On December 16th and 17th, 2011, Yanni, music’s true world citizen and most popular contemporary composer, fulfilled a 20-year-old dream to perform at the beautiful and historic 16th-century Castillo San Felipe Del Morro in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Backed by his world-renowned orchestra, the two soldout concerts were filmed in HD. Yanni performed an awe-inspiring set of favorites from throughout his career.
Mariss Jansons conducts Brahms’ Requiem
‘Ich will euch trösten’ (I will comfort you), sings the soprano in Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem. Indeed, this is music of comfort, not of lamentation. With this work, Mariss Jansons is continuing the Requiem ritual started in 2011 to allow listeners to contemplate the transience of life at the beginning of autumn. Rather than using the standard Latin mass text, however, Brahms selected his own text from the Bible. He completed the work after the death of his mother. Following the premiere, the music critic Hanslick wrote, ‘Since Bach’s Mass in B minor and Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, nothing in this vein has been written which is comparable to Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem.’ It was this work, which became immensely popular, that truly established Brahms as a composer.
Jazz & The Philharmonic
The search for the intersection of the world’s greatest musical art forms, classical and jazz, has been attempted many times by many great musicians and composers from Stravinsky to Gershwin, Bernstein to Cage and Goodman to Yo-Yo Ma. Finally, this melding of both genres has been accomplished with the star-studded concert from award-winning producer Larry Rosen, Jazz and the Philharmonic. The show was shot as part of the Jazz Roots concert series in Miami January 2013. —– TRACKLIST: Autumn Leaves – Bobby McFerrin, Chick Corea and Dave Grusin / Fugue in C minor – Eric Owens & Terence Blanchard / Spanish Suite – Chick Corea, Eric Owens & Terence Blanchard / Simple Gifts – Dave Grusin & Mark O’Connor / Mt. Dance – Dave Grusin & Mark O’Connor / Soloings 1 – Bobby McFerrin / The Man I Love – Elizabeth Joy Roe & Shelly Berg / Solfeggietto – Elizabeth Joy Roe, Terence Blanchard / Charade – Terence Blanchard
The Weimar Recital – Franz Schubert: Songs & Ballads
Konstantin Krimmel, the rising star of song interpreters and the renowned pianist Daniel Heide perform Franz Schubert’s settings of ballads and poems from the German classics. It was filmed in the “Book Cube” of the venerable Anna Amalia Library in the heart of Weimar. Wonderful pictures of the city of classics complement the impressive setting.
Daniel Harding conducts Mahler 7
Daniel Harding and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra perform Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 7 that oscillates between carefree lightness and grueling darkness like no other in his symphonic canon, their joint interpretation being praised as “the best there is.” (LVZ)
Nelsons conducts Bach & Saint-Saëns
Chinese superstar Lang Lang is the soloist in Saint-Saëns’s scintillating Piano Concerto No.2, joining the Gewandhausorchester and Gewandhauskapellmeister Andris Nelsons. One of the composer’s most popular works, the second concerto was written in just 17 days in the spring of 1868 and was once humorously described as “beginning like Bach and ending like Offenbach”. Its different styles certainly offer the virtuoso pianist the opportunity to display all sides of his or her technique – as Lang Lang does to scintillating effect here. The Bach-inspired first movement, meanwhile, provides the inspiration for the rest of the programme, which features rare and fascinating J.S. Bach orchestrations by Mahler, Elgar, Reger and Joachim Raff. PROGRAM Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No.2; Bach: orchestrations by Mahler, Elgar, Reger and Joachim Raff
Joana Mallwitz – Momentum
Over two years, the film follows conductor Joana Mallwitz to the top of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, one of Germany’s leading classical orchestras, in August 2023. As she embarks on a decisive phase of her international career with debuts in Munich, Paris, Salzburg, and Amsterdam, she and her husband have to reorganize their lives after the birth of their first child. JOANA MALLWITZ – MOMENTUM offers a candid and detailed portrait of the musician. Despite all her success, we feel the enormous pressure that the conducting profession brings with it.
Collegium 1704 play Handel
In the beautiful setting of famous castle Slavkov-Austerlitz, the two most-known works of George Frideric Handel, “Water Music” and “Music for the Royal Fireworks”, were filmed with Collegium 1704 under the musical direction of Va´clav Luks, one of the most fascinating ensembles specializing in historically informed performance. PROGRAM Handel: Water Music; Music for the Royal Fireworks
20 years Walt Disney Hall – LA Phil & Gustavo Dudamel
The Los Angeles Philharmonic marks the 20th anniversary of Walt Disney Concert Hall at its annual gala concert by paying homage to Frank Gehry, architect behind the iconic downtown LA venue. The prelude from Bach’s Partita, the first piece performed in the then-still-under-construction Hall, opens the program, followed by Esa-Pekka Salonen’s transformation of its melody into his piece FOG accompanied by Lucinda Childs, performing her own original choreography. Gehry’s love of the sea, orchestral music, and jazz is combined into offerings from Herbie Hancock, GRAMMY Award-winning R&B singer H.E.R., and Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, who conclude the program with Debussy’s La mer. PROGRAM Bach: Violin Partita No.3, Prelude; Salonen: FOG; Hancock: Maiden Voyage; Debussy: La mer; H.E.R. & LA Phil
Doppelganger – Jonas Kaufmann
Contemporary Opera Director Claus Guth and celebrated Set Designer Michael Levine transform PARK AVENUE ARMORY Hall for a spectacular reimagining of Schubert’s Schwanengesang. The cycle forms a series of masterful snapshots of all that life has to offer, and features a performance that transcends genre: Jonas Kaufmann and his longtime accompanist, pianist Helmut Deutsch, interpret the collection of songs, augmented by additional Schubert repertoire an atmospheric soundscape and transformative light and video projections to create a production that is part performance, part installation. “a rare treat … the theatrical ingenuity and visceral force was so strong that the audience let out an audible gasp of shock” (The New York Times), “a remarkable theatrical coup … Kaufmann’s burnished tenor remains potent, unleashing powerful torrents of sound.” (The Financial Times), “Doppelganger is awesome experimental theater on a grand scale … There’s really nothing like it in New York right now.” (Theatermania)