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.

Conductor Jan Latham-Koenig leads the Flanders Symphony Orchestra in this concert recorded at Concertgebouw Brugge, Belgium, on April 21, 2016. The program opens with Felix Mendelssohn’s concert overture Die Hebriden, Op. 26 (The Hebrides). During a trip to Scotland, the composer was deeply impressed by the natural splendor of Staffa, an island of the Inner Hebrides, which inspired him to compose his concert overture. Next on the program is Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16, featuring Pascal Amoyel as the pianist. It is the composer’s only concerto. Grieg composed the work in 1868, drawing inspiration from Norwegian folk music. The program ends with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92. The work is very popular, especially because of its touching second movement. At the Allegretto’s 1813 premiere, the audience demanded an immediate encore.

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.

During the New Year’s Gala 2010, the Berlin Philharmonic perform under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel, whose infectious energy and exceptional artistry have made him one of the most sought-after conductors by orchestras and opera companies around the world. They welcome mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča, who has become one of the world’s most famous singers within just a few years. On the program are various works by French composers, like Berlioz’ Le Carnival Romain, Overture, Op. 9 and D’Amour l’ardente flamme’ from La Damnation de Faust (Op. 24), Saint-Saëns’ ‘Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix’ and ‘Danse Bacchanale’ from his opera Samson et Dalila and the ‘Habanera’, ‘Seguidilla’ and ‘Chanson Bohème’ from Bizet’s Carmen. The concert concludes with de Falla’s Suite No. 2 from the ballet ‘El sombrero de tres picos’.

Luca Vignali (oboe), Angelo De Angelis (clarinet), Carmine Pinto (horn), Eliseo Smordoni (bassoon), and Linda Di Carlo (piano) perform Ludwig van Beethoven’s Quintet for piano and winds in E-flat major, Op. 16. The piece, completed in 1796, is assumed to have been modelled on Mozart’s Quintet for piano and winds, K. 452. Both quintets are scored for the same unusual instrument combination, are in the same key, and feature the same three-movement structure. A marked difference is that Beethoven, as a piano virtuoso, wrote the piano parts to highlight the strengths of his playing. Besides, the composer regularly places this instrument in the center of attention. Beethoven published the work in 1801 in two versions: as a quintet for piano and winds, and as a quartet for piano and strings (also designated Op. 16). This performance was recorded at Perugia’s Auditorium Santa Cecilia, Italy, on June 23, 2022.

David Zinman conducts the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie in a performance of W. A. Mozart’s (1756-1791) Symphony No. 39, K. 543. Recorded in the Sophiensaal in Munich in 1991 and directed by János Darvas. The work is the first in a set of three which became Mozart’s last symphonies. The set was composed in rapid succession in the summer of 1788. The first movement opens with a majestic introduction with fanfares heard in the brass section. The work has an interesting minuet and trio, which features an Austrian folk dance ("Ländler") and a clarinet solo.

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 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.

Mariss Jansons conducts the chorus and instrumental ensemble of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass (1926) at the Lucerne Easter Festival of 2012. The work is divided into eight sections that give the greatest prominence to the chorus while also containing impressive solos, especially for soprano and tenor. Completely unexpected is the startlingly wild and furious organ solo (Iveta Apklana at the organ) that follows the Ordinary of the Mass and precedes the final movement. Janáček, who achieved worldwide celebrity late in life, wanted to emphasize the common bonds between the Slavic nations by writing the text in Old Church Slavonic, which used an alphabet devised by Saints Cyril and Methodius called ‘Glagolitic’. The choice of this ancient language also reflects the Moravian composer’s sympathies with the Slavic nations that were under the yoke of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Soprano Isabel Weller (Germany, 1994) and pianist Yuriko Watanabe (Japan, 1994) perform Claude Debussy’s Nuit d’étoiles, L. 2, and Mandoline, L. 43; Joseph Haydn’s Piercing eyes, Hob. XXVIa, No. 35; ‘Die Mainacht’ from Johannes Brahms’s Vier Gesänge, Op. 43; ‘Pietà’ from Paul Hindemith’s Das Marienleben, Op. 27; Bart Visman’s Vermeer’s Gold; and ‘Lied vom Winde’ 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.

Directed in 2012 by Enrique Sánchez Lansch, the documentary The 12 Cellists follows the 12 cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Since 1972, this group is a staple of the international musical universe. Whether they play classical music, jazz, tango or avant-garde music, these talented musicians invariably enthrall audiences with the wide range of unique and bewitching sounds they produce with their cellos. Their combination of seriousness and humor, depth, and lightness promises to captivate listeners of all ages.