The return to their native city of Martha Argerich and Daniel Barenboim – two childhood friends from Buenos Aires, born just a year apart, who both grew up to become global superstars – proved an unforgettable evening of pianistic magic. “Coexistence”, as symbolisation of the festival motto, was in terms not just of two musical parts coming together in the hands of two very different yet equally distinctive artistic personalities – “the mercurial Martha and Daniel the master-architect” (Buenos Aires Herald) PROGRAM Schumann: Six Studies in the Form of Canons for Pedal Piano; Debussy: En blanc et noire; Bartok: Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion
West-Eastern Divan Orchestra at Teatro Colón – A Tango Evening
On the occasion of the “Festival de Música y Reflexión” at the Teatro Colón, Daniel Barenboim and his West Eastern Divan Orchestra celebrate the centennials of two extraordinary Argentinian musicians in 2016: Alberto Ginastera, eminent creator of modern classical music interfused with folkloristic elements, and Horacio Salgán, whose voice was distinctive in the development of Argentine tango during the 20th century. Barenboim and the WEDO present with “solidity and agility” Ginastera’s Violin Concerto as well as three tango compositions by Salgán. “It was the most particular concert of those Daniel Barenboim and the WEDO had programmed” (La Nación).
Sir András Schiff in Weimar
In the classical city of Weimar, where his great compatriot Franz Liszt once worked, Sir András Schiff, who was knighted in 2014, devoted himself to three of his “great loves”: Bach, Beethoven and Schubert. The setting could not have been more fitting: For the first time, it was possible for a production to record a piano recital at the Anna Amalia Library in Weimar. PROGRAM Bach: Capriccio on the departure of a beloved brother in B flat major, BWV 992; Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major, Op. 28 “Pastoral”; Schubert: Three Late Piano Pieces , D. 946, Hungarian Melody in B minor, D. 817
New Year’s Eve Concert 1980
For his New Year’s Eve Concert 1980, Sir Georg Solti returned to Munich’s Herkulessaal, where he led the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in another colorful potpourri of entertaining pieces. The concert opens with Richard Strauss’ scintillating tone poem “Don Juan,” the first work to manifest Strauss’ mature individual style. The episodic work is based on Nikolaus Lenau’s romantic version of the Don Juan legend. Its triumphant premiere in Weimar in 1889 established Strauss as one of the leading German composers of his time. “The Moldavia,” part of Bedrich Smetana’s vast symphonic cycle “My Fatherland,” was composed in 1884 and has been synonymous with Czech music ever since. Despite the work’s highly descriptive programmatic episodes, it is the sweeping and melancholy “Moldavia” theme that captivates all listeners. In his “Two Episodes from Lenau’s ‘Faust’,” Franz Liszt, like Strauss above, also turned to Lenau for the first of his four “Mephisto Waltzes” (the episode is actually called “The Dance in the Village Inn”). It is a work which reaches heights of frenzy and sensuality. “Les Préludes” is one of Liszt’s most famous symphonic poems. The title was drawn from a poem by Alphonse de Lamartine. It was first performed in Weimar in 1854, seven years before the first “Mephisto Waltz.” The concert closes with Franz von Suppé’s Overture to the drama “Poet and Peasant” (1846). Suppé, one of the first Viennese operetta composers, also wrote many overtures, songs, etc. for Viennese comedies in his day. This is one of his most lastingly popular pieces.
New Year’s Concert 1989
For the 30th anniversary of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra’s New Year’s concerts, Carlos Kleiber appeared at the conductor’s podium to conduct his first Strauss family extravaganza. “What Carlos Kleiber presents here is the fulfillment of all waltz dreams,” wrote the trade magazine “Fono Forum.” All the beloved Viennese melodies such as the “Fledermaus” overture, the “Accelerationen” waltz, “Bei uns zu Haus,” “Csardas,” “Pizzicato Polka” and, of course, the “Blue Danube” waltz and the “Radetzky March” – all these Viennese warhorses took on an unexpected elegance, spirit and wit. Kleiber’s rubati and accelerandi, his sensitivity towards everything that is found between the staves of the music invest these pieces with a new urgency. Pieces that we thought were so overplayed as to be trite and meaningless assume a freshness and vitality that is nothing less than amazing. “There won’t be anything more beautiful this year,” gushed one of Vienna’s leading dailies – and it was probably right.
