Pianomania! Highlights

"Burghausen has been a byword for jazz since 1970. For one week every March, the small town on the Salzach river turns into the German New Orleans. Ella Fitzgerald, Chris Barber, Roy Hargrove, Chick Corea and Dave Brubeck have all performed in Burghausen. The annual jazz week is one of the biggest festivals of its kind in the world. EuroArts presents a series of live recordings as well as a documentary about the legendary Jazz festival. Explosive artistic engergy, experimental solos and beats, that'll make you dance: That's the Leon Betzl Trio (short: LBT)!  Rooted in Munich, Germany, pianist Leo Betzl, bass player Maximilian Hirning and drummer Sebastian Wolfgruber play their own version of acoustic techno and jazz fusion, that transcends genres. With their open and experimental style of music, they turn every concert hall into a dancefloor. Since the band was founded in 2016, they already won several prices, such as the Neuen Deutschen Jazzpreis 2018."

With standing ovations, bouquets and rave reviews, Simon Rattle started his debut as chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic. He launched his 10-year tenure mixing tradition with Gustav Mahler's Fifth Symphony and future with a contemporary piece by the young composer Thomas Adès, receiving an enthusiastic welcome. At the end of Mahler's Fifth Symphony, the audience cheered the conductor, calling him back five times to bows. The new chief conductor performed a miracle of transparency and ecstasy, sharpness of tone and ambiguity.

The season 2021/2022 opens with one of the most iconic 20th century works. Dmitri Shostakovich refused evacuate from Leningrad, surrounded by the German army, and wrote a new symphony, Symphony No. 7 in C Major, Op. 60 (“Leningrad”). The premiere of which was broadcast on radio during the siege in 1942. Semyon Bychkov has close family ties to the event – his mother lived through the siege in Leningrad.

"As is customary, the annecy classic festival 2014 closed with a performance by Yuri Temirkanov, Denis Matsuev and the St Petersburg Philharmonic. For the 2014 closing concert, the artists chose works by Edward Elgar and Modest Mussorgsky."

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Overture and Arias from "Don Giovanni", Symphony No. 29 in A major K. 201, Scena and Rondo for Soprano and piano forte obligato and Orchestra K. 505; Symphony No. 35 in D major K. 385 "Haffner" Documentary on the Berliner Philharmoniker and Mozart in Prague.

"Burghausen has been a byword for jazz since 1970. For one week every March, the small town on the Salzach river turns into the German New Orleans. Ella Fitzgerald, Chris Barber, Roy Hargrove, Chick Corea and Dave Brubeck have all performed in Burghausen. The annual jazz week is one of the biggest festivals of its kind in the world. EuroArts presents a series of live recordings as well as a documentary about the legendary Jazz festival. Etienne MBappé is a bass player, song-writer, singer and composer, who's most famous as a band-member of „John McLaughlin And The 4th Dimension Group“. In October 2014 Mbappé formed his own band, for which he recruited some of the most talented musicians from the Paris club scene. After two years searching for the perfect band-members, he finally found his foundation, that's intercultural and stylistically heading for the future. So „Etienne Mbappé & the Prophets“ was formed and quite a fuzz right away. Mbappé, who's trademark is his black silk gloves, manages to mix within his music the free improvisation of jazz with complex compisition and his possitive messages of love, tolerance, freedom and acceptance."

Gidon Kremer’s return to J. S. Bach’s partitas is a major event. Kremer’s first recording of these works was released almost a quarter of a century ago, and in the past few years the only solo piece of Bach’s which he has performed with any regularity has been the “Chaconne”. In this recording however, he once again took the greatest challenge for any violinist, Bach’s magnificent “Sei Solo”, in Kremer’s words the “Himalayas” of violin music. Those who have followed Gidon Kremer’s artistic development over the past 25 years will hardly expect a ‘historically informed’ interpretation in the conventional sense but will nevertheless note how much his tone and articulation has changed. The new rendering displays Kremer’s very personal sense of spontaneity and a readiness to take risks, yet it is also marked by the structural awareness of an exceptional musician who, in a unique way, does justice both to the polyphonic wealth of the compositions and to their juxtaposition of dance elements and reflective profundity.

