Schedule

András Schiff (Budapest, 1953) is one of the world's most distinguished pianists, breathing life into pieces with sheer magic. Schiff, a guardian of almost-forgotten ideals of piano playing, is more than a great pianist: he is an expert with insight that goes beyond the piano music, delving deeper into the wider field and macro culture. This makes him the perfect candidate to play and explain the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, whose music has an enormous performance tradition spanning over two centuries. In the current recital, filmed as part of the Bachfest 2010, Schiff performs all of Bach’s “French” music, that is, the so-called French Suites and the French Overture ; for his generous encore, he completes the Clavierübung II with the entirety of the Italian Concerto.

British conductor Robin Ticciati conducts the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) in a performance of William Walton’s Viola Concerto and Johannes Brahms's Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98. When the young Walton premiered his Viola Concerto in 1927, it caused a Europe-wide sensation: a composer in his twenties, taking a neglected instrument and writing for it with unprecedented imagination and power. Viola virtuoso Antoine Tamestit features as the soloist in this Concerto. Brahms’s Symphony No. 4 would be the composer’s last – but every note burns with creative fire. This concert, which unites youthful genius with music drawn from a profound engagement with life, was recorded at LSO St. Luke’s on Old Street in London, UK, on October 14, 2021.

The documentary Summertime at the Domaine Forget introduces internationally renowned treasure: Domaine Forget festival in Saint-Irénée, Québec. Domaine Forget is one of Canada's leading music academies and hosts this annual festival to promote music and dance. Every summer, 500 music students from around the world gather for an intensive course program featuring: masterclasses, individual lessons, chamber music sessions, lectures, and special workshops.

The Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Chamber Orchestra delivers a program entirely devoted to Mozart at the Konzerthaus in Berlin under the direction of Hartmut Haenchen. In reduced form, the ensemble manages to bring to life the many characteristics of the music and the unique spirit of the famous composer, be it his gaiety of heart, his lyricism, his dramatic side or his polyphonic writing inspired. Criticism has always praised Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's stylistic assurance, transparency of textures and technical precision. The extraordinary sensitivity and ease of Stefan Vladar make him an ideal partner for Haenchen and his orchestra. The evening's program includes Divertimento, K. 113; the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 20, K. 466, and Symphony No. 41, K. 551.

After recording all 32 Ludwig van Beethoven piano sonatas to celebrate the composer's 250th birth anniversary, celebrated Italian pianist Riccardo Schwartz decided to record solo piano works by Robert Schumann. In this performance, Schwartz performs Humoreske in B-flat major, Op. 20. Schumann composed the work in 1839 and dedicated it to German-Austrian composer Julie von Webenau. The piece’s title refers to humor as an emotional state. Schumann took his inspiration from German Romantic writer Jean Paul, who defines humor as “an infinity of contrast”, “a setting of the small world beside the great”, and where “a kind of laughter results which contains pain and greatness”. Humoreske is one continuous piece consisting of contrasting sections. Acclaimed pianist Riccardo Schwartz (1986) has performed as a soloist with many world-renowned conductors, including Gustav Kuhn and Yuri Temirkanov. His acclaimed performances include recitals and concertos for piano and orchestra in many prestigious concert halls.

The Berliner Philharmoniker is an orchestra based in Berlin, Germany and is ranked as one of the best orchestras in the world. In 1991, orchestra members played beautiful chamber music, such as Beethoven’s Septet in E-flat major, Op. 20. Beethoven finished his septet in 1800 and dedicated his work to Empress Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily. Recorded at the Philosophers’ Hall in the library of Strahov Monastery in Prague, this episode features soloists Bernd Gellerman (violin), Rainer Moog (viola), Jörg Baumann (Violincello), Klaus Stoll (double-bass), Karl Leister (clarinet), Radovan Vlatkovic (french horn), and Milan Turkovic (bassoon).

