Schedule

This episode presents the Brandenburg Concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). Musical excerpts played by the Freiburger Barockorchester conducted by Gottfried von der Goltz. Bach's six Brandenburg Concertos rank among the undisputed favorites of all baroque fans. They have become a firm fixture in music education and an integral part of our international musical heritage. So what's their secret? The internationally acclaimed pianist and Bach expert Robert Levin provides an answer.

Italian cellist Silvia Chiesa and Italian pianist Maurizio Baglini perform Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Sonata in G minor for cello and piano, Op. 19. This performance was recorded at Sala Verdi of the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan, Italy, on November 4, 2024.

Israeli violinist Itzhak Perlman and the Berlin Philharmonic perform Johannes Brahms' Violin Concerto (1833-1897) under the direction of Daniel Barenboim. After Beethoven's Violin Concerto, Brahms' piece is probably the most famous German Violin Concerto ever written. These two works have much in common, especially the tone in D major in which they were composed. Highly technical, Brahms' Violin Concerto is reserved for virtuosos because of the marked presence of arpeggios, rapid passages of scales and rhythmic variations. Perlman and the Berlin Philharmonic are brilliantly meeting the challenge of this technically and intellectually demanding work.

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.

At the age of eleven, Italian pianist Andrea Bacchetti (*1977) debuted with Italian chamber orchestra I Solisti Veneti under the baton of Claudio Scimone. He performed on international festivals and in prestigious concert halls worldwide. Besides, he appeared with several renowned orchestras such as Lucerne Festival Strings, Camerata Salzburg, and Prague Chamber Orchestra. In the current recital, Bacchetti performs J. S. Bach’s celebrated Goldberg Variations, BWV 988. Completed in 1741, the work is named after German harpsichordist Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, who might have been the first to have performed the work. Bach’s masterpiece consists of an aria and a set of thirty variations. Rather than writing variations on the aria’s melody, Bach used the accompanying bass line as his starting point. This performance was recorded at Theater Carlo Felice in Genoa, Italy, on April 13, 2015.

English conductor and pianist Wayne Marshall leads the Orchestre national d’Île-de-France in a special concert celebrating classical music in film. The extensive program opens with the overture of Rossini’s The Thieving Magpie and concludes with Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No. 5. In between we are treated to renditions of Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain, Gerswhin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Duke Ellington’s C Jam Blues, Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries, Barber’s Adagio for Strings, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumblebee, the Adagietto of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, and Strauss’ Emperor Waltz. Each of the evening’s featured works has found its way onto the silver screen in one way or another. This concert was recorded at the Salle Pleyel, Paris, in 2014.

Celebrated German violinist Isabelle Faust performs J. S. Bach’s Sonata No. 3 in C major (BWV 1005). The work is part of the composer’s well-known Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (BWV 1001-1006). Sonata No. 3 includes an extensive fugue in which Bach employs many contrapuntal techniques. In this wonderful performance, Faust shows her mastery of Bach’s technically challenging piece. This performance was recorded at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, Germany, in 2020.

This dance concert - performed in the languages of both music and movement - features, in addition to works by Liszt, some of the finest pieces of Hungary's national romanticism that served to inspire them, antecedents of sacred music reaching as far back as the Gregorian period and compositions by contemporaries who influenced Liszt: Paganini and Chopin. Liszt Mosaics is founded on three thematic pillars. Although all three directly evoke Liszt - with emblematic aspects of his life's work: Liszt the Hungarian, Liszt the priest and Liszt the virtuoso - they speak at least as much to us as people of the 21st century. The Hungarian State Folk Ensemble was established in 1951 and has traveled to over 40 countries, playing authentic folk music and folk dances.

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. 1 in F major, Op. 18, No. 1; String Quartet No. 10 in E-flat major, Op. 74, "Harp"; and String Quartet No. 9 in C major, Op. 59, No. 3, "Razumovsky". This concert performance was recorded at Philharmonie de Paris on October 13, 2020.

The Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, also known simply as Tafelmusik, is a Toronto-based Canadian baroque orchestra, specialised in early music. The ensemble is directed by violinist Jeanne Lamon. In ‘The Galileo Project: Music of the Spheres’ they perform music by Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Bach and Handel to a backdrop of high-definition images from the Hubble telescope, NASA and Canadian astronomers. Explore the fusion of arts, science and culture in the 17th and 18th centuries in this imaginative concert commemorating Galileo’s first public demonstration of the telescope. Actor Shaun Smyth narrates a compelling script while the musicians weave in and around a magical stage set by Marshal Pynkoski. Created and scripted by Alison Mackay.

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 perform Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D. 759, also known as the ‘Unfinished Symphony’. Schubert started composing the work in 1822, but only completed the first two movements. The first movement, Allegro moderato, has a dark, mysterious mood, which contrasts with the beautiful second movement in E major, Andante con moto. Schubert only penned a couple of measures of the third movement, a Scherzo, in full score. It is not known why the composer never finished his symphony. Although it is not complete, it has become one of Schubert’s most popular compositions. This performance was recorded at Cité de la musique in Paris, France, in 2013.

This exclusive live concert production presents a unique selection of movie classics - from Sergio Leone’s iconic Spaghetti Westerns to modern mafia masterpieces by Francis Ford Coppola and the cult movies of Tarantino. The Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Concert Choir are conducted by Sarah Hicks in this premiere performance of authentic soundtracks by composer legends Ennio Morricone, Nino Rota, Sonny Bono, and Bernard Herrmann. Soloists for this performance are Tuva Semmingsen (mezzo), Christine Nonbo Andersen (soprano), Hans Ulrik (saxophone) and Mads Kjølby (guitars). Recorded at the DR Koncerthuset in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2018.

Italian conductor Gianandrea Noseda leads the combined forces of the Music Academy KestonMAX fellows and London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) in Ludwig van Beethoven’s Triple Concerto in C major, Op. 56, and Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14. Beethoven's Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Piano in C major, commonly known as the Triple Concerto, was composed from 1803 to 1804. The choice of the three solo instruments effectively makes this a concerto for piano trio, and it is the only concerto Beethoven ever completed for more than one solo instrument. Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique (‘Episode in the Life of an Artist … in Five Sections’) is a programmatic symphony written in 1830, telling the story of a gifted artist who, in the depths of hopelessness and despair because of his unrequited love for a woman, has poisoned himself with opium. This concert was recorded at LSO St. Luke’s in London, UK, on November 20, 2022.