Carlos Kleiber’s all too rare concert appearances are always musical occasions to cherish and remember. The vitality and precision of his authoritative gestures never fail to generate excitement and inspire playing of great élan from orchestras throughout the world. When Carlos Kleiber conducts the Concertgebouworkest of Amsterdam in Beethoven, one can expect a performance of intense musical concentration and exceptional expressive power. Carlos Kleiber made this recording with the Dutch orchestra in 1983, conducting Beethoven’s Fourth and Seventh Symphonies. The mesmeric command of this elusive conductor over his musicians is fascinating. With none of the excessive glamor of the star performer, Carlos Kleiber, with meticulous care for detail, creates clear instrumental textures, compelling rhythmic designs and magical moments of fine repose. This is spell-binding music-making. This is vintage Carlos Kleiber.
Brahms, Piano Concerto No.2 in B flat major, op.83
Between 1981 and 1984, Leonard Bernstein recorded nearly all of Brahms’s orchestral works with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra to honor the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth in 1983. Today, the cycle is considered as a landmark in the interpretation of Brahms’ music. For Bernstein, Brahms was “a true Romantic, containing his passions in classical garb”, but also a “North-German classicist swept away to Vienna, and fired by Danubian, Carpathian and gypsy passions”. Bearing this dualism in mind, Bernstein and the Vienna Philharmonic have underscored both the classicism and romanticism, the dramatic intensity and the sober restraint of Brahms’s music. The venue was Vienna’s Musikvereinssaal, where two of Brahms’s symphonies were premiered and where Brahms himself conducted. The soloist in Brahms’s concerto is the Polish pianist Krystian Zimerman, who launched his meteoric career when he won the Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 1975. An important influence in his youth was his friendship with Artur Rubinstein, and other landmarks in his career arose through his work with conductors such as Bernstein, Giulini and Karajan.
Beethoven, Symphony No.3 in E flat major, op.55 “Eroica”
Beethoven originally dedicated this symphony to Napoleon, whom he saw as the champion of the common man, a hero pursuing the ideals of the French Revolution: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. However, upon hearing that Napoleon had declared himself emperor, Beethoven became furious and tore up the title page containing the dedication. The “Eroica” marks one of the turning points in music history, heralding a new age in symphonic style. Prior to this work, Beethoven had been a composer with roots in the 18th century. The Third Symphony’s length and the nature of its thematic material, emotional depth, range and harmonic daring set it apart from any earlier symphonic work. This recording is part of Bernstein’s complete cycle of Beethoven symphonies recorded with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra live in Vienna. The series won the Ace Award, the U.S. Cable TV Association’s top award for outstanding quality and entertainment value. 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, travelling 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)
Brahms, Symphony No.2 in D major, op.73
Brahms’s sunny Second Symphony is as warm and lyrical as his First had been stormy and dramatic. It quite possibly reflects the idyllic nature around Lake Wörth in Austria, where Brahms composed it in the summer of 1877. Brahms himself, however, called attention to the melancholy current that undermines the pastoral serenity (“You’ve never heard anything as world- weary as this”, he wrote to his friend Schubring). Despite the apparent simplicity of the symphonic writing, the work is strengthened and enriched by many thematic threads that run from one movement to another. It has been a special favorite among music lovers since its premiere in Vienna on 30 December 1877. Leonard Bernstein’s interpretation with the Boston Symphony Orchestra was recorded at Tanglewood in 1972. For Bernstein, Brahms was “a true Romantic, containing his passions in classical garb”, but also a “North-German classicist swept away to Vienna, and fired by Danubian, Carpathian and gypsy passions”. Bearing this dualism in mind, Bernstein underscored both the classicism and romanticism, the dramatic intensity and the sober restraint of Brahms’s music.
Tchaikovsky, Violin Concerto in D major, op.35
Along with Mendelssohn’s violin concerto, Tchaikovsky’s Opus 35 has become one of the most popular concertos in the world. But this was not always so. When it was first performed in Vienna on 4 December 1881, it was almost unanimously rejected by the press and said to “stink in the ear”. The first two movements are marked by a tender lyricism that wonderfully brings out the violin’s songful qualities. The third movement, an Allegro vivacissimo, launches into a fireworks of virtuoso display that concludes the work on a dazzling note. Recorded with the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein at New York’s Avery Fisher Hall in 1975, this performance of Tchaikovsky’s beloved violin concerto marked the U.S. debut of the Israeli violinist Boris Belkin, who has since performed with all the leading orchestras of the world and under such eminent conductors as Maazel, Muti, Haitink and Mehta.
