Name: Wagner: Tristan and Isolde – Prelude and Liebestod | Waltraud Meier, Daniel Barenboim & WEDO @DWClassicalMusic
Uploaded: 2024-10-13T08:17:00-05:00
Duration: 8 min 17 s
Description: Wagner: Tristan and Isolde – Prelude and Liebestod | Waltraud Meier, Daniel Barenboim & WEDO

Wagner: Tristan and Isolde – Prelude and Liebestod | Waltraud Meier, Daniel Barenboim & WEDO

DW Classical Music 2024-10-13 | Wagner: Tristan and Isolde – Prelude and Liebestod | Waltraud Meier, Daniel Barenboim & WEDO

Stradivari, Goffriller, Bergonzi, Guarneri - how do musicians obtain these expensive instruments?

DW Classical Music 2022-11-17 | A violin or cello by Antonio Stradivari, Matteo Goffriller, Carlo Bergonzi, or Guarneri del Gesù can cost several million euros. How do famous musicians and young talents get their hands on these costly, antique instruments? Talent and discipline are not enough if you want to make it big as a classical musician. An excellent instrument also helps to make it among the world's best. But how do musicians obtain one of these top historical instruments? And who finances them?

Promising talents are often supported by patrons. This is also the case with the British violinist Daniel Hope and the British cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason. Florian Leonhard, an expert in string instruments from Germany, brokers valuable, centuries-old instruments to talented musicians worldwide. Investing in such classic, historic instruments is well worth it – but you have to raise a huge sum of money first.

At a glance:
00:00 Sheku Kanneh-Mason with his Goffriller cello
01:03 Sheku Kanneh-Mason visits violin expert and dealer Florian Leonhard
02:34 Florian Leonhard presents various violins in his workshop by Stradivari and Guarneri
04:15 Daniel Hope plays George Gershwin's "It Ain't Necessarily So," Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt, Berlin 2020
04:38 Daniel Hope on his violin, the "Ex- Lipiński" by Guarneri del Gesú from 1742
05:16 Daniel Hope plays at the Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt, Berlin 2020
06:06 Florian Leonhard on instruments as an investment
06:46 Sheku Kanneh-Mason plays the Goffriller Cello in Florian Leonhard's headquarter
07:01 Violin expert and dealer Florian Leonhard on the agreements with the musicians
07:22 Sheku Kanneh-Mason and his Goffriller cello on the streets of London
07:40 Sheku Kanneh-Mason (cello) and Isata Kanneh-Mason (piano) at the Rheingau Music Festival 2021

Born in South Africa in 1973, violinist Daniel Hope grew up in England and at a young age was encouraged by Yehudi Menuhin. He studied at the Royal College of Music in London and at the Musikhochschule Lübeck. In June 2002, he became the youngest member of the "Beaux Arts Trio". He has won the ECHO Klassik award several times. The busy musician conducts the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and the New Century Chamber Orchestra in San Francisco. Since 2011, he plays with the violin "Ex-Lipiński" made in 1742 by workshop of Guarneri del Gesù.

Born in 1999, Sheku-Kanneh Mason is a British cellist who performs in major concert halls around the world. He comes from a very musical family – all of his six siblings play an instrument at a professional level. In 2016, he won the "BBC Young Musician Competition." In 2018, he played at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in Windsor Castle, introducing him suddenly to a large, international audience. He continues to study at the Royals Academy of Music in London, is constantly on tour, and plays a cello by Matteo Goffriller from the 1700s.

German-born Florian Leonhard is a world-renowned expert, restorer and dealer of historic stringed instruments who lives and works in London. Branches of his company can be found in Hong Kong, Seoul, and San Francisco. Florian Leonhard studied violin making in Mittenwald, Bavaria and was head restorer at W.E. Hill & Sons in London before starting his own business in 1995. He researches the history of Italian instrument making and has published two books on the subject.

© DEUTSCHE WELLE 2022

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Bach: St Matthew Passion | Thomanerchor Leipzig, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin & Andreas Reize

DW Classical Music 2022-11-13 | Leipzig Bach Festival 2022: The St Matthew Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by the Thomanerchor Leipzig and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin under the baton of Thomaskantor Andreas Reize. The performance took place at the St. Thomas Church, Leipzig.

Evangelist: Patrick Grahl | TENOR
Jesus: Andreas Scheibner | BASS
Dorothee Mields | SOPRANO
Elvira Bill | ALTO
Arias: Wolfram Lattke | TENOR
Pilatus and Arias: Tobias Berndt | BASS
St. Thomas Choir of Leipzig
St. Thomas Choir candidates from the Anna Magdalena Bach School and the forum thomanum elementary school
Academy for Early Music Berlin
Andreas Reize | CONDUCTOR

00:00 Kommt, ihr Töchter (choir)
06:20 Da Jesus diese Rede (recitative)
06:55 Herzliebster Jesu (choir)
07:30 Da versammelten sich (rec)
10:11 Du lieber Heiland (recitativo accompagnato)
10:55 Buß und Reu (aria)
14:37 Da ging hin (rec)
15:05 Blute nur, du liebes Herz (aria)
18:54 Aber am ersten Tage (rec)
20:38 Herr, bin ich’s? (choir)
21:29 Er antwortete (rec)
23:53 Wiewohl mein Herz in Tränen (rec acc)
24:58 Ich will dir mein Herze schenken (aria)
28:14 Und da sie den Lobgesang (rec)
29:05 Erkenne mich, mein Hüter (choir)
30:01 Petrus aber (rec)
30:48 Ich will hier bei dir stehen (choir)
31:36 Da kam Jesus (rec)
33:15 O Schmerz, hier zittert das gequälte Herz (rec acc)
34:46 Ich will bei meinem Jesu wachen (aria)
39:36 Und ging hin (rec)
40:09 Der Heiland fällt (rec acc)
40:52 Gerne will ich mich bequemen (aria)
44:43 Und er kam (rec)
45:48 Was mein Gott will, das g’scheh allzeit (choir)
46:40 Und er kam (rec)
48:47 So ist mein Jesus nun gefangen (aria)
51:52 Sind Blitze, sind Donner (choir)
52:49 Und siehe (rec)
54:48 O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß (choir)
59:45 Ach! nun ist mein Jesus hin (aria)
1:02:58 Die aber Jesum (rec)
1:03:52 Mir hat die Welt trüglich gericht (choir)
1:04:32 Und wiewohl (rec)
1:05:30 Mein Jesus schweigt (rec acc)
1:06:27 Geduld (aria)
1:09:49 Und der Hohepriester (rec)
1:10:58 Er ist des Todes schuldig (choir)
1:11:38 Wer hat dich so geschlagen (choir)
1:12:21 Petrus aber (rec.)
1:14:23 Erbarme dich (aria)
1:20:20 Bin ich gleich von dir gewichen (choir)
1:21:34 Des Morgens aber (rec)
1:23:05 Gebt mir meinen Jesum wieder (aria)
1:25:44 Sie hielten aber (rec)
1:27:36 Befiehl du deine Wege (choir)
1:28:42 Auf das Fest aber (rec)
1:30:38 Laß ihn kreuzigen (choir)
1:31:58 Der Landpfleger sagte (rec)
1:32:13 Er hat uns allen wohlgetan (rec acc)
1:33:20 Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterben (aria)
1:38:14 Sie schrieen aber (rec)
1:39:53 Erbarm es Gott (rec acc)
1:40:46 Können Tränen meiner Wangen (aria)
1:46:25 Da nahmen (rec)
1:47:25 O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden (choir)
1:49:25 Und da sie ihn verspottet (rec)
1:50:13 Ja freilich will in uns (rec acc)
1:50:43 Komm, süßes Kreuz (aria)
1:56:27 Und da sie (rec)
1:59:35 Ach Golgatha (rec acc)
2:00:57 Sehet, Jesus hat die Hand (aria)
2:03:55 Und von der sechsten Stunde an (rec)
2:06:09 Wenn ich einmal soll scheiden (choir)
2:08:46 Und siehe da, der Vorhang (rec)
2:11:04 Am Abend, da es kühle war (rec acc)
2:13:00 Mache dich, mein Herze, rein (aria)
2:18:34 Und Joseph nahm (rec)
2:20:42 Nun ist der Herr zur Ruh (rec acc)
2:22:39 Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder (choir)

The St Matthew Passion (Passio secundum Matthaeum, BWV 244) for solo voices, soprano in ripieni, double choir and double orchestra is Bach’s largest ensemble work, but at a length of around three hours, it’s also his longest. This monumental piece not only perpetuated the tradition of Good Friday passion plays, but also expanded the possibilities of the genre – something that induced Bach’s wife Anna Magdalena to describe it simply as the ‘Great Passion’.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750) composed the St Matthew Passion for Good Friday 1727. It received its premiere at the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. Bach revised the original scoring in 1736, producing a version since regarded as the definitive one. It was Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809 – 1847) who rediscovered the St Matthew Passion more than 100 years later, arranging its performance at the Berliner Singakademie in 1829. The major Bach composition was significantly reworked in accordance with contemporary tastes. Mendelssohn’s performance ushered in a veritable Bach Renaissance.

Christian Friedrich Henrici (1700 – 1764), Bach’s Leipzig librettist, who worked under the pseudonym Picander, was responsible for writing the words for the St Matthew Passion. It is viewed as his most successful sacred poetry. The libretto presents a dialog between the Daughter of Zion and the faithful souls, which may have been the reason why Bach opted for a double choir and orchestra. This interplay creates - in both the libretto and the music – an exuberant Baroque outpouring that nevertheless maintains uniformity.

Thumbnail: © Stadt Leipzig, Jens Schlüter

#JohannSebastianBach #LeipzigBachFestival #Thomanerchor

Daniel Hope performs Mendelssohn Bartholdy | Music Documentary

DW Classical Music 2022-11-10 | How do you learn Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s Violin Concerto? Violinist Daniel Hope and conductor Daniel Harding show how it’s done in this documentary. Rehearsals with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra are preceded by in-depth discussions of Mendelssohn’s only Concerto for violin and orchestra in E minor, Op. 64, and more specifically, its early version from 1844, which differs considerably from the later, better-known version. The music documentary focuses on the performance of the enigmatic work at a concert in the Berwaldhallen in Stockholm in 2008.

The fact that Hope has a very special relationship with Mendelssohn Bartholdy is also evident in two of the composer’s songs that Hope transcribed for violin and piano: Suleika (Op. 34, No. 4) and Hexenlied (Op. 8, No. 8). Hope performs both songs with pianist Sebastian Knauer. The film is rounded off with a trip to Berlin to visit the grave of Mendelssohn Bartholdy.

At a glance:
(00:00) Daniel Hope gets to know Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s violin concerto
(00:52) Hope on the cadenza of the early version of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with music excerpt
(02:28) Dialogue between Daniel Harding and Daniel Hope about the differences between the two versions of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with music excerpts
(05:09) Dialog between Hope and Harding on conductor/orchestra collaboration with music excerpts
(08:45) Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Violin Concerto, Daniel Hope, violin
(09:06) I. Allegro con fuoco
(20:10) II. Andante
(28:04) III. allegro molto vivace
(35:04) Hope on the songs of Mendelssohn Bartholdy
(35:59) Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Witches’ Song (Op. 8, No. 8), Daniel Hope, violin
(37:30) Hope at the grave of Mendelssohn Bartholdy
(37:40) Hope on the difference between performer and composer
(38:46) Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Suleika (Op. 34, No. 4), Daniel Hope, violin
(41:31) Hope: Making music is love
(42:14) Credits

A production by Inpetto Filmproduktion
on commission of ZDF
in cooperation with ARTE
© ZDF

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Opera gala with Juan Diego Flórez and Friends | Vienna Philharmonic & Harmonia Symphony Orchestra

DW Classical Music 2022-11-06 | An opera gala that matches every superlative: Some of the world’s best opera singers from the classical music scene are presenting a variety of the most popular Bel Canto Arias. They will be accompanied by members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the Harmonia Symphony Orchestra, a youth orchestra from Peru, under the baton of Ukrainian conductor Andrii Yurkevych. The opera gala took place in 2015 in the Vienna State Opera, and was also a fundraising event with the motto: Juan Diego Flórez and Friends in Concert for Sinfonía por el Perú.

The non-profit organization Sinfonía por el Perú was founded in 2011, and has the goal of making a positive difference to the lives of thousands of underprivileged children and young people all over Peru through music education. Juan Diego Flórez directs the Sinfonía por el Perú, and comes himself from the Latin American country. To help support young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, the Peruvian tenor has also established the Friends of Juan Diego Flórez Foundation.

The finale of the opera gala, which Flórez introduces with a touching acceptance speech, could hardly be more thrilling. All the Bel Canto stars join in the famous Neapolitan hit Non ti scordar di me, by Ernesto De Curtis. An unforgettably beautiful opera gala.

Ildar Abdrazakov – Bass
Celso Albelo – Tenor
Alessio Arduini – Baritone
Anna Bonitatibus – Mezzo-Soprano
Juan Diego Flórez – Tenor
Aida Garifullina – Soprano
Vittorio Grigòlo – Tenor
Valentina Naforniţa – Soprano
Michele Pertusi – Bass
Luca Pisaroni – Bass
Clemens Unterreiner – Baritone

At a glance:
(00:00) Overture (Jacques Offenbach: La Vie Parisienne)
(06:02) Au mont Ida (Jacques Offenbach: La Belle Hélène) | Juan Diego Flórez (Tenor)
(10:40) Madamina (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Don Giovanni) | Luca Pisaroni (Bass)
(17:07) Voi che sapete (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro) | Anna Bonitatibus (Mezzo-Soprano)
(20:40) Hai già vinta la causa! (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro) | Alessio Arduini (Baritone)
(25:59) Se inclinassi a prender moglie (Gioachino Rossini: L'Italiana in Algeri) | Juan Diego Flórez (Tenor), Ildar Abdrazakov (Bass)
(31:12) La calunnia (Gioachino Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia) | Michele Pertusi (Bass)
(36:38) Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém (Antonín Dvořák: Rusalka) | Valentina Naforniţa (Soprano)
(44:13) È il sol dell'anima (Giuseppe Verdi: Rigoletto) | Aida Garifullina (Soprano), Juan Diego Flórez (Tenor)
(53:00) Ella giammai m'amò (Giuseppe Verdi: Don Carlos) | Ildar Abdrazakov (Bass)
(1:02:47) Votre toast (Georges Bizet: Carmen) | Clemens Unterreiner (Baritone)
(1:07:53) Jota (José Serrano: El Trust de los Tenorios) | Celso Albelo (Tenor)
(1:10:59) Quando m'en vo (Giacomo Puccini: La Bohème) | Aida Garifullina (Soprano)
(1:14:36) E lucevan le stelle (Giacomo Puccini: Tosca) | Vittorio Grigòlo (Tenor)
(1:19:30) Sì, mi chiamano Mimì (Giacomo Puccini: La Bohème) | Valentina Naforniţa (Soprano)
(1:25:39) Pourquoi me réveiller (Jules Massenet: Werther) | Juan Diego Flórez (Tenor)
(1:30:12) Juan Diego Flórez: Acceptance speech
(1:33:57) Finale: Non ti scordar di me (Ernesto De Curtis) | Tutti

A Sintonía Media – ORF III – EuroArts production
In association with ARTE France
© SINTONÍA MEDIA 2015

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Olga Podgaiskaya: The Sky of Mary | Vitali Alekseenok, Free Choir (Belarus), Campus Project Ensemble

DW Classical Music 2022-11-03 | This was the world premiere of a highly political work: The Sky of Mary (‘Neba Myryi’) by Olga Podgaiskaya was premiered at the Beethovenfest Bonn 2022. It was sung and performed by the Free Choir (Volny Chor) from Belarus and the Campus Project Ensemble conducted by Vitali Alekseenok. The performance took place in the former West German parliament’s historic plenary hall. The Sky of Mary was commissioned by Deutsche Welle.

The performance of The Sky of Mary was marked by the political conflicts in Belarus. After the presidential elections in 2020, there were protests and strikes in the Eastern European country that were brutally put down by Alexander Lukashenko’s regime. Since then, there has been an active resistance movement whose participants have to fear for life and limb and, if possible, go into exile. The musicians involved in this concert also belong to the opposition in Belarus:
--- Born in 1981, Olga Podgaiskaya is one of the most important composers in Belarus. She studied organ and composition in Minsk and lives in exile in Poland.
--- Born in Belarus in 1991, conductor Vitali Alekseenok has lived in Germany for years, conducting internationally renowned orchestras and, as artistic director of the Ukrainian festival KharkivMusicFest, staging concerts in air-raid shelters, subways and hospitals during the war.
--- The Free Choir or Volny Chor was formed in the summer of 2020 in response to the elections in Belarus. Its publicly performed songs quickly became famous. The choir members give their concerts wearing masks to protect themselves from persecution.

Olga Podgaiskaya dedicated The Sky of Mary to her long-time friend Belarusian dissident Maria Kolesnikova, who became known worldwide in 2020 for her courage at the forefront of the uprising and has been imprisoned ever since. The text for The Sky of Mary was written by the poet Andrey Khadanovich (*1973), also Belarusian, in close collaboration with Podgaiskaya. It is about Mary’s sky opening up over the camp prison where Kolesnikova is imprisoned:

An echo hits old bars
In Her and our city.
In the city of Mary, the Marian city,
Here and now, forever.

For hearts locked behind bars
A new light will shine
In the sky of Mary, the Marian sky,
On the day love wins.

