Experience Mozart’s Requiem, founding work of the Western classical music canon, in one of the best performances ever captured on film featuring Herbert von Karajan, the Wiener Philharmoniker, and four brilliant soloists. Today, the Requiem is without a doubt one of Mozart’s most performed and beloved works, but its origins remain mysterious and its score left unfinished by the genius creator who prematurely died during its composition at the age of 35.
New Year’s Concert – Neujahrskonzert 1987
In 1987, Herbert von Karajan was chosen to conduct Vienna’s prestigious New Year’s concert, an iconic annual event that became particularly patriotic that evening when an Austrian conductor led the Wiener Philharmoniker in an all-Viennese concert program! Waltzes, polkas, and Strauss’s unforgettable Radetzky March shared a program with a scintillating vocal waltz called Springtime Voices sung by the masterful Kathleen Battle—the only vocal soloist ever invited in the history of the New Year’s Concert!
Ein deutsches Requiem
“Rather than a German Requiem, I should have called it a ‘human requiem’.” Brahms’s words reveal much about the universal character of his celebrated work. The Wiener Philharmoniker under the baton of the great Herbert von Karajan presents a performance of appropriate subtlety and timelessness. Brahms’s Requiem is different from the traditional mass for the dead in numerous ways: the words are in German and not in Latin, and the texts—drawn from Martin Luther’s German translation of the Bible—emphasize life’s peaceful conclusion rather than making entreaties on behalf of deceased souls facing the Final Judgement. An incredibly hopeful Requiem whose all-inclusive message resonates through to the present day.
The Armed Man – Concert for Peace
The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace by Welsh composer Sir Karl Jenkins is the most performed work by any living composer. This performance is the largest ever staged and was uniquely performed in synchronisation with a specially commissioned war-archive film reinforcing the narrative of the work – the build up to war, war itself and the consequences of war. Projected on to five giant screens, the film delivers a poignant backdrop to the moving musical narration providing the audience with a powerful and emotional multimedia experience. In this truly unique historic occasion Sir Karl Jenkins conducts The World Orchestra for Peace and around 2,000 singers from nearly 30 countries who joined together to Sing for Peace in Berlin.
Missa solemnis
Longstanding artistic collaborators, the conductor Herbert von Karajan and the Berliner Philharmoniker present a magnificent performance of one of Beethoven’s greatest masterpieces. At the age of 54 in 1824, Beethoven was at the height of his art: he would premiere both his Missa Solemnis and his celebrated Ninth Symphony in the same year! Despite total deafness, it is a testament to the brilliance of his works that they would influence European contemporary composers of all stripes, from Rossini and Schubert to Weber and Liszt. Beethoven suffered from illness constantly beginning in 1825, eventually dying two years later during a violent storm.
ECM Exploration: Arvo Pärt
Contemporary Estonian music beats at the heart of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir’s repertoire. Arvo Pärt is its figurehead and inspirational soul. With him, Tönu Kaljuste’s ensemble questions the accuracy of its a cappella, the center of gravity of its voices, the dynamics of the choral fresco and the sparkle of the soloists’ bouquet. This selection of vocal pieces composed between 1989 and 2007 bears witness to the Estonian composer’s interest in medieval polyphony from the 1980s onwards, and his sensitivity to Christian spirituality. A benevolent call to introspection, meditation and contemplation.
200 Years of Verdi – A Gala Concert
Gala Concert from the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing on occation of the 200th birthday of Giuseppe Verdi in 2013. On the program highlights from Verdi’s most famous works. —- PROGRAM: Messa da Requiem – Dies Irae / Macbeth – Ambizioso spirto; Patria oppressa; O figi miei / Rigoletto – Caro nome Cortigliani, vil razza / I vespri siciliani – O tu Palermo / Il trovatore – Tacea la notte placida; Il balen del suo sorriso; Di quella pira / La forza del destino – Pace, pace, mio dio; Il santo nome di Dio Signore; La vergine degli angeli / La traviata – Preludio I Atto; E strano; Di provenza il mare e il suol / Don Carlo – Ella giammai m‘amò; Tu che le vanità; O don fatale, o don crudel / Aida – O patria mia; Celeste Aida; Marcia trionfale / Falstaff – È sogno o realtà; Tutto nel mondo è burla
Bach, Mass in B minor
Under the direction of Bach’s successor as “Thomaskantor”, Georg Christoph Biller, the St. Thomas Boys Choir and an outstanding soloist quintet perform with the prestigious Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, playing on authentic period instruments.
Berlin Opera Night 2005
Each year, the traditional Festive Opera Gala combines real musical delight and the joy of charity. The gala, which is organised for the benefit of the German AIDS-Fund, has for years been one of the social highlights on the German agenda. The soloists of the 2005 Gala are Lucia Aliberti, Marcelo Álvarez, Lado Ataneli, Maria Guleghina, Michaela Kaune and Anatoli Kotscherga.
Berlin Opera Night 2006
Each year, the traditional Festive Opera Gala combines real musical delight and the joy of charity. The gala, which is organised for the benefit of the German AIDS-Fund, has for years been one of the social highlights on the German agenda. The soloists of the 2006 Gala are Daniela Barcellona, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Marius Brenciu, Malena Ernman, Soile Isokoski, Klaus Florian Vogt, Thomas Quasthoff, Maria Virginia Savastano, Violeta Urmana and Ramon Vargas.