avant première catalogue 2016

PremièreAvantC A T A L O G U E 2 0 1 6

1 9 6 6 – 2 0 1 6

Unitel was founded in Munich 50 years ago in 1966 and went on to become the world's leading producer of classical music programmes for film, television and video. Based on exclusive relationships with outstanding artists and institutions like Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein, the Salzburg Festival and many others, the Unitel catalogue of more than 1500 titles presents some of the greatest achievements in the last half a century of classical music.

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AVA N T P R E M I È R E C ATA L O G U E 201 6This catalogue features the new productions/additions from 2015 to the Unitel catalogue.For the full catalogue please visit www.unitel.com

Editorial Team: Konrad von Soden, Burkhard GroteLayout: Manuel Messner/luebbeke.com

All information is not contractual and subject to change without prior notice.All trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.Date of Print: 1st of February 2016 © Unitel 2016 ∙ All Rights reserved

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Front cover: Jonas Kaufmann & Annalisa Stroppa in P. Mascagni’s “Cavalleria Rusticana” / Photo: Andreas J. Hirsch


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OPERA Beethoven: Fidelio (Salzburg Festival / Wiener Philharmoniker / Welser-Möst / Guth) 10Bizet: Carmen (Festival Chorégies d’Orange / Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France / Franck / Désiré) 12Boito: Mefistofele (Staatsoper München / Wellber / Schwab) 14Gounod: Faust (Teatro Regio Torino / Noseda / Poda) 16Handel: Theodora (Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris / Les Arts Florissants / Christie / Langridge) 18Humperdinck: Hänsel & Gretel (Wiener Staatsoper / Thielemann / Noble) 20Jommelli: Il Vologeso (Oper Stuttgart / Ferro / Wieler & Morabito) 22Mascagni: Cavalleria rusticana (Salzburg Easter Festival / Staatskapelle Dresden / Thielemann / Stölzl) 24Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro (Salzburg Festival / Wiener Philharmoniker / Ettinger / Bechtolf) 26Leoncavallo: Pagliacci (Salzburg Easter Festival / Staatskapelle Dresden / Thielemann / Stölzl) 24Offenbach: La Belle Hélène (Staatsoper Hamburg / Prießnitz / Doucet) 28Offenbach: Les Contes d'Hoffmann (Bregenz Festival / Wiener Symphoniker / Debus / Herheim) 30Puccini: Manon Lescaut (Royal Opera House, London / Pappano / Kent) 32Giacomo Puccini: Turandot (Bregenz Festival / Wiener Symphoniker / Carignani / Marelli) 34Rossini: La gazzetta (Rossini Opera Festival / Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna / Mazzola / Carniti) 36Szymanowski: Król Roger (Royal Opera House, London / Pappano / Holten) 38Verdi: Aida (Teatro alla Scala, Milano / Mehta / Stein) 40Verdi: Aida (Teatro Regio Torino / Noseda / Friedkin) 42Verdi: La Traviata (Festspielhaus Baden-Baden / Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble / Heras-Casado / Villazón) 44Wagner: Tannhäuser (Staatsoper im Schillertheater / Barenboim / Waltz) 46Weber: Der Freischütz (Semperoper Dresden / Thielemann / Köhler) 48

BALLET The Royal Ballet: Quadruple Bill (Viscera / Afternoon of a Faun / Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux / Carmen) 50Ferdinand Hérold: La Fille mal gardée (Royal Ballet / Ashton) 52Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake (Royal Ballet / Petipa & Ivanov) 54

CONCERT Czech Philharmonic – Dvořák, Martinů & Beethoven (J. Fischer, D. Zinman) 56Grafenegg Festival – Midsummer Night's Gala 56The Odeonsplatz Concert – Spanish Night 56Hollywood in Vienna – A Tribute to James Newton Howard 59András Schiff & Cappella Andrea Barca (Mozartwoche Salzburg) 59Les Musiciens du Louvre & Marc Minkowski (Mozartwoche Salzburg) 59Red Ribbon Celebration Concert – Building Bridges for Peace 60Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg – The Inaugural Concert (G. Gimeno) 60The Carl Nielsen Gala 60The Prokofiev Marathon (V. Gergiev) 62 BBC PromsStage and Screen – A Tribute to Leonard Bernstein 65András Schiff – The Goldberg Variations 65West-Eastern Divan Orchestra (D. Barenboim) 65

Berliner Philharmoniker The Sibelius Cycle (S. Rattle) 66Mozart & Haydn (S. Rattle) 66HK Gruber & Mahler (H. Hardenberger, A. Nelsons) 68Bartók, Shostakovich & Ravel (F. P. Zimmermann, M. Jansons) 68Orchestre de Paris Bach & Mendelssohn (T. Hengelbrock) 71Escaich, Widmann & Saint-Saëns (P. Järvi) 71Bartók (E.-P. Salonen) 71Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky & Stravinsky (Yo-Yo Ma, D. Gatti) 72Shostakovich & Sibelius (A.-S. Mutter, A. Nelsons) 72Mariss Jansons – The Farewell Concert 72Bartók & Shostakovich (J. Jansen, A. Nelsons) 74Breaking News – John Adams conducts John Adams 74Johann Sebastian Bach: Christmas Oratorio (J. W. de Vriend) 74Staatskapelle Dresden Bruckner & Beethoven (Y. Bronfman, C. Thielemann) 77Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 (C. Thielemann) 77Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 (C. Thielemann) 77Festive Advent Concert from the Frauenkirche Dresden (L. Pisaroni, S. Yoncheva, D. Runnicles) 78Mozart Piano Concertos Nos. 20, 21 & 27 (R. Buchbinder) 78Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks Hillborg, Grieg & Sibelius (A. S. Ott, E.-P. Salonen) 81Webern, Mahler & Shostakovich (B. Haitink) 81Beethoven & Nielsen (H. Blomstedt) 81West-Eastern Divan OrchestraMartha Argerich & Daniel Barenboim – Piano Duos at the Teatro Colón 83Beethoven & Tchaikovsky (D. Barenboim) 83Concert for Understanding of Civilizations and Human Rights (D. Barenboim) 83Wiener PhilharmonikerTchaikovsky & Brahms (A.-S. Mutter, R. Muti) 85Johannes Brahms: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 (R. Buchbinder, Z. Mehta) 85

CHAMBER MUSIC Juan Diego Flórez & Vincenzo Scalera - The Salzburg Recital 87Johannes Brahms: The Complete String Quartets (Belcea Quartet) 87Güher und Süher Pekinel – The Istanbul Concert 87Anne-Sophie Mutter – The Club Concert 92

DOCUMENTARY Leonard Bernstein – Larger Than Life 89The Swan of Pesaro – Rossini reloaded 89Living with Beethoven 89

INDEX 90

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O U R G R E AT E S T P R O D U C T I O N S A R E G E T T I N G E V E N G R E AT E R!

The Unitel catalogue features some of the world’s greatest and finest moments of classical music from the last 50 years – fundamental works of art shot on 35 mm film that have inspired generations of music lovers all over the world, landmark productions and bestsellers, to this day. With the help of the latest advances in technology, we will now make these unique productions available in true 4K Ultra High Definition, offering a visual experience never before seen on the home screen.

Following the principles set up by Dr Leo Kirch and Herbert von Karajan to produce in the best technical quality available, Unitel has started to produce in 4K Ultra High Definition - four times the quality of today’s standard Full HD. With more than ten productions from Salzburg Festival, Teatro alla Scala, Bayersiche Staatsoper, Semperoper Dresden, Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro Regio Torino available or in postproduction, Unitel, once again, is taking classical music to the next stage.

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T H E F U T U R E I S N OW: TO DAY ’ S M A S T E R P I E C E S I N 4K U H D

4K U LT R A H D

FULL HD

HDSD

2160

1080

720490

640 1280 1920 3840

ULTRA HD

Adrianne Pieczonka ∙ Jonas Kaufmann Tomasz Konieczny ∙ Hans-Peter König

Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by Franz Welser-Möst

staged by Claus Guth

Ludwig van Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio, features as the highlight of the Salzburg Festival: the stirring work centred around Leonore, who frees her incarcerated spouse Florestan from prison, is timelessly relevant with powerful emotional situations and jarringly human pleas of anguish from Leonore: “Whoever you are, I want to rescue you. By God! You shall not be a victim!”

Director Claus Guth, renowned for his profound interpretations of opera, replaces the spoken dialogue with menacing sounds, doubling Leonore with a deaf, signing actress. The result is a splendidly staged, new and deeply touching picture of the masterpiece, ending in the breakdown of the hugely traumatised character, Florestan, to the accompaniment of exaltant music.

The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra delivers an intensely enthralling orchestral sound, supported by the concert association of the Vienna State Opera Chorus under Franz Welser-Möst to accompany a star-studded cast including the two principal characters played by Adrianne Pieczonka and Jonas Kaufmann. The New York Times reported: “the conductor Franz Welser-Möst won a huge ovation, along with the excellent singers, especially the two leads. They are the astonishing tenor Jonas Kaufmann, who makes a wrenching, haunted Florestan, and the compelling, bright-voiced soprano Adrianne Pieczonka as Leonore”. The hitherto unachieved utopian vision of justice, fraternity and liberty shines eternal.

Orchestra Wiener PhilharmonikerConductor Franz Welser-Möst

Chorus Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor

Chorus Master Ernst RaffelsbergerStage Director Claus Guth

Leonore Adrianne PieczonkaFlorestan Jonas Kaufmann

Don Pizarro Tomasz KoniecznyRocco Hans-Peter König

Marzelline Olga BezsmertnaJaquino Norbert Ernst

Don Fernando Sebastian Holecek

Video Director Michael Beyer

Length: 137'Cat. no. A 040 50049

A production ofORF and UNITEL CLASSICA

in cooperation with3sat, Salzburg Festival and Wiener Philharmoniker

Photos: Monika Rittershaus

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G E O R G E S B I Z E T

Kate Aldrich Jonas Kaufmann Inva Mula Kyle KetelsenOrchestre Philharmonique de Radio France

conducted by Mikko FranckLes Chorégies d’Orange – Théâtre Antique d’Orange

CarmenEach year, the ancient Roman Théâtre antique d’Orange serves as a picturesque setting for operas and concert performances as part of the Chorégies d’Orange festival, founded in 1869 in Provence. Equipped with almost 7000 seats and a unique acoustic, this Roman theatre has since 1981 been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The theatre is now offering its breath-taking ambience to George Bizet’s world-renowned love drama, Carmen. The principle roles are portrayed by the spectacular Kate Aldrich in her signature role as the seductive temptress Carmen, and star tenor Jonas Kaufmann as the troubled and jealous army officer, Don José. “Aldrich makes Carmen a magic presence by sheer vivacity of personality”, writes Opera Today on her exceptional festival debut. The rest of the cast, too, are nothing less than outstanding – most notably Inva Mula as Micaëla and Kyle Ketelsen as Escamillo, whose wit and playfulness delight his audience. In the pit are the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and their new principal conductor, Mikko Franck.

The directing of Louis Désiré, who also designed the set and costumes, fits ideally into this picturesque setting and paints a naturalistic image of society in keeping with Bizet’s intentions. The staging “preserves the essence of the work, while eschewing the folkloric ballast that is often applied to Bizet’s operas,” writes Le Point.

Orchestra Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France

Conductor Mikko FranckChorus Chœurs des Opéras

d'Angers-Nantes, du Grand Avignon et de NiceMaîtrise des Bouches-du-Rhône

Chorus Master Emmanuel TrenqueStage Director Louis Désiré

Carmen Kate AldrichDon José Jonas Kaufmann

Micaëla Inva MulaEscamillo Kyle Ketelsen

Zuniga Jean TeitgenMoralès Armando Noguera

Frasquita Hélène GuilmetteMercédès Marie Karall

Produced by Bel Air MediaVideo Director Andy Sommer

G E O R G E S B I Z E T Carmen

Length: approx. 170'Cat. no. A 010 50036

A co-production of Bel Air Media, Radio France, Les Chorégies d’Orange,

ZDF/3sat and UNITEL CLASSICA in cooperation with

France Télévisions and the support of CNC

Photos: Philippe Gromelle

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René PaPe · JosePh CalleJa · KRistine oP olais · KaRine BaBaJanyanBayeRisChes staatsoRChesteR ConduCted By omeR meiR WellBeR

staged By Roland sChWaB · BayeRisChe staatsoPeR

a R R i g o B o i t o

Best-known today as the librettist of Verdi’s final Shakespearean masterpieces, Otello and Falstaff, the multi-talented Arrigo Boito was also a journalist, a poet and a fine composer in his own right. Hugely ambitious in scope, and some 20 years in the making, his first (and only completed) opera, Mefistofele, sets out to encompass nothing less than the whole of Goethe’s vast poetic drama Faust (part I and II).

Unlike Gounod’s more familiar version, Boito’s opera focuses not just on the human tragedy of Faust’s callous seduction of the innocent Margherita (Goethe’s Gretchen) but also on the original poem’s more metaphysical conflict between Good and Evil. Thus, at the start, we see Mefistofele betting God that he can tempt the old philosopher Faust into the ways of sin, while, at the end, we witness the devil’s defeat as the disillusioned and dying Faust finally has a fleeting vision of happiness and is redeemed.

Making his debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper with Munich’s first ever staging of Boito’s masterpiece, director Roland Schwab (a protégé of the legendary Ruth Berghaus) plays devil’s advocate by setting the opera in what looks like a garbage-strewn nightclub that then transforms into a geriatric hospital ward, by way of a drunken detour to Munich’s own Oktoberfest. Is Hell, then, simply the hell-on-earth that passes for the modern world?

Singing “with clear, strong bass lines” (Deutschlandradio Kultur), René Pape plays Mefistofele as the sardonic leader of a satanic cult. As Faust, his slave, Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja “hits his high notes with formidable vigour” (Financial Times). Latvian soprano Kristine Opolais’s Margherita “shines with understated Grace Kelly elegance” (Opera Today), while as Elena – the fabled Helen of Troy – Armenian soprano Karine Babajanyan “shines with heroic high notes” (Süddeutsche Zeitung). Finally, in the pit, Israeli conductor Omer Meir Wellber “holds all the musical textures together with admirable control” (BR Klassik).

Orchestra Bayerisches Staatsorchester Chorus Chorus and Children's Chorus of

the Bayerische StaatsoperConductor Omer Meir Wellber

Stage Director Roland Schwab

Mefistofele René PapeFaust Joseph Calleja

Margherita Kristine OpolaisMarta Heike Grötzinger

Wagner Andrea BorghiniElena Karine Babajanyan

Pantalis Rachael WilsonNerèo Joshua Owen Mills

Produced by Metis FilmVideo Director Tiziano Mancini

A R R I G O B O I T O

Photos: Wilfried Hösl


A production of UNITEL CLASSICAin cooperation with Bayerische Staatsoper

shot in

(3840 × 2160) ULTRA HD

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C H A R L E S G O U N O D

Charles CastronovoIldar Abdrazakov

Irina LunguVasilij Ladjuk

conducted by Gianandrea Noseda

staged byStefano Poda

Teatro Regio Torino

By placing a giant black ring centre-stage that casts an ominous shadow over the singers and dominates the action, director, set and costume designer Stefano Poda has moved the storyline of the restless searcher Faust, to an abstract, seemingly futuristic hall, thereby ensuring that the most fascinating stage moments are not due only to sophisticated lighting.