Highlights from the Gulbenkian featuring Menahem Pressler, Pedro Burmester & Mário Laginha, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Daniel Trifonov, Beatrice Rana and the Gulbenkian Orchestra.

La Repubblica called it: 'The most wonderful symphonic cycle of the past decade.' The Beethoven Symphonies mark the highlight of Abbado's relationship with the Berliner Philharmoniker and his 12 years as chief conductor. “Abbado lets loose all the conflicting elements of Beethoven's cosmos - nothing works anymore, the music threatens to explode once and for all, deliverance has to come from somewhere. A powerful moment of unsparing analysis of Beethoven and his own self…” Süddeutsche Zeitung Available complete or as individual symphonies

World star, Cecilia Bartoli with her breathtaking coloratura, together with the fascinating Russian virtuoso violinist, Maxim Vengerov, lend radiance to Claudio Abbado's gala performance. Johannes Brahms Hungarian Dances No. 1, 5, 7,10, 17, 21 Gypsy Songs, op. 103 Maurice Ravel "Tzigane" Maurice Ravel "Vocalise en forme de Habanera" Héctor Berlioz "Zaide" Johannes Brahms "Es tönt ein voller Harfenklang" 8 Liebeslieder - Waltzes, op. 52 Maurice Ravel "La Valse" Gioachino Rossini "La Cenerentola" - Rondo/Finale Héctor Berlioz "Hungarian March"

"Ascend to the greatest alpine heights at the 2022 Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad for a brilliant Baroque concert with Maestro Jean-Christophe Spinosi and the Ensemble Matheus! From the gorgeous Saanen Church, the esteemed ensemble pays tribute to the pre-Classical era with works by three of the greatest Baroque masters. On the programme: monuments of instrumental music like Vivaldi's L'Olimpiade overture and Bach's Harpsichord Concerto No. 1, as well as vocal masterpieces courtesy of sensational soprano Ana Maria Labin. The singer brings her refined technique and crystalline tone to exquisite melodies by Vivaldi, including the motet In furore giustissimae irae and an excerpt from Juditha triumphans, the sole surviving oratorio of four that the Italian master is known to have composed."

"""But that's a ravenous animal"" proclaimed the painter Sert when Sergei Prokofiev's Second Piano Concerto was presented in the district of Djagilev. At its premiere in 1913, the audience is said to have fled in droves: As so often, conservative minds perceive the new as a provocation. The music seems to echo the mood of the crisis in the years before the First World War: It is a wild, dramatic, adventurous and in the end a tragic work. This also builds the bridge to Tchaikovsky and his Sixth Symphony. While in previous symphonies the conductor made his way ""through night to the light"", Tchaikovsky concludes his ""Pathétique"" and thus his symphonic oeuvre with an Adagio ending in deepest hopelessness…"

The Europa Concert 2008 took place in the Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Moscow. The Berliner Philharmoniker under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle have been heard with works by Stravinsky, Bruch and Beethoven. Soloist is the Russian Violin player Vadim Repin.

"The charismatic Lahav Shani and the Israel Philharmonic welcome Spanish pianist Juan Pérez Floristán, 2021's Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition winner (an honor shared with Emanuel Ax, Kirill Gerstein, and Daniil Trifonov), to show off his fiery artistry in Rachmaninoff's ""Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini""! The IPO also perform Stravinsky's balletic masterpiece “Petrushka” and a symphonic poem by contemporary composer Boris Pigovat. Pigovat's …therefore choose life… opens the evening, an expression of the composer's conviction that ""life (with all its pain, suffering and tragedies) is meant to be filled with beauty, hope, light and love."" Next, Floristán steps up to meet the challenges of Rachmaninoff's de facto Fifth Piano Concerto, the ingenious Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, a whirlwind of virtuosity and tenderness (especially in the famous 18th Variation, the staggeringly beautiful result of an inversion of the main theme). The grand finale is Stravinsky's “Petrushka”, the second of three epoch-making ballets composed just before World War I (after “The Firebird” and before “The Rite of Spring”)—as audacious and irresistible as ever over a century later"

For 20 years, the Berliner Philharmoniker have celebrated their formation on May 1st with the annual Europakonzert - this year’s concert takes place in Oxford. The orchestra under the baton of worldwide renowned musician Daniel Barenboim, welcome cellist Alisa Weilerstein who has attracted widespread attention for a playing that combines natural virtuoso command and technical precision with impassioned musicianship.