Italian cellist and conductor Enrico Bronzi leads the Orchestra da Camera di Perugia in this intimate concert at the magnificent Basilica di San Pietro in the Italian city of Perugia, recorded on September 27, 2021. Opening the program is a cello performance by Bronzi with the Orchestra da Camera di Peruglia: the Andante cantabile from Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 13 in D major, Hob. I:13. Then, Italian pianists Linda Di Carlo and Marco Scolastra join the orchestra for a performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Concerto for two pianos and orchestra in E-flat major, K. 365. Next up is Mozart’s concert aria "Ch'io mi scordi di te? ... Non temer, amato bene", K. 505, sung by Italian mezzosoprano Marina Comparato. Accompanied by Linda Di Carlo on piano, she closes the concert with the aria “Mon coeur s’ouvre à ta voix” from Camille Saint-Saëns’s opera Samson and Delilah.

In May 2019, the new principal conductor of the Gewandhaus, Andris Nelsons, presented Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 with his orchestra in combination with Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with outstanding violinist Baiba Skride as the soloist. In this composition, the violin does not allow itself a break, continually tells its dark story and gets into a vicious circle of ostinato Passacaglia bass lines again and again falls into beguilingly beautiful singing. Tchaikovsky initially thought his 'Symphony of Fate' was a failure and believed himself to be at the end of his creative powers. It was probably the composer's nature, plagued by self-doubt, that made it almost impossible for him to develop a self-confident attitude to his own creative power. Between this two works, Skride performs Stravinsky's Elegy for Solo Violin.

Pianist Arisa Onoda (Japan, 1996) performs Ferruccio Busoni’s transcription of J. S. Bach’s ‘Chaconne’ from Partita No. 2 for violin, BWV 1004; Frédéric Chopin’s Barcarolle in F-sharp, Op. 60; and ‘Noctuelles’ and ‘Alborada del gracioso’ from Maurice Ravel’s Miroirs, 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.

Acclaimed classical music talent scout Antonio Mormone (1930-2017) lives on as the name-giver of the Premio Internazionale Antonio Mormone (PIAM), awarded to the winner of the Italian music competition of the same name. The first edition of this competition, which was held in various venues in Milan from 2019 to 2021, was dedicated to the piano. As part of this competition, Josef Edoardo Mossali (Italy, 2001) performs Franz Liszt’s Après une Lecture de Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata; Maurice Ravel’s Toccata from Le tombeau de Couperin; and Etude No. 3 “La Campanella” from Liszt’s Six Grandes études de Paganini. This performance was recorded at Teatro EDI Barrio’s in Milan, in February 2020.

Bruckner's Fifth Symphony has been called the "Medieval" because of its multi-layered, Baroque, contrapuntal tonal textures and the "Catholic" because of its solemn majesty. These designations are uniquely fitting to the work, Bruckner himself called it his "Fantastic," especially when it is performed at the Monastery of St. Florian, as on this recording. It is not without reason that Bruckner also called the Fifth his "contrapuntal masterpiece." Indeed, the incredible prominence of the finale arises from an almost fanatical contrapuntal interplay that bundles together the structures of the entire symphony into one homogeneous form and leads them together into a grandiose double fugue that is unique even for Bruckner. Franz Welser-Möst, Music Director of both The Cleveland Orchestra and the Zurich Opera, brought his U.S. ensemble to St. Florian in September 2006 for performances at the Linz Brucknerfest. Bruckner wrote the Fifth in 1875/76, but the work was not premiered until 1894, after it had undergone many revisions by the composer.

Renowned French string quartet Quatuor Ébène marked the 250th birth anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) with a remarkable project: recording all of the great composer’s sixteen string quartets. For five years, violinists Pierre Colombet and Gabriel Le Magadure, violist Marie Chilemme, and cellist Raphaël Merlin immersed themselves in Beethoven’s 650 pages of sheet music. Their efforts culminated in the performance of the composer’s complete repertoire for string quartet, which covers three decades of Beethoven's musical creativity, during six impressive concerts at Philharmonie de Paris in the autumn of 2020. Quatuor Ébène explored every facet of Beethoven's string quartet repertoire: from the youthful Opus 18 string quartets to the Razumovsky, Harp, and Serioso quartets (Opus 59, 74, and 95) from his middle period, and finally, the depth of his late quartets (Opus 127 to 135). This program features Quatuor Ébène performing Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 5 in A major, Op. 18, No. 5; String Quartet No. 4 in C minor, Op. 18, No. 4; and String Quartet No. 12 in E-flat major, Op. 127. This concert was recorded at Philharmonie de Paris on December 17, 2020.

