Schedule

Claude Debussy’s symphonic sketches for orchestra known collectively as ‘La Mer’ evoke a richly varied vision of the sea. The first part (‘De l’aube á midi sur la mer’) calls up a morning and afternoon at sea, the second (‘Jeux de vagues’) echoes the play of the waves, and the third and final part (‘Dialogue du vent et de la mer’) conjures the communing voices of wind and waves. Debussy knew his sea, the Mediterranean, intimately both from childhood visits to Cannes and from his Italian travels later in life.

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.

Andreas Spering conducts Philharmonie Zuidnederland in a performance of "Overture Rosamunde" (D. 644), by Franz Schubert (1797-1828). Recorded in Muziekgebouw Eindhoven, the Netherlands in 2015. Schubert initially composed the Overture for Georg Ernst von hofmann's play 'Die Zauberharfe' ('The Magic Harp'), which premiered on August 19, 1820. Three years later, the overture was used again, this time for Helmina von Chézy's play Rosemunde. Chézy's (1783-1856) librettos enjoyed little succes, and it is said that Schubert's contribution to Rosamunde saved the production.

Gidon Kremer’s return to J. S. Bach’s partitas is a major event. Kremer’s first recording of these works was released almost a quarter of a century ago. In this recording from 2006, Kremer once again takes on the greatest challenge for any violinist: Bach’s magnificent “Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin” (BWV 1001-1006), which Kremer himself calls the “Himalayas” of violin music. With these pieces, Bach firmly established the technical capability of the violin as a solo instrument. The partitas served as archetypes for solo violin pieces by later generations of composers. This rendition of the collection displays Kremer’s very personal sense of spontaneity and a readiness to take risks. Yet it is also marked by the structural awareness of an exceptional musician who, in a unique way, does justice both to the polyphonic wealth of the compositions and to their juxtaposition of dance elements and reflective profoundness.

The Veerhavenconcert is a classical open-air concert held every year in the attractive harbor of Rotterdam. Little boats and ships float on the water next to a transparent stage flanked by antique sailboats. In this edition from 2018, the Veerhavenconcert offers an accessible program with operatic works by Verdi, Ponchielli, and Puccini. Maxim Emelyanchec leads the Dutch Philharmonic Orchestra and the Toonkunst Amsterdam choir. Soloists are Soojin Moon- Sebastian (soprano), Maria Riccarda Wesseling (mezzo-soprano), Paulo Ferreira (tenor) and Hawijch Elders (violin).

Latvian maestro Mariss Jansons (1943-2019) was one of the world’s leading conductors. He served as Music Director of the Oslo Philharmonic from 1979 to 2000, during which time he transformed the orchestra into a front-rank ensemble. Under his leadership, the orchestra toured extensively and became a favorite at major festivals worldwide. The Oslo Philharmonic was celebrated for its fresh, open sound and for Jansons’s passionate interpretations of works by Dmitri Shostakovich, Richard Strauss, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and Béla Bartók. In this episode of ‘In Rehearsal,’ Jansons guides the orchestra through the powerful Suite from Bartók’s pantomime ballet The Miraculous Mandarin, culminating in a performance at the Oslo Concert Hall.

Few Italian theatres can boast of being an absolute point of reference for national and world culture. The Teatro Regio in Turin is both a symbol of excellence in the national operatic tradition and a prestigious stage hosting operas, ballets, concerts, and musicals of great substance. This short documentary offers a behind-the-scenes tour of the Teatro Regio Torino and bears witness to the enviable reputation that has prevailed since its opening in 1740.

Critics praise her, and the audience loves her. Kristine Opolais, the prima donna and the star of the New York Metropolitan Opera, performs in her home country Latvia.  She gives a splendid concert with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, at the Latvian National Opera, in 2017. The program includes arias from operas that made Kristine an international star. It includes mostly Italian music that will encourage you to dream about love and think about what is truly important. Enjoy the most beautiful arias and instrumental pieces of opera by Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Pietro Mascagni, Camille Saint-Saëns, Arrigo Boito, and Alfredo Catalani.

