Schedule

Pianist Anthony Ratinov (USA, 1997) performs Sergei Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Op. 26, during the final round of the Piano Edition of the Concours musical international de Montréal 2024 (CMIM). Ratinov is accompanied by the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal under the baton of Xian Zhang. This performance was recorded at Maison symphonique de Montréal.

Sir Simon Rattle leads the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) and Chorus in a performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125. The soloists are Iwona Sobotka (soprano), Anna Stephany (mezzo-soprano), Robert Murray (tenor), and Florian Boesch (baritone). Engineered with unmatched symphonic finesse, Beethoven set aside ruminations on fate and heroism to compose his utterly musical and wholly satisfying Ninth Symphony. It is a monumental work, renowned for its innovative use of a chorus and vocal soloists in the final movement, singing a setting of Friedrich Schiller's poem "Ode to Joy". Premiered in 1824, it remains one of the most performed and recognizable pieces of classical music. This performance was recorded at Barbican Hall in London, on February 16, 2020.

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.

In the summer of 2019, the Utrecht Early Music Festival explored the musical legacy of Naples: a cultural metropolis of contradiction and solidarity. In the documentary 'Napoli – Music’s Forgotten Capital', festival co-curator Thomas Höft unearths riveting tales from this multi-faceted city.

Soprano Alisa Fedorenko (Russia, 1999) and pianist Evgenii Sergeev (Russia, 1986) perform ‘Mandoline’ and ‘À Clymène’ from Gabriel Fauré’s Cinq melodies “de Venise”, Op. 58; ‘Lied der Delphine’ from Franz Schubert’s Zwei Szenen aus dem Schauspiel ‘Lacrimas’, D. 857; ‘Son’ (A dream) from Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Six Romances, Op. 38; ‘Elfenlied’ from Hugo Wolf’s Mörike-Lieder; ‘Staccato’ from Rodion Shchedrin’s Three solfege exercises; and Bart Visman’s Vermeer’s Gold, during the semi-finals of the International Vocal Competition 2021 – Lied Duo. This performance was recorded at Het Noordbrabants Museum in ’s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands.

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.

"What a Wonderful Town" was the motto of the traditional New Year's Eve Concert at the Berlin Philharmonie. The Berliner Philharmoniker, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle along with some of the most sought-after singers in this field including Thomas Hampson, Kim Criswell, Simone Sauphanor and Karl Daymond perform Leonard Bernstein's 'Wonderful Town'. 'Wonderful Town' was the second of Bernstein's trio of 'New York' musicals begun in 1944 with 'On The Town' and completed with 1957's 'West Side Story' and is a love letter to New York in the '30's. Bernstein's score combines witty pastiches of various popular musical styles of the 30s - Conga!, Swing! - and some of his most winning ballads. The program also includes George Gershwin’s songs ‘My Man’s Gone Now’, ‘Ask Me Again’ and ‘Fascinatin’ Rhythm’.

Conrad van Alphen conducts Sinfonia Rotterdam in a performance of Camille Saint-Saëns’ (1835-1921) Symphony No. 3, Op. 78. Geert Bierling stars as soloist on the organ of De Doelen. It was recorded on October 20th, 2018 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3 was completed in 1886. It is known as the Organ Symphony since the instrument is used in the second and fourth movement of the work. The composer stated about this symphony: "I gave everything to it I was able to give. What I have here accomplished, I will never achieve again." Saint-Saëns was at the height of his symphonic career, realizing this was his last attempt at the symphonic form.

The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Florence Musical May) is Italy’s oldest opera and arts festival. It was founded in 1933 with the aim of presenting contemporary and forgotten operas. Over the years, the scope widened, and orchestral concerts have long been an integral part of the festival. As part of the festival’s 2021 edition, Sir John Eliot Gardiner leads the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in a wonderful concert program that includes Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 17, ‘Little Russian’, and Edward Elgar’s Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36, better known as the Enigma Variations. Written in 1872, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2 bears the nickname ‘Little Russian’, as the composer used folk tunes in his work from Ukraine, then known as ‘Little Russia’. Completed in 1899, Elgar’s Enigma Variations is an orchestral work comprising a theme and fourteen variations, each variation being a musical sketch of one of the composer’s friends. This performance was recorded at Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, Italy, in 2021.

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. 6 in B-flat major, Op. 18 No. 6; and String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132. This concert performance was recorded at Philharmonie de Paris on November 24, 2020.

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.

