Weltliche Musik (Secular Music)

In this program featuring excerpts from secular works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Nikolaus Harnoncourt strives to reveal something of the mystery and fascination of Bach’s compositional art in the domain of non-sacred music. With his Concentus musicus Wien and the vocal soloists Janet Perry and Robert Holl, Harnoncourt interprets passages and movements from Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3, the Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 3 and 5, Bach’s arrangement of Benedetto Marcello’s Oboe Concerto and parts of the “Coffee Cantata”. “In my view, Bach is a total musician. No matter in what musical domain he lands, he immediately deploys his full resources and creates the greatest music that is imaginable in his time in this respective domain. […] I feel that sacred and secular music are of equal value in the lives of all significant composers, because an important composer of that time was a believer, and he didn’t make any distinction between the spiritual and the secular. In his secular life, he is just as pious as in his spiritual one, and when he eats and drinks, when he lives and loves, he is as much of a Christian as when he goes to church to pray on Sunday. He considers life as a whole, and he will write a symphony or a dance for the greater glory of God to the same extent that he would a Passion. […] German musicians… repeatedly attempted to combine the dance-like, short-winded style of French music with the eruptive, spontaneous and passionate, wild style of the Italians. The result was a well-pondered, ‘composed’ music – the Germans of that time called it ‘worked out’ – and when one hears these expressions, and knows who the greatest master of this music was, namely Bach, then one can say: this music is ‘worked out’ music. But in reality it is fulfilled music, music which comes from the innermost and the highest of man.” (Nikolaus Harnoncourt)

Haydn, Missa in tempore belli (English introduction included)

The title of the work “Missa in tempore belli” (Mass in Time of War) recalls the war conducted by the Austrian Emperor Franz against France, whose young general Bonaparte was then rushing from one victory to the next. In August 1796 Vienna had to mobilize its troops. The subtitle “Paukenmesse” or Kettledrum Mass, comes from the prominent timpani and brass instruments in the last section of the Mass. The dramatic military sounds are made all the more striking as Haydn transforms the music into a fervent prayer for peace. Leonard Bernstein led this performance of the Mass at the Basilica of Ottobeuren on 30 September 1984 with the Chorus and Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio. The soloists were Judith Blegen (soprano), Brigitte Fassbaender (alto), Claes H. Ahnsjö (tenor) and Hans Sotin (bass). Bernstein said: “How does it feel to conduct a Haydn mass in this extraordinary, deeply impressive setting of the Ottobeuren Basilica? It feels perfect. If I had to imagine this mass visually and translate it into architectural terms, from one art to another, or in decorative terms – this is what I would imagine. It is the Haydn Mass.”

Herzog Blaubarts Burg (Bluebeard’s Castle)

Bartók called his opera an “infinitely sad Adagio”. Inspired by Maurice Maeterlinck’s symbolist tale, the work takes us on a psychological journey into the soul of the legendary Bluebeard, who is depicted here not as a ruthless murderer but as a sorrowing, idealistic man. By using Hungarian singers, Sir Georg Solti has found the ideal cast for evoking the high drama and emotional depths of this Hungarian, yet universally moving opera.

Mahler, Symphony No.4 in G major

Leonard Bernstein was the first conductor ever to record all of Mahler’s symphonies not only on disk, but also on video. The Mahler cycle was the first project in the more than 20-year-long association between Leonard Bernstein and Unitel. The leading Mahler interpreter of our time, Bernstein recorded all of Mahler’s symphonies between 1971 and 1985, chiefly with the Vienna Philharmonic, producing a unique musical document and triggering a major reappreciation of Mahler’s works. ‘All Mahler symphonies, all Mahler works for that matter, deal in extremes, extremes of dynamic, of tempo, of emotional meaning. When it is bare, it’s extremely bare, when it is thick and rich, it’s thicker and richer than anything in ‘Götterdämmerung’, and when it is suffering it suffers to a point that no music has ever suffered before.’ (Leonard Bernstein)

Rafael Kubelik – Portrait

Rafael Kubelik (1914-1996) was the son of the well-known Bohemian violinist Jan Kubelik. He studied music in Prague and made his conducting debut at 20 at the head of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. Later he became the principal conductor of this famous orchestra and founded the “Prague Spring” Festival. After the Communist takeover of the government, Kubelik emigrated to the West and returned to his native land only after the end of the Communist regime. From 1950 to 1953 he headed the Chicago Symphony, from 1955 to 1958 he was music director of the Covent Garden Opera in London. A period of great artistic successes began in 1961, when he was appointed principal conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Many recordings document Kubelik’s mastery and sense of artistry, his enjoyment of music and his temperament. His connection with the Munich orchestra lasted 18 years; in between, he also briefly served as music director of New York’s Metropolitan Opera. Kubelik retired from the concert staged in 1985. But on the occasion of the first Prague Spring Festival after the fall of Communism in 1990, he returned to the podium of the Czech Philharmonic after more than 40 years in exile and conducted Smetana’s “My Fatherland” cycle. His profound bonds with his native land and its composers were always clearly visible. Rafael Kubelik was a full-blooded musician. Every performance of his radiated a feeling of spontaneity, impulsiveness and joy. Kubelik died in Lucerne in August 1996 at the age of 82 after a long illness.