00:00
Verdi - Messa da Requiem
Roberto Abbado conducts the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini, the Coro del Teatro Regio di Parma, and four vocal soloists in an outstanding performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, recorded at the Parco Ducale di Parma, Italy as part of Festival Verdi 2020. The soloists are soprano Eleonora Buratto, mezzosoprano Anita Rachvelishvili, tenor Giorgio Berrugi, and bass Roberto Tagliavini. When his fellow composer Gioachino Rossini died in 1868, Verdi proposed to compose a ‘Messa per Rossini’ in his honor, to be written by himself and several other Italian composers. Verdi wrote the concluding movement, ‘Libera me’. When the premiere was cancelled, the project lay dormant. When Italian poet Alessandro Manzoni passed away a few years later, Verdi revisited his plan to compose a requiem – this time in honor of the poet he so greatly admired. As an opera composer, Verdi knew better than anyone how to infuse the work with drama, as is evident in the revised version of his ‘Libera me’. The famous, powerful ‘Dies Irae’ especially stands out, depicting the horrors of the Last Judgement.
01:32
Mozart Live from Beijing
On January 27, 2006, Chinese virtuoso pianist Lang Lang celebrated WA Mozart's birthday with a performance of the Piano Concerto No. 24 in the Forbidden City Concert Hall of Beijing with the China Philharmonic Orchestram directed by Long Yu. The concert hall is located inside the walls of the Forbidden City, in the beautifully maintained gardens of Zhongshan Park, directly adjacent to Tiananmen Square. The program of the concert also includes the opening of Cosi fan tutte, Symphony No. 25, KV 183, "Hai gia came the causa!" from Le Nozze di Figaro, "Finch'han dal vino" from Don Giovannia, and Piano Sonata No. 10, K. 330.
02:59
Beethoven - String Quartets No. 4, 5 & 12
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.
04:36
Beethoven Egmont Overture & Tchaikovsky Symphony 4
Experience a concert of high drama as conductor Nicolás Pasquet leads the Freixenet Symphony Orchestra of the Reina Sofía School of Music. The program opens with the heroic power of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Overture to Egmont, Op. 84. The concert culminates in a journey through fate and passion with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s monumental Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36. This performance was recorded at Sala Sinfónica of the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid, Spain, on October 3, 2024.
06:00
Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 5, K 175
Malcolm Frager performs Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 5, K 175, a work of contrapuntal writing, a style that Mozart perfected under Padre Martini's tutelage. Discover the Orchestra della Radiotelevisione della Svizzera and conducted by Marc Andreae, at the Teatro Bibiena in Mantua.
06:27
Works by Haydn, Mozart and Saint-Saëns
Italian cellist and conductor Enrico Bronzi leads the Orchestra da Camera di Perugia in this intimate concert at the magnificent Basilica di San Pietro in the Italian city of Perugia, recorded on September 27, 2021. Opening the program is a cello performance by Bronzi with the Orchestra da Camera di Peruglia: the Andante cantabile from Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 13 in D major, Hob. I:13. Then, Italian pianists Linda Di Carlo and Marco Scolastra join the orchestra for a performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Concerto for two pianos and orchestra in E-flat major, K. 365. Next up is Mozart’s concert aria "Ch'io mi scordi di te? ... Non temer, amato bene", K. 505, sung by Italian mezzosoprano Marina Comparato. Accompanied by Linda Di Carlo on piano, she closes the concert with the aria “Mon coeur s’ouvre à ta voix” from Camille Saint-Saëns’s opera Samson and Delilah.
07:22
The Babylon Hotel
One night only! Welcome to the spectacular and decadent world of The Babylon Hotel, where music pours out of every crevice like bubbling champagne. In this concert, the upper class meets the underworld in a melting pot of euphoria and extravagance, nostalgia and pleasure with a carefree sinfulness only seen in the exuberant nightlife of the 1920s around the world. The concert features iconic music from movies and series, such as The Great Gatsby, Burlesque, and Babylon Berlin. The music is performed by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and DR Big Band under the direction of Miho Hazama. The concert also features the Moka Efti Orchestra, and singers Madame le Pustra, Emma Smith, Mademoiselle Karen, Jakob Munch, and Nikko Weidemann, as well as dancers of Sweet Burlesque. This performance was recorded at the DR Koncerthuset in Copenhagen, Denmark, in May 2023.