Thanks to the excellent and enthusiastic cast, Poda deftly guides the opera to triumph. Charles Castronovo in the title role is especially convincing, with his brilliant acting and mellifluous singing. Russian bass Ildar Abdrazakov – a regular in all major opera houses around the world – stars as the demonic Méphistophélès. As the innocent young girl Marguerite we see Moldovan soprano Irina Lungu, who demonstrates her ability with crystal-clear timbre.

In the orchestra pit, incumbent since 2007, is General Music Director of the Teatro Regio in Turin, Gianandrea Noseda, who has ventured to take on this operatic jewel for the first time. He directs the orchestra of Teatro Regio Torino with finely nuanced conducting and musical suspense.

Premiered in Paris in 1859, the opera enjoyed instant success. Today, Charles Gounod’s Faust is one of the most popular works in the French opera repertoire. Goethe’s tragedy in two parts serves as the foundation, while Michael Carré’s French version Faust et Marguerite, provided Gounod with the impetus for his musical rendition of the text.

Orchestra Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Regio Torino

Conductor Gianandrea NosedaStage Director Stefano Poda

Doctor Faust Charles CastronovoMéphistophélès Ildar Abdrazakov

Marguerite Irina LunguValentin Vasilij Ladjuk

Siébel Ketevan KemoklidzeWagner Paolo Maria OrecchiaMarthe Samantha Korbey


C H A R L E S G O U N O D

Length: 179'Cat. no. A 000 50025

A production of UNITEL CLASSICAin co-production with

Fondazione Teatro Regio Torino

Photos: Teatro Regio Torino/Ramella & Giannese

shot in

(3840 × 2160) ULTRA HD

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THEODORAKatherine WatsonStéphanie d’OustracPhilippe JarousskyKresimir SpicerLes Arts Florissants conducted by William Christiestaged by Stephen Langridge Théâtre des Champs-Élysées

G E O R G E F R I D E R I C H A N D E L

Handel’s own favourite amongst his English oratorios, Theodora tells of the tragic fate of two early Christian converts in Roman-ruled Antioch. Boasting some of the composer’s finest musical inspirations – not least the last-act duet in which the two doomed lovers embrace martyrdom with almost erotic fervour – Theodora proved a surprising failure at its 1750 London premiere, receiving only three performances and being revived just once before its composer’s death. As Handel himself wryly observed: “The Jews will not come to it because it is a Christian story; and the ladies will not come because it is a virtuous one.”

That Theodora is now recognized as one of the most sublime and moving creations of Handel’s final years is largely due to the passionate advocacy of William Christie, who here directs his peerless period-instrument ensemble Les Arts Florissants for this new production at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, marking the work’s stage debut in Paris, the city where the US-born harpsichordist-conductor has lived since 1971.

Directed with “luminous simplicity” (Artistik Rezo) by Stephen Langridge, son of the tenor Philip Langridge, this powerful and uplifting production transforms its historical story into a “timeless yet terribly current” (France TV Info) plea for freedom of conscience and religious tolerance in contemporary society.

The starry cast is led by young British soprano Katherine Watson, instilling the title-role with her “vocal bloom, emotional depth and beguiling phrasing” (New York Times), and leading French counter-tenor Philippe Jaroussky, bringing his “seraphic timbre” (Les Echos) to the role of Didymus, the Roman centurion who sacrifices himself in a vain attempt to save her. “The voices of Watson and Jaroussky were completely at one with the orchestra, growing out of it, melting with it in perfect harmonic expression” (Bachtrack). Croatian tenor Kresimir Spicer adds “a beautiful performance” (Le Figaro) as Didymus’s conflicted friend Septimius.

Orchestra Les Arts FlorissantsConductor William Christie

Stage Director Stephen Langridge

Theodora Katherine WatsonIrene Stéphanie d'Oustrac

Didymus Philippe JarousskySeptimius Kresimir Spicer

Valens Callum Thorpe

Produced by CLCVideo Director Olivier Simonnet

G E O R G E F R I D E R I C H A N D E L

THEODORA

Photos: Vincent Pontet


A co-production of Arte France, Théâtre des Champs-Èlysées and CLC Productionswith the participation of Radio France and UNITEL CLASSICA

and the support of CNC

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HänselundGretel

EngElbErt

HumpErdinck

conducted by cHristian tHiElEmannstaged by adrian noblE

AdriAn Eröd

JAninA baEcHlE

dAnielA sindram

ileAnA tonca

Based on one of the best-loved stories by the Brothers Grimm, and with a libretto by his sister, Engelbert Humperdinck’s fairy-tale opera Hänsel und Gretel began life as a private entertainment for his own family before being presented to the wider world as a “Christmas gift” in 1893. An instant success – presented in over 50 German theatres within a year of its Weimar premiere – it soon became one of the most-performed operas in the world and has remained enduringly popular with both children and adults ever since. And, like all the best treats, it’s not just for Christmas!The secret of its lasting success lies, of course, not just in the delicious thrills and spills of the familiar story – with its recognizably realistic child heroes, its grotesquely comical, yet genuinely terrifying witch and its comfortingly happy-ever-after ending – but also in its magical musical mix of memorable folksong-inspired melodies and wonderfully rich and colourful orchestration. The latter brilliantly synthesizes the influences of both Richard Wagner, whom Humperdinck had assisted on the Bayreuth premiere of Parsifal, and Richard Strauss, who conducted Hänsel und Gretel’s Weimar premiere, declaring it “a masterpiece of the highest quality (…) all of it original, new and authentically German”. Mahler was another admirer.In bringing the work back to the Wiener Staatsoper for its first new production since World War II – inventively directed by Adrian Noble, former Artistic Director of Britain’s Royal Shakespeare Company – it’s no surprise that, as one of today’s most admired interpreters of both Wagner and Strauss, German conductor Christian Thielemann should particularly relish the musical echoes of those composers’ works in Humperdinck’s score. In Opera magazine’s words, “He polished all these moments with refinement and subtlety, inspiring the Staatsopernorchester to play with energy, engagement and transparence.” Other reviews were equally ecstatic, praising both the orchestra’s “fabulously resplendent and silky playing” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) and Thielemann’s “concern for an elegantly flowing musical line (…) and for a lightness and transparency that allow this noble music to sparkle in manifold ways” – in short, the whole performance was “musically exceptional (…) a miniature miracle in sound” (Wiener Zeitung).

Orchestra Orchester der Wiener StaatsoperConductor Christian Thielemann

Stage Director Adrian Noble

Peter, a broom-maker Adrian ErödGertrud Janina Baechle

Hänsel Daniela SindramGretel Ileana Tonca

Sandman and Dew Fairy Annika Gerhards

Video Director Agnes Méth

E N G E L B E R T H U M P E R D I N C K

HÄNSEL UND GRETEL

Photos: Michael Pöhn

Length: 113'Cat. no. A 040 50047

A production of ORF and UNITEL CLASSICAin co-production with ZDF/Arte

in cooperation with Wiener Staatsoper

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NICCOLÒ JOMMELLI

SEBASTIAN KOHLHEPP | SOPHIE MARILLEYANA DURLOVSKI | HELENE SCHNEIDERMANconducted by GABRIELE FERROstaged by JOSSI WIELER & SERGIO MORABITO

IL VOLOGESO

The successful duo of Jossi Wieler und Sergio Morabito have rediscovered a Baroque gem in Niccolò Jommelli’s opera Il Vologeso. Their exciting staging, relocated to the present day, delighted both the audience and the press: “theatrical subtlety wherever one looked, highly sensitive characterization throughout” (BR Klassik).

Born in Naples in 1714, Niccolò Jommelli was in his day a superstar among composers. In the course of his life he set some 80 librettos, nearly 30 of them during his time as Kapellmeister at the court of Baden-Württemberg, where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his father Leopold made Jommelli’s acquaintance on their tour of western Europe. Today Jommelli is acknowledged as a precursor to the Viennese Classical school thanks to his relaxed approach to the typically rigid recitative-aria structure of the Baroque era.

In 1699 the writer and scholar Apostolo Zeno created one of the most powerful stories for the European opera stage with his libretto Lucio Vero. During the battle against the Parthians, Lucio Vero, co-regent of the Roman emperor Marc Aurel, has fallen in love with Berenice, Queen of Armenia and the fiancée of his rival Vologeso, who is believed dead. But Vologeso is alive. And the emperor’s daughter Lucilla is not willing to relinquish her claim on her fiancé Lucio Vero …

For this, the first staged performance of Il Vologeso for more than 200 years, a strong cast has been assembled. Sebastian Kohlhepp as Lucio Vero, Sophie Marilley as Vologeso, Ana Durlovski as Berenice, Helene Schneiderman as Lucilla, Catriona Smith as Flavio and Igor Durlovski as Aniceto all bring the story of Vologeso to life again with their captivating and beautiful singing. Gabriele Ferro, conducting the State Orchestra, transforms Jommelli’s music into great waves of emotion with his differentiated and thrilling conducting style.

Orchestra Staatsorchester StuttgartConductor Gabriele Ferro

Chorus Staatsopernchor StuttgartChorus Master Johannes KnechtStage Director Jossi Wieler & Sergio Morabito

Lucio Vero Sebastian KohlheppVologeso Sophie MarilleyBerenice Ana Durlovski

Lucilla Helene SchneidermanFlavio Catriona Smith

Aniceto Igor Durlovski

Produced by FAVO FilmVideo Director Marcus Richardt

N I C C O LÒ J O M M E L L I

IL VOLOGESO

Length: 183'Cat. no. A 050 50237

A co-production ofFAVO Film, UNITEL CLASSICA

and Staatsoper Stuttgartin cooperation with SWR and ARTE concert

Photos: A.T. Schaefer

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PIETRO MASCAGNI

CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA RUGGERO LEONCAVALLO

PAGLIACCI

SÄCHSISCHE STAATSKAPELLE DRESDEN CONDUCTED BY

CHRISTIAN THIELEMANN

STAGED BY

PHILIPP STÖLZL

SALZBURG EASTER FESTIVAL

JONAS KAUFMANNLIUDMYLA MONASTYRSKAANNALISA STROPPAAMBROGIO MAESTRIMARIA AGRESTA

“Opera as Great Romantic Cinema”, wrote the Salzburger Nachrichten about the two one-act operas Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci, which proved real crowd-pullers and ensured record attendances at the Easter Festival. No wonder, for “Jonas Kaufmann, for whom it was in both cases his role debut, was on stellar form twice” (Daily Telegraph). “Kaufmann sings both parts so lyrically, with such italianità, mellow with impeccable highs, as to be a pure delight.” (Kurier) Equally impressive are Thielemann – “the uber-conductor” (Telegraph) – and the Dresdeners, who “take time for sensitive, melodious soul portraits, while delivering consummate drama at just the right moment. What we hear from the pit is sensational in its nuances.” (Kurier)The scene is set by film and opera director Philipp Stölzl, contributing to the performance’s huge fascination: Stölzl divides the stage into several levels, staging crowd scenes below, private feelings above – the latter projected with filmic close-ups – doubling and trebling the action.Productions like this, insists Kurier, “simply must be described as world-class”. “Thrilling” concludes the Telegraph.

Orchestra Staatskapelle DresdenConductor Christian Thielemann

Chorus Staatsopernchor DresdenSalzburger Bachchor Salzburger Festspiele & Theater Kinderchor

Chorus Master Jörn H. AndresenStage Director Philipp StölzlVideo Director Brian Large

PIETRO MASCAGNI

CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA

RUGGERO LEONCAVALLO

PAGLIACCI

Santuzza Liudmyla MonastyrskaTuriddu Jonas Kaufmann

Lucia Stefania ToczyskaAlfio Ambrogio MaestriLola Annalisa Stroppa

Nedda Maria AgrestaCanio Jonas KaufmannTonio Dimitri Platanias

Beppe Tansel AkzeybekSilvio Alessio Arduini

Length: 161'Cat. no. A 040 50042/3

A production of UNITEL CLASSICAin co-production with ORF, 3sat and ZDF

in cooperation with Salzburg Easter Festival

Photos: Andreas J. Hirsch

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Luca PisaroniAnett FritschMartina JankováAdam PlachetkaWiener Philharmonikerconducted by

Dan Ettingerstaged by

Sven-Eric Bechtolf

W O L F G A N G A M A D E U S M O Z A R T

LE NOZZE DI FIGARO

When he wrote The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart created an unforgettable work about love and desire, about the primal force of uncontrollable passion. Director Sven-Eric Bechtolf presents this storm of emotions to the Salzburg Festival in the very model of an English stately home of the 1920s, inspired no doubt by the setting and furnishings of the fictional Downton Abbey.

In a parallel staging worthy of the cinema, the nobility and their servants live side by side in a world of their own, ensuring fast-paced action derived precisely from the libretto, the game of love that never fails to entertain. The young conductor Dan Ettinger is fascinating for the great musical sensibility with which he directs an attractive young cast that is not only altogether convincing vocally but absolutely ready to grace the screen. And it is those very singers – “the sweet-voiced, appealing soprano Martina Janková”, “the alluring soprano Anett Fritsch” and “the charismatic bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni” (New York Times) – who capture our hearts. It all sounds so full of life and so finely judged as it is being played out on stage. At the end, Luca Pisaroni’s vocally impressive Count approaches his melancholy Countess (Anett Fritsch) with a glass of champagne and a plea for pardon. “The waves of applause have already begun, for Bechtolf extends Da Ponte’s ‘corriam tutti a festeggiar’ almost as an invitation to the audience, which indeed joins in the festivities with gusto.” (Die Presse)

The concluding work of the Da Ponte trilogy succeeds as a great evening of opera in the hands of Sven-Eric Bechtolf with the Vienna Philharmonic. Simply marvellous Mozart music from Mozart’s birthplace.

Orchestra Wiener PhilharmonikerConductor Dan Ettinger

Chorus Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor

Chorus Master Ernst RaffelsbergerStage Director Sven-Eric Bechtolf

Il Conte Almaviva Luca PisaroniLa Contessa Almaviva Anett Fritsch

Susanna Martina JankováFigaro Adam Plachetka

Cherubino Margarita GritskovaMarcellina Ann Murray

Don Bartolo Carlos ChaussonDon Basilio Paul SchweinesterDon Curzio Franz Supper


W O L F G A N G A M A D E U S M O Z A R T

LE NOZZE DI FIGARO

Length: 192'Cat. no. A 040 50050

A co-production ofUNITEL CLASSICA and Servus TV

in cooperation withSalzburg Festival and Wiener Philharmoniker

Photos: Ruth Walz

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Jun-Sang Han Peter Galliard

Jennifer Larmore Viktor Rud

Philharmoniker Hamburgconducted by

Gerrit Prießnitz

staged by Renaud Doucet

Staatsoper Hamburg

LaBelleJACQUES OFFENBACH

HÉLÈNE

Jacques Offenbach’s La Belle Hélène (The Beautiful Helen) has always been one of its composer’s most successful works. With characteristic acuity, Offenbach saw the foibles of his age and turned what he saw into a mordant satire. Not for a moment did his Second Empire audience think that his characters – the love-struck Helen, her dotty husband Ménélas, her lascivious lover Paris, the doltish soldiers Ajax and Achilles, the corrupt high priest Calchas or the good-for-nothing spendthrift Orestes – were Greek heroes. It is human beings with all their foibles and vices who are the butt of a manic parody. Offenbach’s librettists, Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, were men after his own heart, firing off one witty barb after another in the form of outrageous puns, ridiculous rhymes and onomatopoeic nonsense.

