Along with Mendelssohn’s violin concerto, Tchaikovsky’s Opus 35 has become one of the most popular concertos in the world. But this was not always so. When it was first performed in Vienna on 4 December 1881, it was almost unanimously rejected by the press and said to “stink in the ear”. The first two movements are marked by a tender lyricism that wonderfully brings out the violin’s songful qualities. The third movement, an Allegro vivacissimo, launches into a fireworks of virtuoso display that concludes the work on a dazzling note. Recorded with the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein at New York’s Avery Fisher Hall in 1975, this performance of Tchaikovsky’s beloved violin concerto marked the U.S. debut of the Israeli violinist Boris Belkin, who has since performed with all the leading orchestras of the world and under such eminent conductors as Maazel, Muti, Haitink and Mehta.
Parsifal
In the words of Opern Welt, Sinopoli “conjures up sounds of exquisite beauty and compelling poignancy.” Wolfgang Wagner’s production emphasizes the celebratory character of the libretto, which harmonizes superbly with Sinopoli’s insistence on the poetry and mystery of the music. A major role in the staging is played by the lighting, which is used to create stunning effects such as the diffuse play of light and shadow at the illumination of the Holy Grail. One of the production’s most striking moments occurs when the director has Kundry unveil the Grail instead of dying. She thus takes full part in the Grail ceremony, displaying a feminism which, in the Bayreuth context, is truly revolutionary.
Siegfried
In 1988, conductor Daniel Barenboim, stage director Harry Kupfer, set designer Hans Schavernoch and costume designer Reinhard Heinrich came to Bayreuth to realize their vision of Wagner’s Ring. They firmly turned away from the work’s time of origin and set their sights on a “critique of the history of mankind and of the entire evolution of culture, the destruction of which we are actively furthering” (Kupfer). While Wagner’s “critique of mankind’s desructive frenzy, its coldness and alienation” (Kupfer) was rooted in Germanic mythology, Kupfer’s team locates its Ring in a present that also embraces the past and the future. The place where present, past and future converge is the “road of history”, which sets the scene for struggles of power and love, and takes us straight into the depths of the human psyche. “Harry Kupfer has created a production of great coherency, hard, cutting, transparent, which will delight those who see in Wagner a contemporary and will displease those who consume Wagner like some consecrated artifact in a museum. The entire mythological apparatus is demolished bit by bit: what remains is what Wagner himself wanted: the ‘pure humanity’ of the myth. […] The entire ‘Ring’ unfolds like an intellectual adventure that provokes unforgettable emotions.” (La Repubblica)
Die Walküre
In 1988, conductor Daniel Barenboim, stage director Harry Kupfer, set designer Hans Schavernoch and costume designer Reinhard Heinrich came to Bayreuth to realize their vision of Wagner’s Ring. They firmly turned away from the work’s time of origin and set their sights on a “critique of the history of mankind and of the entire evolution of culture, the destruction of which we are actively furthering” (Kupfer). While Wagner’s “critique of mankind’s desructive frenzy, its coldness and alienation” (Kupfer) was rooted in Germanic mythology, Kupfer’s team locates its Ring in a present that also embraces the past and the future. The place where present, past and future converge is the “road of history”, which sets the scene for struggles of power and love, and takes us straight into the depths of the human psyche. “Harry Kupfer has created a production of great coherency, hard, cutting, transparent, which will delight those who see in Wagner a contemporary and will displease those who consume Wagner like some consecrated artifact in a museum. The entire mythological apparatus is demolished bit by bit: what remains is what Wagner himself wanted: the ‘pure humanity’ of the myth. […] The entire ‘Ring’ unfolds like an intellectual adventure that provokes unforgettable emotions.” (La Repubblica)
Bruckner, Symphony No.9 in D minor
Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9 can be regarded as the composer’s musical testament. Bruckner (1824-1896) told a friend: “I dedicate my last work to the Lord of lords, to my dear God. I hope that He will grant me enough time to complete it.” His wish was not fulfilled; the composer was still working on the finale the day he died and the symphony remained a torso. Bruckner nevertheless considered the work as the crowning point of his oeuvre, and he is said to have woven his musical farewell to life in the symphony’s Adagio. One of Bruckner’s most congenial interpreters was Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989). Karajan embodied classical music in the general consciousness as an epoch-making conductor, media star, opera producer, festival director and festival founder. But in spite of his Promethean and widely varied activities, he remained a superb conductor, with a grasp of the standard orchestral and operatic repertory from Mozart to Schoenberg that was unsurpassed among his peers.