The premiere of The Sky of Mary was the highlight of the Campus Concert, which annually marks the conclusion of a project organized and sponsored by Deutsche Welle and the Beethovenfest Bonn. Conceived in 2001, the idea behind the Campus Project is to provide young musicians from all around the world with the opportunity to meet, share ideas, and play music together. In previous years, German musicians have played concerts with young instrumentalists and vocalists from Brazil, China, Iraq, South Africa, India, and Mexico. This year, the focus lies on Eastern Europe, specifically Ukraine and Belarus. In the words of the project’s musical director, Vitali Alekseenok: “The purpose of this project is to build a musical bridge between the cultures of Belarus, my homeland, Ukraine, with which we all sympathize, and Germany.”

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Beethoven: Missa solemnis | Fabio Luisi, Staatskapelle Dresden, Chorus of the Sächsische Staatsoper

DW Classical Music 2022-10-30 | A solemn mass with a symbolic character: The Frauenkirche in Dresden hosted its first public concert to mark its reopening on November 4, 2005. The program included Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, performed by the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Chorus of the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden, conducted by Fabio Luisi. The soloists were Camilla Nylund, Birgit Remmert, Christian Elsner and René Pape.

(00:00) Intro
(01:12) Kyrie
(11:04) Gloria
(29:00) Credo
(49:10) Sanctus
(1:05:34) Agnus Dei

Participants:
Camilla Nylund | SOPRANO
Birgit Remmert | ALTO
Christian Elsner |TENOR
René Pape | BASS
Chorus of the Saxon State Opera Dresden
Matthias Brauer | CHORUS MASTER
Dresden State Orchestra
Fabio Luisi | CONDUCTOR

The Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) with its high dome visible from afar is considered the landmark of the city of Dresden in Saxony. In the Second World War, this striking church was destroyed by bombs in February 1945 and existed for decades only as a ruin. From 1993 to 2005 it was rebuilt using the remaining rubble. Its reconstruction is a symbol of hope and reconciliation – and the magnificent church building with its unique blend of old and new bricks is intended to keep the memory of history alive.

A work as festive as it is grand was chosen for the reopening concert. The Missa solemnis by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827). The ‘Solemn Mass’ is considered one of the composer’s most important works, and Beethoven himself even called it his greatest work on several occasions. The Mass for four soloists, choir, orchestra and orgue in D major, Op. 123 was composed between 1819 and 1823, after Beethoven had already studied in detail the Latin text of the Mass and its various settings by other composers. The Missa solemnis reflects Beethoven’s struggle with religion and has a clearly confessional character. The individual parts of the mass are divided into five major compositional sections, giving the ‘Great Mass’ an almost symphonic aspect. This famous piece of church music demands a great deal from the vocal soloists, the choir and the large orchestra.

Beethoven’s Missa solemnis at the official reopening concert of Dresden’s Frauenkirche in 2005: Experience a moving concert at a location with an eventful history.

A Production of ZDF
In Cooperation with EuroArts Music International & ARTE
© 2005 EuroArts

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Stravinsky: Petrushka | Gulbenkian Orchestra & Leo Hussain (Lisbon 2018)

DW Classical Music 2022-10-27 | World-famous burlesque: Igor Stravinsky’s Petrushka (1947 version) is performed by the Gulbenkian Orchestra conducted by Leo Hussain. This orchestral classic was performed at a concert at the Pianomania! festival in the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation’s grand auditorium in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon in 2018.

Igor Stravinsky (1882 - 1971) was one of the most multi-faceted and influential composers of the 20th century. Born in Russia, Stravinsky later moved to France and then to the USA. His three ballet scores “The Firebird”, “Petrushka” and “Le sacre du printemps” are among the most famous of their kind.

Stravinsky originally wanted to compose a pure concert piece in which the piano would play a prominent role. But, according to the composer, while writing the notes he kept having the idea of a manikin and its fate. And so it became the ballet music “Petrushka”. The ballet from 1911 is based on a Russian fairy tale, the setting of which is at a fair. The narrative levels between fairground visitors and the characters of a puppet show performed there are intermingled. In modern times, the racist aspects of the ballet’s plot have been heavily criticized.

Stravinsky repeatedly reworked the music to “Petrushka”. In addition to versions for pianos, an orchestral suite was created from the ballet music in 1946. The “Petrushka Suite” is still one of the most popular concert pieces ever. The work, described by Stravinsky as a burlesque, is rich in abrupt changes of the most varied types of movement, so that one can easily imagine dancing marionettes. The parts are composed in a collage-like manner and borrow strongly from Russian folklore.

(00:00) First tableau
(10:40) Second tableau
(15:01) Third tableau
(21:29) Forth tableau

A EuroArts Music production
In coproduction with ZDF and RTP
In collaboration with arte concert
© EuroArts 2018

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Handel: Dettingen Te Deum | Händelfestspielorchester & Howard Arman, Marktkirche Halle, 2009

DW Classical Music 2022-10-23 | With bells and whistles: To mark the 250th anniversary of the death of George Frideric Handel, Howard Arman conducts a bombastic performance of the "Dettingen Te Deum" at the Marktkirche in Halle in the year 2009. Three choirs join forces accompanied by The English Concert and the Händelfestspielorchester – around 200 musicians perform in the chancel of this magnificent church. The "Dettingen Te Deum" (HWV 283) is a Christian song of praise to celebrate the victory of the English over the French at Dettingen in the year 1743.

00:15 We praise Thee, oh God
04:00 All the earth doth worship Thee
06:25 To Thee all angels cry aloud
08:38 To Thee Cherubim and Seraphim
11:45 The glorious company of the Apostles
14:00 Thou art the King of Glory
16:37 When Thou tookest upon Thee to deliver man
20:00 When Thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death
21:50 Thou sittest at the right hand of God
24:53 Sinfonia
25:23 We therefore pray Thee
26:26 Make them to be number'd with Thy Saints
27:42 Day by day we magnify Thee
30:45 Vouchsafe, oh Lord, to keep us this day without sin
32:22 Oh Lord, in Thee have I trusted

The Dettingen Te Deum is a sacred choral work in the tradition of English choral music. Handel wrote a total of five "Te Deum" compositions – this is the last. It was written to give thanks for the victory of King George II's troops at the Battle of Dettingen. The world premiere took place at St James's Palace in London following the King's glorious return in November 1743. The text – a Christian hymn of praise – is derived from the "Book of Common Prayer" from 1662.

George Frideric Handel was born in 1685 in Halle an der Saale and baptized in the Marktkirche or Market Church. After many successful musical years in Germany and Italy, after 1710 he was a regular visitor to London, where he composed many pieces for the royal court. Awarded citizenship in 1727, he's regarded today as Britain's most important and influential composer of the Baroque period. Until his death in the year 1759, he wrote a total of 42 operas and 25 oratorios.

This performance of the "Dettingen Te Deum" in the Marktkirche in Halle took place as part of celebrations to mark the 250th anniversary of the death of the famous Baroque composer George Frideric Handel. The event brought together the MDR Rundfunkchor, the Hallenser Madrigalisten, the Händelfestspielchor and the Halle Opera Chorus. They were accompanied by The English Concert and the Händelfestspielorchester. As well as the "Dettingen Te Deum", the ensembles also repeated the entire program of the "Handel Commemoration Concert", performed in 1784 at London's Westminster Abbey in honor of the great musician, who had died 25 years previously.

Artists:
The English Concert
Händelfestspielorchester
MDR Rundfunkchor
Hallenser Madrigalisten
Händelfestspielchor
Halle Opera Chorus
Conductor: Howard Arman
Soloist: Felix Plock, Bass

© EuroArts Music International

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Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23 | Menahem Pressler, Gulbenkian Orchestra & Leo Hussain

DW Classical Music 2022-10-20 | “Concerts make me feel alive” – the motto of veteran star pianist Menahem Pressler. As part of the “Pianomania!” concert series, Pressler plays Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major together with the Gulbenkian Orchestra under the baton of Leo Hussain. The performance took place in 2018 in the Grand Auditorium at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in the Portuguese capital Lisbon.

00:00 Ovations
00:44 I. Allegro
13:15 II. Adagio
20:06 III. Allegro assai

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791) wrote the Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K. 488 in the year 1786 – one of the major Viennese concertos composed by Mozart for his own subscription concerts. It’s one of three piano concertos where Mozart swaps oboes for clarinets. The Piano Concerto No. 23 is regarded as one of Mozart’s most famous works, created at the same time as his opera “The Marriage of Figaro” in the Austrian capital Vienna. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart lived in the city from 1781-1791 as a freelance composer.

Menahem Pressler was born as Max Pressler in the German city of Magdeburg in 1923. His family is Jewish. He and his parents fled Nazi rule in 1939; going first to Palestine, and then emigrating to the US in 1940. The rest of his family were murdered by the Nazis.

In the year 1946, the young Pressler won the Debussy International Piano Competition in San Francisco, studying thereafter in California. In 1955, he founded the world-famous “Beaux Arts Trio” and remained a member throughout its existence. The ensemble played some 100 concerts between 1955 and 2008 and released more than 50 recordings with different constellations of musicians, before performing its final concert in 2008. Menahem Pressler still gives solo performances to this day.

British national Leo Hussain, born in 1978, is a regular guest at Europe’s major opera houses and concert halls. He’s seen as a leading interpreter of Mozart and is especially fond of works produced during the composer’s years in Vienna. In this concert, he conducts the Portuguese Gulbenkian Symphony Orchestra.

© EuroArts Music International & arte

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Puccini: La Rondine (full opera) | Rolando Villazón (stage director), Deutsche Oper Berlin, 2015

DW Classical Music 2022-10-16 | True love with no happy end: Giacomo Puccini's La Rondine in a production by the internationally famous tenor and opera director Rolando Villazón. The main roles are sung by Dinara Alieva (Magda) and Charles Castronovo (Ruggero). Accompanied by the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin under the direction of Roberto Rizzi Brignoli. This performance is from 2015 at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Dinara Alieva (soprano) – Magda de Civry
Alexandra Hutton (soprano) – Lisette, her maid
Charles Castronovo (tenor) – Ruggero Lastouc
Álvaro Zambrano (tenor) – Prunier, a poet
Stephen Bronk (baritone) – Rambaldo, Magda's protector
Noel Bouley (bass-baritone) – Périchaud
Matthew Newlin (tenor) – Gobin
Thomas Lehman (bass-baritone) – Crébillon
Siobhan Stagg (soprano) – Yvette
Elbenita Kajtazi (soprano) – Bianca
Stephanie Lauricella (mezzo-soprano) – Suzy

Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin
Choir of the Deutsche Oper Berlin
Roberto Rizzi Brignoli | CONDUCTOR

Rolando Villazón | STAGE DIRECTOR
Johannes Leiacker | SET DESIGNER
Brigitte Reiffenstuel | COSTUME DESIGNER
Davy Cunningham | LIGHTING DESIGNER
Ernestine Böttcher | VIDEO DIRECTOR

The opera "La Rondine" is the last large-scale opera completed by Giacomo Puccini (1858 – 1924). "La Rondine" was originally supposed to be premiered in Vienna – with the German-language libretto "Die Schwalbe" (The Swallow) by Alfred Maria Willner and Heinz Reichert. But World War One prevented that from happening. Instead, the world premiere took place on 27 March 1917 in Monte Carlo – with the Italian libretto by Giuseppe Adami.

The three-act opera with the designation "commedia lirica" is highly comic in character and sometimes feels more like an operetta. Its content explores the contradiction between true love and love that can be bought: At the Paris salon of wealthy banker Rambaldo, the poet Prunier sings of romantic love to the exclusive gathering of guests. As she hears his words, Rambaldo's lover Magda de Civry recalls how much she yearns for true love, a desire that cannot be quenched by expensive gifts alone. So Magda flirts with the young Ruggero and rejects Rambaldo. Magda and Ruggero fall in love and decide to travel to the Riviera, where they talk about getting married. But Magda knows that Ruggero's family will never give their blessing to the union. As a former courtesan, Magda's past will only bring them shame. So, she leaves Ruggero and returns to Paris.

Act I
00:00 Prelude
01:30 Ah! no! no! non ditta questo
05:55 Chi il bel sogno di Doretta
07:49 Chi il bel sogno di Doretta
10:28 No. Adesso non burlatemi
12:10 La Doretta della mia fantasia
15:11 Denaro! Nient'altro che denaro!
16:00 Ore dolci e divine
20:50 E poi basta è finito
24:07 O mio giovine amico
25:03 Forse, come la rondine
32:54 Forse, come la rondine

Act II
39:18 Fiori freschi
41:54 Chi e? Mai vista!
44:05 Scusatemi, scusate
49:14 Dolcessa! Ebbrezza!
51:01 Che caldo! Che sete!
53:38 Perche' mai cercate di saper
56:14 Zitti! Non disturbiamoli!
59:04 Bevo al tuo fresco sorriso
1:02:24 Rambaldo! Ah! M'aiutate!
1:05:21 Nella trepida luce d'un mattin

Act III
1:08:31 Prelude
1:09:20 Senti? Anche il mare respira sommesso
1:11:50 E siam fuggiti qui per nasconderlo
1:16:53 Dimmi che vuoi seguirmi alla mia casa
1:19:50 Che più dirgli? Che fare
1:20:34 E qui? Non so!
1:25:24 Ma come? Voi, che ricordate ancora
1:29:52 Amore mio! Mia madre!
1:36:14 Ma come puoi lasciarmi

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Mozart: Ballet music from the opera Idomeneo | Leo Hussain and the Gulbenkian Orchestra

DW Classical Music 2022-10-13 | A rarely-performed work by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: The ballet music from his opera "Idomeneo". The music was part of the original opera, premiered in 1781. Leo Hussain conducts the Gulbenkian Symphony Orchestra. The performance took place in 2018 as part of the "Pianomania!" concert series in the Grand Auditorium at the the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in the Portuguese capital Lisbon.

00:28 Chaconne
09:41 Pas seul (de Mr Le Grand)
13:44 Passe-pied (pour Mademoiselle Redwen)
17:20 Gavotte
19:29 Passacaille

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) wrote the opera "Idomeneo" in the winter of 1780/81. In September 1780, he'd been commissioned to write a "grand opera" for the Munich carnival. Although he was just 24 years old at the time, he'd already been composing successfully for almost 20 years. He wrote his first pieces at the age of five; his first symphony at the age of eight. The Italian libretto for "Idomeneo" was written by Giambattista Varesco (1735-1805). Mozart was proud of "Idomeneo" and described it as his best opera so far. The work was given its world premiere on 29 January 1781 at the Residence Theater in Munich, along with the ballet music section.

"Idomeneo" (K. 366) is an Italian-language choral opera in the Baroque tradition of "opera seria", although Mozart repeatedly breaks with this dramatic style. The opera tells the story of the Cretan King Idomeneus, who upon returning home from the Trojan War, gets caught up in a terrible storm. He only survives due to the intervention of the sea god Neptune. As a gesture of gratitude, the King promises to sacrifice the first person he meets on arrival. In a bitter twist of fate, this happens to be his son Idamante. The King tries to evade fulfilling his promise, but Neptune is not fooled. In the end, although Neptune spares the life of Idamante, the King is forced to surrender his crown to his son and agree to the prince's marriage with the Trojan Princess Ilia.

"Idomeneo" borrows elements of the French "tragédie lyrique" style, a form that also included dance. Mozart initially wanted to incorporate a dance scene at the end of all the opera's acts, but he then opted for a large-scale dance section at the end of the work. But because "Idomeneo" is already very long, the ballet is usually dropped. This concert version from 2018 provides a musical impression. Anyone who knows the opera "Idomeneo" will recognize some of its themes in the ballet music.

© EuroArts Music International & arte

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Bach: St John Passion | Choir & Orchestra of the J.S. Bach Foundation, Rudolf Lutz (2022)

DW Classical Music 2022-10-09 | An exciting concert from the Leipzig Bach Festival 2022: St John Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach (1749 version). The Choir & Orchestra of the J.S. Bach Foundation sing and play, conducted by Rudolf Lutz. The concert takes place at the tradition-steeped St Thomas Church Leipzig, where Bach himself spent time working.

Performers:
Evangelist and Arias: Daniel Johannsen | TENOR
Jesus: Peter Harvey | BASS
Miriam Feuersinger | SOPRANO
Alex Potter | ALTUS
Pilate and Arias: Matthias Helm | BASS
Choir & Orchestra of the J.S. Bach Foundation St. Gallen
Rudolf Lutz | CONDUCTOR

Program:
00:00 Intro
00:21 Herr, unser Herrscher (choir)
08:57 Jesus ging mit seinen Jüngern (recitative)
11:29 O große Lieb (choir)
12:22 Auf dass das Wort (rec.)
13:40 Dein Will gescheh’ (choir)
14:31 Die Schar aber (rec.)
15:21 Von den Stricken meiner Sünden (aria)
20:05 Simon Petrus aber (rec.)
20:20 Ich folge dir gleichfalls mit freudigen Schritten (aria)
24:00 Derselbige Jünger war (rec.)
27:17 Wer hat dich so geschlagen? (choir)
29:31 Und Hannas sandte ihn gebunden (rec.)
31:55 Ach mein Sinn (aria)
34:27 Petrus, der nicht denkt zurück (choir)
36:09 Christus, der uns selig macht (choir)
37:20 Da führeten sie Jesum (rec.)
41:45 Ach großer König (choir)
43:36 Da sprach Pilatus (rec.)
45:42 Betrachte, meine Seele (aria)
48:00 Erwäge, wie sein blutgefärbter Rücken (aria)
55:49 Und die Kriegsknechte flochten (rec.)
1:01:50 Durch dein Gefängnis, Gottes Sohn (choir)
1:02:53 Die Juden aber schrieen (rec.)
1:07:08 Eilt, ihr angefochtnen Seelen (aria)
1:11:06 Allda kreuzigten (rec.)
1:13:20 In meines Herzens Grunde (choir)
1:14:45 Die Kriegsknechte aber (rec.)
1:18:42 Er nahm alles wohl in acht (choir)
1:19:52 Und von Stund an (rec.)
1:21:24 Es ist vollbracht (aria)
1:26:10 Und neigte das Haupt (rec.)
1:26:39 Mein teurer Heiland (aria)
1:31:50 Und siehe da (rec.)
1:32:25 Mein Herz, indem die ganze Welt (arioso)
1:33:15 Zerfließe, mein Herz (aria)
1:39:37 Die Jüden aber (rec.)
1:41:53 O hilf, Christe, Gottes Sohn (choir)
1:42:59 Darnach bat Pilatum (rec.)
1:45:05 Ruht wohl, ihr heiligen Gebeine (choir)
1:51:48 Ach Herr, lass dein lieb Engelein (choir)
1:54:28 Credits

The St John Passion, BWV 245, one of the five Passions composed by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750), is one of the only two that have survived in their entirety (the other being the St Matthew Passion, BWV 244). The premiere performance of the St John Passion – also referred to as the Passio secundum Joannem – was held on Good Friday 1724, in Leipzig’s St Nicholas Church (Nikolaikirche).

