Also available on Blu-ray

A Film by Paul Smaczny & Günter Atteln

Founded in 1212 the St. Thomas Choir Leipzig is one of the most famous and prestigious boys' choirs in the world. This documentary accompanies “Die Thomaner”, aged between 9 and 18 years old, over a period of one year. Their unique world, from motets to boarding school and the football pitch, is distinguished by success, pressure to perform, doubt, pride, homesickness, and friendship. The film charts the breadth of the boys' experience from the classroom to traveling on tour to South America.

BONUS Two tracks from Johann Sebastian Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion” performed by the choir for which it was written - St. Thomas Boys Choir - in St. Thomas Church, Leipzig, where the composer worked and is buried. No. 1 Chor: "Kommt, ihr Töchter, helft mir klagen" No. 39 Arie (Alto): "Erbarme dich"

Also available on standard DVD

BRUCKNER Symphony No. 5 (Nowak ed.) • Claudio Abbado, cond; Lucerne Fest O • ACCENTUS ACC 10243 (Blu-ray: 80:33) Live: Lucerne 8/19–20/2011

Claudio Abbado formed the Lucerne Festival Orchestra in 2003 after his return to musical life following successful treatment for stomach cancer. His appearances each summer with this group, built upon the core of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra plus first-chair players from many top ensembles, are highly anticipated events. So, when Lucerne videos are released during the year following a festival, it’s like returning to a favorite summer vacation town. What’s the same? What’s changed? As the cameras scan the orchestra, we see that the older female cellist (Natalia Gutman) is missing, but many other familiar faces are back, including violist Wolfram Christ, flutist Jacques Zoon, and the eccentric-appearing principal trumpet (Reinhold Friedrich, who, for some reason, is permitted to wear an extravagant velvet jacket and as a result looks like a cross between Ben Franklin and a circa 1910 patent medicine salesman). Plus, as always, there is a healthy number of young musicians who must be marveling at their good fortune to be participating in such an extraordinary endeavor. Because of the degree of continuity from year to year, a strong sense of artistic purpose and, of course, the man on the podium, the orchestra consistently performs at a level equal to the very best permanent ensembles on earth, even though they are together only relatively briefly each summer.

Bruckner’s Symphony No. 5 is a work that can be condescended to. If a conductor begins with the premise that the Fifth is a piece that—however powerful and popular—is constructed from simplistic elements and lacking refinement, well … you’ll get a performance that’s simplistic and unrefined. Abbado finds layers and layers of nuance and meaning in the symphony. (Benjamin Zander is another conductor who shows the work a similar respect.) Any aura of ritual or of a grinding symphonic machine is banished and something much more organic is in evidence; it’s less a sonic cathedral (to use the standard Bruckner cliché) and more of a Beethovenian or Mahlerian evocation of the natural world. The chorales—strings in the second movement or the “11 apostles” in the Finale—are thankfully shorn of any Hollywood religiosity and just seem to blossom inevitably from musical seeds planted much earlier on. Abbado leads the Scherzo with exceptional lift and lightness, but still allows the obsessive quality to come through without nearly as much hard-headedness—the “country bumpkin” cliché—as is often the case. And then there are the felicities provided by all those world-class instrumentalists. For just one example, listen to the seamless manner with which phrases are passed from horn to oboe to flute at the very end of the second movement.

The sound is glorious in stereo and, especially, with multichannel—richly sonorous, dynamic, detailed, and dimensional. I’ve never witnessed a large audience listen so quietly before; everyone present in the Concert Hall of KKL Luzern for the two performances generating this video last August knew, I’m sure, that they were witnessing something special. They seem afraid to breathe, much less cough or fidget in their seats. As has become the custom, flowers rain down on the performers after the concert’s conclusion. The audience rises to its feet, something that doesn’t happen all that often in Europe (as opposed to the U.S., where every performance, however routine, typically gets a standing ovation). Abbado will be 80 next year and he looks well. Here’s hoping there are many more of these Blu-ray treasures to come.

FANFARE: Andrew Quint

Bruckner’s famous “Romantic” Symphony No. 4 forms the prelude to a spectacular DVD series from Accentus Music and Unitel Classica, exploring Bruckner’s symphonic cosmos. Recorded live at Philharmonie Berlin on 20 June 2010, Der Tagesspiegel describes Barenboim’s Bruckner as ‘… conceived and performed very theatrically, like an opera without words.”