Adopting a pro-active stance, director Renaud Doucet and designer André Barbe treat the piece as a “great show” with numerous choreographic elements, relocating the action of Offenbach‘s classical spoof and setting it on a cruise ship in the 1960s, when Flower Power, love and drugs were all the rage.

“La Belle Hélène is a firework display for ears and eyes” (Hamburger Morgenpost), “opulent and amusing” (Bild), and in the title role Jennifer Larmore convinces with her “fantastic vocal performance” (Das Opernglas).

Orchestra Philharmoniker HamburgConductor Gerrit Prießnitz

Stage Director & Choreographer Renaud DoucetSet & Costume Designer André Barbe

Pâris Jun-Sang HanMénélas Peter Galliard

Hélène Jennifer LarmoreAgamemnon Viktor Rud

Oreste Rebecca Jo LoebAchille Dovlet Nurgeldiyev

Ajax premier Sergiu SaplacanAjax deuxième Benjamin Popson

Calchas Christian MiedlBacchis Anat Edri

Produced by FAVO FilmVideo Director Marcus Richardt

LaBelleJACQUES OFFENBACH

HÉLÈNE

Length: 117'Cat. no. A 050 50232

A production of FAVO Film on behalf of NDR

in cooperation with ARTE and UNITEL CLASSICA

Photos: Klaus Lefebvre

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Les Contes d’Hoffmann

J A C Q U E S O F F E N B A C H

Kerstin Avemo ∙ Mandy Fredrich ∙ Rachel Frenkel ∙ Daniel Johansson ∙ Michael VolleWiener Symphoniker ∙ conducted by Johannes Debus

staged by Stefan Herheim

Orchestra Wiener SymphonikerConductor Johannes Debus

Chorus Prague Philharmonic ChoirChorus Master Lukáš VasilekStage Director Stefan Herheim

Olympia/Giulietta Kerstin AvemoAntonia/Giulietta Mandy Fredrich

Muse/Nicklausse/Voice from the grave Rachel FrenkelHoffmann Daniel Johansson

Lindorf/Coppélius/Luther/Miracle/Dapertutto Michael VolleSpalanzani Bengt-Ola Morgny

Crespel Ketil HugaasAndrès/Cochenille/Frantz/Pitichinaccio Christophe Mortagne

Video Director Felix Breisach

J A C Q U E S O F F E N B A C H

LES CONTES D’HOFFMANN(The Tales of Hoffmann – Hoffmanns Erzählungen)

“The opera visit of the year – Bregenz is showing a Tales of Hoffmann that makes you forget everything you saw before.” (FAZ)

Sparkling with creativity, Stefan Herheim’s new staging of Jacques Offenbach’s opera Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Tales of Hoffmann) at the Bregenz Festival, was received by an enthusiastic audience with standing ovation and frenetic applause. The international press agreed wholeheartedly: The New York Times praised the “thoughtfulness and creativity” of the new production, devised by the director as a search for one’s own self in a sparkling drag show.

The story of Hoffmann the poet and philosopher, who cannot write without alcohol and cannot live without love, tells of his past affairs with various women and his search for love, which can never be fulfilled.

Conductor Johannes Debus leads the Vienna Symphony through the evening with verve. A “shining-toned” (NYT) Hoffmann is embodied by tenor Daniel Johansson in the title role. He is supported by a fantastic cast: “Rachel Frenkel is positively ideal as Muse and Niklausse” (Kurier), Kerstin Avemo as Olympia is “endowed with brilliant, cheekily extemporized coloraturas” (Neue Zürcher Zeitung), Michael Volle sings the parts of Lindorf, Coppélius, Dr. Miracle and Dappertutto, “the work’s four villains, with warmth and intensity” (NYT) and Mandy Fredrich is a “finely-phrased Antonia” (Kurier).

Herheim risks a lot and wins everything, making this production into a thoroughly accomplished and truly thrilling operatic experience, which draws us in so strongly “that we hardly dare take breath until the world of the drunken genius and desperate lover lies utterly in ruins”, adds the Neue Zürcher Zeitung and the Süddeutsche Zeitung joined in: “A stroke of genius, a milestone in the history of staging this work”!

If you need proof, that Bregenz’s Opera Awards for “Festival of the Year” is justified, don’t look any further.

Length: 174'Cat. no. A 040 500 51

A co-production of ORF, tpc and UNITEL CLASSICA in cooperation with Bregenz Festival

Photos: Karl Forster

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G I A C O M O P U C C I N I

MANON LESCAUT KRISTINE OPOLAIS ∙ JONAS KAUFMANN CHRISTOPHER MALTMAN ∙ MAURIZIO MURARO

ORCHESTRA OF THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSECONDUCTED BY ANTONIO PAPPANO

STAGED BY JONATHAN KENT

Jonathan Kent’s new production of Manon Lescaut includes a stellar cast, featuring Kristine Opolais and Jonas Kaufmann in the roles of the young lovers Manon Lescaut and Renato des Grieux. Kent brings this 19th-century classic to a contemporary setting, non-naturalistic and theatrical. Manon is on her way to a convent when she meets the young student Des Grieux. The pair fall in love and escape to Paris, but when the elderly Geronte offers Manon a life of wealth and luxury, her head is turned.Puccini’s sumptuous, richly-coloured score is characterized by youthful vitality and filled with glorious melodies. Des Grieux expresses his passion for Manon in the Act I aria “Vedete? io son fedele”, lively dances evoke Manon’s luxurious life in Paris in Act II, while in the impassioned finale to Act III, “Pazza son!”, Des Grieux begs to be allowed to join the imprisoned Manon on her voyage to America. The opera culminates in Manon’s heartbreaking Act IV aria “Sola, perduta, abbandonata”, as she contemplates her impending death. “From the moment Kaufmann and Opolais embark – with infinite delicacy – on their emotional journey, it becomes clear that this is a vocal marriage made in heaven. His warmly burnished sound is balanced by the exquisitely nuanced purity of hers, and they are supported by a performance in the pit, under Antonio Pappano, of rare refinement.” (The Independent)

Orchestra Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House

Conductor Antonio PappanoStage Director Jonathan Kent

Manon Lescaut Kristine OpolaisIl Cavaliere Renato des Grieux Jonas Kaufmann

Geronte di Ravoir Maurizio MuraroEdmondo Benjamin HulettInnkeeper Nigel CliffeMusician Nadezhda Karyazina

Dancing Master Robert BurtSergeant Kihoon Kim

Lamplighter Luis GomesNaval Captain Jeremy White

Video Director Jonathan Haswell


MANON LESCAUT

Length: 131'Cat. no. A 020 50081

A production ofRoyal Opera House, Covent Garden

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U N I T E L P R O U D LY R E P R E S E N T S T H E I N T E R N AT I O N A L T V D I S T R I B U T I O N O F T H E R OYA L O P E R A H O U S E L O N D O N

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T U R A N D O TG I A C O M O P U C C I N I

MLADA KHUDOLEY ∙ RICCARDO MASSIMICHAIL RYSSOV ∙ Manuel von Senden

WIENER SYMPHONIKER CONDUCTED BY PAOLO CARIGNANI

STAGED BY MARCO ARTURO MARELLI

“Melodies for millions, impressively staged” – the Bregenz Festival creates a fabulous open-air event from Giacomo Puccini’s opera Turandot on the world’s largest lakeside stage, thereby bringing “a bit of Hollywood to Bregenz” (ZDF heute journal TV news programme).

Great stage shows before the breathtaking backdrop of Lake Constance are taken for granted at the greatest lakeside arena. Yet “seldom has such a spectacle as this been seen, even in Bregenz” pronounced the Stuttgarter Zeitung. To mark its 70th anniversary, the “Festival of the Year” (Opera Awards) presents a stunning new production of Puccini’s last opera Turandot, featuring pyrotechnics, stunts, acrobats, dragons and a 72-metre-long Great Wall of China that rears proudly to a height of up to 27 metres (90 feet) from the water, dominating the set. But “opera at its best has always been spectacle with a brain. And nowhere is that marriage of seriousness and showmanship pursued more openly than at the Bregenz Festival” according to the The New York Times.

Director and set designer Marco Arturo Marelli impressively presents the story of the cold-hearted Chinese princess Turandot as a finely honed parable on pathos, love and cruelty. As the orchestra strikes up the first bars fortissimo, Marelli succeeds in producing “the most spectacular stage coup,” according to the Abendzeitung of Munich, when the Great Wall of China collapses amid a deafening uproar to reveal an army of terracotta warriors. These soldiers are then witness to what must be the most famous aria in the entire history of opera, “Nessun dorma”, which Riccardo Massi “thrillingly belts out” as Calaf “in the manner of Pavarotti” (Nürnberger Nachrichten). He is accompanied by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under the musical direction of Paolo Carignani. Mlada Khudoley is the heartless Princess Turandot and Operalia prizewinner Guanqun Yu the loving and devoted slave Liù. Nevertheless, the “magnetism of vocal and orchestral sound” (Der Tagesspiegel) does not fully exert its pull on us until the battle of the sexes in which Turandot and Calaf meet and their love finally triumphs.

Orchestra Wiener SymphonikerConductor Paolo Carignani

Chorus Prague Philharmonic ChoirBregenz Festival Choir

Chorus Masters Lukáš VasilekBenjamin Lack

Stage Director & Set Designer Marco Arturo Marelli

Turandot Mlada KhudoleyAltoum Manuel von Senden

Timur Michail RyssovThe Unknown Prince (Calaf) Riccardo Massi

Liù Guanqun YuPing Andrè Schuen

Pang Taylan ReinhardPong Cosmin Ifrim

A Mandarin Yasushi Hirano

Video Director Felix Breisach


T U R A N D O T

Length: 123'Cat. no. A 040 50045

A co-production of ORF, SWR, SRF, 3sat, tpc and UNITEL CLASSICA

in cooperation with Bregenz Festival

Photos: Bregenzer Festspiele/ Karl Forster

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Nicola Alaimo • Hasmik Torosyan • Vito Priante • Raffaella Lupinacci

G I O A C H I N O R O S S I N I

LA GAZZETTA

Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna conducted by Enrique Mazzola

staged by Marco Carniti


A production of UNITEL CLASSICAin co-production with Rossini Opera Festival

Photos: Studio Amati Bacciardi

shot in

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The event that takes place annually in Rossini’s birthplace, praised by press and public for its witty stagings even of Rossini’s less well known works, has landed on its feet: with La gazzetta, the Rossini Opera Festival has triumphed once again!

A real “singfest” enthused Deutschlandfunk, while Online Musik Magazin wrote of “frenetic applause” – the new production of Gioachino Rossini’s seldom performed opera La gazzetta, ossia Il matrimonio per concorso (The Newspaper, or The Marriage Competition) at the 2015 Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro proved to be a musical triumph. The Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna responded splendidly to the young Italian conductor Enrique Mazzola: as “one of the most gifted artists of his generation, he is not only a faithful interpreter of the score, he sends the orchestra of the Teatro di Bologna – and his audience too – into a veritable Rossini delirium” (Deutschlandfunk).

The musical comedy based on Carlo Goldoni’s play Il matrimonio per concorso has lost none of its appeal almost two centuries after its 1816 premiere in the Teatro dei Fiorentini. A newly-rich merchant places newspaper advertisements to find a suitable husband for his daughter, which leads to amorous entanglements and in the end to two happy couples.

Director Marco Carniti stages his colourful production in the Paris of the 1950s, in a well-judged distillation of Rossini’s ironic social criticism: “the direction of Marco Carniti has intelligently focused on the ironic dimension of a somewhat confused libretto” (Huffington Post). Nicola Alaimo embodies the nouveau-riche Don Pomponio Storione in every muscle: “he has confirmed his admirable dramatic qualities, with evidence of an unsuspected physical agility” (Huffington Post). Pesaro debutante Hasmik Torosyan stands out as Lisetta (Deutschlandfunk). Tenor Maxim Mironov as Alberto is another star of the production: “His big aria in Act II proved one of the musical highlights of the evening.” (Online Musik Magazin)

Orchestra Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Comunale di Bologna

Conductor Enrique MazzolaStage Director Marco Carniti

Don Pomponio Storione Nicola AlaimoLisetta Hasmik TorosyanFilippo Vito Priante

Doralice Raffaella LupinacciAnselmo Dario Shikhmiri

Alberto Maxim MironovMadama La Rose Josè Maria Lo MonacoMonsù Traversen Andrea Vincenzo Bonsignore

Tommasino Ernesto Lama


G I O A C H I N O R O S S I N I

LA GAZZETTA

Length: 156'Cat. no. A 000 50033

A production of UNITEL CLASSICAin co-production with Rossini Opera Festival

Photos: Studio Amati Bacciardi

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K a r o l S z ym a n o w S K i

Król roger Mariusz Kwiecień ∙ GeorGia JarMan ∙ saiMir PriGu ∙ KiM BeGley

orchestra of the royal oPera houseconducted By antonio PaPPano

staGed By KasPer holten

Karol Szymanowski’s masterpiece powerfully presents the dilemmas of culture versus nature and man versus beast, and movingly depicts King Roger’s inner struggles as he moves from an impossible life of repressed desires to the other extreme, giving in to his own demons. The story revolves around a mysterious Shepherd, who is brought before King Roger. The Church officials want him punished for his heretical preaching, but Roger’s queen Roxana pleads with the king to let the Shepherd speak first. The Shepherd seduces the court with descriptions of his hedonistic faith. They follow him in a wild Bacchic dance, Roxana among them. As the long night ends, Roger seeks out the Shepherd and his followers. He is agonized by the temptation to follow them, but resists. Alone, he hails the new dawn.

Polish composer Karol Szymanowski began to gather ideas for Król Roger in 1918. He was in part inspired by Euripides’ The Bacchae. The music for the opera is opulently scored. The three short acts – com-monly called the Byzantine, the Oriental and the Hellenic – brilliantly incorporate distinct musical styles.

Kasper Holten’s production finds in Roger’s indecision an expression of the struggle we all face – the struggle between intelligence and instinct in what is the innate duality of human nature. “A major triumph” writes The Telegraph.

Orchestra Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House

Conductor Antonio PappanoStage Director Kasper Holten

Roger II Mariusz KwiecieńRoxana Georgia Jarman

Shepherd Saimir PirguEdrisi Kim Begley

Archbishop Alan EwingDeaconess Agnes Zwierko

Video Director Ian Russell

K a r o l S z ym a n o w S K i

KRól ROGER(K I n G R O G E R )

Length: 96'Cat. no. A 020 50077

A production ofRoyal Opera House, Covent Garden

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C A R L O C O L O M B A R A | A N I TA R A C H V E L I S H V I L I | K R I S T I N L E W I S | FA B I O S A R TO R IC O N D U C T E D B Y Z U B I N M E H TA | S TA G E D B Y P E T E R S T E I N

AIDAG I U S E P P E V E R D I

Giuseppe Verdi’s masterpiece Aida at La Scala in Milan is an experience in itself. Consequently, a new production of Aida is an event barely to be surpassed, especially when performed before a notoriously critical audience of La Scala. With his unpretentious and lucid new interpretation of the opera, directorial legend Peter Stein succeeds in delivering a production acclaimed in equal measure by the press and public: “a perfect coup de theatre” (Giornale della musica).

