Mstislav Rostropovich - Bach Cello Suites

The Metropolitan Opera Centennial Gala(en)

In celebration of its 100th anniversary in 1983, the Metropolitan Opera hosts a four-hour performance uniting some of the world's most spellbinding opera singers and conductors. The event includes a ballet from Samson et Dalila and boasts incredible classical performances from Kathleen Battle, Plácido Domingo, Jose Carerras, Leonard Bernstein, Marilyn Horne, Leona Mitchell, Luciano Pavarotti and many more.

London Symphony Orchestra: The Young Debussy(en)

The evocative music of Claude Debussy has been described as the foundation of modern music. But how did the composer come to develop his unique style? On this video, maestro Francois-Xavier Roth and the London Symphony Orchestra present the UK premiere of a previously lost work by the young Debussy, alongside some of his earliest inspirations. Debussy's newly discovered Premiére Suite gives a rare insight into the mind of a young composer on the cusp of innovation. It's a work filled with Romantic and Eastern influences and glimpses of the unexpected harmonies that came to define Debussy's work. Paired alongside the composer's role models - from Wagner's powerful intertwining motifs, the abundant Spanish influences in Lalo's rarely-heard Cello Concerto performed here by Edgar Moreau, and Massenet's majestic Le Cid - Francois-Xavier Roth gives a fresh perspective on the much-loved composer.

Mozart - Berliner Philharmoniker - Radek Baborák - Daniel Barenboim(de)

Beethoven: The Symphonies(en)

Conductor: Claudio Abbado. Orchestra/Ensemble: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. 1.Symphony no 1 in C major, Op. 21 2. Symphony no 2 in D major, Op. 36 3. Symphony no 3 in E flat major, Op. 55 "Eroica" 4. Symphony no 4 in B flat major, Op. 60 5. Symphony no 5 in C minor, Op. 67 6. Symphony no 6 in F major, Op. 68 "Pastoral" 7. Symphony no 7 in A major, Op. 92 8. Symphony no 8 in F major, Op. 93 9. Symphony no 9 in D minor, Op. 125 "Choral"

Verdi: Messa da Requiem(en)

Guiseppe Verdi’s Requiem is still heard mainly in theatre and concert halls. However, the author himself intended this composition to be performed in church, and on special occasions. Conducted by Teodor Currentzis and performed by soloists and musicAeterna choir and orchestra, Verdi’s famous funeral mass returns from the concert stage to Milan’s Church of San Marco, the same place where it was premiered in 1874. The seven parts of the Requiem become steps on the way to comprehending the sacrament of death, the operatic character of orchestral and vocal writing acquires the strictness of the Catholic tradition, and musical images of rage, despair, and rebellion against the inevitable end are crowned with appeasement.

Salzburg Festival 2017: Mozart, Requiem in D minor, K. 626(en)

Mozart’s Requiem – his final and unfinished masterpiece – is an extraordinary work. Discover the piece at the Salzburg Festival in the hands of conductor Teodor Currentzis, the ensemble musicAeterna, Anna Prohaska (soprano), Katharina Magiera (contralto), Mauro Peter (tenor), and Tareq Nazmi (bass). Few musical works are as steeped in legend as Mozart’s Requiem in D minor, K. 626. Commissioned anonymously by the eccentric count Franz von Walsegg, the funereal oeuvre would become Mozart’s last: when he died on December 5, 1791, only the Requiem aeternam and Kyrie movements were fully composed and orchestrated. Completed by other composers (Mozart’s student Franz Xaver Süssmayer in particular) using Mozart’s sketches and notes, the resulting work weaves the emotions we associate with death into a timeless musical exploration of every human being’s destiny, and constitutes a powerful final testament to its creator’s genius.