Gustav Mahler’s 8th Symphony breaks the boundaries of the symphonic form in a world-embracing gesture. Riccardo Chailly is one of the staunchest performers of this work, and therefore it seemed appropriate in many ways that he chose this work for his inaugural concert as Claudio Abbado’s successor and new music director of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. The artistic statement was combined with a deeply personal conviction: it should be a “tribute to Claudio,” the highly esteemed friend and colleague to whom Chailly, as he emphasizes, owes very much. On 12 August 2016, Claudio Abbado’s unfinished Mahler cycle with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra was completed in a breathtaking performance of the Mahler 8th, simultaneously heralding in a new era in Lucerne.

Also available on Blu-ray

Live Recording from the Lucerne Festival, Summer 2011

‘Abbado’s approach to the music of Bruckner is soft and songlike, at times tense and urgent, but constantly filled with warmth of feeling’ – not only the Neue Zürcher Zeitung is full of praise when Claudio Abbado and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra play Bruckner. Their interpretation of his awe-inspiring Fifth Symphony reflects the composer’s burgeoning powers and exquisite compositional artistry. As The Guardian poetically states: ‘The composer himself, one suspects, might have leapt to embrace Abbado as an ideal interpreter.’

Also available on Blu-ray

The Daily Telegraph describes Nikolaj Znaider as "the most stimulating young musician playing today, drawing on musical intelligence, perception and dynamism to give performances of rare intensity.” This release presents one of the world's foremost violinists playing two landmark concertos, accompanied by the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester,  "one of Europe's finest orchestras" (The Guardian), under the baton of its music director Riccardo Chailly. 

It was the Gewandhausorchester that, in 1845, first performed Mendelssohn’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in E minor. Mendelssohn himself had conducted Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D major several times and helped this milestone in the history of music to its great breakthrough.


Picture Format: NTSC 16:9
Sound Formats: PCM Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1
Region Code: 0 (Worldwide)
Running Time: 84 Minutes

Also available on Blu-ray

BRAHMS, J.: Serenade No. 2 / Alto Rhapsody / Symphony No. 2 (Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Nelsons) (NTSC)

In 2014, all signs pointed to a new beginning at the Lucerne Festival. For the first time, the festival would take place without the incomparable Claudio Abbado, with the young Latvian Andris Nelsons leading the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. Nelsons had already won the trust and respect of both listeners and performers in a moving memorial concert for Abbado in Lucerne. He is known internationally as one of the most gifted conductors of his generation. Now he was poised to lead the prestigious festival into a new era – he brilliantly mastered this “greatest challenge”(as he himself called it) of his career. The audience and the musicians responded with heart-felt gratitude. “He is aware of every single player and carries us on an unbelievable wave of enthusiasm”, according to concertmaster Sebastian Breuninger. Solo violist Wolfram Christ adds, “Nelsons accepts what is inherent in our orchestra and what comes from Abbado; he builds on it and makes it into something new.”

ANDRIS NELSONS CONDUCTS BRAHMS

Johannes Brahms:
Serenade No. 2 in A Major, Op. 16
Alto Rhapsody, Op. 53
Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73

Sara Mingardo, contralto
Bavarian Radio Chorus
Lucerne Festival Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor

Recorded live at the Concert Hall of KKL Luzern, 15–16 August 2014

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: German, English, French, Japanese, Korean
Running time: 109 mins
No. of DVDs: 1 (DVD 9)

Internationally renowned violinist and conductor Riccardo Minasi and the Orchestra La Scintilla, based at Opernhaus Zürich, enjoy a close working relationship. Together with the ensemble's superb musicians, who specialize in historically informed performance, Minasi has recorded two very different compositions, both entitled “Vier Jahreszeiten” (“Four Seasons”), for Philharmonia Records. In addition to the four famous concerti by Antonio Vivaldi, in which Minasi proves himself to be a brilliant soloist, the recording features ballet music by Giuseppe Verdi, written 125 years later. This pairing gives the ensemble the opportunity to showcase both the breadth of its repertoire and its considerable flexibility. Verdi on period instruments: a completely new aural experience!