The documentary “The Three Lives of Clara Schumann” traces the fascinating life story of German pianist and composer Clara Schumann. Born Clara Wieck in Leipzig in 1819, she was an exceptionally talented pianist, with an impressive international music career. She first met Robert Schumann, whom she married in 1840 and eventually had eight children with, in 1828. Basing itself on her letters and diaries, her compositions, and on accounts from musicians who have intensively studied her music, this 2019 documentary offers a multi-angled perspective on Clara Schumann. It records the various places where she lived, and the cities she visited as a pianist. This thought-provoking film was directed by Andreas Morell and Magdalena Zieba-Schwind.

As part of a new collaboration with the famous composer of "music with repetitive structures" Philip Glass, French pianists Katia and Marielle Labèque perform the European premiere of Glass's Concerto for two pianos with the Orchester de Paris conducted by Jaap van Zweden, current music director of the New York Philharmonic.

Can we get into Beethoven’s creative mind, especially in the last phase of his life, when he was coping with severe hearing loss? Tom Beghin’s new recording of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas Opus 109, 110, and 111 is an artistic exploration of how Beethoven’s musicking was shaped by the work environment he created with the help of colleagues and friends. Not only does pianist Tom Beghin perform Beethoven’s trilogy of pianistic masterpieces on a magnificent new replica of Beethoven’s Broadwood piano, he uses a reconstruction of the Gehörmaschine that was mounted on the composer’s piano so he could continue to create music as his hearing declined. ‘You do hear better when you bring your head under this machine, don’t you?’ André Stein asked Beethoven. Two centuries later, we too can bring our heads under the machine and wonder: Do we hear Beethoven differently? Beghin draws us inside the hearing machine, where we feel as well as hear the essence of Beethoven’s rambunctious and irresistibly poetic musical vibrations. Inside the Hearing Machine invites us into the multisensory playground of a deaf composer for whom the machine was more than a hearing aid and who interacted with his instrument through much more than sound.

Musical critics from North America, Europe, and Russia praise Nalchik-born pianist Misha Fomin for his subtlety of touch and phrasing. He graduated cum laude from the Gnessin’s Russian Academy of Music, Moscow, where he studied with Lina Bulatova, a former student of professor Helen Gnessina and legendary Heinrich Neuhaus, and later continued his musical studies at the Hochschule für Musik “Franz Liszt” in Weimar. Today, he enjoys the praise from audiences around the world for outstanding performances and is known to teach piano to young musicians through frequent masterclasses and educational events. For this 2018 concert, Fomin returned to Amsterdam´s Concertgebouw to interpret Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8, Op. 13 Pathétique and Piano Sonata No. 14, Op. 27, Nr. 2 Moonlight, as well as Tchaikovsky's The Four Seasons, Op. 37b.

Can we get into Beethoven’s creative mind, especially in the last phase of his life, when he was coping with severe hearing loss? Tom Beghin’s new recording of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas Opus 109, 110, and 111 is an artistic exploration of how Beethoven’s musicking was shaped by the work environment he created with the help of colleagues and friends. Not only does pianist Tom Beghin perform Beethoven’s trilogy of pianistic masterpieces on a magnificent new replica of Beethoven’s Broadwood piano, he uses a reconstruction of the Gehörmaschine that was mounted on the composer’s piano so he could continue to create music as his hearing declined. ‘You do hear better when you bring your head under this machine, don’t you?’ André Stein asked Beethoven. Two centuries later, we too can bring our heads under the machine and wonder: Do we hear Beethoven differently? Beghin draws us inside the hearing machine, where we feel as well as hear the essence of Beethoven’s rambunctious and irresistibly poetic musical vibrations. Inside the Hearing Machine invites us into the multisensory playground of a deaf composer for whom the machine was more than a hearing aid and who interacted with his instrument through much more than sound.