Bach was cantor at St Thomas Church in Leipzig from 1723 until his death in 1750. During this time, he performed the St John Passion himself at least four times in one of two main churches in Leipzig – and rewrote it for each one of the performances. Each of the revisions was extensive. He changed the structure, the instrumentation, the music, and sometimes even the text. On the basis of the four different versions of the St John Passion that he performed, Bach’s approach to working on this great piece of church music is still quite easy to understand today.

The principal textual basis of the St John Passion are chapters 18 and 19 from the Gospel of John, some of which were transferred verbatim. In addition, interpolations of hymn stanzas for four-part choir form a framework through which the Passion can be inserted into the liturgical context. It is not known who arranged the text of the St John Passion for Bach.

Nowadays, the St John Passion is usually performed in concert rather than at church services. This way, its highly dramatic effect can be fully appreciated.

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Tico Tico: Venezuelan Brass Ensemble, Tomas Medina (trumpet) & Thomas Clamor (conductor)

DW Classical Music 2022-10-06 | An evergreen from Brazil: Tico-Tico no Fubá, here played by the Venezuelan Brass Ensemble conducted by Thomas Clamor, with solo trumpeter Tomas Medina. The Latin American piece, known the world over, was presented in a brilliant 2007 concert by the Venezuelan Brass Ensemble, given in at the Konzerthaus Berlin. The full concert can be found here:
youtube.com/watch?v=ikeNXwvEM5Q.

Brazilian musician and composer Zequinha de Abreu (1880 - 1935) originally named his short, 1917 instrumental piece 'Tico-Tico no Farelo'. The title refers to the remarkable Andean sparrow – Zonotrichia capensis – which is to be found across large sections of South America. However, after another piece of music bearing the same title was released following his initial publication, Abreu simply renamed his composition 'Tico-Tico no Fubá. Under that name, the piece rose to world fame, remaining an oft-played favorite to this day. The 1930s saw the first appearance of lyrics for Tico Tico, and thenceforth singers could also include the song in their repertoire.

In form, Tico Tico is a choro - a Brazilian style of instrumental music of Brazil believed to have originated in Rio de Janeiro in the 1870s. Choros typically feature deftly-played dance rhythms – similar to samba – though their melodies are often melancholic.

The Venezuelan Brass Ensemble plays Tico Tico as arranged by John Iveson for the London Brass Series, with characteristic solo trumpet. While in the first two sections it's the trumpet that sets the themes for the orchestra, that relationship is inverted in the middle section. Here, the orchestra plays the motif softly, as if whispering, while the solo trumpet responds with playful improvisation (01:44). The tension is resolved by the resumption of the opening themes – at an accelerated tempo, of course – and the ending is met by rousing applause for a beloved piece in a thrilling arrangement.

The Venezuelan Brass Ensemble was established in 2004 as an offshoot of the Simon Bolivar Youth Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela – today known as the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar de Venezuela. The group brings together some of the most talented young brass and percussion players in the country to perform an extraordinary repertoire of pieces for massed brass bands.

© EuroArts Music International

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Musicians from Belarus and the Ukraine for democracy, peace and freedom | Music Documentary

DW Classical Music 2022-10-02 | Music as an expression of resistance against war and oppression – that is the subject of the documentary “Classical Music Gets Political”. Author Gero Schliess filmed at the Campus Concert at the Beethovenfest Bonn 2022 and during the preparation for it in Warsaw. He accompanies young musicians from Belarus and Ukraine at their work – a combination of musical and political commitment.

The Campus Project has been in existence since 2001. It is a platform that brings young musicians from all over the world together. The idea of the project, which was initiated by the Beethovenfest and Deutsche Welle, is to unite young musicians across geographical, stylistic and cultural boundaries, to create connections by making music together. After meeting for rehearsals at various locations in the participating countries, the young musicians perform a highly acclaimed concert at the Beethovenfest Bonn, the highlight of which is the world premiere of a composition commissioned by Deutsche Welle.

In 2022, the original plan for the Campus Project was to bring together Belarusian emigrant musicians and members of the German Youth Orchestra. Then, when the war in Ukraine began, Ukrainian musicians were also invited. Among them were:
--- the Volny Choir (Free Choir) from Belarus, which is one of the driving forces behind the peaceful struggle for political renewal of the country; It’s head, Galina Kasimirovskaya, currently lives in exile in Poland,
--- the Concordia Choir from Belarus, which is currently working in Warsaw, Poland,
--- the Sophia Chamber Choir from Kyiv which, according to choir director Oleksiy Shamritsky, sees itself as an ambassador of Ukrainian culture,
--- and the Gewandhaus Youth Choir from Leipzig.
Belarusian conductor Vitali Alekseenok will conduct the four choirs and an instrumental ensemble composed of young musicians from the three countries. The work “The Sky of Mary” by Olga Podgaiskaya, which the Belarusian composer dedicated to her musician friend Maria Kolesnikova, will be premiered. Kolesnikova has been one of the most prominent leaders of the protest in Belarus since the suppressed uprising in 2020 and has been a political prisoner since September 2020.

The music documentary spotlights all these musicians, their current predicaments and their declared fight against oppression – using the medium of music.

Thumbnail: © T. Scheider/Beethovenfest

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Handel: O sing unto the Lord a new song | The English Concert & Händelfestspielorchester Halle

DW Classical Music 2022-09-29 | Celestial sounds in a striking location: Two of the world’s most noted Baroque orchestras, the English Concert and the Händelfestspielorchester Halle, played George Frideric Handel’s anthem ‘O sing unto the Lord a new song’ HWV 249b together with the MDR Rundfunkchor, the Hallenser Madrigalisten, the Händelfestspielchor and the Chor der Oper Halle. The concert was conducted by Howard Arman and formed part of the Handel Celebration Concert on 14 April 2009. The performance took place in the spectacular Market Church of Halle, where Handel was baptized in 1685.

00:00 Introduction
00:22 Symphony
03:12 O sing unto the Lord a new song
05:45 Declare his honour unto the heathen
08:18 The waves of the sea
09:58 O worship the Lord
12:26 Let the whole earth stand in awe
13:09 Let the heav'ns rejoice

Artists:
MDR Rundfunkchor
Hallenser Madrigalisten
Händelfestspielchor
Chor der Oper Halle
The English Concert
Händelfestspielorchester Halle
Ulrike Fulde | soprano
Howard Arman | conductor

Born in Halle, George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) moved to England in 1712. He spent the majority of his professional career there, composing some of his best known works, including his English-language oratorio ‘Messiah’ and ‘Music for the Royal Fireworks’. ‘O sing unto the Lord a new song’ HWV 249b was written in 1717 as part of a set of 11 anthems, which came to be known as the Chandos Anthems; the First Duke of Chandos was a great admirer of Handel and was his employer during these years.

‘O sing unto the Lord’ opens with a short instrumental symphony, with a solo oboe piece serving as the bridge between the purely instrumental part and the part sung by the choir. It is said that Handel was particularly fond of the oboe, which can be seen in the frequency with which the instrument appears and the special place it takes in many of his compositions.

© EuroArts Music International

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Child prodigy Maddox Marsolleck | Music Documentary about an eight-year-old pianist from Germany

DW Classical Music 2022-09-25 | What is it like to be a child prodigy, and how does it feel to live with one? This music documentary follows the story of Maddox Marsollek, from Petershagen near Berlin. Maddox began playing the piano at the age of three and a half. Now, he practices three to four hours a day and is practically obsessed with music. He played his first concert in front of an audience at the age of five, and has since gone on to win numerous prizes at various music festivals around the world. His six-year-old brother Miles displays a similar talent—on the violin. Neither attend school; instead, they are both taught at home. It’s a challenge for their single mother to support these highly gifted children, but they can’t live without music. Is life as a child prodigy a blessing or a curse?

At a glance:
(00:00) Maddox Marsollek plays the Paganini Variations for Piano, by Isaak Berkovich
(00:31) Maddox Marsollek talks about his piano technique
(00:39) Maddox Marsollek practices piano at home
(01:03) Retrospecitve: Maddox Marsolleck's musical development, prizes and awards
(01:54) Simone Marsollek talks about discovering her child's unique talent
(02:16) The two brothers practicing at home, Miles on violin, Maddox on piano
(02:40) Simone Marsollek talks about the scheduling stress in everyday family life
(02:59) Retrospective: The two brother's concerts and competitions
(03:17) The Marsolleks' everyday life at home, with school lessons
(03:39) Simone Marsollek about Maddox's sharp perceptiveness
(04:04) Travelling to piano lessons in Berlin
(04:27) Simone Marsollek on prejudice against mothers of gifted children
(04:55) Maddox and Miles Marsollek taking lessons from Elisaveta Blumina
(05:40) Elisaveta Blumina on developing talent
(06:05) Maddox and Miles Marsollek before a concert
(06:18) Miles and Maddox Marsollek on their goals
(06:25) Maddox and Miles Marsollek play Concertino in Russian Style, by Aleksey Yanshinov

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Piano Recital: Kit Armstrong plays Wagner, Liszt and Mozart | Margravial Opera House Bayreuth 2019

DW Classical Music 2022-09-22 | A piano concert that could also double as a promotional film for the city of Bayreuth. On July 24, 2019, Kit Armstrong gave a piano recital in the fabulous halls of the Margravial Opera House in Bayreuth, featuring pieces by Richard Wagner, Franz Liszt, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

(00:00) Wagner, Piano Sonata in A flat major (for M. Wesendonck), WWV 85
(11:48) Liszt, Au bord d´une source
(16.28) Liszt, Sonnet No.123 (Three Sonnets of Petrach)
(22:45) Liszt, Aux cyprès de la Villa d´Este
(32:35) Liszt, Les jeux d´eaux
(41:30) Liszt, Piano Sonata in B minor
(1:13:25) Mozart, Fantasy in C minor, K.475
(1:26:20) Mozart “Ave verum corpus” (transcription by Franz Liszt)
(1:29:05) Mozart, Suite in C major, K.399 Allemande

Kit Armstrong will perform the first five pieces on a historic 1890 Bayreuth Steingraeber grand piano; the next four pieces will be played on a modern concert grand piano from the same traditional Bayreuth manufacturer for a sound comparison.

The program includes the Sonata in A flat major by Richard Wagner, which the composer dedicated to his muse Mathilde Wesendonck, as well as four romantic piano pieces from Franz Liszt's "Années de pèlerinage," or the "Pilgrim Years." These are followed by Franz Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor, which he dedicated to the German composer and music critic Robert Schumann—whose wife, Clara, criticized the work in a diary entry, describing the piece as "dreadful."

Franz Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor is the first piece played on the modern grand piano, followed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's ambitious Fantasy in C minor from 1785. Kit Armstrong plays Mozart's motet "Ave verum corpus" as a piano arrangement composed by Franz Liszt. The last piece we’ll hear is the Suite in C major by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the Austrian composer’s homage to the baroque music of Bach and Handel—pretty fitting for such a historic backdrop.

The setting for this piano recital couldn’t be more beautiful: The Margravial Opera House in Bayreuth is an opulent, baroque theater that has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2012—and it’s one of the most beautiful in the world.

American pianist Kit Armstrong was born in 1992 and was considered an exceptional talent and prodigy from an early age. Since 2013, he's been performing in the world's greatest concert halls and has played alongside some of the most renowned orchestras. He has been composing music across a variety of genres since childhood, and he performs on the organ as well as the piano.

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Oksana Lyniv: Back in Bayreuth | Insights from a dramatic year for the Ukrainian conductor

DW Classical Music 2022-09-11 | Oksana Lyniv made headlines in 2021 as the first woman to conduct an orchestra at the Bayreuth Festival in its 145-year history. She's back in 2022, where she will once again take over the musical direction of Wagner's “The Flying Dutchman.” Lyniv will also conduct the first open-air concert at Grüner Hügel, which will feature a colorful program of pieces by a variety of composers. But the world has changed since Russia's attack on Ukraine, and Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv's performances take an explicit stance against war.

This portrait focuses on the turbulent year of both her Bayreuth debut and her return to the festival. In a candid interview, Oksana Lyniv describes how she is coping emotionally with her skyrocketing career, but also with the horrors of war. And she even shares some insight into her private life, having provided Deutsche Welle with exclusive footage from her wedding. She also talks about the families of refugees that have taken in her and her family. Musical excerpts from her latest concerts complete this portrait of Lyniv. The picture that emerges in the end is one of a very strong woman—full of very passionate emotions.

Unfortunately we made a mistake in the credits for the Flying Dutchman video. Who you actually see are John Lundgren as the Flying Dutchman, Asmik Grigorian as Senta and Eric Cutler as Erik.

At a glance:
(00:00) Wagner, Parsifal, Verwandlungsmusik, Act I | Orchestra of the Bayreuth Festival, Oksana Lyniv (conductor) (music excerpt, Bayreuth, 2022)
(01:10) The influence of war on art - statement by Lyniv
(01:23) Wagner, Parsifal, Prelude to Act III | Orchestra of the Bayreuth Festival, Oksana Lyniv (conductor) (music excerpt, Bayreuth, 2022)
(01:40) Wagner, The Flying Dutchman | Orchestra of the Bayreuth Festival, Oksana Lyniv (conductor) (music excerpt, Bayreuth, 2021)
(02:24) Conducting in Bayreuth in 2022 – statement by Lyniv
(02:35) Wagner, The Flying Dutchman | Orchestra of the Bayreuth Festival, Oksana Lyniv (conductor) (music excerpt, Bayreuth, 2021)
(03:28) After her debut in Bayreuth 2021: continuation of her work this year – statement by Lyniv
(04:27) The consequences of debuting in Bayreuth – statement by Lyniv
(05:19) Wagner, Tannhäuser, Overture | Orchestra of the Bayreuth Festival, Oksana Lyniv (conductor) (music excerpt, Bayreuth, 2022)
(05:40) What conducting in Bayreuth again this year means for Oksana Lyniv - statement by Lyniv
(05:52) Exclusive wedding pictures of Oksana Lyniv
(06:15) Looking back on her wedding – statement by Lyniv
(06:38) Yuri Shevchenko, We are | Filarmonica del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Oksana Lyniv (conductor) (music excerpt, Bologna, 2022)
(07:29) What makes conducting in times of war easier - statement by Lyniv
(08:05) Lyniv speaks with musicians from the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine
(08:30) Zoom conference with the young Ukrainian musicians affected by war – statement by Lyniv
(10:10) Dvořák, Symphony No. 9, III. Scherzo. Molto vivace | Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Oksana Lyniv (conductor) (music excerpt, Berlin, 2022)
(10:55) On including new works by Ukrainian composers in her repertoire – statement by Lyniv
(11:21) Zoltan Almashi, Maria's City | Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Oksana Lyniv (conductor) (music excerpt, Berlin, 2022)
(12:28) Lyniv and her family’s private commitment to Ukrainian refugees – statement by Lyniv
(13:27) Beethoven, Symphony No. 9, IV. finale | Filarmonica del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Oksana Lyniv (conductor) (music excerpt, Bologna, 2022)
(14:08) The topicality of Schiller's text from Beethoven's Ninth – statement by Lyniv.
(14:48) Dvořák, Symphony No. 9, IV. Allegro con fuoco | Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Oksana Lyniv (conductor) (music excerpt, Berlin, 2022)

If you would like to support the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, this is the International Bank Account Number for donations: DE50 1005 0000 1060 9167 69. Please state: “Ukraine” in your transfer.

Or go to https://www.bundesjugendorchester.de/spendenaktion-ukraine or https://ysou.com.ua/en/support-us.

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Opera Gala Bonn: the greatest arias by Verdi, Puccini, Rossini, Bellini, Bizet, Mozart & others

DW Classical Music 2022-09-03 | Enjoy popular arias by Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Vinci, Offenbach, Bizet, Massenet and Orff at the 10th Opera Gala Bonn for the German AIDS Foundation at the Bonn Opera on May 14th, 2022. You’ll experience celebrated opera stars accompanied by the Beethoven Orchestra and the Opera Chorus of the Theater Bonn, conducted by Jacques Lacombe.

