Karl Richters Vermächtnis (The Legacy of Karl Richter)

The music of Johann Sebastian Bach was at the center of Karl Richter’s life. Karl Richter breathed new life into Bach’s music by bringing it to new circles of listeners. The church musician Karl Richter (1926-1981) founded the Munich Bach Orchestra and Bach Choir in the 1950s and thus put into practice his new ideas of Bach interpretation. He departed from oppressively large orchestral arrangements, introduced a new simplicity, allowing the notes to turn directly into music. He kindled a blaze of enthusiasm for Bach that goes on to this day. “The Legacy of Karl Richter” documents the main milestones, events and people in the life of this great artist and personality. It shows his roots in the Saxon-Thuringian musical tradition and conveys something of the splendor of Karl Richter’s interpretations of Bach and Handel, which remain unsurpassed to this day. Light is also shed upon the versatility of Richter’s musical talent, which ranged far beyond Bach and Handel.

A Quiet Place

In 1986 Bernstein conducted a refined version of his own opera A Quiet Place in Vienna. It contains singable late romantic melodies as well as Broadway musical sounds, syncopated jazz rhythms and well-tempered modernity and, of course, a masterful instrumentation. Estranged family members recall the history of their relationships with each other and with their dead mother. The next morning, after breakfast and games in the garden – the “quiet place” –, they find that their hostility has given way to reconciliation.

Mitridate, Re di Ponto

Jean-Pierre Ponnelle and Nikolaus Harnoncourt have succeeded in turning the stylized figures of the ‘opera seria’ into living, flesh-and-blood characters. Written when Mozart was 14 and premiered at the Teatro Regio Ducale in Milan in December 1770, “Mitridate” faithfully adheres to the principles of the courtly opera seria. Such works were not expected to be realistic, but admirable and impressive, filled with coloraturas, cadenzas and vocal brilliance – much of it provided by castrati. Three of the roles in “Mitridate” were originally written for castrati and cast here with women (Farnace and Sifare) and a boy (Arbate). The production was filmed at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, which was built by Andrea Palladio, one of the greatest architects of the Renaissance.

Schubert, Die schöne Müllerin (The Beautiful Maid of the Mill), D.795 Lieder Cycle based on poems by Wilhelm Müller

The internationally acclaimed baritone Hermann Prey was born in Berlin in 1929. He made his breakthrough in 1956 as Figaro in the Vienna State Opera’s production of Rossini’s “Barber of Seville”. He has since performed at all of the world’s great opera houses and festivals. Hermann Prey has always loved lieder, especially the works of Franz Schubert. This inspired him to found the Schubertiade, a festival in Hohenems, Austria, entirely devoted to this composer’s works. He also established the New York Schubertiade in 1988.

Horowitz in Moscow

A recording of Horowitz’s historic recital in Moscow, the program also includes highlights of his return to his native Soviet Union-his first visit in 61 years.On the programme works by Scarlatti, Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Liszt, Chopin, Schumann, Moszowski.

Mozart Requiem

Experience Mozart’s Requiem, founding work of the Western classical music canon, in one of the best performances ever captured on film featuring Herbert von Karajan, the Wiener Philharmoniker, and four brilliant soloists. Today, the Requiem is without a doubt one of Mozart’s most performed and beloved works, but its origins remain mysterious and its score left unfinished by the genius creator who prematurely died during its composition at the age of 35.

Karajan conducts Debussy & Ravel

Celebrated for his intimate knowledge of the symphonic contributions of German Romanticism’s great masters, Herbert von Karajan also explored the masterpieces of French composers with the Berliner Philharmoniker in great detail. His almost-obsessive quest for sonic perfection was particularly intriguing when applied to French Impressionism, like the classic works featured here. Debussy’s La Mer depicts the magnificent land- and seascapes associated with the ocean and draws inspiration from the visual artwork of Turner and Monet, and the Suite No.2 from Ravel’s ballet Daphnis et Chloé paints its subjects so clearly that the listener can almost see them. It was the composer himself who spoke of a “choreographic symphony” bringing the love story of the shepherd and his lover to life.

Don Quixote

Enter the extravagant universe of Cervantes’s Don Quixote in Richard Strauss’s symphonic poem performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker under the direction of Herbert von Karajan, legendary personality of the 20th-century European musical scene. Strauss gives musical life to some of the novel’s most famous episodes, including the battle with the sheep, the windmills, and the encounter with Dulcinea. Having already recorded the work with Pierre Fournier and Rostropovich, in this version Karajan approaches an even greater level of perfection with the young cello virtuoso Antonio Meneses, winner of the 1982 Tchaikovsky Competition.