Dazzling, virtuosic, and spectacular: no other adjectives are better suited to describe the piano music of Franz Liszt. Enjoy a sparkling performance of Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat major by the incredible piano virtuoso Russian Daniil Trifonov, with Kent Nagano conducting the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. As an encore, Trifonov performs Reflets dans l'eau from Debussy's Images. The orchestra closes this concert with a rendition of Mahler's Symphony No. 7. Recorded at the Charles Bronfman Auditorium, Tel Aviv, in 2014.

Ayumu Yamanaka (1988, Japan) performs La lugubre gondola (S134bis), Die Zelle in Nonnenwerth, (S382bis) and Die drei Zigeuner (S383) during semi-final II (chamber music) of the 11th International Franz Liszt Piano Competition, held in TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht, in 2017. The competition actively presents, develops, and promotes piano talents from around the world. In doing so, it has become one of the prominent gateways to the international professional classical music scene for young musicians. The International Franz Liszt Piano Competition was founded in 1986 in the Netherlands and has since built a reputation as one of the world’s most prestigious piano competitions.

The film Jaroussky sings Bach & Telemann is a portrait of a very special vocalist, and of two exceptional composers. When Philippe Jaroussky - whose angelic voice seems almost timeless, not belonging to any one epoque or decade - sings works by Telemann and Bach, it becomes abundantly clear that the sheer emotional force and the purifying power of their music have not diminished over the centuries. The works performed in this film are Telemann's Jesus liegt in letzten Zügen and Sinfonia from Brockes-Passion; Der am Ölberg zagende Jesus, and Bach's Sinfonia from Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis and Ich habe genug.

Gioacchino Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle was written in 1863, "the last", the composer called it, of my "péchés de vieillesse" (sins of old age). For its first performance (1864) Rossini arranged the work with only two pianos and harmonium. Partly for fear that it would be done anyway after his death, Rossini discreetly orchestrated the Petite Messe Solennelle during 1866-67, without losing its candor and subtlety. The resulting version had its first public performance on 28 February 1869, three months after the composer's death. "Mr Chailly's genius for the Rossini style has ripened with the years. His performance has daring and velocity”. Chailly conducts the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Gewandhauschor and the Choir of the Leipzig Opera in an orchestral version from the Gewandhaus in Leipzig in 2008.

Chinese pianist Lang Lang performs some of the greatest works in the piano repertoire at Berghain in Berlin in 2010. The concert program includes the first movement of Piano Sonata No. 23, op. 57, called Beethoven's Appassionata, the precipato of Prokofiev's Sonata No. 7, and the mention of Iberia (Book 1), the masterpiece of Isaac Albéniz. Lang Lang closes the evening with a powerful version of the ''Heroic'' Polonaise, op. 53 from Chopin.

On 18 December 2017, the Valerius Ensemble played a Christmas concert in Concordia, Enschede. The ensemble consists of Robert Windak (violin), Annemarie van Vliegen (violin), Eva Šušliková (viola) and Réne Geesing (cello). The program consists of “Das neugeborne Kindelein” from Bachs Cantata BWV 122, the Largo from Vivaldi’s Winter, the Allegro from Mozart’s Divertimento in D (KV. 136), Méditation from Massenet’s opera “Thaïs,” The Entertainer by Scott Joplin, the Vilja song from Léhars “Die Lustige Witwe” and the animated Romanian folk-tune Geampara. The Ensemble closes with Piazzolla’s Ave Maria (Tanti anni prima).

Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886) composed 13 symphonic poems, largely inspired by literary texts. The composer himself wrote piano duet arrangements for these pieces, showcasing his incredible ability of imitating a full orchestra on the piano. Liszt, one of the 19th century’s most important piano virtuosos, strongly influenced the further development of piano music. The Romantic period was the era of the virtuoso pianists: the piano was the instrument of choice for countless musicians and listeners alike. No house of standing could do without a piano: it was a status symbol. Piano music was played in concert halls, palaces, salons, churches and public houses alike. Liszt’s symphonic poem no. 4, ‘Orpheus’, breathes a meditative atmosphere. No. 3, ‘Les Préludes’, is best known in its symphonic version – the piano version presented here is rarely heard. The work dates back to the period 1848 – 1854 and was initially meant to serve as introduction to a choral cycle to be based on the texts of the poet Joseph Autran, ‘Les quatre éléments’: earth, air, water and fire. In this broadcast, the Italian piano duo of Marco Sollini and Salvatore Barbatano performs these Liszt piano works. These recordings were made at the beautiful 12th century church of San Marco in the small but picturesque village of Ponzano di Fermo, as part of the 2015 edition of the annual, itinerant festival ‘Armonie della sera’ in the Italian province of Le Marche.