“Music? You can’t destroy that…” Anita Lasker-Wallfisch Why was classical music so important to Hitler and Goebbels? The film centers around two people who represent musical culture during the Third Reich – albeit in very different ways. Wilhelm Furtwängler was a star conductor; Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, the cellist of the infamous Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz. Both shared a love for the classical German music. The world-famous conductor made a pact with Hitler and his henchmen. The young woman, brought to Auschwitz for being Jewish, was spared death for her musical talent. German music was used to justify the powerful position the Third Reich claimed in the world, and to distract listeners from Nazi crimes. This music documentary by Christian Berger features interviews with musicians like Daniel Barenboim and Christian Thielemann; the children of Wilhelm Furtwängler; and of course 97-year-old survivor Anita Lasker-Wallfisch. Her memories are chilling. Archive film footage, restored and colorized, brings the story to life, and bears witness to an agonizing chapter in history.
Thielemann conducts Faust
Under the musical direction of their chief conductor designate, Christian Thielemann, the Staatskapelle Dresden performed this special concert to celebrate Franz Liszt and his bicentenary. At its home, the prestigious Semperoper in Dresden, the orchestra presented a Faust-themed concert with two works by Wagner and Liszt inspired by Goethe’s drama. “Fired up by inspiration, the Dresden musicians and their leader offer a superb demonstration of their ability, their precision and their feeling for colour and temperament … A top orchestra and a top conductor have found each other” (Die Welt).
Christian Thielemann conducts Bruckner
Christian Thielemann is widely regarded as the leading Brucknerian of our age, and his performances with the Munich Philharmonic, of which he has been music director since 2004, enjoy cult status all over the world. This DVD features a world première of Bruckner´s two most popular works, the Symphonies No. 4 and No. 7, which he interprets as sublime cathedrals of late Romantic music, impressing his listeners in ways that few other conductors can do.
Beethoven 9 – Discovering Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
The monumental achievement of Christian Thielemann and the Wiener Philharmoniker forms the basis for this series of stimulating yet highly entertaining films that supplement “Beethoven 9”. They guide the viewer into the cosmos of Beethoven’s symphonies – and into Christian Thielemann’s conception of them. Each 60-minute program focuses on one particular symphony, which it presents in the context of Beethoven’s oeuvre, Thielemann’s interpretation, and the work’s artistic and historical position. While Thielemann introduces the viewer to the fine points of his interpretation, the renowned music critic Joachim Kaiser depicts the unique features of the work and the interpretation, and provides revealing comparisons with other readings of the Beethoven symphonies. In so doing, Kaiser is able to draw upon a treasure that only UNITEL is able to provide: the recordings of the legendary Beethoven cycles with Herbert von Karajan and Leonard Bernstein, concert productions with acknowledged Beethoven experts such as Böhm and Kleiber, as well as recordings of Beethoven symphonies with world stars of today such as Gustavo Dudamel and Paavo Järvi.
Discovering Beethoven
For each symphony of the BEETHOVEN 9 project Christian Thielemann and Joachim Kaiser present an entertaining introduction feature with various examples and music excerpts plus documentary with Prof. Hellsberg on Beethoven and the Wiener Philharmoniker (A05512808 1×34’).
Beethoven 9 – Discovering Beethoven: Symphony No. 1
The monumental achievement of Christian Thielemann and the Wiener Philharmoniker forms the basis for this series of stimulating yet highly entertaining films that supplement “Beethoven 9”. They guide the viewer into the cosmos of Beethoven’s symphonies – and into Christian Thielemann’s conception of them. Each 60-minute program focuses on one particular symphony, which it presents in the context of Beethoven’s oeuvre, Thielemann’s interpretation, and the work’s artistic and historical position. While Thielemann introduces the viewer to the fine points of his interpretation, the renowned music critic Joachim Kaiser depicts the unique features of the work and the interpretation, and provides revealing comparisons with other readings of the Beethoven symphonies. In so doing, Kaiser is able to draw upon a treasure that only UNITEL is able to provide: the recordings of the legendary Beethoven cycles with Herbert von Karajan and Leonard Bernstein, concert productions with acknowledged Beethoven experts such as Böhm and Kleiber, as well as recordings of Beethoven symphonies with world stars of today such as Gustavo Dudamel and Paavo Järvi.
