Schedule

Swiss conductor Philippe Jordan and the Orchestre de l’Opéra national de Paris recorded all of Ludwig van Beethoven’s symphonies in 2014-2015. In this program, Jordan conducts Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55, ‘Eroica’. Composed in 1803 and 1804, this symphony is regarded as a major turning point in Beethoven’s oeuvre as well as Western music history. Symphony No. 3 is longer in duration than any previous symphony. The customary long introduction is replaced by two powerful chords, followed by the introduction of the main theme by the lower strings. The slow second movement is a Funeral March, followed by a quick Scherzo. The fourth and final movement is dominated by a theme from Beethoven’s ballet music for ‘The Creatures of Prometheus’. This performance was recorded at Opéra Bastille in Paris, France, in 2014.

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.

Few Italian theatres can boast of being an absolute point of reference for national and world culture. The Teatro Regio in Turin is both a symbol of excellence in the national operatic tradition and a prestigious stage hosting operas, ballets, concerts, and musicals of great substance. This short documentary offers a behind-the-scenes tour of the Teatro Regio Torino and bears witness to the enviable reputation that has prevailed since its opening in 1740.

Maestro Zubin Mehta leads the Orchestra and Chorus of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in a performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s comic opera Così fan tutte (1790). Following the successful operas Le nozze di Figaro (1786) and Don Giovanni (1787), Così fan tutte was the third and last collaboration between Mozart and the Venetian librettist and poet Lorenzo Da Ponte. The opera tells the story of two young officers, Ferrando and Guglielmo, who are convinced of the fidelity of their fiancées, the sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella. However, their older friend Don Alfonso contends that women cannot be trusted. He proposes a plan to test his theory: the young men must pretend to be called away to the front but then return disguised as Albanian soldiers to try to seduce their lonely fiancées. The young men reluctantly agree to Alfonso’s test. Will the sisters succumb to the advances of the disguised suitors? Among the soloists are Valentina Naforniţa (Fiordiligi), Vasilisa Berzhanskaya (Dorabella), Mattia Olivieri (Guglielmo), Matthew Swensen (Ferrando), Benedetta Torre (Despina), and Thomas Hampson (Don Alfonso). This performance was recorded at Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, Italy, on March 28, 2021.

Regarded as one of the finest interpreters of Romantic repertoire, Francesco Attesti (*1975) gave his first recital at age 11 and by the time he was 23, had earned the highest honours in piano from Florence’s Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini. In this recording of his 2016 Deeply Mozart concert tour, Attesti performs Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s piano concertos KV 449 and KV 488 with the Italian OIDA Orchestra and conductor Paolo Belloli.

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.

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.

Current holder of “Great Organ of the Notre Dame,” Olivier Latry began his musical career when he enrolled in Gaston Litaize’s organ class at the Academy of Saint-Maur at the age of 16. In 1985, at 23 years of age, Latry was awarded the post of one of four “titulaires des grands orgues” of Notre Dame, Paris. Besides enriching the musical world as an organist, improvisor and composer, Olivier Latry also works as a Professor of Organ at the Conservatoire de Paris. This performance of his, showcasing pieces of Bach, Vierne and Daquin, was recorded in 2015, at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

One of the world’s most popular pieces of classical music, Maurice Ravel’s Boléro (1928), was no longer copyrighted as of May 1, 2016. Up to then it had made Ravel and his heirs millions. Ravel died in 1937 and left all he owned to his brother Edouard. Edouard’s death in 1960 unleashed a complex legal battle over the rights, involving among others Edouard’s nurse and her husband. This 2017 documentary gives a fascinating account of what happened to one this iconic piece of music right under the nose of the public. Filmmaker Fabien Caux-Lahalle underpins this investigative story with clips of the Boléro in various guises.

On the occasion of her 80th birthday, Argentinian pianist Martha Argerich explored repertoire for piano and violin in this wonderful concert, recorded at Château de Chantilly, France. The ‘Grande Dame’ of the piano is joined by various renowned artists, including pianists Evgeny Kissin, Theodosia Ntokou, and Cristina Marton-Argerich, and violinist Maxim Vengerov. On the program are Dmitri Shostakovich’s Concertino for two pianos, Op. 94; Frédéric Chopin’s Impromptu No. 3, Op. 51, Polonaise No. 6, Op. 53 “Heroic”, and Waltz No. 6, Op. 64 No. 1; Camille Saint-Saëns’s Polonaise for two pianos, Op. 77; César Franck’s Sonata for violin and piano in A major; and Fritz Kreisler’s Liebesleid and Schön Rosmarin. This performance was recorded on June 12, 2021.

Swiss conductor Philippe Jordan and the Orchestre de l’Opéra national de Paris recorded all of Ludwig van Beethoven’s symphonies in 2014-2015. In this program, maestro Jordan presents Beethoven’s final symphony: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125. He conducts the Orchestre and Choeurs de l’Opéra national de Paris and four vocal soloists Ricarda Merbeth (soprano), Daniela Sindram (mezzosoprano), Robert Dean Smith (tenor), and Günther Groissböck (bass). Beethoven composed his last Symphony when his hearing had all but gone, between 1822 and 1824. Symphony No. 9 is the longest and most ambitious of Beethoven’s symphonies. Most striking is the piece’s finale movement, which includes a choir and four vocal soloists singing a setting of Friedrich Schiller’s poem ‘An die Freude’ (Ode to Joy). This performance was recorded at Opéra Bastille in Paris, France, in 2015.

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. 3 in D major, Op. 18 No. 3; String Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Op. 95, “Quartetto Serioso”; and String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op. 59, No. 2, "Razumovsky". This concert performance was recorded at Philharmonie de Paris on November 23, 2020.

