Hailed by the press as “the definitive video production” of Tchaikovsky’s music, this exceptional concert series, recorded live from the Alte Oper Frankfurt, features the leading Russian conductor Vladimir Fedoseyev and the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra. Fedoseyev’s perceptive reading of the works of his fellow countryman, the masterly playing of the orchestra and guest soloists combine to produce performances which are revelatory in their execution and understanding of Tchaikovsky’s music and the Russian heritage.
Mozart, Piano Concerto in G major, K.453, and Ravel, Menuet sur le nom de Haydn (Mozartwoche 1999)
The former “Camerata academica Salzburg” was renamed simply “Camerata Salzburg” in 2001. It was founded in 1951 by Bernhard Paumgartner, who was its head and mentor for many years. From 1978 to 1997 its artistic director was Sándor Végh and in 1997 Roger Norrington was appointed principal conductor of the ensemble. The Camerata Salzburg can be heard every year at the Salzburg Mozartwoche and Salzburg Festival. Alexander Janiczek, who conducts this concert, comes from Salzburg and has been the concertmaster of the Camerata Salzburg since 1991. The soloist is Paul Gulda. This work, together with its fellow pieces K. 450 and 451, marks the beginning of an entirely new concerto concept, one that made great demands on the performer and whose aim was the synthesis of the traditional concerto form and the symphony. This is brilliantly illustrated in K. 453 by the totally new importance given to the orchestra. It no longer merely accompanies the solo part and highlights the formal contours, but develops its own unique and colorful personality, characterized above all by the poignant use of the woodwinds. The solo part becomes more and more the soul of the composer, expressing his innermost feelings and rejecting technical brilliancy for its own sake. Mozart thus clears the way for the intensely personal concerto form of the 19th century, which, incidentally, will make it practically impossible for the soloist to conduct at the keyboard, as he had until then.
Mozart, Serenade in D major, K.100 with March K.62 (Mozartwoche 1999)
The former “Camerata academica Salzburg” was renamed simply “Camerata Salzburg” in 2001. It was founded in 1951 by Bernhard Paumgartner, who was its head and mentor for many years. From 1978 to 1997 its artistic director was Sándor Végh and in 1997 Roger Norrington was appointed principal conductor of the ensemble. The Camerata Salzburg can be heard every year at the Salzburg Mozartwoche and Salzburg Festival. Alexander Janiczek, who conducts this concert, comes from Salzburg and has been the concertmaster of the Camerata Salzburg since 1991. The soloists in the Serenade are Clara Dent (oboe) and Josef Sterlinger (horn).
Mozart, Serenade in D major, K. 185 “Antretter Serenade” and March K. 189 (Mozartwoche 1998)
The Camerata Academica Salzburg was founded in 1951 by Bernhard Paumgartner, who was the ensemble’s mentor for many years and secured its extraordinary reputation. Sándor Végh was the artistic director of the chamber orchestra from 1978 to 1997, and since then the ensemble has been in the hands of Sir Roger Norrington. Alexander Janiczek, who conducts this concert and plays the solo violin, was born in Salzburg and has been the concertmaster of the Camerata Academica Salzburg since 1991. This recording was made in January 1998 during the 1998 Mozartwoche in Salzburg.
Mozart, String Quartet in G major, K. 387 (Mozartwoche 1998)
Mozart, who had been profoundly moved by Haydn’s String Quartets op. 33, composed these quartets between 1782 and 1785 and dedicated them to his revered friend Joseph Haydn with the words: “Here they are then, O great man and dearest friend, these six children of mine. They are, it is true, the fruit of long and laborious efforts¿” The Hagen Quartet, consisting of the siblings Lukas, Veronika and Clemens Hagen along with the violinist Rainer Schmidt, attracted great attention and scored impressive successes while its members were still students at the Salzburg Mozarteum. Their international career began with their appearance at the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival in 1981. The quartet is now internationally known for its inspired performances, especially of works by Mozart.
