Staatskapelle Berlin. Before embarking on this journey Barenboim and Boulez entered into a long period of reflection and discussion. For the accompanying documentary, director Christoph Engel compiled a rich selection of statements, conversations and musical excerpts by both conductors that provides a guide to the world of Mahler’s towering symphonies. BONUS: THE MAHLER PROJECT – Daniel Barenboim and Pierre Boulez working on the symphonies of Gustav Mahler Performed as a complete cycle in Berlin, Vienna and New York, the concerts were a tremendous success. The Financial Times even wrote “New York is going Mahler mad.” “A milestone for the Staatskappelle Berlin.” New York Times
Carmen
In this prestigious production at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, world-famous and highly controversial stage director Calixto Bieito, admired for his raw and evocative stagings, sees in Carmen the embodiment of the mythical gypsy and touches upon sensitive issues such as racism, xenophobia and right-wing politics. Bieito conjures up a sensual and realistic atmosphere full of powerful symbolism. An outstanding quartet of vocal stars, led by a “splendid and sensual” (El Periódico) Béatrice Uria-Monzon in the title role, delivers one of the most exciting Carmens in recent years: Roberto Alagna as Don José, Erwin Schrott as Escamillo and Marina Poplavskya as Micaëla.
Karajan – Maestro for the Screen + Berliner Philharmoniker play Bach
Herbert von Karajan was the first conductor to be obsessed with filming his own musical performances in order to preserve his cultural heritage. As a film and TV director he was an aesthete, perfectionist, and true pioneer. This documentary starts with the very first concert productions in 1957 in Japan, followed by the impressive cooperation with director Henri-Georges Clouzot in 1965 to Karajan’s own film company Telemondial. It is absolutely fascinating to see how Karajan developed his language for filming orchestral productions. Including outstanding digitally remastered performance material, talks with Karajan, interviews with his closest collaborators and production partners, the documentary is an exciting part of the history of classical music and media.
BONUS: First ever release of a 32 minutes video CONCERT J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No.3
in G major, BWV 1048 + Suite (Overture) No. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067 (Recorded 1967/1968)
Leonard Bernstein – Larger than Life
Leonard Bernstein was America’s musical ambassador to the world. This fascinating documentary shows why Bernstein was one of the most influential classical musicians of the last century. He was an inspirational teacher, a brilliant conductor, a fine composer, and an accomplished pianist. In his role as an educator, he found and fascinated an even larger audience of young listeners on television shows such as Omnibus and Young People’s Concerts. As a composer (West Side Story, On the Town etc.) he could bridge gaps and break down barriers in an extraordinarily skilful and yet accessible manner, reaching a large audience worldwide, way beyond classical music. The film includes interviews with Leonard Bernstein’s children, Jamie, Alexander and Nina Bernstein, Gustavo Dudamel, Stephen Sondheim, Kent Nagano, Marin Alsop, Sir Peter Jonas, Christoph Eschenbach, Norman Lebrecht, members of the Vienna Philharmonics, Craig Urquhart, and many others.
La Bohème
Puccini’s masterpiece La Bohème is by far the most represented opera in the world. At the famous Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago, where Puccini composed his main operas, La Bohème is directed by one of Italy’s greatest film directors: Ettore Scola, the creator of a high number of award-winning seminal films. As he explains in the programme notes, as soon as he was approached to stage La Bohème he had to fight hard to resist the temptation to give life to his “revolutionary” ideas; in the end, he decided for a traditional-looking, rich, grandiose and detailed Bohème. Together with the exceptional cast of Daniela Dessì, Fabio Armiliato, Alessandro Luongo, Alida Berti and Marco Spotti, this production makes for an incomparable great performance.
András Schiff at Mozartwoche
Vienna – once the music hub of Europe – attracted all the greatest composers of its day, among them Beethoven, Schubert and Mozart. This concert with Sir András Schiff and the Capella Andrea Barca from the Salzburg Mozart Week brings together three works by these great composers, all created at the start of their impressive Viennese careers. About Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto the Salzburg press wrote admiringly: “Sensitively supported by the rich and supple tone of the strings, Schiff’s pianistic virtuosity explores the length and breadth of Beethoven’s early work, from the opulent to the playful, with a palpable delight rarely found in such measure in a pianist”, while in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22 “Schiff demonstrates his skill in pianistic interpretation and in conducting, nuanced, passionate, a sensitive revelation”.