08:51
CMIM Piano 2024, Semi-final II: Jaeden Izik-Dzurko
Pianist Jaeden Izik-Dzurko (Canada, 1999) performs Barbara Assiginaak’s Mzizaakok Miiniwaa Mzizaakoonsak (Horseflies and Deerflies); Ludwig van Beethoven’s Andante favori in F major, WoO 57; and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 28, during the solo recital of the two-part semi-final round of the Piano Edition of the Concours musical international de Montréal 2024 (CMIM). This performance was recorded at the Bourgie Hall of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
10:01
Behind the Scenes at the Zurich Opera House
The Zurich Opera House is one of the most renowned in Europe. Fifteen premieres are staged here every year - a significant achievement, when one considers just how much work goes into each individual production. In this exciting documentary, we go behind-the-scenes at the Zurich Opera House and follow the intensive progress of the new production of Gioachino Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Vesselina Kasarova in the role of Rosina. The film also shows preparations for other productions, such as a workshop for Richard Wagner's Siegfried directed by Robert Wilson, and a rehearsal for Igor Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps with choreography by Heinz Spoerli. This film opens the curtain to understanding an opera house’s many exciting facets.
10:56
Cello: Busoni, Liszt, Chopin & Rachmaninoff
Italian cellist Silvia Chiesa and Italian pianist Maurizio Baglini perform a wonderful recital of works by Ferruccio Busoni, Franz Liszt, Frédéric Chopin, and Sergei Rachmaninoff. On the program are Busoni’s Kultaselle – 10 variations on a Finnish folksong; Liszt’s Two Elegies for cello and piano; Chopin’s Introduction and Polonaise brillante in C major, Op. 3; and Rachmaninoff’s Sonata in G minor for cello and piano, Op. 19. As an encore, the duo plays Leonard Bernstein’s iconic composition ‘Tonight’ from the musical West Side Story. This performance was recorded at Sala Verdi of the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan, Italy, on November 4, 2024.
12:05
Brahms - Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68
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 present Johannes Brahms’s Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68. Brahms realized he was expected to compose a symphony that would match the musical standards established by Ludwig van Beethoven. After working on it for at least fourteen years, he completed his Symphony No. 1 in 1876. Brahms’s symphony was hailed as ‘Beethoven’s Tenth’: a worthy successor to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. Brahms’s work contains several references to Beethoven. For instance, the main theme of the fourth movement – first appearing in the strings – resembles the ‘Ode to Joy’ in the finale of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. This performance was recorded at Philharmonie de Paris, France, in 2014.
12:48
Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 21 - III
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.
13:03
IVC 2021 - Semi-finals: Schönberg, Britten a. o.
Baritone Arvid Fagerfjäll (Sweden, 1991) and pianist Hikaru Kanki (Japan, 1993) perform Franz Schubert’s An mein Herz, D. 860; ‘Die Aufgeregten’ from Arnold Schönberg’s Sechs Lieder, Op. 3; ‘A poison tree’ from Benjamin Britten’s The red cockatoo and other songs; Bart Visman’s Vermeer’s Gold; ‘La mer est plus belle’ from Claude Debussy’s Trois mélodies de Paul Verlaine, L. 81; Gabriel Fauré’s Prison, Op. 83, No. 1; and ‘Die Geister am Mummelsee’ from Hugo Wolf’s Mörike-Lieder, 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.
13:27
Bach - Cello Suite No. 5 in C minor, BWV 1011
At St. Bartholomew Church in Dornheim, Germany, where composer Johann Sebastian Bach married his first wife Maria Barbara, renowned Dutch cellist Anner Bijlsma performs the composer's Cello Suite No. 5 in C minor, BWV 1011. It is likely Bach wrote his collection of six Suites for unaccompanied cello during the years 1717-1723. His cello suites are an essential part of the cello repertoire, highlighting the instrument's manifold polyphonic possibilities. As customary in a Baroque suite, each movement is based on a dance type. Bach's Suite No. 5 opens with a prelude, and is followed by six dance movements, divided over five sections: an allemande, a courante, a sarabande, two gavottes, and a final gigue.
13:51
Liszt/Wagner - Isoldens Liebestod
Italian pianist Costantino Catena performs Franz Liszt’s transcription of ‘Isoldens Liebestod’ from Richard Wagner’s opera ‘Tristan und Isolde’. This performance was recorded at the Church of the Jesuit College in Trapani, Italy.