"Burghausen has been a byword for jazz since 1970. For one week every March, the small town on the Salzach river turns into the German New Orleans. Ella Fitzgerald, Chris Barber, Roy Hargrove, Chick Corea and Dave Brubeck have all performed in Burghausen. The annual jazz week is one of the biggest festivals of its kind in the world. EuroArts presents a series of live recordings as well as a documentary about the legendary Jazz festival. The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble is a family band, consisting of seven brothers, trained in musical instrumentation since they were young children. Their father is the jazz trumpeter and band leader Kelan Phil Cohran (Earth, Wind & Fire, Chaka Khan, Sun Ra), who subsequently formed a youth orchestra with his children, that now has become the Brass Ensemble we know. The family toured the United States performing original jazz compositions as well as covers from Duke Ellington to Bach and Beethoven. By now the brother's sound has came into their own, adding a splash of Hip Hop, Rock and Reggae in the mix as well. Their undisputed talents caught the ears of other musicians, such as Brooklyn rapper Mos Def or UK Brit-Pop pioneer Damon Albarn, who featured the ensemble on his crossover project Gorillaz."

An exploration of the Prometheus myth through the works of four composers, evocatively visualized by television director Christopher Swann. Ludwig van Beethoven "Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus" Franz Liszt "Prometheus" Alexander Scriabin "Promethée", "Le Poéme du Feu", Op. 60 Luigi Nono "Prometeo"

"The Georgian Chamber Orchestra Ingolstadt (Georgisches Kammerorchester Ingolstadt (GKO)) was founded in 1964 in Tbilisi/Georgia. After twenty-six years, the ensemble has moved to Ingolstadt, where it has made its second home. The former orchestra-in-exile has become a fixture in cultural life both locally and further afield. Even today the orchestra still consists almost of musicians from Georgia, the former Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe. Together with their artistic director Ariel Zuckermann, the GKO performs C.P.E. Bach’s Flute Concerti. ""Sensitive Sturm und Drang"" - The Flute Concertos by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach When a critical edition of the G major flute concerto by Bach's son Carl Philipp Emanuel was published in 1973, the classical music world was astounded by this advanced music. Here, the flute fully appears as the perfect mouthpiece for the ""sensitive style"" and the Sturm und Drang in music. Bold voice leading, harmonies rich in dissonance, surprising turns, irritating caesurae: these are the central characteristics. ""It seems to me that music should not flatter the ear, but should first and foremost stir the heart"", was one of Carl Phillip Bach's demands. It is therefore by no means primarily a matter of formal-harmonic beauty, but rather of the message and how it can be precisely and unerringly effective. In this sense, the composer makes the performer understand his feelings in order to move him to ""co-feeling"". ""In dull and sad passages, he becomes dull and sad. You can see and hear it in him."" How much CPE Bach points ahead to Beethoven with this creative profile is astonishing. Indeed, some affects, unison passages, idiosyncratic modulations or use of pauses are similar. While the flute concerto in A minor was originally written in 1750 as a cello concerto, today it is beyond doubt that the harpsichord version of the D minor concerto was written after the flute original. Moreover, as editor of the latest edition, the flutist András Adorján, a teacher of Ariel Zuckermann in Munich, was able to correct some transcription errors in the musical text of this concerto. The G major concerto, on the other hand, is generally regarded as one of the most technically demanding works for this instrumentation. With the printing of this work in 1973, the renaissance of the Bach sons in general was considerably advanced. Dr. Marco Frei"

Barenboim and the Berliner Philharmoniker - Mozart Piano Concertos

Chamber Music with musicians of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra

Ludwig van Beethoven Fidelio Overture Niccolò Paganini Violin Concerto No. 1, first movement Boris Blacher Variations on a Theme by Paganini Igor Stravinsky Petrushka Antonìn Dvoràk Slavonic Dance No. 8 in G minor

"The Best-Of Burghausen Jazz Week 2019. Burghausen has been a byword for jazz since 1970. For one week every March, the small town on the Salzach river turns into the German New Orleans. Ella Fitzgerald, Chris Barber, Roy Hargrove, Chick Corea and Dave Brubeck have all performed in Burghausen. The annual jazz week is one of the biggest festivals of its kind in the world. EuroArts presents a series of live recordings as well as a documentary about the legendary Jazz festival."

Julien Chauvin and the Concert de la Loge celebrate Vivaldi and Mozart in the famous Cour Marly at the Musée du Louvre. The concert features mezzo-soprano Marina Viotti and violist Amihai Grosz. Together, they are taking advantage of an unusual audience: the sublime statues populating the Cour Marly, some of the greatest masterpieces of French sculpture from the 17th and 18th centuries. Yet, it is impossible to remain indifferent to the programme performed by the Concert de la Loge, Marina Viotti and Amihai Grosz. Julien Chauvin alternates between instrumental pieces by Vivaldi, symphonic movements by Mozart and solo or duet opera arias.

"In August 2015, Denis Matsuev, Yuri Temirkanov and the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra closed the annecy classic festival with a program featuring an all-Prokofiev program: They showcased both the Piano Concerto No. 3 and the famous ballet Romeo and Juliet."

Barenboim and the Berliner Philharmoniker - Mozart Piano Concertos

"American “educated” music, as art music is often labelled in the US, is iconoclastic and daring. The plurality of the nation is reflected in the country’s eclectic music. At the end of the 20th century, a number of composers have emerged, who claimed to be original and free from European influences. With the idea of borrowing from the popular musical traditions of the American continent (Amy Beach, Arthur Farwell MacDowell), the idea of hybrid American music has taken shape and the process of combining musical elements from both the old world and the new world is still ongoing. One of the most prominent examples of such composers of hybrid American music is certainly George Gershwin, who created this unique synthesis of Broadway music, Jazz and Ragtime and the language of Classical music. “Broadway Suite” Richard Ducros and Tristan Pfaff brings to live these works that are nourished by the vitality of the new world."

To close its year-long tribute to Camille Saint-Saëns, Trio Zadig went to Cuba to play his programme from the Orpheus album.

La Repubblica called it: 'The most wonderful symphonic cycle of the past decade.' The Beethoven Symphonies mark the highlight of Abbado's relationship with the Berliner Philharmoniker and his 12 years as chief conductor. “Abbado lets loose all the conflicting elements of Beethoven's cosmos - nothing works anymore, the music threatens to explode once and for all, deliverance has to come from somewhere. A powerful moment of unsparing analysis of Beethoven and his own self…” Süddeutsche Zeitung Available complete or as individual symphonies

In celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall Johann Sebastian Bach Toccata and Fugue in D-minor Motet "Fürchte dich nicht", BWV 228 Chaconne in D-minor, BWV 1004 Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy From Elias, op. 70: "Höre, Israel", Aria "Fürchte dich nicht", Chorus Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 5, C-minor, op. 67 Johann Sebastian Bach From the Mass in B-minor, BWV 232 "Dona nobis pacem" Also available as mixed version (music and documentary).

The Waldbühne in Berlin, one of the most appealing outdoor amphitheatres on the European continent, is the home of the Berliner Philharmoniker's summer concerts. With over 20.000 in attendance, they are one of the most popular classical music concerts in the world. The repertoire includes the 2nd act of Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker".