Indeed, he breathes new life into Giuseppe Verdi’s romantic drama about power, passion, jealousy and death: the Nubian Princess Aida, who is unfortunate enough to find herself in prison in Egypt, is secretly in love with the leader of the army, Radamès. He however has been promised in marriage to the Egyptian king's daughter Amneris, who also loves him. The secret love affair between Aida and Radamès is uncovered and fate takes its course ...

A “stellar cast” (La Stampa) contributes to the production’s success under the musical direction of Verdi specialist Zubin Mehta. “The entire ensemble is brilliant in its portrayal of the characters” (Die Presse), especially the American soprano

Kristin Lewis in the title role. Anita Rachvelishvili gives a wholly credible reading of the jealous Amneris, as does George

Gagnidze as a restrained and resolute Amonasro, with Fabio Sartori as the warrior Radamès who is the object

of both women’s affections. Carlo Colombara as a dignified Pharaoh and Matti Salminen as the High Priest who demands respect round off the persuasive and eminently well cast ensemble.

“Applaus for an Aida minus sphinx and pyramids but nevertheless played in a spectacular and elegant ambience” (Rai Radio 1).

Orchestra Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro alla Scala

Conductor Zubin MehtaStage Director Peter Stein

The King Carlo ColombaraAmneris Anita Rachvelishvili

Aida Kristin LewisRadamès Fabio Sartori

Ramfis Matti SalminenAmonasro George Gagnidze

A Messenger Azer Rza-ZadaThe High Priestess Chiara Isotton


G I U S E P P E V E R D I

AIDA

Length: 151'Cat. no. A 000 500200

A production ofServus TV and UNITEL CLASSICA

in co-production withFondazione Teatro alla Scala

Photos: Brescia-Amisano

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Kristin Lewis AnitA rAchveLishviLi MArco Berti MArK s. DossconDucteD By GiAnAnDreA noseDA stAGeD By wiLLiAM FrieDKin

teAtro reGio torino

G i u s e p p e V e r d i Originally commissioned to celebrate the completion of the Suez Canal and the opening of Cairo’s new opera house, Verdi’s Egyptian epic Aida is here seen in a spectacular new staging specially mounted by the Teatro Regio Torino to celebrate the re-opening of Turin’s historic Museo Egizio, home to the world’s largest collection of Egyptian antiquities outside of the Cairo Museum.

Conducted by the Teatro Regio’s Music Director, Gianandrea Noseda – one of the world’s finest Verdians and Musical America’s Conductor of the Year 2015 –, Turin’s authentically Egyptian staging is directed in true Hollywood style by the Oscar-winning American film director William Friedkin, creator of such famous movies as The Exorcist and The French Connection.

Aida is perhaps best-known for the sonic splendour of its famous “Triumph” Scene – a rousing military march-past, complete with onstage “Egyptian trumpets”. But Verdi’s grandest opera is also amongst his most intimate, focusing as it does upon the private emotions experienced by the three victims of a tragic love-triangle: Radamès, Egypt’s victorious general, and the two rival princesses who adore him, the Pharaoh’s daughter Amneris and her Ethiopian slave Aida.

Amongst the first-rate cast, critics singled out the American soprano Kristin Lewis, who exhibits “a remarkable voice, which she uses with powerful dramatic instinct” (La Stampa), and the Georgian mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili, whose Amneris “dominates the stage with her dark, rounded, irrestistible voice and extraordinary stage presence” (La Gazzetta Musicale).

And all were united in praise of Noseda: “he controls everything – orchestra, singers, chorus, dancers, acrobats – with an all-encompassing overview” (La Stampa); “he knows exactly when it’s time to linger over a timbre, a colour, an expressive chord” (Corriere della Sera); “he draws from the score colours of a rare beauty, creating magnificent carpets of sound” (ResMusica); and, in the final scene in particular, “he resolves the expressive contrasts and the vocal-instrumental dialogue with remarkable dramatic insight and orchestral refinement” (La Repubblica).

Orchestra Orchestra and Chorus Teatro Regio Torino

Conductor Gianandrea NosedaStage Director William Friedkin

Aida Kristin LewisAmneris Anita Rachvelishvili

Radamès Marco BertiAmonasro Marc S. Doss

Ramfis Giacomo PrestiaThe King In-Sung Sim

A Messenger Dario ProlaA High Priestess Kate Fruchtermann



AIDA

Photos: Teatro Regio Torino/Ramella & Giannese


A production of Fondazione Teatro Regio Torino in cooperation with UNITEL CLASSICA

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TraviataLa

Olga Peretyatko ∙ Atalla Ayan Simone Piazzola ∙ Christine Daletska

conducted by Pablo Heras-Casadostaged by Rolando Villazón

Star tenor and director Rolando Villazón has staged probably Verdi’s best known masterpiece in colourful, lively and emotion-packed form at the Festspielhaus in Baden Baden, so he made for “an enthusiastic reception for the premiere” (Stuttgarter Zeitung)! Villazón’s signature, both as singer and director, is unmistakable. He made his international breakthrough as Alfredo Germont and now, 10 years later, the Mexican-born singer has produced a Traviata full of energy, attention to detail and even a hint of melancholy.

Villazón chooses an unusual approach by relocating the action of the great and tragic love affair between Alfredo and the courtesan Violetta to the colourful and noisy world of the circus (scenery by Johannes Leiacker). Alfredo and Violetta’s love affair is recalled anew in flashbacks as Violetta’s distant memories. A trapeze artist portrays the opposing parallel worlds in Violetta’s life.“The setting and opulence of the stage captivates the spectator, as do the stylized costumes designed by Thibault Vancraenenbroeck for circus artists”, the Stuttgarter Zeitung explains approvingly. Olga Peretyatko as Violetta delivers “a fantastic portrait of the title role wavering between adolescent joie de vivre, mature insight and anguish” (Stuttgarter Zeitung). Her partner is the young Brazilian tenor Atalla Ayan as the jealous Alfredo, who delivers a “beguiling interpretation with a dark, warm timbre and rich top notes” (Stuttgarter Zeitung). Simone Piazzolla as Alfredo’s strict father Giorgio Germont adds fine vocal lines to provide a strong sense of “Italianità” on stage (Neue Zürcher Zeitung). Directing the Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble is the young Spanish conductor Pablo Heras-Casado.

Orchestra Balthasar-Neumann-EnsembleConductor Pablo Heras-Casado

Chorus Balthasar-Neumann-ChorStage Director Rolando Villazón

Violetta Valéry Olga PeretyatkoAlfredo Germont Atalla AyanGiorgio Germont Simone Piazzola

Flora Bervoix Christine DaletskaGastone, Vicomte de Létorières Emiliano Gonzalez Toro

Baron Douphol Tom FoxMarquis d’Obigny Konstantin Wolff

Annina Deniz UzunDr. Grenvil Walter Fink


TraviataLa


A co-production of UNITEL CLASSICA and SWR/Arte

in cooperation with Festspielhaus Baden-Baden

Photos: Andrea Kremper

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TANNHÄUSERRICHARD WAGNER

PETER SEIFFERT PETER MATTEI PETER SONN RENÉ PAPE

STAATSKAPELLE BERLIN CONDUCTED BY DANIEL BARENBOIM

STAGE DIRECTION & CHOREOGRAPHY BY SASHA WALTZ

STAATSOPER IM SCHILLERTHEATER

“A real feast of music! Where to begin, where to end with praise for this Tannhäuser at the Berlin Staatsoper in the Schillertheater? It sounds the way one has always dreamt of it but all too rarely heard it”, reported the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung with considerable enthusiasm. This was due above all to Barenboim’s musical magic: “It is with nuance and fine balance that Richard Wagner’s music now rises from the orchestra pit” (FAZ), borne aloft by brilliant singers. Peter Seiffert in particular as Tannhäuser celebrates a true “triumph”, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Staged by choreographer Sasha Waltz on a fantastic stage by Pia Maier Schriever with a circular tunnel of light in the manner of Hieronymus Bosch, the Berlin Tannhäuser deserves to be described as “world-class” (Süddeutsche Zeitung).

Orchestra Staatskapelle BerlinConductor Daniel Barenboim

Chorus Staatsopernchor BerlinChorus Master Martin Wright

Stage Direction & Choreography Sasha Waltz

Tannhäuser Peter SeiffertWolfram von Eschenbach Peter Mattei

Walther von der Vogelweide Peter SonnHermann, Landgrave of Thuringia René Pape

Biterolf Tobias SchabelHeinrich der Schreiber Jürgen Sacher

Reinmar von Zweter Jan MartiníkElisabeth, the Landgrave's niece Ann Peterson

Venus Marina PrudenskayaA young shepherd Sónia Grané

Video Director Vincent Bataillon

TANNHÄUSERRICHARD WAGNER

Length: 192'Cat. no. A 050 50163

A production of Bel Air Media in co-production with

Mezzo and UNITEL CLASSICA in association with France Télévisions

Photos: Bernd Uhlig

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DER FREISCHÜTZCARL MARIA VON WEBER

Michael König ∙ Georg Zeppenfeld ∙ Albert Dohmen ∙ Sara JakubiakStaatskapelle Dresden conducted by Christian Thielemann

staged by Axel Köhler“Mortal terror from the orchestra pit, Thielemann is in command of every detail. That makes for utterly gripping listening,” wrote the Financial Times. It is not often that such a musically exciting Freischütz as the one which Christian Thielemann recently conducted on the rostrum of the Sächsische Staatskapelle is heard at Dresden’s Semperoper. At the head of what Wagner called his “miraculous harp”, Thielemann in his function as GMD dares to take on Carl Maria von Weber’s most famous opera, thereby continuing the musical tradition, since Weber was for many years from 1817 royal kapellmeister and director of the German Opera at the Dresden court theatre. What a great honour, considering that Weber, along with Wagner and Strauss are seen as revered icons of the Dresden Staatskapelle.

Der Freischütz was the most important work in the history of German opera after Mozart and Beethoven and prior to Wagner. Popular tunes, choruses of peasants and hunters, countryside vistas and ghostly scenes – evoked in innovative orchestral colours – create effective contrasts, all brought together in recurring tonal elements and a uniform ambience. Furthermore, the richly layered tonal shading of Der Freischütz is a precursor to Wagner’s operas. It is for instance no coincidence that Wagner himself described Weber as one of his few predecessors. In turn, Thielemann is confident: “There would be no Wagner if it were not for the Wolf ’s Den!”

This production’s cast was top-drawer, even in the minor roles, a veritable singing festival: “Michael König’s sullen Max has a gloriously free upper register and heroic weight; Sara Jakubiak makes a sweet-toned, melancholic Agathe,” enthused The Financial Times. Georg Zeppenfeld is a perfect addition to the cast: “Georg Zeppenfeld’s svelte-voiced, nihilistic Kaspar hits the mark” (Die Welt). Adrian Eröd as Prince Ottokar is quite simply “wonderful”, while Christina Landshamer sings the soubrette Ännchen “with enchantingly innocent traces of humanity,” Die Presse reports. “Bass-bombastic” is how Die Welt describes the Hermit Andreas Bauer.

“A small Dresden miracle,” aptly concludes Die Presse in its review of this production, while the Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper agrees that: “this was a bull’s eye for Dresden.”

Orchestra Staatskapelle DresdenConductor Christian Thielemann

Chorus Staatsopernchor DresdenChorus Master Jörn H. AndresenStage Director Axel Köhler

Max Michael KönigKaspar Georg Zeppenfeld

Kuno, a hereditary forester Albert DohmenAgathe, Kuno's daughter Sara Jakubiak

Ännchen Christina LandshamerFürst Ottokar Adrian Eröd

Kilian Sebastian WartigHermit Andreas Bauer


C A R L M A R I A V O N W E B E R

DER FREISCHÜTZ

Length: 149'Cat. no. A 050 50235

A co-production of UNITEL CLASSICA and Semperoper Dresden

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QUADRUPLE BILL VISCERA · AFTERNOON OF A FAUN TCHAIKOVSKY PAS DE DEUX · CARMENMARIANEL A NUÑEZ ∙ CARLOS ACOSTASARAH L AMB ∙ STEVEN McRAE

ORCHESTRA OF THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSE

A narrative work from acclaimed dancer Carlos Acosta concludes this mixed Royal Ballet programme, featuring brilliant short ballets by Liam Scarlett, Jerome Robbins and George Balanchine.Liam Scarlett’s abstract work, Viscera, created for Miami City Ballet and premiered to raving reviews, opens the programme. The ballet is set to contemporary American composer Lowell Liebermann’s First Piano Concerto. A sensual and haunting pas de deux forms the heart of the piece, accompanied by Liebermann’s slow second movement. It is bookended by two rhythmically intense sections for 14 dancers, who surge across the stage in a dizzying flow of movement.

Debussy’s evocative score is the inspiration for Jerome Robbins’s Afternoon of a Faun, which depicts two ballet dancers as absorbed by their own reflections as they are attracted to each other.

George Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux uses a fragment of music composed for the 1877 production of Swan Lake for an eight-minute display of ballet bravura and technique.Bizet’s much loved opera Carmen inspired Carlos Acosta’s ballet adaptation, which strips the narrative back to place an intense focus on the doomed heroine and the love triangle around her.Carlos Acosta unites classical and contemporary styles, including flamenco, to convey the vibrancy and passion of Carmen. „Panache and personality in every step” (The Evening Standard)

Choreography Liam ScarlettMusic by Lowell Liebermann

Soloists Laura MoreraMarianela NuñezRyoichi Hirano

Choreography Jerome RobbinsMusic by Claude Debussy

Soloists Sarah LambVadim Muntagirov

Choreography George BalanchineMusic by Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky

Soloists Iana SalenkoSteven McRae

Choreography Carlos AcostaMusic by Georges Bizet

Soloists Marianela NuñezCarlos Acosta

Ballet Company The Royal BalletOrchestra The Orchestra of

the Royal Opera HouseVideo Director Ross McGibbon

QUADRUPLE BILLV I S C E R A

A F T E R N O O N O F A FAU N

T C H A I KO V S K Y PA S D E D E U X

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Length: 118'Cat. no. A 025 50152 0000

A production ofRoyal Opera House Covent Garden

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LA FILLE MAL GARDÉEPHILIP MOSLEY ∙ NATALIA OSIPOVA ∙ STEVEN MCRAE ∙ CHRISTOPHER SAUNDERS

ORCHESTRA OF THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSE CONDUCTED BY BARRY WORDSWORTH

CHOREOGRAPHY BY FREDERICK ASHTON

A classic of The Royal Ballet, La Fille mal gardée was an immediate hit with the British public. Choreographed by Frederick Ashton in 1960, it is a highly lyrical and technically demanding take on the simple tale of love prevailing, which underpins this charming story. This revival is a “company triumph” (The Independent), with Principals Natalia Osipova and Steven McRae creating terrific onstage chemistry and delivering outstanding solo performances – Osipova as a “perky and gamine Lise” with “pin-drop precise” phrasing (The Guardian), and McRae an instantly likeable, playful Colas whose physical articulation is ‘particularly Ashtonian’ in quality (Daily Telegraph). They are joined by Philip Mosley as Widow Simone, who brings “music-hall gusto” (The Independent) to the famous clog dance of Act I.

