“The whole world is a jest, man was born a great jester…” So goes the brilliant conclusion to Verdi’s Falstaff, an opera inspired by Shakespeare’s beloved comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor. The virtuosic score requires a particularly talented cast, not to mention a truly exceptional conductor. Herbert von Karajan perfectly fits the bill, and this performance featuring the Wiener Philharmoniker and an all-star group of singers is clearly worthy of Verdi’s powerful work, a masterpiece whose comic facade thinly veils the complex and sometimes even tragic characters’ struggles.
Ariadne auf Naxos
This Vienna State Opera production, featuring Gundula Janowitz, René Kollo, Trudeliese Schmidt and Walter Berry with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Karl Böhm, drew rave reviews. In particular, the young Edita Gruberova as Zerbinetta was heralded as the “event of the evening,” whose “exquisite phrasing, sublime timbre and brilliant coloratura fireworks served up with witty and charming nonchalance brought her endless and justified ovations. This was clearly her final leap to the top of the world’s best vocalists.” (Vienna’s popular daily “Kurier,” 22.11.76)
Requiem
Mozart’s last work, the Requiem Mass in D minor K626, receives a strong performance from the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus under Mozart specialist Sir Colin Davis in a classic recording made in 1984.
This live recording from the Herkulessaal in Munich featthe Maestro conducting the Bavarian Radio Symphony Chorus and Orchestra with the outstanding Peter Schreier, Edith Mathis and Trudeliese Schmidt as well as ever-popular Welsh bass Gwynne Howell.
Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria
In a rare display of unanimous praise, international music critics rated this cycle one of the greatest operatic events of its time. Although Monteverdi played a truly important role in the development of opera, only few major opera houses have ventured to present these three Baroque masterpieces. Years of intensive study by conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt, not only of the transmitted scores but also of the instruments used in Monteverdi’s time, were necessary to provide a basis for the exceptionally high standard of the Zurich productions. Just how meticulously Harnoncourt and the celebrated stage director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle prepared themselves is made partly clear by the fact that the orchestra exclusively played original 17th-century instruments and specially-made copies for these productions. This in turn meant that each of the 39 members of the -awaited expansion of the standard opera repertoire had successfully been realized. What makes the Monteverdi cycle a unique project is the certainty that it can never again be repeated with quite the same quality and feeling.
L’Incoronazione di Poppea
In a rare display of unanimous praise, international music critics rated this cycle one of the greatest operatic events of its time. Although Monteverdi played a truly important role in the development of opera, only few major opera houses have ventured to present these three Baroque masterpieces. Years of intensive study by conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt, not only of the transmitted scores but also of the instruments used in Monteverdi’s time, were necessary to provide a basis for the exceptionally high standard of the Zurich productions. Just how meticulously Harnoncourt and the celebrated stage director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle prepared themselves is made partly clear by the fact that the orchestra exclusively played original 17th-century instruments and specially-made copies for these productions. This in turn meant that each of the 39 members of the orchestra needed the qualifications of a soloist. It was not by accident that the recordings of all three productions won top international awards. This was simply further proof that a long-awaited expansion of the standard opera repertoire had successfully been realized. What makes the Monteverdi cycle a unique project is the certainty that it can never again be repeated with quite the same quality and feeling.
Eine Nacht in Venedig
The operetta “Eine Nacht in Venedig” (A Night in Venice) was premiered in Berlin on 2 October 1883; barely a week later the Viennese were also able to celebrate the triumph of a new work by the “Waltz King.” The music of this comic opera perfectly matches the merry, carefree mood of the action. Melodies such as “Komm in die Gondel,” “Ach, wie so herrlich zu schau’n” and “Kommt, kommt, ihr holden Frauen!” are among the high points of the operetta. The stellar cast includes such eminent singers as Anton de Ridder, Sylvia Geszty, Trudeliese Schmidt and, as Ciboletta, Julia Migenes.
L’Orfeo
Monteverdi’s first opera “L’Orfeo”, one of the earliest operas in the history of the genre, composed for Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga of Mantua and performed in 1607, unfolds before our eyes through a perfect harmony of theater, dance, opera, music and film. The camera shows us every minute detail of an imaginary court entertainment in Northern Italy at the beginning of the 17th century; and through this attention to detail, we too are drawn into the entertainment. The now legendary Zurich Monteverdi cycle, consisting of three productions of Monteverdi’s only surviving operas (“L’Orfeo”, “The Coronation of Poppea” and “The Return of Ulysses”) mounted in the Zurich Opera House during the late 1970s, is one of the finest achievements of the mutually inspiring partnership of director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle and conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt. With sets of startling visual appeal by Ponnelle himself, lovingly recreated period costumes by Pet Halmen, these productions are pure delight. The Zurich productions were shown in Hamburg, Vienna, Edinburgh, Berlin, Milan, Wiesbaden and Munich. The orchestra plays exclusively on original instruments or carefully reconstructed copies.
Coronation Mass & Ave Verum Corpus
Saturday, June 29, 1985: Herbert von Karajan and the Wiener Philharmoniker perform Mozart’s Coronation Mass with four of the greatest singers of the decade as part of a mass celebrated by Pope Jean Paul II at the St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Ten thousand cardinals, bishops, diplomats from the world over, Italian political figures, and important personalities from the cultural scene are present. Two years earlier in during the pope’s visit to Austria, it was Karajan himself who suggested performing Mozart’s work in a religious service to the great religious leader.
Missa solemnis
Longstanding artistic collaborators, the conductor Herbert von Karajan and the Berliner Philharmoniker present a magnificent performance of one of Beethoven’s greatest masterpieces. At the age of 54 in 1824, Beethoven was at the height of his art: he would premiere both his Missa Solemnis and his celebrated Ninth Symphony in the same year! Despite total deafness, it is a testament to the brilliance of his works that they would influence European contemporary composers of all stripes, from Rossini and Schubert to Weber and Liszt. Beethoven suffered from illness constantly beginning in 1825, eventually dying two years later during a violent storm.