Schedule

The Danish National Symphony Orchestra opens the door to a wealth of fantasy universes in this mesmerizing concert program. Under the direction 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, Harry Potter, Highlander, and The Chronicles of Narnia. Featured soloists in this concert are Danish soprano Christine Nonbo Andersen, Korean percussionist Jihye Kim, Norwegian mezzo-soprano Tuva Semmingsen, Swedish bass Johan Karlström, and British actor David Bateson. This performance was recorded at the DR Koncerthuset in Copenhagen, Denmark, in June 2019.

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.

Founded by Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra is composed of young musicians from Israel, Palestine, several other Arab countries, and Spain. The musicians band together at least once a year to rehearse and perform on stage, where their shared love of music crosses national, ethnic, and religious boundaries. For three years, Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra performed a world tour to present all nine of Beethoven's symphonies. Director Michael Waldman captured the orchestral rehearsals in Spain and his stint in South Korea and China to produce this unique and captivating documentary that presents memorable musical moments, punctuated by the reflections of the young musicians on Beethoven ... and on maestro Barenboim.

More than just a tribute to the Ballets Russes, this version of Sheherazade by Jean-Christophe Maillot, resonates as the reunion between choreography and the fictive or real beings which have nourished his artistic universe over his thirty year career. Amongst the characters inhabiting his memory, the beautiful Sheherazade will have often danced before the choreographer's eyes, but the real tête-à-tête with the princess from the Thousand and One Nights has been postponed for a long time. This performance is recorded at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo in 2010. Solists of the Ballets de Monte-Carlo are Bernice Coppieters, Gaëtan Morlotti, Leart Duraku, Olivier Lucea, Alexis Oliveira, Georges Oliveira.

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.

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.

Young Venezuelan conductor Glass Marcano is a rising star. Having played in various local youth and symphony orchestras as a violinist, her first experience conducting an ensemble followed in 2012. In September 2020, she won the Orchestra Prize at La Maestra Competition – the first orchestra direction contest for women – held in Paris. In this concert, recorded at Opéra de Tours in February 2021, Marcano leads the Orchestre Symphonique Région Centre-Val de Loire/Tours in performances of two Romantic masterpieces. The program opens with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61, featuring Stéphanie-Marie Degand as the soloist. This piece is one of the most important works in its genre. The program concludes with Georges Bizet’s 1855 Symphony in C major, written when the composer was only 17 years old.

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, maestro Daniel Harding leads the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in a wonderful concert program featuring Johannes Brahms’s Tragic Overture in D minor, Op. 81, and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D major, ‘Titan’. Brahms composed his concert overture during the summer of 1880. With its dark and tumultuous character, it could be regarded as the serious counterpart of his more joyful Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80. Mahler completed his first symphony eight years later, in 1888. Originally a five-movement piece, the composer discarded the second movement ‘Blumine’ some years later, resulting in the final four-movement version we know today. This performance was recorded at Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, Italy, in 2021.

One of the world’s most popular pieces of classical music, Maurice Ravel’s Boléro (1928), was no longer copyrighted as of May 1, 2016. Up to then it had made Ravel and his heirs millions. Ravel died in 1937 and left all he owned to his brother Edouard. Edouard’s death in 1960 unleashed a complex legal battle over the rights, involving among others Edouard’s nurse and her husband. This 2017 documentary gives a fascinating account of what happened to one this iconic piece of music right under the nose of the public. Filmmaker Fabien Caux-Lahalle underpins this investigative story with clips of the Boléro in various guises.

Dutch choreographer Hans van Manen (1932) is internationally recognized as one of the grand masters of contemporary ballet. His over 150 ballets all bear his distinct signature, featuring a great clarity in structure, refined simplicity and an aversion to decorative frills. In the documentary ‘Hans van Manen – Moving to Music’ (2022), Van Manen reflects on his life, work, and the inspirations behind ballets charged with drama and eroticism. The film features excerpts from some of his most successful ballets, including the then-controversial Metaforen (1965), which featured the first male pas de deux, Adagio Hammerklavier (1973), and Sarcasmen (1981). Film director Reiner E. Moritz also included contributions of friends and colleagues, such as Ted Brandsen (Dutch National Ballet), Martin Schläpfer (Vienna State Ballet), and Van Manen’s partner Henk van Dijk, rounding off the portrait of the great choreographer.

The soloists from the Lucerne Festival Orchestra present two septets in this engaging 2020 concert, recorded at Lucerne Culture and Congress Center (KKL), Switzerland. It opens with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Divertimento No. 11 in D major, K. 251, known as the ‘Nannerl-Septet’. Mozart composed it in 1776, probably on the occasion of his sister Maria Anna’s name day, whose nickname was ‘Nannerl’. The septet is scored for oboe, two horns, two violins, viola and double bass. The program continues with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Septet in E-flat major, Op. 20, which is scored for clarinet, horn, bassoon, violin, viola, cello and double bass. This 1799 piece achieved great popularity during Beethoven’s lifetime. It was arranged for many various instrumental ensembles, including versions for two guitars, and piano four-hands, but also a trio for clarinet (or violin), cello, and piano, arranged by Beethoven himself.