It is the concertante performance of Elektra in which the Staatskapelle Dresden under the baton of its principal conductor Christian Thielemann does justice once again to its reputation as Richard Strauss’s favourite orchestra and leaves us in no doubt: this is where the Strauss sound is at home! Evelyn Herlitzius leads a brilliant cast including Waltraud Meier, René Pape and Anne Schwanewilms.
Elektra
Swedish soprano Iréne Theorin gives an impressive role debut as Elektra, just as Wagner singer Waltraud Meier as Klytämnestra. They are complemented by Eva-Maria Westbroek’s Chrysothemis and René Pape’s Orest. In his interpretation of Strauss’ one-act masterpiece, conductor Daniele Gatti explores the radical side of the Expressionist score, while not neglecting the late 19th-century lyricism either. His musical vision harmonizes perfectly with the forbidding atmosphere conveyed by director Nikolaus Lehnhoff and his set designer.
Don Carlos
Set in 16th-century France and Spain, Don Carlos tells of the political and amorous rivalry between King Philip II and his son, Don Carlos, over Elisabeth de Valois. Boasting an international cast in one of Verdi’s most popular operas, Luc Bondy’s moving production is the original French version restored to five acts.
Tannhäuser
From the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich 1995 Recorded under studio conditions from the stage of the National Theatre in Munich, David Alden’s challenging production of Tannhäuser is a desolate ‘endgame’, far-removed from traditional, representational stagings. One of the most iconoclastic interpreters of classical opera, Alden stirs up the visionary, erotic and archetypal elements in Wagner’s work. The Bavarian State Opera fields a top-flight cast of Wagnerian singers includes René Kollo in the title role, Waltraud Meier, Jan-Hendrik Rootering, Claes-Håkon Ahnsjö, Bernd Weikl and Nadine Secunde. Zubin Mehta conducts a musically outstanding performance. (Sung in German)
Fidelio
Thunderous applause and loud cries of ‘bravo’ greeted the premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven’s ‘Fidelio’ at the inaugural performance of the first opera season in Valencia’s new Palau de les Arts on 25 October 2006. Attending the stellar performance in architect Santiago Calatrava’s breathtaking theater complex was Queen Sofía of Spain, who added to the glamour of the event. With this spectacular production directed by Pierluigi Pier’Alli, Valencia has put itself back on the map of the international opera world. Dominating the activity on stage are two of today’s most distinguished German singers: Waltraud Meier as Leonore and Peter Seiffert as Florestan.
Tristan und Isolde
The premiere of this Tristan production at the 1993 Bayreuth Festival was greeted with “that mixture of enthusiastic approbation and predictable condemnation” (Wolfgang Wagner) which is the usual indicator of success in Bayreuth. Conducted by Daniel Barenboim with fire and sensitivity, the production was staged by the late German dramatist Heiner Müller. The sets were designed by Müller’s longtime associate Erich Wonder, and the costumes by Japanese couturier Yohji Yamamoto. Siegfried Jerusalem as Tristan and Waltraud Meier as Isolde have consistently drawn enthusiastic acclaim for their performances, not only in the year of the premiere, but in subsequent years as well. Müller and Wonder have compressed the monumental story into a clear and fascinating geometry of love. Wonder created highly evocative spaces through projections of colors and forms which shift according to the mood. One widely noted example of Müller’s elegant, restrained interpretation, in which small gestures replace sweeping displays of passion, is the famous love duet, in which Tristan and Isolde, instead of embracing rapturously, stand back to back and side by side and touch, ever so lightly, only the tips of their fingers.
Mahler Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 Paavo Järvi and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (HRSinfonie Orchester)
? Symphonies Nos. 3 + 4 will continue the release of the complete Mahler cycle with Paavo Järvi and the
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, which since the 80s became a “powerful Mahler orchestra”
(Frankfurter Rundschau)
? Outstanding soloists: Waltraud Meier (Symphony No. 3), who sung at Bayreuth Festival, MET, Covent
Garden, La Scala etc. with conductors as Muti, ‚Abbado, Thielemann, Mehta etc.
Genia Kühmeier (Symphony No. 4), who sung at MET, Covent Garden, La Scala, Salzburg Festival, Vienna
State Opera, Los Angeles, San Francisco etc.
? Bonus: Introductions to Symphonies Nos 3 + 4 with Paavo Järvi
Mahler Symphony No. 3
? “… excellent prepared orchestra …“ “… Waltraud Meier, a worldwide celebrated singer …“ FAZ
? “… this is simply terrific.“ Frankfurter Rundschau
Mahler Symphony No. 4
? “Genia Kühmeier sang with a trancendental immaculacy tone.“ FAZ
? “Great orchestra, oustanding conductor.“ Bild Zeitung
Tristan & Isolde
There can be no half-measures with Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde: every performance demands supreme commitment, and that’s what it receives in this 1998 production from the Bavarian State Opera. No city has a longer Tristan pedigree than Munich, but Peter Konwitschny’s inventive updated staging is liberated rather than inhibited by that tradition. It’s a bold setting for a truly magnificent cast, and Gramophone described Waltraud Meier’s Isolde as “riveting”. Jon Frederic West, Kurt Moll and Marjana Lipvosek match her for intensity. With Zubin Mehta conducting and the Bavarian State Orchestra on radiant form, this is some of the finest Wagner singing – and playing – of its era.
Barenboim or The Power of Music
On the occasion of the 75th birthday of Daniel Barenboim, one of the most renowned conductors and pianists of our times, the first ever all-embracing portrait of this outstanding musical personality has been created. Shot in Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, Ramallah, Munich, Berlin and London, the film accompanies Maestro Barenboim for rehearsals and performances with his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra at the Teatro Colón and the Waldbühne Berlin. It looks behind the scenes of two milestone events in Berlin: the opening of the Pierre-Boulez-Saal and the grand re-opening of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, where Barenboim performs together with the Staatskapelle Berlin. Martha Argerich, Zubin Mehta, Waltraud Meier, his son Michael Barenboim and director Wim Wenders give a very personal insight in the experiences they shared with Daniel Barenboim throughout the years.
West-Eastern Divan Orchestra in Salzburg – Concert
The idea of uniting young musicians from Israel, Palestine and various Arab countries into a musical ensemble still seems incredible today. Yet such an orchestra has been flourishing since 1999, when Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said founded the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. The project, says Barenboim, brings together these young people “not so that they forget or hide their differences, but so that they can understand them.” He adds that “making music together gives us the best opportunity to learn to live with one another.” The concerts presented here were recorded at the 2007 Salzburg Festival, during the orchestras residency. The ensemble “proved its status as a first-class orchestra that has no need to shy from comparisons with the philharmonic ‘top dogs’ from Vienna or Berlin” (Munich’s Abendzeitung). Among the highlights of the concerts are Mozart’s “Sinfonia concertante” K. 297b, which gives four young soloists a chance to dazzle, and Igor Stravinsky’s “L’histoire du soldat,” an airy piece with a demanding percussion part. Songs and chamber music, including Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet, showcase the individual talents of the young players. The major orchestral concert comprises a Beethoven overture, an intricate and multi-layered piece by Schoenberg, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, the “Pathétique,” in which Barenboim pulls out all the stops and coaxes rarely heard instrumental lines and accents from the depth of his ensemble.