Creating music in the spirit of Beethoven’s “Pastoral Symphony” – With the 6th Symphony, the “Pastoral,” Ludwig van Beethoven expressed his romantic appreciation of nature. Now, this work is the basis of the “Beethoven Pastoral Project,” captured by Deutsche Welle in this documentary film. It presents five musicians and ensembles on five continents currently exploring the themes of nature and the environment. The artists include the Australian viola player and composer Brett Dean, the Indian film score composer and Grammy award winner Ricky Kej and the Ethiopian pop singer Betty G. What kind of music are they making in this era of climate change and environmental degradation?
A World Without Beethoven? Music documentary with Sarah Willis
“What would the world be like without Beethoven?” That’s the provocative question posed by this music documentary. To answer it, the film explores how Ludwig van Beethoven’s innovations continue to have an impact far beyond the boundaries of classical music. What would be missing from jazz or film music, for example, if Beethoven had never created his many innovations? Would the concert business exist as we know it today? And how has it changed the role of the artist? Sarah Willis, horn player with the Berliner Philharmoniker, sets out on an entertaining and informative journey in search of answers. She meets people from around the world – musicians and managers – to follow the traces of Beethoven’s influence.
Lisa Batiashvili, Gautier Capuçon & Christian Thielemann
Violinist Lisa Batiashvili, cellist Gautier Capuçon, Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Dresden present a sophisticated concert programme of three great composers: Johannes Brahms, Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky and Franz Liszt. In Brahms´ Double Concerto Lisa Bathiashvili is playing her Guarneri “with tenderness and devotion” (Der Neue Merker). Her lyrical, velevety performance is contrasted by Capuçon’s more throaty and vibrating tone: “The two ways of playing seem to collide sometimes but to match brilliantly at the same time”. Christian Thielemann and his Staatskapelle “are mixing different colours as if they were putting emeralds and rubies on precious metal, creating huge sonority but always retaining clarity in it” (Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten).
Alceste
The Belgian dancer and choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui interprets Gluck’s late Baroque opera Alceste as an impressive symbiosis between dance and music. The opera “can be experienced here in all its existential power.“ (SZ) It is here performed in the revised Paris version from 1776 where Gluck has revalued especially the ballet music. Cherkaoui – director of the Royal Ballet of Flanders – has worked with top artists across disciplines like superstar Beyoncé. The superb dancers of the Belgian Compagnie Eastman, Antwerp perform Gluck’s score physically, creating a fine and stringent aesthetics of “beautiful images” (Opernwelt). Dorothea Röschmann with her “inimitable charisma” (Financial Times) and Charles Castronovo deliver a brilliant performance in the roles of the self-sacrificing royal couple. “Musically impressive.“ (NMZ)