Karita Mattila (soprano), Violeta Urmana (alto), Thomas Moser (tenor), Eike Wilm Schulte (bass), Swedish Radio Choir, Eric Ericson Chamber Choir, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor: Claudio Abbado. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125. The European Concert has been a tradition of the Berliner Philharmoniker since 1991. The musicians commemorate the anniversary of the orchestra's founding on May 1st, 1882, playing in different European cities. In 2000, the orchestra played at home in the Berlin Philharmonic Hall.

Regarded as one of the finest interpreters of Romantic repertoire, Francesco Attesti (*1975) gave his first recital at age 11 and by the time he was 23, had earned the highest honours in piano from Florence’s Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini. In this recording of his 2016 Deeply Mozart concert tour, Attesti performs Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s piano concertos KV 449 and KV 488 with the Italian OIDA Orchestra and conductor Paolo Belloli.

In May and June 2021, Argentinian star pianist Martha Argerich celebrated her 80th birthday performing at Château de Chantilly, France. In this concert, recorded at the festival Les Coups de Cœur de Chantilly, Argerich is joined by three musicians who are particularly close to her heart: cellist Mischa Maisky, violinist Maxim Vengerov, and pianist Iddo Bar-Shaï. They perform with the orchestra Les Siècles under the baton of Romanian-Austrian conductor Ion Marin. The concert opens with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Triple Concerto in C major, Op. 56, with Argerich, Vengerov, and Maisky as soloists. Written in 1803, it is Beethoven’s only concerto for more than one solo instrument. This is followed by Camille Saint-Saëns’s musical suite The Carnival of the Animals (Le carnaval des animaux), featuring Argerich and Bar-Shaï as the pianists. This musical suite from 1886 consists of 14 movements, each depicting a different animal. The work was published posthumously in 1922, as Saint-Saëns was concerned that his animal miniatures, full of delightful jokes, might damage his reputation as a serious composer. This performance was recorded at Château de Chantilly, on May 4, 2021.

Stefano Conticello leads the Orchestra of Teatro Comunale di Bologna in a Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart program. The concert opens with the Overture from Mozart’s popular opera “The Magic Flute”. This is followed by Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major, K. 503, with Maurizio Baglini as the featured soloist. Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 is just one of the twelve great piano concertos he composed during 1784 and 1786. The concert ends with Symphony No. 35 in D major, K. 385, also known as the “Haffner Symphony”. On the occasion of the ennoblement of Sigmund Haffner in 1782, the prominent Salzburg Haffner family of businessmen and philanthropists commissioned Mozart to compose a new piece. Mozart agreed, and initially wrote a serenade before recasting it as a symphony a few months later: the “Haffner Symphony”. This performance was recorded at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Italy.

Mahler's Symphony No. 8, also known as the "Symphony of a Thousand," is a monumental choral epic composed in 1906 that requires an enormous ensemble of soloists, choruses, and a massive orchestra to perform its vast musical tapestry. The work is a unique and grandiose tribute to love and the spiritual salvation of mankind, drawing from two distinct textual sources to create its sublime effect. Audiences most value its overwhelming, ecstatic emotional power and the sheer spectacle of the grand performing forces.

The Danish National Symphony Orchestra once again opens the gates to magical worlds with an enchanting concert program. Under the baton of German conductor Christian Schumann, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Concert Choir, and Danish National Junior Choir team up to perform music from the most popular fantasy movies, TV series and video games, including The Lord of The Rings, Game of Thrones, The Hobbit, The Witcher, and League of Legends. Featured soloists in this concert are Norwegian mezzo-soprano Tuva Semmingsen, Canadian-Portuguese soprano Cassandra Lemoine, Danish musician Bjørn Fjæstad, and British actor David Bateson. This performance was recorded at the DR Koncerthuset in Copenhagen, Denmark, in April 2023.

Conrad van Alphen conducts Sinfonia Rotterdam in a performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony No. 35 in D Major, K. 385, recorded at the Nieuwe Kerk, The Hague, in 2020. Van Alphen founded Sinfonia Rotterdam in 2000. Under his passionate leadership, this orchestra has developed into one of the Netherland’s best-known orchestras. Mozart’s Symphony No. 35 is also known as the “Haffner Symphony”. In 1782, the Haffner family from Salzburg commissioned Mozart to write a new piece on the occasion of the ennoblement of Sigmund Haffner. Mozart agreed, and initially composed a serenade before recasting it as a symphony a few months later: the “Haffner Symphony”. One of his revisions was the addition of more instruments in the first and last movement, resulting in a fuller sound. The symphony consists of four movements: Allegro con spirito, Andante, Menuetto, and Presto.

