Commanding the podium with his slender figure, theatrical shock of hair and penetrating blue eyes, Herbert von Karajan projected the hieratic image of the conductor as officiant of some quasi-mystic rite. And anyone who ever saw him conduct live or on his many audiovisual recordings will agree that in his performances, music did indeed become a religion and Karajan its high-priest. Karajan (1908-1989) 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. The Symphony No. 1 was recorded live at the Berlin Philharmonie in 1973.
Introduction to Wagner’s “Der Ring des Nibelungen”
Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue
Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) and George Gershwin (1898-1937), two musicians inseparably linked with America, form an exuberant and stimulating combination in this program with the New York Philharmonic. Gershwin was one of the American composers Bernstein revered the most and one who, along with Mahler, Copland and Blitzstein, exerted a great influence on him as a composer. This performance with the New York Philharmonic and Leonard Bernstein as soloist and conductor was
recorded at the Jahrhunderthalle in Hoechst, Germany, in 1976.
Beethoven, Symphony No.5 in C minor, op.67
“A rhapsody of genius” are the words the noted German poet, composer and painter E.T.A. Hoffmann used to describe the Fifth Symphony. One of the best known and most beloved in music literature, it was composed in the years 1804-1807, although sketches for the first three movements date back to 1800. The first performance took place on 22 December 1808 in Vienna with Beethoven conducting. Perhaps the most famous phrase 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 tremendous role. Finally, the fourth movement is a magnificent, joyous explosion of music, almost a triumphant march. Leonard Bernstein recorded this work in an all-Beethoven concert with the Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio at Munich’s Deutsches Museum in 1976.
Hommage à Séville
Hommage à Séville
Bernstein, Overture to “Candide”
Written in 1955/56 in collaboration with famed author Lillian Hellman, the musical comedy “Candide” (based loosely on Voltaire’s story) consists of nearly two hours of music and more than thirty different numbers including solos, ensembles, choruses and purely orchestral music. While Bernstein described it as a “Valentine card to European music,” it struck others as derisive of European opera and operetta. After the premiere, Variety wrote: “It’s a spectacular, opulent and racy musical, verging on operetta. It’s replete with eye-filling costumes, lavish settings, a big cast and fine musical score.” It was with the New York Philharmonic that Bernstein first conducted a full orchestra version of his “Candide Overture” in late 1956/early 1957. The critic Harold Schonberg described it as “a smart, sophisticated little piece.” It soon became Bernstein’s most popular concert work. This performance with the New York Philharmonic under the maestro and composer was recorded at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 1976.
Das Rheingold
It began with a scandal, became the object of heated discussions, turned into a sensational success and finally blossomed into a legendary, standard setting production: Pierre Boulez’ and Patrice Chéreau’s epoch-making “Ring” cycle in Bayreuth, the “Centennial Ring”. When the production was premiered in 1976, there were brawls in the venerable Festspielhaus, with the audience divided into one mob roaring in favor and one screaming against. The main reason for the protests was Chéreau, who set the work in the time in which it was written and focused on the all-too-human passions that motivate gods and men alike. The grimy industrial era with its robber barons and suffering masses supplied the ideological underpinnings of Chéreau’s concept. Musical conservatives felt betrayed and cheapened by this association. The tide began to turn in 1977. Certain features were altered and the production began to have a more homogeneous feel. Finally, in 1980, its last year, the Ring concluded with a 90-minute ovation and 110 curtain calls. By the time Philips released the complete recording of this production in 1992, its legendary status had already begun to take shape: “Patrice Chéreau and Pierre Boulez not only wrote a major new chapter in Wagner interpretation with their Ring, but also carried out a revolution that affected all of musical theater. Since then, no production of the Ring has been able to come near to the concept put forward by Chéreau and Boulez.” (FonoForum) Unitel’s production, the first complete recording on film of Wagner’s Ring, marked the beginning of Unitel’s exclusive association with the Bayreuth Festival.
Die Zauberflöte
Mozart meets Hitchcock in this spooky interpretation of The Magic Flute in Vienna. With the aid of projections and stage elements by Falko Herold, director Barbora Horáková dreams up a cinematic, eerie setting full of references to famous horror flicks, creating “great suspense” (Kronenzeitung). At the podium, conductor Bertrand de Billy coaxes the most wonderful Mozart sounds from his musicians: “The orchestra manages something with Mozart that actually seems contradictory: the sound is both lush and wonderfully airy, however that works (…). The transparency and compelling tonal beauty alone make the visit worthwhile” (Kurier). The ensemble of singers leaves little to be desired, with Georg Zeppenfeld “reliably great” (Salzburger Nachrichten) as Sarastro, Ludwig Mittelhammer lending Papageno his “lovely baritone voice” (Kronenzeitung), Ilia Staple “witty” and “perfectly cast” as Papagena and Serena Saénz mastering her coloraturas as the Queen of the Night “with bravura” (News). Nevertheless, Slávka Zámecníková manages to excel above all: “The evening’s crowning glory was Slávka Zámecníková, who sang with her heart as she sang her Pamina: her soprano voice is full and refined, her phrasing beautiful and her expression undisguised” (Die Presse).
Don Giovanni
The beautiful, historic Teatro Olimpico in Vincenza is the ideal backdrop for this nostalgic production of Don Giovanni, conducted and directed by Iván Fischer. The settings for the opera emerge seamlessly from the beautiful architecture of the theatre as well as the young dancers of the Iván Fischer Opera Company who transform their bodies into buildings and furnishings. Andrè Schuen plays a sensual and charming Don Giovanni with a bold voice. Luca Pisaroni is an “outstanding” (FAZ) Leporello at his side: “The master-servant dynamic between the two has rarely been interpreted so beautifully” (Oper!). The sound from the pit is “clear, mellow and rich in dramatic accents (…) Thunderous applause!” (GDV). “Now that’s opera” (FAZ)