Also available on Blu-ray

“Nothing is harder to put on stage than lightness. And humor is the sharpest weapon of the desperate. That is why it is an obligation, indeed a must, to enjoy this Figaro by Jürgen Flimm at the Staatsoper to the fullest.“ (ARD Radio) This production of “Le nozze di Figaro” is directed by the former artistic director of the Staatsoper Berlin, Jürgen Flimm, who characterizes it as follows: “Figaro is by far the best work ever devised for the stage; it combines everything that moves the human heart and mind – forlorn hope, pleasantry, satire, profound significance, also much ado about nothing and vain amours.” This production with a star-studded ensemble of soloists was Flimm’s third staging of this musical masterpiece, and this time he places the plot in Count Almaviva‘s summer residence – a place where the count spent his childhood, a place full of memories where time has left its marks. It is in this hot atmosphere of summer that the great day unfolds: holidays, sun, sea, pretty women take a fancy to pretty men and pretty men take a fancy to pretty women. A midsummer night‘s dream full of tangled paths and futile longing where the women pull the strings of intrigue with their gentle hands.

Also available on Blu-ray

The eight Mahler symphonies contained in this box were all recorded live as part of the Leipzig Mahler cycle that began with the acclaimed Mahler Festival in 2011. They once again confirmed the Gewandhausorchester's reputation as a Mahler reference orchestra, which was consolidated in particular thanks to the intensive examination of Mahler's work under the direction of former Gewandhaus Kapellmeister Riccardo Chailly, who emphasized the compositional qualities of the works, traced the origins of their interpretive history and avoided false pathos and sentimentality despite all the drama and urgency. This becomes clear especially in the more than two hours of documentation material which supplements these exceptional Mahler recordings. In addition to Riccardo Chailly, leading Mahler experts such as Henry-Louis de la Grange and Reinhold Kubik give an insight into Mahler's works and their interpretation. In addition to its musical excellence, the Leipzig Mahler cycle impresses with its graphic design. Each cover of the cycle is adorned with a work by the Leipzig painter Neo Rauch that was inspired by Mahler's music and painted specifically for this cycle.

Excerpts of reviews from previously released volumes in this set:

Mahler: Symphony No. 7 / Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig

The Leipzig players do Chailly proud. There are so many stunning solos, from tenor horn at the start to the first trumpet who never splits brilliant top notes in the finale. This of all symphonies requires a terrifying amount of preparation - there's none better than this one.

– BBC Music Magazine

Mahler: Symphony No. 5 / Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig

Chailly is a pleasure to watch, being neither over-demonstrative nor affectedly matter-of-fact. If the rest of this projected second Chailly Mahler cycle is as good as this, then I suspect we have treats aplenty in store.

– Gramophone (Editor's Choice, November 2014)

Chailly's latest Mahler Five surely has the best of all possible worlds for this comprehensive darkness-to-light epic. It's rewarding to see the Leipzig Gewandhaus strings articulating with such mobile engagement.

– BBC Music Magazine

Mahler: Symphony No. 9 / Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig

Here we have something very special, and a good deal more than 'just another Mahler Ninth. This Leipzig Ninth is Chailly off the leash, liberating the music in a way that is impassioned, positive, fitfully fractured and often ethereal. He flicks the Symphony's heartbeat opening into action with the most economical of gestures.

– Gramophone (Editor's Choice, November February 2015)

Also available on Blu-ray

Exactly 80 years before the Opening Concert of the 2019 Lucerne Festival, Sergei Rachmaninoff himself appeared for the first time on August 11, 1939 at the "International Music Festival Weeks". The roaring success of the performance stands in direct contrast to the need for retreat, seclusion and concentration that the star pianist sought as a composer. Marking three stages in his career, the concerto, étude, vocalise and symphony presented in 2019 take the listener to these places of retreat. And yet, they call to mind phenomena of public perception that still influence the way they are received today. In their diversity, these works invite us to appreciate the versatility of this extraordinary artist, to question, break through and expand patterns of perception.

 

REVIEW:

 

The pianist is musically involved, and so is Chailly. However unexpectedly, they form a superb partnership, and the entire reading is suffused with unabashed Romanticism. Matsuev shows himself perfectly willing to play delicate passages with the appropriate lyricism. The opening theme is unusually gentle, in fact. The impression of effortless virtuosity is especially vivid in the finale, where the pianist is magisterial. I would call this a Gilels-like performance in its authority and breadth rather than an electrifying Horowitz-like one. But it’s thrilling nonetheless.

 

– Fanfare

Also available on Blu-ray

For the first time ever, a Chinese symphony orchestra is performing at Lucerne Festival. If yet more evidence that classical music has long since become a global language were needed, it would be this appearance by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra under music director Long Yu. These musicians from Asia have planned a program of three Russian composers. Aaron Avshalomov, who was born in 1894, served as a professor at the Shanghai Conservatory, where he taught from 1919 on; he was one of the founders of China’s Western musical tradition. His tone poem Hutongs of Peking captures the sounds and voices that once echoed through the narrow alleys of the Chinese capital. Tchaikovsky’s immortal Violin Concerto will be performed by one of the leading virtuosos of our time, Maxim Vengerov. And the orchestra will demonstrate the degree to which a composer under Stalin had to wrestle with his own identity with Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony. Here the composer reacts to the political demand to be popular and monumental – which leads to an absurdly overstated “jubilant” conclusion.

