Rebekka Bakken is a fantastic singer, with a voice pure as a bell, which reaches the highest heights and the most sensual lows. She is also a storyteller. «As soon as there are words, it is all about the lyrics. As singers, we are only the delivery girls», she has been quoted as saying – a gross understatement in her case. She has mastered the art of putting the spotlight on the song itself, letting it shine in colourful light, while never hiding behind the song. Whether Rebekka Bakken sings songs by Ludwig Hirsch or Tom Waits, rock songs or intimate ballads, whether accompanied by jazz guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel, a rock band, or a big band, her iconic voice is immediately recognizable. It goes right under the skin, into the belly and head and directly to the heart. What more could one say of a singer?
Richard Strauss – Sketches Of A Life
Commemorating Richard Strauss’ 150th Birthday, the film focuses on the family of the composer. Especially for this documentary, the family archive of the Strauss-family is opened to the public by Richard Strauss’ grand-son Christian and his sister in law (and today’s archival director) Gabriele Strauss-Hotter. It allows the viewer to get an intense, nearly intimate view on the extraordinary life of this exceptional artist. The film by Barbara Wunderlich and Marieke Schroeder sketches the personality of Strauss by emphasis on the Strauss Villa in Garmisch, his focal point of life, and the symphonic composition “Symphonia Domestica”, which portrays the artist’s contradictive persona and his body of work better than any other piece of him.
Lucerne Festival: Simon Rattle conducts Stravinsky and Rachmaninov
The Berliner Philharmoniker have been a regular festival guest in Lucerne since 1958 performing much acclaimed concerts every year. In 2014, the orchestra completed their cycle “Moving to Modern Times” under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle with Igor Stravinsky’s “Firebird”, set to gorgeous, scintillatingly colorful ballet music in 1909-10. Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker paired this lush score of oriental lyricism with another masterpiece of the Russian late romanticism: Sergei Rachmaninov’s rousing Symphonic Dances, which likewise escorted listeners into a magical realm of fantasy and “made the Russian soul dance, too.” (Der Spiegel) – PROGRAM: Rachmaninov: Symphonic Dances, op. 45; Stravinsky: The Firebird. Fairy-tale ballet in two tableaux for orchestra. (Cat. No. UNITEL: A955500050000)
Rigoletto
The live recording of Giuseppe Verdi‘s “Rigoletto” from Opernhaus Zürich presents the thrilling and dramaturgically highly precise production by stage director Tatjana Gürbaca: The chosen “Director of the Year 2013” by Opernwelt succeeded in producing a scenically reduced as well as expressively poetic production. Acclaimed by press and public alike, the scenic approach is matched by the musical expertise of Fabio Luisi: The general music director of the Opernhaus Zürich and one of the leading interpreters of Italy’s opera repertory conducts the Philharmonia Zurich and outstanding lead soloists George Petean as Rigoletto, Aleksandra Kurzak as Gilda and Saimir Pirgu as the Duke.