Conducting Mahler

Live from Glyndebourne 1987.

Famed composer Gustav Mahler reflects on the tragedies of his life and failing marriage while traveling by train.

As per tradition, the 2021/22 season opened in December at La Scala in Milan, this time with a new production of Giuseppe Verdi's 'Macbeth' directed by Davide Livermore and conducted by Riccardo Chailly. Verdi's Shakespeare drama features a star-studded cast: Anna Netrebko and Luca Salsi embody the regicide Macbeth and his lady.

Piero Cappuccilli and Shirley Verrett lead Verdi’s sombre masterpiece, drawn from one of Shakespeare’s most celebrated tragedies. Filmed for television at Teatro alla Scala in 1979, Claudio Abbado conductes a night to remember.

On the shores of Lake Lucerne, Riccardo Chailly and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra continue their Rachmaninov odyssey with the Symphonic Movement, a rarely performed piece, as well as the Symphonic Dances and the Scherzo in D minor. The highlight of the evening is the Piano Concerto No. 1, performed by Alexander Malofeev, a rising star on the keyboard. Chapters : Sergueï Rachmaninov - Scherzo in D minor - Symphonic movement in D minor (youth symphony) - Piano Concerto No. 1 in F sharp minor, Op. 1 - Danses symphoniques, op. 45

The London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony took place at 9pm on 27 July 2012. Titled 'Isles of Wonder', the Ceremony welcomed the finest athletes from more than 200 nations for the start of the London 2012 Olympic Games, marking an historic third time the capital has hosted the world’s biggest and most important sporting event. The Opening Ceremony reflected the key themes and priorities of the London 2012 Games, based on sport, inspiration, youth and urban transformation. It was a Ceremony 'for everyone' and celebrated contributions the UK has made to the world through innovation and revolution, as well as the creativity and exuberance of British people.

The last and arguably finest opera of Modest Mussorgsky is captured in one of its most powerful interpretations in this 1989 recording from the Vienna State Opera, conducted by Claudio Abbado. A moody opera that is thematically broad at times and intimately personal in others, "Khovanshchina" tells the story of the 17th-century clash between Russian conservatives and Peter the Great's reformists. Among the singers is renowned basso Nicolai Ghiaurov and Paata Burchuladze, as well as Anatoly Kocherga, Ludmila Semtchuk, and Heinz Zednik.

Discovering the world’s most prestigious orchestras. In this episode: founded in 1888, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra continues to inspire its young conductor, Klaus Mäkelä. Before him, great composers worked closely with the orchestra, including Richard Strauss, Claude Debussy, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Igor Stravinsky and Gustav Mahler.

Staatsoper Berlin’s new production of Rameau’s tragédie lyrique, directed by Alletta Collins; featuring costumes, sets and lighting designed by Ólafur Eliasson; and musical direction by Simon Rattle, who makes his debut with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra.

Translucence, transparency – warmth’ are the qualities identified by Bernard Haitink as necessary for an ideal sound performance of Beethoven's only opera, and all are present in this fantastic recording of Katharina Thalbach's 2008 production for Opernhaus Zurich. Haitink conducts the Zurich Opera Orchestra in a magnificent performance in which Leonore Overture No. 3 provides an interlude between the two scenes of the second act, following a tradition started by Gustav Mahler. German soprano Melanie Diener, in the role of Leonore, leads a brilliant cast including Alfred Muff as Rocco, Roberto Saccà as Florestan, Sandra Trattnigg as Marzelline and Christoph Strehl as Jaquino. This High Definition recording with true surround sound marks the start of the exciting collaboration between Opus Arte and Opernhaus Zurich.

Sir Peter Hall's remarkably faithful interpretation of Beethoven's opera at Glyndebourne. Elizabeth Söderström plays Leonore, with Elizabeth Gale as Marzelline and Curt Appelgren as Rocco.

Based on a free interpretation of Gustav Mahler´s Song Cycle by the same name and a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, this multiple award winning film is a striking example of Titus Leber´s approach to visualise classical music. Using his so called “multi-layer-method” to superimpose several image layers the author takes us in a dream-like lamentation-quest of a mother's winter-journey searching for her child who has been carried off by the Angel of Death.

Visually this is a gripping production which captures the drama of this opera perfectly. It's downright exciting! and I found the singing, acting, and orchestral playing reasonably fine. I found only one major problem with it, a problem that kept Puccini for quite a few years. Turandot has been looking for an opportunity to kill Calif and Calif has singlemindedly tried to get Turandot to love and wed him focusing on her and ignoring a better looking girl who loves him truly. The problem is how to get the audience to applaud the match once Calif gets his wish. Puccini couldn't figure out how to do it. The traditional quick ending doesn't do it, and Berio's attempt is longer , tries its best, but ends up making it plain this is one wierd couple.