Also available on Blu-ray

The festive series of concerts to celebrate the inauguration of Andris Nelsons and the 275th anniversary of the Gewandhausorchester concluded with a riveting performance of two of music history’s great symphonic works. Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 is one of only two that Mozart wrote in a minor key, which only adds to its singular reception in his canon of symphonies. Tchaikovsky was an admirer of Mozart’s music and paired the premiere of his Sixth Symphony, which he himself conducted, with dances from Mozart’s “Idomeneo”. The “Pathétique” would become his legacy as Tchaikovsky died only a few days after its premiere. Andris Nelsons is Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and is Gewandhauskapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. With these positions, and in leading a pioneering alliance between two such esteemed institutions, Grammy Award-winning Nelsons is firmly underlined as one of the most renowned and innovative conductors on the international scene today.

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD

A “touching and magnificent reunion” (Der Standard). The public and press enthusiastically celebrated the long-awaited return of Claudio Abbado to the Salzburg Festival in 2012. The conductor brought with him Mozart’s youthful Mass K. 139, the so-called Waisenhausmesse, and Schubert’s late Mass in E flat major. In a fascinating way, Abbado succeeded in merging the singers and instrumentalists into a total collaborative effort: “Seldom has one heard such a perfect balance between choir, orchestra, and vocal soloists; one has also seldom heard such a beautifully coordinated and perfectly balanced vocal ensemble” (Salzburger Nachrichten).

ABBADO CONDUCTS MASSES BY MOZART AND SCHUBERT
(Blu-ray Disc Version)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Missa solemnis in C Minor, K. 139, “Waisenhausmesse”

Franz Schubert: Mass No. 6 in E-Flat Major, D. 950

Rachel Harnisch, soprano
Roberta Invernizzi, soprano
Sara Mingardo, alto
Javier Camarena, tenor
Paolo Fanale, tenor
Alex Esposito, bass

Arnold Schoenberg Choir
Orchestra Mozart
Claudio Abbado, conductor

Recorded live from the Salzburg Festival, 2012

Picture format: 1080i Full HD
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS-HD Master Audio
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: Latin, English, German, French, Korean
Running time: 104 mins
No. of Discs: 1

In his Sixth Symphony, the "Pastoral", Ludwig van Beethoven conveys his musical message in such a way that lets the listener literally "see" images of beautiful nature, tempestuous storms, and shepherds singing in the fields, whereas in his Seventh Symphony, Beethoven lets the music speak for itself. The performances of these works by the Gewandhausorchester under its conductor laureate Herbert Bomstedt give the uplifting feeling that the intentions of both composer and performers are united in serving the musical message. In the lively, subtly differentiated interpretation of the works, sincere happiness, deep respect, piety, joyful, serenity and an affinity to nature as well as passion, vitality and spirit can all be felt. This is what the "authenticity" of making music is all about. The humanist and musician Herbert Blomstedt embodies this truth in a unique way, creating an atmosphere where the wonders of music all become true.

Also available on Blu-ray

Recorded live at the Gwandhaus in 2018, this excellent program from the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and their conductor Andris Nelsons features Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies Nos. 4, 5, and 6, as well as works by Mozart, Mussorgsky, Shostakovich, and Weinberg, making for a thrilling and well-rounded programme. Andris Nelsons is Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Gewandhauskapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. These two positions, in addition to his leadership of a pioneering alliance between both institutions, have firmly established Grammy Award-winning Nelsons as one of the most renowned and innovative conductors on the international scene today. “Andris Nelsons conducted with concise focus and vigor and elicited the orchestra both tonal beauty and technical precision and visible enthusiasm.” (THE BOSTON GLOBE)

 

REVIEW:

 

Tchaikovsky’s “Pathétique” shows a dynamic use of tempo: In general, the fast music is very fast, the slow music quite slow, and Nelsons speeds up and slows down as the mood of the music changes. The first movement has lovely woodwind solos, particularly the important ones for clarinet. There is fine attention to dynamics, particularly in the second and fourth movements. The ending disappears into silence, and the hall remains silent for what seems like an impossible length of time before finally erupting into applause.