John Adams conducts John Adams(en)

Like many of John Adams’ operas, Doctor Atomic is based on recent world historical events—here, the effusive Robert Oppenheimer, “father of the atomic bomb,” anxiously awaits the bomb’s first test in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Adams adapted the work into a symphony, comprising its three main acts. In the second half of the program, Adams conducts his 2015 violin concerto, Scheherazade.2, which restages the tale of the One Thousand and One Nights heroine as a strong woman navigating a patriarchial society, incarnated by the solo violin part. The work was composed specifically for Canadian-American virtuoso Leila Josefowicz and co-commissioned by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, who perform it to perfection. The evening then closes out with Tromba Lontana, an orchestral fanfare written to mark the 150th anniversary of Texas’s independence from Mexico in 1836.

Mahler - Symphonies Nos. 1, 2 & 3(en)

Beginning with the First Symphony, Bernstein reveals Mahler's position at the hinge of modernism, while emphasizing his emotional extremism. The uplifting Second "Resurrection" Symphony, with which Bernstein had an especially long and close association, is recorded here in a historic performance from 1973, set in the Romanesque splendor of Ely Cathedral. In the Third, Bernstein encompasses the symphony's spiritual panorama like no other conductor, with the Vienna Philharmonic players alive to every nuance.

Mahler - Symphonies Nos. 9 & 10 / Das Lied von der Erde(en)

Filmed on tour at Berlin's Philharmonie, this account of the valedictory Ninth Symphony is an intense interpretation, expressing Bernstein's conviction that modern man had at last caught up with the message encoded in Mahler's last completed work. Having made his famous 1966 studio recording of "Das Lied von der Erde" in Vienna, Bernstein re-recorded this in Israel with the same searing subjectivity. René Kollo draws on the voice of a great Wagner tenor, while Christa Ludwig, the greatest exponent of the contralto songs at the time, is unbearably poignant in the final movement's fusion of elation and sadness.

Bernstein Mahler Rehearsal(en)

"Four Ways to Say Farewell" is a personal introduction to Mahler and his Ninth Symphony, during which Leonard Bernstein is seen and heard rehearsing the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Filmed in 1971, this rehearsal was directed by Humphrey Burton,

Beethoven Piano Concertos 1-5(en)

These recordings, filmed in March and April 1974 for the BBC, occurred at the tail end of the old performance era and the very start of the new. Vladimir Ashkenazy was a graduate of the same Soviet school of piano playing that produced Sviatoslav Richter, Emil Gilels, Lazar Berman and a host of others of that era. There are simularities that unite them, including a broad romanticism, a degree of Lisztian showmanship coupled with periods of introspection, powerful technique that occasionally borders on pounding and an intellectual streak that produces some deeply insightful playing. Ashkenazy was younger than the others, more modern in his playing.

Mahler - Symphonies Nos. 7 & 8(en)

Leonard Bernstein made these recordings during his wonderfully productive collaboration with the Wiener Philharmoniker in the mid-1970s when he was at the peak of his career. Humphrey Burton's direction is, as always, very fine, giving the viewer/listener both the larger picture and highlighting individual soloists, players or groups of musicians and, of course, the maestro. The video and audio tracks show their age, but are quite acceptable even for today's standards. Bernstein's Seventh is everything one could desire: dark and spooky, highly sensual, but also structurally strong and assertive where needed. Bernstein's reading does not gloss over breakdowns in tonality and the foreshadowing of later musical developments.

Waldbühne 2010 | An Evening with Renée Fleming(de)

Repertoire Modest Mussorgsky: Night on Bald Mountain; Antonín Dvořák: Song to the Moon from “Rusalka”, Op. 114; Aram Chatschaturjan: Adagio from “Spartacus”; Richard Strauss: Final Scene from “Capriccio”, Op. 85; Richard Wagner: Overture to “Rienzi, der Letzte der Tribunen”; E. W. Korngold: Mariettas Lied from “Die tote Stadt”; Richard Strauss: Zueignung, Op. 10 No. 1; Sir Edward Elgar: Salut d’amour; Giacomo Puccini: Donde lieta uscì from “La bohème”; Tu che di gel sei cinta from “Turandot”; Ruggero Leoncavallo: Musette svaria sulla bocca viva from “La bohème”; Mimì Pinson, la biondinetta from “La bohème”; Piotr Tchaikovsky: “Romeo and Juliet” (Fantasy Overture)

Lisztomania(en)

In the 19th century, Romantic composer/pianist Franz Liszt tries to end his hedonistic ways but keeps getting sucked back in by his seductive fellow composer Richard Wagner.

