The Austrian piano virtuoso Rudolf Buchbinder, widely acclaimed for his technical perfection, is also a known expert for Mozart. Together with the Staatskapelle Dresden, where he was the first pianist to hold the title of “Capell-Virtous”, he plays and conducts three of Mozarts most beloved Piano Concertos, the concertos Nos 20, 21 and 27. The concert was recorded in Dresden in an unique setting, which matched not only the musical perfection, but also the first ultra-high definition recording of this work: right inside the Gläserne Manufaktur, a luxury car manufactory in the heart of Dresden, a stage was set up next to the assembly line with glass walls and oak floors.
Thielemann conducts Bruckner No. 4
Conductor Christian Thielemann lives up to his name yet again as a “Bruckner specialist” (Klassik Akzente). The Fourth Symphony is given in the presumed original version recovered by Robert Haas. This version differs considerably from the first, effectively published score, which Bruckner had only accepted as a stopgap so that the work could easily be performed. Thielemann brings out the tone painting very vividly in Baden-Baden: “These are tone paintings of the finest quality”, wrote one reviewer enthusiastically.
Thielemann conducts Bruckner No. 9
Bruckner’s Ninth – presented in the unfinished version in three movements – calls for no fewer than four “Wagner tubas” at the beginning and end of the Adagio, an instrument which Richard Wagner had specially made for his Ring of the Nibelung. As an avowed fan of Wagner, Bruckner included them in several of his works. Thielemann now lets them sound at full volume. The press verdict: “a musical and spiritual event”.
Anne-Sophie Mutter – The Club Concert
For a change, rather than standing on stage in one of the worlds renowned grand concert halls, Anne-Sophie Mutter spent two evenings playing in a tiny graffiti-scrawled nightclub in the Friedrichshain district of Berlin, jam-packed with hip young people. “I definitely wanted to put the audience in touch with the music I love and believe in, music that packs such a huge emotional punch. An audience which I’ll never find in the Philharmonie. So I thought to myself: If there’s a bunch of people who will never go to the Philharmonie, I’ll have to go to them”. Accompanied by pianist Lambert Orkis, Mahan Esfahani and her own Virtuosi – young scholarship holders from her foundation – Mutter performed works ranging from the Baroque to the present day – from J.S. Bach and Antonio Vivaldi (Four Seasons) to George Gershwin and John Williams. The music she otherwise plays behind a sort of cordon sanitaire in the world’s great concert halls acquired an incredible intensity, if only from her proximity to the listeners. The audience, to Anne-Sophie Mutter’s great joy, was equally euphoric in ist response: “The applause was moving. I will always cherish the enthusiasm of the audience in these intimate club appearances.”
Christian Thielemann conducts Chausson, Debussy and Fauré
Christian Thielemann conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker in a programme of late Romantic French masterpieces, accompanied by the outstanding voices of Christiane Karg, Sophie Koch and Adrian Eröd. Gabriel Fauré’s heart-easing Requiem with its famous “Pie Jesu” is turned into a “magical moment” by Karg’s “divine” way of singing (Kulturradio). Ernest Chausson’s haunting song cycle Poème de l’amour et de la mer, in which Sophie Koch performs “superbly with her dramatic, yet light voice” (FAZ), constitutes the Requiem’s temporal counterpart. Thematically bridging the two works are Debussy’s Danse sacrée and Danse profane for harp and strings, with the orchestra’s principal harp Marie-Pierre Langlamet creating “cascades of artful polyphony in delicate nuances” (FAZ).
The Prokofiev Marathon
This suite of five concerts at Munich’s Philharmonic Hall performed by the Münchner Philharmoniker, the Mariinsky Orchestra and several soloists, forms part of the MPhil 360° Festival. The MPhil 360° Festival is a new festival which marks the beginning of Valery Gergiev’s collaboration with the Münchner Philharmoniker. Core of the program of the festival’s first edition are the five piano concertos of Prokofiev who enter into a dialogue with history and modern age. All of Prokofiev’s piano concertos are complemented by works of the German musical literature. PROGRAM: Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 1, Symphony No. 1, Haydn: Symphony No. 82
Simon Rattle conducts Schumann and Brahms
Repertoire: Schumann, Symphony No. 4 / Brahms, Symphony No. 4
Salonen conducts Sibelius and Grieg
This concert by the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundunks has an entirely Scandinavian theme. Under the aegis of Finnish-born Esa-Pekka Salonen the orchestra begins the recital with “Eleven Gates”, a work of soundpainting by the contemporary Swedish composer Anders Hillborg. Alice Sara Ott provides the focal point of the evening, with the Piano Concerto by the Norwegian Edvard Grieg. The orchestra rises to the challenge with the impressive final work, the great Fifth Symphony by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, a performance marking his 150th birthday “that no one who was present will ever forget.” (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
Max Raabe & Palast Orchester – A Night in Berlin
“Max Raabe & Palast Orchester” are internationally renowned for entertainment at its best. The reason for their success lies in the uniqueness and excellent quality of their performance. The classically trained musicians work as seriously at the interpretation of their music as they would at that of a composition by Beethoven. Max’s drily witty concert announcements provide a humorous counterpoint and a main attraction in the show. Quote: “Because perhaps a woman brings her husband to a concert and he might not like the singer or the music, but he may like the humor of the jokes.”
Gardiner conducts Haydn, Mendelssohn and Bruckner
Sir John Eliot Gardiner is most famous for his interpretations of Baroque music on period instruments, but his repertoire and discography are not limited to early music. In this production he is conducting the BR Symphony Orchestra with a program including Joseph Haydn’s: “Insanae et vanae curae”, Mendelsohn-Bartholdy’s Symphony No. 5 in D major/D minor (“Reformation) and Anton Bruckner’s Mass No. 1 in D minor.