Ein deutsches Requiem, Brahm´s majestic masterpiece, in a definite performance: Christian Thielemann and the Münchner Philharmoniker are a synonym for excellence in German late-Romantic repertoire. Soloists Christine Schäfer and Christian Gerhaher also rank among the best in their voice ranges. Through his almost surreal affinity to Brahm´s music, Thielemann has crafted a perfromance that places him among the best interpreters of this work, such as Furtwängler, Karajan or Guilini. “In Thielemann´s hands, this dying fall became the Requiem´s gently expressive high point.” (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
Le nozze di Figaro
“He was out to create something ‘unheard-of’,” observed conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt beforehand. And true to form: What the conductor had to offer as he commenced his Mozart/Da Ponte cycle in the Theater an der Wien was something we “had never before heard like this” (Kurier). Nikolaus Harnoncourt, “master” of period performance practice, realized a project that had long been one of his dearest wishes: for the first time, he and his “original-sound orchestra” Concentus Musicus and his personal choice of singers were presenting the complete Mozart/Da Ponte cycle and harvesting the fruits of his Mozart research – an “enthusiastically acclaimed cycle!” (news.at). During an intensive phase of rehearsal and preparation, he was in search of a Mozart hermeneutic resting on historical sources and yet anchored in our own time, in order to stage the whole Da Ponte “trilogy” – Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte – in a matter of a mere six weeks. Harnoncourt has once again lived up to his name as a “Mozart rebel”: “True to his reputation as a provocateur, Harnoncourt takes at a fast speed what we are accustomed to hear slow, while reining in what we expected to be lively” (Forum Opera).
Don Giovanni
“He was out to to create something ‘unheard-of’,” observed conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt beforehand. And true to form: What the conductor had offer as he commenced his Mozart/Da Ponte cycle in the Theater an der Wien was something we “had never before heard like this” (Kurier). Nikolaus Harnoncourt, “master” of period performance practice, realized a project that had long been one of his dearest wishes: for the first time, he and his “original-sound orchestra” Concentus Musicus and his personal choice of singers were presenting the complete Mozart/Da Ponte cycle and harvesting the fruits of his Mozart research – an “enthusiastically acclaimed cycle!” (news.at). During an intensive phase of rehearsal and preparation, he was in search of a Mozart hermeneutic resting on historical sources and yet anchored in our own time, in order to stage the whole Da Ponte “trilogy” – Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte – in a matter of a mere six weeks. “The culmination of Harnoncourt’s involvement with [Mozart’s Da Ponte operas] – „A Mozart drawn from historical sources and yet anchored in our own time.” (Die Presse)
Ein deutsches Requiem
Ein deutsches Requiem, Brahm´s majestic masterpiece, in a definite performance: Christian Thielemann and the Münchner Philharmoniker are a synonym for excellence in German late-Romantic repertoire. Soloists Christine Schäfer and Christian Gerhaher also rank among the best in their voice ranges. Through his almost surreal affinity to Brahm´s music, Thielemann has crafted a perfromance that places him among the best interpreters of this work, such as Furtwängler, Karajan or Guilini. “In Thielemann´s hands, this dying fall became the Requiem´s gently expressive high point.” (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
Harnoncourt conducts Bach: Advent Concert from Melk Abbey
From the magnificent surroundings of Melk Abbey in Austria, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and his Concentus Musicus Wien present a glorious programme of favourite choral works by Johann Sebastian Bach: two of his best loved cantatas alongside the celebratory Magnificat in D Major, BWV 243. Filmed in December 2000, the concert features a superb quartet of some of the finest singers of the time, including soprano Christine Schäfer and tenor Ian Bostridge. The Arnold Schoenberg Chor completes the line-up for this inspiring concert for Advent.
Christine Schäfer – My Art of Singing
In this light-hearted documentary portrait, Christine Schäfer reveals how she has come to position herself in the top ranks of today’s sopranos while still maintaining her artistic freedom. With razor-sharp wit and intelligence, she describes how she keeps herself grounded in a world that craves celebrities. Among the friends and colleagues who provide insights into her artistry as well as her refreshing normality are conductors Christian Thielemann and Sylvain Cambreling, stage director Christoph Marthaler, music journalist Jürgen Kesting, singer José van Dam and others.
Brahms, Ein deutsches Requiem op.45
Johannes Brahms composed his Requiem in 1865/66, shortly after the death of his mother. A profoundly moving work for soprano and baritone solo, chorus and orchestra, it is the composer’s largest single composition. No work did more to win Brahms international recognition and, after the first complete performance of the Requiem in Leipzig in 1869, he was regarded as one of the leading composers of his time. It was not the first requiem in German, but the first in which a composer pieced together his text from Bible passages in Martin Luther’s German translation. It is an intensely personal selection, which speaks to the living and seeks to offer hope and comfort. Through his subtle, almost surreal, affinity to Brahms’ unorthodox, elusive worldview, conductor Christian Thielemann has crafted a performance that places him among the best interpreters of this work, such as Maazel, Furtwängler, Karajan, Klemperer.
Harnoncourt conducts Mozart, The Da Ponte Cycle – Don Giovanni
“He was out to create something ‘unheard-of’,” observed conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt beforehand. And true to form: What the conductor had to offer as he commenced his Mozart/ Da Ponte cycle in the Theater an der Wien was something we “had never before heard like this” (Kurier). Nikolaus Harnoncourt, “master” of period performance practice, realized a project that had long been one of his dearest wishes: for the first time, he and his “original-sound orchestra” Concentus Musicus and his personal choice of singers were presenting the complete Mozart/Da Ponte cycle and harvesting the fruits of his Mozart research – an “enthusiastically acclaimed cycle!” (news.at).
Harnoncourt conducts Mozart, The Da Ponte Cycle – Le Nozze di Figaro
“He was out to create something ‘unheard-of’,” observed conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt beforehand. And true to form: What the conductor had to offer as he commenced his Mozart/ Da Ponte cycle in the Theater an der Wien was something we “had never before heard like this” (Kurier). Nikolaus Harnoncourt, “master” of period performance practice, realized a project that had long been one of his dearest wishes: for the first time, he and his “original-sound orchestra” Concentus Musicus and his personal choice of singers were presenting the complete Mozart/Da Ponte cycle and harvesting the fruits of his Mozart research – an “enthusiastically acclaimed cycle!” (news.at).
Theodora
A highlight of the Handel commemorative year (250th anniversary of death) was the Salzburg Festival’s first-ever staging of Handel’s oratorio “Theodora” of 1750. Christof Loy, who was voted “director of the year” three times by the prestigious journal “Opernwelt”, created a production that is, in his words, “almost as an installation”, and groups his characters around the remains of a gigantic organ in situations that echo the libretto’s tragic dilemma of love, faith and virtue. His concept is supported by the vigorous Ivor Bolton and the Freiburger Barockorchester playing on original instruments, the Salzburger Bachchor, and, above all, by a fine cast. It is led by the luminous Christine Schäfer as a Theodora who “perfectly encapsulates the heroine’s combination of fragility and defiance” (AFP), and countertenor Bejun Mehta, who “excels as Theodora’s lover Didymus” (The New York Times).