Ballet Company The Royal BalletChoreography Frederick Ashton

Orchestra Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Conductor Barry WordsworthStage Director Christopher Carr, Grant Coyle

Widow Simone Philip MosleyLise Natalia Osipova

Colas Steven McRaeThomas Christopher Saunders

Alain Paul KayCockerel Michael Stojko

Video Director Ross MacGibbon

F E R D I N A N D H É R O L D

LA FILLE MAL GARDÉEBALLET IN TWO ACTS


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Length: 110'Cat. no. A 020 50075


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P YOT R I . TC H A I KO V S K Y

SWAN LAKE NATALIA OSIPOVA ∙ MAT THEW GOLDING ELISABETH McGORIAN ∙ GARY AVIS

ORCHESTRA OF THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSECONDUCTED BY BORIS GRUZIN

CHOREOGRAPHY BY MARIUS PETIPA & LEV IVANOV

From The Royal Ballet comes Anthony Dowell’s glorious production of Swan Lake, a ballet poorly received at its premiere in 1877 but which has since established itself as one of the world’s most beloved works, its bewitching storyline set to sumptuous music and thrilling choreography. Dowell’s interpretation, based on the version created by Petipa and Ivanov for the 1895 St. Petersburg production and described as a “yardstick for others” (New York Times), is here renewed through first-class performances from Natalia Osipova, who is riveting in the illustrious double role of Odette-Odile; Matthew Golding, who brings “brilliance and prowess” (New York Times) to the role of Prince Siegfried; and Gary Avis as the evil Von Rothbart, described as “an electrifying villain” by the Daily Telegraph. Veteran ballet conductor Boris Gruzin creates a “plangent and pliant”-sounding score (The Arts Desk), while Yolanda Sonnabend’s Fabergé-inspired designs add to the magic of this immensely detailed production.

Ballet Company The Royal BalletChoreography Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov

Orchestra The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Conductor Boris GruzinStage Director Christopher Carr

Odette Natalia OsipovaPrince Siegfried Matthew Golding

The Princess (Siegfried’s Mother) Elizabeth McGorianSorcerer Rothbart Gary Avis

The Tutor Alastair Marriott

Video Director Ross McGibbon

P YOT R I . TC H A I KO V S K Y

SWAN LAKE

Length: 133'Cat. no. A 020 50074


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CONCERTS

A production of Czech Television and UNITEL CLASSICAin collaboration with Czech Philharmonic

Length: 99'Cat. no. A 985 50006 0000

This concert was a quite special occasion for Julia Fischer, who was presented with the Martinů Medal of the Bohuslav Martinů Foundation following the concert in the Rudolfinum in Prague. Julia Fischer had just thrilled her audience with her interpretation of Martinů’s Violin Concerto.“Technically everything was perfect with the utmost fullness of sound. Thanks to her rich and full sound, which she deployed with great taste and imagination,

Fischer displayed exceptional talent for the Czech and Slav repertoire. It was a serious matinee, at which Fischer brought out virtuoso ornamentation seldom to be heard in this context.” Such was the admiring press comment.Fischer’s solo performance was the centrepiece of a concert that also featured works by Dvořák and Beethoven, which wonderfully portray the world of nature.

CZECH PHILHARMONIC & JULIA FISCHER CONDUCTED BY DAVID ZINMANANTONÍN DVOŘÁK In Nature’s Realm – Concert Overture, Op. 91BOHUSLAV MARTINŮ Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, H. 293PAUL HINDEMITH Sonata for Solo Violin in G minor, Op. 11 No. 6, 3rd movementLUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68, “Pastoral Symphony”

A co-production of ORF and UNITEL CLASSICAin cooperation with Grafenegg Festival

Length: 74'Cat. no. A 045 50049 0000

“Aural pleasure at the Wolkenturm” is how the Kurier newspaper described it, referring to the “top-flight summer night’s gala from Grafenegg”, taking place in the picturesque open air ambience of Grafenegg, Lower Austria. Under the artistic overall direction of pianist Rudolf Buchbinder the Grafenegg Festival has blossomed into a benchmark event for all the top stars on the classical music scene.

A potpourri of lovely melodies from the world of opera, operetta and the concert hall, which brought praise from the audience and from the Wiener Zeitung: “Piotr Beczala’s wonderful operetta top notes, Elisabeth Kulman’s rich mezzo and Julia Fischer’s graceful violin playing with her refined reading of catchy Spanish tunes” are the ingredients for an unmatched evening recital in Grafenegg.

GRAFENEGG FESTIVAL – MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S GALAELISABETH KULMAN, Mezzo-Soprano ∙ PIOTR BECZALA, Tenor ∙ JULIA FISCHER, ViolinTONKÜNSTLER-ORCHESTERconducted by YUTAKA SADO

A production of BRin co-production with UNITEL CLASSICA

Length: 83'Cat. no. A 055 50445 0000

The ballet music “El sombrero de tres picos” by Spain’s Manuel de Falla, with its three dances that characterize three Spanish regions, opened the lively proceedings in the open air. It was complemented by the Iberian influences in the other works written by composers outside Spain, such as Prokofiev’s Second Violin

Concerto performed by star violinist Julia Fischer, that shows clear signs of Spanish influence in the rhythm and melody. The musicians rounded off this Spanish night in Munich with Claude Debussy’s homage to Spain, “Ibéria”, and Maurice Ravel’s “Alborada del gracioso”.

THE ODEONSPLATZ CONCERT "SPANISH NIGHT"JULIA FISCHER, ViolinSYMPHONIEORCHESTER DES BAYERISCHEN RUNDFUNKS conducted by PABLO HERAS-CASADO

JULIA FISCHER

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HOLLYWOOD IN VIENNA

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A co-production of Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburgand UNITEL CLASSICA

Length: 109'Cat. no. A045500450000

The programme opens with Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto: “Sensitively supported by the rich and supple tone of the strings, Schiff’s pianistic virtuosity explores the length and breadth of Beethoven’s early work”, was the admiring verdict of the Salzburg press. Schiff again succeeds in Schubert’s Symphony No. 5 “from the first

note to the last in creating a sound world that flooded the mind’s eye with images” (Drehpunkt Kultur). The climax of the concert is the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 23. “Schiff here demonstrates his skill in pianistic interpretation and in conducting, nuanced, passionate, a sensitive revelation”, enthused the press.

MOZARTWOCHE SALZBURG ANDRÁS SCHIFF & CAPPELLA ANDREA BARCALUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Op. 15FRANZ SCHUBERT Symphony No. 5 in B flat major, D 485WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Piano Concerto No. 23 in E flat major, KV 482

A co-production of Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburgand UNITEL CLASSICA

Length: 76'Cat. no. A 045 50046 0000

The Salzburg Mozart Week – arranged by the Mozarteum foundation, the trustees of Mozart’s musical legacy – is always offering something unique: under the direction of the principal conductor and artistic director of the Salzburg Mozart Week, Marc Minkowski, the Musiciens du Louvre perform on not one but two of Mozart’s original instruments! Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Violin

Concerto and his Piano Concerto in A major are played on instruments that were once in the composer’s possession. In Franz Schubert’s Great C major Symphony, the culmination of this wonderful evening, “Minkowski and the Musiciens du Louvre are entirely in their element” (Wiener Zeitung).

MOZARTWOCHE SALZBURG LES MUSICIENS DU LOUVRE & MARC MINKOWSKIW. A. MOZART Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, KV 488 / Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major, KV 219FRANZ SCHUBERT Symphony No. 8 in C major (4th movement), D 944THIBAULT NOALLY, ViolinFRANCESCO CORTI, Fortepiano

A production of BOFMin cooperation with Axis/DP, ORF III and UNITEL CLASSICA

Length: 96'Cat. no. A 045 50053 0000

“Hollywood in Vienna” is an annual symphonic gala concert celebrating classic and current masterpieces of film music and honouring each year one of today’s leading film music composer.In the first part of this edition of the concert, the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Keith Lockhart takes you away on a magical mystery tour, full of eerily-beauty and musical delight. From the eccentric Addams Family in their Victorian Mansion, to

the fabulous world of Alice in Wonderland the programme, true to its motto “Tales of mystery”, sets out for mysterious places and wondrous tales.The second part of the concert is dedicated to James Newton Howard, multi-award winning composer of film scores such as Batman Begins, Pretty Woman and The Hunger Games. The press raved: “Goosebumps, tears and standing ovations!” (Kurier)

HOLLYWOOD IN VIENNA A TRIBUTE TO JAMES NEWTON HOWARDwith DANIELA FALLY, LOUISE DEARMAN, FRANTIŠEK JÁNOŠKA, INSINGIZI & FRIENDS et al.ORF VIENNA RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA conducted by KEITH LOCKHART

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A production of Life Ball in cooperation with Interspot Filmfor ORF III and UNITEL CLASSICA

Length: 57'Cat. no. A 045 50048 0000

Now, in its fourth year, the Red Ribbon Celebration Concert has become an integral part of the world famous Vienna Life Ball Weekend, one of the biggest fund-raising events to further the cause of those living with HIV or AIDS. Staged in the legendary Burgtheater, the concert assembles a line-up of stars which reads like the who is who of classical music. Anna Netrebko, Juan Diego Flórez, Piotr Beczała, Elena Maximova, Thomas

Quasthoff, Yusif Eyvazov and Kristine Opolais as well as the jazz singer Gregory Porter perform an extraordinary concert according to the motto “Building Bridges for Peace”. From Porter’s hit Water under Bridges to a humorous interpretation of Franz Lehar’s Dein ist mein ganzes Herz by Anna Netrebko and Yusif Eyvazov, the stars where celebrated with “only bravos” (Salzburger Nachrichten).

RED RIBBON CELEBRATION CONCERTBUILDING BRIDGES FOR PEACEwith ANNA NETREBKO, KRISTINE OPOLAIS, ELENA MAXIMOVA, JUAN DIEGO FLÓREZ, PIOTR BECZAŁA, THOMAS QUASTHOFF, YUSIF EYVAZOV, GREGORY PORTERTONKÜNSTLER-ORCHESTER conducted by YUTAKA SADO

A production ofDanish Broadcasting Corporation

Length: 90'Cat. no. A 905 50003 0000

Carl Nielsen was unquestionably Denmark’s most important composer, commanding great respect already during his lifetime throughout Scandinavia. Now known to the rest of the world he is counted among the world’s greatest. The Koncerthuset in Copenhagen marked the composer’s 150th anniversary with a grand gala under the musical direction of Juanjo Mena, in the presence of Queen Margarethe herself.

The programme features the Clarinet Concerto, Nielsen’s last and one of his most famous orchestra works, which soloist Olli Leppäniemi executes with verve and virtuosity, and also his Fourth Symphony, “The Inextinguishable”. The concert’s opener is the early cantata Hymnus Amoris – an expression of love offered to his wife by the young composer – paying homage to love in all its light and shade with compelling intensity.

THE CARL NIELSEN GALACARL NIELSEN Hymnus amoris / Clarinet Concerto / Symphony No. 4, ”The Inextinguishable“KLARA EK, Soprano ∙ DAVID DANHOLT, ADAM RIIS, Tenor ∙ TORSTEN NIELSEN, Baritone JOHAN KARLSTRÖM, Bass ∙ OLLI LEPPÄNIEMI, ClarinetDANISH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA conducted by JUANJO MENA

A production of UNITEL CLASSICALength: approx. 75'

Cat. no. A 515 50001 0000

Live from the Grand Auditorium of Luxembourg’s stunning new Philharmonie – universally acclaimed by musicians, critics and audiences alike for its outstanding acoustics – rising star Gustavo Gimeno presents his inaugural concert as music director of the grand duchy’s prestigious Philharmonic Orchestra. In this concert he directs an artfully balanced Austro-Hungarian programme of post-Romantic works. “In his uncommonly transparent readings of complex, subtly

orchestrated pieces he achieved a complete success, exhibiting sovereign control of both subtle details and surging climaxes.” (ResMusica) Thanks to his conducting style the “natural talent” (NRC Handelsblad) is now being compared with such podium giants as his own mentor, Claudio Abbado: “There stands a real conductor, Chailly with his right hand and Abbado with his left, calm, cool and collected” (Het Parool).

ORCHESTRE PHILHARMONIQUE DU LUXEMBOURG GUSTAVO GIMENO – THE INAUGURAL CONCERTGYÖRGY LIGETI Concert RomânescGUSTAV MAHLER Symphony No. 1 in D major, “Titan”

ANNA NETREBKO

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the Prokofiev Marathonvalery GerGiev

MUNICH PHILHARMONICMARIINSKY ORCHESTRA

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A production of CLC and Medici.tvin association with UNITEL CLASSICA

PART I HERBERT SCHUCH, PianoMARIINSKY ORCHESTRA(Cat. no. A055505170000 – Length: approx. 80')

SERGEI PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No. 1 in D flat major, Op. 10further programme: SERGEI PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 1 in D major, Op. 25, “Classical Symphony”JOSEPH HAYDN Symphony No. 82 in C major, “Bear Symphony”

PART II DENIS MATSUEV, PianoMARIINSKY ORCHESTRA(Cat. no. A055505180000 – Length: approx. 70')

SERGEI PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16further programme: CARL MARIA VON WEBER Overture from Der Freischütz, “Invitation to the Dance”, Op. 65, arr. for orchestra byHector Berlioz

PART III BEHZOD ABDURAIMOV, PianoMUNICH PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA(Cat. no. A055505190000 – Length: approx. 60')

SERGEI PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Op. 26further programme: MAX REGERFour Tone Poems after Arnold Böcklin, Op. 128

PART IV ALEXEI VOLODIN, Piano PELAGEYA KURENNAYA, SopranoMARIINSKY ORCHESTRA(Cat. no. A055505200000 – Length: approx. 90')

SERGEI PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto (for the left hand) No. 4 in B flat major, Op. 53further programme: RODION SHCHEDRIN “Tanja – Katja”, Romance in Folk Style for Woman’s Voiceand String OrchestraKARL AMADEUS HARTMANN Simplicius Simplicissimus, SuiteRODION SHCHEDRIN Concerto for Orchestra No. 1 “Naughty Limericks”

PART V OLLI MUSTONEN, Piano JÖRG WIDMANN, ClarinetMUNICH PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA(Cat. no. A055505210000 – Length: approx. 85')

SERGEI PROKOFIEVPiano Concerto No. 5 in G major, Op. 55further programme: JÖRG WIDMANN “Con Brio”, Concert Overture for OrchestraWOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Clarinet Concerto in A major, KV 622

THE PROKOFIEV MARATHON

Cat. no. A 555 50037 0000

This suite of five concerts at Munich's Philharmonic Hall performed by the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mariinsky Orchestra and several soloists, forms part of the MPhil 360° Festival. The MPhil 360° Festival is a new festival which marks the beginning of Valery Gergiev's collaboration with the Munich Philharmonics.Core of the program of the festival’s first edition are the five piano concertos of Prokofiev which enter into a dialogue with

history and modern age. All of Prokofiev’s piano concertos are complemented by works of the German musical literature. Such a compilation appeals to the audience – the press raved: “The interpretations [of the five piano concertos] were so different, that an extremely enlightening portrait of Prokofiev came off“, not least “the new maestro was shining with the Munich Philharmonics” (SZ).