The fundraising event is organized by the German AIDS Foundation (https://aids-stiftung.de) with proceeds going towards projects in Germany and Mozambique. To donate, please visit: https://aids-stiftung.de/spenden or transfer your contribution to this account DE85 3705 0198 0008 0040 04. The artists are waiving their usual fees for this good cause.

Program:
(00:00) Ludwig van Beethoven, Ouvertüre, from Fidelio
(06:44) Explainer: 10th Opera Gala Bonn
(09:36) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Là ci darem la mano, from Don Giovanni | Rocío Pérez (Soprano), Giorgos Kanaris (Baritone)
(13:21) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Deh se piacer mi vuoi, from La clemenza di Tito | Lidia Fridman (Soprano)
(19:25) Gioacchino Rossini, Cruda sorte! Amor tiranno!, from l’italiana in Algeri | Nadezhda Karyazina (Mezzo-soprano)
(25:59) Giacomo Puccini, E lucevan le stelle, from Tosca | Raffaele Abete (Tenor)
(30:45) Gioacchino Rossini, Largo al factotum, from Il barbiere di Siviglia | Johannes Kammler (Baritone)
(36:07) Jacques Offenbach, Les oiseaux dans la charmille, from Les contes d’Hoffmann | Rocío Pérez (Soprano)
(43:08) Jules Massenet, Pourquoi me réveiller, from Werther | Ioan Hotea (Tenor)
(46:29) Leonardo Vinci, In braccio a mille furie, from Semiramide riconosciuta | Simone Kermes (Soprano)
(52:11) Giuseppe Verdi, Bella figlia dell‘amore, from Rigoletto | Rocío Pérez (Soprano), Nadezhda Karyazina (Mezzo-soprano), Giorgos Kanaris (Baritone), Ioan Hotea (Tenor)
(59:01) Léo Delibes, 3. Act, Pas de deux, from Sylvia | Manuel Legris
(Choreography), Kiyoka Hashimoto & Masayu Kimoto (Dancers)
(1:05:56) Gaetano Donizetti, Una furtiva lagrima, Aus L’elisir d’amore | Raffaele Abete (Tenor)
(1:12:08) Georges Bizet, L’amour est un oiseau rebelle (Habanera), from Carmen | Opera Choir of the Theater Bonn, Nadezhda Karyazina (Mezzo-soprano)
(1:16:53) Freddie Hubbard, Thermo | Till Brönner with Band
(1:24:05) Giuseppe Verdi, La donna è mobile, from Rigoletto | Ioan Hotea (Tenor)
(1:26:58) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Hai già vinta la causa, from Le nozze di Figaro | Johannes Kammler (Baritone)
(1:32:13) Vincenzo Bellini, Casta Diva, from Norma | Lidia Fridman (Soprano)
(1:39:39 ) Norbert Schultze, Lili Marleen | Simone Kermes (Soprano), Till Brönner (Trumpet)
(1:45:30) Carl Orff, O Fortuna, from Carmina Burana | Opera Choir of the Theater Bonn
(1:48:16) Video message from Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus from ABBA
(1:48:52) ABBA, Ode to Freedom | all soloists, Beethoven Orchestra & the Opera Chorus of the Theater Bonn

Soloists:
Raffaele Abete - Tenor
Lidia Fridman - Soprano
Ioan Hotea - Tenor
Giorgos Kanaris - Baritone
Johannes Kammler - Baritone
Nadezhda Karyazina - Mezzo-soprano
Simone Kermes - Soprano
Rocío Pérez - Soprano
Kiyoka Hashimoto und Masayu Kimoto - Dance Pair

Thumbnail: © Thilo Beu

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Beethoven, Dvořák, Lyatoshynsky & Poleva | Oksana Lyniv & Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine

DW Classical Music 2022-08-30 | Soldarity concert at the 2022 Beethovenfest in Bonn: Under conductor Oksana Lyniv, the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine performs a program including two real classics and two compositions by contemporary Ukrainian composers that deal with war, nostalgia and longing for home, and personal crises. The soloists of the concert in the Bonn Opera are the Ukrainian musicians Dmytro Choni (piano) and Andrii Murza (violin).

The symphonic poem “Grazyna” is one of Borys Lyatoshynsky’s most famous works. Lyatoshynsky is known as the father of 20th Century Ukrainian music. “Grazyna” commemorated the centenary of Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz’ death and refers to his eponymous poem that tells the story of a woman ruler that leads her people into war with the Teutonic Order.

"Bucha. Lacrimosa" is Ukrainian composer Victoria Poleva’s newest work. It is also a reference to the war crimes committed since Russia attacked Ukraine, and that have sent shockwaves around the world.

Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3, on the other hand, was created in a time where the composer was going through a heavy crisis: As he was growing increasingly deaf, Beethoven felt like an exiled man – still, he found comfort in music.

Finally, Antonín Dvořák‘s Symphony No. 9 "From the New World"
is a musical testament to the fusion of the other and home. Dvořák composed this world-famous symphony during his time in the US, and “in the spirit of American folk songs”, but he actually created the themes and motifs, which are reminiscent of Czech folk tunes, himself.

Program:

00:00 Intro
02:59 Speech Steven Walter, Artistic Director Beethovenfest Bonn
07:18 Speech Oksana Lyniv, Conductor Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine

13:23 Borys Lyatoshynsky (1895–1968): Symphonic Poem "Grazyna", Op. 58

35:11 Victoria Poleva (*1962): Bucha. Lacrimosa for violin and chamber orchestra
(premiere)

51:21 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827): Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37, I. Allegro con brio
1:08:21 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827): Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37, II. Largo
1:17:58 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827): Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37, III. Rondo. Allegro – Presto

1:28:47 Valentyn Silvestrov: 4 pieces for piano, Op. 2, IV. Postludium

1:32:01 Intermission

2:01:09 Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904): Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 "From the New World", I. Adagio – Allegro molto
2:13:33 Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904): Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 "From the New World", II. Largo
2:25:12 Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904): Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 "From the New World", III. Molto vivace
2:33:08 Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904): Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 "From the New World", IV. Allegro con fuoco

Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine
Oksana Lyniv | CONDUCTOR
Dmytro Choni | PIANO
Andrii Murza | VIOLIN

The Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine was founded in 2017 as a result of the Campus Project by Deutsche Welle and Beethovenfest Bonn. The 12-22 year-old musicians had to flee from the Russian invasion of Ukraine from different parts of the country. To play concerts, these young Ukrainian musicians get together again, finding solace and a piece of home in playing music together.

The Beethovenfest Bonn is one of the oldest and most important music festivals in Germany. Founded in Beethoven’s birthplace in 1845 by Franz Liszt, it is now an internationally recognized cultural beacon with around 80 events in Bonn and the region every year in August and September.

Thumbnail: © Serhiy Horobets

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Handel: Sinfonia from the Oratorio Esther | The English Concert & Händelfestspielorchester Halle

DW Classical Music 2022-08-21 | Baroque prologue: Two of the world’s most noted Baroque orchestras, the English Concert and the Händelfestspielorchester Halle, played the Sinfonia from the Oratorio Esther HWV 50a under the baton of Howard Arman as part of the Handel Celebration Concert on 14 April 2009. The performance took place in the spectacular Market Church of Halle, where Handel was baptized in 1685.

(00:00) Andante
(02:00) Larghetto
(04:45) Allegro

Esther is the first oratorio composed by George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) to an English libretto. The premiere of the first version of Esther (HWV 50a) is thought to have taken place in 1718. The work was initially a six-scene masque for a small group of singers and instrumental ensemble. In the year 1732, Handel extensively reworked the original, expanding it into a large-scale oratorio (HWV 50b).

The introduction to Esther is titled Sinfonia, a term commonly used in Italy to describe the instrumental prologue to larger works, most of them stage productions. It was replaced by the term overture in Europe around 1800.

The Sinfonia from Esther is in three parts: The first section progresses at a sedate tempo and conjures up a solemn atmosphere; in the central part, oboe and viola engage in a sometimes melancholic dialog in singing style; and in the third section, the Sinfonia concludes in an optimistic, vivacious mood.

© EuroArts Music International

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Mozart Night at the Rheingau Music Festival 2022 | Music Documentary

DW Classical Music 2022-08-20 | For absolute Mozart fans: The Mozart Night at the Rheingau Music Festival 2022 is a concert event celebrating the instrumental music of Mozart. In the picturesque setting of Eberbach Abbey, top musicians play symphonies, serenades, concertos, divertimenti and sonatas by the popular Austrian composer.

This video presents a cross section of the Mozart Night program in 10 captivating musical excerpts. The musicians also talk about the quirks and features of Mozart’s work – as well as what makes him such a phenomenon. The result is a kaleidoscope of and about Mozart’s instrumental music in which one thing stands out above all else: Mozart’s music is quite simply fun – for both musicians and audiences.

Featured performers:

Festival Strings Lucerne
Daniel Dodds | VIOLIN & ARTISTIC DIRECTION
Sophie Dervaux | BASSOON

Ensemble Prisma:
Florian Stubenvoll | CLARINET
Markus Heeb | CLARINET
Adam Lewis | FRENCH HORN
Uwe Tessmann | FRENCH HORN
Bernhard Wesenick | BASSOON
Felicia Dietrich | BASSOON

Aris Quartet:
Anna Katharina Wildermuth | VIOLIN
Noémi Zipperling | VIOLIN
Caspar Vinzens | VIOLA
Lukas Sieber | CELLO
With Thorsten Johanns | CLARINET

Timothy Chooi | VIOLIN
Martin James Bartlett | PIANO

At a glance:

(00:00) Introduction
(00:38) Mozart: Divertimento in B-flat major, K. 137, II. Allegro di molto – Festival Strings Lucerne & Daniel Dodds (musical excerpt)
(02:18) Is Mozart’s music easy or difficult? – statement by Daniel Dodds
(03:33) Mozart: Bassoon Concerto in B-flat major, K. 191, I. Allegro – Festival Strings Lucerne, Daniel Dodds & Sophie Dervaux (bassoon) (musical excerpt)
(04:43) Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto: the work of a young man – statement by Sophie Dervaux
(05:07) Mozart: Symphony No. 34 in C major, K. 338, III. Allegro vivace – Festival Strings Lucerne & Daniel Dodds (musical excerpt)
(06:44) Mozart and Viennese Classicism – statement by Daniel Dodds
(07:42) Mozart: Serenade in E-flat major, K. 375, I. Allegro maestoso – Ensemble Prisma (musical excerpt)
(09:23) Little surprises in Mozart’s music – statement by Adam Lewis
(10:19) Music: Clarinet Quintet in A major, K. 581, I. Allegro – Aris Quartet & Thorsten Johanns (clarinet) (musical excerpt)
(12:22) Mozart, the experimental composer – statement by Thorsten Johanns
(12:47) Mozart: Ave verum corpus K. 618 (arr. for bassoon and strings by Matthias Spindler) – Festival Strings Lucerne, Daniel Dodds & Sophie Dervaux (bassoon) (complete)
(15:37) Mozart, the hit composer – statement by Daniel Dodds
(16:08) Mozart: Bassoon concerto in B-flat major, K. 191, II. Andante ma adagio – Festival Strings Lucerne, Daniel Dodds & Sophie Dervaux (bassoon) (musical excerpt)
(15:27) The bassoon as instrument of love in Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto – statement by Sophie Dervaux
(18:06) Mozart: Serenade in E-flat major, K. 375, II. Menuetto e trio – Ensemble Prisma (musical excerpt)
(19:13) Mozart’s Serenade K. 375 as the typical serenade – statement by Adam Lewis
(20:03) Mozart: Sonata for Piano and Violin No. 21 in E minor, K. 304, I. Allegro – Timothy Chooi (violin) & Martin James Bartlett (piano) (musical excerpt)
(21:37) What makes Mozart a genius? – statement by Thorsten Johanns
(22:14) Mozart: Symphony No. 34 in C major, K. 338, III. Allegro vivace – Festival Strings Lucerne & Daniel Dodds (musical excerpt)

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Dances from West Side Story | Venezuelan Brass Ensemble & Thomas Clamor

DW Classical Music 2022-08-18 | West Side Story, with a dancing brass band: The Dances from Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story are performed here by the Venezuelan Brass Ensemble under the baton of Thomas Clamor. This fascinating arrangement for brass players is by Eric Cress. The performance took place on 4 September 2007 at the Konzerthaus Berlin.

The musical West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein (1918 – 1990) was premiered in 1957. It was a huge hit right from the outset and before long, it had been played in many countries across the world. The choreographer for the premiere, Jerome Robbins (1918 – 1998) developed sections of his work into the ballet West Side Story Suite, premiered in 1995. Other composers have also arranged versions of Bernstein's popular West Side Story hits for various instrumentations. Eric Cress' arrangement for brass is as rousing as the original – not least because here, at the end, the musicians raise their instruments to dance along with the music.

The Venezuelan Brass Ensemble was established in 2004, as an offshoot of the Simon Bolivar Youth Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela (known today as the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar de Venezuela). The group brings together some of the most talented young brass and percussion players in the country to perform an extraordinary repertoire of pieces for massed brass bands.

© EuroArts Music International

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Alondra de la Parra meets Steven McRae, principal dancer with the Royal Ballet London and tap dancer

DW Classical Music 2022-08-14 | Steven McRae is a Principal of the Royal Ballet in London and a gifted tap dancer. For the video series Musica Maestra, Alondra de la Parra meets the Australian dancer on the sidelines of a performance of “Romeo and Juliet” at the Royal Opera House in London. The Mexican conductor talks to McRae about his first ballet lessons in Sydney, winning the Prix de Lausanne in Switzerland, his appointment to the Royal Ballet School in London and his great passion: tap dancing, which he’s always practiced throughout his life. And of course, Steven McRae also gives Alondra de la Parra a little tap-dancing masterclass.

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Haydn: The Creation | Netherlands Radio Choir, Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic & John Nelson

DW Classical Music 2022-08-13 | A famous oratorio at a famous location: The Netherlands Radio Choir and the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic under the direction of John Nelson are performing Joseph Haydn’s The Creation on 25 June 2010 at the Grote Kerk in Naarden. The Grote Kerk or Great Church is one of the oldest and most famous churches in The Netherlands.

Lisa Milne | SOPRANO
Lucy Crowe | SOPRANO (Eve)
Werner Güra |TENOR
Matthew Rose | BASS
Jonathan Beyer | BARITONE (Adam)
The Netherlands Radio Choir
The Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic
John Nelson | CONDUCTOR

00:00 Part I
01:44 The Representation of Chaos
07:22 In the beginning, God created heaven and earth
10:03 Now vanish before the holy beams
13:48 And God made the firmament
15:50 The marv’lous work beholds amaz’d
17:50 And God said: Let the waters
18:26 Rolling in foaming billows
22:10 And God said: Let the earth bring forth grass
22:42 With verdure clad the fields appear
27:28 And the heavenly host proclaimed the third day
27:40 Awake the harp
29:46 And God said: Let there be lights
30:22 In splendor bright
33:10 The heavens are telling the glory of God

37:07 Part II
37:18 And God said: Let the waters bring
37:44 On mighty pens
44:49 And God created great whales
46:37 And the angels struck
46:55 Most beautiful appear
51:07 The Lord is great
53:11 And God said: Let the earth bring forth
53:35 Strait opening her fertile womb
56:51 Now heav’n in fullest glory shone
1:00:14 And God created man
1:01:03 In native worth and honour
1:04:36 And God saw ev’ry thing
1:05:02 Achieved is the glorious work
1:06:20 On thee each living soul awaits
1:10:31 Achieved is the glorious work

1:13:14 Part III
1:13:23 In rosy mantle appears
1:17:21 By thee with bliss
1:26:55 Our duty we performed now
1:29:20 Graceful consort
1:37:08 O happy pair
1:37:34 Sing the Lord ye voices all

The key impulse for the composition of The Creation was experienced by Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809) on his travels through England: It was here that Haydn heard the great oratorios of Georg Friedrich Handel (1685 - 1759) and where he was given a libretto by a certain ‘Lidley’ (little else is known about the writer), which he blended with the Biblical story of paradise and the creation (Genesis 1 & 2) and John Milton’s (1608 - 1674) epic poem Paradise Lost into the text for an oratorio. Gottfried van Swieten translated this text into German for Haydn. Haydn wrote The Creation between 1796 and 1798, and is even said to have afterwards described the compositional work as a religious experience.

Although private previews of The Creation in April 1798 had already been received with enthusiasm, Haydn made some corrections to the oratorio. The public premiere then took place in March 1799 at the old Burgtheater in Vienna and was a great success. To this day, Haydn’s The Creation is a beloved classic that frequently appears on concert programs.

The three-part oratorio offers plenty of special features: Haydn had van Swieten’s German text retranslated into English and published the score of The Creation in two languages. It is considered the first bilingual composition ever. Haydn has the three archangels Gabriel (soprano), Uriel (tenor) and Raphael (baritones) narrate and at the same time comment on the material of the divine creation of the world in six days, which is significant in religious and cultural history. The six-day work is not completed by God’s seventh day of rest, as in the biblical template; rather, on the seventh day Haydn celebrates the happy coexistence of Adam and Eve in paradise before the Fall.

One of the musical highlights of The Creation is the prelude, in which the idea of a primordial chaos is set to music. Haydn, whose compositions can actually be considered prime examples of “orderly” form, has ingeniously set a cosmic chaos to music in this introduction – and thus in turn put it into musical form. The most outstanding and famous passage in the entire oratorio, however, is that of the creation of light (09:05). At the words “und es ward Licht” (and there was light), a radiant C major bursts forth, like an elemental sound event, which has captivated every listener of The Creation to this day. If you listen to the abruptly sounding C major chord, it seems as if Haydn, while composing, had glimpsed the first spark of the big bang in the depths of space.

