At one of the rare appearances with orchestra, Martha Argerich, the grande dame of the piano, joined forces with world-famous cellist Mischa Maisky and the fabulous Lucerne Symphony Orchestra for the world premiere of a newly commissioned work by Russion composter Rodion Shchedrin – ‘Romantic Offering’, a double concerto for piano, cello and orchestra dedicated to its very first soloists. The programme was rounded off by late-Romantic masterpieces by Cesar Franck, Antonin Dvorak and Dimitri Shostakovich’s Ninth Symphony under the baton of renowned maestro Neeme Järvi. Also available: Making Of (16′).
The Philharmonics in Vienna
The soloists of The Philharmonics – an ensemble made up of musicians from the Vienna Philharmonic – performing Johann Strauß’s waltzes arranged by Arnold Schönberg, Anton Webern und Alban Berg in an original Viennese Coffeehouse. PROGRAMME: ROSEN AUS DEM SÜDEN arr. by Arnold Schoenberg / KAISERWALZER arr. by Arnold Schoenberg / LAGUNENWALZER arr. by Arnold Schoenberg (after Motives from the Opera ‘Eine Nacht in Venedig’) / WEIN, WEIB UND GESANG arr. by Alban Berg / SCHATZWALZER arr. by Anton Webern (from the Operetta ‘Der Zigeunerbaron’), ALT WIEN Godowski, MARCHE MINIATURE VIENNOIS Fritz Kreisler, SCHÖN ROSMARIN Fritz Kreisler, CAPRICE VIENNOIS Fritz Kreisler, YIDDISHE MAME arr. by Tibor Kovac.
Liszt Celebration Concert
For the very first time Daniel Barenboim tackled Franz Liszt’s two highly virtuosic piano concertos in a single concert. With Pierre Boulez, his friend and esteemed colleague of many years, conducting Barenboim’s own orchestra, the Staatskapelle Berlin, they were showered with praise on their tour across Europe. For both musicians, Liszt was one of the most important pioneers of modern music, as composer, conductor and pianist. He influenced revolutionary contemporaries such as Robert Schumann and Richard Wagner. Two examples of the latter’s magnificent orchestral work round off this concert programme celebrating Liszt’s bicentenary.
Lucerne Festival: Simon Rattle conducts Britten and Bruckner
Another late summer highlight at Lucerne Festival: Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker presenting works by Benjamin Britten and Anton Bruckner. Britten gethered eight musical-poetic night pieces together under the title ‘Nocturne’: Musical settings of English poets throughout the centuries perfomed by tenor Ian Bostridge. This cycle of orchestral songs is coupled with Bruckner’s ‘Swan Song,’ his last symphony, which was unfinished and which he dedicated to ‘Dear God’ – Symphony No. 9 in D minor.
Lucerne Festival: Abbado conducts Bruckner 5
‘Abbado’s approach to the music of Bruckner is soft and songlike, at times tense and urgent, but constantly filles with warmth of feeling (…)’ wrot critic Peter Hagmann in the ‘Neue Züricher Zeitung’. On 19 August 2011 Claudio Abbado and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra presented Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 5 and did credit to this review. The handpicked players of the orchestra filled the famous concert hall in the Culture and Convention Centre Lucerne with impressive and unforgettable sounds.
Lucerne Festival: Abbado conducts Mozart
For many music lovers, Christine Schäfer’s Mozart interpretations are a revelation. She has little in common with the routine conventions of her field and her artistry is enourmously powerful as this program featuring concert arias by Mozart, with Abbado conducting the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA, shows. This TV program is coupled with Mozart’s ‘Haffner’ Symphony, which was originally performed in Salzburg as a serenade to be played by torchlight. Program: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
‘Misera, dove son!’ – ‘Ah, non son io che parlo,’ K. 369; ‘Ah, lo previdi’ – ‘Ah, t’invola,’ K. 272; ‘Vorrei spiegarvi, oh Dio!,’ K. 418; Symphony in D major, K. 385 ‘Haffner’.
Chailly conducts Mahler – Symphony No. 2
The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and their Music Director Riccardo Chailly have acquired legendary status – glorious reviews and many awards for their recordings testifying to their continuing success. At Leipzig’s International Mahler Festival, to mark the centenary of Mahler’s death, they performed Mahler’s monumental Second Symphony in the Gewandhaus – together with two marvellous soloists and choral forces quite beyond compare.
Chailly conducts Mahler – Symphony No. 8
Mahler’s Eighth Symphony is agruably the grandest and most ambitious piece of symphonic music ever written. The composer himself regarded it as his ‘opus summum’, and an incredible number of partipicians at the hugely successful Munich premiere in 1910 earned it the nickname ‘Symphony of a Thousand’. At Leipzig’s International Mahler Festival 2011, Riccardo Chailly commanded almost 500 musicians. The perfomance celebrated overwhelming success by audience and critics.
A Concert for New York – 9/11 Memorial Concert
The concert presents Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 featuring soprano Dorothea Röschmann, mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung and the New York Choral Artists. The New York Philharmonic will be conducted by its Music Director Alan Gilbert. Commemorating the tenth anniversary of the events of 9/11, the New York Philharmonic strives to truly give a concert to the city of New York. Programming Mahler’s 2nd the orchestra seeks to set a sign of hope, since this work is often referred to as the ‘Resurrection’ Symphony. ‘Mahler’s Second Symphony, ‘Resurrection’, powerfully and profoundly explores the range of emotions provoked by the memories of 9/11,’ said Music Director Alan Gilbert. ‘This great masterpiece has a very special place in the history and psyche of the New York Philharmonic, but its message of renewal and rebirth is universal. We offer it as a tribute to those lost ten years ago.
RCO: Mahler No. 7
After the two famous Mahler festivals in 1920 and 1995, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam is now presenting a special twoseason Mahler series, which includes ten large-scale symphonies plus ‘Das Lied von der Erde’, performed in chronological order by the world’s greatest orchestra under the direction of great conductors – all brought to life in the wonderful acoustics of the Main Hall of the Concertgebouw.