MSO: Perséphone & The Rite of Spring
The MSO reveals the power of spring with Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du printemps and Perséphone: one wild, rebellious and revolutionary, the other a lyrical, little-known masterpiece. In his final year at the helm, parting Chief Conductor Sir Andrew Davis conducts this extraordinary Stravinsky double bill, in which Perséphone is performed for the first time in Australia since more than 50 years. Tenor Paul Groves, as Priest Eumophalus, is accompanied on stage by another 180 voices: the MSO Choir, the Australian Girls Choir and the National Boys Choir. The mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts-Dean is a convincing narrator.
World Orchestra for Peace at the Abu Dhabi Festival
For this concert of the World Orchestra for Peace at the Abu Dhabi Festival, conductor Valery Gergiev, head of St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theater and principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, has put together a program that includes major works by two of his favorite composers, Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky. With the World Orchestra for Peace, Gergiev has at his command an orchestra that is truly remarkable from every point of view. It is not only put together of the best musicians from the best orchestras of the world; the orchestra, which was established by Sir Georg Solti in 1995, also pursues a very special goal: to “reaffirm the unique strength of music as an ambassador for peace”. The concerts given by this ensemble, whose musicians are all actively engaged in their respective orchestras, are rare but exquisite and highly appreciated events.
Güher and Süher Pekinel – The Istanbul recital
Turkish pianist twin-sisters Güher and Süher Pekinel were first discovered by Herbert von Karajan and have gained international success since their first appearance at the Salzburg Festival. They are considered one of the finest piano duos of our time. This concert focusses on composers who witnessed World War II and reflect in their works the basic values of humanism. Considering the current tragedies in the world, this recital offers a different meaning as a kind of invitation to fight against unjust sufferings. Accompanied by Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra percussionists they perform milestones of the repertoire for two pianos. Both the “Symphonic Dances” from West Side Story and “Ciaconna” were arranged for the Pekinel sisters under the auspices of the composers. PROGRAM Penderecki: Ciaconna (arr. For two pianos by K. Penderecki); Bartók: Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, Sz. 110; Gershwin: Three Preludes (arr. For two pianos); Bernstein: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story (arr. For two pianos and percussion by L. Bernstein); Lutoslawski: Variations on a Theme of Paganini (arr. For two pianos and percussion)
New Year’s Eve Concert 1979
Gaiety and temperament are the keynotes of this New Year’s Eve program with the London Philharmonic Orchestra recorded live in Munich’s Herkulessaal on New Year’s Eve 1979. It begins with “Gaieté Parisienne,” an arrangement of Jacques Offenbach’s most popular operetta melodies. This is followed by a generous helping of central European esprit in the Slavonically inspired dances of Léo Delibes’ “Coppélia” ballet, and in the Viennese lightness of Franz von Suppé’s “Pique Dame” Overture, a delicious little work by the founding father of the Viennese operetta. Amilcare Ponchielli’s “Dance of the Hours” has delighted “promenade” concertgoers for years now – perhaps because it reminds us of his two great pupils Puccini and Mascagni? The luscious lyricism of the waltzes from Richard Strauss’s “Rosenkavalier” is dispelled by the solemn majesty of Sir Edward Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance March No. 4.” From Victorian England we travel to Czarist St. Petersburg, to the magical world of Peter I. Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite.” And since all good things must come to an end, the Land of Sweets disappears under a vigorous sprinkling of fiery paprika in Johannes Brahms’s “Hungarian Dance No. 5,” which closes the program on a spicy note.
MSO: Eumeralla – A War Requiem for Peace
Eumeralla, a war requiem for peace brings into focus a period of Australia’s history that is yet to be fully understood. Written and composed by acclaimed Yorta Yorta soprano and composer Deborah Cheetham, this requiem for peace will be sung entirely in the ancient dialects of the Gunditjmara people. Benjamin Northey is “superbly conducting” the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, receiving “well-deserved and spontaneous standing ovations” (Limelight Magazine). Above all, this performance is a sign of willingness to continue on the path of reconciliation, in which Eumeralla represents a significant step.