Sir Simon Rattle leads the London Symphony Orchestra in Gustav Mahler’s poignant song cycle ‘Das Lied von der Erde’ (The Song of the Earth). Joining him are two of today's leading vocalists: mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená and tenor Andrew Staples. Written in the final years of his life, Mahler’s masterpiece contemplates the beauty of life and the sorrow of parting through some of his most personal and beautiful symphonic writing. Written in the final years of his life and following the tragic death of his daughter, Mahler wrestles with the transience of life, contrasting moments of vivacity and happiness with introspection and melancholy. This performance was recorded at the Barbican Hall in London, UK, on May 9, 2021.

Pianist Antonio Chen Guang (China, 1994) joins the CMIM ensemble, consisting of three principal strings players of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, in a performance of the first movement, Sostenuto assai – Allegro ma non troppo, of Robert Schumann’s Piano Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 47. This performance took place during the chamber music round of the two-part semi-final of the Piano Edition of the Concours musical international de Montréal 2024 (CMIM). It was recorded at Bourgie Hall in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

We all know "The Four Seasons of Vivaldi", it is one of the "hits" of classical music. What if the Antonio Vivaldi’s famous Four Seasons had been preceded by those of Giovanni Antonio Guido, star violinist of Parisian orchestras of the maturity of Louis XIV? The two works are finally presented in the same program in spite of their differences: the well-known virtuosity of Vivaldi's work contrasts with the mixture of French good taste and Italian features of Guido's Seasons. It is also the first time that the version with strings and winds is filmed. For this exciting confrontation, the Royal Opera Orchestra will be conducted by the virtuoso Andrès Gabetta, from his 1727 Venetian Pietro Guarneri violin, an exact contemporary of these Eight Seasons!

The 2007 Europa-Konzert takes place in Berlin, on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the Berliner Philharmoniker. Under the theme "The Year 1882", the acclaimed orchestra is lead by conductor Sir Simon Rattle as it interprets Brahms’ “Concerto for violin, cello and orchestra”, his Fourth Symphony and Wagners’ “Prelude to Act I” from Parsifal - the piece that marked the orchestra's first recorded work of September 1913 under the baton of Alfred Hertz. The soloists are Lisa Batiashvili (violin) and Truls Mørk (cello), established as sought-after young virtuosos and appearing regularly with leading orchestras and in recitals throughout the world. The “Kraftwerk und Kabelwerk Oberspree (power and cable factory)”, the remarkable venue of this concert, is one of the most impressive historical industrial building from the late 19th century in Berlin. As its impressive presence is infused with Brahms and Wagner, there is an air of total commitment, only enhanced further by the unusual surroundings. The collaboration of Lisa Batiashvili and Truls Mørk ensures a moving performance of Brahms’s last orchestral work, his Double Concerto. Following this, Rattle and the orchestra continue to demonstrate their outstanding musicianship, delivering Wagner's amazingly fresh and dynamic Fourth Symphony.

This Sonata for Violin and Harpsichord No. 5 BWV 1014 is the fifth out of the set of sonatas Johann Sebastian Bach composed before 1725, probably during his time as chapel master in Köthen. Presumably, he wrote these sonatas for Prince Leopold and later adapted them for further use in Leipzig. Maybe this is why these pieces are well playable for amateurs, while every sonata still has the finesse that can offer a challenge to professional musicians. The different pieces are meant to be a set, just like the Brandenburg concertos. Performers: Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin), Enrico Pace (piano)

Piano soloist Boris Berezovsky is accompanied by the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Alexander Sladkovsky in a performance of Sergei Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto no. 1, Op. 1. Rachmaninov composed his first concerto while studying at the Moscow Conservatory at the age of 18. The concert opens with 'Heavenly Movement', a composition by the young Russian composer Elmir Nizamov (*1986). This concert was recorded at the Tchaikovksy Concert Hall of the Moscow Philharmonic Society on April 28, 2017.