Involving three orchestras playing different but related music simultaneously, Stockhausen’s masterpiece is the ultimate in large-scale musical complexity. State-of-the-art sound technology captures Gruppen’s textural richness in this recording of a rare performance of the work. Lighting and colour are used to striking effect. Sir Simon Rattle, John Carewe and Daniel Harding conduct the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and contribute to an illuminating introduction, which includes film of their preparations and rehearsals.
Penderecki conducts Penderecki
In this programme, recorded in High Definition Television at the Alte Oper Frankfurt, Krzysztof Penederecki, Poland’s leading contemporary composer, conducts the Sinfonietta Cracovia in performances of four of his own works: Sinfonietta for Strings (1992), Viola Concerto (1982/83), Capriccio for Oboe and Strings (1964), and Concerto for Flute and Chamber Orchestra (1992).
Sacre du printemps/Symphonies for Winds
The rhythmic complexities of the Sacre are notorious but, in the hands of a master of modern music and one of the world’s top orchestras, the London Symphony Orchestra, the elemental barbarism of the music is thrilling. Boulez’s definitive reading of Stravinsky’s masterpiece was recorded live from the Alte Oper Frankfurt, in a performance specially staged for the cameras. The programme includes a short interview with the conductor about this landmark work (available in English, French and German), as well as a performance of Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments.
Symphony No. 3 “The Symphony of Sorrowful Songs”
“A towering monument to our world and to the appalling mess we have made of it,” is
how director Tony Palmer describes Henryk Górecki’s phenomenally successful Symphony No. 3.
Taking his cue from Górecki’s remarks about the inspiration for this symphony, Palmer overlays a
performance by the London Sinfonietta and soprano Dawn Upshaw, conducted by David Zinman, with
harrowing footage of man’s crimes against his fellow man – from Auschwitz to Somalia, Iraq and
Sarajevo. The result is an intensely moving and disturbing film.
Symphony No. 2 in C minor
Bernard Haitink conducts the NOS Radio Choir and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra in a performance of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 in C minor (Resurrection), recorded live from the Doelen Concert Hall in Rotterdam. The soloists are Charlotte Margiono (soprano) and Jard van Nes (contralto).
Symphony No.9
For a long time Beethoven was unsure whether he ought to write a choral symphony or not, before deciding to use Schiller’s ‘Ode to Joy’ for the last movement of his 9th symphony. He could not know that this work would be his last symphony, and that ‘nine’ would always be regarded as a ‘fateful number’ for the symphonic works of others. This work received ist first performance in Vienna in 1824, under his own direction (Beethoven was already almost completely deaf by then!).
In 1991 Kurt Masur conducted the choir and orchestra of the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, whose direction he took over in 1970. The events of 1989 have left Masur and the Gewandhaus orchestra forever linked in people’s memories. The quartet of soloists in this performance consisted of Venceslava Hruba-Freiberger, Doris Soffel, James Wagner and Gwynne Howell.
Gran Partita – Serenade No. 10 in B flat
Mozart’s Gran Partita – the Serenade No. 10 in B flat K361 – is scored for twelve wind instruments (two oboes, two clarinets, two basset horns, four horns, two bassoons) and a double bass. The seven-part work is performed by woodwind players of the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, specialists in authentic performances of the music of Mozart’s era.
Symphony No.3 “Eroica”
Frans Brüggen’s Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century consists of some forty-five musicians and the structure is based on the ‘luxury’ orchestras that flourished in Mannheim, Paris and Vienna in the eighteenth century. Specialising in the music of that era, the orchestra uses period instruments or copies of them. Their spectacular rendition of Beethoven’s Eroica has won them international acclaim. This live recording comes from the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
The Begijnhof Academy: Baroque Music
The Dutch-based Begijnhof Academy is an ensemble of international musicians and singers who specialise in the performance of baroque music. In this recording, their musical director, Roderick Shaw, conducts performances of Henry Purcell’s My Heart is Inditing and Francisco Valls’ Missa Scala Aretina.
Haydn at Esterhaza
Haydn wrote most of his symphonies while he was in the employ of the Esterházy family, whose palace in Hungary was known as the ‘Versailles of the East’. Filmed in the magnificent mirrored great hall of the palace, this programme records a unique attempt to recreate a performance of Haydn’s music as close to the original as possible, Christopher Hogwood conducts the Academy of Ancient Music playing the composer’s Symphonies No. 23 in G, 28 in A, and 29 in E.