Jonas Kaufmann – My Vienna

My Vienna is a deeply personal tribute to the world-famous melodies from the birthplace of waltz and operetta. Jonas Kaufmann has always had a special rapport with Austria and Vienna. His grandmother had a fondness for the light classics and was happy to sing the evergreens of Johann Strauss, Franz Lehár and Robert Stolz – a nice contrast to his grandfather’s passion for Wagner. As a child, Jonas spent much of his free time on his grandparents’ farm in Tyrol. Austrian television was almost more familiar to him than its German counterpart. Since then he has had a deep love for Viennese songs and operetta. “The music always put me in a good mood”, he recalls. “When I had unlikeable things to do as a student, like cleaning or vacuuming, all I had to do was play Carlos Kleiber’s Fledermaus recording, and in no time at all I had a grin on my face.” Viennese songs and scenes from operettas; music by Johann Strauß, Franz Léhar, Emmerich Kálmán, Robert Stolz, Ralph Benatzky, Jaromir Weinberger, Peter Kreuder and Georg Kreisler.

LSO: Pappano conducts Tchaikovsky and Vaughan Williams

Led by its superb chief conductor Sir Antonio Pappano, the London Symphony Orchestra invites a trio of soloists – violist Antoine Tamestit, soprano Julia Sitkovetsky, and bass-baritone Ashley Riches – to join them in an emotional and original program that pairs Tchaikovsky’s sweeping Romanticism with Vaughan Williams’s pastoral grandeur. Opening the program is the Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony. Two unjustly lesser-heard works by Vaughan Williams follow: first, Tamestit takes the solo role in Flos Campi, inspired by the Song of Solomon and written for the unusual combination of viola, small orchestra, and wordless chorus. Finally, Sitkovetsky, Riches, and the London Symphony Chorus perform the impassioned Dona nobis pacem, a fervent call for peace by a composer who had witnessed the senselessness of violence firsthand as a stretcher bearer in World War I and despaired to see the clouds of war gather anew in 1936. PROGRAM Tchaikovsky: Symphony No 4; Vaughan Williams: Flos Campi, Dona nobis pacem

LSO: Rattle conducts Christ on the Mount of Olives

In the words of Sir Simon Rattle, Beethoven is “absolutely inescapable”, especially in the year of his 250th anniversary. Nevertheless, Christ on the Mount of Olives is a rarely heard masterpiece and Beethoven’s only oratorio, which combines the emotive force of the composer’s later Missa Solemnis with the theatre of a Bach Passion. With orchestra, chorus and soloists, it tells the story of Jesus’ prayer and arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. “What Rattle made clear is that the music is full of life. It is hard to imagine this performance being bettered.” (Financial Times)

LSO: Harry Christophers conducts Haydn’s Creation

Haydn’s The Creation conducted by Harry Christophers with the London Symphony Chorus and Orchestra and an all-star team of soloists in a performance sung in English to mark the 40th anniversary of the Barbican Centre. Out of chaos comes wonder; from darkness, light. Haydn’s oratorio The Creation is more than just a gloriously tuneful retelling of the Book of Genesis. Inspired by Haydn’s visits to London and the optimism of the Enlightenment, it’s a celebration of the act of creativity itself, overflowing with majesty, humour and the joy of life. With its famous depictions of Chaos through the dawning of light to a tawny lion, a flexible tiger and a nimble stag and the great chorus, ‘The Heavens are telling’, the work has been a favourite since its first performance some 224 years ago.

LSO: Gergiev conducts Brahms: German Requiem

Conductor Valery Gergiev and the London Symphony Orchestra present Johannes Brahms’ greatest choral work, the German Requiem, featuring soprano Sally Matthews and baritone Christopher Maltman. PROGRAM Brahms: German Requiem

LSO: Noseda conducts Verdi: Requiem

Gianandrea Noseda gathers together an outstanding cast of Italian stars for this searing performance of Verdi’s Requiem. PROGRAM Verdi: Requiem

Messa da Requiem

Herbert von Karajan recorded Verdi’s Requiem multiple times over the course of his career, such that it became one of the signature works of his repertoire. In this film, he brings together an exceptional group of some of the late 20th century’s greatest singers: Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Agnès Baltsa, José Carreras, and José van Dam. Composed between Aida and Otello, the Messa da Requiem is dedicated to his friend, the poet Alessandro Manzoni, who had participated in the Italian unification movement, the Risorgimento. The technically and artistically challenging work was described by Verdi’s contemporary, the conductor Hans von Bülow, as an “opera in ecclesiastical garb”, an interesting expression of the fascinating tension between the theatrical and the religious in this monumental chef-d’oeuvre.

LSO: Gergiev conducts Berlioz: Roméo et Juliette

In this groundbreaking take on William Shakespeare’s bittersweet tragedy, Hector Berlioz combines the playwright’s influence with all the musical drama of Ludwig van Beethoven’s symphonies. PROGRAM Berlioz: Romeo et Juliette, Overture: Benvenuto Cellini

Coronation Mass & Ave Verum Corpus

Saturday, June 29, 1985: Herbert von Karajan and the Wiener Philharmoniker perform Mozart’s Coronation Mass with four of the greatest singers of the decade as part of a mass celebrated by Pope Jean Paul II at the St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Ten thousand cardinals, bishops, diplomats from the world over, Italian political figures, and important personalities from the cultural scene are present. Two years earlier in during the pope’s visit to Austria, it was Karajan himself who suggested performing Mozart’s work in a religious service to the great religious leader.