Schedule

The pedal piano was a very popular instrument in the nineteenth century. Several composers, including Franz Liszt, Charles Gounod, and Camille Saint-Saëns, adapted old pieces or wrote new ones for this piano. Roberto Prosseda is one of the rare pianists performing on this instrument today. In this recording from the Concerts d’automne festival in Tours, the Italian pianist performs an impressive recital featuring works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Robert Schumann, J. S. Bach, and others. On the program are: W.A. Mozart’s Fantasia in D minor, K. 397, and Fantasia in C minor, K. 475; Etude Nos. 1, 2, and 4 from Robert Schumann’s Six Canonic Etudes, Op. 56; ‘Adagio’ and ‘Scherzo’ from Charles Gounod’s Concerto pour piano-pédalier; J. S. Bach’s Passacaglia in C minor, BWV 582; Schumann’s Skizze für den Pedalflügel, Op. 58 Nos. 1, 2, and 3; Franz Liszt’s Après une lecture du Dante, Fantasia quasi Sonata; and Charles-Valentin Alkan’s Prière, Op. 64 No. 5 in F major. As an encore, Prosseda plays ‘Andante’ from Mozart’s Sonata in C major, K. 330. This recital was recorded at Grand Théâtre in Tours, France, in October 2023.

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.

For over two decades, the Berlin Philharmonic has celebrated its creation on May 1 with the annual Europakonzert, which in 2010 was held in Oxford. Led by Daniel Barenboim, the orchestra performed a program including Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 1.

The Rina Sala Gallo International Piano Competition takes place every two years in the Italian city of Monza. Founded in 1947 by Monza-born pianist Rina Sala Gallo and Brescia-born pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, the competition is one of Monza’s most prestigious cultural events today. This broadcast featuring the three finalists’ best performances from the competition’s 26th edition, were recorded at the Villa Reale di Monza in October 2022. First, Young Sun Choi (South Korea, 1991) performs Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 106. After, Seunghyuk Na (South Korea, 1997) plays ‘Oiseaux tristes’ and ‘Alborada del gracioso’ from Maurice Ravel’s five-movement suite Miroirs. Next, Ivan Bašić (Serbia, 1996) performs Franz Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz No. 1. Lastly, Choi returns for a performance of Claude Debussy’s Images (Book I).

The 58-minute documentary on Bach takes a close look at his life, the places where he worked, his works and the techniques he used when composing, as well as at the political and cultural life during the composer's time. Recorded at original places, Robert Levin an internationally known host will give a detailed account of the crucial developments and stages in Bach´s life as well as of his compositions.

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.

Europakonzert has been a tradition of the Berlin Philharmonic since 1991. Every year, the musicians commemorate the anniversary of the orchestra's founding (May 1st, 1882) and celebrate their heritage from the Old World. The Europakonzert of 1992 from El Escorial in Madrid was conducted by Daniel Barenboim and features the world-renowned tenor Plácido Domingo. The program consists of Giuseppe Verdi's Overture La Forza del Destino and Verdi's Lo l'ho perduta! from Don Carlos. Followed by excerpts from Hector Berlioz' La damnation de Faust and Franz Schubert's unfinished Symphony No. 7., the concert also features music by Richard Wagner: Winterstürme wichen dem Wonnemond from Die Walküre, Prelude to Act I from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and orchestral excerpts from Götterdämmerung.

Performed in the grandeur of Berlin's foremost opera house, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, the Mozart Celebration is dedicated to the life's work of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This one-time-only gala concert features exuberant Mozart pieces, performed by some of the world’s leading singers and musicians. Conductor Julien Salemkour leads these beautiful performances played by the Staatskapelle Berlin. The star solists are Nicolaj Znaider (violin), Thomas Quasthoff (baritone) and Sylvia Schwartz (soprano). The program features Ouverture from la Clemenza di Tito, 'Violin Concerto No. 5', the song 'Chi sa, chi sa, qual sia', Piano Concerto No. 23, the aria 'Per questa bella mano', Papageno's Aria from the Magic Flute, the duet 'Papageno-Papagena' from The Magic Flute, and Symphony No. 40.

