Nelsons lives up to his deep adoration of Richard Wagner, his favourite composer, in this concert, where he is conducting the Berliner Philharmoniker, with the Prelude to the First Act and the “Karfreitagszauber” from the Third Act of Wagner’s Parsifal. The second part of the concert is dedicated to another great composer: Anton Bruckner and his 3rd symphony. “With Nelsons conducting, everything diverged into beauty.” (Der Tagesspiegel) “Nelsons worked his magic. Every repetition is a new reason for amazement, from the intimate Trio to the triumphant Final.“ (Berliner Morgenpost) PROGRAM: Wagner: Parsifal Prelude to Act I ; Good Friday Spell from Act III; Bruckner No. 3
Hengelbrock conducts the Brahms Symphony Cycle
Conductor Thomas Hengelbrock and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra tackle a Brahms marathon, performing all four symphonies of the Hamburg-born composer in the historic Laeiszhalle. PROGRAM: Symphony No. 1 (46’); Symphony No. 2 (39’); Symphony No. 3 (38’); Symphony No. 4 (44’). Also available: LECTURE CONCERT “Discovering Brahms with Thomas Hengelbrock (Length: 43′)
Beethoven – The Myth: His Life in 6 Sonatas
Already during his life time Beethoven was regarded as a myth, being the first modern artist in the sense of an autonomous spirit, not dependent on any sovereign, only committed to his own work. But how did Beethoven become hero, myth and legend? This docuseries looks into his piano sonatas as the key to these and many more questions as into a “journal intime”. Featuring animations, enactments, Dutch Beethoven biographer and bestseller author Jan Caeyers and Beethoven expert & pianist Rudolf Buchbinder.
BPO: Rattle Conducts The Beethoven Symphonies
“A Beethoven symphony cycle is a kind of Mount Everest for all of us to climb” Sir Simon Rattle said about his first cycle of all nine symphonies with his Berliner Philharmoniker. The expectations were incredibly high, not only due to the work itself, which is known to be extremely demanding, but also due to the existing legendary recordings of the Beethoven symphonies with Rattle’s predecessors like Herbert von Karajan and latest Claudio Abbado. The concerts in which the Berliner Philharmoniker and their maestro present the symphonies at the Philharmonie are overwhelming indeed. “This is the greatest performance of the Beethoven symphonies as a cycle that I have ever seen and heard” (BBC Music Magazine). “Impressive“ (The New York Times).
New Year’s Eve Concert 2016 from Dresden
The festive gala concerts at the Semperoper Dresden count among the most splendid classical music events and constitute a highlight programme of German television. Once again, Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Dresden grant big entertainment presenting a “romantic feast” (Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten) for which no expense has been spared. It contains cheerful melodies outside the standard symphonic repertoire, among them violin-miniatures by Fritz Kreisler, Tchaikovsky’s fantasy overture Romeo and Juliet and the overture of Rossinis’s Guillaume Tell. The concert’s centrepiece is Max Bruch’s radiant Violin Concerto No. 1, played by soloist Nikolaj Znaider “with high virtuosity, but in a delicate and sensitive manner, with endless soul and emotion.”
Simon Rattle conducts Poulenc, Koechlin, Kurtág and Ravel
What all the works in this concert have in common is an unmistakable French freedom of form and sound, whether in Poulenc’s twelve-part vocal work or the large-scale but always transparent, almost pointillist orchestral compositions. There are no rules to be followed, but rather a freedom of expression that only results from the “uncertainty of the moment”. The critics are delighted: “an arresting evening” (Financal Times) PROGRAM Francis Poulenc: Figure humaine; Charles Koechlin: Les Bandar-log; György Kurtág: Petite Musique solennelle en hommage à Pierre Boulez 90; Maurice Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé
Baden-Baden Opera Gala
“An extraordinary evening full of emotions!” that is how the press called “the concert event of the year”: Anja Harteros, Ekaterina Gubanova, Jonas Kaufmann and Bryn Terfel, four singers in a league of their own presented an extraordinary summit of classical music superstars. The star-studded cast took the audience on a long journey, exploring some of the most remarkable and popular operas and combining all the features of this supreme musical genre in a single concert: beauty, magical sound, tragedy, and overflowing passion.
Thielemann conducts Bruckner No. 6 & Beethoven
Bruckner’s music has played a central role in Thielemann’s relationship with the Staatskapelle; he launched each new concert season with a Bruckner symphony – now the Sixth, this recording of which completes Thielemann’s cycle of the mature Bruckner symphonies. For the Sächsische Zeitung this performance marked “another Bruckner triumph for Dresden” by revealing “the greatness of the work with a rarely heard transparency and clarity. It could hardly have been better!” Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 featured one of today’s outstanding keyboard virtuosos, the Soviet-born Israeli-American pianist Yefim Bronfman, in a performance marking the start of his residency as the Staatskapelle’s “Capell-Virtuos”. In the words of the Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten: “He has music ‘in his fingertips’ (…) ‘High School’ of piano playing.”
Jansons conducts Shostakovich, Bartók & Ravel
Mariss Jansons is one of the leading conductors of his generation and a close friend of the Berliner Philharmoniker. For this special concert he brings works by Bartók, Shostakovich and Ravel to the rostrum and together with the Berliner Philharmoniker he succeeds in “rocking the Berlin Philharmonie” (Süddeutsche Zeitung). For Shostakovich’s 2nd Violin Concerto Jansons and the Berliner Philharmoniker are joined by the German violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann. PROGRAM Bartók: Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta; Ravel: “Daphnis et Chloé”; Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 2
Brahms Piano Concertos No. 1 and No. 2
The Berlin Music Festival gets off yet again to “a brilliant start” (Tagesspiegel).: Daniel Barenboim plays both of the Brahms piano concertos at the Philharmonie with Gustavo Dudamel and the Staatskapelle accompanying him. Dudamel and Barenboim had already appeared on stage together at La Scala in Milan to celebrate Daniel Barenboim’s 70th birthday. That winning collaboration now continues in Berlin with a programme that is particularly demanding for the pianist: “Barenboim launches with near-superhuman enthusiasm into Brahms’s two piano concertos (…), masterpieces of monumental dimensions. (…)” is how the Berliner Morgenpost describes it, while the Tagesspiegel newspaper is impressed by the pianist’s accomplishment in mastering the works’ complexity: “This artist is a phenomenon: he appears to enjoy limitless energy, concentration and love of music-making. (…) In the D minor concerto Barenboim focuses entirely on the intimate moments, eschewing a display of strength which this piece sometimes
seems to encourage.”