Schedule

This live performance marks Fabio Luisi’s very first concert with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra in DR Koncerthuset, Copenhagen. Beethoven’s fantastic Eroica symphony is a milestone in classical music, and with Stravinsky’s mighty Symphony of Psalms and Strauss’ virtuosic Don Juan, this production fully demonstrates the unique chemistry between Fabio Luisi and the orchestra of which he today is the celebrated Chief Conductor. This performance was recorded in 2017.

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.

Indian conductor Zubin Mehta (1936) became Music Director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) in 1977 and was appointed Music Director for Life in 1981. On July 18, 1996, Mehta led the IPO in its first-ever performance of Richard Strauss’s tone poem Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op. 28. Renowned as one of the world’s foremost interpreters of the great symphonic repertoire—especially the Romantic works of Anton Bruckner, Gustav Mahler, and Richard Strauss—Mehta had conducted this popular masterpiece many times before. However, this was the first occasion he rehearsed it from the very beginning with the orchestra. This episode of ‘In Rehearsal’ offers an intimate look at the dialogue between Mehta and the musicians as they explore Strauss’s tone poem together.

Mahler's Third Symphony, composed between 1895 and 1896, is an expansive, programmatic work that explores themes of nature, humanity, and spiritual ascent. It features a massive orchestra, a female choir, a children's choir, and a mezzo-soprano soloist, creating a vast soundscape depicting everything from nature's beauty to deeper philosophical questions about existence. The symphony is structured in six movements, moving from the "awakening of nature" to a spiritual conclusion, inspired by Nietzsche and folk poetry.

The legendary Sir András Schiff takes on the dual role of conductor and soloist in this special concert with the Freixenet Symphony Orchestra of the Reina Sofía School of Music. The program opens with Johann Sebastian Bach’s Keyboard Concerto No. 5 in F minor, BWV 1056, with Schiff himself at the piano. The concert concludes with Felix Mendelssohn’s magnificent ‘Italian’ Symphony No. 4. This performance was recorded at Auditorium 400 of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, Spain, on June 18, 2024.

Maestro Iván Fischer leads the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in a remarkable concert program of works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonín Dvořák. Mozart’s Symphony No. 34 in C major, K. 338 opens the program. Completed in the summer of 1780, this was the last symphony Mozart wrote in Salzburg, where he worked as a court musician. The three-movement symphony features two vibrant outer movements with fanfares and rousing themes, while the quieter second movement is scored for strings alone, deviating from the typical four-movement structure of the time. Next on the program is Dvořák’s Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op. 70, completed in March 1885 and premiered one month later in London conducted by the composer himself. With its dramatic and dark style, this symphony stands in stark contrast to the predominantly optimistic tone of Dvořák’s broader oeuvre. This performance was recorded at Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, Italy, on January 29, 2021.

Eímear Noone conducts the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Concert Choir in a spectacular performance of some of the most well-known video game soundtracks of the last forty years. This programme showcases the depth and breadth of the video game music genre, featuring pieces from Nintendo legend Koji Kondo, DOOM veteran Mick Gordon and a whole host of contemporary game composers including Noone herself. Key soundtracks featured include Call of Duty, Final Fantasy, Assassin's Creed, Halo and World of Warcraft. Soloists for this performance are Tuva Semmingsen (mezzo) and Christine Nonbo Andersen (soprano). Recorded at the DR Koncerthuset in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2018.

The 2019 documentary ‘Approaching the Maelström’ follows the process leading up to a recording of American composer Philip Glass’s composition ‘A Descent into the Maelström’. The work is based on American writer Edgar Allan Poe’s 1841 short story of two fishermen caught in torrents raging between the mountainous islands of Lofoten, Norway. Glass’s work, originally a choral piece for the Australian Dance Theatre, was only ever performed at the Adelaide Festival of Arts in 1986. Over thirty years later, in 2019, Beacon Isle Films recorded a symphonic arrangement of Glass’s work, performed by the Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir conducted by Tim Weiss with soprano Berit Norbakken Solset as the soloist. Their recording was made against the backdrop of Lofoten’s spectacular landscape: the very surroundings that inspired Poe’s story. Moreover, this inspiring documentary features a rare interview with Glass.

