The Requiem is not only Mozart’s last composition, but also the one most shrouded in mystery. The purportedly enigmatic patron who ordered the work and the fatal illness that befell Mozart while he was working on it long nurtured the macabre legend of Mozart composing his own Requiem mass commissioned by Death himself. The Requiem was completed by Mozart’s friend and pupil Franz Saver Süssmayr on the basis of Mozart’s sketches and instructions. The somber woodwinds and brass, the artless melodies and the stirring shifts from intricate contrapuntal writing to mighty homophonic blocks convey an otherworldly, apocalyptic feeling seldom encountered in Mozart’s works. Despite its almost operatic solo passages and large orchestra, the Requiem was intended for the church, and is indeed an ideal work for the theatrically sumptuous and brilliant Baroque churches of Austria and southern Germany. The abbey church in Diessen (Bavaria) is a splendid example: completely rebuilt in the early 18th century by one of the leading South-German Baroque architects, it provides an admirable setting for Leonard Bernstein’s sensitive conducting of the Requiem. This production, which the Maestro dedicated to his wife Felicia Montealegre on the tenth anniversary of her death, is a moving and memorable tribute to commemorate Mozart’s and others’ deaths.
Beethoven, Symphony No.9 in D minor, op.125 “Choral”
Completed in 1824, after six years of work, the Ninth is the most awesome and inspiring of Beethoven’s symphonies, employing a large orchestra, four vocal soloists and chorus. The final movement is considered by many to be the composer’s crowning glory. It had been Beethoven’s lifelong dream to set Schiller’s “Ode to Joy” to music, for the poem put into words Beethoven’s most impassioned desire: peace and brotherhood in the world. The Ninth is an affirmation of optimism and beauty, written when Beethoven was almost completely deaf. This work is part of Leonard Bernstein’s complete cycle of Beethoven symphonies recorded with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra live in Vienna. The series won the Ace Award, the National (U.S.) Cable TV Association’s top award for outstanding quality and entertainment value. Bernstein’s impassioned renderings of Beethoven – so transparent and contemporary in their message – move audiences in a unique way. “Beethoven has always meant universality to me, ever since my early adolescence, when I first heard that unforgettable cry of ‘Brüder!’. From that moment on, every… symphony came to mean heart-to-heart communication, travelling satellite-fashion via the cosmos itself. I offer [this cycle] to all music-loving ears as a testament of faith and of my most profound reactions to this greatest of all composers.” (Leonard Bernstein, 1980)
Cavalleria Rusticana
Based on a drama by Giovanni Verga, “Cavalleria Rusticana” relates the lives and passions of simple Sicilian peasants. It was the first opera of the “verismo”, or realist, school. Director Åke Falck adds a cinematic dimension to what would otherwise be a fairly straightforward screen document of celebrated director Giorgio Strehler’s La Scala production by means of outdoor shots of Sicily’s splendid landscapes during the overture and intermezzo. Combined with the lavish set and costumes by Luciano Damiani, these images intensify the feeling of a sultry southern landscape as a background to the inflamed passions and violence of the action. As Santuzza, Fiorenza Cossotto’s passionate intensity make a good contrast to Adriana Martino’s gaily-dressed, light-hearted Lola. Gianfranco Cecchele makes a rakish Turiddù, and Giangiacomo Guelfi is a strong, swaggering, confident Alfio. The production was filmed in 1968.
Beethoven, Missa Solemnis in D major, op.123
Recorded live in Salzburg in 1979, the performance of Beethoven’s Missa solemnis was one of the highlights of Herbert von Karajan’s Easter Festival that year. Amassing the forces of the Berlin Philharmonic and the chorus of the Wiener Singverein, Karajan provided an unforgettable experience enhanced by the artistry of renowned soloists Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Ruza Baldani, Eric Tappy and José van Dam. The Missa solemnis blends an age-old religious service with a musical outpouring of human emotions in an intensely personal manner. Beethoven conceived the mass for a religious occasion, the installation of Archduke Rudolf as Archbishop of Olmütz in 1820. However, he did not complete it in time and the work was given its premiere in St. Petersburg on 7 April 1824. In his score, Beethoven wrote the words “From the heart… may it find its way to the heart.” Indeed, the work’s dramatic, almost volcanic fervor never fails to go to the heart of all listeners.