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A T T H E R O Y A L A L B E R T H A L L

A BBC production in association with John Wilson Orchestra and UNITEL CLASSICA

Length: 107'Cat. no. A 025 50147 0000

John Wilson and his orchestra are an annual Proms highlight, bringing the glitz and glamour of stage and screen to the Royal Albert Hall. A starry cast of soloists including Proms favourite Julian Ovenden (fresh from Downton Abbey) and the West End’s Louise Dearman join the John Wilson Orchestra, a clever combination of

symphonic orchestra and big jazz band, and streetwise Maida Vale Singers for a tribute to the composer Leonard Bernstein, that includes Bernstein’s biggest hits as well as a selection of rarities. “An evening of highlight after highlight. 5 out of 5 stars!” (Evening Standard)

STAGE AND SCREEN – A TRIBUTE TO LEONARD BERNSTEINLOUISE DEARMAN, LUCY SCHAUFER, SCARLETT STRALLEN, JULIAN OVENDEN, VocalsJOHN WILSON ORCHESTRA ∙ MAIDA VALE SINGERSconducted by JOHN WILSON

A BBC productionin association with UNITEL CLASSICA


Sir András Schiff brings Bach’s monumental work for solo keyboard to the Royal Albert Hall and delivers a spellbinding account of the Goldberg Variations. “Schiff’s playing was buoyant and dazzling in a performance that underlined the cogency and integrity of his approach to this monumental work” stated The Guardian.Alone at the piano in the vastness of the Royal Albert

Hall was András Schiff, who made no concessions to the capacity crowd: this was all about Bach’s astonishing variations. Schiff’s “command and awareness of the smaller-scale architectures were just as impressive as his mastery of the whole 30-variation span“ wrote The Telegraph.

ANDRÁS SCHIFF – THE GOLDBERG VARIATIONS

A co-production of BBC and UNITEL CLASSICALength: approx. 145'

Cat. no. A 025 50146 0000

The orchestra’s London appearance, as part of the 120th-anniversary Proms season, marked a significant date for Barenboim himself: he was celebrating 65 years (less a day) since making his debut in his native Buenos Aires. His programme cleverly contrasts the anti-Romantic terseness and crystalline beauty of Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony – “a taut, rhythmic performance with a fine sense of dramatic momentum” (Evening Standard) – with the tempestuous emotionalism of Tchaikovsky’s opus, where “the orchestra rose to all

technical challenges in an interpretation of overwhelming energy and power” (The Guardian), while Beethoven’s Triple Concerto could almost serve as a paradigm for the orchestra’s egalitarian ethos where Barenboim and his partners “offered urbane poise, ideally suited to this relaxed, airily melodic work” (The Telegraph).Visibly shocked by the storm of applause, Barenboim was coaxed into giving not just one but three encores – Sibelius’s dreamy Valse triste, Glinka’s thrilling Ruslan and Ludmila overture and a playful tango by José Carli.

WEST-EASTERN DIVAN ORCHESTRA PLAY & CONDUCT DANIEL BARENBOIMARNOLD SCHOENBERG Chamber Symphony No. 1 in E major, Op. 9LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Triple Concerto in C major, Op. 56PYOTR I. TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36GUY BRAUNSTEIN, Violin · KIAN SOLTANI, Violoncello

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A production of BBC , Berliner Philharmoniker and UNITEL CLASSICAin co-production with ZDF for Arte

Length: 243'Cat. no. A 025 50145 0000

For the recent major London residency of the Berliner Philharmoniker at the Barbican Sir Simon Rattle has chosen music that means most to him, the complete cycle of Sibelius symphonies in honour of the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth: “Sibelius is so concentrated and exact. With Sibelius you feel that if one drop touches your skin it would burn right through the bone.“

“High-voltage Sibelius kicks off Rattle’s London Residency” raved the press consequently over the opening of the cycle. The Telegraph agreed: “Sibelius’s symphonies sounded thrillingly new in the hands of Simon Rattle and the Berlin Phil”, in a way, that “a great orchestra and conductor can make familiar music seem the hottest thing in town”.

THE SIBELIUS CYCLECONDUCTED BY SIR SIMON RATTLESymphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 39 (40')Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43 (47')Symphony No. 3 in C major, Op. 52 (30')Symphony No. 4 in A minor, Op. 63 (40')Symphony No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 82 (32')Symphony No. 6 in D minor, Op. 104 (35')Symphony No. 7 in C major Op. 105 (54')

A production of Accentus Music in co-production with ZDF/Arte in association with the Lucerne Festival and UNITEL CLASSICA

Length: 90'Cat. no. A 955 50009 0000

At this summer’s Lucerne Festival, Sir Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker presented a new Haydn symphony that never existed before: Rattle gathered together ten of the most original and avant-garde-like instrumental movements by Joseph Haydn to fashion a “Symphonie imaginaire,” a new Haydn symphony that never existed before.

Rattle takes us back to the birth hour of creation, lets the earth quake, unleashes the stormy sea as well as its lovely waves, and, above all, shows the allegedly conservative “Papa Haydn” as an odd bird who astounds his audience in the final movements of his symphony. In addition to this astonishing Haydn pasticcio, Rattle conducted Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for violin, viola and orchestra.

MOZART & HAYDNCONDUCTED BY SIR SIMON RATTLEWOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Sinfonia Concertante in E flat major, KV 364JOSEPH HAYDN “Une symphonie imaginaire”, a pasticcio arranged by Simon RattleDAISHIN KASHIMOTO, ViolinAMIHAI GROSZ, Viola

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A production of Berlin Phil Mediaand UNITEL CLASSICA

Length: 113'Cat. no. A 055 50446 0000

Mahler’s Fifth is among the best loved of his symphonies; not least thanks to the Adagietto, made legendary as the soundtrack to Visconti’s Death in Venice. Andris Nelsons on the rostrum of the the Berliner Philharmoniker made this symphony into “a true celebration of beauty and the phenomenal Philharmonic string sound” wrote in Der Tagesspiegel delight. The concert got off to

a racing start, too: the “master trumpeter” (Berliner Zeitung) Håkan Hardenberger carried the audience with him in HK Gruber’s trumpet concerto Aerial. After all his showpiece: the composer wrote this BBC Proms commission specially for him. “Hardenberger, the virtuoso supersonic, thrills his audience through and through.” (Berliner Morgenpost)

HK GRUBER & MAHLERCONDUCTED BY ANDRIS NELSONSHK GRUBER Aerial – Concerto for Trumpet and OrchestraGUSTAV MAHLER Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minorHÅKAN HARDENBERGER, Trumpet

A production of Berlin Phil Mediaand UNITEL CLASSICA

Length: 99'Cat. no. A 055 50447 0000

As head of two world-class orchestras, the Royal Concertgebouw and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Mariss Jansons is one of the leading conductors of his generation. For this special concert he brings works by Bartók, Shostakovich and Ravel to the rostrum and together with the Berlin Philharmonic he succeeds in “rocking the Berlin Philharmonie”

(Süddeutsche Zeitung). For Shostakovich’s 2nd Violin Concerto Jansons and the Berliner Philharmoniker are joined by the German violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann. Jansons spreads out a finely shaded soundscape for the violinist, who in his turn returns the compliment with “musical intelligence and violinistic furore” (Süddeutsche Zeitung).

BARTÓK, SHOSTAKOVICH & RAVELCONDUCTED BY MARISS JANSONSBÉLA BARTÓK Music for Strings, Percussion and CelestaDMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH Violin Concerto No. 2, Op. 129MAURICE RAVEL Daphnis et ChloéFRANK PETER ZIMMERMANN, Violin

ANDRIS NELSONS

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PHILHARMONIE DE PARIS

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A co-production of CLC Productions, Orchestre de Paris, Mezzo and UNITEL CLASSICA and the support of CNC

Length: approx. 95'Cat. no. A 015 50041 0000

Live from the awe-inspiring new Philharmonie de Paris, the French capital’s elite orchestra performs a programme devoted to the endlessly fascinating music of Béla Bartók. On the podium is Esa-Pekka Salonen, one of the composer’s truly authoritative interpreters. This concert was hailed as “revelatory” by the leading French journal Diapason, “a unique expressive and

sensory voyage (...) with precise phrasing and incredible flexibility (...) an irresistible feeling for timbre, tightrope-walking accents, acoustic spaces, instrumental breathing (...) rhythmic agility, range of sensitive colours, humour and irony, brilliance, luminosity, moments of astonishing sweetness. The Orchestre de Paris soared and surpassed itself. Salonen is clearly a unique artist.”

BARTÓK CONDUCTED BY ESA-PEKKA SALONENBÉLA BARTÓK Dance Suite / Concerto for two Pianos, Percussion and Orchestra / Concerto for OrchestraKATIA LABÈQUE & MARIELLE LABÈQUE, Piano · CAMILLE BASLÉ & ÉRIC SAMMUT, Percussion

The spectacular new Rieger organ of the Philharmonie de Paris is inaugurated with solo, ensemble, and symphonic works starring Paavo Järvi at the rostrum of the Orchestre de Paris and Thierry Escaich, Titular Organist and with that successor of Maurice Duruflé at Paris Saint-Étienne-du-Mont.

The new organ with close to 7000 handmade pipes, 15 meters high and 20 meters wide, with 91 stops on four manuals and pedal specially designed for the symphonic repertory, is heard for the first time at this festive performance.

A co-production of CLC Productions, Orchestre de Paris and UNITEL CLASSICA with the participation of ARTE France and medici.tv and the support of CNC


ESCAICH, WIDMANN & SAINT-SAËNSCONDUCTED BY PAAVO JÄRVITHIERRY ESCAICH Organ ImprovisationJÖRG WIDMANN Viola Concerto (World Premiere)CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78, “Organ Symphony”THIERRY ESCAICH, Organ · ANTOINE TAMESTIT, Viola

A co-production of CLC Productions, Orchestre de Paris and UNITEL CLASSICA in cooperation with ARTE France and the support of CNC


Thomas Hengelbrock and the Orchestre de Paris teamed up to perform one of the most brilliant works of European church music: Johann Sebastian Bach’s Magnificat. This opus is a musical setting of the biblical canticle Magnificat, which is one of the most ancient Christian hymns and perhaps the earliest Marian hymn, frequently sung liturgically in Christian church services.

Following this, the musicians draw the attention of the audience to the content and structural parallels between Bach and Felix Mendelssohn, who has rendered outstanding services to the revivification of the interest in music of Johann Sebastian Bach. The musicians delight the audience with the Psalm 42 and the Christmas Cantata, two compositions full of religious fervor.

BACH & MENDELSSOHNCONDUCTED BY THOMAS HENGELBROCKJOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Magnificat in D major, BWV 243FELIX MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY Psalm 42 “Wie der Hirsch schreit”, Op.42 / Christmas Cantata “Vom Himmel hoch” / “Christus”, Op. 97 (The Birth of Christ)ANNA LUCIA RICHTER, Soprano · MARIANNE CREBASSA, Mezzo-soprano · WIEBKE LEHMKUHL, Alto WERNER GÜRA, Tenor · CHRISTIAN IMMLER, Baritone

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A co-production ofRCO, NHK, Mezzo and UNITEL CLASSICA

Length: 92'Cat. no. A 865 50022 0000

For one last time, Mariss Jansons - who will bear the title of conductor emeritus as of now - descends down the red carpeted stairs of the Great Hall as Principal Conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. After his resignation, this concert turnes out to be his last in this

capacity. The final performance assisted by Thomas Hampson is part of the AAA Festival based on the theme “Origins – Folk Art as Inspiration”, an adventurous series exploring composers inspired by folk music.

MARISS JANSONS – THE FAREWELL CONCERTGUSTAV MAHLER “Des Knaben Wunderhorn”MARTIJN PADDING Ick seg adieu (World premiere)AARON COPLAND “Old American Songs”BÉLA BARTÓK Concerto for Orchestra, Sz. 116THOMAS HAMPSON, Baritone

A co-production ofRCO and UNITEL CLASSICA

Length: 99'Cat. no. A 865 50023 0000

This remarkable concert led by designated Chief Conductor Daniele Gatti marks the return of master cellist Yo-Yo Ma (after twenty years) to the Concertgebouw Orchestra. In this season opening night they perform Shostakovich’s intense First Cello Concerto, which bears witness to the strained relationship between the composer and the Soviet authorities.Maestro Gatti juxtaposes the concerto with two successful works from the great Russian dance tradition:

The three-part suite from Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker being enormously popular, partly as a result of the Disney film Fantasia and Stravinsky’s Firebird, which, with his phenomenal orchestration, is evoking an exotic and often brooding atmosphere.“After twenty years, this is a unique opportunity to work together with the wonderful RCO again – very special indeed!” (Yo-Yo Ma)

SHOSTAKOVICH, TCHAIKOVSKY & STRAVINSKYCONDUCTED BY DANIELE GATTIDMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH Cello Concerto No. 1 in E flat major, Op. 107PYOTR I. TCHAIKOVSKY The Nutcracker, SuiteIGOR STRAVINSKY The Firebird, SuiteYO-YO MA, Violoncello


Length: 103'Cat. no. A 865 50021 0000

“Stradivari on eight cylinders” was the headline for the rich cornucopia of sound that Anne-Sophie Mutter poured out with the Sibelius Violin Concerto. “Her Stradivari lets her sing the arches of melody with warm vibrato and lends real fire to her double-stopping; she stages great leaps as soaring stairways to heaven or headlong descents to hell”, reports the Süddeutsche

Zeitung with admiration. “It can be played differently, but not better.” (Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung) Mutter’s violin concerto is wonderfully complemented by Shostakovich’s 10th, in which Nelsons truly triumphs: “World-class, these exponents from Amsterdam” was the verdict of the Südwest Presse.

SHOSTAKOVICH & SIBELIUSCONDUCTED BY ANDRIS NELSONSJEAN SIBELIUS Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 10 in E minor, Op. 93ANNE-SOPHIE MUTTER, Violin

YO-YO MA

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In this concert evening the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Andris Nelsons turn their attention to the Seventh Symphony of Shostakovich. The work, which Shostakovich wrote during the Germans’ siege of Leningrad, is a symbol of resistance against the Nazi regime and a musical testament to the millions of

Soviet citizens who died during the Great Patriotic War. Furthermore, star violinist Janine Jansen performs Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 1, a work which had to wait fifty years after it was written, in 1958, for its first performance.

BARTÓK & SHOSTAKOVICHCONDUCTED BY ANDRIS NELSONSBÉLA BARTÓK Violin Concerto No. 1, Sz. 36DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 60, “Leningrad”JANINE JANSEN, Violin



Composer–conductor John Adams is known the world over as a pioneering composer of operas based on current and recent historical events.Adams has distilled a turbulent symphony from his opera Doctor Atomic, in which Robert Oppenheimer, the ‘father of the atomic bomb’, filled with excitement and doubt, anticipates the very first atomic bomb test in 1945.He also draws inspiration from current events in his

instrumental works, as in his new violin concerto Scheherazade.2, written for Leila Josefowicz. Moved by TV footage of oppressed and abused women, Adams juxtaposes the masculine power of the orchestra with a strong woman, an empowered Scheherazade: “This one hits back!” Tromba Lontana is a short, gentle fanfare marking the 150th anniversary of the declaration of independence with which Texas seceded from Mexico in 1836.