Beethoven 9 – Discovering Beethoven: Symphony No. 2
The monumental achievement of Christian Thielemann and the Wiener Philharmoniker forms the basis for this series of stimulating yet highly entertaining films that supplement “Beethoven 9”. They guide the viewer into the cosmos of Beethoven’s symphonies – and into Christian Thielemann’s conception of them. Each 60-minute program focuses on one particular symphony, which it presents in the context of Beethoven’s oeuvre, Thielemann’s interpretation, and the work’s artistic and historical position. While Thielemann introduces the viewer to the fine points of his interpretation, the renowned music critic Joachim Kaiser depicts the unique features of the work and the interpretation, and provides revealing comparisons with other readings of the Beethoven symphonies. In so doing, Kaiser is able to draw upon a treasure that only UNITEL is able to provide: the recordings of the legendary Beethoven cycles with Herbert von Karajan and Leonard Bernstein, concert productions with acknowledged Beethoven experts such as Böhm and Kleiber, as well as recordings of Beethoven symphonies with world stars of today such as Gustavo Dudamel and Paavo Järvi.
Beethoven 9 – Discovering Beethoven: Symphony No. 3
The monumental achievement of Christian Thielemann and the Wiener Philharmoniker forms the basis for this series of stimulating yet highly entertaining films that supplement “Beethoven 9”. They guide the viewer into the cosmos of Beethoven’s symphonies – and into Christian Thielemann’s conception of them. Each 60-minute program focuses on one particular symphony, which it presents in the context of Beethoven’s oeuvre, Thielemann’s interpretation, and the work’s artistic and historical position. While Thielemann introduces the viewer to the fine points of his interpretation, the renowned music critic Joachim Kaiser depicts the unique features of the work and the interpretation, and provides revealing comparisons with other readings of the Beethoven symphonies. In so doing, Kaiser is able to draw upon a treasure that only UNITEL is able to provide: the recordings of the legendary Beethoven cycles with Herbert von Karajan and Leonard Bernstein, concert productions with acknowledged Beethoven experts such as Böhm and Kleiber, as well as recordings of Beethoven symphonies with world stars of today such as Gustavo Dudamel and Paavo Järvi.
Beethoven 9 – Discovering Beethoven: Symphony No. 4
The monumental achievement of Christian Thielemann and the Wiener Philharmoniker forms the basis for this series of stimulating yet highly entertaining films that supplement “Beethoven 9”. They guide the viewer into the cosmos of Beethoven’s symphonies – and into Christian Thielemann’s conception of them. Each 60-minute program focuses on one particular symphony, which it presents in the context of Beethoven’s oeuvre, Thielemann’s interpretation, and the work’s artistic and historical position. While Thielemann introduces the viewer to the fine points of his interpretation, the renowned music critic Joachim Kaiser depicts the unique features of the work and the interpretation, and provides revealing comparisons with other readings of the Beethoven symphonies. In so doing, Kaiser is able to draw upon a treasure that only UNITEL is able to provide: the recordings of the legendary Beethoven cycles with Herbert von Karajan and Leonard Bernstein, concert productions with acknowledged Beethoven experts such as Böhm and Kleiber, as well as recordings of Beethoven symphonies with world stars of today such as Gustavo Dudamel and Paavo Järvi.
Beethoven 9 – Discovering Beethoven: Symphony No. 5
The monumental achievement of Christian Thielemann and the Wiener Philharmoniker forms the basis for this series of stimulating yet highly entertaining films that supplement “Beethoven 9”. They guide the viewer into the cosmos of Beethoven’s symphonies – and into Christian Thielemann’s conception of them. Each 60-minute program focuses on one particular symphony, which it presents in the context of Beethoven’s oeuvre, Thielemann’s interpretation, and the work’s artistic and historical position. While Thielemann introduces the viewer to the fine points of his interpretation, the renowned music critic Joachim Kaiser depicts the unique features of the work and the interpretation, and provides revealing comparisons with other readings of the Beethoven symphonies. In so doing, Kaiser is able to draw upon a treasure that only UNITEL is able to provide: the recordings of the legendary Beethoven cycles with Herbert von Karajan and Leonard Bernstein, concert productions with acknowledged Beethoven experts such as Böhm and Kleiber, as well as recordings of Beethoven symphonies with world stars of today such as Gustavo Dudamel and Paavo Järvi.