© Idéale Audience

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Rossini: Mosè in Egitto | Orchestra and Choir Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano (full opera)

DW Classical Music 2022-08-06 | Vocal and light art combined: Gioachino Rossini's Mosè in Egitto is presented for the first time at the Duomo di Milano. The performers are first-class soloists like Ruggero Raimondi and Filippo Polinelli, as well as Orchestra and Choir Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano conducted by Francesco Quattrocchi. The semi-scenic version of Mosè from 2015 also impresses with light and color effects that transform the Gothic cathedral into a bombastic backdrop. Mosè in Egitto is performed in the 1827 version in Italian.

Ruggero Raimondi, BASS | Moses, Lawgiver of the Jews
Bogdan Mihai, TENOR | Elisero, his brother
Filippo Polinelli, BARITONE | Pharaoh, King of Egypt
Luciano Ganci, TENOR | Aménofi, his son
Giovanni Sebastiano Sala, TENOR | Aufide, Egyptian officer
Christian Starinieri, BASS | Osiride, Priest of Isis/mysterious voice
Maria Cioppi, MEZZO-SOPRANO | Maria, sister of Mosè
Lydia Tamburrino, SOPRANO | Anaìde, her daughter
Isabelle Kabatu, SOPRANO | Sinaìde, wife of Pharaoh

Orchestra and Choir Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano
Francesco Quattrocchi | CONDUCTOR
Emiliano Esposio | CHOIR MASTER
Claudio Cirelli | MUSICAL ASSISTANCE

Cecilia Ligorio & Tiziano Mancini | DIRECTORS
Davide Carmarino | LIGHT AND VIDEO ASSISTANCE
Franca Squarciapino | COSTUME DESIGNER
Brancato Costumi Teatrali | COSTUMES
Unità CI | VISUAL DESIGN
Valerio Tiberi | LIGHT DESIGNER
Federico Farina | STAGE DIRECTOR
Stage production F.o.H.

Mosè in Egitto by Gioachino Rossini (1792 - 1868) was originally written in three acts and it premiered in 1818. Later Rossini reworked Mosè into a French grand opéra with four acts and premiered it under the title Moïse et Pharaon, ou Le passage de la Mer Rouge in Naples in 1827. The new French libretto was by Luigi Balocchi and Étienne de Jouy. However, it was soon retranslated into Italian by Calisto Bassi. It is this second version in its Italian retranslation in which Rossini's Mosè is primarily performed to this day.

The plot of Mosè in Egitto is based on the biblical story of the exodus of the people of Israel to Egypt (Exodus, chapters 1-15), combined with the love story between an Israelite woman and the son of the Egyptian Pharaoh. The text of the love story is based on the tragedy L'Osiride by Francesco Ringhieri (1721 - 1787), which was published in Padua in 1760.

At a glance:
Act I
00:00 Prelude
04:10 Ah! Dell'empio al potere feroce
05:40 Cessi ormai dolor cotanto
08:52 Popol, t'allegra!
10:01 Mosè, t'acccosta
13:52 Ah! Se puoi così lasciarmi
20:49 Che narri?
25:32 Padre! Signor!

Act II
29:20 Ah! Chi ne aita?
33:29 La voce tua mi chiama
38:30 Celeste man placata!
42:44 Egizii! Faraone!
46:22 Mentre d'Isi nel tempio

Act III
55:48 La tua promessa a reclamar io vengo
1:00:38 Mi manca la voce
1:04:32 Faraon, cedi alfine

Act IV
1:08:38 Prelude
1:12:25 Dai potenti mortali
1:15:03 Dal tuo stellato soglio

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Julia Fischer: Portrait of an extraordinary and versatile violinist

DW Classical Music 2022-08-04 | Julia Fischer is one of the most outstanding violinists and versatile artists of our time. We meet her at the Rheingau Music Festival 2022 for a concert by the Julia Fischer Quartet at Johannisberg Castle. In an interview, Fischer talks about her childhood, her career, her successes, playing in a quartet, her work as a professor and her many other talents. We hear excerpts from works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Andrey Rubtsov and Peter Tchaikovsky.
Julia Fischer was born in Munich in 1983 to German-Slovakian parents. She received her first tuition on the violin at the age of three. A short time later her mother, the pianist Viera Fischer, introduced her daughter to the piano. At the age of nine, Julia Fischer began studying with renowned violin professor Ana Chumachenco at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich. Julia Fischer succeeded Chumachenco in 2011, thereby coming full circle.
Julia Fischer began touring internationally at the age of 15. She performed with the world’s greatest orchestras, recorded numerous albums and won prestigious prizes including the Gramophone Classical Music Award and the BBC Music Magazine Award. But solo performances with ensembles weren’t enough. Julia Fischer is also a brilliant chamber musician. Together with violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky, violist Nils Mönkemeyer and cellist Benjamin Nyffenegger, she founded the Julia Fischer Quartet in 2012.
In 2006, Julia Fischer was appointed professor at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts. At the time, this made her the youngest professor at a German university. In 2011, she was finally given a professorship at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich. Julia Fischer loves to teach. She is keen to pass on something of what she was able to experience as a child. Her students are highly successful and are already being courted by major orchestras. Julia Fisher sometimes performs together with them.
In 2017, Julia Fischer was the first ever classical musical to establish her own music platform, the JF CLUB. It’s a place where fans to get exclusive access to recordings and find out more about the artist herself.
Julia Fischer plays on a violin by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini (1742) as well as a new violin by Philipp Augustin (2018).

Thumbnail: © Uwe Arens

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Bach: Concerto in A minor | Labèque sisters, Ottavio Dantone, Luca Guglielmi & Il Giardino Armonico

DW Classical Music 2022-07-31 | It is a spectacle for four keyboard instruments: Johann Sebastian Bach's Concerto for four harpsichords, strings and basso continuo in A minor (BWV 1065), here in a version for two fortepiani and 2 harpsichords. Performed by Katia and Marielle Labèque (fortepiani), Ottavio Dantone and Luca Guglielmi (harpsichords), and the Il Giardino Armonico ensemble, conducted by Giovanni Antonini. The concert was held in 2000 at the Musikverein, Vienna.

(00:00) No tempo designation
(03:44) Largo
(05:55) Allegro

The thirteen concertos that Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750) wrote for one or more harpsichords with orchestral accompaniment are a milestone of music history. In a sense, they mark the beginning of the story of the piano concerto, then further developed by Bach's sons. The harpsichord concertos were written for Leipzig's Collegium Musicum; a student orchestra that Bach led from 1723, and with which he held regular coffee-house concerts. In almost all of the harpsichord concertos, Bach drew upon his own earlier works and arranged them for the keyboard instrument which was at the time enjoying its rise to popularity.

For the Concerto for four harpsichords, Bach did not draw on his own compositions but transcribed a concerto by Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741): the Concerto in B minor for four violins, cello and strings (RV 580), No. 10 from the cycle L'Estro Armonico (The Harmonic Inspiration). Vivaldi had his twelve-part concerto cycle printed as Opus 3 in 1711, soon followed by several reprints, and copies also circulated. L'Estro Armonico is considered one of the most influential concerto collections in 18th century European music. The concertos were frequently transcribed for other instruments, often keyboard instruments. During Bach's lifetime, this kind of transcription was not a flaw; on the contrary, it was a form of recognition and distinguished the original composition as particularly successful and universally valid.

Bach extensively reworked Vivaldi's Concerto in B minor. The most serious change he made was probably to replace the four violins of the Vivaldi concerto with four harpsichords. This quadruplication of the keyboard instrument is not only unique in Johann Sebastian Bach's oeuvre, but would also have been quite a novelty for Leipzig concertgoers at the time.

© ORF and EuroArts Music International

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Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto | Daniel Hope, Daniel Harding & the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra

DW Classical Music 2022-07-30 | Music in all its perfect glory: Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in E minor, Op. 64. In this concert the early version from 1844 is played by Daniel Hope and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Harding. The concert took place at the Berwaldhallen in Stockholm in 2008.

(00:00) I. Allegro con fuoco
(11:15) II. Andante
(19:09) III. Allegro molto vivace

It is one of the very great concertos of the 19th century and one of the most popular pieces in the classical repertoire for violinists and audiences alike:
the Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809 - 1847). At the premiere on March 13, 1845 with the violinist Ferdinand David (1810 - 1873), who was celebrated in his time, Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto was received with enthusiasm.

Mendelssohn and David had been close friends since childhood. In 1838, Mendelssohn finally told the violinist of his plan to write a violin concerto in E minor for him. However, he did not complete the composition until 1844, after which proofs were sent to David, and lively exchanges between the two friends resulted in a revised version that was premiered and printed in 1845. It is in this revised version, to which David extensively contributed, that the E minor Violin Concerto is still known today. Mendelssohn's original version from 1844, on the other hand, remained largely unnoticed and only aroused the interest of the music world in the 1980s. In the meantime, the original version is also available in print.

Musically, Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto has some special features: The three movements merge into one another - almost as if the concerto were also one of the “Songs Without Words” invented by the composer. The first movement begins with a carpet of sound on which the main theme is immediately heard - not played by the orchestra, but by the solo violin. This had never been done before in a violin concerto. In its character, the theme given by the violin is a cantilena that may remind some listeners of klezmer melodies. Another novelty is the way Mendelssohn Bartholdy treats the cadenza: It is composed in its entirety and is placed not at the end of the first movement but between the development and recapitulation, thus forming the climax of the development. The second, slow movement also seems like a song without words, with a melancholy, almost painful middle section at its center. The final movement, in turn, begins with a slow transition, followed abruptly by the lively rondo theme, which has become world famous in its own right.

Friedrich Nietzsche called Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor a beautiful incident of German music. Whatever one may think of this bon mot, beauty is most certainly THE characteristic of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's E minor Violin Concerto.

© Inpetto Film Production

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Liszt: Piano Sonata in B minor | Kit Armstrong (piano), Margravial Opera House Bayreuth

DW Classical Music 2022-07-28 | Piano sonata of superlatives: Kit Armstrong plays the Piano Sonata in B minor by Franz Liszt in the Margravial Opera House Bayreuth, 2019.

Watch the whole concert:
youtu.be/Zg4uXeBGPCA

It is considered to be one of the most important piano sonatas after Beethoven, to some even the pinnacle of piano music in general, in any case it forms the climax of Franz Liszt's (1811 - 1886) piano works: the Piano Sonata in B minor (p. 178). A first version of the B minor Sonata dates from 1849; Liszt had completed the final version in 1853 and sent it with a dedication to Robert Schumann. However, Clara Schumann, who had made a name for herself as a piano virtuoso, judged the sonata to be nothing but blind noise and to contain no healthy thought.

It is all the more surprising that the B minor Sonata has long attracted the interest of musicologists. In a flood of analytical approaches, the focus is on the one hand on the form and on the other hand on a possible programmatic content of the piano sonata. Both issues - the question of sonata form and that of programme music - were highly topical during Franz Liszt's lifetime and play an important role in characterizing the music of the Romantic period.

Formally, Liszt's B minor Sonata is ambiguous. It consists of a single long movement that can be understood as a large-scale sonata movement (with exposition, slow middle section, recapitulation, and coda). Its middle section, in turn, is also structured according to a sonata scheme. It can be called an internal sonata. Motivically-thematically, however, Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor can also be considered independently of sonata form: Seen in this light, it consists of an all-encompassing filigree fabric in which a few initial motives continue to develop and merge into one another. In terms of content, various programmes are attributed to the B minor Sonata, the sources of which are believed to be found in Faust, in John Milton's Paradise Lost, or in the Bible. A direct reference by the composer to an underlying programme, however, has not yet been found.

The Piano Sonata in B minor is part of a longer piano recital that Armstrong gave on July 24, 2019 in Bayreuth. Works by Richard Wagner and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart were also in the program. The beautiful backdrop to this concert was provided by the Margravial Opera House Bayreuth, one of the most beautiful Baroque theaters in the world. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2012. The grand piano played by Armstrong also comes from Bayreuth, from the renowned piano manufacturers Steingraeber & Söhne, which has been making pianos since 1852.

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Colombian Youth Philharmonic at the Rheingau Musik Festival | Music Special

DW Classical Music 2022-07-24 | A youth orchestra full of energy: The Filarmónica Joven de Colombia gives a brilliant concert under the baton of Andrés Orozco-Estrada at the Rheingau Musik Festival 2022 at Kloster Eberbach monastery. The program includes works by Latin American composers, as well as some from the European classical repertoire.

The Filarmónica Joven de Colombia is one of Latin America's outstanding youth orchestras. Founded in 2010 by the Fundación Bolívar Davivienda, the youth orchestra only takes on Colombia's best young musicians and the Colombian Youth Philharmonic's concerts are of correspondingly high-caliber.

This video lets us hear the voices of the conductor and the musicians telling the story of their unique orchestra. And in stirring concert excerpts, the mood of the music event in the time-honored setting of Kloster Eberbach monastery is captured: a youthful, upbeat Colombian evening with lots of great music.

At a glance:
00:00 Music excerpt: Improvisation
00:42 Felipe Andrés Galindo Maya (cellist) about the importance of the Colombian Youth Philharmonic for the musical life in Colombia
01:17 Lina María Casas Guzmán (violinist) about what it means personally to play in the orchestra
01:59 Lina María Casas Guzmán (violinist) about music in her childhood
02:41 Felipe Andrés Galindo Maya (cellist) about music in school and his friends
03:25 Felipe Andrés Galindo Maya (cellist) about the age of the musicians
03:52 Felipe Andrés Galindo Maya (cellist) about the energy in the orchestra
04:12 Music excerpt: Improvisation
05:08 Andrés Orozco-Estrada (conductor) about the foundation of the orchestra
06:18 Music excerpt: Juan Carlos Valencia Ramos, Fantasía
06:53 Andrés Orozco-Estrada (conductor) about the guiding principle for the orchestra
07:28 Music excerpt: Santiago Bernal Montaña, Dilo Outra Vez (Pasillo)
08:00 Andrés Orozco-Estrada (conductor) about the importance of a tour
09:10 Andrés Orozco-Estrada (conductor) about the development of music in Colombia
09:50 Music excerpt: Luis Fernando León, Tres Danzas Colombianas
10:04 Andrés Orozco-Estrada (conductor) about top musicians
10:35 Lina María Casas Guzmán (violinist) about her goals as a musician

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Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: Symphony in G major | Il Giardino Armonico & Giovanni Antonini

DW Classical Music 2022-07-23 | A musical feast for lovers of the “Hamburg Bach”: Il Giardino Armonico play Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s Symphony in G major Wq 182,1 (H657) under the baton of Giovanni Antonini. The concert on period instruments took place at the Musikverein, Vienna in 2000.

00:00 I. Allegro di molto
03:53 II. Poco adagio in E major
08:04 III. Presto

As the son of one of the greatest composers of all time, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714 - 1788) received one of the best music educations available. From a young age, he was given lessons in voice, composition, organ, keyboard and a string instrument (most likely violin) – many of which he received directly by his father Johann Sebastian Bach. After studying law at the University of Leipzig and the University of Frankfurt-on-the-Oder, C. P. E. Bach obtained a position at the Prussian court in the service of Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia (later: Frederick II). Three decades later, in 1768, Bach took over as director of music (Kapellmeister) in Hamburg, where he died in 1788.

During his time in Hamburg, Bach composed two sets of symphonies: six for string orchestra, Wq 182 (H657–62) and four so-called Orchestral Symphonies with Twelve Obbligato Parts, Wq 183 (H663–6). His symphony in G major is the first of the former group and was part of a commission of symphonies for the diplomat and wealthy patron of the arts, Baron van Swieten. Wq 182,1 contains many features characteristic of the “Empfindsamer Stil” (sentimental style) of which C. P. E. Bach can be understood as a trailblazer: Sudden switches in mood and atmosphere, daring modulations and expressive contrasts with disruptive incursions – particularly in the first of the three movements.

C. P. E Bach was often referred to as “Berlin Bach”, or “Hamburg Bach”, after his employment as Kapellmeister there, in order to distinguish him from his brother Johann Christian Bach, who was known as “London Bach”. C. P. E. Bach is remembered today as a highly accomplished composer and music teacher, whose works doubtlessly exerted major influence on the next generation of composers, including Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn.

© ORF and EuroArts Music International

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Wagner: Piano Sonata in A-flat major | Kit Armstrong at Margravial Opera House Bayreuth

DW Classical Music 2022-07-21 | Declaration of love or a gesture of appeasement: Wagner’s Piano Sonata in A-flat major ('Album-Sonata'), played by Kit Armstrong in the Margravial Opera House Bayreuth, 2019.

Watch the whole concert with Kit Armstrong:
youtu.be/Zg4uXeBGPCA

Richard Wagner’s (1813 – 1883) major musical dramas tend to overshadow his piano compositions. But the Piano Sonata in A flat major for M. Wesendonck (WWV 85) represents a significant turning point in the Wagnerian oeuvre.

With a warrant out for his arrest for revolutionary activities in Dresden, Wagner lived in exile in Zürich from 1849 until 1858, years he later described as some of the most “formative and productive” of his entire life. It was here that he produced – alongside numerous theoretical essays and texts for the musical dramas – much of the music for the Ring cycle and Act 1 of Tristan. But for the first years of his stay in Switzerland, Wagner hadn’t been able to compose a note.