Mozart, String Quartet in A major, K. 464 (Mozartwoche 1998)
Mozart, who had been profoundly moved by Haydn’s String Quartets op. 33, composed these quartets between 1782 and 1785 and dedicated them to his revered friend Joseph Haydn with the words: “Here they are then, O great man and dearest friend, these six children of mine. They are, it is true, the fruit of long and laborious efforts¿” The Hagen Quartet, consisting of the siblings Lukas, Veronika and Clemens Hagen along with the violinist Rainer Schmidt, attracted great attention and scored impressive successes while its members were still students at the Salzburg Mozarteum. Their international career began with their appearance at the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival in 1981. The quartet is now internationally known for its inspired performances, especially of works by Mozart.
Hermann Prey – Portrait
The internationally acclaimed baritone Hermann Prey was born in Berlin in 1929. He made his breakthrough in 1956 as Figaro in the Vienna State Opera’s production of Rossini’s “Barber of Seville”. His resounding success as Figaro in Jean-Pierre Ponnelle’s 1969 staging of Rossini’s “Barber of Seville” at the Salzburg Festival stamped him as the Figaro of that era. Recorded a few years later by Unitel, this production has taken on an almost legendary status. Prey soon became a Mozart singer par excellence, portraying Guglielmo (“Così fan tutte”), Almaviva (“The Marriage of Figaro”), Papageno (“The Magic Flute”) and, of course, Figaro. His unforgettable interpretation of this role in Ponnelle’s production of “The Marriage of Figaro” is preserved for all times by Unitel in a 1976 recording with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Kiri Te Kanawa and Mirella Freni. Prey also enjoyed great popularity in the United States, appearing in operas in San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Houston and New York. After his Met debut as Wolfram in “Tannhäuser” in 1960, he regularly sang at that house until 1995. In addition to Mozart and Rossini, Prey’s other favorite composers included Lortzing, Donizetti, Strauss and Wagner. Prey made his Bayreuth debut in 1965. It was there that he transformed the Meistersinger’s Beckmesser into a sympathetic figure, a poet tinged with melancholy, in Wolfgang Wagner’s early 1980s production. This performance is also preserved on film by Unitel. Hermann Prey was never exclusively an opera singer, however. His other specialty was the German song. As a kind of ambassador of the German lied, he filled concert halls all over the world. Prey sang Schubert and Schumann, Brahms and Mahler in a way that always emphasized naturalness and spontaneity over analytical profundity and scholarship. But his inquisitiveness also led him to explore the treasures of the German song from the Middle Ages to the present day. A special fondness for Schubert moved him to set up a Schubert festival in the Austrian town of Hohenems, where he planned to perform all of Schubert’s works. His interpretations of Schubert’s songs have – with those of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau – set standards for lieder singing in the 20th century. Unitel is proud to offer Prey’s recordings of Schubert’s “Die schöne Müllerin”, “Schwanengesang” and “Die Winterreise” on video, as well as lieder by Robert Schumann and Richard Strauss.
Workshop Bayreuth
Tango sinfonico
Musical Chats from and with Herbert Rosendorfer
Born in Bolzano (Bozen, Italy) in 1934, Herbert Rosendorfer is a lawyer who introduced himself as an author in 1966 with his short story “Die Glasglocke.” This was followed by many novels, stage works, scripts and short stories, which revealed him to be an imaginative and multi-faceted author. A socio-critical satirist, he writes with a well-balanced mixture of wit, thought-provoking ideas and absurd-grotesque elements. All this is also found in his novel “Briefe in die chinesische Vergangenheit” (Letters to China’s Past) of 1983, which ranks among his most well-known books. Here the Chinese Kao-Tai travels from the 10th century to the Munich of the 20th century. In addition to his legal activities, Rosendorfer is honorary professor for contemporary Bavarian literature at the University of Munich and obtained the Bavarian Literature Prize in 1999.