Bruckner, Symphony No.9 in D minor
Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9 can be regarded as the composer’s musical testament. Bruckner (1824-1896) told a friend: “I dedicate my last work to the Lord of lords, to my dear God. I hope that He will grant me enough time to complete it.” His wish was not fulfilled; the composer was still working on the finale the day he died and the symphony remained a torso. Bruckner nevertheless considered the work as the crowning point of his oeuvre, and he is said to have woven his musical farewell to life in the symphony’s Adagio. One of Bruckner’s most congenial interpreters was Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989). Karajan embodied classical music in the general consciousness as an epoch-making conductor, media star, opera producer, festival director and festival founder. But in spite of his Promethean and widely varied activities, he remained a superb conductor, with a grasp of the standard orchestral and operatic repertory from Mozart to Schoenberg that was unsurpassed among his peers.
Brahms, Symphony No.1 in C minor, op.68
Between 1981 and 1984, Leonard Bernstein recorded nearly all of Brahms’s orchestral works with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra to honor the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth in 1983. Today, the cycle is considered as a landmark in the interpretation of Brahms’ music. For Bernstein, Brahms was “a true Romantic, containing his passions in classical garb”, but also a “North-German classicist swept away to Vienna, and fired by Danubian, Carpathian and gypsy passions”. Bearing this dualism in mind, Bernstein and the Vienna Philharmonic have underscored both the classicism and romanticism, the dramatic intensity and the sober restraint of Brahms’s music. The venue was Vienna’s Musikvereinssaal, where two of Brahms’s symphonies were premiered and where Brahms himself conducted. For the concertos, Bernstein enlisted the services of some of the finest Brahms interpreters of the time: the violinist Gidon Kremer, the cellist Misha Maisky and the pianist Krystian Zimerman.
Beethoven, Symphony No.5 in C minor, op.67
One of the best known and most beloved in music literature, Beethoven’s Fifth was written between 1804 and 1807. The first performance took place on 22 December 1808 in Vienna with Beethoven conducting. One of the most famous phrases in symphonic music opens the work and dominates the first movement, which then gives way to a set of variations on one long, extended theme in the second movement. The four-note introduction reemerges in the third movement, a Scherzo, with the double bass taking on a major role. The fourth movement is a magnificent explosion of music, almost a triumphant march. This recording is part of Bernstein’s complete cycle of Beethoven symphonies recorded with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra live in Vienna. The series won the Ace Award, the U.S. Cable TV Association’s top award for outstanding quality and entertainment value. 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, travelling 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)
Schubert, Symphony No.7 in C major, D. 944
In the throes of his mortal illness, Franz Schubert (1797-1828) heroically succeeded in putting to paper his splendid last symphony, whose “divine lengths” are truly unique. Composed in 1825/26, Schubert’s largest symphonic work was first discovered after his death by Robert Schumann and first performed one year later, in 1839, by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in the Leipzig Gewandhaus. In marked contrast to the equally beloved “Unfinished” Symphony, Schubert devises a labyrinth of harmonies in a piece full of artless directness and joyful dance-like rhythms. Echoes of the visionary secrets of Romanticism surface from the depths of the work, only to be washed away by the inexorable current of the melodies. Never did Schubert write with such a lavish and impetuous hand than in his Ninth Symphony: “…it bears the eternal seed of youth within it.” (Robert Schumann) Unitel recorded this performance at the Musikvereinssaal in Vienna during a public concert given there in spring 1973. Karl Böhm led the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
Beethoven, Symphony No.2 in D major, op.36
When, in the mid 1960s, Herbert von Karajan decided to record on film all nine Beethoven symphonies with the Berlin Philharmonic, he began with the “Fifth” and asked the famous French movie director Henri-Georges Clouzot (Quai des Orfèvres) to direct. Recognizing in the music-loving director a kindred soul and master of the symbolic image, Karajan found an inspired partner. In another of Karajan’s first efforts, he asked six directors to “stage” one movement each of a Beethoven symphony. For a full week, the directors had the Berlin Philharmonic and Herbert von Karajan – all in full dress – at their disposal, with all the 35mm film, cameras, lighting and technical assistance they needed. Karajan’s most controversial production was Hugo Niebeling’s highly personal interpretation of the “Pastorale”, with its abstract shots of instruments, rapid rhythms, fade-ins and symbolically arranged colors.