Conrad van Alphen conducts Sinfonia Rotterdam in a performance of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Overture-Fantasy “Romeo and Juliet”. Van Alphen founded Sinfonia Rotterdam in 2000. Under his passionate leadership, this orchestra has developed into one of the Netherland’s best-known orchestras. Tchaikovsky based his composition on Shakespeare’s famous play “Romeo and Juliet”. After finishing a first version of Romeo and Juliet in 1870, Tchaikovsky rewrote sections of the composition twice, completing the third and final version ten years later. The Overture-Fantasy opens with a slow introduction, primarily led by the clarinets and bassoons. The composition is dominated by its famous love theme, representing the love between Romeo and Juliet. This beautiful theme is introduced in the first half of the piece, played by the English horn and violas, and recurs in different sections of the composition. At the end, the love theme is heard in minor mode, which emphasized the tragic element of the story of the two lovers.

The Malandain Ballet Biarritz performs the ballet Cinderella ('Cendrillon') Op. 87, composed by Sergei Prokofiev to a scenario by Nikolai Volkov and in a choreography by Thierry Malandain. The Orchestre Symphonie d' Euskadi is led by Caballé-Domenech. Cinderella is one of Prokofief's most popular and melodious compositions. It was composed during World War II, but Prokofiev broke off the writing to compose his opera War and Peace. The premiere of Cinderella was conducted by Yuri Fayer on November 21, 1945, at the Bolshoi Theatre. The work is notable for its jubilant music, lush scenery, and for the comic double-roles. Recorded at l'Opéra Royal du Chateau de Versailles in October 2013 and directed by Sonia Paramo.

Pierre Boulez conducts the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra in a performance of the Adagio from Mahler's Symphony No. 10 and the song cycle Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Soloists are Magdalena Kožená (mezzo-soprano) and Christian Gerhaher (baritone). This concert was recorded at the orchestras home base, Severance Hall, in February 2010. Among Mahler's orchestral songs, those of Des Knaben Wunderhorn occupy a special position: written in the 1890s, they are of ground-breaking importance in his oeuvre, since they helped establish a genre that had few precedents before him. Moreover, they also served as sources of inspiration, both musical and poetic, for the symphonies he wrote during this time. Mahler famously said a symphony should take in the entire world. He’d be pleased, then, by this performance of the “Adagio” from the unfinished Symphony No. 10, which somehow packed the world into a single movement.

The compelling documentary How to Get Out of the Cage (2012) by award-winning filmmaker Frank Scheffer presents an intimate portrait of John Cage (1912-1992), one of 20th century's most important composers. From 1982 to 1992, Scheffer worked with Cage on numerous occasions, which resulted in unique archives of historical audio-visual material, including interviews, musical performances, and images of locations related to the composer’s life and work. In all Scheffer’s works related to Cage, he used the old Chinese method of chance operations based on the Yi Jing – as often used by Cage himself in his compositions. Instead of using chance operations, Scheffer edited the film in the usual way that is based on choice.

Mahler's Symphony No. 4, composed between 1899 and 1901, depicts a child's vision of heaven, a theme central to the work's innocent and lyrical character. The symphony is notable for its relatively smaller orchestral forces compared to his other symphonies and its focus on melody and a sense of wonder. The final movement features a soprano solo singing about the joys of heaven, providing a serene and optimistic conclusion.

The Great Mass is the spiritual keystone of a choreographic undertaking in which Uwe Scholz absorbs the structure of the liturgy of the mass. He adds to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's unfinished Great Mass in C minor other works by the same composer, such as the Adagio and Fugue in C minor and the motet Ave verum corpus. He also puts in passages of Gregorian chant, sequences from contemporary music by György Kurtág, Thomas Jahn and Arvo Pärt, and readings of poems by Paul Celan. Mozart's music becomes a mould in which Scholz casts his choreography. – A truly impressive requiem a choreographic revelation.