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PG02:00:002012HD

In 2012, Norwegian opera director Stefan Herheim brought Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème to the stage of the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo. About his choice for this updated version, Herheim explained: “In bringing La bohème into a present-day setting with this new production we hope to revive the immediate power of suggestion and importance that this work at one time revelled in.” The opera about the Bohemian lifestyle of the poor seamstress Mimì and her artist friends is a fast-moving story, and offers some of the greatest arias Puccini ever wrote. Norwegian conductor Eivind Gullberg Jensen leads the Orchestra and Chorus of the National Opera Oslo. Among the soloists are Marita Sølberg (Mimì), Diego Torre (Rodolfo), Vasily Ladyuk (Marcello), and Jennifer Rowley (Musetta).

G01:31:002012HD

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.

G00:27:002000HD

Watch the series ‘Discovering Masterpieces’, your audio-visual concert guide to the great masterpieces of classical music. The series brings you 20 half-hour documentaries on 20 classical masterpieces: acclaimed experts, famous soloists and outstanding conductors take you on a journey back to the time and place of composition. In today’s documentary, Claude Debussy’s ‘La Mer’. This masterpiece of suggestion and subtlety richly depicts the ocean. As a specialist in French Impressionism, the British pianist and writer Paul Roberts - also known from the BBC television series “Play It Again” - introduces Debussy’s work with great passion.

G00:45:002016HD

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 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36. The composer wrote the symphony between 1877 and 1878, and dedicated it to Nadezhda von Meck – an exceptionally wealthy widow and great admirer of Tchaikovsky’s music, whom the composer described as ‘my best friend’. Tchaikovsky explained in his letters that the symphony is characterization of the nature of fate. The work opens with a powerful motif in the horns and bassoons representing fate. The second movement expresses melancholy, whereas the third presents ‘fleeting images that pass through the imagination when one has begun to drink a little wine’. Although the ‘fate’ motif reappears toward the end of the final movement, the movement has a festive character. This performance was recorded at La Cité de la musique in Paris in 2016.

G00:26:002022HD

Mezzo-soprano Deepa Johnny (Canada/Oman, 1998) performs Georgy Sviridov’s Russkajaj pesnya; ‘Ja li v pole da ne travushka’ from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Seven Romances, Op. 47; John Greer’s On Children; ‘Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder!’ and ‘Liebst du um Schönheit’ from Gustav Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder, Op. 44; and ‘Le spectre de la rose’ from Hector Berlioz’s song cycle Les nuits d’été, Op. 7, during the semi-finals of the Art Song division of the Concours musical international de Montréal 2022 (CMIM). This performance was recorded at the Bourgie Hall of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

G00:47:002020HD

Acclaimed classical music talent scout Antonio Mormone (1930-2017) lives on as the name-giver of the Premio Internazionale Antonio Mormone (PIAM), awarded to the winner of the Italian music competition of the same name. The first edition of this competition, which was held in various venues in Milan from 2019 to 2021, was dedicated to the piano. As part of this competition, Su Yeon Kim (South Korea, 1994) performs various works by Frédéric Chopin: Nocturne in C minor, Op. 48, No. 1; Mazurka, Op. 2, No. 2 and 4; Scherzo No. 3 in C-sharp minor, Op. 39; and Waltz in A-flat major, Op. 34 No. 1. The recital comes to a close with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Gigue in G major, KV 574. This performance was recorded at Teatro EDI Barrio’s in Milan, in January 2020.

G00:27:001990HD

Malcolm Frager performs Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 5, K 175, a work of contrapuntal writing, a style that Mozart perfected under Padre Martini's tutelage. Discover the Orchestra della Radiotelevisione della Svizzera and conducted by Marc Andreae, at the Teatro Bibiena in Mantua.

G00:21:002017HD

Russian conductor and pianist Mikhail Pletnev leads the Russian National Orchestra in performances of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's music. On the program are Suite for Orchestra after the opera 'The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya', and Musical Pictures for Orchestra from the opera 'The Tale of Tsar Saltan'. Part of the latter is the famous 'Flight of the Bumblebee'. This concert was recorded at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall of the Russian Philharmonic Society in 2017.

G01:25:002016HD

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.

G00:24:002016HD

The film Jaroussky sings Bach & Telemann is a portrait of a very special vocalist, and of two exceptional composers. When Philippe Jaroussky - whose angelic voice seems almost timeless, not belonging to any one epoque or decade - sings works by Telemann and Bach, it becomes abundantly clear that the sheer emotional force and the purifying power of their music have not diminished over the centuries. The works performed in this film are Telemann's Jesus liegt in letzten Zügen and Sinfonia from Brockes-Passion; Der am Ölberg zagende Jesus, and Bach's Sinfonia from Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis and Ich habe genug.

G00:26:002018HD

In this six-part documentary on the life and work of Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, director Liloye Boubli takes viewers on a journey through the life and work of this legend of Brazilian classical music. The composer, conductor, cellist, and classical guitarist was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1887. Growing up during a time of immense social change in Brazil – with the abolishment of slavery in 1888, this was a time of social revolution and far-reaching modernizations – Villa-Lobos went on to become one of South America's best-known composers of all time. In this second episode, Liloye Boubli dives deeper into the oeuvre of Villa-Lobos, exploring his musical influences and scrutinizing the anatomy of some of his most famous compositions, particularly his early "Pequena Suíte" for cello and piano. This collection of dances and short pieces in six movements is indicative of the composer's heartfelt adoration for Johann Sebastian Bach.

G00:58:002006HD

Roberto Prosseda (1975) performs Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 5 (KV. 283) and four Impromptus Op. 90 by Franz Schubert. The performance ends with Chopin's technically demanding Ballade No. 4, Op. 52. Prosseda is particularly noted for his performances of newly discovered works by Mendelssohn and has recorded a nine-CD series for Decca of the piano works of Mendelssohn. Since 2012, Prosseda also gives lecture-concerts with the robot pianist TeoTronico, as educational or family concerts, to demonstrate differences between a literal production of music and human interpretation.

G01:06:002018HD

Beethoven’s last three sonatas – Opus 109, 110 and 111 – explore the intimate meanders of the human soul, from despair to transfiguration. At the time of their composition, Beethoven was already locked in himself by his deafness. This deeply affected his relationship to others and to the world. This "psychological framework" is explored by director Mariano Nante, setting pianist Alexandre Tharaud in a film inspired by the universe of Tarkovski. Filmed in abandoned castles, and lit by director of photography Yorgos Arvanitis, this work evokes solitude and introspection and offers an inner journey through images and music.

11:09
Beethoven - String Quartets Nos. 3, 8 & 11
G01:26:002020HD
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.

G00:23:002018HD

In this six-part documentary on the life and work of Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, director Liloye Boubli takes viewers on a journey through the life and work of this legend of Brazilian classical music. The composer, conductor, cellist, and classical guitarist was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1887. Growing up during a time of immense social change in Brazil – with the abolishment of slavery in 1888, this was a time of social revolution and far-reaching modernizations – Villa-Lobos went on to become one of South America's best-known composers of all time. In this third episode, Liloye Boubli explores Villa-Lobos's inspiration from French classical music and Romanticism.

G00:22:002018HD

Quarteto Radamés Gnattali performs Heitor Villa-Lobos's String Quartet No. 15 at the Palácio do Catete in Rio de Janiero, Brasil. The ensemble was founded in 2006 and consists of Carla Rincón and Francisco Roa (violins), Fernando Thebaldi (viola), and Hugo Pilger (cello). The quartet, which specializes in Brazilian music, focuses on educational activities. Their recording of all of Villa-Lobos string quartets is a major achievement and was very well received by international music critics. Except for his Bachianas brasileiras, the performance of many of the Brazilian's compositions is limited to Latin America. Highly regarded as a composer, conductor and educator in his native country, Villa-Lobos has operas, symphonies, concertos, piano repertoire, choral music, and seventeen string quartets to his credit.

G00:37:002015HD

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’ string quartet – consisting of David Grimal (violin), Hans Peter Hofmann (violin), David Gaillard (viola), and Xavier Phillips (cello) – performs Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s String Quartet No. 19 in C major, K. 465, ‘Dissonance’ (Op. 10 No. 6). The String Quartet is the last in the set of six quartets that were dedicated to Joseph Haydn. Written between 1782 and 1785, these are also known as the Haydn Quartets (Op. 10). String Quartet No. 19 is remarkable for its slow, dissonant introduction, giving the piece its nickname. This ominous passage suddenly gives way to the bright Allegro in C major. This performance was recorded at Opéra Comique in Paris, France, in 2015.

G01:22:002022HD

Swiss conductor Ludwig Wicki leads the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and the DR Junior Choir in a sparkling concert program of film music. The program features a selection of music from great and Oscar-winning Hollywood films, including Titanic, The Bodyguard, Pirates of the Caribbean, Braveheart, and Moulin Rouge, written by major composers such as John Williams, Hans Zimmer, James Horner, and Klaus Badelt. Highlights include ‘He’s a pirate/Davy Jones’ from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest; ‘Now We Are Free’ from Gladiator; ‘My Heart Will Go On’ from Titanic; and ‘Shallow’ from A Star Is Born. Featured soloists in this concert are the young talented singers Andrea Lykke Oehlenschlæger and Diluckshan Jeyaratnam. This performance was recorded at the DR Koncerthuset in Copenhagen, Denmark, in May 2022.

G00:51:002020HD

Maestro Herbert Blomstedt makes his debut with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra at 2020’s Lucerne Festival conducting Ludwig van Beethoven’s celebrated Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55, “Eroica”. The sprightly Swedish conductor celebrated his 93rd birthday just one month before this performance. This remarkable performance was recorded at the Lucerne Culture and Congress Center (KKL), Switzerland, in August 2020.

G00:44:002015HD

On March 23, 1783, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart gave a successful concert at Vienna’s Burgtheater that he dedicated to two sopranos: Aloysia and Josepha Weber, the sisters of his wife Constanze. The concert’s program would be considered odd by today’s standards. The composer’s Symphony No. 35 was broken up and interspersed with other compositions, such as concertos, arias, and works for solo piano. Nearly two and a half centuries later, French soprano Sabine Devieilhe, conductor Raphaël Pichon and his Ensemble Pygmalion bring a wonderful concert inspired by that remarkable event. The program includes: ‘Allegro con spirito’ of Symphony No. 35, also known as the Haffner Symphony; ‘Vorrei spiegarvi, oh Dio’, KV 418; ‘Schon lacht der holde Frühling’, KV 580; Trio of ‘Die Schlittenfahrt’ No. 3, KV 605; Deutscher Tanz No. 6, KV 571; ‘Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen’ from Mozart’s opera Die Zauberflöte; ‘Finale: Presto’ of Symphony No. 35; ‘Nehmt meinen Dank’, KV 383; and ‘Dans un bois solitaire et sombre’, KV 308. This performance was recorded at Théâtre Impérial de Compiègne, in Compiègne, France.

G00:29:002023HD

After recording all 32 Ludwig van Beethoven piano sonatas to celebrate the composer's 250th birth anniversary, celebrated Italian pianist Riccardo Schwartz decided to record solo piano works by Robert Schumann. Schumann composed his Fantasie in C, Op. 17 in 1836, revising it prior to publication in 1839. Bearing a dedication to Franz Liszt, it is one of Schumann's greatest works for solo piano, and a central work of the early Romantic period. Written in a loose sonata form, the first movement is rhapsodic and passionate, the middle movement is a grandiose rondo, and the finale is slow and meditative. Acclaimed pianist Riccardo Schwartz (1986) has performed as a soloist with many world-renowned conductors, including Gustav Kuhn and Yuri Temirkanov. His acclaimed performances include recitals and concertos for piano and orchestra in many prestigious concert halls.

G00:52:002019HD

In May 2019, the new principal conductor of the Gewandhaus, Andris Nelsons, presented Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 with his orchestra in combination with Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with outstanding violinist Baiba Skride as the soloist. In this composition, the violin does not allow itself a break, continually tells its dark story and gets into a vicious circle of ostinato Passacaglia bass lines again and again falls into beguilingly beautiful singing. Tchaikovsky initially thought his 'Symphony of Fate' was a failure and believed himself to be at the end of his creative powers. It was probably the composer's nature, plagued by self-doubt, that made it almost impossible for him to develop a self-confident attitude to his own creative power. Between this two works, Skride performs Stravinsky's Elegy for Solo Violin.

G01:54:002014HD

Dazzling, virtuosic, and spectacular: no other adjectives are better suited to describe the piano music of Franz Liszt. Enjoy a sparkling performance of Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat major by the incredible piano virtuoso Russian Daniil Trifonov, with Kent Nagano conducting the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. As an encore, Trifonov performs Reflets dans l'eau from Debussy's Images. The orchestra closes this concert with a rendition of Mahler's Symphony No. 7. Recorded at the Charles Bronfman Auditorium, Tel Aviv, in 2014.

G00:45:002017HD

Han Chen performs Liszt's Ballade No. 2 (S171), Bellini/Liszt - I Puritani, introduction et polonaise (S391) and Bellini/Liszt's Sonnambula: Große Konzertfantasie (S393/3) during the semi finals of the International Liszt Competition 2017 at TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht.

G01:26:002021HD

Maestro Myung-Whun Chung leads the Orchestra and Chorus of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, along with two vocal soloists, in this impressive performance of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 in C minor, ‘Resurrection’. Soprano Christiane Karg and alto Claudia Huckle are the soloists. Written between 1888 and 1894, this five-movement symphony is scored for a large orchestra, chorus, and soprano and alto soloists. Mahler explores themes of life, death, and resurrection throughout the symphony. Its first movement resembles a funeral march, while the second, a graceful Ländler, creates a stark contrast with the somber character of the first. The third movement is a Scherzo based on Mahler’s musical setting of ‘Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt’ from the collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn. The composer also used another Wunderhorn poem, ‘Urlicht’ (Primal Light), for the fourth movement, incorporating both text and music, sung by the alto. The chorus makes its entrance in the second part of the fifth and final movement with the ‘Resurrection’ chorale. This performance was recorded at Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, Italy, in 2021.

G00:21:002021HD

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.

G00:48:002021HD

After recording all 32 Ludwig van Beethoven piano sonatas to celebrate the composer's 250th birth anniversary, celebrated Italian pianist Riccardo Schwartz decided to record solo piano works by Robert Schumann. In this performance, Schwartz presents Schumann’s Novelletten, Op. 21. The eight pieces for piano that make up this song cycle are often performed separately. It bears a dedication to pianist Adolph Henselt. Schumann composed the pieces between January and April of 1838, around the same time as Kinderszenen, Op. 18, and Kreisleriana, Op. 16. Novelletten is the most substantial yet least-known of Schumann’s piano cycles. Acclaimed pianist Riccardo Schwartz (1986) has performed as a soloist with many world-renowned conductors, including Gustav Kuhn and Yuri Temirkanov. His acclaimed performances include recitals and concertos for piano and orchestra in many prestigious concert halls.

G00:23:002009HD

Johann Sebastian Bach probably wrote this set of six Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord during his time as chapel master in Köthen. Presumably, he wrote these sonatas for Prince Leopold and later adapted them for further use in Leipzig. Maybe this is why these pieces are well playable for amateurs, while every sonata still has the finesse that can offer a challenge to professional musicians. The different pieces are meant to be a set, just like the Brandenburg concertos.