Verdi, Messa da Requiem
Originally performed at La Scala in 1967 to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Toscanini’s death, this production with the orchestra and chorus of the Teatro alla Scala was presented in Moscow, Montreal and New York, in addition to Milan. It was recorded on film in 1967, now with the young Luciano Pavarotti replacing Carlo Bergonzi. One of Karajan’s earliest film productions (and his first color film), it reflects his innovativeness especially through his choice of Henri-Georges Clouzot as director. Clouzot was the creator of classic “films noirs” such as “Quai des Orfèvres” and “Wages of Fear”.
Dvorák, Symphony No.9 in E minor, op.95 “From the New World”
I take my hat off to a man who is not a professional musician but has learned a score like that of the Requiem in only ten days”, wrote Herbert von Karajan to Henri Georges Clouzot in 1967. When Karajan began recording on film in the mid 1960s, one of the men he turned to for artistic assistance was the noted film director Clouzot, the creator of classic “films noirs” such as “Quai des Orfèvres” and “Wages of Fear” (Le salaire de la peur). Between 1965 and 1967, Clouzot directed five works for Karajan, whereby he displayed a marked talent for underlining the conductor’s “star” aspect. Dvorák’s Ninth Symphony was produced in 1966. The performance is preceded by a filmed rehearsal which offers valuable insights into Karajan’s art of conducting and into his interpretation of Dvorák’s “great intimacy with nature, which his music expresses in every tune and which is also a kind of folklore” (Herbert von Karajan).
I Pagliacci
“Pagliacci” is often celebrated as one of the finest examples of verismo, or realist opera. It is even based on a true story: Leoncavallo’s father, a judge, once presided over the trial of an actor who, in a fit of jealousy, murdered his wife immediately following a performance. “Pagliacci” is frequently performed along with Mascagni’s one-acter “Cavalleria Rusticana”. Both works are strongly linked with the name of Franco Zeffirelli, the great stage and film director who has been infusing the operatic repertoire with grace, elegance and poignancy. Both his Emmy Award-winning production of “Pagliacci” and his “Cavalleria” feature international star tenor Placido Domingo.
Schubert, Mass in E flat major No.6, D. 950
Franz Schubert’s Mass in E flat major D. 950 is an uncontested masterpiece of Viennese sacred music. Composed in 1828, the year of Schubert’s death, it reaches a depth and a grandeur equaled in his sacred works perhaps only by the A flat major Mass. Did premonitions of his fatal illness and death stir him to pour his soul into this work? In any event, it breaks away from the rather perfunctory quality of his earlier masses. The tragic tones, austere contrapuntal textures and expressive, dramatic choral writing are nothing less than profoundly gripping. The unusually large wind section without flutes recalls Mozart’s Requiem, which was the last composition written by Mozart before his death. The Vienna State Opera Chorus’s All Saints’ Day concert has become an institution in Vienna. Although the superbly homogeneous and subtly shading chorus plays the most important role throughout this concert, the orchestra also unfolds its warm and colorful and, at times, forceful personality. The concert in which this work was recorded took place on All Saints’ Day 1986 under the musical direction of Claudio Abbado.
Cavalleria Rusticana
Based on a drama by Giovanni Verga, “Cavalleria Rusticana” relates the lives and passions of simple Sicilian peasants. It was the first opera of the “verismo”, or realist, school. Turiddu has long been one of Placido Domingo’s finest roles, infused with passion and musical intensity. Franco Zeffirelli has masterminded a brilliantly naturalistic filming of this opera, shooting it on location in a small Sicilian town. The Russian mezzo-soprano Elena Obraztsova is a moving Santuzza, totally convincing in her passionate dejection. Together with the other veristic masterpiece, Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci”, “Cavalleria” forms the most popular double-bill in the operatic repertory.
Tutto Verdi – The Complete Operas
Operas: Oberto, Un giorno di regno, Nabucco, I Lombardi, Ernani, I due Foscari, Giovanna d´Arco, Alzira, Attila, Macbeth, I masnadieri, Il corsaro, La Battaglia di Legnano, Luisa Miller, Stiffelio, Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, La Traviata, I vespri siciliani, Simon Boccanegra, Un ballo in maschera, La forza del destino, Don Carlo, Aida, Otello, Falstaff. “This is how Verdi should be played.” FAZ Including all 26 Verdi Operas + Requiem + BONUS: 10 mins introductions of each opera + documentary “Verdi´s Backyard” + booklet 280 pages