Schedule

Italian conductor Speranza Scappucci leads the Philharmonia Zürich and the Chorus of the Opernhaus Zürich in a performance of Gaetano Donizetti’s tragic opera ‘Lucia di Lammermoor’ (1835). Salvatore Cammarano based his libretto on Sir Walter Scott’s novel ‘The Bride of Lammermoor’ (1819). Set in 17th century Scotland, the opera tells the story of Lucia, who falls in love with Edgardo, her family’s arch enemy. Lucia’s brother Enrico, however, forces her to marry a man she does not love instead, driving the young woman insane. Highpoint of the opera is Lucia’s famous ‘mad scene’, in which the technically demanding aria ‘Il dolce suono’ is heard. In this scene, Lucia’s voice is accompanied by a glass harmonica, adding to its eeriness. Among the soloists are Irina Lungu (Lucia), Massimo Cavalletti (Enrico Ashton), Piotr Beczała (Edgardo di Ravenswood), Andrew Owens (Lord Arturo Bucklaw), Oleg Tsibulko (Raimondo Bidebent), Roswitha Christina Müller (Alisa), and Iain Milne (Normanno). This performance was recorded at the Opernhaus Zürich, Switzerland, in 2021.

We live in the “renaissance of the piano”, as the New York Times put it in summer. A new generation has made the piano popular again: pianists with a passion for virtuosity and a willingness to expand their repertoire. In addition to the usual classics they perform formerly scorned works or they discover neglected composers. LEGATO is a series dedicated to presenting some of this new movement's most fascinating pianists - their individual approaches, their fresh ideas and their music. During this episode, the spotlights are on the Russian pianist Boris Berezovsky. He performs works by Medtner (Fairy Tales), Llywelyn (Mutata Consilia), Beethoven (Diabelli Variations), Godowsky (Alt Wien) en Liadov (Three Preludes).

Baritone Matthias Goerne teams up with violinist Vilde Frang, cellist Nicolas Altstaedt, flutist Stathis Karapanos, and harpsichordist Michaela Hasselt in this program dedicated to the music of J. S. Bach. They perform baritone arias from Bach’s most beautiful cantatas, as well as solo pieces and duets. On the program are Sonata No. 3 in C major for violin solo, BWV 1005; arias ‘Hier, in meines Vaters Stätte’, BWV 32 and ‘Die Welt mit allen Königreichen’, BWV 59; Suite No. 5 in C minor for cello solo, BWV 1011; ‘Wenn Trost und Hülf ermangeln muß’, BWV 117; ‘Ja, ja, ich halte Jesum fest’, BWV 157; Invention No. 7 in E minor, BWV 778; Invention in A major, BWV 783; and ‘Welt ade, ich bin dein müde’, BWV 158. This performance was recorded at St. Mary’s Church in Wittenberg, Germany.

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.

This splendid Christmas concert was recorded live from the Freiburg Cathedral in 1999. It features soprano Barbara Bonney, recognized worldwide for the clarity of her voice and the precision of her diction, and the baritone Matthias Goerne, one of the most promising singers of his generation. Accompanied by the Baroque Orchestra of Freiburg and the German Brass, they perform pieces from Bach's Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248), Mozart's Mass in C minor (KV 427), and Handel's Messiah.

In 1722, when Johann Sebastian Bach lived in Köthen, Germany, he published a book of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys. This collection became known as The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book One, BWV 846–869. About two decades later, Bach compiled a second book in Leipzig, which became known as The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book Two, BWV 870-893. Bach intended these pieces for the clavier, which includes the harpsichord, clavichord, and organ. Despite this unclarity, these pieces are regarded as some of the most important works in the history of Western classical music. In this broadcast, Nikolai Demidenko plays Preludes and Fugues Nos. 1 to 12 (BWV 870-881) from Book Two of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, recorded at the Palazzo Labia in Venice, Italy, in 2010.

This 2016 concert at Chambord Castle in France under the direction of Hervé Niquet features 70 musicians that gave a spectacular performance of Handel‘s Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks. In between Le Concert Spirituel also plays Concerto Grosso’s No. 4 and No. 5 also by Georg Friedrich Handel. After that you can enjoy the celebrated movement of Marc- Antoine Charpentier’s Te Deum, now universally known as the signature tune of Eurovision. The music brings to mind the splendor at the court of King Louis XIV, who sojourned in Chambord on several occasions.

Pianist Arisa Onoda (Japan, 1996) joins the CMIM ensemble, consisting of three principal strings players of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, in a performance of the first movement, Allegro molto moderato, of Gabriel Fauré’s Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 15. 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 Bourgie Hall in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

The Boy with the Wig - Kids on Mozart explores children’s fascination with the composer. The 30-minute film by Claus Wischmann features boys and girls aged between eight and eleven recounting his life through humour and serious interpretations of Mozart’s biography. Discover Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart through the eyes of children.

Venezuelan-born conductor Giovanni Guzzo leads the Camerata Fundación EDP of the Reina Sofía School of Music in a spirited concert. The program opens with the ethereal ‘Danza degli spiriti beati’ (Dance of the Blessed Spirits) from Christoph Willibald Gluck’s opera Orfeo ed Euridice, featuring flutist Matthew Raymond Origel. The concert continues with vocal masterworks, including J.S. Bach’s brilliant cantata aria ‘Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen!’, BWV 51, featuring soprano Marlin González Zúñiga and trumpeter Marc Ferrando Pelegrí, and W.A. Mozart’s joyous motet Exsultate, jubilate, K. 165, sung by soprano Carla Isabel Gómez del Pulgar. The concert concludes with one of the great classical works: Mozart’s dramatic Symphony No. 40 in G minor. This performance was recorded at Auditorio Sony of the Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid, Spain, on December 18, 2024.

Every year, the Europakonzert is hosted by the Berliner Philharmoniker in a notorious concert hall or on a special location. This years concert is performed at the magnificent Royal Albert Hall in London. The Dutch conductor Bernard Haitink starts with Tchaikovsky's Fantasy Overture from "Roméo et Juliette". The second piece by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is his famous Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major K. 216 played by the German violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann. During his career he played with a lot of famous orchestras and conductors such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Mariss Jansons. He has a great passion for chamber music and plays a lot of recitals with the Italian pianist Enrico Pace. The concert closes with Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring which he wrote in 1913 for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. The première caused a lot of sensation and near-riot in the audience because of the avant-garde nature, music and choreography of the piece. The Rite of Spring is now considered as one of the masterpieces of classical music history and has influenced many 20th-century music composers. The encore is Tchaikovsky's Flower Waltz from the Nutcracker.

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.