Debussy, La Mer

The Philadelphia Orchestra was founded in 1900. Eugene Ormandy (1899-1985) stood at its head as principal conductor from 1936 to 1980. Continuing the work of his predecessor Leopold Stokowski, he turned the orchestra into one of the leading ensembles not only of the United States, but of the world. Under his direction, the orchestra became renowned in particular for its performances of late romantic and early 20th-century music.

Beethoven, Coriolan Overture, op.62

At the request of the writer Heinrich Joseph von Collin, Beethoven composed an overture to Collin’s tragedy in five acts Coriolanus (1802) in the spring of 1807. It was given its first performance in March 1807 in Prince Lobkowitz’s palace in Vienna. Although Beethoven’s music did not bring about the hoped-for stage revival of Collin’s tragedy, the Overture made its breakthrough as an independent concert piece. A dramatic work that owes its somber quality to Collin’s tragedy, it came to be favored for solemn occasions. Bernstein’s impassioned renderings of Beethoven move audiences in a unique way. “Beethoven has always meant universality to me, ever since my early adolescence, when I first heard that unforgettable cry of ‘Brüder!’. From that moment on, every… symphony came to mean heart-to-heart communication, traveling satellite-fashion via the cosmos itself. I offer [this cycle] to all music-loving ears as a testament of faith and of my most profound reactions to this greatest of all composers.” (Leonard Bernstein, 1980)

Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major, BWV 1047

For Johann Sebastian Bach, February 15, 1981 was no doubt one of the darkest days of his afterlife: on this day he lost one of his greatest champions in the 20th century, Karl Richter. Over the course of his long career as conductor, organist and harpsichordist, Richter had become synonymous with Bach. He founded the Munich Bach Choir and the Munich Bach Orchestra. He helped trigger the Bach revival in the 1950s. He was the spirit behind the Ansbach Bach Festival. He turned his adopted city of Munich into a Bach center. And he recorded all the major choral and orchestral works of Bach, including more than 100 cantatas.

Schumann, Cello Concerto in A minor, op.129

Recorded at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris in November 1976, Schumann’s Cello Concerto marked the high point of a concert given by the Orchestre National de France under Leonard Bernstein. The soloist was Mstislav Rostropovich, the leading cellist of our time and a talented conductor as well.

Mozart, Symphony No.31 in D major, K. 297 “Paris”

Unhappy with his situation in Salzburg, Mozart undertook a journey to Mannheim and Paris with his mother in 1778. The trip was overshadowed by tragedy – Mozart’s mother died in Paris – and was almost a complete failure. Almost, for it did give birth to a masterpiece like the “Paris Symphony,” written for the illustrious “Concerts Spirituels.” Knowing of the Parisians’ taste for brilliance and splendor, Mozart wrote a grand symphony for large orchestra, glowing with mellow woodwinds and ablaze with brass. A musician’s musician, an occasional firebrand and a constant paradox – Nikolaus Harnoncourt (born in 1929) is one of the most profound and intriguing conductors of our time. Considered one of the world’s leading specialists of Baroque music, he has long since turned his attention to Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and even to Jacques Offenbach and Johann Strauss. He spent many years as a cellist with the Wiener Symphoniker before founding the “Concentus Musicus Wien” with his wife Alice in 1953. It soon became one of the world’s most respected ensembles specializing in the performance of early music on original instruments. In the 1970s, Harnoncourt joined forces with Jean-Pierre Ponnelle to stage a series of Monteverdi operas at the Zurich Opera House. This universally acclaimed cycle contributed to a renaissance of Monteverdi’s music and set standards for early Baroque performance practice. Harnoncourt later began to turn his attention more and more to the music of Mozart, whom he considers “the most romantic of all composers”. His concept of Mozart’s music ran counter to the prevailing 20th-century views, however. He sees Mozart’s music as “dramatic, dynamic, often directly and highly emotional.” The Vienna Philharmonic, known for its suave and gracious Mozartian interpretations, initially rebelled against Harnoncourt’s unconventional approach. Yet the compellingness of his vision soon came to be accepted and shared by all members of the orchestra.

Debussy, La mer

“The sea has been very good to me”, wrote Debussy to his publisher shortly before he finished “La Mer”. “She has shown me all her moods.” Debussy began his three symphonic sketches in 1903. The work was premiered in Paris on 15 October 1905. The first piece, “From Dawn Until Noon on the Sea”, begins with low, sustained strings which give an impression of the immense power of the ocean. In the second piece, “The Play of the Waves”, the ocean whips itself into a fury, with rainbow colorings appearing and vanishing in fountains of spray. The “Dialogue of the Wind and the Sea” opens on a deep, threatening note, as if announcing a coming storm. After a siren-like call, the chorale heard in the first movement returns in an exultant climax. “I truly admire this orchestra and hope it becomes better known abroad,” confided Leonard Bernstein in 1989 to the audience in Rome’s Auditorio Pio before his concert of works by Claude Debussy (1862-1918) with the prestigious “Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia.” In the words of Rome’s “Il Giornale,” Bernstein served up a “Debussy that is neither ethereal nor shapeless, but uncommonly vital, caught in the full light of noon.”

Strauss, Don Juan, op.20

“The last of the great international orchestral and operatic maestri” (The Times), Sir Georg Solti is a living testament to the elegance and impeccable tastefulness of Central European music-making. Solti’s remarkable partnership with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra began in 1954, when he first led the orchestra at the Ravinia Festival. After returning to conduct the ensemble several times during the following years, he was named Music Director in 1969 and held this post for a phenomenal 22 years. He is credited with greatly extending and enhancing the orchestra’s worldwide reputation. This recording was made at the New Year’s Concert of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra held at Munich’s Herkulessaal on 31 December 1980.

Beethoven, Leonore Overture No.3 in C major, op.72a

Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio, was composed about 1803. As do so many of the composer’s works, it glorifies the struggle against tyranny and celebrates heroism and humanitarianism. The first performance, which took place in Vienna in 1805, was ill-received; and the opera required 10 years of revision before it was accepted by the public in 1814. Beethoven wrote four overtures to his opera: three are known as the “Leonore Overtures” (named after the heroine of the opera); the fourth, the Overture to Fidelio, is the version now used as a prelude to the opera .The music of Leonore No. 3 refers to the climax of the story in the last act of Fidelio. Today, it is usually played as an interlude between the second and third acts of the opera. This recording is part of Leonard Bernstein’s Beethoven cycle, recorded primarily with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in the early 1980s. Writing in The New York Times, critic John J. O’Connor stated: “As Mr. Bernstein says, there is ‘no single body of work in the universe of orchestral music that is in any way comparable to this one.’ Conducted with intense dedication and soaring spirits by Mr. Bernstein, these recordings are superb, both visually and aurally.”