When the First World War broke out in 1914, the musical world did not remain unaffected. Artists inevitably became involved, either as soldiers at the front or as composers of patriotic music or musical memorials to a lost world. The three-part documentary series investigates the (un)known, overt and hidden connections between music, war and revolution. The first part focuses on the enthusiasm for the war in the musical world: when musicians and composers became fervent patriots and soldiers. How did the composers and musicians such as Alban Berg, Arnold Schoenberg, Maurice Ravel and Béla Bartók handle these times of war? How did their experiences at the battlefront affect their composing? What do the compositions reveal of this era and its spirit, believes and artistic changes of this age? The documentary combines important historical locations in the lives of the composers and musicians: such as the original battlefront of Verdun with the Voie Sacrée and the old Vienna with the Wiener Musikverein.
The Bernstein Centennial Celebration at Tanglewood
The Bernstein Centennial Celebration at Tanglewood spotlights Bernstein’s wide-ranging talents as a composer, his many gifts as a great interpreter and champion of other composers, and his role as an inspirer of a new generation of musicians and music lovers across the country and around the globe. The gala concert features a kaleidoscopic array of artists from the worlds of classical music, film, and Broadway. The entire first half of the program is dedicated to selections from such brilliant Bernstein works as Candide, West Side Story, Mass, and Serenade. Music from the classical canon very dear to Bernstein’s heart-selections from Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn and music by Copland – plus a new work by John Williams, makes up a good portion of the program’s second half; the finale of Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony No. 2 brings the program to a dramatic close. 141 mins (including Bernstein at Tanglewood film + Video Greetings) /
127 mins (concert version only)
Chick Corea Trio – Live at Malta Jazz Festival
When Chick Corea passed away at the beginning of 2021, the world lost one of its most imaginative and revered musical brains. Corea was utterly unrestricted on the piano, the instrument he began at age four when his trumpeter father introduced him to jazz and dixieland. His Akoustic Band, with bassist John Patitucci and drummer Dave Weckl, was one of the defining piano trios in jazz of the last three decades. The 2018 Malta Jazz Festival in La Valetta was headlined by the Chick Corea Trio and is one of the last taped concerts of Chick Corea.
HAUSER and Friends
A spectacular performance from the world-famous ancient Roman amphitheatre, Arena Pula, Croatia. HAUSER performs his favourite classical compositions with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra with virtuoso guest appearances from Caroline Campbell, Lola Astanova, Petrit Çeku and Ksenija Sidorova.
Orphée et Eurydice
The most enduringly popular opera by German composer Christoph Willibald Gluck, Orphée et Eurydice recounts the famous myth of Orpheus, the legendary Greek musician and poet who is grief-stricken over the untimely death of his wife, Eurydice. Staged by acclaimed director-choreographer John Neumeier and produced in collaboration with The Joffrey Ballet, Lyric Opera of Chicago’s new co-production with Los Angeles Opera and Staatsoper Hamburg seamlessly melds opera and dance. Lyric’s production stars Tenor Dmitry Korchak as Orphée with Sopranos Andriana Chuchman as Eurydice and Lauren Snouffer as Amour. The Chicago Tribune deemed the production “triumphant” and “miraculously fresh and alive.” The production features Gluck’s reworking of the original German opera into a French-language production featuring ballet.
Bayreuth Festival 2018: Lohengrin
From the 2018 Bayreuth Festival, the acclaimed new production by American director Yuval Sharon, “one of the most interesting arrivals on the musical landscape” (Opernwelt). The New York Times praised “the outstanding Piotr Beczala” as Lohengrin, “Anja Harteros [making] her impressive Bayreuth debut” as Elsa, and Ortrud “played with dominant presence by the incomparable Waltraud Meier”. The distinguished artists Neo Rauch and Rosa Loy created “breathtaking visuals”, and the whole performance was guided with “enthralling musicality” by conductor Christian Thielemann.
Yuja Wang – The Berlin Recital
International sensation Yuja Wang releases a recital program of works by late Romantic-era and 20th-century composers, recorded live at the Philharmonie Berlin. Yuja always has been in love with Berlin as a center for music and culture. Since 2013 she has been a regular guest at the Berlin Philharmonie – performing concertos with the Berlin Philharmonic, the big solo pieces, but also chamber music. Yuja‘s stellar piano technique is matched by boundless imagination. This solo recital allows her to be her dazzling musical self – an unmissable experience for any piano lovers out there! Works by: Sergei Rachmaninov, Sergei Prokofiev, Alexander Scriabin
Cinderella
The entire classical world looks to this young lady – because what she creates is not only of the highest quality always, but also of supra-regional importance. And at just 13 years of age. We’re talking of Alma Deutscher, of course. The British composer, violinist and pianist can already look back on a proud list of works, but she finally composed her first opera “Cinderella”. Thunderous applause and standing ovations were the result of the sold-out performances at the Opera San José. Anyone expecting a work full of childhood fantasies from a child who writes opera will actually be a little disappointed – or rather rewarded with the surprising opposite. Alma Deutscher is often compared to the prodigy Mozart. A flattering comparison, of course. “She would rather be the first Alma than the second Mozart” (Scott Pelley for CBS News). Alma Deutscher’s opera is full of depth, variety and multifaceted richness, as only a young, highly talented girl’s equally experienced, yet equally unbiased view of the fairy tale and the world might allow.
LSO: Bychkov conducts Mahler
Hear the full power of the LSO, soloists and chorus, as they take on Mahler’s epic ‘Ressurection’ Symphony. PROGRAM Mahler: Symphony No 2
LSO: Rattle conducts Mahler and Tippett
From blissful radiances to a last lament, Sir Simon Rattle conducts the final works of Sir Michael Tippett and Gustav Mahler. Tippett never shied away from breaking new musical ground, and his last major work, ‘a song without words for orchestra’, was no exception. Inspired by journeys to Senegal, The Rose Lake is the imaginary chant of the breathtaking, rose-hued Lake Retba. Each section of the orchestra is illuminated, with driving percussive forces and soaring melodies portraying a euphoric awakening of the landscape. The Rose Lake is a hymn of nature; but Mahler’s final work, left unfinished and restored after years of collaboration, is the cry of a desperate man. Condemned to life with a fatal heart condition and a failing marriage, his Tenth Symphony is a heartrending goodbye – as the composer himself inscribed on the manuscript, ‘farewell, farewell’. PROGRAM Tippett: The Rose Lake; Mahler: comp COOKE Symphony No 10