That all changed in 1852 when he first met Mathilde Wesendonck. He felt inspired to pick up his pen once again and in June 1853, he composed the Piano Sonata in A-flat Major especially for her. The demanding piano piece was titled "A Sonata for the Album of Mrs. M. W."; he also added the motto "Wisst ihr, wie das wird?" (Do you know how it will be?) – a line from the prolog of Twilight of the Gods, where the Norns signpost the future.

It's not known whether this sonata was a kind of declaration of love, or whether Wagner composed the piano piece to symbolize his gratitude to Mathilde Wesendonck, as he later explained in a bid to calm the situation. In any case, a love affair did develop between Wagner and Wesendonck which, although it may have been only platonic, sent severe ripples through both marriages. And which, on the other hand, fanned the flames of Wagner’s compositional creativity once more. The motive fabric of the sonata can be seen as a precursor to the musical language of Tristan. Wagner personally presented Mathilde Wesendonck with the love opera’s original libretto in 1857.

The Wagner sonata is part of a longer piano recital that Armstrong gave on 24 July 2019 in Bayreuth. The program also included works by Franz Liszt and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The fairytale-like backdrop to this concert was provided by the Margravial Opera House Bayreuth, one of the most beautiful Baroque theaters in the world. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2012. The grand piano played by Armstrong also comes from Bayreuth. It was built by Steingraeber & Sons, a company that has been making pianos since 1852.

Thumbnail: © BFMI

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Felix Klieser: Portrait of a world-famous horn player

DW Classical Music 2022-07-17 | Virtuoso playing with one foot: horn player Felix Klieser was born without arms. He plays the valves of the French horn with the toes of his left foot. In this short portrait we hear how Klieser, who was born in Göttingen, first started playing the horn at the age of four; about his daily life as a professional musician, and the technical aspects of how he plays the instrument. But for the multi-award-winning horn player Klieser, the most important thing is the sheer joy of performing for an audience.

At a glance:
00:00 Introduction
00:19 Felix Klieser: what characterizes a musician
00:35 Felix Klieser in concert
00:52 Biography I
01:21 Felix Klieser: what others said about his horn playing
01:35 How Felix Klieser plays horn without arms
01:47 Felix Klieser: horn you just play with your lips
02:03 Felix Klieser plays a double French horn which has valves
02:17 Felix Klieser: not playing the valves with the foot is the problem, but the most difficult is training stamina
02:30 Biography II
02:54 Felix Klieser: you have to invest yourself
03:05 Felix Klieser's awards, albums, and concerts
03:39 The Felix Klieser Trio with the Croatian pianist Martina Filjak and the Ukrainian violinist Andrej Bielow
03:53 Felix Klieser: I want the people in the audience to be happy
04:10 Biography III
04:25 Felix Klieser: it's a privilege to be a musician

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Puccini: Gianni Schicchi | Opera Spanga and Sinfonia Rotterdam (opera film, 2014)

DW Classical Music 2022-07-16 | It is a tale of love, greed and hypocrisy: Puccini’s most famous one-act opera, Gianni Schicchi, is presented here as an innovative opera film. Conceived and produced by Opera Spanga (led by Corina van Eijk) with music provided by the Sinfonia Rotterdam (under the baton of Conrad van Alphen), this production takes an unorthodox approach to the genre of opera, without compromising on musical quality. The combination of solid musical skill paired with refreshing originality makes for a captivating watch.

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) composed Gianni Schicchi between 1917 and 1918. The opera tells the story of a cunning knight of the same name, a character who first appeared in the Inferno part of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy and is believed to have been inspired by the real historical figure of Gianni Schicchi de' Cavalcanti.

Schicchi is a master of impersonation. When the wealthy Buoso Donati dies and leaves his fortune to the local monastery, his money-hungry family is in uproar. After a brawl between the Donati family – who look down on Schicchi due to his humble origins – Schicchi agrees to impersonate the deceased Donati in order to dictate a new will to the notary. The plan works since nobody except Donati’s immediate family knows of his death, but the two-faced Schicchi allocates most of the money to himself. In the end, the imposter has gained a fortune, while Donati’s hypocritical relatives are left with almost nothing.

A special feature of this opera film is the casting of women in roles originally devised for men – most notably that of Rinuccio Schicchi, son of Gianni Schicchi. In van Eijk’s production of the opera, the soprano Francis van Broekhuizen (played in the film by Lynn Jansen) takes up this role, which is normally sung by a tenor – a brave stylistic choice which turns the romantic relationship between Rinuccio and Lauretta into one between two women.

Rather than for his one-act comic operas which he composed towards the end of his career, Giacomo Puccini is best known for his three- and four-act operas, such as La bohème, Tosca and Madame Butterfly. Gianni Schicchi premiered at the Metropolitan Opera on 14 December 1918. The composer did not attend.

At a glance:
00:00 Opening
18:08 Avete torto! (Rinuccia)
24:53 O mio babbino caro (Lauretta)
32:55 Ah, che zucconi! (Gianni Schicchi)
39:20 Trio: Spogliati, bambolino (Nella, La Ciesca, Zita)
54:48 Duet: Lauretta mia, staremo sempre qui! (Rinuccia, Lauretta)

Roles:
Gianni Schicchi: Peter Michailov
Lauretta: Sandrine Buendia
Zita: Klara Uleman
Rinuccia: Lynn Jansen (voiced by: Francis van Broekhuizen)
Gherardo: Wil van der Meer
Nella: Francis van Broekhuizen
Gherardina: Lotteline Kuijt
Betto: Matthijs Mesdag
Simone: Marcel van Dieren
Marco: Mark Gough
La Ciesca: Madieke Marjon
Maestra Spinelloccia: Do van Stek (voiced by: Monique Krus)
Notary Sinan Vural
Nurse: Wivineke van Groningen
Buoso Donati: Fred Turner

Sinfonia Rotterdam
Conrad van Alphen, conductor
Corina van Eijk, director

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Jan Lisiecki: Portrait of a charismatic piano virtuoso

DW Classical Music 2022-07-14 | He’s one of the piano greats. This Canadian musician of Polish heritage dazzles audiences both with his virtuosity and with the maturity of his interpretations. He comes across as a pianist with decades of experience. But Jan Lisiecki is just 27 years old.

Lisiecki is a modest interviewee; he speaks candidly about his love for the piano and how he manages his huge workload, as well as how he values his personal life. A multi-faceted picture emerges of an extraordinary pianist known for his capacity for profound self-reflection. And of course, we get to hear him play throughout the video, with excerpts from some of his most powerful performances.

We met Jan Lisiecki during his performance with the New York Philharmonic in Peenemünde on the German island of Usedom in May 2022.

At a glance:
00:00 Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-Flat Major, Op. 73, Jan Lisiecki, piano, excerpt
01:06 Jan Lisiecki on his early mastery/maturity on the piano
02:00 Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-Flat Major, Op. 73, Jan Lisiecki, piano, excerpt
02:22 Jan Lisiecki on joy and pain at his live concerts
03:01 Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-Flat Major, Op. 73, Jan Lisiecki, piano, excerpt
03:44 Jan Lisiecki on Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5
04:58 Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-Flat Major, Op. 73, Jan Lisiecki, piano, rehearsal
05:31 Jan Lisiecki on how he prepares for a concert
06:15 Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-Flat Major, Op. 73, Jan Lisiecki, piano, excerpt
06:41 Jan Lisiecki on playing the piano at 3 a.m.
07:16 Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-Flat Major, Op. 73, Jan Lisiecki, piano, rehearsal
07:39 Jan Lisiecki when asked what time he goes to bed
07:52 Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-Flat Major, Op. 73, Jan Lisiecki, piano, rehearsal
08:03 Jan Lisiecki on the balance between professional and personal life
08:49 Jan Lisiecki at the beach on the island of Usedom
08:57 Jan Lisiecki on other forms of art and how they influence him
09:52 Robert Schumann, Night Pieces, Op. 23, I. Funeral Procession, Jan Lisiecki, piano, excerpt
10:57 Jan Lisiecki on his youth and how he came to music
11:57 Maurice Ravel, Gaspard de la nuit, Jan Lisiecki, piano, excerpt
12:20 Jan Lisiecki on how he learns a new piece
13:26 Frédéric Chopin, Scherzo No. 1 in B minor, Op. 20, Jan Lisiecki, piano, excerpt
14:06 Jan Lisiecki on his affection for Chopin and his Polish roots
15:04 Frédéric Chopin, Scherzo No. 1 in B minor, Op. 20, Jan Lisiecki, piano, excerpt
15:40 Jan Lisiecki on stereotypes in music and in life
16:50 Frédéric Chopin, Scherzo No. 1 in B minor, Op. 20, Jan Lisiecki, piano, excerpt
17:32 Jan Lisiecki on his purist approach to music and jumping barriers
18:39 Frédéric Chopin, Scherzo No. 1 in B minor, Op. 20, Jan Lisiecki, piano, excerpt
19:14 Jan Lisiecki on being mentioned in the same breath with other star pianists
20:33 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Twelve Variations on “Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman” K. 265/300e, Jan Lisiecki, piano, excerpt
20:59 Jan Lisiecki on Germany – one of his favorite places
21:40 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Twelve Variations on “Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman” K. 265/300e, Jan Lisiecki, piano, excerpt
22:17 Jan Lisiecki on his ideas of how to spread classical music
23:35 Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-Flat Major, Op. 73, Jan Lisiecki, piano, excerpt

Thumbnail: © Christoph Köstlin / Deutsche Grammophon

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Mozart: Fantasy in C minor | Kit Armstrong (piano), Margravial Opera House Bayreuth, 2019

DW Classical Music 2022-07-14 | A fantastical piece against a fantastic backdrop: Mozart’s Fantasy in C minor (K. 475) played by Kit Armstrong at the Margravial Opera House Bayreuth, 2019.

Watch the whole concert with Kit Armstrong:
youtu.be/Zg4uXeBGPCA

The highlight of the concert evenings that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791) regularly held with a small orchestra in Vienna were his improvisations on the fortepiano, with which the composer enriched the program. Mozart usually did not write down these always much acclaimed piano pieces, so they are lost to posterity. One exception is the Fantasy in C minor (K. 475), which Mozart set to music and published in 1785.

The Piano Fantasy in C minor begins in a somber and restrained C minor. Characteristic, however, is then a multiple change between minor and major keys, which provides an alternating bath of musical expressions that oscillate between exuberant cheerfulness and deepest sadness. Finally, the round dance ends again in the initial key of C minor, which gives the Fantasy K. 475 a cohesive form despite all its variety. The Fantasy in C minor is one of Mozart’s best-known fantasies and is – like most of Mozart’s works – hugely challenging.

Fun fact: Mozart was not poor, but he was always short of money because he lived a less-than-modest lifestyle. He often tried to make a quick buck with hastily written compositions. This was also the case with the manuscript of the C minor Fantasy. Mozart quickly sold it (together with that of the subsequent Piano Sonata in C minor) in order to temporarily secure his livelihood from the little money he had. In 1990 the autograph of these two piano works was auctioned at Sotheby’s for £880,000.

The Mozart Fantasy in C minor is part of a longer piano recital given by Kit Armstrong in Bayreuth on July 24, 2019. The program also included works by Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner. The fantastic setting for this concert is provided by the Margravial Opera House Bayreuth, one of the most beautiful Baroque theaters in the world. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2012. The grand piano that Armstrong plays also comes from Bayreuth – from the renowned piano manufacturers Streingraeber & Söhne, who have been making pianos since 1852.

Thumbnail: © BFMI

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Handel: Zadok the Priest | The English Concert & Händelfestspielorchester Halle

DW Classical Music 2022-07-10 | Exuberant and regal: Two of the world’s most noted Baroque orchestras, the English Concert and the Händelfestspielorchester Halle, played “Zadok the Priest” HWV 258 under the baton of Howard Arman as part of the Handel Celebration Concert on 14 April 2009. The performance took place in the spectacular Market Church of Halle, where Handel was baptized in 1685.

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) composed “Zadok the Priest” for the coronation of the British monarch George II and queen consort Caroline of Ansbach, in 1727. At the time of composition, Handel had already lived in London for over a decade, and he would remain there until his death in 1759. In February 1727, mere months before the coronation of George II, the German born Handel became a British citizen – a highly complicated process at the time, which demonstrates Handel’s commitment to the country.

“Zadok the Priest” is one of four anthems Handel composed for the coronation celebration in 1727. The work was first played for George II and has been performed at the coronation of every British monarch since then – most recently at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. The text for “Zadok the Priest'' was picked by Handel himself. The composer is quoted to have said the following words upon receiving a text suggestion by the bishops: “I have read my Bible very well, and shall choose for myself”.

The opening of the piece is carried by a ceremonial and regal string section which gradually builds up, before finally bursting into a triumphant eruption of trumpets and a choir which sings:
“Zadok the Priest
And Nathan the Prophet
Anointed Solomon King”

The exuberant quality of the choir continues to develop over the following bars and eventually culminates in an ecstatically joyful “God save the King!” – highly fitting for the ceremonial setting it is usually performed in.

Artists:
The English Concert
Händelfestspielorchester Halle
MDR Rundfunkchor
Hallenser Madrigalisten
Händelfestspielchor
Chor der Oper Halle
Howard Arman, conductor

© EuroArts Music International

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Opera Gala with Kristine Opolais | Sesto Quatrini and the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra (2016)

DW Classical Music 2022-07-09 | A gala concert with a top soprano: Kristine Opolais gives a solo concert at the Latvian National Opera (2016). The Latvian National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Sesto Quatrini accompanies her. The program includes some of the most famous arias and instrumental pieces from operas by Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Pietro Mascagni, Camille Saint-Saëns, Arrigo Boito, and Alfredo Catalani.

Born in 1979 into a musical family in Latvia, Opolais joined the choir of the Latvian National Opera in 2001. In 2006 she made her debut at the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden. Roles at La Scala in Milan and the Vienna State Opera followed. In 2014, Opolais went down in the history of the Metropolitan Opera New York by singing two premieres of Puccini operas two nights in a row. She began with the title role of Madame Butterfly, and the following day she stood in for another artist as Mimì in La Bohème. To this day, Opolais is considered one of the most sought-after Puccini interpreters in the opera world.

At a glance:
(00:00) Overture (VERDI: Luisa Miller)
(05:37) Salce, salce and Ave Maria (VERDI: Otello)
(21:26) Ritorna vincitor! (VERDI: Aida)
(28:21) Overture (VERDI: La forza del destino)
(36:15) Ebben ne andro lontana (CATALANI: La Wally)
(40:04) Intermezzo (MASCAGNI: L'amico Fritz)
(44:22) L'altra notte in fondo al mare (BOITO: Mefistofele)
(51:23) Un bel di vedremo (PUCCINI: Madama Butterfly)
(56:26) Intermezzo (PUCCINI: Manon Lescaut)
(1:01:53) Sola, perduta, abbandonata (PUCCINI: Manon Lescaut)
(1:07:09) Bacchanale (SAINT-SAËNS: Samson and Dalila)
(1:14:13) Con onor muore (PUCCINI: Madama Butterfly)
(1:20:45) O mio babbino caro (PUCCINI: Gianni Schicchi)

© EuroArts Music International / Latvian Television 2016

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Liszt: Years of Pilgrimage, 4 Pieces | Kit Armstrong (piano), Margravial Opera House Bayreuth, 2019

DW Classical Music 2022-07-07 | A fairytale-like piano concert: Kit Armstrong plays four piano pieces from Years of Pilgrimage by Franz Liszt in the Margravial Opera House Bayreuth, 2019.

Watch the whole concert with Kit Armstrong:
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(00:00) Au bord d'une source (Beside a Spring)
from: Années de pèlerinage, Première année: Suisse, No. 4
(Years of Pilgrimage, First Year: Switzerland, No. 4)

(04:49) Sonetto 123 del Petrarca (Petrarch's Sonnet 123)
From: Années de pèlerinage, Deuxième année: Italie, No. 6
(Years of Pilgrimage, Second Year: Italy, No. 6)

(11:11) Aux cyprès de la Villa D'Este II (To the Cypresses of the Villa d'Este II)
From Années de pèlerinage, Troisième année, No. 3
(Years of Pilgrimage, Third Year, No. 3)

(21:07) Les jeux d'eaux à la Villa d'Este (The Fountains of the Villa d'Este)
From Années de pèlerinage, Troisième année, No. 4
(Years of Pilgrimage, Third Year, No. 4)

Years of Pilgrimage (Années de pèlerinage) from Franz Liszt (1811 – 1886) is a collection of 26 character pieces for solo piano in three volumes. With Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s famous novel ‘Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship’ as its template, Years of Pilgrimage was created based on Franz Liszt’s travel experiences and reflects the compendium of Liszt’s musical development as a piano composer from the 1840s to the 1870s.

The four pieces from Years of Pilgrimage chosen by Kit Armstrong can be considered representative of the cycle in their very different ways. The Liszt pieces are a sample from a longer piano recital that Armstrong gave on July 24, 2019 in Bayreuth. Works by Richard Wagner and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart were also in the program. The fairytale-like backdrop to this concert was provided by the Margravial Opera House Bayreuth, one of the most beautiful Baroque theaters in the world. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2012. The grand piano played by Armstrong also comes from Bayreuth, from the renowned piano manufacturers Steingraeber & Söhne, which has been making pianos since 1852.

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Bach: Concerto in D minor | Katia & Marielle Labèque, Ottavio Dantone & Il Giardino Armonico

DW Classical Music 2022-07-03 | Concerto for three harpsichords with special instrumentation: Bach's Concerto for 3 harpsichords in D minor (BWV 1063), here in a version for fortepiani and harpsichord. Katia and Marielle Labèque (fortepiano), Ottavio Dantone (harpsichord), and the Il Giardino Armonico ensemble, conducted by Giovanni Antonini. The concert was held in the year 2000 at the Musikverein, Vienna.

