For Johann Sebastian Bach, February 15, 1981 was no doubt one of the darkest days of his afterlife: on this day he lost one of his greatest champions in the 20th century, Karl Richter. Over the course of his long career as conductor, organist and harpsichordist, Richter had become synonymous with Bach. He founded the Munich Bach Choir and the Munich Bach Orchestra. He helped trigger the Bach revival in the 1950s. He was the spirit behind the Ansbach Bach Festival. He turned his adopted city of Munich into a Bach center. And he recorded all the major choral and orchestral works of Bach, including more than 100 cantatas.
Berlioz, “La Damnation de Faust”- Marche hongroise, op.24 (Rakoczy March)
Sir Georg Solti was an exclusive artist of Unitel for many years, and during this time the larger part of his abundant repertoire was recorded for television, predominantly with his orchestra, the Chicago Symphony. To honor the great maestro, Unitel got together with him once again in 1995 to record a concert with the Vienna Philharmonic, in which Solti paid homage to his Hungarian homeland, his roots and his teachers, the Hungarians Kodály, Bartók and Weiner. It is only natural that Berlioz’s Rakoczy March could not be absent from such a dazzling Austro-Hungarian concert. The second part of the concert is devoted to Beethoven, who was not Hungarian but was adopted by Hungary’s Austrian neighbors. The concert is Unitel’s last recording with the great artist, who passed away on 5 September 1997. 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.
Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048
Though dedicated to the Margrave of Brandenburg in 1721, the six Brandenburg Concertos were most likely neither conceived as a group nor originally intended for the music-loving prince. The works are scored for an ensemble like the one Bach had at his disposal in Köthen, and represent different stylistic and structural principles. The concertos Nos. 1, 3 and 6 call for the interplay of instrumental choruses of equal importance, with specific instruments providing only sporadic moments of solo playing. The concertos Nos. 2, 4 and 5, in turn, present a string foundation above which a variety of solo instruments take their turn in the spotlight, though never overshadowing the lead soloist, a trumpet in No. 2, a violin in No. 4, the harpsichord in No. 5. Recorded in the late 1960s, this interpretation of the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 impressively confirms Herbert von Karajan’s affinity to Bach, a composer one does not immediately identify with the legendary maestro.
Così fan Tutte
At the age of 27 Peter Sellars was hailed as a wunderkind of the U.S. theater and was already the general manager of the American National Theater in Washington’s Kennedy Center. In his productions, Sellars brings out the timelessness and topicality of the works with such naturalness that he arouses interest around the world and stimulates lively discussions as to whether he is brilliantly modernizing the works or brutally maiming them. Besides “Don Giovanni,” Sellars has also staged “Le nozze di Figaro” and “Cosi fan tutte” and moved their stories to present-day New York, whereby, however, he invented a new world for each opera. Thus “Don Giovanni” plays in Spanish Harlem, “Figaro” in the noble Trump Tower on Park Avenue, “Così fan tutte” in Despina’s dilapidated coffee shop. The Da Ponte trilogy is for Sellars, who studied at Harvard, the nonplus ultra of opera literature. With his Mozart productions, Sellars first caused a ruckus in the New York cultural scene, when he presented his work to the public between 1986 and 1988 at the University theater festival Pepsico Summerfare. Then his da Ponte operas went on a European tour and were finally recorded for television in Vienna. Since then Sellars numbers among the most sought-after, unorthodox directors on the international opera scene. But in spite of his gags and witty ideas, Sellars is not out to provoke; instead, he takes the action of the opera literally, transposing it with dramatic sharpness and intelligence. His productions prove that even a 200-year-old opera does not have to be cut off from present-day life.
