Sir Georg Solti (1912-1997), one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, was a testament to the elegance and impeccable tastefulness of Central European music-making. Born in Budapest in 1912, he studied with Béla Bartók, Ernö von Dohnányi, Zoltán Kodály and Leo Weiner. In 1937, Toscanini chose him to be his assistant at the Salzburg Festival. After the war, Solti was appointed Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera. Further stations in his career were the Frankfurt Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the London Philharmonic. His remarkable partnership with the Chicago Symphony began in 1954; he was named Music Director in 1969 and held this post for a phenomenal 22 years. He is credited with greatly extending and enhancing the orchestra’s worldwide reputation. Solti died in September 1997, just before his 85th birthday. The fascinating portrait of the artist, Sir Georg Solti, Conductor – A Portrait, was produced with the participation of Isaac Stern, Hildegard Behrens, Wolfgang Wagner, the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute)
“Don’t leave out the serious aspects, but don’t forget the humor either!” This, according to August Everding, was the basic idea behind his staging of “The Magic Flute”, which premiered on 30 August 1978 at the Bavarian State Opera. He wanted his Magic Flute neither too philosophical nor too comical, but sought instead to unite all the conflicting elements in this work: the fairy-tale magic, fun, brightness, intellectual depth and humanistic ideals. He also did not want to bore his audience with continuous scene changes behind a closed curtain. In order to realize Everding’s concept of an uninterrupted change of scenes, stage designer Jürgen Rose resorted to painted backdrops and architectural elements. Everding calls the result a mixture of timeless fairy tale and 18th century. For this production, Everding and Wolfgang Sawallisch revised and greatly shortened Schikaneder’s dialogues. The trio sung by Sarastro, Tamino and Pamina, for example, was moved forward a few numbers for dramaturgical reasons. According to Sawallisch, “in its original position, this trio is illogical and a ‘brake’.”
Pulcinella
Following the success of Massine’s choreography in “Les femmes de bonne humeur”, Diaghilev wanted to present a work based on the music of Pergolesi. He collected the composer’s unfinished manuscripts and was able to persuade Igor Stravinsky to compose the music for a new ballet. Picasso was engaged to design the sets and the costumes, while Massine was responsible for the choreography. The effort was worthwhile. “Pulcinella” is one of those rare ballets in which the individual elements – plot, music, choreography, set design and costumes – form a harmonious and homogeneous whole. Heinz Spoerli presents his Pulcinella using the language of modern ballet. One of the most important choreographers of our time, Spoerli was born in Basel, Switzerland, in 1941 and became director of the Basler Ballet in 1973. Under his direction, the Basler Ballet has become a highly esteemed international ensemble.
New Year‘s Eve Concert 1983
Herbert von Karajan leads the Berliner Philharmoniker in a concert program exploring the idea of homeland. Rossini’s William Tell tells the story of the legendary folk hero whose love for his son led him to confront the menacing Hapsburg invaders. The opera’s overture counts among classical music’s greatest hits. Next Smetana’s unforgettable melodies bring the beautiful Bohemian countryside near the banks of the Moldau river to life in his symphonic cycle “My Homeland” (Má vlast). Finnish composer Jean Sibelius’s Valse triste was originally written as incidental music for his brother-in-law’s play Kuolema (Death). The famed maestro presents an exquisite reading of these works before closing the program with two typically brilliant waltzes by the great Austrian waltz-master Johann Strauss: Delirien and the Overture to Der Zigeunerbaron.
Eine Alpensinfonie
Richard Strauss’s Alpine Symphony is closely connected with the Berliner Philharmoniker and its famous artistic director, the recording-technology-afficianado Herbert von Karajan. In 1981, their version of Strauss’s symphonic poem became one of the first works ever recorded on CD, and was then filmed two years later by Karajan’s production company Telemondial. Particularly remarkable for its rich orchestration, the Alpine Symphony is one of Strauss’s most ambitious compositions, and describes a day of mountain-climbing in which, as the writer Boris Vian put it, “more than anywhere else, the view and the heart become one”.
Beethoven Cycle – Symphony No. 4
Celebrated for his interpretations of Beethoven’s oeuvre, the great conductor Herbert von Karajan conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker in the composer’s Fourth Symphony. When Beethoven visited the summer residence of the famed Viennese musical patron Prince Lichnowsky, the Count Franz von Oppersdorff met the composer and fell under the spell of his Second Symphony. He offered Beethoven a considerable sum of money to compose a new symphony in the same joyous mood as the Second, leading to the genesis of the Symphony No. 4, which in turn was dedicated to Oppersdorff himself.
Beethoven Cycle – Symphony No. 7
Incredibly popular since the day of its premiere (conducted by Beethoven himself!), the Seventh Symphony is one of the composer’s most rhythmic and dancing works. Maestro Karajan, great connoisseur of the composer’s work, and the Berliner Philharmoniker present here a truly exceptional interpretation.