Festival Summer

Iván Fischer leads his Budapest Festival Orchestra (BFO) in a concert program dedicated to the music of Ludwig van Beethoven. The program opens with the composer’s Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21. Afterward, Fischer conducts Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58, in which Richard Goode features as the soloist. The acclaimed American pianist (1943) is known for his interpretations of the Beethoven repertoire. Goode recorded all five Beethoven piano concertos with the BFO and Fischer, earning him exceptional critical acclaim and a Grammy Award nomination. As an encore, Goode performs the Sarabande from J. S. Bach’s Partita in B-flat major, BWV 825. The program closes with Beethoven’s famous Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67. This performance was recorded at the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall in Budapest, Hungary, on January 29, 2017.

Maestro Herbert Blomstedt makes his debut with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra at 2020’s Lucerne Festival conducting Ludwig van Beethoven’s celebrated Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55, “Eroica”. The sprightly Swedish conductor celebrated his 93rd birthday just one month before this performance. This remarkable performance was recorded at the Lucerne Culture and Congress Center (KKL), Switzerland, in August 2020.

The Waldbühne in Berlin is one of the most attractive outdoor amphitheatres in Europe and home to the Berliner Philharmoniker's summer concerts. With a 20, 000-seat capacity, these events are some of the most popular classical music concerts in the world. In 2003, Seiji Ozawa and the Berliner Philharmoniker perform works by George Gershwin with the jazz pianist Marcus Roberts and his Trio as special guests. Their album “Gershwin For Lovers” stayed in the Top 10 on Billboard’s jazz chart for half a year. Together they created a magical fusion of classical music and jazz bringing an imaginative mix of styles into the swing of Gershwin’s music.

Maestro Claudio Abbado leads the Lucerne Festival Orchestra in this 2005 Lucerne Festival concert, recorded at the Lucerne Culture and Congress Center (KKL), Switzerland. The program opens with Alban Berg’s Altenberg Lieder, Op. 4, beautifully performed by star soprano Renée Fleming, followed by three songs for soprano and orchestra by Franz Schubert: Nacht und Träume (D 827), Die Forelle (D 550), and Gretchen am Spinnrade (D 118). The concert concludes with Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 7. In the years between the completion (1906) and premiere (1908) of Mahler’s Symphony No. 7, the composer's life changed rather dramatically. He quit his position at the Wiener Staatsoper, his first daughter died, and he was diagnosed with a cardiac anomaly. Because of the ‘dark’ character of several movements (the second and fourth movement are titled ‘Nightmusic’, and the third movement is titled ‘Schattenhaft’, meaning shadowy), the symphony is nicknamed ‘Song of the Night’, though Mahler himself rejected this title.