The 2019 documentary ‘Approaching the Maelström’ follows the process leading up to a recording of American composer Philip Glass’s composition ‘A Descent into the Maelström’. The work is based on American writer Edgar Allan Poe’s 1841 short story of two fishermen caught in torrents raging between the mountainous islands of Lofoten, Norway. Glass’s work, originally a choral piece for the Australian Dance Theatre, was only ever performed at the Adelaide Festival of Arts in 1986. Over thirty years later, in 2019, Beacon Isle Films recorded a symphonic arrangement of Glass’s work, performed by the Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir conducted by Tim Weiss with soprano Berit Norbakken Solset as the soloist. Their recording was made against the backdrop of Lofoten’s spectacular landscape: the very surroundings that inspired Poe’s story. Moreover, this inspiring documentary features a rare interview with Glass.

J. S. Bach’s six Brandenburg Concerto’s belong to his best-known works. The composer wrote these concertos between 1711 and 1720 and dedicated them in 1721 to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg. In celebration of the pieces’ 300th anniversary, Czech harpsichordist and conductor Václav Luks and the renowned Baroque ensemble Collegium 1704 recorded all six Brandenburg Concertos on historical instruments in 2021. The concertos are based on the Italian concerto grosso form, in which a group of solo instruments is set against a large ensemble. Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos feature remarkable combinations of solo instruments and virtuoso solos. In this performance at the Hall of Mirrors in the Köthen Castle, Germany, Luks and his Collegium 1704 present Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV 1050. Remarkably, the harpsichord appears as a solo instrument here, along with the flute and violin, rather than as an accompanying instrument. The piece is therefore considered one of Bach’s very first keyboard concertos.

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. 7 in F major, Op. 59, No. 1, known as “Razumovsky”; String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat major, Op. 130; and the monumental Great Fugue, Op. 133. This concert performance was recorded at Philharmonie de Paris on October 12, 2020.

In Geneva, the Swiss city where she has spent most of her life, Argentinian pianist Martha Argerich invites her lifelong music partner, the cellist Mischa Maisky, to play chamber music. Between the pieces, Martha opens up to her daughter Annie Dutoit in an intimate interview that addresses both their relationship and the music. On the program are Ludwig van Beethoven’s 7 variations after "The Magic Flute"; Robert Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, Op. 73; Frédéric Chopin’s Introduction and Polonaise brillante in C major, Op. 3; ‘Lerchengesang’ (No. 2) from Johannes Brahms’s 4 Gesänge, Op. 70; and ‘Largo’ from Chopin’s Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 65. This broadcast was recorded on November 12 and 13, 2020, in Geneva, Switzerland.

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.

Barbara Hannigan, soprano and conductor, won the Grammy for “Best Classical Solo Vocal Album CRAZY GIRL CRAZY (Gershwin, Berg and Berio) 2018 and took home the Grammy for “Artist of the Year” in 2022. In autumn 2023 she made her long-awaited conducting debut with the Cleveland Orchestra. The programme featured an interesting mix of old and new with Haydn´s Symphony No. 44 in E-minor, Vivier´s Lonely Child', Ligeti´s 'Lontano' and Death and Transfiguration by Richard Strauss.

On the occasion of her 80th birthday, Argentinian pianist Martha Argerich explored chamber music repertoire in this wonderful concert, recorded at Château de Chantilly, France. The ‘Grande Dame’ of the piano is joined by various renowned artists. As part of this concert, violinist Akiko Suwanai and pianist Iddo Bar-Shaï perform Leoš Janáček’s Violin Sonata.

Italian conductor Gianandrea Noseda leads the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) in a performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73, famously known as the ‘Emperor’ Concerto. Italian pianist Beatrice Rana features as the soloist here. The New York Times describes her as ‘one of the most insightful and prodigiously gifted artists of the new generation’. Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto opens with a grand, majestic chord followed by a brilliant flourish from the piano, setting the tone for one of the most celebrated works in the piano repertoire. Composed between 1809 and 1811, it reflects Beethoven’s heroic spirit during a turbulent period in European history and is admired for its boldness, lyricism, and virtuosic demands. This concert was recorded at London’s Barbican Hall, UK, on February 2, 2022.

Swiss conductor Philippe Jordan and the Orchestre de l’Opéra national de Paris recorded all of Ludwig van Beethoven’s symphonies in 2014-2015. In this program, Jordan conducts Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68, also known as the Pastoral Symphony. Beethoven wrote the work upon completion of his Symphony No. 5. Both symphonies premiered at the same legendary, all-Beethoven concert on December 22, 1808. Symphony No. 6 consists of five movements, of which the last three are played without a break. Each movement carries a title that suggests a scene from life in the countryside. The joyful atmosphere of the first three movements is interrupted by the violent fourth movement ‘Thunder, Storm’, as expressed by the piccolos, brass, and timpani. As the storm recedes at the end of the movement, the tranquility returns in the final movement. This performance was recorded at Opéra Bastille in Paris, France, in 2015.

Misha Mengelberg, the forgetting has begun. He is waiting for a taxi he didn’t call to go to a performance that won’t take place. Dutch composer/pianist and grand duke of jazz Misha Mengelberg (1935) has been submerged in the shadow of dementia, ending his life as a musician. At the London jazz club Vortex in 2013 he impressively says his goodbyes to the international stage. It’s also his last major performance with his band, the Instant Composers Pool Orchestra. The musicians find it hard to let him go, but Misha’s decline is constant, and he slowly fades away from their midst. A film about exceptional loyalty, dilemmas, respect and dedication. And about music, the music of Misha Mengelberg.