In April 1972, the mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig, accompanied by Leonard Bernstein, gave a recital with lieder by Johannes Brahms in Vienna’s Musikvereinssaal. They performed the same program in New York’s Town Hall, and, while on a concert tour of Israel, recorded it for television at the Tel Aviv Museum in May 1972. Christa Ludwig, a highly expressive and intelligent artist, has been hailed as the best Mozart and Strauss mezzo of her generation. In addition, she has always shown a great predilection for the lied, and is known for her soulful interpretations of lieder by Brahms, Mahler and Schubert.
Brahms, Two Songs with Viola, op.91
In April 1972, the mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig, accompanied by Leonard Bernstein, gave a recital with lieder by Johannes Brahms in Vienna’s Musikvereinssaal. They performed the same program in New York’s Town Hall, and, while on a concert tour of Israel, recorded it for television at the Tel Aviv Museum in May 1972. Christa Ludwig, a highly expressive and zzo intelligent artist, has been hailed as the best Mozart and Strauss mezzo of her generation. In addition, she has always shown a great predilection for the lied, and is known for her soulful interpretations of lieder by Brahms, Mahler and Schubert.
Brahms, Gipsy-Songs, op.103
In April 1972, the mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig, accompanied by Leonard Bernstein, gave a recital with lieder by Johannes Brahms in Vienna’s Musikvereinssaal. They performed the same program in New York’s Town Hall, and, while on a concert tour of Israel, recorded it for television at the Tel Aviv Museum in May 1972. Christa Ludwig, a highly expressive and intelligent artist, has been hailed as the best Mozart and Strauss mezzo of her generation. In addition, she has always shown a great predilection for the lied, and is known for her soulful interpretations of lieder by Brahms, Mahler and Schubert.
Brahms, Six Songs
In April 1972, the mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig, accompanied by Leonard Bernstein, gave a recital with lieder by Johannes Brahms in Vienna’s Musikvereinssaal. They performed the same program in New York’s Town Hall, and, while on a concert tour of Israel, recorded it for television at the Tel Aviv Museum in May 1972. Christa Ludwig, a highly expressive and intelligent artist, has been hailed as the best Mozart and Strauss mezzo of her generation. In addition, she has always shown a great predilection for the lied, and is known for her soulful interpretations of lieder by Brahms, Mahler and Schubert.
Mahler, Symphony No.3 in D minor
This production with Christa Ludwig, alto, the “Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor”, the Vienna Boys’ Choir and the Vienna Philharmonic was recorded at Vienna’s “Musikvereinssaal” in 1972. Leonard Bernstein was the first conductor ever to record all of Mahler’s symphonies not only on disk, but also on video. The Mahler cycle was the first project in the more than 20-year-long association between Leonard Bernstein and Unitel. The leading Mahler interpreter of our time, Bernstein recorded all of Mahler’s symphonies between 1971 and 1985, chiefly with the Vienna Philharmonic, roducing a unique musical document and triggering a major reappreciation of Mahler’s works. “All Mahler symphonies, all Mahler works for that matter, deal in extremes, extremes of dynamic, of tempo, of emotional meaning. When it is bare, it’s extremely bare, when it is thick and rich, it’s thicker and richer than anything in ‘Götterdämmerung’, and when it is suffering it suffers to a point that no music has ever suffered before.” (Leonard Bernstein)
Mahler, Das Lied von der Erde
“Das Lied von der Erde” (The Song of the Earth) was one of Mahler’s later symphonic works, written in 1908. Mahler often used the human voice as an adjunct to the orchestra in his symphonic writing. “Das Lied von der Erde” borrowed as a framework Hans Bethge’s German translation of six poems by the 18th-century Chinese poet Li-Tai-Po. The songs have been described as “the valedictory of a man who loved life and nature and who knew the bittersweet nostalgia of passing youth and beauty.” The work was recorded at the Frederick Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Leonard Bernstein.
Mozart, Requiem K. 626
The Requiem is not only Mozart’s last composition, but also the one most shrouded in mystery. The purportedly enigmatic patron who ordered the work and the fatal illness that befell Mozart while he was working on it long nurtured the macabre legend of Mozart composing his own Requiem mass commissioned by Death himself. The Requiem was completed by Mozart’s friend and pupil Franz Saver Süssmayr on the basis of Mozart’s sketches and instructions. The somber woodwinds and brass, the artless melodies and the stirring shifts from intricate contrapuntal writing to mighty homophonic blocks convey an otherworldly, apocalyptic feeling seldom encountered in Mozart’s works. Despite its almost operatic solo passages and large orchestra, the Requiem was intended for the church, and is indeed an ideal work for the theatrically sumptuous and brilliant Baroque churches of Austria and southern Germany. Karl Böhm was universally acclaimed for his Mozart interpretations. Though Wagner was one of Böhm’s first loves, his friendship with Richard Strauss led to a deep knowledge and appreciation of Mozart. In his autobiography, Böhm wrote that “Richard Strauss revealed to me the ultimate secrets of this, in my opinion, greatest of all musical geniuses, Mozart.” Böhm’s discovery of these secrets transformed his Mozart interpretations into unforgettable events. Filmed in Vienna’s resplendent “Piaristenkirche”, this recording of Mozart’s Requiem features the illustrious Mozart singers Gundula Janowitz, Christa Ludwig, Peter Schreier and Walter Berry.
Beethoven, Symphony No.9 in D minor, op.125 “Choral”
When, in the mid 1960s, Herbert von Karajan decided to record on film all nine Beethoven symphonies with the Berlin Philharmonic, he began with the “Fifth” and asked the famous French movie director Henri-Georges Clouzot (Quai des Orfèvres) to direct. Recognizing in the music-loving director a kindred soul and master of the symbolic image, Karajan found an inspired partner. In another of Karajan’s first efforts, he asked six directors to “stage” one movement each of a Beethoven symphony. For a full week, the directors had the Berlin Philharmonic and Herbert von Karajan – all in full dress – at their disposal, with all the 35mm film, cameras, lighting and technical assistance they needed. Karajan’s most controversial production was Hugo Niebeling’s highly personal interpretation of the “Pastorale”, with its abstract shots of instruments, rapid rhythms, fade-ins and symbolically arranged colors.