmermann) // Robert Schumann: Der Nussbaum (Soloists: Chen Reiss & Teresa Zimmermann) // Camille Saint-Saëns: Romance for cello and orchestra (Soloist: Maximilian Hornung) Johann Sebastian Bach: Bourrée I & II
(Soloist: Maximilian Hornung) // Jules Massenet: “Ouvre tes yeux bleus” (Soloists: Rolando Villazón & Benyamin Nuss)
Stars of Tomorrow presented by Rolando Villazón – Episode 3
PROGRAM: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Overture from Die Entführung aus dem Serail // Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Intermezzo from A Midsummer Night’s Dream // Charles Gounod: “Je veux vivre” from Roméo et Juliette (Soloist: Nino Machaidze) // Astor Piazzolla: Tango Etude No. 3 (Soloist: Eva-Nina Kozmus) // Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Flute Concerto No. 1 – Allegro maestoso (Soloist: Eva-Nina Kozmus) // Léo Delibes: Les filles de Cadix (Soloist: Nino Machaidze) // David Orlowsky: Juli (Orlowsky Trio) // Jens-Uwe Popp: Satin (Orlowsky Trio) // Édouard Lalo: Symphonie espagnole – Intermezzo (Soloist: Vilde Frang) // Charles Dumont, Michel Vaucaire: Non, je ne regrette rien
The Chopin Piano Concertos
The 200th anniversary of the birth of Frédéric Chopin stimulated a new appreciation of the Polish composer’s works. One of the truly great homages paid to Chopin was the concert presented on this recording and featuring the two Chopin piano concertos performed by Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin under Andris Nelsons at the Ruhr Piano Festival in Essen. “Storms of applause for a dream couple: Daniel Barenboim and Andris Nelsons won over the audience [ ] with their rousing Chopin interpretations”, raved the press.
Gala Concert from the Semperoper Highlights from ‘The Merry Widow‘
This gala evening in the beautiful Semperoper devoted to operetta melodies with classic superstars Renée Fleming and Christopher Maltman under the baton of Christian Thielemann was a tremendous success and, as Deutsche Grammophon put it, started ‘a new tradition’. Thielemann, heading the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden and an ensemble of distinguished soloists and choral singers, presents the most beautiful highlights from Franz Lehár’s ‘The Merry Widow’ and succeeds in giving the famous and universally beloved melodies a perceptive new reading while still creating first-class entertainment. A short entr’acte performed in the foyer by members of the theater’s ballet ensemble allows the viewer a glimpse into the luxurious interior of the Semperoper. The New Year’s Eve gala concert ends with an homage to Dresden: the waltz ‘An der Elbe’, the last waltz written by Johann Strauss.
Andris Nelsons: From the new World
“Andris Nelsons and the BR-Symphonieorchester are a sensation”, raved the press. It isn’t often that a young conductor excites audiences and stirs up critics to the extent that Andris Nelsons does. As can be seen in this concert “From the New World”, he communicates his passion with a vocabulary of gestures that sweep the audience off their feet. The concert with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks is devoted to the “New World”. The main work of the evening is Antonín Dvorák’s Ninth Symphony, “From the New World”. The first half features compositions of the 20th and 21st-century by American composers Charles Ives and John Adams, along with a work by Igor Stravinsky, who spent several decades in the U.S.
Festive Advent Concert at the Frauenkirche Dresden 2010
Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo, hailed as “opera hero of the year” (Sächsische Zeitung), and Carolina Ullrich are the stars of this festive Advent concert from the Frauenkirche in Dresden. Conductor Bertrand de Billy heads this particularly lavish program with the Staatskapelle Dresden in the famous Baroque Frauenkirche. Together with the Chor der Sächsischen Staatsoper and the Kammerchor der Frauenkirche, and in a setting of resplendent beauty, they perform inspiring and festive works.