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 Faschingsschwank aus Wien, Op. 26 (Carnival Scenes from Vienna). Schumann composed most of the work during his stay in Vienna in 1839, where he wrote the first four movements, presenting pictures of lively carnival revelry. He completed the fifth, last movement on his return to Leipzig. This piano cycle is among the composer’s most popular. 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.

Franz Welser-Möst conducts the Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus in a concert performing Richard Strauss' Metamorphosen (A Study for 23 Solo Strings) and Mozart's Requiem, K. 626. Soloists are Siobhan Stagg (soprano), Avery Amereau (contralto), Ben Bliss (tenor) and Anthony Robin Schneider (bass). Recorded at Severance Hall, Cleveland in March 2023.

French lutenist Thomas Dunford performs various works for lute by J. S. Bach in this intimate chamber music concert, recorded at Concertgebouw Brugge, Belgium, in 2017. On the program are Suite for lute in G minor, BWV 995; Suite for solo cello in G major (arr. for lute), BWV 1007; and Chaconne from Partita for solo violin in D minor (arr. lute), BWV 1004. Paris-born lutenist Thomas Dunford (*1988) discovered the lute at the age of nine. He studied at the Conservatory of Paris and the Schola Cantorum in Basel, and participated in masterclasses with lutenists such as Rolf Lislevand and Julian Bream. He has made various solo and ensemble appearances at Europe’s most prestigious festivals.

“The Unanswered Ives” is the first documentary about American modernist composer Charles Ives (1874-1954). Ives was among the first generation of American composers that achieved international acclaim. Born in 1874, in Danbury, Connecticut, Ives took music lessons at a young age, becoming a church organist at the age of 14. Following his graduation from the music department at Yale University, the young composer decided to pursue a career outside of the arts. He started working in insurance, co-founding an innovative and highly successful insurance company. It was in his spare time that Ives composed his ambitious music, in which he experimented with advanced features including polytonality, twelve-tone technique, and quarter tones. The documentary film “The Unanswered Ives” (2018) sheds light on Ives’s life and work in all its facets, exploring his aural world by showing music performances in churches, concert halls, open-air venues, and a circus tent. Using interviews with relatives, insurance brokers, musicologists, and musicians, documentary filmmaker Anne-Kathrin Peitz explores the question “who was Charles Ives?"

Swiss conductor Philippe Jordan and the Orchestre de l’Opéra national de Paris recorded all of Ludwig van Beethoven’s symphonies in 2014-2015. In this program, maestro Jordan presents Beethoven’s final symphony: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125. He conducts the Orchestre and Choeurs de l’Opéra national de Paris and four vocal soloists Ricarda Merbeth (soprano), Daniela Sindram (mezzosoprano), Robert Dean Smith (tenor), and Günther Groissböck (bass). Beethoven composed his last Symphony when his hearing had all but gone, between 1822 and 1824. Symphony No. 9 is the longest and most ambitious of Beethoven’s symphonies. Most striking is the piece’s finale movement, which includes a choir and four vocal soloists singing a setting of Friedrich Schiller’s poem ‘An die Freude’ (Ode to Joy). This performance was recorded at Opéra Bastille in Paris, France, in 2015.

Greek conductor Teodor Currentzis leads his ensemble MusicAeterna alongside Austrian-Moldovan violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja in a performance showcasing young, accomplished and energetic musicians. For this concert, they went searching for a new definition of the meaning of the word beauty. Thus, this 2015 performance from the renowned Musikfest Bremen sheds an entirely new light on two beloved classics by Brahms and Mendelssohn. The concert programme features Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor and Johannes Brahms's Symphony No. 3 in F Major.

On the occasion of her 80th birthday, Argentinian pianist Martha Argerich explored chamber music repertoire in this wonderful concert, recorded at Château de Chantilly, France. The ‘Grande Dame’ of the piano is joined by various renowned artists. As part of this concert, Argerich and pianist Iddo Bar-Shaï perform Franz Schubert’s Rondo in A major, D. 951.