Attrazione d'Amore is a touching illustration of the unique relation that has developed between the Conductor Riccardo Chailly and his famous Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Voyage to Cythera navigates through wonderful musical quotes made of performances conducted by Berio, rehearsals, archival documents and interviews featuring Riccardo Chailly and Louis Andriessen.

The captivating story of the Venezuelan Youth Orchestra System - an incredible network of hundreds of orchestras formed within most of Venezuela’s towns and villages. Once a modest program designed to expose rural children to the wonders of music, the system has become one of the most important and beautiful music phenomena in modern history. To Play and To Fight presents interviews and performances by many of the world’s most renowned musicians including the great tenor Placido Domingo, Claudio Abbado, Sir Simon Rattle, Guiseppe Sinopoli, and Eduardo Mata, as they reflect on the impact of such a far-reaching social project. The documentary also presents the inspirational stories of world class musicians who have been trained by the Venezuelan system, including The Berlin Philharmonic’s youngest player Edicson Ruiz and world class conductor Gustavo Dudamel.

To speak of that ballet is very difficult because the theme is so popular as a fairy tale, adapted by Perrault from German folklore and then recuperated from the same folklore by the Grimm brothers, and what's more turned into an unforgettable film by Walt Disney. Angelin Preljocaj was thus trying to break a mould in which that character and her story had been cast seemingly for ever. And it is a success. Because first the setting, the stage direction are very interesting and rich. Rich are the costumes. Rich are the main ideas of the setting like the enormous magic mirror coming down from the sky, or like the deep underground mine turned into a vertical surface on which the seven dwarfs are dancing like dragon-flies on their strings.

Met audiences were fascinated by Mariusz Treliński’s gripping, visionary production of Wagner’s epic opera. In the daunting title roles of the doomed lovers, Nina Stemme and Stuart Skelton are passionate, overwhelming, and heartbreaking as they battle every obstacle that separates them from their true destiny. René Pape is King Marke, betrayed not only by Isolde but by Tristan, the man he most trusts and loves like a son. With Ekaterina Gubanova as Isolde’s confidante Brangäne and Evgeny Nikitin as Kurwenal, Tristan’s loyal lieutenant. Simon Rattle conducts a surging, shimmering account of Wagner’s monumental score.

Don José is a guard who begins an affair with the tempestuous Carmen. He is imprisoned and loses his job, then flees with her to the mountains. When the relationship starts to break down José refuses to acknowledge it and will not leave, even when he gets news that his mother is dying. Carmen, meanwhile, has taken up with the bullfighter Escamillo. Bizet's most famous opera is brought to the Glyndebourne Festival Opera by Sir Peter Hall, with Maria Ewing and Barry McCauley heading an international cast.

Since its debut in 1934 the Glyndebourne Festival has put a focus on Mozart operas and developed a great competence in staging them. Mozart s operas seem to be made for the small but fine opera house in Glyndebourne and it's not surprising that the 1977 Don Giovanni, one of Mozart's great masterpieces, was a huge success. This production is conducted by Bernard Haitink, who holds the opinion, that no other composer had more opera in his blood than Mozart. It has been proven, for example, that Mozart had no overture for Don Giovanni until the evening before the premiere in Prague and wrote it down in just one night. Like the premiere's success of the opera in Prague in 1787 the Glyndebourne's version staged by Peter Hall was praised by audience and critics alike: We witness a lively and wide-awake ensemble piece that has easily survived all these decades, and still manages to teach many directors the art of playing theatre.

The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and their Music Director Riccardo Chailly have already acquired legendary status – glorious reviews and many awards for their recordings testifying to their continuing success. At Leipzig’s International Mahler Festival, to mark the centenary of Mahler’s death, they performed his monumental Second Symphony in the Gewandhaus – together with two marvellous soloists and choral forces quite beyond compare. About the final movement the composer said: “The increasing tension, working up to the final climax, is so tremendous that I don’t know myself, now that it is over, how I ever came to write it.” The painting “Morgenrot” was chosen by internationally acclaimed artist Neo Rauch to feature on the cover of this release on DVD and Blu-ray.

For the first time since the 1904 La Scala premiere, Riccardo Chailly restores Puccini's original two-act version to the La Scala stage.