Brahms, Symphony No.1 in C minor, op.68
Between 1981 and 1984, Leonard Bernstein recorded nearly all of Brahms’s orchestral works with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra to honor the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth in 1983. Today, the cycle is considered as a landmark in the interpretation of Brahms’ music. For Bernstein, Brahms was “a true Romantic, containing his passions in classical garb”, but also a “North-German classicist swept away to Vienna, and fired by Danubian, Carpathian and gypsy passions”. Bearing this dualism in mind, Bernstein and the Vienna Philharmonic have underscored both the classicism and romanticism, the dramatic intensity and the sober restraint of Brahms’s music. The venue was Vienna’s Musikvereinssaal, where two of Brahms’s symphonies were premiered and where Brahms himself conducted. For the concertos, Bernstein enlisted the services of some of the finest Brahms interpreters of the time: the violinist Gidon Kremer, the cellist Misha Maisky and the pianist Krystian Zimerman.
Beethoven, Symphony No.5 in C minor, op.67
One of the best known and most beloved in music literature, Beethoven’s Fifth was written between 1804 and 1807. The first performance took place on 22 December 1808 in Vienna with Beethoven conducting. One of the most famous phrases in symphonic music opens the work and dominates the first movement, which then gives way to a set of variations on one long, extended theme in the second movement. The four-note introduction reemerges in the third movement, a Scherzo, with the double bass taking on a major role. The fourth movement is a magnificent explosion of music, almost a triumphant march. This recording is part of Bernstein’s complete cycle of Beethoven symphonies recorded with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra live in Vienna. The series won the Ace Award, the U.S. Cable TV Association’s top award for outstanding quality and entertainment value. Bernstein’s impassioned renderings of Beethoven move audiences in a unique way. “Beethoven has always meant universality to me, ever since my early adolescence, when I first heard that unforgettable cry of ‘Brüder!’. From that moment on, every… symphony came to mean heart-to-heart communication, travelling satellite-fashion via the cosmos itself. I offer [this cycle] to all music-loving ears as a testament of faith and of my most profound reactions to this greatest of all composers.” (Leonard Bernstein, 1980)
Die lustige Witwe
The idea of a festival on the Neusiedler Lake in Mörbisch (in Austria’s province of Burgenland) was born in the summer of 1955; two years later, after a stage had been erected in the Mörbish Cove, Johann Strauss’s “Gypsy Baron” opened the first season of the “Seefestspiele”. The festival’s repertory is dominated by the works of the “Golden” and “Silver” Viennese operetta, from Johann Strauss to Ralph Benatzky and Robert Stolz. Lehár’s most famous operetta, “The Merry Widow”, was given its world premiere on 30 December 1905 in Vienna’s Theater an der Wien. It has been translated into 25 languages and played over 250,000 times around the world. It has been played everywhere, including – according to a 1910 newspaper report – on the Zambesi in the heart of colonial Africa. When it came out in New York and Chicago in 1907, it set off a veritable “Merry Widow” craze, spawning cigarettes, cocktails, hats etc.
Fidelio
Beethoven’s “Fidelio” is an opera about freedom, and the contrast between the darkness of imprisonment – which is taken as unjust political imprisonment – and the light of justice and liberty is both heard in the music and seen on the stage. It is this ethical force in addition to the purely musical strength and beauty of Beethoven’s score that gives “Fidelio” its unique appeal among the great operas. This production by Gustav Rudolf Sellner was recorded at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 1969 and stars Gwyneth Jones and James King in the leading roles. It was conducted by the great Karl Böhm in one of his rare appearances at the Deutsche Oper. “The kaleidoscope of passions is set in motion by Karl Böhm – a poised, powerful gait in which every tempo finds its perfect measure. Musically, the performance is glorious. With mighty build-ups, the film lunges towards the finale: the explosions of joy in a happiness that is hard won and in which all participate: Beethoven, the opera, television, the listeners and the viewers.” (Die Welt)
Schubert, Symphony No.7 in C major, D. 944
In the throes of his mortal illness, Franz Schubert (1797-1828) heroically succeeded in putting to paper his splendid last symphony, whose “divine lengths” are truly unique. Composed in 1825/26, Schubert’s largest symphonic work was first discovered after his death by Robert Schumann and first performed one year later, in 1839, by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in the Leipzig Gewandhaus. In marked contrast to the equally beloved “Unfinished” Symphony, Schubert devises a labyrinth of harmonies in a piece full of artless directness and joyful dance-like rhythms. Echoes of the visionary secrets of Romanticism surface from the depths of the work, only to be washed away by the inexorable current of the melodies. Never did Schubert write with such a lavish and impetuous hand than in his Ninth Symphony: “…it bears the eternal seed of youth within it.” (Robert Schumann) Unitel recorded this performance at the Musikvereinssaal in Vienna during a public concert given there in spring 1973. Karl Böhm led the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.