14:07
Works by Kindermann, Fischer, and Baal
Every year in late August, the renowned Early Music Festival takes place in the Dutch city of Utrecht. It is the world's largest festival focused on early music, attracting an audience of over 70 thousand visitors. Due to the corona pandemic, the 2020 edition of the festival took place in an alternative form, offering an alternative program that included live concerts as well as daily livestreams of concerts and archive recordings. As part of this festival edition, Antoinette Lohmann (violin, viola and violino piccolo) and Jörn Boysen (harpsichord) perform a number of rarely performed works from the archives of the Italian musical family Di Martinelli and the Kroměříž collection. On the program are German baroque compositions of Johann Erasmus Kindermann, Johann Fischer, Johann Baal, and others. This concert was recorded at St. Gertrude's Chapel in Utrecht on August 27, 2020.
14:47
Yutaka Sado & Berliner Philharmoniker
With this concert, Yutaka Sado makes his Philharmonic debut and will be the first Japanese to conduct the renowned orchestra since Seiji Ozawa several years ago. Critics have unanimously hailed Yutaka Sado as one of the most enthralling and charismatic conductors of the new generation. The long-time assistant of Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa was awarded the most important conductor’s prizes. Program: Toru Takemitsu: From me flows what you call time (for five percussionists and orchestra); Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 D minor, Op. 47.
16:18
Mahler - Symphony No. 9
Maestro Myung-Whun Chung leads the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in this touching performance of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 in D major. Written in 1908-1909, it was the last symphony Mahler completed. Initially, the superstitious composer, believing in the so-called ‘curse of the ninth,’ did not want to write a Symphony No. 9. After all, fellow composers Ludwig van Beethoven and Anton Bruckner died before writing their tenth symphonies. Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 premiered on June 26, 1912, in Vienna, performed by the Vienna Philharmonic led by Bruno Walter. Unfortunately, the composer himself did not live to see this: he died in 1911. This performance was recorded at Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, Italy, in 2021.
17:39
Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No. 4 & Nielsen 6th
Fabio Luisi conducts the Danish National Symphony Orchestra in this powerful performance taken from the 150th Anniversary celebrations of Denmark’s national composer, Carl Nielsen. Alongside Nielsen’s inscrutably ironic Symphony No. 6, this performance features world-renowned French pianist Lise de la Salle as soloist in Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 4. This lesser-known concerto saw three separate iterations throughout the composer’s life and is characterized by bold chromaticism and a distinctly Jazz-like quality. Luisi and de la Salle have prior experience with this piece, having previously performed and recorded it together. This performance was recorded at the DR Koncerthuset in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2017.
19:09
Mexican Concert - Part I
Soprano Anabel de la Mora is accompanied by the Orquesta Sinfonica de Minería conducted by Raúl Delgado in a concert program dedicated to Mexican composers. This program, which includes the first part of the concert, features the following works: Miguel Bernal Jiménez's "Angelus", Alfonso Esparza's "Dime que sí", María Grever's "Munequita Lina", Ricardo Castro's "Intermezzo de Atzimba", Jorge del Moral's "Besos robados", and Consuelo Velázquez's "Bésame mucho". This concert was recorded at the Academia de Música del Palacio de Minería in Mexico City in 2019.
19:42
Stravinsky - Jeu de cartes
Iván Fischer conducts the Budapest Festival Orchestra in a concert recorded at the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall in Budapest, Hungary in 2015. The concert opens with Sergei Prokofiev's Overture on Hebrew Themes, Op. 34. After this, Thomas Zehetmair stars as solo violinist in Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2, Op. 63. The second part of the concert is features music by Igor Stravinsky. On the program is music composed for the ballet 'Jeu de cartes' (1937) and the Firebird Suite, No. 2 (1919). 'Jeu de cartes' is one of Stravinsky's neo-classical works and consists of three parts ('deals'). The Firebird Suite, No. 2 is based on the music from the ballet of the same name, which was written for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and premiered in Paris in 1910.
20:08
Beethoven - Violin Concerto, Op. 61
Bernard Haitink conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker at the Easter Festival in Baden-Baden, 2015. On the program is Ludwig van Beethoven's Violin Concerto, Op. 61. The award-winning Isabelle Faust is the soloist, and since her recordings with Claudio Abbado, she’s the first choice when it comes to this masterpiece.
