00:00
Dvořák - Rusalka
Bulgarian conductor Pavel Baleff conducts the Orchestra and Choir of the Opéra de Limoges in a performance of Antonín Dvořák’s lyric fairytale opera Rusalka (1900). The work’s libretto is written by Czech poet Jaroslav Kvapil. Rusalka, an elusive water nymph, falls in love with the Prince, who happens to swim in her lake. Rusalka longs to become human herself so that she can be together with the Prince. The witch Ježibaba is willing to help Rusalka, but warns her that the transition to a mortal human being comes at a high price: the nymph will lose the power of speech. What is more, if mute Rusalka cannot keep the love of a human, she will be damned for eternity. Stage director Nicola Raab and TV director Arnaud Lalanne created a truly filmic production of Dvořák’s masterpiece. Among the soloists are Ruzan Mantashyan, Adam Smith, Rafal Pawnuk, Marie-Adeline Henry, Marion Lebègue, and Alexandra Marcellier. This performance was recorded at the Opéra de Limoges, France, in February 2021.
02:02
Europa Konzert 2004 – Athens
Europakonzert 2004 was held in Athens, Greece. This concert featured the Berliner Philharmoniker performing live at the ancient Herodes Atticus Theatre along with an interesting combination of conductor and soloist - Sir Simon Rattle wielding the baton as pianist Daniel Barenboim plays Johannes Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 and Arnold Schoenberg's arrangement of Brahms' Piano Quartet No 1. The Athens concert marked a double première: it was the first Europakonzert under the direction of the new chief conductor, as well as the first time Rattle and Barenboim appeared together. The Odeon of Herodes Atticus, an amphitheatre built in 161 AD in memory of Herodes Atticus’ wife, is situated on the slope of the Acropolis. With a seating capacity of at least 5,000 spectators, it was reputed to be the finest theatre in all of Greece.
03:45
Orff - Carmina Burana
Rodolfo Barráez conducts the Orchestra and Choir of the Academia de Musica del Palacia de Mineria in a performance of Carl Orff's cantata Carmina Burana. Soloists are Anabel de la Mora (soprano), Andrés Carrillo (tenor) and Daniel Cerón (baritone). Carmina Burana, composed in 1935 and 1936, is based on 24 poems from a medieval manuscript of the same name. The full title is "Songs from Beuern: Secular songs for singers and choruses to be sung together with instruments and magical images". It was first performed at the Oper Frankfurt on June 8, 1937.
04:54
Schumann - Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 129
Manfred Honeck conducts Yo-Yo Ma and the Berlin Philharmonic in a performance of Schumann's Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 129 from the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden 2016.
05:38
Fischer conducts Prokofiev and Stravinsky
Iván Fischer conducts the Budapest Festival Orchestra in a concert recorded at the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall in Budapest, Hungary in 2015. The concert opens with Sergei Prokofiev's Overture on Hebrew Themes, Op. 34. After this, Thomas Zehetmair stars as solo violinist in Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2, Op. 63. The second part of the concert is features music by Igor Stravinsky. On the program is music composed for the ballet 'Jeu de cartes' (1937) and the Firebird Suite, No. 2 (1919). 'Jeu de cartes' is one of Stravinsky's neo-classical works and consists of three parts ('deals'). The Firebird Suite, No. 2 is based on the music from the ballet of the same name, which was written for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and premiered in Paris in 1910.
05:44
Rachmaninov - Suite No. 1, Op. 5 - II. The Night …
In this splendid concert, exceptional Russian pianists Nikolay Lugansky and Vadim Rudenko join forces in a program for two pianos comprising works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Maurice Ravel, Anton Arensky, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Nikolai Kapustin. Both pianists, laureates of the prestigious International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1994, have received international recognition. They perform regularly in a duo. On the program: Mozart’s Sonata for two pianos in D major, K. 448/375 A; Ravel’s La Valse (arr. for two pianos); Arensky’s Suite No. 1 for two pianos, Op. 15; and Rachmaninoff’s Suite No. 1 (Fantasy) for two pianos, Op. 5. As an encore, the duo performs ‘Romance’ from Rachmaninoff’s Suite No. 2 for two pianos, Op. 17, followed by ‘Overture’ from Nikolai Kapustin’s Sinfonietta, Op. 49. This performance was recorded at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, Russia, on November 25, 2021.
