Zur Namensfeier Beethoven

Namensfeier 'Name-Day Celebration' Overture in C Major, Op.115 was completed in 1815 by Beethoven. It is not very frequenty played. Its title refers to the feast day of King Francis I of France. It is held on 4th October - this very day one hundred and ninety eight years ago. The theme that Beethoven uses at the beginning of the overture is indicative of the theme that was used to set Schiller's Ode to Joy for the D Minor Ninth Symphony some nine years later. This performance is a bravura one by Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic. Another good performance is by Klemperer and the Philharmonia. http://youtu.be/aWIadVpxlDE

Unfinished Oboe Concerto by Beethoven

Beethoven did not finish an oboe concerto; it was realized and performed in 2003. H. David Meyers played this concerto on June, 2010, with National Symphony Orchestra. http://youtu.be/tRnjxmSNSqo Beethoven's Lost Oboe Concerto, Hess 12. Reconstruction of the Slow Movement by Charles Lehrer and Willem Holsbergen. Cadenza by Francoix Leleu. Performed by Nathalie Rompen (oboe) and PATRICK BATON. Concert Liege, March 24, 2011. http://youtu.be/zCRgL03rPqU

A reconstruction of Beethoven's Macbeth Overture on a Synthesizer

Beethoven's unfinished overture for Shakespeare's Tragedy `Macbeth' -- Something wicked this way comes --- Beethoven's unfinished overture on the subject of `Macbeth' was reconstructed by a Dutch composer, Willem Holsbergen, using a computer program. It had its world premiere by the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington twelve years ago. In 1810, Beethoven started working on the overture to Shakespeare's Macbeth with an Austrian librettist, Joachim Collin. It was complained to Beethoven that the music sounder rather gloomy. The project was abandoned by the ever moody Beethoven and shortly later, Collin died. Working with some Beethoven experts, Holsbergen took some sketches of the piece dispersed in Europe by few enthusiastic souvenir hunters after Beethoven's death. Holsbergen began with the help of some notes from a sketchbook found in Bonn. Using a special computer program, Holsbergen typed in notes from Beethoven's sketches that were then converted electronically into music. Leonard Slatkin conducted the National Symphony Orchestra for the premiere of this overture. Despite certain scholars running this overture down as a sketchy one, it is interesting to absorb the emotions felt by Beethoven concerning Macbeth. http://youtu.be/NCb8x9KJa3I

Das Klagende Lied

Mahler's Das Klagende Lied is a fantasy `Songs of Lamentation' in which the bones of a victim of regal fratricide are used to make a magic flute which, when played by the murderer, reveals his guilt. It is scored for soli, mixed choir and orchestra. The orchestral song Cantata work is based on poems written by Gustav Mahler and was completed in 1880. It consisted of three movements: Waldmärchen (A Tale from the Woods) Der Spielmann (The Minstrel) Hochzeitsstück (Wedding Piece) "Waldmärchen", Part I from "Das klagende Lied" by Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) Susann Dunn, soprano Brigitte Fassbaender, mezzosoprano Markus Baur, boy-alto Werner Hollweg, tenor Andreas Schmidt, bass Städt. Musikverein Düsseldorf Radio Symphonierorchester Berlin Riccardo Chailly, conductor http://youtu.be/1_yUJg1Lbl4 Das klagende Lied: / Song of lament /Complainte 1 - Waldmärchen / Forest Legend /Conte Sylvestre /Favola del Bosco (Langsam und träumerisch) 2 - Der Spielmann / The Minstrel / Le Ménestrel (Sehr gehalten) 3 - Hochzeitsstück / Wedding piece / Le Mariage /Chant de noce (Heftig bewegt) Grace Hoffman, alto Evelyn Lear, soprano Elisabeth Söderström, soprano Stuart Borrows, tenor Ernst Haefliger, tenor Gerd Nienstedt, bass London Symphony Orchestra Chorus Chorus master: Arthur Oldham London Symphony Orchestra Conducted by Pierre Boulez 1970 http://youtu.be/71EpAHLPZpE Der Spielmann http://youtu.be/mbdFwpMP0Iw http://youtu.be/RFIJhZTOn2k III Hochzeitstucke "Hochzeitsstück", Part III from "Das klagende Lied" by Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) Susann Dunn, soprano Brigitte Fassbaender, mezzosoprano Markus Baur, boy-alto Werner Hollweg, tenor Andreas Schmidt, bass Städt. Musikverein Düsseldorf Radio Symphonierorchester Berlin Riccardo Chailly, conductor http://youtu.be/fk19Rz7hlek Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) Das klagende Lied: / Song of lament /Complainte 3 - Hochzeitsstück / Wedding piece / Le Mariage /Chant de noce (Heftig bewegt) Grace Hoffman, alto Evelyn Lear, soprano Elisabeth Söderström, soprano Stuart Borrows, tenor Ernst Haefliger, tenor Gerd Nienstedt, bass London Symphony Orchestra Chorus Chorus master: Arthur Oldham London Symphony Orchestra Conducted by Pierre Boulez 1970 http://youtu.be/H945wZhet6A

Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg Herbert von Karajan

Full Opera Recording "The Mastersingers of Nuremberg". Theo Adam, René Kollo, Geraint Evans, Peter Schreier, Helen Donath, Ruth Hesse. Recorded by Staatskapelle Dresden and the Chorus of the Staatsoper Dresden Conducted by Herbert von Karajan (EMI, 1970). http://youtu.be/JKG8ZxEOdwE This is an opera in three acts. It is among the longest operas performed today, usually taking around four and a half hours. It was first performed at the Königliches Hof- und National-Theater in Munich on 21 June 1868. The conductor at the premiere was Hans von Bülow. The story is taking place in Nuremberg during the mid sixteenth century. It was an Imperial City and one of the Renaissance centres in Northern Europe. The story is about the real-life guild of Meistersinger (Master Singers), an association of amateur poets and musicians, from the middle class and master craftsmen. The Mastersingers developed a craftsmanlike approach to music-making with a complicated system of rules for composing and performing songs. One of the main characters, the cobbler-poet, Hans Sachs, is based on an actual historical figure: Hans Sachs (1494–1576), the most famous of the historical Mastersingers. This opera has a unique place in Wagner's works. It is the only comedy among his mature operas apart from Das Liebesverbot (based on Sakespeare's Measure for Measure)It is the only mature Wagner opera to be based on an entirely original story. It is also the only one of Wagner's mature operas in which there are no supernatural powers. Wagner compromised on the very theories that he had rallied against in his essays such as arias, choruses, a quintet, rhymed verses and a ballet too. Die Meistersinger is a composition in which music is a central part of the narrative. Wagner had the Bayreuth Festspielhaus built with many unique designs. It was here that the Ring and Parsifal received their premieres and where his most important stage works continue to be performed in an annual festival that are managed by his descendants. His thoughts on the contribution of music and drama in operas were to shift again and he reintroduced conventional forms into his stage work in this opera. After going through several versions of this opera, I have come to the conclusion that this is the definitive version followed by Horst Stein and Bayreuth Festpielhaus.

Till Eulenspiegel's Lustige Streiche

Richard Strauss Till Eulenspiegel's Lustige Streiche Berlin Philharmoniker 1943 Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks Op. 28, is a tone poem by Richard Strauss, describing the misadventures and pranks of Till Eulenspiegel, the German folk hero. The two themes representing Till are played respectively by the horn and the clarinet in D Major. The horn theme is a lilting melody that reaches a peak, then falls downward. It culminates in three long notes which are lower in progression. The clarinet theme depicts the acts of a trickster.I must say that the timpani of Berlin Philharmonic lost its thunderous hold when Furtwangler moved out of the scene. http://youtu.be/Dr3XDVqIJSA Here is a 1950 performance with the Berlin Philharmonic http://youtu.be/lEf4s6naews

Saint Saens Requiem

Messe de Requiem, Op. 54. -- Coro della Radio Svizzera & Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana Diego FASOLIS The movements are Kyrie, Dies Irae, Rex Tremendae, Oro Supplex, Hostias, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei. A friend of Saint Saens, Albert Libon, requested a Requiem to be played on his funeral. Libon died in 1877. Saint Saens composed the Requiem in Switzerland in a matter of eight days. It is a short Requiem that packs quite a punch. It was a Messe de Requiem to be performed in honour of Libon in a church mass. It was scored lushly for the orchestra, brass, choirand organ with a very effective use of harps. http://youtu.be/E7ufLZRQmpQ