Brahms The Piano Concertos(en)

Between 1981 and 1984 Leonard Bernstein recorded nearly all of Brahmss orchestral works with the Wiener Philharmoniker to honor the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth in 1983. For the concertos, Bernstein enlisted the services of some of the finest Brahms interpreters of the time: the violoninst Gidon Kremer, the cellist Mischa Maisky and the pianist Krystian Zimerman. Leonard Bernstein, Krystian Zimerman, and the Wiener Philharmoniker, it's very hard to get a better group of musicians for these masterpieces. Mr. Zimerman and Mr. Wolfgang Herzer's piano cello duets in the third movement of Brahms' second is simply tearful.

Mozart Symphonies Vol. II - Nos. 1,25,31,36,38 and "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik"(en)

In the 1960s Karl Böhm (1894–1981) had made his mark as interpreter of Mozart with the the Berlin Philharmonic. Yet his recordings with the Vienna Symphony demonstrate a mutual sympathy and deep love for this timeless music. The musicians are razor-sharp in attack, harmony, and release. Böhm's style is minimalist: a firm downbeat, a ruffled hand here and there, a slight sway, no mugging. Occasionally, when quite excited, he gives a little hop but immediately pulls himself on a tight leash.

Summer Night Concert: 2018 - Vienna Philharmonic(de)

The Summer Night Concert of The Vienna Philharmonic is the world's biggest annual classical open-air concert set in the magical Schönbrunn Palace Baroque park in Vienna. The concert will take place on 31 May 2018 and its theme for this year is 'An Italian Night'. The concert is broadcast on TV and radio in more than 60 countries, and thus reaches an audience of millions. The evening’s repertoire is an attractive combination of extremely popular works for orchestra including the William Tell Overture, the March from the opera Aida and the Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana, as well as famous Soprano arias like Vissi d’arte, vissi d‘amore from the Opera Tosca. Valery Gergiev returns to conducts the Summer Night Concert and is joined by star Soprano Anna Netrebko in what promises to be one of the most popular concerts this year!

Verdi – Messa da Requiem(en)

Herbert von Karajan conducts La Scala Orchestra and Chorus with soloists Leontyne Price, Fiorenza Cossotto, Luciano Pavarotti, and Nicolai Ghiaurov.

Currentzis conducts Beethoven Symphony No. 9(de)

Ludwig van Beethoven headed for Symphony No. 9 literally his entire life. As early as the 1790s, he had an eye on Ode to Joy, perhaps the most well-known poem by Friedrich Schiller, written on the threshold of the French Revolution (1786). In his mature and, in particular, later years, the deaf composer with an acute ‘hearing vision’ increasingly distanced himself from conventional forms and genres and wrote parts beyond the possibilities of instruments of his day. He nurtured the idea of a symphony with a choir for at least several years. The history of the Ninth’s interpretations includes 200 years of staggering revelations and lingering stagnation. Performed by the musicAeterna orchestra, choir, and guest soloists under the baton of Teodor Currentzis, Beethoven’s opus magnum acquires the original poignancy and energy of a recent discovery.

Teodor Currentzis: Utopia(de)

Utopia, the new orchestra of conductor Teodor Currentzis, can be experienced for the first time in Vienna on its inaugural tour with the 1945 version of Igor Stravinsky’s ‘The Firebird’ and Maurice Ravel’s Suite No. 2 of ‘Daphnis et Chloé’, ‘La Valse’ and ‘Boléro’.