Schedule

Mahler's Symphony No. 9, a profoundly emotional and technically complex work from 1909-1910, is characterized by its sprawling, late-Romantic style, exploring themes of human experience, love, and existential questions against the backdrop of Mahler's own impending death. Audiences are drawn to the symphony's deeply personal expression of vulnerability and its transcendent final movement, which serves as a poignant farewell and a profound exploration of the human condition.

Mexican conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto leads the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería in a performance of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D major, “Titan”. Composed between 1887 and 1888, the symphony blends traditional form with innovative ideas like folk melodies, march rhythms, and fanfare motifs. The work contrasts idyllic natural scenes with moments of profound melancholy, military fanfares, and a funeral march for a “woodland creature” that uses a famous folk round in a minor key. It’s characterized by its bold use of harmony, unexpected melodic juxtapositions, and an expansive form rooted in a classical framework. This performance was recorded at Sala Nezahualcóyotl of the Centro Cultural Universitario in Mexico City, in 2012.

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.

Polish conductor Marta Gardolińska conducts the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) in a concert program consisting of Lili Boulanger’s D’un Martin de Printemps, Marc-André Dalbavie’s Concerto for Flute, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36. The luminous optimism of the young Boulanger is poles apart from the raw passion and white-hot melodies of Tchaikovsky’s semi-autobiographical symphony. LSO principal flute Gareth Davies brings out all the dazzle and daring of Dalbavie's 21st-century classic. The program closes with Prayer for Ukraine by composer Valentin Silvestrov. This concert was recorded at LSO St Luke’s in London, UK, on May 18, 2022.

Julijana Sarac performs the first/third movement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 21 (“Waldstein”). The work was completed in 1804 and is considered one of Beethoven's greatest and most technically challenging piano sonatas.

In 2013, the Finnish conductor Hannu Lintu was appointed principal conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Lintu studied piano and cello at the Sibelius Academy and the Turku conservatorium in Sweden’s southeast. He started conducting at the Sibelius Academy. His many concerts with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2012 made him the obvious replacement for Sakari Oramo, who, after many years as conductor and concert master, terminated his contract in 2012. The orchestra specializes in the performance of Finnish music, but also performs the great masterpieces of Gustav Mahler and Béla Bartók. The Finnish composer Jean Sibelius is the orchestra’s favourite, as well as the conductor. In cooperation with Finland’s national public broadcasting company Yle, all seven Sibelius symphonies are recorded and broadcast. After a brief spoken introduction about the piece, the orchestra performs the complete symphony. While composing his Symphony No. 5, Sibelius was also sketching his Symphony No. 6, using a number of ideas he could not fit in his No. 5 for No. 6. The music is based on modal lines, which are often used in church music. His Symphony No. 6 has few melodic lines and a slightly gloomier atmosphere. For that reason, Sibelius added the description ‘When shadows lengthen’ to the title.

Mexican conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto leads the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería in a performance of Camille Saint-Saëns’s musical suite The Carnival of the Animals (Le carnaval des animaux, 1886). This suite consists of 14 movements, each depicting a different animal. The work was published posthumously in 1922, as Saint-Saëns was concerned that his animal miniatures, full of delightful jokes, might damage his reputation as a serious composer. Scored for cello and two pianos, ‘The Swan’ is the only movement that Saint-Saëns allowed to be published during his lifetime. This iconic movement features a beautiful flowing cello melody and gentle piano accompaniment, evoking the image of a swan gliding gracefully over the water. Each movement is introduced by Prieto. This performance was recorded at Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City, in 2021.

Belgian conductor Jos van Immerseel leads Anima Eterna Brugge in a concert program dedicated to American composer George Gershwin. The program opens with Gershwin’s symphonic suite Catfish Row (arr. Steven D. Bowen) which is based upon music from his famous opera Porgy and Bess (1935). This is followed by the well-known tone poem An American in Paris (1928). After, soprano Claron McFadden joins the orchestra, presenting a selection of Gershwin’s classic jazz songs, including ‘The man I love’ (1924-27), ‘I got rhythm’ (1930), and ‘By Strauss’ (1936). She also performs ‘My man’s gone now’ and ‘Summertime’ from Porgy and Bess. The concert ends with Gershwin’s celebrated Rhapsody in Blue, with Bart Van Caenegem as featured pianist. This performance was recorded at Concertgebouw Brugge, Belgium, on March 3, 2017.

The Italian-Swiss ensemble Trio des Alpes, consisting of Hana Kotková (violin), Claude Hauri (cello), and Corrado Greco (piano), and the Orchestra da Camera di Mantova join forces in this performance of the Concertino for Piano Trio and String Orchestra, H. 232 by Czech composer Bohuslav Martin (1890-1959). Martin was a prolific composer, creating an oeuvre of almost 400 works. The four-movement Concertino was completed in 1933 and saw its first performance in 1936, by the Basler Kammerorchester under the baton of Paul Sacher. During the years 1931-1943, Martin wrote multiple concertante compositions. Many of these works were more or less influenced by the Baroque ‘concerto grosso’ form, in which a group of solo instruments is set against a large ensemble, a principle that appealed to the composer. This performance was recorded at Teatro Bibiena in Mantua, Italy, on January 21, 2016.

This documentary by Mark Perna shows the training and professional growth actions for opera singers, the promotion and enhancement of the cultural offer of the city and province of Modena and the maintenance and development of the Modenese musical tradition in the field of opera.

At the behest of Argentinian pianist Martha Argerich, several classical music stars took part in this concert in aid of the Erasmus Fund for medical research in intensive care, recorded at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, Belgium, on October 21, 2023. The concert pays tribute to the renowned cellist Aleksandr Khramouchin (1979) who suddenly passed away on May 13, 2023. As part of this concert, violinist Alissa Margulis, cellist Mischa Maisky, and pianist Lily Maisky perform Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Trio élégiaque No. 1 in G minor.

Arvo Pärt based his ‘Kanon Pokajanen’ (from ‘Canon of Repentance to Our Lord Jesus Christ’, 1995-97) on the canon of repentance as handed down in the earliest Slavic-Christian manuscripts, dating back to the sixth century after Christ. The canon symbolizes the change, the transformation from day to night, the Old and New Testament, prophecy and the fulfillment, the here and now and the hereafter. This deals with the human and the divine, weakness and strength, suffering and redemption, mortality and immortality. In this broadcast, ‘Kanon Pokajanen’ is performed by the chamber choir Aquarius. This Flemish chamber choir is a trailblazer where new music and new concert formats are concerned. ‘Kanon Pokajanen’ is a great example of this: the singers are positioned in a circle in the center of a church. This dark church is only lit by candles and the music stand lights. After the choir has entered in procession, they sing for close to two hours. Performed by the Aquarius Choir led by Michael de Smet in 2008.

Latvian maestro Mariss Jansons (1943-2019) was one of the world’s leading conductors. He served as Music Director of the Oslo Philharmonic from 1979 to 2000, during which time he transformed the orchestra into a front-rank ensemble. Under his leadership, the orchestra toured extensively and became a favorite at major festivals worldwide. The Oslo Philharmonic was celebrated for its fresh, open sound and for Jansons’s passionate interpretations of works by Dmitri Shostakovich, Richard Strauss, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and Béla Bartók. In this episode of ‘In Rehearsal,’ Jansons guides the orchestra through the powerful Suite from Bartók’s pantomime ballet The Miraculous Mandarin, culminating in a performance at the Oslo Concert Hall.

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.