(00:00) No tempo designation
(05:42) Alla Siciliana
(09:32) Allegro

The thirteen concertos that Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750) wrote for one or more harpsichords with orchestral accompaniment are a milestone of music history. In a sense, they mark the beginning of the story of the piano concerto, then further developed by Bach's sons. In almost all of the harpsichord concertos, Bach drew upon his own earlier works and arranged them for the keyboard instrument which was at the time enjoying its rise to popularity. The harpsichord concertos were written for Leipzig's Collegium Musicum; a student orchestra that Bach led from 1723, and with which he held regular coffee-house concerts.

The form of the Concerto in D minor BWV 1063 is in its first movement circumscribed by an earnest, weighty theme – played in unison and then repeated in variations. Between the sections in unison come the respective virtuoso solo sections for each of the three keyboard instruments. In the second movement – with the typical lagging, swaying triple time of a Siciliana, only one keyboard instrument is featured as a soloist. In the third movement – a five-part fugue – all three soloists contribute, lending the concerto a rousing vigor.

© ORF and EuroArts Music International

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Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 | Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra

DW Classical Music 2022-07-02 | The great mystic symphony: Symphony No. 9 in D minor by Anton Bruckner, performed by the Budapest Festival Orchestra (BFO) conducted by Iván Fischer. The concert was held on February 28, 2014 at the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall, Budapest.

(00:00) I. Feierlich, misterioso
(24:56) II. Scherzo
(35:25) III. Adagio. Langsam, feierlich

It belongs in the company of a line of unfinished symphonies; works which nevertheless set historical standards for music: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, by Anton Bruckner (1824 - 1896). Bruckner is said to have dedicated his monumental ninth symphony "to the beloved God." There is no written proof of this, but the doctor who treated the seriously ill composer is said to have heard Bruckner himself utter the words. The veracity of this possible dedication is, however, the subject of critical discussion.

Bruckner had already begun composing his ninth symphony in 1887. Owing to various interruptions, work on it was to continue up until his death, in 1896. Bruckner was able to complete three movements, the fourth movement existing solely in fragmented form. This three-movement fragment of the symphony received its premiere in Munich on April 2, 1932. Prior to that, an initial performance of the three movements had already been given in 1903, but conductor Ferdinand Löwe had reworked them so much that one cannot truly speak of a Bruckner premiere.

In 1934, as part of the Bruckner Gesamtausgabe (Bruckner's Complete Edition), musicologist Alfred Orel (1889 - 1967) published for the first time not only the three completed movements of the ninth symphony, but also sequenced the fourth movement as it was known at the time.

Although unfinished, Bruckner's Ninth has to this day continued to hold great allure for musicians and musicologists alike. It's not only frequently performed, but has been 'completed' in numerous different ways. On account of its amalgam of solemn seriousness, its oblique scherzo movement, and its numerous artfully-woven quotations, Bruckner's Symphony No. 9 is considered by many to be an almost mystical work. Whichever way one views it, Bruckner stretched symphonic form to its fullest possible extent, creating new realms of sound by transcending the boundaries of tonality – cementing Bruckner's Ninth as a groundbreaking work of the modern age.

© LGM Télévision in co-production with Mezzo

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Mozart: String Quartet No. 21, Prussian No. 1 | Gewandhaus Quartet

DW Classical Music 2022-06-30 | Four strings in perfect balance: The Gewandhaus Quartet plays Mozart's String Quartet No. 21 in D major, K. 575, “Prussian No. 1”, in the historic surrounds of Rammenau Baroque Castle, 2005.

(00:00) I. Allegretto
(07:15) II. Andante
(11:26) III. Menuetto: Allegretto
(17:25) IV. Allegretto

Of the 23 string quartets composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791), the final three bear the epithet 'Prussian' – as it is said that Prussian king Frederick William II commissioned them from Mozart. Mozart did in fact travel to Potsdam and Berlin – among other places – in the spring of 1789, with the intention of offering his service as a composer to the Prussian king. Frederick William II had succeeded his uncle Frederick II on the Prussian throne upon his death and, like his uncle, was known to be a great lover and supporter of music. He himself also played the cello. This fabled meeting of Mozart and the music-loving king, however, never took place. Mozart apparently traveled back to Vienna without having received a royal commission, and completed the first of the 'Prussian' string quartets in June of 1789. Although he did dedicate it to the new King of Prussia in his 'catalog raisonné', the dedication was no longer present in the finalised original score.

The connection to cello-playing Frederick William II remained nonetheless apparent, as the cello features so prominently in the three 'Prussian' string quartets. In string quartets, it is typically the first violin that sets the tone, but here the leading role is often granted to the cello. It's the cello that determines the course of the 'conversation' between the string instruments. Mozart succeeded in bringing the interplay of the four strings into almost perfect balance, regardless. In particular, String Quartet No. 21 in D major stands out for its balance of form. Its lyrical, cheerful character is reminiscent of the 'galant' style, so highly favored in Prussia at the time.

The Gewandhaus Quartet (also known as the Leipzig Gewandhaus Quartet) was founded in 1808, thereby making it one of the world's oldest professional quartets. It is made up of the soloists and concertmasters of the Gewandhaus Orchestra. The Gewandhaus Quartet have performed numerous premieres of works by renowned composers.

Performing in this concert:
Frank-Michael Erben (first violin)
Conrad Suske (second violin)
Volker Metz (viola)
Jürnjakob Timm (cello)

© EuroArts Music International

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Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 20 | Stefan Vladar & Kammerorchester Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

DW Classical Music 2022-06-26 | It is considered Mozart’s first symphonic concert and is an era-defining masterpiece. Pianist Stefan Vladar and the Kammerorchester Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach under the baton of Hartmut Haenchen performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466 at the Konzerthaus Berlin in 2005.

(00:00) I. Allegro
(12:49) II. Romanze
(21:02) III. Rondo. Allegro assai

Between 1784 and 1786, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) wrote twelve piano concertos, many of which are significant in the history of the genre. He completed his Piano Concerto No. 20 on February 10, 1785, and it was premiered in Vienna one day later, with Mozart himself playing the solo part.

Piano Concerto No. 20 is the first of only two piano concertos by Mozart in a minor key. It shares the key of D minor with works such as the Requiem and the overture from Don Giovanni. In Mozart's music, D minor stands for the highest levels of drama and expressiveness. The D minor concerto is considered Mozart’s first “symphonic concerto”. This had already been hinted at in his nineteenth piano concerto with large, independent orchestral passages and the solo piano as an occasional accompanying element.

The main movement ends in a Piano, which is rare in Mozart’s pieces and at first glance does not fit the dramatic character of the work. Rather, it contains a large-scale interlinking of the movements’ content. The resolution of the musical conflicts sparked takes place in the two further movements of the concerto. This approach of an overall artistic concept was to be pursued prevail to perfection in the following musical eras.

With the Piano Concerto No. 20 at the latest, Mozart overcame the obligation of music to follow the entertainment ideals of its time and he found individual artistic freedom – another reason why Concerto K. 466 is a special work.

© RBB and EuroArts Music International

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Great arias by Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Rossini, Bellini, Bizet & others | Opera Gala Bonn 2022

DW Classical Music 2022-06-25 | Enjoy world-famous arias by Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Vinci, Offenbach, Bizet, Massenet and Orff at the 10th Opera Gala Bonn for the German AIDS Foundation at the Bonn Opera on May 14th, 2022. Here, you will find celebrated opera stars accompanied by the Beethoven Orchestra and the Opera Chorus of the Theater Bonn, conducted by Jacques Lacombe. Entertainer and host Johannes B. Kerner will lead the evening under the patronage of trumpeter Till Brönner.

The fundraising event is organized by the German AIDS Foundation (https://aids-stiftung.de) with proceeds going towards projects in Germany and Mozambique. To donate, please visit: https://aids-stiftung.de/spenden or transfer your contribution to this account DE85 3705 0198 0008 0040 04. The artists are working for free for this good cause.

Program:
(00:00) Intro
(02:41) Ludwig van Beethoven, Overture, from Fidelio
(09:26) Welcome by the initiators of the 10th Opera Gala Bonn Arndt and Helmut Andreas Hartwig
(23:51) Introduction of the host of the evening Johannes B. Kerner
(28:35) Talk with Katja Dörner, Mayor of the Federal City of Bonn; Dr Bernhard Helmich, General Director Theatre Bonn; Peter Limbourg, Director General Deutsche Welle; Dr Ralf Kantak Chairman of the Association of Private Health Insurance Companies & Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the German AIDS Foundation; Ulrich Voigt, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sparkasse KölnBonn; Steven Walter, Artistic Director Beethovenfest Bonn; Iryna Shum, Consul General of Ukraine
(44:50) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Là ci darem la mano, from Don Giovanni | Rocío Pérez (Soprano), Giorgos Kanaris (Baritone)
(48:36) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Deh se piacer mi vuoi, from La clemenza di Tito | Lidia Fridman (Soprano)
(56:10) Gioacchino Rossini, Cruda sorte! Amor tiranno!, from l’italiana in Algeri | Nadezhda Karyazina (Mezzo-soprano)
(1:02:43) Giacomo Puccini, E lucevan le stelle, from Tosca | Raffaele Abete (Tenor)
(1:07:31) Gioacchino Rossini, Largo al factotum, from Il barbiere di Siviglia | Johannes Kammler (Baritone)
(1:15:05) Jacques Offenbach, Les oiseaux dans la charmille, from Les contes d’Hoffmann | Rocío Pérez (Soprano)
(1:22:06) Jules Massenet, Pourquoi me réveiller, from Werther | Ioan Hotea (Tenor)
(1:25:57) Round table with Dr Kristel Degener, Chairwoman of the Board of the German AIDS Foundation; Prof Dr Hendrik Streeck, Professor of Virology, Director of the Institute of Virology and HIV Research at the University Bonn & Chairman of the Board of Trustees German AIDS Foundation; Paul Zubeil, Federal Ministry of Health (Germany)
(1:35:13) Leonardo Vinci, In braccio a mille furie, from Semiramide riconosciuta | Simone Kermes (Soprano)
(1:40:57) Giuseppe Verdi, Bella figlia dell‘amore, from Rigoletto | Rocío Pérez (Soprano), Nadezhda Karyazina (Mezzo-soprano), Giorgos Kanaris (Baritone), Ioan Hotea (Tenor)
(1:48:22) Léo Delibes, Pas de deux, from Sylvia | Manuel Legris (Choreography), Kiyoka Hashimoto & Masayu Kimoto (Dancers)
(1:57:17) Gaetano Donizetti, Una furtiva lagrima, Aus L’elisir d’amore | Raffaele Abete (Tenor)
(2:03:27) Georges Bizet, L’amour est un oiseau rebelle (Habanera), from Carmen | Opera Choir of the Theater Bonn, Nadezhda Karyazina (Mezzo-soprano)
(2:08:40) Talk with the patron of the 10th Opera Gala Bonn Till Brönner
(2:12:56) Talk with the initiators of the 10th Opera Gala Bonn Arndt and Helmut Andreas Hartwig
(2:18:23) Talk with Ranga Yogeshwar, host of the Opera Gala 2018 & patron of the Opera Gala 2019; Uschi Yogeshwar, patron of the Opera Gala 2019; Anja Bröker, host of the Opera Gala 2019; Bettina Böttinger, host of the Opera Gala 2016
(2:24:08) Freddie Hubbard, Thermo | Till Brönner with Band
(2:32:18) Giuseppe Verdi, La donna è mobile, from Rigoletto | Ioan Hotea (Tenor)
(2:35:10) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Hai già vinta la causa, from Le nozze di Figaro | Johannes Kammler (Baritone)
(2:41:13) Vincenzo Bellini, Casta Diva, from Norma | Lidia Fridman (Soprano)
(2:48:37) Talk with soprano Simone Kermes
(2:51:39) Norbert Schultze, Lili Marleen | Simone Kermes (Soprano), Till Brönner (Trumpet)
(2:58:24) Carl Orff, O Fortuna, from Carmina Burana | Opera Choir of the Theater Bonn
(3:04:00) Video message from Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus from ABBA
(3:06:04) ABBA, Ode to Freedom | all soloists, Beethoven Orchestra & the Opera Chorus of the Theater Bonn

Soloists:
Raffaele Abete - Tenor
Lidia Fridman - Soprano
Ioan Hotea - Tenor
Giorgos Kanaris - Baritone
Johannes Kammler - Baritone
Nadezhda Karyazina - Mezzo-soprano
Simone Kermes - Soprano
Rocío Pérez - Soprano
Kiyoka Hashimoto und Masayu Kimoto - Dance Pair

Thumbnail: © Thilo Beu

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Bach’s Successor: The Thomaners New Conductor Andreas Reize | Music Documentary

DW Classical Music 2022-06-19 | To one day direct the Thomaner Choir in Leipzig: this has always been a very special ambition in the music world, after all Johann Sebastian Bach was once cantor of the choir himself. Since the fall of 2021, this illustrious post has been filled by Swiss national Andreas Reize. Reize is the 18th Cantor at St. Thomas after J.S. Bach.

The Music Documentary "Bach's Successor – The Thomaner's New Conductor" shows how smoothly Andreas Reize has settled into his role. The film by Axel Rowohlt observes the Cantor and his highly traditional choir at work – and not just on the music of J.S. Bach; it also affords an insight into the everyday lives of the choristers at the Thomaner School. This illustrates how Reize’s appointment to the post marks a new era, because he has no personal ties to Leipzig or the over 800-year-old boys’ choir. Nevertheless: Andreas Reize is a widely respected authority on church music. For him, following in the footsteps of Bach to conduct the Thomaner Choir fulfills a long-held dream.

At a glance:
00:00 A new era for the Thomaner Choir
00:48 Music excerpt: Max Reger, “Nachtlied” (Night Song) Op. 138, No. 3
01:03 Daily life of the choir students I
01:39 Music excerpt: Heinrich Schütz, "Alle Augen warten auf Dich, Herre", SWV 429
02:03 Daily life of the choir students II
02:22 Introducing Cantor at St. Thomas Andreas Reize
04:43 Group rehearsal
05:25 Music excerpt: Heinrich Schütz: "Ach Herr, straf mich nicht in deinem Zorn", SWV 24
06:24 The concept of “historically informed performance“ (HIP)
08:40 A lesson in music … and manners
12:36 The role of religion in the choristers’ lives I
13:16 Should girls be allowed in the choir?
14:37 The iconic Thomaner Choir uniform
16:13 Preparing for the Friday evening performance
19:22 Music excerpt: Max Reger, “Nachtlied” (Night Song) Op. 138, No. 3
20:14 The special aura of St. Thomas Church, Leipzig
20:42 Music excerpt: Max Reger, “Nachtlied” (Night Song) Op. 138, No. 3
21:03 Could the choir perform in a secular setting?
22:45 Music excerpt: Hubert Parry, "My soul, there is a country"
23:08 The role of religion in the choristers’ lives II
24:51 Music excerpt: Hubert Parry, "My soul, there is a country"

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Bach: St Matthew Passion | Thomanerchor Leipzig, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin & Andreas Reize

DW Classical Music 2022-06-17 | Live from the Leipzig Bach Festival 2022: St Matthew Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach. The performance takes place at the St. Thomas Church, Leipzig.

