Some of the greatest names in the history of German art are featured in this series of ten-minute films. Visiting galleries throughout Germany to focus on key oeuvres, these finely-focused vignettes summarise the lives and work of the featured artists, including contributions from leading art historians and drawing on archive documentation. Mathis Grünewald Caspar David Friedrich Lucas Cranach Ignaz Günther Hans Holbein Albrecht Altdorfer Johann Tischbein Otto Dix Ernst Barlach Käthe Kollwitz
Folias
The Heinz Bösl Foundation Junior Company performs Hans Manniegel’s colourful ballet set to a score by Gregorio Paniagula. The music was composed after a famous melody that attained wide popular currency 1500-1700 and to which the wild Portuguese folia was danced. Manniegel’s theme is the madness of dancing till you drop and the often humorous choreography demands exact timing and precise rapid footwork. The fluent mixture of neo-classical and contemporary movements creates an exciting work.
Das Lied von der Erde
Recorded live from the Philharmonie in Munich, Sir Colin Davis conducts the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra for this performance of Mahler’s great song symphony.
Sinfonia Concertante in E flat K364
From the Munich Philharmonie comes a live recording of Sir Colin Davis conducting the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in E flat K364, featuring the internationally-acclaimed soloists Yuri Bashmet (viola) and Vladimir Spivakov (violin). An introduction to the concert performance is available, which shows Sir Colin Davis working with the soloists and the orchestra, documenting the painstaking preparation that goes into achieving the conductor’s musical vision.
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari
The German-Italian composer Wolf-Ferrari (1876-1948) is best remembered for the many light operas he based on the comedies of Goldoni. In this portrait, extracts from his work, including I quattro rusteghi, Il campiello and Il segreto di Susanna, are seen in rehearsal and performance. His music is interspersed with comments from directors, composers and conductors, who, together with his nephew, tell the story of his life.
Karl Amadeus Hartmann
This profile of the German composer Karl Amadeus Hartmann (1905-63) combines documentary and Performance footage. It looks at his championship of new music with the Musica Viva concerts he organised in Munich after 1945, and includes extensive excerpts from his opera Des Simplicius Simplicissimus Jugend, as well as his Symphonies No. 6 and No. 8.
Marches and Polkas
The internationally-acclaimed Czech maestro Václav Neumann (1920-95) conducts the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in a concert of marches and polkas by Julius Fucik. This live recording comes from the Smetana Hall in Prague.
The LaSalle Quartet Plays Music by Berg and Webern
In this live recording from the magnificent baroque library of the monastery at Polling, near Munich, the highly-acclaimed American LaSalle Quartet plays Berg’s String Quartet Op. 3, and a rondo and Six Bagatelles Op. 9 by Webern. An illuminating commentary by violinist Walter Levin on the Bagatelles is included in the programme.
Dvorák: The Wood Dove / Janácek: Taras Bulba
This concert, recorded live from the Smetana Hall in Prague features The Wood Dove Op. 110 by Antonín Dvorák and Taras Bulba by Leoš Janácek. Neumann conducts the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.
Mass No. 1 (Missa Sancta)
This performance of Weber’s Missa Sancta No. 1 in E flat was recorded live from the baroque monastery at Waldsassen in Bavaria.