La Repubblica called it: 'The most wonderful symphonic cycle of the past decade.' The Beethoven Symphonies mark the highlight of Abbado's relationship with the Berliner Philharmoniker and his 12 years as chief conductor. “Abbado lets loose all the conflicting elements of Beethoven's cosmos - nothing works anymore, the music threatens to explode once and for all, deliverance has to come from somewhere. A powerful moment of unsparing analysis of Beethoven and his own self…” Süddeutsche Zeitung Available complete or as individual symphonies

"Burghausen has been a byword for jazz since 1970. For one week every March, the small town on the Salzach river turns into the German New Orleans. Ella Fitzgerald, Chris Barber, Roy Hargrove, Chick Corea and Dave Brubeck have all performed in Burghausen. The annual jazz week is one of the biggest festivals of its kind in the world. EuroArts presents a series of live recordings as well as a documentary about the legendary Jazz festival. 50. Jazzwoche Burghausen 2019: Al Di Meola"

It was on the spur of the moment that András Schiff and a few of his friends decided to establish the Cappella. The pianist’s quirky humour is reflected in the rather ambiguous name of the ensemble, “Andrea Barca”. Schiff is fond of telling the story of Signor Barca. Apparently he was a legendary page-turner for Mozart in Salzburg, but in the course of the centuries all traces of his subsequent career in Vienna have unfortunately been lost. In the meantime, a fully-fledged partnership has developed from these light-hearted beginnings. Schiff appears regularly with “his” Cappella, conducting from the keyboard. The musicians’ personal friendship makes for unforced, captivating performances of superb quality. One landmark in this partnership is the series of concerts at the Teatro Olimpico, Europe’s oldest existing theatre. Designed almost 450 years ago by Andrea Palladio, it is a very special setting for Mozart’s magnificent D minor piano concerto. Schiff precedes the work with the Don Giovanni overture, leading on into the concerto without a break. The 54' version includes Don Giovanni's overture and the Piano Concerto plus Bach's Fantasia and Fugue plus an introduction by András Schiff while the version of 74' offers the complete concert, including Mozart's Symphony No. 35 "Haffner".

Pianist Menahem Pressler has made recording and interpretation history for more than half a century with the Beaux Arts Trio, which he founded in 1955. The grand seigneur of piano gave his long-overdue debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker in January 2014. The audience hailed Pressler with a standing ovation; the press raved about the “masterful exhilaration” of his musicality and his “unique tone, as full as it was intimate”. For his appearance at this year’s New Year’s Eve Concert in Philharmonie, Berlin, Pressler has selected Mozart again: the Piano Concerto in A major, K. 488, composed during Mozart’s prime in Vienna and one of his most beautiful contributions to the genre. The New Year’s Eve concert opens with Sir Simon Rattle conducting music by Rameau: a suite of instrumental pieces from the opéra-ballet Les Indes galantes show French Baroque music at its finest. Following the intermission, the musicians ring in the New Year in a lively way with Slavic strains: an orchestral suite from Zoltán Kodály’s charming folk opera Háry János as well as a selection from the popular Slavonic Dances by Antonín Dvořák.

EuroArts presents a spectacular musical event featuring Daniel Barenboim, one of the most prolific and high-profile artists performing on international stages today. He introduced this concert, which was recorded live at the famous Teatro alla Scala Milan in May 2007 as “A concert dedicated to Italy, but not by a conductor”. It is a highly personal tribute to a country he has toured regularly as a conductor. For his solo piano recital he chose Franz Liszt's Années de pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage), composed 1837–1849, which contains some of the composer’s most beautiful piano music - a feast not only for piano lovers. Daniel Barenboim, one of the world’s foremost pianists and leading experts on Liszt, gracefully melds the technical and poetic aspects of one of the most rewarding of all Romantic piano works. The recital includes several numbers from the “Deuxième Année: Italie” and other Italy-related compositions by Liszt such as “St. François d’Assise. La prédication aux oiseaux” from Légendes and finally several creative transcriptions from well-known operas like Verdi’s “Miserere” from Trovatore, “Danza sacra e duetto” from Aida and “Paraphrase de concert” from Rigoletto. Barenboim brings his passion and his special approach and colour to his readings of Liszt, offering an evocative rendering of the piano works.

Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 8 in F major, op. 93 Robert Schumann Concert Piece for four Horns and Orchestra in F major, op. 86 Franz Liszt Les Préludes (Symphonic Poem No. 3 after Lamartine) Richard Wagner The Valkyries - Ride of the Valkyries