A classic French ballet, Coppélia was choreographed in 1870 at the Opera de Paris, drawing inspiration from the evolution of society and the choreographer’s imagination. Featuring 40 dancers, the action takes place in the America of Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, and Jérôme Robbins and echoes the style and spirit of Broadway musicals and Hollywood fantasies. This modern and fast-paced version was performed by Ballet de l'Opéra national de Bordeaux at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice in 2010.

J. S. Bach’s six Brandenburg Concerto’s belong to his best-known works. The composer wrote these concertos between 1711 and 1720 and dedicated them in 1721 to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg. In celebration of the pieces’ 300th anniversary, Czech harpsichordist and conductor Václav Luks and the renowned Baroque ensemble Collegium 1704 recorded all six Brandenburg Concertos on historical instruments in 2021. The concertos are based on the Italian concerto grosso form, in which a group of solo instruments is set against a large ensemble. Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos feature remarkable combinations of solo instruments and virtuoso solos. In this performance at the Hall of Mirrors in the Köthen Castle, Germany, Luks and his Collegium 1704 present Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G major, BWV 1049. This concerto features solos from two recorders and a violin. The recorders play a prominent role in the concerto’s second movement, while the violin dominates the fast first and third movements.

On 22 April 2016, Yehudi Menuhin would have celebrated his 100th birthday. One of his most famous students - and one of his best friends - is violinist Daniel Hope. For him, Yehudi Menuhin was the reason he become a violinist. At first, his mother became the secretary of Menuhin when Daniel Hoe and his parents moved to London. Hope grew up in Menuhin's house and learned not only to love music, but also to make the violin a part of his life. Playing the violin every day is like walking every day, or drinking and eating. He played with Menuhin some of Bartok's Duos which was, according to Hope, an introduction to Bartok’s extraordinary music. A piece of Bartok had to be part of this program as well as Ravel's Kaddish, the encore Daniel Hope choose when Menuhin conducted his last concert in Düsseldorf. But this concert starts with Elgar's Violin Concerto. Hope plays with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin under the baton of Iván Fischer.

On December 24, 2011, one of the world’s most renowned classical orchestras, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, celebrated the 75th anniversary of its founding. The film portrays the orchestra and its eventful history against the backdrop of Israel and the holocaust. Interwoven with individual biographies and archival footage, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra’s 75 years of history are brought back to life in concerts featuring Arturo Toscanini, Arthur Rubinstein, Leonard Bernstein, Isaac Stern, Zubin Mehta, Daniel Barenboim and Itzhak Perlman. We also get the opportunity to watch the Israel Philharmonic in rehearsals, concerts and on tour

Mexican conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto leads the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería in a performance of Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings. Completed in 1936, Barber arranged the piece for string orchestra from the second movement of his String Quartet, Op. 11. Adagio for Strings is one of the most recognizable pieces of classical music. The work’s emotional weight has led to its frequent use in film, often to evoke scenes of sorrow or tragedy. This performance was recorded at Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City, in 2021.

Maestro Myung-Whun Chung leads the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in this touching performance of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 in D major. Written in 1908-1909, it was the last symphony Mahler completed. Initially, the superstitious composer, believing in the so-called ‘curse of the ninth,’ did not want to write a Symphony No. 9. After all, fellow composers Ludwig van Beethoven and Anton Bruckner died before writing their tenth symphonies. Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 premiered on June 26, 1912, in Vienna, performed by the Vienna Philharmonic led by Bruno Walter. Unfortunately, the composer himself did not live to see this: he died in 1911. This performance was recorded at Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, Italy, in 2021.