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.
Die Kluge
Mahler, Symphony No.7 in E minor
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)
Zigeunerliebe
Franz Lehár (1870-1948) found remarkably expressive and brilliantly colorful sounds for the drama and romantic moods of this unique topic. The style was decisively influenced by the familiar cadence of Hungarian gypsy music in the composer’s native country. This is not only evidenced by the csárdás rhythms or the inclusion of the cymbalom in the arrangement, but above all by the many pronouncedly melancholy hues of the melody and harmony produced by the use of minor keys. After “The Merry Widow” and “The Count of Luxembourg”, “Gipsy Love” is Franz Lehár’s third most successful operetta. After its triumphant Vienna premiere in 1910, it was performed, for example, at the Empire Theater in Darjeeling, at the foot of the Himalayas! The location shots in our production were filmed in Austria’s Helenental and Vienna Woods.
Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 6 in B minor, op.74 “Pathétique”
Tchaikovsky composed his Sixth Symphony in 1893, the year of his death; he outlived the world premiere in St. Petersburg by only nine days. The title “Pathétique” was given to the work by Tchaikovsky’s borther Modest. It aptly characterizes the work as a symphony of passionate emotions. Tchaikovsky himself considered this work as a climax of his oeuvre, and wrote to his brother Anatole: “I believe it is being born as the best of my works.” To another friend he wrote: “I love it as I have never loved any of my other musical creations.” And the world agreed with him. In spite of the brilliance and excitement of his Fourth and Fifth Symphonies, it is clear that the “Pathétique” is the work of a man at last complete master of symphonic form and idiom and, most important of all, master of his own wild emotions.