“BREAKING NEWS” JOHN ADAMS CONDUCTS JOHN ADAMSJOHN ADAMS Tromba Lontana / Doctor Atomic Symphony / Scheherazade.2 (Premiere)LEILA JOSEFOWICZ, Violin



The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra’s annual Kerstmatinee (Christmas Day matinee) has become a beloved holiday tradition, yet this concert was the first matinee the occasion has been dedicated entirely to Bach’s inspirational Christmas Oratorio. In presenting this historically informed performance of the first three parts, Baroque specialist Jan Willem de Vriend adopts suitably

buoyant tempi and opts for the jubilant opening chorus’s original and more apt text, “Tönet, ihr Pauken” (Timpani resound! Trumpets ring out!). The elite orchestra’s players are joined by a superb 28-voice chamber choir, Cappella Amsterdam, and international soloists. As the Evangelist, Swiss tenor Fabio Trümpy “was a fabulously beautiful story-teller” (Het Parool).

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH: CHRISTMAS ORATORIO (CANTATAS I – III)JUDITH VAN WANROIJ, Soprano · ELISABETH KULMAN, Alto FABIO TRÜMPY, Tenor · YORCK FELIX SPEER, Bassconducted by JAN WILLEM DE VRIEND

JANINE JANSEN

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CHRISTIAN THIELEMANN

A production of UNITEL CLASSICAin cooperation with Festspielhaus Baden-Baden

Length: 75'Cat. no. A 055 50453 0000

Conductor Christian Thielemann lives up to his name yet again as a “Bruckner specialist” (Klassik Akzente). The Fourth Symphony is given in the presumed original version recovered by Robert Haas. This version differs considerably from the first, effectively published score,

which Bruckner had only accepted as a stopgap so that the work could easily be performed. Thielemann brings out the tone painting very vividly in Baden-Baden: “These are tone paintings of the finest quality”, wrote one reviewer enthusiastically.

ANTON BRUCKNER: SYMPHONY NO. 4, "ROMANTIC" CONDUCTED BY CHRISTIAN THIELEMANN

A production of UNITEL CLASSICAin cooperation with Festspielhaus Baden-Baden

Length: 66'Cat. no. A 055 50454 0000

Bruckner’s Ninth – presented in the unfinished version in three movements – calls for no fewer than four “Wagner tubas” at the beginning and end of the Adagio, an instrument which Richard Wagner had specially

made for his Ring of the Nibelung. As an avowed fan of Wagner, Bruckner included them in several of his works. Thielemann now lets them sound at full volume. The press verdict: “a musical and spiritual event”.

ANTON BRUCKNER: SYMPHONY NO. 9 CONDUCTED BY CHRISTIAN THIELEMANN

A production of UNITEL CLASSICAin cooperation with Semperoper Dresden


Bruckner’s music has played a central role in Thielemann’s relationship with the Staatskapelle; he launched each new concert season with a Bruckner symphony - now the Sixth, this recording of which completes Thielemann’s cycle of the mature Bruckner symphonies.For the Sächsische Zeitung this performance marked “another Bruckner triumph for Dresden” by revealing“ the greatness of the work with a rarely heard transparency

and clarity. It could hardly have been better!” Beethoven’s Piano Concerto featured one of today’s outstanding keyboard virtuosos, the Soviet-born Israeli-American pianist Yefim Bronfman, in a performance marking the start of his residency as the Staatskapelle’s “Capell-Virtuos”. In the words of the Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten: “He has music ‘in his fingertips’ (…) ‘High School’ of piano playing.”

BRUCKNER & BEETHOVENCONDUCTED BY CHRISTIAN THIELEMANNLUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37ANTON BRUCKNER Symphony No. 6 in A majorYEFIM BRONFMAN, Piano

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A production of ZDF in co-prodution with UNITEL CLASSICAin cooperation with Staatskapelle Dresden

and Stiftung Frauenkirche Dresden

Length: 58'Cat. no. A 055 50463 0000

Since the first of these annual events in 2000, when the magnificent Frauenkirche was still a building site – destroyed during World War II, it was painstakingly reconstructed out of the ruins – the Advent Concert has become a new holiday tradition in Dresden, to be enjoyed by music lovers throughout the world. That appeal is reflected in the concert’s lineup of artists. This time they are headed by renowned Scottish maestro Donald Runnicles, featured “in the solid, German repertoire which is his chief glory” (Financial Times).

His soloists are rising-star soprano Sonya Yoncheva, “charismatic” (New York Times) bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni, and the organist and “sound artist” (Stuttgarter Zeitung) Samuel Kummer. Beginning in a blaze of glory with the opening chorus from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, the thoughtfully compiled programme features seasonally appropriate selections by Handel, Seidel, Weber, Mendelssohn, Humperdinck, Gounod and Reger. “A thrilling concert, festive, ambitious and impressively filmed.” (Sächsische Zeitung)

FESTIVE ADVENT CONCERT AT THE FRAUENKIRCHE DRESDENLUCA PISARONI, SONYA YONCHEVA, SAMUEL KUMMER CONDUCTED BY DONALD RUNNICLES


The Austrian piano virtuoso Rudolf Buchbinder, widely acclaimed for his technical perfection, is also a known expert for Mozart. Together with the Staatskapelle Dresden he plays and conducts three of Mozart’s most beloved piano concertos. Both No. 20 and No. 21 were written by Mozart in the fruitful year of 1785 and are counted among his first major symphonic concertos. No. 27, Mozart’s last piano concerto, is full of references to

his earlier works, while at the same time paving the way for the Romantic Era.The concert was recorded in Dresden in an unique setting, which matched not only the musical perfection, but also the first ultra-high definition recording of this work: right inside the Gläserne Manufaktur, a luxury car manufactory in the heart of Dresden, a stage was set up next to the assembly line with glass walls and oak floors.

MOZART PIANO CONCERTOS NOS. 20, 21 & 27 PLAY & CONDUCT RUDOLF BUCHBINDERWOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor / Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major / Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat major

A production of UNITEL CLASSICAin co-production with ZDF/Arte

in cooperation with Staatskapelle Dresden

shot in

(3840 × 2160) ULTRA HD

FESTIVE ADVENT CONCERT AT THE FRAUENKIRCHE DRESDEN

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ESA-PEKKA SALONEN & ALICE SARA OTT

A co-production of BR and UNITEL CLASSICALength: 90'

Cat. no. A 055 50433 0000

This concert by the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundunks has an entirely Scandinavian theme. Under the aegis of Finnish-born Esa-Pekka Salonen the orchestra begins the recital with “Eleven Gates”, a work of sound-painting by the contemporary Swedish composer Anders Hillborg. Alice Sara Ott provides the focal point of the

evening, with the Piano Concerto by the Norwegian Edvard Grieg. The orchestra rises to the challenge with the impressive final work, the great Fifth Symphony by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, a performance marking his 150th birthday “that no one who was present will ever forget.” (Süddeutsche Zeitung)

HILLBORG, GRIEG & SIBELIUS CONDUCTED BY ESA-PEKKA SALONENANDERS HILLBORG “Eleven Gates”EDVARD GRIEG Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16JEAN SIBELIUS Symphony No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 82ALICE SARA OTT, Piano


Cat. no. A 055 50434 0000

Bernard Haitink begins the musical programme at the rostrum of the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks with Anton Webern’s early and seldom played orchestral work “Im Sommerwind”. It is followed by Gustav Mahler’s five orchestral songs after poems by Friedrich Rückert and culminates in Dmitri Shostakovich’s 15th

Symphony. The soloist for Mahler’s Lieder is a specialist in that field, Christian Gerhaher, who has long since entered the higher echelons of top lieder singers. He is consummate in his interpretation and enthuses his audience over and over again: “Gerhaher’s singing cannot be praised highly enough” (Abendzeitung München).

WEBERN, MAHLER & SHOSTAKOVICH CONDUCTED BY BERNARD HAITINKANTON WEBERN “Im Sommerwind” Idyll for Orchestra, after a poem by Bruno WilleGUSTAV MAHLER "Rückert-Lieder"DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 15 in A major, Op. 141


Cat. no. A 055 50449 0000

The Swedish conductor Herbert Blomstedt is a phenomenon – as he approaches his 88th birthday, he is one of the oldest conductors in the world. And yet: on the rostrum he embodies such a vitality and energy, that he at once enthralls his musicians as well as his audiences.

Blomstedt directs the orchestra in two symphonies that could scarcely be less alike: The musicians play Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony and Symphony No. 5 by the Danish composer Carl Nielsen with concentrated intensity, honouring Nielsen in his 150th anniversary year.

BEETHOVEN & NIELSEN CONDUCTED BY HERBERT BLOMSTEDT LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 4 in B flat major, Op. 60CARL NIELSEN Symphony No. 5, Op. 50

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DANIEL BARENBOIM & MARTHA ARGERICH

A Production of UNITEL CLASSICALength: approx. 70'

Cat. no. A 835 50006 0000

The return to their native city of Martha Argerich and Daniel Barenboim – two childhood friends from Buenos Aires, born just a year apart, who both grew up to become global superstars – proved an unforgettable evening of pianistic magic. “Coexistence”, as symbolisation of the festival motto, was in terms not just of two musical parts coming together in the hands of two very different yet equally distinctive artistic personalities – “the mercurial

Martha and Daniel the master-architect” (Buenos Aires Herald) – but also of two different instruments: while Argerich was playing a “standard” Steinway, her duo partner presented his brand-new “Barenboim”, custom-made for him and modelled on Liszt’s piano. The result was an amazing performance “in which two very individual ways of playing united (…) to turn every interpretation into something unforgettable” (Página|12).

MARTHA ARGERICH & DANIEL BARENBOIMPIANO DUOS AT THE TEATRO COLÓNROBERT SCHUMANN Six Studies in the Form of Canons for Pedal Piano, Op. 56 (arr. Claude Debussy)CLAUDE DEBUSSY En blanc et noire, L 134BÉLA BARTÓK Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, Sz. 110


In the course of their Buenos Aires residency Barenboim and his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra together with “honorary member of the Divan” Martha Argerich, gave “a concert that proved to be the hottest ticket in the festival.” (Página|12). Opening with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2, the orchestra confirmed that “it is, simply, one of the great orchestras in the world today” (Página|12) , while “Argerich proved again that she has lost

none of her magical tone or perfect articulation” (Buenos Aires Herald). In Tchaikovsky’s emotionally tempestuous Symphony No. 4 – in which the composer confronts the challenge of fate, – Barenboim’s reading “rose to all the big moments” (Buenos Aires Herald). As a surprise encore, Argerich and Barenboim played a two-piano arrangement of the sweetly nostalgic Bailecito by their compatriot Carlos Guastavino.

BEETHOVEN & TCHAIKOVSKY CONDUCTED BY DANIEL BARENBOIMLUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 19PYOTR I. TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36

A Mediapro production in association with UNITEL CLASSICA

Length: 97'Cat. no. A 955 50008 0000

In order to celebrate the declaration of the “Human Rights” Daniel Barenboim and his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra perform an all-Mozart programme at the heart of the United Nations in Geneva in the presence of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon. The performance featured Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s last three Symphonies, No. 39, No. 40 Great G minor symphony, and No. 41 (Jupiter).

The imposing setting of the Human Rights Hall at the Palace of Nations, which houses the Miquel Barceló dome, provides a stunning backdrop for the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in this concert that aimes at promoting peace efforts around the world and highlights the principles contained in the Universal Declaration.

“CONCERT FOR UNDERSTANDING OF CIVILIZATIONS AND HUMAN RIGHTS” CONDUCTED BY DANIEL BARENBOIMWOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Symphony No. 39 in E flat major, KV 543 / Symphony No. 40 in G minor, KV 550 / Symphony No. 41 in C major, KV 551

A Production of UNITEL CLASSICA

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RICCARDO MUTI & ANNE–SOPHIE MUTTER

A production of ORF and UNITEL CLASSICAin co-production with BR and NHK

in cooperation with Salzburg Festival and Wiener Philharmoniker

Length: 97'Cat. no. A 045 50050 0000

One thing you can rely on is the Salzburg Festival always offering compelling couplings of artistic personalities: in this case star violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and Maestro Riccardo Muti. Exactly 30 years to the day since Mutter first performed Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto at the Festival, Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece is back on the

programme. Mutter’s playing is stupendous, she succeeds in a way that draws astonishment. In Brahms’s Symphony No. 2, the veteran conductor Muti “lets the string and wind groups demonstrate in exemplary manner how it can sound when all the musicians are in perfect harmony with one another.” (Salzburger Nachrichten)

TCHAIKOVSKY & BRAHMSCONDUCTED BY RICCARDO MUTIPYOTR I. TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35JOHANNES BRAHMS Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73ANNE-SOPHIE MUTTER, Violin

A co-production ofORF and UNITEL CLASSICA

Length: 96'Cat. no. A 045 50047 0000

“It is not every day that Brahms sounds as perfect as this,” enthuses the Kurier newspaper, describing Buchbinder’s performance with the Wiener Philharmoniker. The “phenomenal piano virtuoso” (Kurier) plays the First and Second Piano Concertos of Johannes Brahms in the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein. On the rostrum

is maestro Zubin Mehta, no less, who has long been intensively associated both with the orchestra and with soloist Rudolf Buchbinder. “What Rudolf Buchbinder, the Wiener Philharmoniker and conductor Zubin Mehta delivered at the Musikverein easily deserves the accolade ‘milestone’.” (Kurier)

RUDOLF BUCHBINDER & ZUBIN MEHTAJOHANNES BRAHMS Piano Concertos No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15 & No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 83

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VINCENZO SCALERA & JUAN DIEGO FLÓREZ

A production of UNITEL CLASSICAin cooperation with Salzburg Festival

Length: 88'Cat. no. A 045 50051 0000

The Salzburg Festival, where the world’s most famous artists come together, is always good for great concert experiences – and yet this unique concert is sure to go down in the annals of the festival.With a varied programme of popular Italian airs by Tosti and Leoncavallo, tender French songs by Henri Duparc and old favourites from Italian bel canto, the “Peruvian vocal miracle” (Die Presse) was an utter delight at his sold-

out lieder recital in the Grosses Festspielhaus. The first of the three encores brought for many the covert climax of the evening: Floréz plucked a guitar and accompanied himself in Consuelo Velázquez’ “Bésame mucho”.With infinite tenderness, gentle heights, heartfelt devotion and seemingly never-ending top notes, Floréz conquered every heart in the house, prompting storms of enthusiastic applause.

JUAN DIEGO FLÓREZ & VINCENZO SCALERATHE SALZBURG RECITAL

CHAMBER MUSIC

A production of the Pekinel SistersLength: approx. 80'

Cat. no. A 205 50001 0000

Turkish pianist twin-sisters Güher and Süher Pekinel were first discovered by Herbert von Karajan and have gained international success since their first appearance at the Salzburg Festival. They are considered one of the finest piano duos of our time. This concert focusses on composers who witnessed World War II and reflect in their works the basic values of humanism. Considering

the current tragedies in the world, this recital offers a different meaning as a kind of invitation to fight against unjust sufferings. Accompanied by Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra percussionists they perform milestones of the repertoire for two pianos. Both the “Symphonic Dances from West Side Story” and “Ciaconna” were arranged for the Pekinel sisters under the auspices of the composers.