 

Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony is a fairly standard reading, although there is lots of rubato and expressive use of tempo modifications. The first movement is exciting; the second-movement horn solo is excellent.

 

This all-Russian concert concludes with Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony. Nelsons’s approach is similar to the way he conducts the Fifth: standard tempos which are modified according to the nature of the passage; rhythmic precision, notably in the difficult development section of the first movement; and, no funny business like a huge ritardando or unwritten pause in the coda. The second movement is effective at a rather slow tempo, with excellent dynamics. The Scherzo is fast and virtuosic, the Finale energetic.

– Fanfare

He is the most performed contemporary composer in the world. And yet he rarely ventures out in public, prefers to keep quiet about his music, feels at home in the forests of Estonia and generates therewith - perhaps involuntarily - the impression of a recluse, which is attributed to him again and again: Arvo P�rt. Adam's Passion is the moving first collaboration between two "masters of slow motion who harmonize perfectly with each other" (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung). In the spectacular setting of a former submarine factory, American director and universal artist Robert Wilson creates a poetic visual world in which the mystical musical language of the Estonian composer Arvo P�rt can cast it's meditative spell. The Lost Paradise: In The Lost Paradise, we follow Arvo P�rt over a period of one year in his native Estonia, to Japan and the Vatican. The documentary is framed by the stage production of Adam's Passion in which the artistic visions of Arvo P�rt and Robert Wilson mirror each other. Tracing their creative process, the film offers rare and personal insights into the worlds of two of the most fascinating personalities in the international arts and music scene.

The accordion is an instrument that is deeply rooted in Lithuanian folk music. Today, the accordion is also recognized as a versatile instrument of classical music, a change in perception that has largely been promoted by Martynas Levickis, one of the most internationally sought-after musicians in his field. With its lightness and melancholy, Astor Piazzolla’s music has fascinated the young accordionist from an early age, and so it goes without saying that he is dedicating himself to this exceptional composer in his anniversary year. Together with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra he recorded "Aconcagua" live in concert. For conductor Modestas Pitrenas, Piazzolla's concerto - named posthumously after the highest mountain in the Americas - "conveys the climb to the roof of the earth in all its facets and symbolism: freedom, longing, loneliness, pain, transfiguration, peace." Levickis has a long and close collaboration with the chamber orchestra "Mikroórkestra". Together they present their interpretation of "Las Cuatro Estaciones Portenas," Piazzolla's timeless masterpieces of many styles that capture in music the four seasons in Argentina's capital Buenos Aires.

REVIEW:

This CD combines two worlds, that of the accordion rooted in Lithuanian folk music and that of the Argentine Astor Piazzolla. And the fusion of cultures has succeeded, as evidenced by the interpretations with the most prominent Lithuanian accordionist, Martynas Levickis.

The accordionist plays Aconcagua with a spontaneous, pulsating rhythmic sensibility that sometimes sounds improvisatory and provides a lot of tension in the vital outer movements. The slow movement is given real depth and a very personal statement of the communication between Piazzolla and the soloist.

Las Cuatro Estaciones Portenas translates well to a chamber orchestra. On the one hand, Levickis plays rhythmically concise, but on the other hand, the sensual is not neglected. A very great interpretation!

– Pizzicato

Ludwig van Beethoven wrote his 10 Violin Sonatas between 1797 and 1812. The Sonatas 1 to 9 were written between 1797 and 1803 before almost ten years passed until his opus 96. The composer premiered all his early piano works himself, which might be why he called them "Sonatas for Pianoforte and Violin." In the spirit of W. A. Mozart's redefinition of the genre, who elevated the violin from its previously only accompanying role, and in spite of today's common designation as "violin sonatas," both instrumental parts in Beethoven's sonatas are on an equal musical footing. In 2020 - the anniversary year surrounding Beethoven's 250th birthday - the Korean violinist Clara-Jumi Kang and her partner on the piano, Sunwook Kim, took on this special cycle of chamber music works. Kang first worked on one of Beethoven's sonatas, the Fifth, at the tender age of eight and can already look back on an extremely successful international career. With Sunwook Kim, she has an exceptionally experienced Beethoven interpreter at her side, whose recordings of the piano sonatas, among others, have received high accolades around the globe. Together they have developed an inspiring and very personal reading of Beethoven's sonatas, of which this complete recording bears impressive witness.

