Schedule

This production of Giuseppe Verdi's popular opera La Traviata was performed outdoors at the St. Margarethen Festival in 2008 by the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Ernst Märzendorfer. Soloists Kristiane Kaiser, Magdalena Anna Hofmann, and Stefanie Kopinits perform in a striking physical setting against the backdrop of the Austrian mountains. Several men are courting the rich courtesan Violetta, but when she meets Alfredo, she chooses to live a new life with him. She then moves from Paris to the French countryside, but unfortunately is haunted by her past: Alfredo's father does not approve of his past and convinces her to abandon his son. Alfredo is ignorant of his father's torment and, thinking that Violetta has used him, he becomes furious. In the end, he understands that Violetta has abandoned him to be free, but it is too late. Reaching an incurable illness, Violetta dies in his arms.

Pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim, Argentina's most famous musician, brings a Latin American flavour to the Berlin Philharmonic's 1998 concert at the Waldbühne amphitheater. The concert opens with Maurice Ravel's famous Boléro, a one-movement composition for orchestra originally composed as a ballet. A straightforward composition, it is based on a rhythm that repeats throughout the whole piece, with two melodies alternating between different instruments. The steady tempo increases in loudness until the final crescendo. The second piece is Georges Bizet's Carmen Suite No. 1. Following a chilling introduction, the oboe plays an instantly recognizable theme. The program gets more exotic when guitarist John Williams takes the stage for a performance of Joaquín Rodrigo's famous Concierto de Aranjuez. The rest of the program consists of beautiful Latin American pieces: Mangoré - Una limosna por el amor de dios, "El ultimo canto", Ginastera - Estancia Suite, Op. 8a: IV Malambo, Lecuona - La Comparsa, Malagueña, Salgan - Don Agustín Bardi, Piazzolla - Adiós Nonino, Decarissimo, Gardel - El día que me quieras, Rodriguez - La Cumparista, Mores - El Firulete and ends with Paul Linke's Frau Luna and Berliner Luft.

Franz Welser-Möst conducts The Cleveland Orchestra in this performance of Brahms' Symphony No. 4. This is the final of the composer's short selection of symphonic works. Described by music critic Malcolm Macdonald as one of the “supreme creative acts of the Romantic era,” Brahms' Fourth Symphony is endowed with a strong undercurrent of subdued melancholy. It seems to pine for an irretrievable past. The past lives on majestically in this work, particularly in the sighing theme of the first movement reminiscent of Baroque practice, and, above all, in the use of the Baroque form of the chaconne in the last movement, around which Brahms spins over 30 variations on a solemn, stately theme. This performance was recorded at Severance Hall in Cleveland, USA, in 2014.

Sir Simon Rattle conducts the Berliner Philharmonic during the 2008 edition of the Europakonzert, held in the renowned hall of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. The first edition of the Europakonzert was in 1991, and since then, the founding of the Berlin Philharmonic on May 1st in 1882 is annually celebrated with a concert in a European city of cultural significance. The orchestra opens with an outstanding performance of Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements.

Maurizio Pollini and the Lucerne Festival play under the baton of maestro Claudio Abbado. At the yearly Lucerne Festival in Switzerland they perform the beautiful Piano Concerto No 4 by Ludwig van Beethoven. This Piano Concerto was composed between 1805 and 1806 and Beethoven himself played the solo when the concerto premiered in December 1808. In this concert the solo is played by the Italian pianist Maurizio Pollini, well known for his interpretations of works by Beethoven, Brahms, and Chopin. This concert was recorded at the Lucerne Festival in 2004.

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.

The meeting between the French composer Hector Berlioz and the handsome actress Harriet Smithson sparked the inspiration for one of Berlioz’ most famous pieces. When Berlioz had seen Smithson perform a work by Shakespeare, he was instantly smitten with her. He sent her countless love letters, but she never reciprocated. Berlioz’ heart was broken, prompting him to compose his ‘Symphonie Fantastique: Épisode de la vie d'un Artiste...en cinq parties’ (‘Fantastical Symphony: An Episode in the Life of an Artist, in Five Parts’). The work tells the story of a young artist in the depths of despair, who attempts suicide because of an unrequited love. His attempt fails: the poison does not kill him; instead, it brings on hallucinations. This story is brought to life in Berlioz’ music performed by a large orchestra – which includes four harps and a bell – making it a revolutionary piece. Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique is performed here by the Royal Flemish Philharmonic (deFilharmonie), conducted by Jaap van Zweden. This 2008 performance was recorded in the Queen Elisabeth Hall in Antwerp, Belgium.

Pianist Michelle Candotti (Italy, 1996) performs Barbara Assiginaak’s Mzizaakok Miiniwaa Mzizaakoonsak (Horseflies and Deerflies); Franz Liszt’s Après une lecture du Dante, fantasia quasi sonata (Années de pèlerinage, deuxième année, S. 161: No. 7); ‘Pavane’ from George Enescu’s Suite No. 2 in D major, Op. 10; Étude No. 111 in G minor from Hélène de Montgeroult’s Études; and Sergei Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 7 in B-flat major, Op. 83, 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.

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.

For over six decades, Pierre Boulez had a greater influence on the development of contemporary music than anyone else. Already in his younger days, he gained a reputation as a doughty champion of the avant-garde. With his compositions, interpretations and ideas, he indelibly shaped the international music scene – not only as a composer and conductor, but also as a music philosopher and teacher. This documentary by Gunter Atteln and Angelika Stiehler pays tribute to him on the occasion of his 85th birthday on March 26, 2010. For the previous five summers, Pierre Boulez and highly gifted young musicians from all over the world had converged for intensive rehearsal weeks. Over this period, they learned from the maestro and one another, discussing and playing selected compositions. Subsequently, they presented the fruits of their labour in a number of outstanding concerts. To convey the fascination for contemporary music, this documentary captures the perspectives of Pierre Boulez and the young conductors, composers, and musicians involved. Their infectious enthusiasm gives viewers an emotional access to the world of new music.

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 play Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Serenade No. 10 for winds in B-flat major, K. 361, also known as the ‘Gran Partita’. The composition is written for twelve winds and double bass and consists of seven parts. The piece’s duration is longer than the composer’s other chamber music works. Remarkably, Mozart chose to use a larger instrumentation. To the eight instruments of the common wind octet, Mozart added two basset horns, two additional horns, and a double bass. This performance was recorded at Philharmonie de Paris, France, in 2015.

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.

Tenor Zhuohan Sun (China, 1993) and pianist Sara Pavlovic (Serbia, 1996) perform ‘Wanderlied’ from Robert Schumann’s Kerner-Lieder, Op. 35; ‘Der Abend kommt gezogen’ from Alphons Diepenbrock’s Drie ballades, Op. 1; Gabriel Fauré’s Prison, Op. 83, No. 1; ‘Ganymed’ from Hugo Wolf’s Goethe-Lieder; Franz Schubert’s Nacht und Träume, D. 827; Zaiyi Lu’s The bridge in my homeland; ‘Mit Myrten und Rosen’ from Schumann’s Liederkreis, Op. 24; ‘C’ from Francis Poulenc’s Deux poèmes de Louis Aragon, FP 122; and ‘Scheiden und Meiden’ from Gustav Mahler’s Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugendzeit, during the final round of the International Vocal Competition 2021 – Lied Duo. This performance was recorded at De Verkadefabriek in ’s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands.