Schedule

The Berliner Philharmoniker, Daniel Barenboim and Claudio Abbado star at the Europakonzert 1994 in Meiningen, Germany, performing Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 and Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 2. Popularly known as the Emperor Concerto and composed in Vienna between 1809 and 1811, Piano Concerto No. 5 is Beethoven’s last completed piano concerto and often performed by star pianists such as Daniel Barenboim. A few decades later in 1877, Brahms completed his Second Symphony, which is often compared to Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony given its cheerful and pastoral character.

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.

Israeli violinist Itzhak Perlman and the Berlin Philharmonic perform the Violin Concerto, Op. 61 by Ludwig van Beethoven under the direction of Daniel Barenboim. Beethoven dedicated his Violin Concerto to his colleague Franz Clement, a prominent violinist of the time. The first of the piece was presented in Vienna in 1806. The piece was only interpreted a handful of times during the following decades. However, the work took a new lease of life in 1844, when the young violinist Joseph Joachim, barely 12 years old, performed with the London Philharmonic Society, under the direction of Mendelssohn. Since then, Beethoven's Violin Concerto has been one of the most important concertos in the classical repertoire. This work, renowned for its wide range of cadenzas, poses a great technical and intellectual challenge, brilliantly picked up by Perlman and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.

Manfred Honeck conducts Yo-Yo Ma and the Berlin Philharmonic in a performance of Schumann's Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 129 from the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden 2016.

The Messiah (HWV 56) by Georg Frederich Handel, also known as “A New Sacred Oratorio”, tells the life and suffering of Christ: a story of passion, fire, and sacrifice. This is one of Handel's best-known works, which took only three weeks to compose this oratorio and its famous "Hallelujah". The work has immense popularity since its premiere in Dublin in 1742, and is often presented at Easter. This performance of the Dutch ensemble Ribattuta Musica under the direction of conductor Dick Duijst was filmed in the grand church of the city of Ermelo, the Netherlands, in 2016. The soloists are Elvire Beekhuizen (soprano), Rosina Fabius (viola), Oscar Verhaar (counter-tenor) Satriya Krisna (tenor), and Hans Voschezang (bass). Ribattuta Musica is a professional ensemble that delivers authentic performances based on current musical practices at the time of the composers.

Tenor Zhuohan Sun (China, 1993) and pianist Sara Pavlovic (Serbia, 1996) perform ‘Ehetanzlied’ from Alexander von Zemlinsky’s Sechs Lieder und Gesänge, Op. 10; ‘Nell’ from Gabriel Fauré’s Trois mélodies, Op. 18; ‘Net, tol'ko tot, kto znal’ (None but the lonely heart) from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Six Romances, Op. 6; Franz Schubert’s Die Mutter Erde, D. 788; Bart Visman’s Vermeer’s Gold; ‘Bonne journée’ from Francis Poulenc’s Tel jour, telle nuit, FP 86; and ‘Der Jäger’ 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.

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, Hector Berlioz’ ‘Symphonie Fantastique’. This ‘Fantastic Symphony’ is widely regarded as one of the most important and representative pieces of the early Romantic period. Leonard Bernstein once called it “the first musical expedition into psychedelia” because of its hallucinatory and dream-like nature. The German musicologist Wulf Konold describes the idea behind and the realization of this fascinating work.

Although the great Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi applied unsuccessfully to study at the Milan Conservatory, this renowned college of music was eventually named after him. Today, the ‘Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi’ counts numerous successful musicians among its alumni: from Giacomo Puccini, Alfredo Catalani, Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Luigi Einaudi and Daniele Gatti, to Gianandrea Noseda. The acclaimed conductor Noseda (*1964) is one of the most important conductors of his generation. Recently, he taught a conducting masterclass at his alma mater for promising students from all over the world. For three days, Noseda joined forces with a hand-picked group of students to work on a varied concert programme. This documentary shows you these young, talented musicians rehearse compositions by Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and Stravinsky under the enthusiastic guidance of Maestro Gianandrea Noseda himself.

Hannu Lintu conducts the Gulbenkian Orchestra in a Finnish flavoured concert program, since the concert features Cantus Articus, Op. 61 by Einojuhani Rautavaara, and Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2. Furtermore, Daniil Trifonov (1991) is star soloist in Schumann’s Piano Concerto, Op. 54, which was premiered in 1841 by Clara Wieck, wife of the composer. Trifonov rose to fame after winning prizes at both the Tchaikovsky International Chopin competition in Moscow as well as the Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw. Trifonov has been called "arguably today's leading classical virtuoso,” and “without question the most astounding pianist of our age." This concert is recorded at the Grand Auditorium of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation of Lisbon, in 2018.

In September 2016, we celebrated the birthday of one of Japan's best-known conductors: Seiji Ozawa. Renowned for his advocacy of modern composers, Ozawa founded the Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto in 1992. As of 2015, it is better known as the Seiji Ozawa Festival. Seiji Ozawa appeared on stage himself with 63 Saito Kinen Orchestra members, passionately conducting Beethoven's Symphony No. 2 and No. 7. Beethoven's Second Symphony was mostly written during the composer's stay at Heiligenstadt, at a time when his deafness was becoming more pronounced. The work premiered in the Theater an der Wien in Vienna on April 5, 1803. The Seventh Symphony premiered with Beethoven himself conducting in Vienna in 1813 at a charity concert for wounded soldiers. The Allegretto was the most popular movement and had to be encored.

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 Johannes Brahms’ String Sextet No. 1 in B-flat major, Op. 18. The work is scored for two violins, two violas, and two cellos. Brahms wrote his only two string sextets at the very beginning of his career. String Sextet No. 1 was written in 1860. Brahms was one of the first to compose for this ensemble, blazing a trail for Antonín Dvořák, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Arnold Schoenberg, and others. This performance was recorded at Opéra de Dijon, France, in 2013.

Can we get into Beethoven’s creative mind, especially in the last phase of his life, when he was coping with severe hearing loss? Tom Beghin’s new recording of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas Opus 109, 110, and 111 is an artistic exploration of how Beethoven’s musicking was shaped by the work environment he created with the help of colleagues and friends. Not only does pianist Tom Beghin perform Beethoven’s trilogy of pianistic masterpieces on a magnificent new replica of Beethoven’s Broadwood piano, he uses a reconstruction of the Gehörmaschine that was mounted on the composer’s piano so he could continue to create music as his hearing declined. ‘You do hear better when you bring your head under this machine, don’t you?’ André Stein asked Beethoven. Two centuries later, we too can bring our heads under the machine and wonder: Do we hear Beethoven differently? Beghin draws us inside the hearing machine, where we feel as well as hear the essence of Beethoven’s rambunctious and irresistibly poetic musical vibrations. Inside the Hearing Machine invites us into the multisensory playground of a deaf composer for whom the machine was more than a hearing aid and who interacted with his instrument through much more than sound.

After more than thirty years at the top Ensemble Daedalus is saying goodbye to the concert stage. That demands a fitting farewell. Roberto Festa sought and found music that mirrors his journey over three decades. With Italian carnival songs and morescas by Renaissance composers such as Barbetta, Banchieri, and Falconieri, this farewell will be above all a party, with – true to tradition – first-rate performers, such as his traveling companion Marco Beasley.

Iván Fischer leads his Budapest Festival Orchestra (BFO) in a concert program dedicated to the music of Ludwig van Beethoven. The program opens with the composer’s Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21. Afterward, Fischer conducts Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58, in which Richard Goode features as the soloist. The acclaimed American pianist (1943) is known for his interpretations of the Beethoven repertoire. Goode recorded all five Beethoven piano concertos with the BFO and Fischer, earning him exceptional critical acclaim and a Grammy Award nomination. As an encore, Goode performs the Sarabande from J. S. Bach’s Partita in B-flat major, BWV 825. The program closes with Beethoven’s famous Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67. This performance was recorded at the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall in Budapest, Hungary, on January 29, 2017.

For over two decades, the Berlin Philharmonic has celebrated its creation on May 1 with the annual Europakonzert, which in 2010 was held in Oxford. Led by Daniel Barenboim, the orchestra performed a program including Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 1.

The Danish National Symphony Orchestra takes us on a spectacular symphonic space journey in an out-of-this-world concert program of film music. Under the direction of Dutch conductor Antony Hermus, the orchestra guides us through the musical universe, performing a selection of music from iconic sci-fi movies, such as Avatar, Gravity, Interstellar, and Star Wars, written by major composers such as John Williams, Hans Zimmer, and James Horner. Featured soloists in this concert are Tuva Semmingsen, Christine Nonbo Andersen, Steffen Bruun, and David Bateson. This performance was recorded at the DR Koncerthuset in Copenhagen, Denmark, in August 2021.

Quarteto Radamés Gnattali performs Heitor Villa-Lobos's String Quartet No. 14 at the Theatro Municipal, 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.

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.

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.

This stunning, new interpretation of Cinderella, is a theatrical ice dancing performance not to be missed.This story of Cinderella focuses on a humble chorus dancer who is thrust into the spotlight, captivates the heart of the most eligible bachelor in town, and despite rival attempts by her stepsisters to steal his heart, shows viewers that true love always triumphs. Recorded in 2008 in Australia by award winning artistic director Tony Mercer, this twist on the classic tale, features the international Imperial Ice Stars, including Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski, former world champion ice dancers. Original score composed by Tim Duncan and Edward Barnwell.

Iván Fischer conducts the Budapest Festival Orchestra in a concert recorded at the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall in Budapest, Hungary in 2015. The concert opens with Sergei Prokofiev's Overture on Hebrew Themes, Op. 34. After this, Thomas Zehetmair stars as solo violinist in Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2, Op. 63. The second part of the concert is features music by Igor Stravinsky. On the program is music composed for the ballet 'Jeu de cartes' (1937) and the Firebird Suite, No. 2 (1919). 'Jeu de cartes' is one of Stravinsky's neo-classical works and consists of three parts ('deals'). The Firebird Suite, No. 2 is based on the music from the ballet of the same name, which was written for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and premiered in Paris in 1910.

Pianist Anthony Ratinov (USA, 1997) joins the CMIM ensemble, consisting of three principal strings players of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, in a performance of the first movement, Sostenuto assai – Allegro ma non troppo, of Robert Schumann’s Piano Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 47. This performance took place during the chamber music round of the two-part semi-final of the Piano Edition of the Concours musical international de Montréal 2024 (CMIM). It was recorded at the Bourgie Hall of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.