When the revered writer Alessandro Manzoni died in 1873, Verdi was unable to bring himself to attend the funeral. Instead he composed his monumental Messa da Requiem in Manzoni’s memory and conducted its first performance on the first anniversary of the writer’s death. In addition to its profound spirituality, the work also brings together all the finest qualities familiar from Verdi’s operas, qualities that include endless melodic lines and powerful musico-dramatic effects. The present performance was recorded in Los Angeles’s legendary Hollywood Bowl in August 2013 and brought together three superstars from the world of music: the conductor Gustavo Dudamel, the tenor Vittorio Grigolo and the bass-baritone Ildebrando D’Arcangelo, all of them at the top of their form. “It was an important and exceptional evening … That experience involved a radical and wondrous rethinking of the Requiem on Dudamel‘s part.” Los Angeles Times
Elbphilharmonie Hamburg – Grand Opening Concert
The Elbphilharmonie, the “hall of wonders” (The Guardian), is undoubtedly the new landmark of Hamburg, a monumental synthesis of breath-taking architecture, a unique location and a world-class concert hall. In varying instrumentation the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra under the baton of Principal Conductor Thomas Hengelbrock and several top-class soloists explores in the opening concert the possibilities of the Elbphilharmonie’s Grand Hall and ist acoustics with an exciting programme that spans across all musical eras, from the Renaissance to the present. It culminates in a brand-new commissioned work, created especially for this occasion by the most important living German composer, Wolfgang Rihm.
“A striking building, a scintillating concert!” (The New York Times). BONUS: This documentary accompanies the formation process of this grand building, from the first sketch plans to the rehearsals before it´s festive inauguration and includes statements by the architects Pierre de Meuron and Jacques Herzog, the acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota, Christoph Lieben-Seutter, Thomas Hengelbrock and more.
Bruckner Symphony No. 3
Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Dresden already released the Bruckner symphonies Nos. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 and continue their Bruckner Cycle at the Philharmonie in Munich with a “radiant and majestic” (The Guardian) performance of Symphony No. 3, also known as “Wagner Symphony”. Thielemann, a more than experienced Bruckner interpreter, has once again proven himself as the top of his class, with masterly control over a shining wind section, which “pushed the audience deeply into their seats”. With “moments of disruptive suspense and intense audio density he displays the full musical maelstrom of Bruckners Symphony No. 3” (Münchner Merkur). „Thielemann and the Dresdeners played the Third Symphony … here radiant and majestic, clean ensemble giving a welcome illusion of structural clarity.” (The Guardian about the performance at the Proms) „… the orchestra unfolds from the beginning in fullest splendor“. (Süddeutsche Zeitung)