Pierre Boulez was Olivier Messiaen’s student, and while his creative life followed a very different course, something very special happened whenever Boulez conducted Messiaen’s music in concert. That was certainly the case in Frankfurt in 1990, when Boulez directed the superb young players of the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie in the dazzling Chronochromie, and joined another supreme Messiaen interpreter – pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard – to perform Oiseaux Exotiques with his own Ensemble Intercontemporain. No one understood Messiaen’s music more profoundly than Boulez, and a documentary-style introduction from musicologist Michael Nupen sets the context for this uniquely authoritative celebration of two of France’s greatest postwar composers.
Argerich plays Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G
Right from her first acclaimed Deutsche Grammophon recording of the work with Claudio Abbado and the Berliner Philharmoniker, Ravel’s brilliant jazz-inspired Piano Concerto in G has been a staple of Martha Argerich’s repertoire: a work whose scintillating rhythms, sparkling passage-work and melodic inspiration seem tailor made to the legendary Argentinian pianist’s remarkable gifts. And that fact is clear to see and hear in this thrilling performance filmed in the Alte Oper in Frankfurt in September 1990, in which Argerich is joined by the Orchestre National de France and conductor Charles Dutoit.
Vaclav Neumann conducts Mahler & Dvorak
There’s always something inspiring about a veteran conductor working with young musicians – a special energy that flows between youth and experience, to the enrichment of all. In 1990, as tyrannies crumbled across Central Europe the great Czech maestro Vacláv Neumann joined forces with the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester and the distinguished British baritone Thomas Allen for a programme of Mahler (his Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen) and Dvorák (his final symphony). The result – captured live at the Alte Oper Frankfurt – has a quite extraordinary sense of occasion, as Neumann imparts a lifetime’s emotion and experience to his audibly inspired young players.
Kirill Kondrashin
Overture “1812” Op. 49 – Ceremonial Overture
Hailed by the press as “the definitive video production” of Tchaikovsky’s music, this exceptional concert series, recorded live from the Alte Oper Frankfurt, features the leading Russian conductor Vladimir Fedoseyev and the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra. Fedoseyev’s perceptive reading of the works of his fellow countryman, the masterly playing of the orchestra and guest soloists combine to produce performances which are revelatory in their execution and understanding of Tchaikovsky’s music and the Russian heritage.
Overture in F major
Hailed by the press as “the definitive video production” of Tchaikovsky’s music, this exceptional concert series, recorded live from the Alte Oper Frankfurt, features the leading Russian conductor Vladimir Fedoseyev and the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra. Fedoseyev’s perceptive reading of the works of his fellow countryman, the masterly playing of the orchestra and guest soloists combine to produce performances which are revelatory in their execution and understanding of Tchaikovsky’s music and the Russian heritage.
Francesca da Rimini Op.32
Hailed by the press as “the definitive video production” of Tchaikovsky’s music, this exceptional concert series, recorded live from the Alte Oper Frankfurt, features the leading Russian conductor Vladimir Fedoseyev and the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra. Fedoseyev’s perceptive reading of the works of his fellow countryman, the masterly playing of the orchestra and guest soloists combine to produce performances which are revelatory in their execution and understanding of Tchaikovsky’s music and the Russian heritage.
Symphony No. 2 in C minor Op. 17 “Little Russian”
Hailed by the press as “the definitive video production” of Tchaikovsky’s music, this exceptional concert series, recorded live from the Alte Oper Frankfurt, features the leading Russian conductor Vladimir Fedoseyev and the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra. Fedoseyev’s perceptive reading of the works of his fellow countryman, the masterly playing of the orchestra and guest soloists combine to produce performances which are revelatory in their execution and understanding of Tchaikovsky’s music and the Russian heritage.
Symphony No. 5 in E minor Op. 64
Hailed by the press as “the definitive video production” of Tchaikovsky’s music, this exceptional concert series, recorded live from the Alte Oper Frankfurt, features the leading Russian conductor Vladimir Fedoseyev and the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra. Fedoseyev’s perceptive reading of the works of his fellow countryman, the masterly playing of the orchestra and guest soloists combine to produce performances which are revelatory in their execution and understanding of Tchaikovsky’s music and the Russian heritage.
Variations on a Rococo Theme for Cello and Orchestra Op. 33
Hailed by the press as “the definitive video production” of Tchaikovsky’s music, this exceptional concert series, recorded live from the Alte Oper Frankfurt, features the leading Russian conductor Vladimir Fedoseyev and the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra. Fedoseyev’s perceptive reading of the works of his fellow countryman, the masterly playing of the orchestra and guest soloists combine to produce performances which are revelatory in their execution and understanding of Tchaikovsky’s music and the Russian heritage.