What seems to be the predominant impulse driving this music,” explains viola player Krzysztof Chorzelski of the Belcea Quartet, “is man’s yearning for freedom, the unquenchable desire to expand his limits and to learn the truth about himself in this process Beethoven inspires us as performers to take up this challenge.” The Belcea Quartet’s response to this challenge took place in the Vienna Konzerthaus. The ensemble embarked on the complete cycle of Beethoven string quartets, playing the whole program within twelve days, each concert featuring one work from the early, middle and late quartets.
Making of “Die Jahreszeiten”
“Jubilation!” (Kronen Zeitung) in the Great Festival Hall in Salzburg for Joseph Haydn’s oratorio The Seasons with Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the Vienna Philharmonic. The conductor tunes his “Wiener” to peak performance and shows as few others can how “to coax the tenderest expressive pianissimo shiver from the violins and violas into the almost inaudible”, enthuses the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Christian Thielemann rehearses “Die Frau ohne Schatten”
BEETHOVEN 9 – Making van Beethoven
A one-of-a-kind musical event is in the making! Christian Thielemann, one of the most recognized conductors of our time, joins forces with the prestigious Wiener Philharmoniker and UNITEL, the world’s leading audiovisual production company for classical music, in a monumental project: BEETHOVEN 9, the recording of all nine symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven for TV, DVD and New Media: the “Beethoven cycle of the 21st century”! Using the newest technology of our century, UNITEL and Austrian Television (ORF) produce this “super-cycle” in the Golden Hall of Vienna’s Musikverein in HD and 5.0 Surround Sound. BEETHOVEN 9 kicked off in December 2008 with the recording of the First and Second Symphonies. At the rate of two recordings per year, the cycle will be completed by April 2010. The genesis and unfolding of this project will be accompanied by a documentary filmed in HD. Between 2010 and 2013 the orchestra will crown the venture with special event performances of the complete cycle in major cities around the world. These concert cycles will rank among the musical highlights of these years. They will be accompanied by the recordings, which will be released prior to the start of the world tour, when international attention is at its peak. Music lovers can enjoy Beethoven’s symphonies either live in the host cities or on television, Internet or DVD. Live transmission from the Golden Hall is possible already during the recording stage. BEETHOVEN 9 brings to a new climax the longstanding collaboration between Thielemann, who enjoys a sterling reputation as an interpreter of Beethoven and the German Romantics, and the Wiener Philharmoniker, which has been cultivating the music of Beethoven since its founding nearly 170 years ago and is one of the few great orchestras to have preserved its unique sound. UNITEL CLASSICA can look back on more than 40 years of collaboration with the Wiener Philharmoniker and on its pioneering cycles of Beethoven’s symphonic works with Herbert von Karajan and Leonard Bernstein.
Making of “Così fan tutte”
Portrait Patricia Petibon
In exile – Miecyslaw Weinberg at the Bregenz Festival
BEETHOVEN 9 – Overture “Coriolan”, Op.62
A one-of-a-kind musical event is in the making! Christian Thielemann, one of the most recognized conductors of our time, joins forces with the prestigious Wiener Philharmoniker and UNITEL, the world’s leading audiovisual production company for classical music, in a monumental project: BEETHOVEN 9, the recording of all nine symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven for TV, DVD and New Media: the “Beethoven cycle of the 21st century”! Using the newest technology of our century, UNITEL and Austrian Television (ORF) produce this “super-cycle” in the Golden Hall of Vienna’s Musikverein in HD and 5.0 Surround Sound. BEETHOVEN 9 kicked off in December 2008 with the recording of the First and Second Symphonies. At the rate of two recordings per year, the cycle will be completed by April 2010. The genesis and unfolding of this project will be accompanied by a documentary filmed in HD. Between 2010 and 2013 the orchestra will crown the venture with special event performances of the complete cycle in major cities around the world. These concert cycles will rank among the musical highlights of these years. They will be accompanied by the recordings, which will be released prior to the start of the world tour, when international attention is at its peak. Music lovers can enjoy Beethoven’s symphonies either live in the host cities or on television, Internet or DVD. Live transmission from the Golden Hall is possible already during the recording stage. BEETHOVEN 9 brings to a new climax the longstanding collaboration between Thielemann, who enjoys a sterling reputation as an interpreter of Beethoven and the German Romantics, and the Wiener Philharmoniker, which has been cultivating the music of Beethoven since its founding nearly 170 years ago and is one of the few great orchestras to have preserved its unique sound. UNITEL CLASSICA can look back on more than 40 years of collaboration with the Wiener Philharmoniker and on its pioneering cycles of Beethoven’s symphonic works with Herbert von Karajan and Leonard Bernstein.
Beethoven 9 – Ouverture “Egmont”, op.84
A one-of-a-kind musical event is in the making! Christian Thielemann, one of the most recognized conductors of our time, joins forces with the prestigious Wiener Philharmoniker and UNITEL, the world’s leading audiovisual production company for classical music, in a monumental project: BEETHOVEN 9, the recording of all nine symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven for TV, DVD and New Media: the “Beethoven cycle of the 21st century”! Using the newest technology of our century, UNITEL and Austrian Television (ORF) produce this “super-cycle” in the Golden Hall of Vienna’s Musikverein in HD and 5.0 Surround Sound. BEETHOVEN 9 kicked off in December 2008 with the recording of the First and Second Symphonies. At the rate of two recordings per year, the cycle will be completed by April 2010. The genesis and unfolding of this project will be accompanied by a documentary filmed in HD. Between 2010 and 2013 the orchestra will crown the venture with special event performances of the complete cycle in major cities around the world. These concert cycles will rank among the musical highlights of these years. They will be accompanied by the recordings, which will be released prior to the start of the world tour, when international attention is at its peak. Music lovers can enjoy Beethoven’s symphonies either live in the host cities or on television, Internet or DVD. Live transmission from the Golden Hall is possible already during the recording stage. BEETHOVEN 9 brings to a new climax the longstanding collaboration between Thielemann, who enjoys a sterling reputation as an interpreter of Beethoven and the German Romantics, and the Wiener Philharmoniker, which has been cultivating the music of Beethoven since its founding nearly 170 years ago and is one of the few great orchestras to have preserved its unique sound. UNITEL CLASSICA can look back on more than 40 years of collaboration with the Wiener Philharmoniker and on its pioneering cycles of Beethoven’s symphonic works with Herbert von Karajan and Leonard Bernstein.