Live from Glyndebourne 1994. The first production to be filmed Live in Glyndebourne´s new opera house May 1994. The Marriage of Figaro is a continuation of the plot of The Barber of Seville several years later, and recounts a single “day of madness” in the palace of the Count Almaviva near Seville, Spain. Rosina is now the Countess; Dr. Bartolo is seeking revenge against Figaro for thwarting his plans to marry Rosina himself; and Count Almaviva has degenerated from the romantic youth of Barber into a scheming, bullying, skirt-chasing baritone. This follows the Count trying to obtain favours from Susanna, Figaro’s bride to be, under the nose of the Countess.

Count Almaviva is in love with Rosina. However, she is currently staying with Dr. Bartolo – who desires to marry her. By using a series of disguises, Almaviva manages to pass letters to Rosina and serenade her with his beautiful voice. Dr. Bartolo does his best to stop Almaviva but is constantly thwarted. In the end, Count Almaviva marries Rosina and Dr. Bartolo comes to terms with his defeat.

The Marriage of Figaro is a continuation of the plot of The Barber of Seville several years later, and recounts a single "day of madness" in the palace of the Count Almaviva near Seville, Spain. Rosina is now the Countess; Dr. Bartolo is seeking revenge against Figaro for thwarting his plans to marry Rosina himself; and Count Almaviva has degenerated from the romantic youth of Barber into a scheming, bullying, skirt-chasing baritone. This follows the Count trying to obtain favours from Susanna, Figaro's bride to be, under the nose of the Countess.

For this performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 3, recorded live in 2007 at the Congress and Concert Hall Lucerne, Claudio Abbado and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra are joined by the Arnold Schoenberg Chor and the Tölzer Knabenchor. The soloist is Anna Larsson.

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, born in the stench of 18th century Paris, develops a superior olfactory sense, which he uses to create the world's finest perfumes. However, his work takes a dark turn as he tries to preserve scents in the search for the ultimate perfume.

In 1415, in the midst of the Hundred Years' War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France.

Composer Gustav von Aschenbach travels to Venice for health reasons. There, he becomes obsessed with the stunning beauty of an adolescent Polish boy named Tadzio who is staying with his family at the same Grand Hôtel des Bains on the Lido as Aschenbach.

Mika, heiress to a Swiss chocolate company, is married to celebrated pianist André and stepmother to his son, Guillaume, whose mother died in a car wreck on his tenth birthday. Their lives are interrupted by the unexpected arrival of Jeanne, a young woman who has learned she was almost switched with Guillaume at birth.

Marta, a talented architect living with multiple sclerosis, struggles as her illness gradually erodes both her independence and her marriage. During repeated stays at a Catholic care home, she forms meaningful connections with fellow patients and a compassionate visitor, finding brief moments of hope amid the reality of her condition. As her world continues to unravel, Marta is forced to confront the limits of love, dignity, and the possibility of choosing her own fate.

Shot on 16mm film in the cinema-vérité style without a script, Barbara (1981) is a rare Flemish documentary profiling Barbara Henke, a Swedish fashion model living in Brussels. The camera closely follows her daily routine for several weeks, moving beyond the superficiality of the fashion industry to offer an intimate, philosophical portrait. Through long, sustained shots and atmospheric nighttime imagery, Henke speaks candidly about her career, fears, expectations, and personal views, transforming the film into a raw, unmanipulated observation of her true self.

Recorded live at The Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Idomeneo, King of Crete, has been away from home during the long years of the Trojan War. Idamante, his son and now regent of the island, waits for his return, heralded by the arrival in Crete of Trojan prisoners. One of these prisoners is Ilia, daugher of the murdered King Priam of Troy. Idamante has fallen in love with Ilia, but is loved by Electra, daughter of the Greek King Agamemmnon, who has taken refuge in Crete. This production marked the operatic debut of Trevor Nunn. It has been much-acclaimed for its dramatic effect, blending Minoan Crete with the ritualistic delicacy of Japanese theatre. This dynamic stylisation is appropriately reclected in John Napier's considered and elegant designs. Bernhard Haitink conducts the London Philharmonic in a forceful account of the music.

Tosca, features an outstanding cast, including Catherine Malfitano in the title role, Bryn Terfel as Scarpia (his role debut), and Richard Margison as Cavaradossi. The visually spectacular staging by Nikolaus Lehnhoff brings the world of James Bond to Puccini's operatic thriller. Modern yet sinister sets and costumes create a fresh and at times horrifying interpretation, a bold departure from traditional stagings, of this classic work. Riccardo Chailly conducts the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the chorus of The Netherlands Opera.