This recording of Anton Bruckner’s eighth symphony is performed in its original version completed in 1887.; Because of the piece’s boldness, Bruckner’s contemporaries criticized the work, and convinced him to revise the piece.; Here, Fabio Luisi leads the Philharmonia Zurich in this “huge cathedral” of a work, bringing out the perfections in the original, unrevised version.

Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony occupies a special position in Anton Bruckner's symphonic cycle. It heralds the cycle of his "mature" symphonies and with it the composer addressed his audience directly and wanted to be understood by them. He succeeded in this - today the “Romantic” is one of Bruckner's most popular symphonies. Still, he revised it time and again and today there are three versions of it. With the Bamberg Symphony, which can draw on many years of Bruckner interpretation, Jakub Hrusa has now recorded all versions of the Fourth Symphony. For a conductor, it is a unique opportunity to be able to record all versions of a symphony. In addition, as Hrusa says, the project enables the interested audience to form their own opinion of the quality and tailoring of the respective version. In this way, listeners can decide for themselves whether the composer was right in his doubts, and whether it makes any sense at all to “pit” one version against the other.

One of the greatest musical creations of Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov is undoubtedly his Scheherazade symphonic suite. The work, which is based on the famous tales of Princess Scheherazade of the Arabian Nights, has now been interpreted by the Philharmonia Zurich with its general music director Fabio Luisi at the rostrum. And one of its Zurich Opera House performances –with the ensemble “in top form”, to quote the Neue Zürcher Zeitung – has now been committed to recording. “Concertmaster Bartlomiej Niziol, who, with his solo violin, embodies the figure of Scheherazade as she tells her life story, plays his prominent part with impeccable intonation and great creative freedom; and Fabio Luisi conducts with a keenly emotional air and, with deftly-varied drive and restraint, brings the whole tale to outstanding dramatic life.”

More than 200 years after it's premiere at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Isabelle Faust, Jean-Guihen Queyras and Martin Helmchen have congenially mastered the artistic challenge of Beethoven's gemstone. Under Herbert Blomstedt's sensitive direction, the soloists unite chamber musical intimacy together with virtuoso sophistication - and prove once again that the Triple Concerto is an unduly underestimated, much too rarely programmed masterpiece. With the composer's 5th Symphony, Blomstedt succeeds in achieving an entirely new perspective of this work. In his Sixth Symphony, the "Pastoral", Ludwig van Beethoven conveys his musical message in such a way that let's the listener literally "see" images of beautiful nature, tempestuous storms, and shepherds singing in the fields, whereas in his Seventh Symphony, Beethoven let's the music speak for itself. The performances of these works by the Gewandhausorchester give the uplifting feeling that the intentions of both composer and performers are united in serving the musical message. The humanist and musician Herbert Blomstedt embodies this truth in a unique way, creating an atmosphere where the wonders of music all become true. Ludwig van Beethoven's 9th Symphony and the musical city of Leipzig are closely intertwined with each other: Felix Mendelssohn, Kapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester, made the work an indispensable part of the concert hall repertoire and Arthur Nikisch, one of his successors, established in 1918 the worldwide tradition of performing this groundbreaking and pioneering work at the end of the year. Herbert Blomstedt once again conducted Beethoven's Ninth in Leipzig for the 2016 New Year celebrations. With his former orchestra, of which he has been Conductor Laureate since 2005 and with whom he enjoys a close friendship, he achieves a gripping interpretation of this monumental work.

Violinist Judith Ingolfsson and pianist Vladimir Stoupel are both soloists with accomplished international concert careers. They have also been equally successful since they began searching for new paths in chamber music together in 2006 and devoted themselves to the cultivation of an unusual repertoire. This undertaking also includes their project “Co cert-Centenaire.” It is dedicated to composers, whose lives were influenced by or lost during the First World War. This new box set combines the previously realeased Volumes 1 - 3 in a single release.

In his Sixth Symphony, the “Pastoral”, Ludwig van Beethoven conveys his musical message in such a way that lets the listener literally “see” images of beautiful nature, tempestuous storms, and shepherds singing in the fields, whereas in his Seventh Symphony, Beethoven lets the music speak for itself. The performances of these works by the Gewandhausorchester under its conductor laureate Herbert Blomstedt give the uplifting feeling that the intentions of both composer and performers are united in serving the musical message. In the lively, subtly differentiated interpretation of the works, sincere happiness, deep respect, piety, joyful serenity and an affinity to nature as well as passion, vitality and spirit can all be felt. This is what the "authenticity" of making music is all about. The humanist and musician Herbert Blomstedt embodies this truth in a unique way, creating an atmosphere where the wonders of music all become true.