It’s that time of the year again when the Prinsengracht canal is glutted with boats, and crowds gather along the quay with their picnic baskets and rosé wine. Everyone enjoys the music performed at the traditional Prinsengracht Concert. Adding even more sparkle to its 125th anniversary celebrations, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is the main attraction at this popular open-air event for the first time. Teaming up with the orchestra is the Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja, who enraptures audiences with a number of well-loved arias, including the celebrated ‘Nessun dorma’ from Puccini’s Turandot. The orchestra is also performing Tchaikovsky’s always spectacular 1812 Overture. —– PROGRAM: Verdi: Overture to La forza del destino – Massenet: Werther / Pourquoi me réveiller – Puccini: Tosca / E lucevan le stelle – Manon Lescaut / Intermezzo (Act III) – Verdi: Rigoletto / La donna è mobile – Puccini: Turandot / Nessun dorma – Agustin Lara: Granada (arr. Steven Mercurio) – Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture (‘Solennelle’) – Pieter Goemans: Aan de Amsterdamse Grachten (encore) (Cat. No. UNITEL A865500130000)
BPO: Rattle Conducts The Beethoven Symphonies
“A Beethoven symphony cycle is a kind of Mount Everest for all of us to climb” Sir Simon Rattle said about his first cycle of all nine symphonies with his Berliner Philharmoniker. The expectations were incredibly high, not only due to the work itself, which is known to be extremely demanding, but also due to the existing legendary recordings of the Beethoven symphonies with Rattle’s predecessors like Herbert von Karajan and latest Claudio Abbado. The concerts in which the Berliner Philharmoniker and their maestro present the symphonies at the Philharmonie are overwhelming indeed. “This is the greatest performance of the Beethoven symphonies as a cycle that I have ever seen and heard” (BBC Music Magazine). “Impressive“ (The New York Times).
Stars of Tomorrow presented by Rolando Villazón – Episode 4
PROGRAM: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Overture from Die Entführung aus dem Serail // Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Symphony No. 4 “Italian” – Saltarello (Presto) // Emmanuel Séjourné: Concerto for Marimba and Strings – 2nd movement (Soloist: Alexej Gerassimez) // Iannis Xenakis: Rebounds b (Soloist: Alexej Gerassimez) // Gaetano Donizetti: “Una furtiva lagrima” from L’elisir d’amore (Soloist: Stefan Pop) // Frédéric Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2 – Allegro vivace (Soloist: Lise de la Salle) // Franz Liszt: Liebeslied after Robert Schumann (Soloist: Lise de la Salle) // Johannes Matthias Sperger: Contrabass Concerto No. 15 – Adagio (Soloist: Edicson Ruiz) // Heinz Holliger: Preludio (Soloist: Edicson Ruiz) // Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: “Il mio tesoro” from Don Giovanni (Soloist: Rolando Villazón)
Stars of Tomorrow presented by Rolando Villazón – Episode 6
PROGRAM: Gioachino Rossini: Overture from Der Barbier von Sevilla // Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 4 – Allegro (Soloist: Caroline Goulding) // John Corigliano: The Red Violin Caprices (Soloist: Caroline Goulding) // Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: “Tradito, schernito” from Così fan tutte (Soloist: Pavel Kolgatin) // Alessandro Marcello: Oboe Concerto in D minor – Adagio & Presto (Soloist: Philippe Tondre) // Georg Philipp Telemann: Twelve Fantasias for Flute – Fantasia No. 10 in F sharp minor (Soloist: Philippe Tondre) // Georges Bizet: Seguidilla from Carmen (Soloist: Jana Kurucová) // Georges Bizet: Danse Bohème from Carmen Suite No. 2 // George Frideric Handel: Tochter Zion
Chailly conducts Mahler – Symphony No. 8
Mahler’s Eighth Symphony is agruably the grandest and most ambitious piece of symphonic music ever written. The composer himself regarded it as his ‘opus summum’, and an incredible number of partipicians at the hugely successful Munich premiere in 1910 earned it the nickname ‘Symphony of a Thousand’. At Leipzig’s International Mahler Festival 2011, Riccardo Chailly commanded almost 500 musicians. The perfomance celebrated overwhelming success by audience and critics.
RCO: Mahler No. 8
After the two famous Mahler festivals in 1920 and 1995, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam is now presenting a special twoseason Mahler series, which includes ten large-scale symphonies plus ‘Das Lied von der Erde’, performed in chronological order by the world’s greatest orchestra under the direction of great conductors – all brought to life in the wonderful acoustics of the Main Hall of the Concertgebouw.
Berlin Philharmonic – Wagner Gala – New Year’s Eve Concert 1993
The 1993 New Year’s Eve Gala of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra is dedicated to Richard Wagner. On the programme: ‘Tannhäuser’: Ouverture, Act II Aria ‘Dich teure Halle’, Act III Song to the Evening Star, ‘Lohengrin’: ‘In ferner Einsamkeit des Waldes’ (Act II),’ Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg’: Prelude to Act I, Aria ‘Was duftet doch der Flieder (Act II), ‘Die Walküre’: ‘Der Männer Sippe’ (Act I), The Ride of the Valkyries (Act III).