Bach, Matthäuspassion (St. Matthew’s Passion) BWV 244
Johann Sebastian Bach’s monumental St. Matthew Passion in a recording from Leipzig’s historic St. Thomas church, where it was first performed in 1729. Georg Christoph Biller, who was appointed the 18th “Thomaskantor” since J.S. Bach in 1992, leads Leipzig’s internationally acclaimed Gewandhaus Orchestra, the St. Thomas Choir and other distinguished artists such as Andreas Schmidt (Jesus), Olaf Bär (Pontius Pilate), Monika Frimmer, Bogna Bartosz and Martin Petzold
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Wolfgang Wagner’s Bayreuth Festival production of “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” was recorded in HDTV 1250 and Betacam Digital 16:9. A boisterous, colorful interpretation, this “Meistersinger” follows the original stage instructions and respects the historical framework of the piece. Beneath a stylized globe symbolizing the universal validity of the artist’s search for his role in society, the action unfolds in an intricately choreographed interplay of solo scenes and ensembles. Daniel Barenboim’s musical direction was unanimously acclaimed by the press. Le Monde, for example, wrote that he “fully possesses its spirit: poetic, fluid, very slender, his instrumental discourse is irresistible”. Among the vocal soloists, Peter Seiffert (as Walther von Stolzing) and Robert Holl (as Hans Sachs) have been consistently singled out for their superb interpretations in the past years. Emily Magee confers a subtle, youthful grace upon the coveted young daughter of the goldsmith Veit Pogner, sung by Matthias Hölle. The cast also includes Endrik Wottrich as David, Birgitta Svendén as Magdalene, Andreas Schmidt as Beckmesser, Bernhard Schneider, Roman Trekel, Hans-Joachim Ketelsen, Torsten Kerl, Peter Maus, Helmut Pampuch, Sándor Sólyom-Nagy, Alfred Reiter, Jyrki Korhonen as the Mastersingers and Kwangchul Youn as the night watchman. Prepared by Norbert Balatsch, the chorus of the Bayreuth Festival once again masters the exceptionally demanding choral part of this opera, which reaches a climax of intricacy at the end of the second act and culminates in the grand finale of Act III.
Mozart, Symphony No.36 in C major, K. 425 “Linz”
Elusive, eccentric, willful, capricious… These are some of the milder words used to describe Carlos Kleiber, the man widely considered “the most venerated conductor since Arturo Toscanini” (The New York Times). Born in Berlin but raised in Argentina, Kleiber made his conducting debut in Potsdam in 1954. He has been freelancing for many years now, conducting infrequently but at the world’s leading venues and with the world’s leading ensembles. Thanks to Kleiber’s legendary reluctance to produce recordings, each of his recordings is an event, a classic. He can allow himself the luxury of choosing his own repertoire and performers. The results can perhaps be best illustrated with the image of “an expert art restorer who clears away centuries of grime to reveal a painting in its pristine glory. Kleiber… strips away the varnish from some of music’s most tradition- encrusted masterworks to expose the vital creation lurking beneath.” (TIME)
Mozart, Symphony No.25 in G minor, K. 183
The “little” G minor Symphony K. 183 (as opposed to the “Great” G minor K. 550) of 1773 is regarded as Mozart’s first symphonic masterpiece. New is the minor mode. New are also the passionate spirit, the abrupt changes of mood, the depth of the drama and the strong dynamic contrasts. Even the idyllic wind episode in the Trio of the Menuett cannot weaken the impression of implacability. The symphony is the brilliant stroke of a 17-year-old genius who is in the act of developing his own symphonic idiom and discovering new expressive domains in so doing. Leonard Bernstein leads the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in this performance recorded in 1988, two years before the maestro’s death.
Debussy, Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune
The “Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune” is arguably Debussy’s most famous work. Inspired by the French poet Stéphane Mallarmé’s eclogue “L’après-midi d’un faune,” it evokes a sun-drenched landscape inhabited by nymphs and a sensuous faun. His longing is expressed in the languid flute melody that opens the work. “I truly admire this orchestra and hope it becomes better known abroad,” confided Leonard Bernstein in 1989 to the audience in Rome’s Auditorio Pio before his concert of works by Claude Debussy (1862-1918) with the prestigious “Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia.” In the words of Rome’s “Il Giornale,” Bernstein served up a “Debussy that is neither ethereal nor shapeless, but uncommonly vital, caught in the full light of noon.”
Beethoven, Piano Concerto No.3 in C minor, op.37
It was to have been the culmination of Leonard Bernstein’s Beethoven cycle: the recording of all five piano concertos with a leading pianist of the younger generation. What it became is an example of enlightened music- making, the document of an incredible empathy between conductor, soloist and orchestra – an empathy so strong that it overrode even the maestro’s death. In Krystian Zimerman, Bernstein had found a congenial partner. But the full extent of Zimerman’s congeniality emerged only after the maestro’s death on 14 October 1990. Concertos Nos. 3, 4 and 5 had been recorded. A decision had to be taken with regard to concertos Nos. 1 and 2: either a new conductor had to be found or, following the practice of the 18th and early 19th centuries, the orchestra would be entrusted to the soloist. The latter alternative was chosen – a decision applauded throughout the music world. Born in Zabrze, Poland, on 7 December 1956, Krystian Zimerman won the first prize in the Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 1975. After expanding his repertoire and studying in London in 1980, he made a name for himself in numerous concerts and recordings as one of the most talented pianists of his generation.