Beethoven, String Quartet in C sharp minor, op.131

Since its founding in 1946 in New York, the Juilliard Quartet has been synonymous with the genre of the string quartet. The repertoire of the ensemble comprises around 500 works – from J. S. Bach’s “Art of Fugue” to contemporary works which were written for the Juilliards. The four musicians have also trained generations of string quartets as teachers at the Juilliard School of Music in New York – from the Emerson Quartet to the Tokyo String Quartet. Robert Mann, the first violin, belonged to the founding members and retired in 1997 at the age of 77. Earl Carlyss was second violinist from 1966-1986 and was followed by Joel Smirnoff, who changed from the second to the first violin in 1997. Samuel Rhodes joined the ensemble as violist in 1969 and Joel Krosnick as cellist in 1974.

Mahler, Symphony No.1 in D major

Leonard Bernstein was the first conductor ever to record all of Mahler’s symphonies not only on disk, but also on video. The Mahler cycle was the first project in the more than 20-year-long association between Leonard Bernstein and Unitel. The leading Mahler interpreter of our time, Bernstein recorded all of Mahler’s symphonies between 1971 and 1985, chiefly with the Vienna Philharmonic, producing a unique musical document and triggering a major reappreciation of Mahler’s works. “All Mahler symphonies, all Mahler works for that matter, deal in extremes, extremes of dynamic, of tempo, of emotional meaning. When it is bare, it’s extremely bare, when it is thick and rich, it’s thicker and richer than anything in ‘Götterdämmerung’, and when it is suffering it suffers to a point that no music has ever suffered before.” (Leonard Bernstein)

Mahler, Symphony No.10 in F sharp major

Mahler’s last symphony was begun in the summer of 1910, ostensibly during a serious conjugal crisis, and was left unfinished at the time of the composer’s death in Vienna on 18 May 1911. The work was to have consisted of five movements, though it is possible that Mahler might have altered his original plan. And while several attempts have been made to complete the work on the basis of sketches, only the first movement, Adagio, was fully completed by the composer. It is an austere piece, with incisive sonorities and an ethereal beauty. Leonard Bernstein was the first conductor ever to record all of Mahler’s symphonies not only on disk, but also on video. The Mahler cycle was the first project in the more than 20-year-long association between Leonard Bernstein and Unitel. The leading Mahler interpreter of our time, Bernstein recorded all of Mahler’s symphonies between 1971 and 1985, chiefly with the Vienna Philharmonic, producing a unique musical document and triggering a major re-appreciation of Mahler’s works.

Beethoven, Egmont Overture, op.84

Music for the masses! This could have been the war cry of both Beethoven and Karajan. For this they had in common: the wish to reach out to millions and ensure the survival of their art. Beethoven, at the dawn of the romantic era, no longer wrote exclusively for titled patrons, but for the middle classes. To reach them, he needed

new means of popularizing and distributing his works, such as concerts for paying audiences and the publication of arrangements for everything from piano to brass band. In the mid 20th century, Herbert von Karajan also saw a new way of reaching out to greater numbers of people through the combination of picture and sound – the video recording. This recording of the Egmont Overture dates from 1975 and is part of a special ‘overture’ special produced with the Berlin Philharmonic for Unitel.

Beethoven, Coriolan Overture, op.62

At the request of the writer Heinrich Joseph von Collin, Beethoven composed an overture to Collin’s tragedy in five acts Coriolanus (1802) in the spring of 1807. It was given its first performance in March 1807 in Prince Lobkowitz’s palace in Vienna. Although Beethoven’s music did not bring about the hoped-for stage revival of Collin’s tragedy, the Overture made its breakthrough as an independent concert piece. A dramatic work that owes its somber quality to Collin’s tragedy, it came to be favored for solemn occasions. Music for the masses! This could have been the war cry of both Beethoven and Karajan. For this they had in common: the wish to reach out to millions and ensure the survival of their art. Beethoven, at the dawn of the romantic era, no longer wrote exclusively for titled patrons, but for the middle classes. To reach them, he needed new means of popularizing and distributing his works, such as concerts for paying audiences and the publication of arrangements for everything from piano to brass band. In the mid 20th century, Herbert von Karajan also saw a new way of reaching out to greater numbers of people through the combination of picture and sound – the video recording. This recording of the Coriolan Overture dates from 1975 and is part of a special “overture” special produced with the Berlin Philharmonic for Unitel.

Weber, Overture to “Der Freischütz”

First performed in Berlin in 1821, Weber’s “Der Freischütz” quickly became one of the most celebrated German operas, and its overture one of the most popular in all of music literature. The overture follows a symphonic form that determines the thematic unity of the work. Surprisingly innovative for its time, it announces the programmatic works of Berlioz and Liszt, as well as Wagner’s first overtures. The fresh and limpid music evokes the fairy- tale setting of the opera, with its ghosts, evil spirits, seven charmed bullets, loving couple, friendly hermit and happy ending. This recording of the “Freischütz” Overture dates from 1975 and is part of a special “overture” special directed by Herbert von Karajan and produced with the Berlin Philharmonic for Unitel.

Rossini, Overture to “Guillaume Tell”

“Guillaume Tell” (William Tell or, in German, “Wilhelm Tell”) was Rossini’s last opera, a grand and dazzling farewell to the stage that had built the composer’s undying reputation. The overture is structured in four clearly distinct parts which make no borrowings from the themes of the work. It is, in effect, a symphonic poem that begins with a tranquil Andante preceding an Allegro which depicts, perhaps, a storm in the Swiss Alps, the setting of the opera. The third section is devoted to the celebrated “ranz des vaches”, a Swiss cattlemen’s call to the flocks which is played here on the English horn. The final section, Allegro vivace, begins with a trumpet fanfare that introduces the rousing march of the Swiss soldiers. This recording of the “William Tell” Overture dates from 1975 and is part of a special “overture” special directed by Herbert von Karajan and produced with the Berlin Philharmonic for Unitel.