From the very first bars of the Coriolan Overture, it is apparent that this is Beethoven at his very best. Vladimir Jurowski and his absolutely brilliant Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment give us a new reading of old favorites that may well blow you out of your chair. There is plenty to discover: sounds and textures never heard before, an orchestral timbre as the composer himself may have envisaged and heard, incredible strength and cohesion and, on the other hand, sensitive nuances that often disappear under a blanket of massed strings in more traditional interpretations.
"Four Ways to Say Farewell" is a personal introduction to Mahler and his Ninth Symphony, during which Leonard Bernstein is seen and heard rehearsing the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
Chopin Year 2010 coincides with the 60th anniversary of Daniel Barenboims stage début, and as a pianist he has decided to devote this year to the great Romantic master of the keyboard.
The Süddeutsche Zeitung summed up this highly acclaimed performance of Bruckner's monumental Fifth Symphony by saying: Both Bruckners belief in God, as it majestically wells up out of the chorale of the Fifth, and his deeply tragic world view, collide with one another in Barenboims interpretation.
Surely Bach’s French Suites, which he composed during his years at Cöthen (1717–1723), are among the finest inducements to practise that any teacher has ever made to a pupil.
For Mahlerites, his symphonies are much more than musical performances--they can be an emotional or spiritual journey through the struggles, fears, and triumphs of life.
The legendary Italian pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (1920 - 1995), playing at the height of his powers, performs Chopin's Sonata in B flat minor and other music by one of the instrument's most brilliant and idiomatic writers, in the famously rare 1962 RAI television recording, newly restored and remastered for this release.
Karajan conducts these symphonies with eyes closed, often intently enraptured by the music, smiling occasionally when a passage or solo sounds just right to his ear.
Between 1981 and 1984 Leonard Bernstein recorded nearly all of Brahmss orchestral works with the Wiener Philharmoniker to honor the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth in 1983.
Daniel Barenboim is an expert in exploiting the impact of cyclical performances of composers works: This time he focuses his sharp intellect on all six of Anton Bruckners mature symphonies.
Popular movie trailers from 2010
These some of the most viewed trailers for movies released in 2010:
Whale is the story of Cameron, an Iranian American writer who returns home to his mother's house in Orange County, California after a failed relationship and lack of direction with life.
With whimsical trills and unexpected intonations, the Canadian stand-up's precision high-low comedy captivates but never coddles in this 2010 special recorded at the Ram Jam in London.
After Megamind, a highly intelligent alien supervillain, defeats his long-time nemesis Metro Man, Megamind creates a new hero to fight, but must act to save the city when his "creation" becomes an even worse villain than he was.
Cobb, a skilled thief who commits corporate espionage by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets is offered a chance to regain his old life as payment for a task considered to be impossible: "inception", the implantation of another person's idea into a target's subconscious.
Maggie is an alluring free spirit who won't let anyone – or anything – tie her down. But she meets her match in Jamie, whose relentless and nearly infallible charm serves him well with the ladies and the cutthroat world of pharmaceutical sales.
A post-apocalyptic tale, in which a lone man fights his way across America in order to protect a sacred book that holds the secrets to saving humankind.
A bravado period action film set at the end of Japan's feudal era in which a group of unemployed samurai are enlisted to bring down a sadistic lord and prevent him from ascending to the throne and plunging the country into a war-torn future.
Comments
Have you watched Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 4 & 7; Coriolan Overture yet? What did you think about it?
