Pulcinella

Following the success of Massine’s choreography in “Les femmes de bonne humeur”, Diaghilev wanted to present a work based on the music of Pergolesi. He collected the composer’s unfinished manuscripts and was able to persuade Igor Stravinsky to compose the music for a new ballet. Picasso was engaged to design the sets and the costumes, while Massine was responsible for the choreography. The effort was worthwhile. “Pulcinella” is one of those rare ballets in which the individual elements – plot, music, choreography, set design and costumes – form a harmonious and homogeneous whole. Heinz Spoerli presents his Pulcinella using the language of modern ballet. One of the most important choreographers of our time, Spoerli was born in Basel, Switzerland, in 1941 and became director of the Basler Ballet in 1973. Under his direction, the Basler Ballet has become a highly esteemed international ensemble.

Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute)

“Don’t leave out the serious aspects, but don’t forget the humor either!” This, according to August Everding, was the basic idea behind his staging of “The Magic Flute”, which premiered on 30 August 1978 at the Bavarian State Opera. He wanted his Magic Flute neither too philosophical nor too comical, but sought instead to unite all the conflicting elements in this work: the fairy-tale magic, fun, brightness, intellectual depth and humanistic ideals. He also did not want to bore his audience with continuous scene changes behind a closed curtain. In order to realize Everding’s concept of an uninterrupted change of scenes, stage designer Jürgen Rose resorted to painted backdrops and architectural elements. Everding calls the result a mixture of timeless fairy tale and 18th century. For this production, Everding and Wolfgang Sawallisch revised and greatly shortened Schikaneder’s dialogues. The trio sung by Sarastro, Tamino and Pamina, for example, was moved forward a few numbers for dramaturgical reasons. According to Sawallisch, “in its original position, this trio is illogical and a ‘brake’.”

Sir Georg Solti, Conductor – A Portrait

Sir Georg Solti (1912-1997), one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, was a testament to the elegance and impeccable tastefulness of Central European music-making. Born in Budapest in 1912, he studied with Béla Bartók, Ernö von Dohnányi, Zoltán Kodály and Leo Weiner. In 1937, Toscanini chose him to be his assistant at the Salzburg Festival. After the war, Solti was appointed Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera. Further stations in his career were the Frankfurt Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the London Philharmonic. His remarkable partnership with the Chicago Symphony began in 1954; he was named Music Director in 1969 and held this post for a phenomenal 22 years. He is credited with greatly extending and enhancing the orchestra’s worldwide reputation. Solti died in September 1997, just before his 85th birthday. The fascinating portrait of the artist, Sir Georg Solti, Conductor – A Portrait, was produced with the participation of Isaac Stern, Hildegard Behrens, Wolfgang Wagner, the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Weltliche Musik (Secular Music)

In this program featuring excerpts from secular works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Nikolaus Harnoncourt strives to reveal something of the mystery and fascination of Bach’s compositional art in the domain of non-sacred music. With his Concentus musicus Wien and the vocal soloists Janet Perry and Robert Holl, Harnoncourt interprets passages and movements from Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3, the Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 3 and 5, Bach’s arrangement of Benedetto Marcello’s Oboe Concerto and parts of the “Coffee Cantata”. “In my view, Bach is a total musician. No matter in what musical domain he lands, he immediately deploys his full resources and creates the greatest music that is imaginable in his time in this respective domain. […] I feel that sacred and secular music are of equal value in the lives of all significant composers, because an important composer of that time was a believer, and he didn’t make any distinction between the spiritual and the secular. In his secular life, he is just as pious as in his spiritual one, and when he eats and drinks, when he lives and loves, he is as much of a Christian as when he goes to church to pray on Sunday. He considers life as a whole, and he will write a symphony or a dance for the greater glory of God to the same extent that he would a Passion. […] German musicians… repeatedly attempted to combine the dance-like, short-winded style of French music with the eruptive, spontaneous and passionate, wild style of the Italians. The result was a well-pondered, ‘composed’ music – the Germans of that time called it ‘worked out’ – and when one hears these expressions, and knows who the greatest master of this music was, namely Bach, then one can say: this music is ‘worked out’ music. But in reality it is fulfilled music, music which comes from the innermost and the highest of man.” (Nikolaus Harnoncourt)

Leonard Bernstein conducts “West Side Story” – The Making of a Recording

“West Side Story” is perhaps Leonard Bernstein’s most popular work and contains songs that have achieved enormous popularity throughout the world. The film version won no less than ten Academy Awards. In 1984, 27 years after the premiere, Bernstein finally conducted the work for the first time, with singers of his choice. “The Making of West Side Story” won the Prix Italia and the British Academy’s Robert Flaherty Award in 1985.

Haydn, Missa in tempore belli (English introduction included)

The title of the work “Missa in tempore belli” (Mass in Time of War) recalls the war conducted by the Austrian Emperor Franz against France, whose young general Bonaparte was then rushing from one victory to the next. In August 1796 Vienna had to mobilize its troops. The subtitle “Paukenmesse” or Kettledrum Mass, comes from the prominent timpani and brass instruments in the last section of the Mass. The dramatic military sounds are made all the more striking as Haydn transforms the music into a fervent prayer for peace. Leonard Bernstein led this performance of the Mass at the Basilica of Ottobeuren on 30 September 1984 with the Chorus and Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio. The soloists were Judith Blegen (soprano), Brigitte Fassbaender (alto), Claes H. Ahnsjö (tenor) and Hans Sotin (bass). Bernstein said: “How does it feel to conduct a Haydn mass in this extraordinary, deeply impressive setting of the Ottobeuren Basilica? It feels perfect. If I had to imagine this mass visually and translate it into architectural terms, from one art to another, or in decorative terms – this is what I would imagine. It is the Haydn Mass.”