Two pairs of young lovers, a cynical old philosopher and an irreverent maid: the set-up for Così fan tutte could hardly be simpler. But Mozart and Da Ponte’s great comedy of the human heart is open to a thousand interpretations, few more compelling than this 2002 production directed by Jürgen Flimm for Opernhaus Zürich. Flimm’s light-touch staging gives limitless scope to conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt – unrivalled in this repertoire – and a truly glorious cast, with Cecilia Bartoli as a passionate Fiordiligi and Liliana Nikiteanu as her more carefree sister Dorabella. With Agnes Baltsa as Despina and Roberto Saccà as Ferrando, the result is timeless.
La Belle Helene
Ancient Greece hits the Champs-Elysées in Offenbach’s La belle Hélène. Mythological mayhem ensues – delightfully sexy, deliriously silly and swept dancing along by music that’s as fizzy (and as intoxicating) as champagne. No two artists have done more to put the sparkle back into French operetta than conductor Marc Minkowski and director Laurent Pelly, and in this now-classic production from the year 2000, Pelly’s zany visuals find a perfect complement in the freshness and flair of Minkowski’s period-instrument orchestra. The cast is to die for, too – with Laurent Naouri as Agamemnon and the great Felicity Lott having the time of her life in the title role.
Die Jurte
El Nino
“Shake the heavens….” On the brink of the 21st century, John Adams and Peter Sellars reimagined the birth of Christ, weaving sacred texts around modern Hispanic poetry and charging them with the energy and directness of contemporary dance and film. The result was El Niño, a “Nativity Oratorio” that quickly established itself as one of most talked-about (and moving) artworks of the new Millennium. This film documents the actual moment of its creation: the historic world-premiere production in Paris, with the creators’ choice of performers (including the late, and unforgettable, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson). An unmissable record of the birth of a masterpiece.
Oramo conducts Rautavaara, Prokofiev & Sibelius – with Olli Mustonen
With its opening sunrise and vaulting “Swan Hymn”, Sibelius’s Fifth Symphony is one of the defining masterpieces of Finnish music, and it’s been at the centre of Sakari Oramo’s repertoire since the start of his conducting career. This concert finds him on tour in 2000 as music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra – an ensemble with a long Sibelius tradition of its own – and striking sparks off his young compatriot Olli Mustonen in Prokofiev’s dazzling Piano Concerto No. 3. Oramo opens with the haunting Lintukoto by the late Einojuhani Rautavaara: one of the undisputed masters of Finnish music in the generation since Sibelius.
Norrington conducts Haydn: “Paris” Symphonies Nos. 85 & 87
Of all the great pioneers of the early music revival, few can match Sir Roger Norrington for the originality, the experience and the pure, unbuttoned joie-de-vivre that he brings to everything he conducts. Certainly, it’s hard to think of a wittier or more congenial interpreter for two of Haydn’s “Paris” symphonies: controlled explosions of fantasy, colour and symphonic argument, performed here with historically informed flair by the (modern instrument) virtuosi of the Salzburg Camerata. No.85 – nicknamed “La Reine” – is the most stately of the “Paris” symphonies. No. 87 is the most headlong. But both receive performances of quite irresistible playfulness and panache.
Norrington conducts Haydn: “Paris” Symphonies Nos. 83 & 84
Contemporaries nicknamed Haydn’s Symphony No. 83 “La Poule” because a particularly quirky melody seemed to suggest the pecking of a hen. But don’t be deceived: even at its most playful, Haydn’s imagination burned with unquenchable fire. In this concert given at the Salzburg Mozarteum in 2000, both “La Poule” and its companion piece – the noble Symphony No. 84 – receive performances of irrepressible animation, commitment and wit. Sir Roger Norrington conducts Camerata Salzburg: a pioneer of historically informed performance working with modern-instrument players steeped in central European style. The result is as energising – and as delightful – as you could possibly wish.
Norrington conducts Haydn: “Paris” Symphonies Nos. 82 & 86
Joseph Haydn never visited Paris, but when he received a commission from an influential concert society in the French capital, his imagination caught fire. The result – his six “Paris” symphonies – might be the first masterpieces of the symphonic repertoire to achieve global popularity, and even today, their mixture of novelty, inspiration and sheer creative verve is little short of irresistible. In this performance from the Mozarteum, Salzburg, period-performance pioneer Sir Roger Norrington is in his element – bringing his characteristic blend of scholarly expertise and irrepressible exuberance to the magnificent Symphony No. 86 and the brilliant No. 82 – nicknamed “The Bear”.
Helene Grimaud in Berlin
“She doesn’t only play the piano,” wrote a critic who was present at this December 2000 recital by the French pianist Hélène Grimaud. “She feels it and she lives it. Every single note proves her devotion to perfection”. Grimaud was still a rising star when she gave this performance at the Kammermusiksaal of the Berlin Philharmonie, but her very personal brand of artistry – her spontaneity, her sense of colour, her technical perfection – was already fully formed. Bach and Rachmaninoff frame sonatas by Brahms and Beethoven: a typically wide-ranging programme from a pianist whose technique is matched only by her imagination.
Harnoncourt conducts Bach: Advent Concert from Melk Abbey
From the magnificent surroundings of Melk Abbey in Austria, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and his Concentus Musicus Wien present a glorious programme of favourite choral works by Johann Sebastian Bach: two of his best loved cantatas alongside the celebratory Magnificat in D Major, BWV 243. Filmed in December 2000, the concert features a superb quartet of some of the finest singers of the time, including soprano Christine Schäfer and tenor Ian Bostridge. The Arnold Schoenberg Chor completes the line-up for this inspiring concert for Advent.