Schedule

The Messiah (HWV 56) by Georg Frederich Handel, also known as “A New Sacred Oratorio”, tells the life and suffering of Christ: a story of passion, fire, and sacrifice. This is one of Handel's best-known works, which took only three weeks to compose this oratorio and its famous "Hallelujah". The work has immense popularity since its premiere in Dublin in 1742, and is often presented at Easter. This performance of the Dutch ensemble Ribattuta Musica under the direction of conductor Dick Duijst was filmed in the grand church of the city of Ermelo, the Netherlands, in 2016. The soloists are Elvire Beekhuizen (soprano), Rosina Fabius (viola), Oscar Verhaar (counter-tenor) Satriya Krisna (tenor), and Hans Voschezang (bass). Ribattuta Musica is a professional ensemble that delivers authentic performances based on current musical practices at the time of the composers.

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.

This Sonata for Violin and Harpsichord No. 1 BWV 1014 is the fourth 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.

Les Dissonances is a collective of artists founded by violinist David Grimal in 2004. The conductorless ensemble consists of musicians from the most prestigious European orchestras, international soloists, and young talents. In this performance Les Dissonances perform Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D. 759, also known as the ‘Unfinished Symphony’. Schubert started composing the work in 1822, but only completed the first two movements. The first movement, Allegro moderato, has a dark, mysterious mood, which contrasts with the beautiful second movement in E major, Andante con moto. Schubert only penned a couple of measures of the third movement, a Scherzo, in full score. It is not known why the composer never finished his symphony. Although it is not complete, it has become one of Schubert’s most popular compositions. This performance was recorded at Cité de la musique in Paris, France, in 2013.

Franz Welser-Möst conducts The Cleveland Orchestra in this performance of Brahms' Symphony No. 3. A late-romantic treasure, this work demonstrates the evolution of the composer's modest symphonic output, balancing the brightness of his Second Symphony with the monumentality of his Fourth Symphony. Strangely enough, even though the Third reaches several glorious outpourings of massed winds and strings, the work ends in pianissimo, leaving the listener taken aback, reflective rather than jubilant. This performance was recorded at the Vienna Musikverein, Austria, in 2014.

Julijana Sarac performs the first/third movement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 21 (“Waldstein”). The work was completed in 1804 and is considered one of Beethoven's greatest and most technically challenging piano sonatas.

When it comes to shaping a musical event for the ears and the eyes, the monumental majesty of Anton Bruckner’s (1824-1896) symphonies and the exhilarating vibrancy of St. Florian’s monastery are a perfect match – especially when they are captured on film so thrillingly by such an eminent director as Brian Large in 2012. Bruckner became acquainted with the monastery’s organ in his childhood and served as the organist there from 1845 to 1855. Welser-Möst, the principal conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra and General Music Director of the Vienna State Opera, is an acknowledged Bruckner specialist who has developed a passion for the composer’s Fourth Symphony – called the “Romantic” by its creator – in its infrequently played first edition (1888/89). More slender, dynamic and finely shaded than the more commonly performed version, this score is also more daring, with its sharper contrasts and boldly exposed dissonances. Recorded at the St. Florian Monastery in Austria, in 2012.

Compagnia Simona Bucci presents an extraordinary concert in scenic form: 'Preludi e Fughe - Geografia antropica'. Dmitri Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 inspired choreographer Simona Bucci to take on this project. Seven dancers of Compagnia Simona Bucci dance to Shostakovich’s Preludes and Fugues Nos. 1, 5, 7, 12, 13, 14, 16 and 24, played by Italian pianist Roberto Prosseda. The performance was recorded at the Teatro Il Maggiore in Verbania, Italy, in the context of the Stresa Festival in August 2019.

Les Dissonances is a collective of artists founded by violinist David Grimal in 2004. The conductorless ensemble consists of musicians from the most prestigious European orchestras, international soloists, and young talents. In this performance, Les Dissonances perform Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67. Beethoven composed Symphony No. 5 between 1804 and 1808, completing the work at nearly the same time as his Symphony No. 6, ‘Pastorale’. Both symphonies premiered as part of an all-Beethoven program at the same concert on December 22, 1808. Symphony No. 5 has become one of the best-known compositions in classical music. It opens with the famous four-note motif, often interpreted as the musical manifestation of ’fate knocking at the door’. This rhythmic figure returns in various guises in the other three movements of the symphony. The second movement consists of a set of lyrical variations on two themes. The third movement begins gently, but leads to a blasting horn section presenting a theme that features the rhythmic pattern of the four-note motif. The movement leads uninterrupted to the fourth movement that features a triumphant finale ending in C major. This performance was recorded at Philharmonie de Paris, France, in 2015.