06:00
Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major
Zoltán Kocsis (1952-2016) performs Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23, KV 488. The Virtuosi de Praha are conducted by Jirí Belohlávek in a concert that took place in Prague in 1999. Mozart completed the concerto on March 2, 1786, around the time his Le nozze di Figaro premiered. The final rondo puts Mozart’s musical humour on full display. Themes are tossed back and forth between the soloist and orchestra as they chase each other through unexpected key changes.
06:28
Haydn - The Creation
German conductor Peter Schreier conducts the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Luzerner Festwochenchor, and three vocal soloists in a performance of Joseph Haydn’s The Creation (‘Die Schöpfung’), Hob. XXI:2. The vocal soloists are soprano Edith Mathis, tenor Christoph Prégardien, and bass René Pape. Completed in 1798, Haydn’s magnificent oratorio depicts the creation of the world as described in the Bible’s Book of Genesis. Its libretto draws from Genesis, the Psalms, and John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost, and was prepared by the composer’s patron Gottfried van Swieten. The work is structured in three parts. The first four days of creation make up part one, dealing with the creation of the earth, its flora, and the celestial objects. The fifth and sixth day of creation form part two, dealing with the creation of animals and humankind. The third part focuses on Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. This performance was recorded at the church of Jesuits in Lucerne, Switzerland, in 1992.
08:19
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3,Op 30
The legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz (1903-1989) won his first praise on his interpretation of Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto from the composer himself. When Rachmaninoff heard the young Kiev-born pianist play his work shortly after Horowitz's arrival in New York in 1928, he exclaimed: "He swallowed it whole." Fifty years later, on September 24, 1978, Horowitz electrified his audience once again with this monumental work. Accompanied by the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta, he gave a special performance of this work as part of the celebrations honoring his U.S. debut 50 years earlier. His unforgettable account was recorded live on video and broadcast simultaneously throughout the United States. It was the last time Horowitz played the Third in his lifetime. The work itself, reverently called "Rach 3" by pianists brave enough to tackle its monstrous technical challenges, achieved international celebrity of a different kind in recent years.
09:14
CMIM Piano 2024 – First Round: Derek Wang
Pianist Derek Wang (USA, 1998) performs Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Fantasia No. 4 in C minor, K. 475; Béla Bartók’s Three Burlesques, Op. 8c; and Franz Liszt’s Réminiscences de Don Juan, S. 418, during the first round of the Piano Edition of the Concours musical international de Montréal 2024 (CMIM). This performance was recorded at the Bourgie Hall of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
10:02
Bruckner - Symphony No. 9
Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 9 can be seen as a farewell to life. Even as Bruckner began working on it in 1887, his health had begun to fail. He expressed the hope that "God will grant me enough time to complete it," and worked on it assiduously over the next years. But by late 1894 he had completed only the first three movements. When he died on 11 October 1896, he left six different versions of the finale, all of them incomplete. Despite its incompleteness, the work is monumental and evokes the grandeur of a majestic cathedral. The details of this architectural colossus are worked out with astonishing transparency by Franz Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra. The orchestra’s powerfully contoured and sharply profiled interpretation was recorded live in late October 2007 at the magnificent "Golden Hall" of Vienna's fabled Musikverein where the work was given its premiere.
11:08
Pianomania - Daniil Trifonov
Hannu Lintu conducts the Gulbenkian Orchestra in a Finnish flavoured concert program, since the concert features Cantus Articus, Op. 61 by Einojuhani Rautavaara, and Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2. Furtermore, Daniil Trifonov (1991) is star soloist in Schumann’s Piano Concerto, Op. 54, which was premiered in 1841 by Clara Wieck, wife of the composer. Trifonov rose to fame after winning prizes at both the Tchaikovsky International Chopin competition in Moscow as well as the Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw. Trifonov has been called "arguably today's leading classical virtuoso,” and “without question the most astounding pianist of our age." This concert is recorded at the Grand Auditorium of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation of Lisbon, in 2018.
12:57
The Boy with the Wig: Kids on Mozart
The Boy with the Wig - Kids on Mozart explores children’s fascination with the composer. The 30-minute film by Claus Wischmann features boys and girls aged between eight and eleven recounting his life through humour and serious interpretations of Mozart’s biography. Discover Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart through the eyes of children.
