“The whole world is a jest, man was born a great jester…” So goes the brilliant conclusion to Verdi’s Falstaff, an opera inspired by Shakespeare’s beloved comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor. The virtuosic score requires a particularly talented cast, not to mention a truly exceptional conductor. Herbert von Karajan perfectly fits the bill, and this performance featuring the Wiener Philharmoniker and an all-star group of singers is clearly worthy of Verdi’s powerful work, a masterpiece whose comic facade thinly veils the complex and sometimes even tragic characters’ struggles.
Thielemann conducts Bruckner No. 2
For the very first time in its history, the Wiener Philharmoniker are performing a complete Bruckner cycle with worlwide renowned Bruckner expert Christian Thielemann at the podium. The second symphony is part of this large-scale Bruckner Cycle, which extends to the composer‘s 200th birthday in 2024, performed at Vienna’s beautiful Musikverein. The orchestra, which premiered four of the nine Bruckner symphonies, is more familiar with this music than any other ensemble. Bruckner’s powerful and sonically grandiose symphonies never cease to amaze. For the performance of the second symphony the press was full of praise: With the Wiener Philharmoniker, Thielemann creates a “combination of formal perfection, stringency and nuances, complemented by wonderful wind solos” (Wiener Zeitung).
Leonard Bernstein conducts Sibelius
In the mid 1980s, Unitel began recording a complete cycle of Sibelius symphonies with Leonard Bernstein and the Vienna Philharmonic. Bernstein’s death in 1990 unfortunately cut short this project after the release of Symphonies Nos. 1, 2, 5 and 7. Recorded live at Vienna’s Musikverein, these ecstatic performances were the object of stellar reviews. On this disc, Bernstein’s unique and by now legendary interpretations of Sibelius are released for the first time on Blu-ray.
Der Rosenkavalier
Herbert von Karajan began conducting operas at the age of 21, and continued doing so throughout the rest of his long and prestigious career. A great admirer of Richard Strauss’s music, Karajan’s interpretation of Rosenkavalier demonstrates reveals his great familiarity with the work as well as hinting at the pleasure he took in conducting the work. His creative team, including Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Kurt Moll, Agnes Baltsa, Gottfried Hornik, Janet Perry, and Heinz Zednik, remains to this day one of the most spectacular solo distributions the work has ever enjoyed. Legendary for his rigorous approach to rehearsing and performing, the maestro took on the roles of artistic director, music director, and even became involved in certain aspects of filming.
Don Pasquale
After four decades, Donizetti’s Don Pasquale returns to the renowned Vienna State Opera in a cheeky, highly entertaining new staging by Irina Brook. As if to make up for the neglect from which the work has been suffering, Brook’s “operacartoon” (Die Presse) with its opulent, colourful setting features a splendid cast, led by star-tenor Juan Diego Flórez. Flórez, “without a doubt the leading Bel Canto tenor of today, places his legendary, sheer impeccable high notes in all their splendour” (Die Presse)
Le Nozze di Figaro
The young conductor Dan Ettinger is fascinating for the great musical sensibility with which he directs an attractive young cast that is not only altogether convincing vocally but absolutely ready to grace the screen. And it is those very singers – “the sweet-voiced, appealing soprano Marina Janková”, “the alluring soprano Anett Fritsch” and “the charismatic bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni” (New York Times) – who capture our hearts. It all sounds so full of life and so finely judged as it is being played out on stage. At the end, Luca Pisaroni’s vocally impressive Count approaches his melancholy Countess (Anett Fritsch) with a glass of champagne and a plea for pardon. “The waves of applause have already begun, for Bechtolf extends Da Ponte’s ‘corriam tutti a festeggiar’ almost as an invitation to the audience, which indeed joins in the festivities with gusto.” (Die Presse) The concluding work of the Da Ponte trilogy succeeds as a great evening of opera in the hands of Sven-Erich Bechtolf with the Vienna Philharmonic. Simply marvellous Mozart music from Mozart’s birthplace.
La Cenerentola
From the Salzburg Festival 1988 Rossini’s version of the Cinderella story – an exciting mixture of comedy, pathos, coloratura fireworks and masquerade – features bel canto specialists Dame Ann Murray (Angelina) and Francisco Araiza (the Prince). The effervescent and noble score is conducted by Riccardo Chailly, whose masterly display of the Rossini style is visually matched by the ravishing sets of Mauro Pagano and the stylish direction of Michael Hampe. This is a performance of exceptional theatrical surprise and phenomenal vocal agility. (Sung in Italian)
Brahms, Symphony No.2 in D major, op.73
Thanks to Kleiber’s legendary reluctance to produce recordings, each recording is an event, a classic. He could allow himself the luxury of choosing his own repertoire and performers, and of working at a pace that ensured peerless music-making. The results can perhaps be best illustrated with the image of ‘an expert art restorer who clears away centuries of grime to reveal a painting in its pristine glory. Kleiber… strips away the varnish from some of music’s most tradition-encrusted masterworks to expose the vital creation lurking beneath.’ (TIME)
Beethoven, Symphony No.7 in A major, op.92
Sir Georg Solti was an exclusive artist of Unitel for many years, and during this time the larger part of his abundant repertoire was recorded for television, predominantly with his orchestra, the Chicago Symphony. To honor the great maestro, Unitel got together with him once again in 1995 to record a concert with the Vienna Philharmonic, in which Solti paid homage to his Hungarian homeland, his roots and his teachers, the Hungarians Kodály, Bartók and Weiner. It is only natural that Berlioz’s Rakoczy March could not be absent from such a dazzling Austro-Hungarian concert. The second part of the concert is devoted to Beethoven, who was not Hungarian but was adopted by Hungary’s Austrian neighbors. The concert is Unitel’s last recording with the great artist, who passed away on 5 September 1997. Sir Georg Solti (1912-1997), one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, was a testament to the elegance and impeccable tastefulness of Central European music-making. Born in Budapest in 1912, he studied with Béla Bartók, Ernö von Dohnányi, Zoltán Kodály and Leo Weiner. In 1937, Toscanini chose him to be his assistant at the Salzburg Festival. After the war, Solti was appointed Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera. Further stations in his career were the Frankfurt Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the London Philharmonic. His remarkable partnership with the Chicago Symphony began in 1954; he was named Music Director in 1969 and held this post for a phenomenal 22 years. He is credited with greatly extending and enhancing the orchestra’s worldwide reputation. Solti died in September 1997, just before his 85th birthday.
Beethoven, Piano Concerto No.4 in G major, op.58
It was to have been the culmination of Leonard Bernstein’s Beethoven cycle: the recording of all five piano concertos with a leading pianist of the younger generation. What it became is an example of enlightened music- making, the document of an incredible empathy between conductor, soloist and orchestra – an empathy so strong that it overrode even the maestro’s death. In Krystian Zimerman, Bernstein had found a congenial partner. But the full extent of Zimerman’s congeniality emerged only after the maestro’s death on 14 October 1990. Concertos Nos. 3, 4 and 5 had been recorded. A decision had to be taken with regard to concertos Nos. 1 and 2: either a new conductor had to be found or, following the practice of the 18th and early 19th centuries, the orchestra would be entrusted to the soloist. The latter alternative was chosen – a decision applauded throughout the music world. Born in Zabrze, Poland, on 7 December 1956, Krystian Zimerman won the first prize in the Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 1975. After expanding his repertoire and studying in London in 1980, he made a name for himself in numerous concerts and recordings as one of the most talented pianists of his generation.