Between 1981 and 1984, Leonard Bernstein recorded nearly all of Brahms’s orchestral works with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra to honor the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth in 1983. Today, the cycle is considered as a landmark in the interpretation of Brahms’ music. For Bernstein, Brahms was “a true Romantic, containing his passions in classical garb”, but also a “North-German classicist swept away to Vienna, and fired by Danubian, Carpathian and gypsy passions”. Bearing this dualism in mind, Bernstein and the Vienna Philharmonic have underscored both the classicism and romanticism, the dramatic intensity and the sober restraint of Brahms’s music. The venue was Vienna’s Musikvereinssaal, where two of Brahms’s symphonies were premiered and where Brahms himself conducted. For the concertos, Bernstein enlisted the services of some of the finest Brahms interpreters of the time: the violinist Gidon Kremer, the cellist Misha Maisky and the pianist Krystian Zimerman.
Brahms, Violin Concerto in D major, op. 77
Between 1981 and 1984, Leonard Bernstein recorded nearly all of Brahms’s orchestral works with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra to honor the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth in 1983. Today, the cycle is considered as a landmark in the interpretation of Brahms’ music. For Bernstein, Brahms was “a true Romantic, containing his passions in classical garb”, but also a “North-German classicist swept away to Vienna, and fired by Danubian, Carpathian and gypsy passions”. Bearing this dualism in mind, Bernstein and the Vienna Philharmonic have underscored both the classicism and romanticism, the dramatic intensity and the sober restraint of Brahms’s music. The venue was Vienna’s Musikvereinssaal, where two of Brahms’s symphonies were premiered and where Brahms himself conducted. For the concertos, Bernstein enlisted the services of some of the finest Brahms interpreters of the time: the violinist Gidon Kremer, the cellist Misha Maisky and the pianist Krystian Zimerman.
Vivaldi, Le Quattro Stagioni (The Four Seasons)
In a career now spanning more than a quarter of a century, Gidon Kremer has confirmed his reputation as an artist of international stature and as a markedly individual personality. Kremer was born in Riga, Latvia, in 1947. At the age of 18, he auditioned for David Oistrach and was one of the few pupils chosen by the maestro to study under him at the Moscow Conservatory. In 1967 Kremer won his first international prize at the Reine Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. This was followed by further awards in Montreal and Genoa, and culminated in the first prize at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1970. In 1981 Kremer founded the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival, where he gathers around him a varying, but always dynamic group of chiefly young musicians to discover new pieces and rediscover the standard works through new interpretations. Kremer is also actively committed to contemporary composers from Russia and Eastern Europe, such as Schnittke, Denisov, Gubaidulina and Pärt. In this recording, Kremer not only plays the solo part, but also leads the renowned English Chamber Orchestra. The recording was made in April 1981 in the splendid Baroque library of the monastery in Polling near Munich.
When the evening and morning meet – A Journey into the Music of the Baltic
Not only is the beauty of the Baltic region stunning, it also offers a varied music scene. The film “When the evening and morning meet” embarks on a fascinating journey through Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. With their knowledge and charm, musicians of diverse styles show the similarities and differences of their musical culture, guiding the viewer by land and sea from the major cities to the musical province and presenting the eventful history of the Baltic States. The result is a multifaceted and entertaining portrait of three small countries with huge musical potential.
The Lost Paradise – Arvo Pärt, Robert Wilson
He is the most performed contemporary composer in the world. And yet he rarely ventures out in public, prefers to keep quiet about his music, feels at home in the forests of Estonia and generates therewith – perhaps involuntarily – the impression of a recluse, which is attributed to him again and again: Arvo Pärt. In The Lost Paradise, we follow him over a period of one year in his native Estonia, to Japan and the Vatican. The documentary is framed by the stage production of Adam’s Passion, a music theater piece based on the Biblical story of the fall of Adam featuring three key works by Arvo Pärt. The world-renowned director Robert Wilson has brought this work to the stage in a former submarine factory in Tallinn. Tracing their creative process, the film offers rare and personal insights into the worlds of two of the most fascinating personalities in the international arts and music scene.
Nelsons conducts Weinberg, Schnittke & Tchaikovsky
Many composers dedicate their works to important people or quite often to the musicians premiering them. In his Violin Concerto No° 4, Alfred Schnittke not only prefaced the piece with the dedication to the premiering soloist Gidon Kremer. He also put this dedication into music and placed it at the very beginning of the concerto, known as the “Kremer theme”. Kremer, who turns 75 in February 2022, performed this concerto for the first time at the Leipzig Gewandhaus under the baton of fellow Latvian Andris Nelsons. Nelsons and the Gewandhausorchester also performed Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 1, Winter Dreams. PROGRAM: Weinberg: Jüdische Rhapsodie; Schnittke: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 4; Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 1
Magic Moments of Music – Martha Argerich in Warsaw
Martha Argerich’s appearance at the 1965 Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw marks the beginning of an incomparable career. With her flowing hair and impetuous and mysterious demeanour, the 24-year-old Argentinian conquers the hearts of everyone present. For much of the competition, however, her victory is far from certain. Her closest competitor is Arthur Moreira Lima from Brazil. It comes down to the final performance of Chopin’s First Piano Concerto, and a legend is born. The film includes excerpts from the dramatic musical duel between Martha Argerich and Arthur Moreira Lima, and from Martha Argerich’s interpretation of Chopin’s First Piano Concerto in Warsaw forty-five years later. We also hear from close friends of Martha Argerich, including the conductor Daniel Barenboim, pianists Gabriela Montero and Sophie Pacini, violinist Gidon Kremer, her competitor Arthur Moreira Lima, the Polish star pianist Rafal Blechacz, who won first prize in the Chopin Competition in 2005, and other people present at the competition in 1965.