Composed two months before Mozart’s death, the Clarinet Concerto K. 622 marks the beginning and climax of clarinet literature. It set standards, was never equaled, and became the undisputed landmark on which Weber, Strauss, Debussy and Busoni guided themselves. Mozart masterfully exploited the particular sound quality of the instrument and the various timbres of its registers to produce a work of ethereal beauty and lyrical elegance. The Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein lives up to its usual high standard in this interpretation of “its” Mozart. Incidentally, the soloist Peter Schmidl, who has been solo clarinetist of the Vienna Philharmonic since 1968, is the son and grandson of former solo clarinetists of this same orchestra!
Leonard Bernstein in Salzau 1987 – Part I: “…so that we get ahead…” The Birth of an Orchestra.
The music special “Leonard Bernstein in Salzau” offers a lively and fascinating inside look at the professional world of young conductors and orchestral musicians in three one-hour-long programs. It also portrays one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, Leonard Bernstein, shown at work with young musicians, challenging them, but also encouraging and reassuring them. In Part One, we witness the arrival of 120 young musicians in Salzau, all of whom have been selected from over 1600 competitors in auditions. Under the guidance of experienced conductors and teachers, they work together in various groups which yield a homogeneous orchestral body in an amazingly short time. During this preparatory phase, the musicians were constantly observed by Unitel’s cameras and interviewed about their impressions and experiences.
Leonard Bernstein in Salzau 1987 – Part II: With him up front…” Orchestral Work with Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring”
“Leonard Bernstein in Salzau” offers a lively and fascinating inside look at the professional world of young musicians. At the same time, it portrays one of the most eminent musicians of our time: Leonard Bernstein. Young conductors and instrumentalists, some of whom have already acquired a certain reputation, have come to Salzau Castle to learn while playing and to make music of the highest standards. “I am trying to do something for Europe that Europe actually did for me: through Sergei Koussevitzky, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Fritz Reiner… I had promised myself to founding another Tanglewood here.” (Leonard Bernstein)
Leonard Bernstein in Salzau 1987 – Part III: “Beating time is very basic, but…” International Conductor’s Competition and Master Course.
The music special “Leonard Bernstein in Salzau” offers a lively and fascinating inside look at the professional world of young conductors and orchestral musicians in three one-hour-long programs. It also portrays one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, Leonard Bernstein, shown at work with young musicians, challenging them, but also encouraging and reassuring them. In Part Three, we follow four young conductors who are given the chance to work with Leonard Bernstein and to go on a concert tour with him. The youths are torn between fear and hope, disappointment and triumph before finally submitting to the ultimate challenge of conducting the orchestra under the watchful gaze of the maestro. “Beating time is naturally very basic. Almost everybody can learn to beat¿ But what we are looking for is not the beating of the beat, it is the beating of the music.” (Leonard Bernstein)
Chopin, Sonata No.3 in B minor, op.58
Ivo Pogorelich was born in Belgrade on 20 October 1958. After his classical training at the Moscow Conservatory, he took master classes from Aliza Kezeradze, whom he married in 1980. In 1978 he won the Casagrande Competition in Italy and in 1980 the International Music Competition in Montreal. At the International Chopin Competition in 1980, his spectacular failure to win the first prize made him famous overnight. Martha Argerich, member of the jury, protested: “Pogorelich is a genius!” Since then, Pogorelich has been pursuing a brilliant international career. His often controversial and always stunning interpretations confirm the originality of his talent and intellect. The artist founded the “Ivo Pogorelich Festival” in Bad Wörishofen in 1989, an event dedicated to the promotion of young artists. In 1993 he launched the Ivo Pogorelich Piano Competition in California. Our program was recorded at the Castello Reale in Racconigi near Turin, one of the residences of the Italian royal family.
The Secret Of Macbeth – The Making of an Opera Film
Schubert, Symphony No.9 in C major, D. 944
This concert featuring the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Leonard Bernstein was recorded live in June 1987 in the Congress Hall of the Deutsches Museum in Munich.
Ives, Symphony No.2 (with an introduction by Leonard Bernstein)
Charles Edward Ives was the first internationally acclaimed American composer. He wrote his Symphony No. 2 in the years 1897 to 1901, but it was not given its first performance until 1951. With his unparalleled musical imagination, Ives created atonal music before Arnold Schoenberg, and anticipated Igor Stravinsky in his experimentation with free dissonances, quarter tones and polyrhythms, which are still problematical to play today. The Symphony No. 2, however, is a simple, almost “academic” work in comparison. It unites the musical tradition of the Old World with American folk songs, hymns and patriotic songs. What emerged was a humorous, almost folkloristic work which vividly conveys the feeling of true American vitality, naturalness and optimism, while interjecting recollections of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Wagner, Dvorak and Bruckner. Played by the Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio under Leonard Bernstein, Ives’ Symphony No. 2 was recorded at the Congress Hall of the Deutsches Museum in Munich in 1987.
Sibelius, Symphony No.5 in E flat major, op.82
In the mid 1980s, Unitel began recording a complete cycle of Sibelius symphonies with Leonard Bernstein and the Vienna Philharmonic. Bernstein’s death in 1990 unfortunately cut short this project after the release of Symphonies Nos. 1, 2, 5 and 7. They were recorded live at Vienna’s Musikvereinssaal and were the object of stellar reviews. Bernstein, in the words of a leading Austrian daily, “painted a canvas of late-romantic splendor with the Philharmonic’s sound – the incomparable brilliancy of the strings, the glowing intensity of the brass – in a way that only the greatest conductors can.” (Symphony No. 1) And in its review of the Second Symphony, a major Viennese newspaper wrote: “For the sake of Jean Sibelius, Leonard Bernstein leaps with fanatical zeal into the heaving waves of late romantic emotions.” It is not surprising that Leonard Bernstein felt so passionately about Sibelius’s music. In many respects, it strikingly parallels that of Gustav Mahler. In fact, Sibelius’s oeuvre is seen along with Gustav Mahler’s as the most important symphonic legacy between late romanticism and modernity. And as Mahler’s glowing advocate, Bernstein was suited like none other to disseminate the music of his great colleague Jean Sibelius.
Liszt, Années de Pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage) Book 2: Italy With introduction by Alfred Brendel
The Austrian pianist Alfred Brendel was born in 1931 and began his international career around the middle of the 20th century. His extensive repertoire comprises works of the classical, romantic and modern eras. Brendel, who has also made a name for himself as a musicologist, author of music books, and poet, is often called a philosopher of music.