Schedule

American ‘Conductor Laureate’ Michael Tilson Thomas leads the London Symphony Orchestra in a program of romantic masterworks. The concert opens with Franz Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1, featuring the brilliant Czech pianist Lukáš Vondráček as soloist. The evening concludes with the emotional journey of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5. This performance was recorded at the Barbican Hall in London, UK, on May 15, 2022.

Iván Fischer leads his Budapest Festival Orchestra in an exciting concert program consisting of works by J. S. Bach, Béla Bartók, and Johannes Brahms. The program opens with Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048. This is followed by one of Bartók’s best-known pieces: Music for strings, percussion and celesta. Remarkable is the work’s instrumentation: Bartók divided the strings into two groups that are placed on opposite sides of the stage, to create antiphonal effects. The program ends with Brahms’s Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90. This performance was recorded at the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall in Budapest, Hungary, on December 4, 2017.

This documentary by Mark Perna shows the training and professional growth actions for opera singers, the promotion and enhancement of the cultural offer of the city and province of Modena and the maintenance and development of the Modenese musical tradition in the field of opera.

The Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra also known simply as Tafelmusik, is a Toronto-based Canadian baroque orchestra, specialised in early music. Its musical director is Jeanne Lamon. Together with the Trio Arabica they celebrate the music and culture in the eighteenth century. The cities of Leipzig and Damascus both lay at the crossroads of ancient trading routes and are important centres of scholarship and famous for their coffee houses, where music was performed by the most brilliant musicians of the day. This concert presents works by Bach, Telemann, Handel and treasures of classical Arabic music. In this cross-cultural café, music, words, and images are used to explore the ways in which people separated by great distances are bound together by trade, ideas, and art. Recorded at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto. Created by Alison Mackay and staging by Marshall Pynkoski.

Pianist Derek Wang (USA, 1998) joins the CMIM ensemble, consisting of three principal strings players of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, in a performance of the first movement, Allegro, of Johannes Brahms’s Piano Quartet No 1. in G minor, Op. 25. 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 the Bourgie Hall of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

In Geneva, the Swiss city where she has spent most of her life, Argentinian pianist Martha Argerich invites her lifelong music partner, the cellist Mischa Maisky, to play chamber music. Between the pieces, Martha opens up to her daughter Annie Dutoit in an intimate interview that addresses both their relationship and the music. On the program are Ludwig van Beethoven’s 7 variations after "The Magic Flute"; Robert Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, Op. 73; Frédéric Chopin’s Introduction and Polonaise brillante in C major, Op. 3; ‘Lerchengesang’ (No. 2) from Johannes Brahms’s 4 Gesänge, Op. 70; and ‘Largo’ from Chopin’s Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 65. This broadcast was recorded on November 12 and 13, 2020, in Geneva, Switzerland.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Five-strong vocal ensemble amarcord is joined by an extra alto and two soprano voices for this unusual concert at Leipzig’s St. Thomas Church. As amarcordplus, the ensemble presents a program focused on the city of Leipzig, which includes sacred madrigals by Johann Hermann Schein, motets from Heinrich Schütz’s collection Geistliche Chor-Music, as well as two motets by the most famous Thomaskantor: Johann Sebastian Bach. Moreover, various sacred works by lesser-known contemporaries Philipp Heinrich Erlebach and mononymous composer Liebhold are performed, in addition to compositions by other members of the Bach family, including Johann Michael Bach and Johann Christoph Bach. This performance was recorded on May 1, 2020.

Richard Danielpour (*1956) is one of the most beloved American composers of his generation due to his frequent referencing of and connection with the past, being inspired by American icons such as Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber and Leonard Bernstein. His lush musical language is often infused with swingy jazz rhythms just as is the music of Copland and Bernstein. Thus, he conveys an intense musical experience to the listener with his intuitive musical style, his exquisite melodic lines and accessible harmonic language. All this makes him to be a hugely popular composer with American orchestras. The initial idea for the composition of a song cycle “Elegies” came from the American mezzo soprano Frederica von Stade who was born in 1945, the same year in which her father was killed when the Jeep he was driving drove over a land mine. Charles von Stade is buried at the American cemetery in Margraten (South Netherlands). His daughter could thus only create a picture of him for herself via family stories and through his letters. These letters form the basis of the text of the songs, where father and daughter “meet” and communicate for the first time. The first movement Vigil, depicts the arrival of the daughter who hopes for a spiritual connection with her father. The second movement describes the intense sorrow of her father at the horrors of war and is as if his daughter is calling on him to return to her. In the third movement we hear the father give his unborn daughter his blessing, “Little soul, to where would you go from the darkness of the womb?” Movement four is the preparation for the reunion of the souls of father and daughter which takes place in movement five, Paradise. Here the daughter welcomes her father’s spiritual rest and sings, “Peace, the air which I breathe”. The philharmonie zuidnederland is conducted by Harmut Haenchen. The German born conductor who naturalized to become Dutch and was chief conductor of the Dutch Opera Amsterdam, the Dutch Philharmonic Orchestra and the Dutch Chamber Orchestra from 1986 to 1996. He was knighted for his services to Dutch music. Harmut Haenchen is a regular guest conductor with the philharmonie zuidnederland. Conductor: Hartmut Haenchen Orchestra: philharmonie zuidnederland Soloists: Marina Prudenskaya (mezzo-soprano), Thomas Oliemans (baritone)

For this exceptional recital, recorded in 2019 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Camille (cello) and Julie Berthollet (violin) are accompanied by pianist Guillaume Vincent and the Ensemble Appassionato under the direction of Mathieu Herzog. The two musical sisters have chosen a repertoire which crosses genres and eras to explore the expressive palette of the violin and cello, from the baroque of Vivaldi to the jazzy notes of Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grapelli. Among the works on the program are Brahms Hungarian Dances No. 5 and No. 6, Karl Jenkins' Palladio, 'Theme from Forrest Gump' by Alan Silvestri, Schumann's Piano Quintet, Op. 44, The Red Violin by Corigliano, Hungarian Rhapsody, op. 68 by Popper, Minor Swing by Reinhardt/Grappeli and Csárdás by Monti.

Since his spectacular debut recital at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in 2002, pianist Misha Fomin has become an indispensable part of Dutch musical life. National and international press praise his playing for its fluently natural virtuosity, rich color palette, and great musical intelligence. In this concert, recorded at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Fomin performs a number of pieces including Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (1874). The movements are separated by the Promenade: a recurring, varied theme that evokes the walk from one painting to the next. The various promenades are variations on the same theme, which recurs in two other movements (Cum mortus in lingua mortua and The Bogatyr Gates (In the Capital in Kiev)). Mussorgsky wrote this cycle in three weeks’ time in 1874. When Mussorgsky visited the exhibition of his friend, the late painter Viktor Hartmann, he wrote to a friend that “sounds and ideas hung in the air, I am gulping and overeating, and can barely manage to scribble them on paper.”

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 Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D major, ‘Titan’. Mahler completed his first symphony 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.