Emmerich Kálman (1882-1953) ranks next to Franz Lehár as one of the leading representatives of the “Silver Era” of the operetta, which was stamped above all by the works of the Austro-Hungarian cultural sphere, and which followed the classical period of the Viennese operetta. Kálmán’s “Herbstmanöver”, premiered at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna in 1908, immediately confirmed the young composer’s talent for this genre. The roots of the phenomenal originality of his melodies lie in his love of Hungarian gypsy music and his natural affinity for the Viennese waltz tradition, which characterize such musically original, international successes as the operettas “The Czardas Princess” (1915) and “Countess Maritza” (1924). Kálmán emigrated to America in 1939 but returned to Europe after the War and died in Paris on 30 October 1953. Beginning in the 1920s, he increasingly incorporated elements of modern dance music into his stage works. Particularly worthy of mention among his other successful works are “Die Bajadere” (1921), “The Circus Princess” (1926) and “Das Veilchen vom Montmartre” (1930).
Brahms, Symphony No.2 in D major, op.73
Brahms’s sunny Second Symphony is as warm and lyrical as his First had been stormy and dramatic. It quite possibly reflects the idyllic nature around Lake Wörth in Austria, where Brahms composed it in the summer of 1877. Brahms himself, however, called attention to the melancholy current that undermines the pastoral serenity (“You’ve never heard anything as world- weary as this”, he wrote to his friend Schubring). Despite the apparent simplicity of the symphonic writing, the work is strengthened and enriched by many thematic threads that run from one movement to another. It has been a special favorite among music lovers since its premiere in Vienna on 30 December 1877. Leonard Bernstein’s interpretation with the Boston Symphony Orchestra was recorded at Tanglewood in 1972. 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 underscored both the classicism and romanticism, the dramatic intensity and the sober restraint of Brahms’s music.
Brahms, Variations on a theme by Haydn, op.56
Brahms, Six Songs
In April 1972, the mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig, accompanied by Leonard Bernstein, gave a recital with lieder by Johannes Brahms in Vienna’s Musikvereinssaal. They performed the same program in New York’s Town Hall, and, while on a concert tour of Israel, recorded it for television at the Tel Aviv Museum in May 1972. Christa Ludwig, a highly expressive and intelligent artist, has been hailed as the best Mozart and Strauss mezzo of her generation. In addition, she has always shown a great predilection for the lied, and is known for her soulful interpretations of lieder by Brahms, Mahler and Schubert.
Brahms, Symphony No.4 in E minor, op.98
Composed during the summer months of 1884 and 1885 in Mürzzuschlag, southwest of Vienna, the Fourth Symphony tended to disconcert the public at first and had to prove itself in the concert circuit before gaining recognition as a masterwork of epoch-making stature. What Brahms’s contemporaries regarded as difficult and bewildering were above all the extreme constructive density of the score, the unusual layout, especially of the third and fourth movements, a number of archaic elements pointing back to the formulae and techniques of “early music” (the passacaglia in the fourth movement) and the austere, elegiac mood that permeates the entire work. The premiere of the Fourth Symphony was given by the Meiningen Court Orchestra in Meiningen under Brahms’s direction on 25 October 1885. Leonard Bernstein’s interpretation with the Boston Symphony Orchestra was recorded at Tanglewood. 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 underscored both the classicism and romanticism, the dramatic intensity and the sober restraint of Brahms’s music.
Mahler, Rehearsal “Das Lied von der Erde”
Brahms, Four Songs
In April 1972, the mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig, accompanied by Leonard Bernstein, gave a recital with lieder by Johannes Brahms in Vienna’s Musikvereinssaal. They performed the same program in New York’s Town Hall, and, while on a concert tour of Israel, recorded it for television at the Tel Aviv Museum in May 1972. Christa Ludwig, a highly expressive and intelligent artist, has been hailed as the best Mozart and Strauss mezzo of her generation. In addition, she has always shown a great predilection for the lied, and is known for her soulful interpretations of lieder by Brahms, Mahler and Schubert.
Brahms, Two Songs with Viola, op.91
In April 1972, the mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig, accompanied by Leonard Bernstein, gave a recital with lieder by Johannes Brahms in Vienna’s Musikvereinssaal. They performed the same program in New York’s Town Hall, and, while on a concert tour of Israel, recorded it for television at the Tel Aviv Museum in May 1972. Christa Ludwig, a highly expressive and zzo intelligent artist, has been hailed as the best Mozart and Strauss mezzo of her generation. In addition, she has always shown a great predilection for the lied, and is known for her soulful interpretations of lieder by Brahms, Mahler and Schubert.
Brahms, Gipsy-Songs, op.103
In April 1972, the mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig, accompanied by Leonard Bernstein, gave a recital with lieder by Johannes Brahms in Vienna’s Musikvereinssaal. They performed the same program in New York’s Town Hall, and, while on a concert tour of Israel, recorded it for television at the Tel Aviv Museum in May 1972. Christa Ludwig, a highly expressive and intelligent artist, has been hailed as the best Mozart and Strauss mezzo of her generation. In addition, she has always shown a great predilection for the lied, and is known for her soulful interpretations of lieder by Brahms, Mahler and Schubert.
Der Graf von Luxemburg
With its charmingly romantic theme, effective stage action and abundance of spirited and delicate moods, this Parisian-flavorerd libretto gave Maestro Lehár every opportunity to display his talent. Lehár completed this operetta in only three weeks in 1909 and at first referred to it himself as “a slovenly piece of work”. Once again, however, impulsiveness and spontaneity proved to be the ingredients of an outright success. “The Count of Luxembourg” is – with regard to its inventiveness, originality and instrumental coloring – on a par with Lehár’s other international successes.