Performers:
Evangelist: Patrick Grahl | TENOR
Jesus: Andreas Scheibner | BASS
Dorothee Mields | SOPRANO
Elvira Bill | ALTO
Arias: Wolfram Lattke | TENOR
Pilatus and Arias: Tobias Berndt | BASS
Thomanerchor Leipzig (St. Thomas Choir of Leipzig)
St. Thomas Choir candidates from the Anna Magdalena Bach School and the forum thomanum elementary school
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin (Academy for Early Music Berlin, short name: Akamus)
Andreas Reize | CONDUCTOR

00:00 Intro
03:58 Kommt, ihr Töchter (choir)
09:53 Da Jesus diese Rede (recitative)
10:32 Herzliebster Jesu (choir)
11:08 Da versammelten sich (rec.)
13:50 Du lieber Heiland (recitativo accompagnato)
14:33 Buß und Reu (aria)
18:13 Da ging hin (rec.)
18:44 Blute nur, du liebes Herz! (aria)
22:30 Aber am ersten Tage (rec.)
24:15 Herr, bin ich’s? (choir)
25:07 Er antwortete (rec.)
27:30 Wiewohl mein Herz in Tränen (rec. acc.)
28:35 Ich will dir mein Herze schenken (aria)
31:49 Und da sie den Lobgesang (rec.)
32:43 Erkenne mich, mein Hüter (choir)
33:39 Petrus aber (rec.)
34:26 Ich will hier bei dir stehen (choir)
36:33 Da kam Jesus (rec.)
38:08 Hier zittert das gequälte Herz (rec. acc.)
39:43 Ich will bei meinem Jesu wachen (aria)
44:31 Und ging hin (rec.)
45:06 Der Heiland fällt (rec. acc.)
45:49 Gerne will ich mich bequemen (aria)
49:37 Und er kam (recitative)
50:44 Was mein Gott will, das g’scheh allzeit (choir)
51:37 Und er kam (rec.)
53:43 So ist mein Jesus nun gefangen (aria)
56:50 Sind Blitze, sind Donner in Wolken verschwunden? (choir)
57:46 Und siehe (rec.)
59:44 O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß (choir)
01:04:47 Intermission
01:15:12 Ach! nun ist mein Jesus hin! (aria)
01:18:25 Die aber Jesum (rec.)
01:19:22 Mir hat die Welt trüglich gericht’ (choir)
01:20:02 Und wiewohl (rec.)
01:21:00 Mein Jesus schweigt (rec. acc.)
01:21:55 Geduld! (aria)
01:25:13 Und der Hohepriester (rec.)
01:26:28 Er ist des Todes schuldig! (choir)
01:27:07 Wer hat dich so geschlagen (choir)
01:27:49 Petrus aber (rec.)
01:29:47 Erbarme dich (aria)
01:35:49 Bin ich gleich von dir gewichen (choir)
01:37:26 Des Morgens aber (rec.)
01:39:03 Gebt mir meinen Jesum wieder! (aria)
01:41:36 Sie hielten aber (rec.)
01:43:28 Befiehl du deine Wege (choir)
01:44:35 Auf das Fest aber (rec.)
01:46:17 Laß ihn kreuzigen! (choir)
01:47:51 Der Landpfleger sagte (rec.)
01:48:07 Er hat uns allen wohlgetan (rrec. acc.)
01:49:12 Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterben (aria)
01:54:05 Sie schrieen aber (rec.)
01:55:45 Erbarm es Gott! (rec. acc.)
01:56:39 Können Tränen meiner Wangen (aria)
02:02:14 Da nahmen (rec.)
02:03:17 O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden (choir)
02:07:09 Und da sie ihn verspottet (rec.)
02:07:57 Ja freilich will in uns (rec. acc.)
02:08:09 Komm, süßes Kreuz (aria)
02:14:12 Und da sie (rec.)
02:17:16 Ach Golgatha (rec. acc.)
02:18:41 Sehet, Jesus hat die Hand (aria)
02:21:46 Und von der sechsten Stunde an (rec.)
02:23:54 Wenn ich einmal soll scheiden (choir)
02:28:50 Am Abend, da es kühle war (rec. acc.)
02:30:44 Mache dich, mein Herze, rein (aria)
02:36:08 Und Joseph nahm (rec.)
02:38:26 Nun ist der Herr zur Ruh (rec. acc.)
02:40:22 Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder (choir)
02:45:38 Credits

The St Matthew Passion (Passio secundum Matthaeum, BWV 244) for solo voices, soprano in ripieni, double choir and double orchestra is Bach’s largest ensemble work, but at a length of around three hours, it’s also his longest. This monumental piece not only perpetuated the tradition of Good Friday passion plays, it also expanded the possibilities of the genre – something that induced Bach’s wife Anna Magdalena to describe it simply as the ‘Great Passion’.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750) composed the St Matthew Passion for Good Friday 1727. It received its premiere at the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. Bach revised the original scoring in 1736, producing a version since regarded as the definitive one. It was Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809 – 1847) who rediscovered the St Matthew Passion more than 100 years later, arranging its performance at the Berliner Singakademie in 1829. The major Bach composition was significantly reworked in accordance with contemporary tastes. Mendelssohn’s performance ushered in a veritable Bach Renaissance.

Christian Friedrich Henrici (1700 – 1764), Bach’s Leipzig librettist, who worked under the pseudonym Picander, was responsible for writing the words for the St Matthew Passion. It is viewed as his most successful sacred poetry. The libretto presents a dialog between the Daughter of Zion and the faithful souls, which may have been the reason why Bach opted for a double choir and orchestra. This interplay creates - in both the libretto and the music – an exuberant Baroque outpouring that nevertheless maintains uniformity.

Thumbnail: © Stadt Leipzig, Jens Schlüter

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Bach: St John Passion | Choir & Orchestra of the J.S. Bach Foundation, Rudolf Lutz (conductor)

DW Classical Music 2022-06-14 | Live from the Leipzig Bach Festival 2022: St John Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach (1749 version). The Choir & Orchestra of the J.S. Bach Foundation will sing and play, conducted by Rudolf Lutz. The opening of the concert will be the world premiere of the Prelude in F minor for organ by Rudolf Lutz (*1951). The organ will be played by the St. Thomas Church organist Johannes Lang.

Program:
00:00 Intro
05:08 Rudolf Lutz, Prelude in F minor for organ (world premiere)
06:24 Herr, unser Herrscher (choir)
14:59 Jesus ging mit seinen Jüngern (recitative)
17:31 O große Lieb (choir)
18:24 Auf dass das Wort (rec.)
19:42 Dein Will gescheh’ (choir)
20:33 Die Schar aber (rec.)
21:23 Von den Stricken meiner Sünden (aria)
26:07 Simon Petrus aber (rec.)
26:22 Ich folge dir gleichfalls mit freudigen Schritten (aria)
30:02 Derselbige Jünger war (rec.)
33:19 Wer hat dich so geschlagen? (choir)
35:33 Und Hannas sandte ihn gebunden (rec.)
37:57 Ach mein Sinn (aria)
40:29 Petrus, der nicht denkt zurück (choir)
42:18 Intermission
46:40 Nicola Cumer, Fantasia per l'organo
47:30 Christus, der uns selig macht (choir)
48:41 Da führeten sie Jesum (rec.)
53:06 Ach großer König (choir)
54:56 Da sprach Pilatus (rec.)
57:03 Betrachte, meine Seele (aria)
59:21 Erwäge, wie sein blutgefärbter Rücken (aria)
01:07:09 Und die Kriegsknechte flochten (rec.)
01:13:10 Durch dein Gefängnis, Gottes Sohn (choir)
01:14:14 Die Juden aber schrieen (rec.)
01:18:29 Eilt, ihr angefochtnen Seelen (aria)
01:22:26 Allda kreuzigten (rec.)
01:24:40 In meines Herzens Grunde (choir)
01:26:45 Die Kriegsknechte aber (rec.)
01:30:41 Er nahm alles wohl in acht (choir)
01:31:53 Und von Stund an (rec.)
01:33:24 Es ist vollbracht (aria)
01:38:11 Und neigte das Haupt (rec.)
01:38:39 Mein teurer Heiland (aria)
01:43:53 Und siehe da (rec.)
01:44:26 Mein Herz, indem die ganze Welt (arioso)
01:45:16 Zerfließe, mein Herz (aria)
01:51:37 Die Jüden aber (rec.)
01:53:52 O hilf, Christe, Gottes Sohn (choir)
01:55:00 Darnach bat Pilatum (rec.)
01:57:07 Ruht wohl, ihr heiligen Gebeine (choir)
02:03:48 Ach Herr, lass dein lieb Engelein (choir)
02:06:10 Credits

Performers:
Johannes Lang | ORGAN
Evangelist and Arias: Daniel Johannsen | TENOR
Jesus: Peter Harvey | BASS
Miriam Feuersinger | SOPRANO
Alex Potter | ALTUS
Pilate and Arias: Matthias Helm | BASS
Choir & Orchestra of the J.S. Bach Foundation St. Gallen
Rudolf Lutz | CONDUCTOR

The St John Passion, BWV 245, one of the five Passions composed by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750), is one of the only two which have survived in their entireity – the other being the St Matthew Passion, BWV 244. The premiere performance of the St John Passion – also referred to as the Passio secundum Joannem – was held on Good Friday 1724, in Leipzig's St. Nicholas Church (Nikolaikirche).

Bach was cantor at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig from 1723 until his death in 1750. During this time, he performed the St John Passion himself at least four times in one of two main churches in Leipzig – and rewrote it for each one of the performances. Each of the revisions was extensive. He changed the structure, the instrumentation, the music, and sometimes even the text. On the basis of the four different versions of the St John Passion that he performed, Bach's approach to working on this great piece of church music is still quite easy to understand today.

The principal textual basis of the St John Passion are chapters 18 and 19 from the Gospel of John, some of which were carried over verbatim. In addition, interpolations of hymn stanzas for 4-part choir form a framework through which the Passion can be inserted into the liturgical context. Who arranged the text of the St John Passion for Bach is unknown.

Nowadays, the St John Passion is usually performed in concert rather than in church services. This way, its highly dramatic effect can be fully appreciated.

Thumbnail: © Jelena Gernert

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Johann Sebastian Bach: The Fifth Evangelist | Music Documentary (Bachfest Leipzig 2013)

DW Classical Music 2022-06-12 | A homage to Johann Sebastian Bach, the composer of the Christian message: the music documentary Vita Christi—Bach, the Fifth Evangelist was produced for the 2013 Bach Festival Leipzig. With the theme, "Vita Christi", that year's edition of the festival retold the life of Jesus Christ in oratorios, masses and cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach and composers close to him. Peter Schlögl's music documentary highlights the festival program, shows rehearsals and concert excerpts and hears from musicians and Bach experts.

Years later, the timeless quality of this documentary is still evident. Not only does it provide insight into the authentic places where Johann Sebastian Bach worked, it also convincingly conveys the motives of the important Baroque composer. Bach was a Christian composer, who placed himself and his work entirely at the service of God. His compositions retell the life of Jesus Christ as if they were one of the four Gospels of the New Testament. This is why Bach is referred to as the “Fifth Evangelist.”

At a glance:
(00:00) Introduction: The legacy of Johann Sebastian Bach
(00:59) The Bachfest Leipzig 2013 "Vita Christi" retold the life of Jesus Christ in music, in oratorios, masses and cantatas
(00:59) Music excerpt: J.S. Bach: Chorus "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme" (from the Cantata "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme", BWV 140) | St. Thomas Choir & Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, Georg Christoph Biller (conductor)
(02:32) Statements from festival visitors
(02:53) Biography: Bach comes to Leipzig
(03:30) Stefan Altner, Managing Director of the St. Thomas Choir Leipzig: Bach is the origin of most of today's music
(03:56) Pianist & composer Ketil Bjørnstad improvises on Bach's music and reflects on its existential content
(06:51) Biography: Bach's work in Leipzig
(07:38) Christoph Wolff, Director of the Bach Archive Leipzig: How Bach directed the St. Thomas Choir
(08:19) History of the St. Thomas Choir
(08:50) Georg Christoph Biller, Musical Director of the St. Thomas Choir: It is the St Thomas's Choir’s responsibility to regularly perform works by Johann Sebastian Bach
(09:17) Rehearsal: J.S. Bach: "Cum Sancto Spiritu" (from the Mass in B minor, BWV 232) | St. Thomas Choir, Georg Christoph Biller (conductor)
(10:28) Georg Christoph Biller, Musical Director of the St. Thomas Choir: The Mass in B minor is an expression of Bach's skill and thinking
(10:49) Christoph Wolff, Director of the Bach Archive Leipzig: The Kyrie and Gloria set an incomparable final accent in the Mass in B minor
(11:47) Christoph Wolff, Director of the Bach Archive Leipzig: The Credo of the Mass in B minor is a short summary of the life of Christ and the story of salvation
(12:05) The theological significance of Bach and the spirituality of his music
(12:47) Stefan Altner, Managing Director of the St. Thomas Choir: Bach's music not only appeals to the intellect but also touches people emotionally
(13:05) Bach as a Lutheran composer
(13:22) Christoph Wolff, Director of the Bach Archive Leipzig: During Bach's lifetime, Protestant church music was of immense importance
(14:02) Bach's deep religiousness
(14:21) Helmut Loos, Musicologist: Bach made music at the service of God
(14:45) Bach's work at the St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig
(15:31) Rehearsal: J.S. Bach: Sinfonia (from the Cantata "Christ lag in Todesbanden", BWV 4) | Chamber Choir & Hofkapelle Stuttgart, Frieder Bernius (conductor)
(16:22) Frieder Bernius, conductor Chamber Choir Stuttgart: Bach's music convincingly conveys the Christian message
(17:02) Rehearsal: J. S. Bach: Aria "Jesus Christus, Gottes Sohn" (from the Cantata "Christ lag in Todesbanden", BWV 4) | Andreas Weller (tenor), Hofkapelle Stuttgart, Frieder Bernius (conductor)
(19:03) Bach is the” fifth evangelist,” because his works retell the Christian story of salvation
(19:25) Helmut Loos, Musicologist: Bach's music is proclamation—and deliberately elaborate proclamation at that
(19:50) Rehearsal: J.S. Bach: Chorus "Es war ein wunderlicher Krieg" (from the Cantata "Christ lag in Todesbanden", BWV 4) | Chamber Choir Stuttgart, Frieder Bernius (conductor)
(22:01) The Leipzig Chamber Choir Josquin des Préz presents a program with music from Bach's circle, including by Johann Kuhnau, who was musical director of the St. Thomas Choir before Johann Sebastian Bach
(22:40) Christoph Wolff, Director of the Bach Archive Leipzig: Bach was influenced by Kuhnau
(22:58) Music excerpt: Johann Kuhnau: Motet "Tristis est anima mea" (Sad is my soul) | Chamber Choir Josquin des Préz, Ludwig Böhme (conductor)
(23:53) Ludwig Böhme, conductor Chamber Choir Josquin des Préz: The Bach Festival is like home to him, and Bach is simply the greatest composer
(25:15) Bach was a sensuous man, a humble medieval craftsman who worked to honor God

© Deutsche Welle 2013

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Bach: Goldberg Variations | Evgeni Koroliov (Bachfest Leipzig 2008)

DW Classical Music 2022-06-11 | The Goldberg Variations for a desert island: Evgeni Koroliov plays the Goldberg Variations by Johann Sebastian Bach at the Bachfest Leipzig 2008.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750) gave the following inscription to the cycle for harpsichord that today is known as the Goldberg Variations: “Keyboard exercise, consisting of an ARIA with diverse variations.” The first edition of this harpsichord exercise was published in the fall of 1741 and formed the 4th part of a collection of compositions for harpsichord that Bach had compiled for the secular concerts of the Collegium Musicum. In the Bach catalog of works, the harpsichord variations are listed under the number 988 (BWV 988).
The common name Goldberg Variations (Goldberg Variationen) originated only in the 19th century and derives from an anecdote that contemporary scholars have proved to be historically inaccurate. According to the anecdote, the harpsichord pieces were commissioned by Hermann Carl von Keyserlingk. Keyserlingk was a Russian diplomat and had met Johann Sebastian Bach personally in Dresden in 1741. Because Keyserlingk suffered from insomnia, he is said to have requested from Bach piano pieces that his harpsichordist Johann Gottlieb Goldberg could play for him during sleepless nights. As a result, the harpsichord variations are said to be named after Keyserlingk's private musician Johann Gottlieb Goldberg. Although this is not true, the name Goldberg Variations has become the standard.

The Goldberg Variations are a masterpiece of baroque compositional art. They consist of an aria with a bass theme that varies 30 times in quite distinct ways. Every third variation is a canon, and of the altogether 10 canons, the last is a quodlibet in which Bach has interwoven two folk songs. The 16th variation is an overture and marks the beginning of the 2nd part. The final da capo aria completes the cycle. The Goldberg Variations were composed for double manual harpsichord, whereby 15 variations only require single manual, 11 variations require double manual, and 4 variations require either single or double manual. It is therefore a particular challenge to play Bach's Goldberg Variations on the piano.

Evgeni Koroliov, born in Moscow in 1949, is considered one of the greatest Bach interpreters of our time. Koroliov has lived in Hamburg since 1978 and has performed on all the world's great stages. His piano repertoire spans all musical epochs, but it is with his Bach interpretations in particular that Evgeni Koroliov has been able to impress the music world time and again. The composer György Ligeti once professed that he would take Koroliov's rendition of Bach's “The Art of Fugue” to a desert island. This adage could easily be applied to Koroliov's Goldberg Variations—one could surely set off to a desert island with them.

(00:00) Aria
(04:58) Variatio 1. a 1 Clav.
(07:02) Variatio 2. a 1 Clav.
(08:41) Variatio 3. Canone all' Unisono a 1 Clav.
(10:49) Variatio 4. a 1 Clav.
(11:57) Variatio 5. a 1 o 2 Clav.
(13:12) Variatio 6. Canone alla Seconda a 1 Clav.
(14:51) Variatio 7. a 1 o 2 Clav. Al tempo di Giga
(16:59) Variatio 8. a 2 Clav.
(18:55) Variatio 9. Canone alla Terza a 1 Clav.
(20:47) Variatio 10. Fughetta a 1 Clav.
(22:35) Variatio 11. a 2 Clav.
(24:42) Variatio 12. Canone alla Quarta in moto contrario a 1 Clav.
(26:59) Variatio 13. a 2 Clav.
(32:25) Variatio 14. a 2 Clav.
(34:30) Variatio 15. Canone alla Quinta in moto contrario a 1 Clav.
(39:49) Variatio 16. Ouverture a 1 Clav.
(42:53) Variatio 17. a 2 Clav.
(44:40) Variatio 18. Canone alla Sesta a 1 Clav.
(46:32) Variatio 19. a 1 Clav.
(48:54) Variatio 20. a 2 Clav.
(50:44) Variatio 21. Canone alla Settima a 1 Clav.
(54:01) Variatio 22. a 1 Clav.
(55:48) Variatio 23. a 2 Clav.
(57:48) Variatio 24. Canone all' Ottava a 1 Clav.
(1:00:24) Variatio 25. a 2 Clav.
(1:10:42) Variatio 26. a 2 Clav.
(1:13:21) Variatio 27. Canone alla Nona a 2 Clav.
(1:15:09) Variatio 28. a 2 Clav.
(1:17:15) Variatio 29. a 1 o 2 Clav.
(1:19:44) Variatio 30. Quodlibet a 1 Clav.
(1:21:30) Aria da Capo

© EuroArts Music International and NHK

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