A production of Heliox Films and UNITEL CLASSICA in co-production with the Belcea Quartetwith the participation of Classicall Television M-Media and the support of CNC

Length: 109'Cat. no. A 955 50006 0000

Founded in London in 1994, the Belcea Quartet is now seen as one of the world’s most renowned string quartets. The quartet’s broadly based repertoire ranges from the works of the Viennese Classical era to premieres of contemporary compositions.Here the Belcea Quartet devotes itself to the three string

quartets by Johannes Brahms: “The three quartets are of great beauty and refined sophistication, which never fails to inspire us”, says Corina Belcea. It is a beauty and refinement that radiates from the brilliant and nuanced interpretation to be heard on this studio recording

JOHANNES BRAHMS – THE COMPLETE STRING QUARTETSString Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 51/1 String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 51/2String Quartet No. 3 in B flat major, Op. 67BELCEA QUARTET

GÜHER UND SÜHER PEKINEL – THE ISTANBUL CONCERTKRZYSZTOF PENDERECKI Ciaconna for two PianosBÉLA BARTÓK Sonata for two Pianos and Percussion, Sz. 110GEORGE GERSHWIN Three Preludes for two PianosLEONARD BERNSTEIN Symphonic Dances from West Side Story for two Pianos and PercussionsWITOLD LUTOSŁAWSKI Variations on a Theme by Paganini for two Pianos and PercussionGÜHER & SÜHER PEKINEL, Piano ∙ RAPHAEL HAEGER & SIMON RÖSSLER, Percussions

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LEONARD BERNSTEIN

DOCUMENTARIES

A BFMI production in co-production with UNITEL and ZDF/3satLength: 52'

Cat. no. A 040 50054

Leonard Bernstein was America’s ambassador to the world of music. He was one of the most influential musicians of the last century and inspired an entire generation with his music ensembles and symphony orchestras. An influential teacher, a brilliant conductor, a fine composer and an accomplished pianist. A man, who lived five lives and who exuded passion from every pore.This portrait by Georg Wübbolt, director of the award-

winning documentaries on Herbert von Karajan and Sir Georg Solti, covers the whole spectrum of Bernstein’s life: From his world famous TV series Young People’s Concerts to the recording of his Mahler cycle and from the West Side Story to his Chichester Psalms.The film includes interviews with Bernstein’s children as well as with friends and companions such as Stephen Sondheim, Kent Nagano and Christoph Eschenbach.

“LEONARD BERNSTEIN – LARGER THAN LIFE”A PORTRAIT BY GEORG WÜBBOLT

A Theo Roos Film productionon behalf of ZDF/3sat

Length: 61'Cat. no. A 050 18724

Known as “The Swan of Pesaro,” Rossini was the most popular composer of the first half of the 19th century. His highly ornate musical style revolutionized the art form, inaugurating the “Golden Century” of Italian opera. While his creative life was rather short, his success and influence was immense – intellectual giants from Richard Wagner to Arthur Schopenhauer where amongst his admirers.In this documentary director Theo Roos explores the era

of Belcanto and its main protagonist Rossini. Together with star-tenor Juan Diego Flórez, Rossini expert Alberto Zedda, soprano Joyce DiDonato and many others, he sheds light on the complex character of a composer known to the world as musical jester while his admirers showed deepest respect for the compelling emotions, the vivid diversity and the profound depths hidden in the lightness of his music.

“THE SWAN OF PESARO – ROSSINI RELOADED”A DOCUMENTARY BY THEO ROOS

A production of Berlin Phil Mediain cooperation with BR and RBB

Length: 45'Cat. no. A 055 50523

In October 2015, the Berliner Philharmoniker and its chief conductor Sir Simon Rattle rehearsed all of Beethoven's nine symphonies and presented them as a cycle to their audience. The film by Daniel Finkernagel and Magdalena Zięba-Schwind documents on the one hand how the new Beethoven cycle originated, and on the other, why musicians repeatedly take on this challenge at all: What

is the motivation and fascination – for a conductor and orchestral musicians – behind returning again and again to these nine symphonies? Why do we hear milestones, highlights, masterpieces in these symphonies? What is the relevance of this music? What significance do they have in our lives and what could be their message?

“LIVING WITH BEETHOVEN – THE NINE SYMPHONIES WITH THE BERLINER PHILHARMONIKER AND SIR SIMON RATTLE”A FILM BY DANIEL FINKERNAGEL AND MAGDALENA ZIĘBA-SCHWIND

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AVANT PREMIÈRE CATALOGUE 2016 INDEXCOMPOSERS

A John Adams 74 B Johann Sebastian Bach 65, 68, 71, 72, 74, 78, 92 · Béla Bartók 68, 71, 72, 74, 83, 87 · Ludwig van Beethoven 10, 56, 59, 60, 65, 77, 81, 83 · Alban Berg 60 · Luciano Berio 72 · Leonard Bernstein 65, 87 · Georges Bizet 12, 50, 56 · Arrigo Boito 14 · Johannes Brahms 85, 87, 92 · Anton Bruckner 77 C Francesco Cilea 60 · Aaron Copland 72 D Claude Debussy 50, 56, 83, 92 · Gaetano Donizetti 87 Henri Duparc 87 · Antonín Dvořák 56 E Thierry Escaich 71 F Manuel de Falla 56 G Charles Gounod 16 · Edvard Grieg 81 · HK Gruber 68 · Sofia Gubaidulina 77 H George Frideric Handel 18 · Karl Amadeus Hartmann 62 · Joseph Haydn 62, 66 · Ferdinand Hérold 52 Anders Hillborg 81 · Paul Hindemith 56 · James Newton Howard 59 · Engelbert Humperdinck 20, 78 J Niccolò Jommelli 22 L Ruggiero Leoncavallo 24, 87 · Lowell Liebermann 50 · György Ligeti 60 M Gustav Mahler 60, 68, 72, 81 · Bohuslav Martinů 56 · Pietro Mascagni 24 · Jules Massenet 56 · Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy 71, 78 · Giacomo Meyerbeer 60 · Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 26, 59, 59, 62, 66, 78, 83 N Carl Nielsen 60, 81 O Jacques Offenbach 28, 30 P Martijn Padding 72 · Sergei Prokofiev 62, 56 · Giacomo Puccini 32, 34, 60 R Maurice Ravel 68, 56 · Max Reger 78, 62 · Gioachino Rossini 36, 60, 87, 89 S Camille Saint-Saëns 56, 71 · Pablo de Sarasate 56 Arnold Schoenberg 65 · Dmitri Shostakovich 68, 72,74, 81 · Rodion Shchedrin 62 · Franz Schubert 59, 77 · Robert Schumann 83 · Jean Sibelius 66, 72, 81 · Igor Stravinsky 72 · Karol Szymanowski 38 T Francesco Paolo Tosti 87 · Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky 50, 54, 65, 72, 83, 85, 92 V Giuseppe Verdi 40, 42, 44, 56 · Antonio Vivaldi 92 W Richard Wagner 46, 77 · Carl Maria von Weber 48, 62, 78 · Anton Webern 81 · Jörg Widmann 62, 71

CONDUCTORSA John Adams 74 B Daniel Barenboim 46, 65, 83 · Herbert Blomstedt 81 · Rudolf Buchbinder 78 C Paolo Carignani 34 · William Christie 18 D Jan Willem de Vriend 74 · Johannes Debus 30 E Dan Ettinger 26 F Gabriele Ferro 22 · Mikko Franck 12 G Daniele Gatti 72 · Valery Gergiev 62 · Gustavo Gimeno 60 · Boris Gruzin 54 H Bernard Haitink 81 · Thomas Hengelbrock 71 · Pablo Heras-Casado 44, 56 J Mariss Jansons 68, 72 · Paavo Järvi 71 L Keith Lockhart 59 M Enrique Mazzola 36 · Zubin Mehta 40, 85 · Juanjo Mena 60 Marc Minkowski 59 · Riccardo Muti 85 N Andris Nelsons 68, 72, 74 · Gianandrea Noseda 16, 42 P Antonio Pappano 32, 38 · Emmanuel Plasson 50 · Gerrit Prießnitz 28 R Simon Rattle 66 · Donald Runnicles 78 S Yutaka Sado 56, 60 · Esa-Pekka Salonen 71, 81 · András Schiff 59 T Christian Thielemann 20, 24, 48, 77 W Omer Meir Wellber 14 · Franz Welser-Möst 10 · John Wilson 65 · Barry Wordsworth 52 Y Martin Yates 50 Z David Zinman 56

SINGERSA Ildar Abdrazakov 16 · Maria Agresta 24 · Tansel Akzeybek 24 · Nicola Alaimo 36 · Kate Aldrich 12 · Alessio Arduini 24 · Kerstin Avemo 30 · Atalla Ayan 44 B Janina Baechle 20 · Daniela Barcellona 89 · Piotr Beczala 56, 60 · Kim Begley 38 · Marco Berti 42 · Olga Bezsmertna 10 · Andrea Borghini 14 C Joseph Calleja 14 · Charles Castronovo 16 · Nigel Cliff 32 · Carlo Colombara 40 · Marianne Crebassa 71 D Christine Daletska 44 · David Danholt 60 · Louise Dearman 59, 65 · Joyce DiDonato 89 · Albert Dohmen 48 · Mark S. Doss 42 · Stéphanie D'Oustrac 18 · Ana Durlovski 22 E Klara Ek 60 · Norbert Ernst 10 · Adrian Eröd 20 · Alan Ewing 38 · Yusif Eyvazov 60 F Daniela Fally 59 · Juan Diego Flórez 60, 87, 89 · Mandy Fredrich 30 · Rachel Frenkel 30 · Anett Fritsch 26 G Peter Galliard 28 Christian Gerhaher 81 · Margarita Gritskova 26 · Heike Groetzinger 14 · Hélène Guilmette 12 · Werner Güra 71 H Thomas Hampson 72 Jun-Sang Han 28 · Anja Harteros 60 · Sebastian Holecek 10 · Benjamin Hulett 32 J Sara Jakubiak 48 · Martina Janková 26 · Giorgia Jarman 38 · Philippe Jaroussky 18 · Daniel Johansson 30 K Marie Karall 12 · Johan Karlstroem 60 · Jonas Kaufmann 10, 12, 24, 32 · Ketevan Kemoklidze 16 · Mlada Khudoley 34 · Sebastian Kohlhepp 22 · Tomasz Konieczny 10 · Hans-Peter König 10 · Michael König 48 · Elisabeth Kulman 56, 74 · Pelageya Kurennaya 62 · Mariusz Kwiecień 38 L Vasilij Ladjuk 16 · Christina Landshamer 48 · Jennifer Larmore 28 · Wiebke Lehmkuhl 71 · Kristin Lewis 40, 42 · Rebecca Jo Loeb 28 · Irina Lungu 16 · Raffaella Lupinacci 36 M Ambrogio Maestri 24 · Sophie Marilley 22 · Riccardo Massi 34 · Peter Mattei 46 · Elena Maximova 60 · Liudmyla Monastyrska 24 · Inva Mula 12 · Maurizio Muraro 32 N Anna Netrebko 60 · Torsten Nielsen 60 O Kristine Opolais 14, 32 · Julian Ovenden 65 P René Pape 14, 46 · Olga Peretyatko 44 · Simone Piazzola 44 · Adrianne Pieczonka 10 · Saimir Pirgu 38 · Luca Pisaroni 26, 78 · Adam Plachetka 26 · Dimitri Platanias 24 · Giacomo Prestia 42 · Vito Priante 36 R Anita Rachvelishvili 40, 42 · Anna Lucia Richter 71 · Adam Riis 60 · Viktor Rud 28 · Michail Ryssov 34 S Matti Salminen 40 · Fabio Sartori 40 · Tobias Schabel 46 · Lucy Schaufer 65 · Helene Schneiderman 22 · Andrè Schuen 71 · Michaela Schuster 20 · Peter Seiffert 46 · Manuel von Senden 34 · Dario Shikhmiri 36 · Daniela Sindram 20 · Catriona Smith 22 · Peter Sonn 46 · Kresimir Spicer 18 · Scarlett Strallen 65 · Annalisa Stroppa 24 T Callum Thorpe 18 · Stefania Toczyska 24 · Ileana Tonca 20 · Emiliano Gonzalez Toro 44 · Hasmik Torosyan 36 · Fabio Trümpy 74 V Michael Volle 30 W Judith van Wanroij 74 · Katharine Watson 18 Y Sonya Yoncheva 78 Guanqun Yu 34 Z Georg Zeppenfeld 48

INSTRUMENTALISTSA Behzod Abduraimov 62 · Martha Argerich 83 B Daniel Barenboim 83 · Guy Braunstein 65 · Yefim Bronfman 77 · Rudolf Buchbinder 78, 85 C Francesco Corti 59 E Thierry Escaich 71 · Mahan Esfahani 92 F Julia Fischer 56 G Amihai Grosz 66 H Håkan Hardenberger 68 J Frantisek Janoska 59 · Janine Jansen 74 · Leila Josefowicz 74 K Daishin Kashimoto 66 · Leonidas Kavakos 66 L Katia Labèque 71 · Marielle Labèque 71 · Olli Leppäniemi 60 M Yo-Yo Ma 72 Denis Matsuev 62 · Olli Mustonen 62 · Anne-Sophie Mutter 72, 85, 92 N Thibault Noally 59 O Lambert Orkis 92 · Alice Sara Ott 81 S Vincenzo Scalera 87 · András Schiff 59, 65 Herbert Schuch 62 Kian Soltani 65 T Antoine Tamestit 71 V Alexei Volodin 62 W Jörg Widmann 62 Z Frank Peter Zimmermann 68

S E A R C H T H E C O M P L E T E U N I T E L C ATA L O G U E W I T H M O R E T H A N 1 .5 0 0 P R O D U C T I O N S O N L I N E AT W W W.U N I T E L .D E

THANK YOU!

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ANNE-SOPHIEMUTTER

The ClUB ConcertLambert Orkis ∙ Mahan Esfahani

Mutter‘s Virtuosi

Photo

: Stef

an H

ödera

th/DG

Length: 56'Cat. no. A 055 50458 0000

A production of DEF Media on behalf of ZDF in co-production with Deutsche Grammophon

For a change, rather than standing on stage in one of the world’s renowned grand concert halls, Anne-Sophie Mutter spent two evenings playing in a tiny graffiti-scrawled nightclub in the Friedrichshain district of Berlin, jam-packed with hip young people.

Accompanied by pianist Lambert Orkis and her own Virtuosi – young scholarship holders from her foundation for up-and-coming talent from all over the world – Anne-Sophie Mutter performed works ranging from the Baroque to the present day.

I thought to myself: OK, if there’s a bunch of people

who’ll never go to the Philharmonie, I’ll have to go to them.

I’ll ‘stalk’ them, so to speak, and go to their club.

avant première catalogue 2016

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