Commemorating the 100th anniversary of the death of Claude Debussy, a group of acclaimed international artists, led by Daniel Barenboim, presents a selection of the French composer’s chamber music and songs. Along with duo and trio sonatas, the program includes the evocative “Syrinx for solo flute” played by Emmanuel Pahud and the “Chansons de Bilitis”, featuring French mezzo-soprano Marianne Crebassa. A celebration of an exceptional composer who is widely considered one of the fathers of modern music.
Emmanuel Pahud: Works by Frederick the Great
With this programme, Emmanuel Pahud, with no doubt one of the best flute players in the world, honours the 300th anniversary of a great philosopher, musician and composer: the Prussian King Frederick II, also called the Great. Together with the Kammerakademie Potsdam the famous French flutist and member of the Berliner Philharmonics will perform – in one of the palaces build by the King – musical works of Frederick the Great himself, of Johann Joachim Quantz (teacher of Frederick the Great) , of Franz Benda and of Carl Friedrich Emanuel Bach, who was the royal harpsichordist. Also available: Documentary (45’ – A05513518)
Mozart, Flute Concerto in G major, K.313 (Mozartwoche 2000)
The Haydn Ensemble Berlin, which was founded in 1991, consists of musicians from the Berlin Philharmonic, the Berlin State Opera and the Deutsches Sinfonieorchester. The chamber orchestra devotes itself above all to the early works of Joseph Haydn and supplements them with the works of other masters and musical eras. Born in Geneva in 1970, flutist Emmanuel Pahud studied in Rome, Brussels and Paris. At the age of 22 he became solo flutist of the Berlin Philharmonic. In addition to his work as an orchestral musician, he regularly appears as a soloist and chamber musician. Glowing praise was showered on him by the press at the Salzburg “Mozartwoche” 2000, where this concert was recorded. He was singled out for performing Mozart’s Flute Concerto “with an incredibly full and rounded, yet dynamically flexible tone allied with a lively sensitivity”.
Zubin Mehta conducts Pierrot Lunaire
Arnold Schönberg was one of the most influential artists of the 20th century and the “father” of musical Modernism. “Brilliant idea, just my kind of thing,” he noted in his diary, after hearing of the actress Albertine Zehme’s plans to set poems from Albert Giraud’s Pierrot lunaire to music. Each of the 21 miniatures has its own sound colour by the instruments employed: flute, clarinet, piano, violin and cello. Under the among them Mojca Erdmann, Daniel and Michael Barenboim, perform in the concentrated studio-like atmosphere of the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin.
Salzburg Festival 2020: Barenboim conducts the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra
“Fluid, but without hectic, Barenboim let the endless melody blossom, strength and tenderness were no opposites. Emmanuel Pahud from the Berliner Philharmoniker played the flute […] and was not the only celebrity in the orchestra: in addition to Barenboim’s son Michael as concertmaster and Kian Soltani as solo cellist, the conductor and pianist Lahav Shani, the successor of Zubin Mehta at the head of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, was on the double bass” Die Presse. PROGRAM Wagner: Siegfried Idyll for Chamber Orchestra; Schönberg: Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9; Boulez: Mémoriale (…explosante-fixe… Originel) for solo flute and eight instruments; Beethoven: Große Fuge, Op. 133 (Version by Daniel Barenboim, 2020)