4 SYMPHONIES • Thomas Dausgaard, cond; Danish Natl SO • C MAJOR 710508 (DVD: 168:00) Live: Copenhagen 2009

BRAHMS Symphony No. 1. DVO?ÁK Symphony No. 9. SIBELIUS Symphony No. 5. NIELSEN Symphony No. 3

If, as I did, you were to begin your examination of this release with disc 1, track 1 (the Brahms symphony), you might well conclude that there was little need to continue. There is something rather too cool and casual about Dausgaard’s interpretation of this powerful music. It lacks inner tension. There is not enough contrast between ideas. Accents are in the wrong places. Short notes are cheated of their value. And that’s not all. The second movement just plods on, the third is charmless, the fourth frantic and lurches from one tempo change to the next. Listening to the complete symphony several times could not induce me to alter my initial unfavorable observations. Adding visual insult to aural injury, sight and sound are not synchronized, and the difference between the two is disturbing, to put it mildly.

But then came the Nielsen symphony. What a difference! Right from the opening moments it had all the vigor and élan and determination lacking in the Brahms. Rhythms were tight and crisp. The music bristled with enthusiasm and commitment. The finale positively beamed with Elgarian nobility and breadth, rising to an absolutely thrilling climax. What a joy! Nielsen’s Third had hitherto never been one of my favorite symphonies, but Dausgaard nearly made it so in this performance.

Does Dausgaard work his magic on the two remaining works as well? The answer, I’m glad to say, is yes. Furthermore, the synchronization problem that affected the Brahms symphony is only minimal in the Nielsen and nonexistent in Dvo?ák and Sibelius. The “New World” Symphony receives one of the finest performances I have heard. Dausgaard’s approach is no romantic wallow but rather a clean, purposeful traversal filled with taut rhythms, precise attacks and releases, glowing sound, and architectural strength. Dausgaard likewise makes a strong case for the Sibelius Fifth, never allowing momentum to sag, carefully propelling the music forward with masterly control. I am particularly impressed with the ease in which he handles the tempo change for the second part of the first movement. By the time the grand climax of the finale arrives, one feels a great journey has been completed.

All four performances were recorded live in Copenhagen’s Koncerthuset in 2009. The personnel changes from symphony to symphony, but both principal horns, both principal trumpets, and both timpanists are star players. Generally the woodwinds are excellent, but violins seem a bit thin for an orchestra that is otherwise so assured and well balanced. However, the basses make up for this deficiency with their huge, rich sound, heard at its best at the quiet endings of three of the Brahms movements and in some of the more powerful moments of the Dvo?ák symphony. Aside from the basses, the orchestra plays with a bright sound, textures are clear and clean, balances are well controlled.

The camerawork is devoted about 20 percent of the time to Dausgaard and his facial contortions, 10 percent to views of the full orchestra from afar, and 70 percent to the business of jerking the viewer’s eyes from one instrumental close-up to another—two seconds of a horn player’s embouchure, a second of flute keys, two notes from the timpani, etc. Who determined that this is what we want to see? I find it annoying to the point where I simply can’t bear to watch.

On ArkivMusic the price for these four symphonies is $27 ($40 for the Blu-ray version)—just under $7 a symphony, a good buy even without the inferior Brahms symphony, especially for performances as fine as the other three.

FANFARE: Robert Markow

Also available on Blu-ray

The All-Star Orchestra gives you a front row seat to the world’s greatest music, performed by top players chosen from over 30 great American orchestras, and conducted by Gerard Schwarz. The programs feature complete performances of popular masterpieces and world premieres of new works by leading American composers. Filmed in High-Definition with multiple cameras in and around the orchestra, the All-Star Orchestra celebrates the symphonic experience in the 21st c. Gershwin’s immortal Rhapsody in Blue is featured in the rarely heard original jazz-band version from the 1924 New York premiere. This iconic work is complemented by Aaron Copland’s 1925 jazz-age classic “Music for the Theatre.” Robert Beaser’s “Ground O” offers a contemporary musical perspective of New York after the attacks of 9/11. (Program 9: Visions of New York) This exotic orchestral showpiece is based on fantastical tales that - according to tradition - were told by the ingenious wife of a cruel Sultan so as to prolong her life for 1001 nights. Concertmaster David Kim conveys the voice of the wily heroine Scheherazade in virtuosic violin solos. (Program 10: 1001 Arabian Nights – The Legend of Scheherazade)

THE ALL-STAR ORCHESTRA
Programs 9 & 10

Program 9: Visions of New York

George Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Aaron Copland: Music for the Theatre Suite
Robert Beaser: Ground “O”

Program 10: 1001 Arabian Nights – The Legend of Scheherazade

Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade

Lola Astanova, piano
David Kim, violin
The All-Star Orchestra
Gerard Schwarz, conductor

Recorded live from the Great Hall, Purchase College Performing Arts Center, New York, 26–27 August 2014

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Language: English
Running time: 114 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

Also available on Blu-ray

In 1957, Paul Anka’s debut hit single “Diana” immediately catapulted the 16-year-old into Hall of Fame status. For decades now, Anka has been one of the most successful composers around, penning the lyrics to such hits as Tom Jones’ “She’s a Lady” and Frank Sinatra’s signature song “My Way.” He has released over 120 albums, sold over 100 million records, and been named the 21st most successful artist in Billboard history. He is known today as the last great crooner. When he translates his own as well as cover songs into elegant swing and gives free reign to his charm on stage, Anka embodies the purest form of entertainment.

To this day, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 is one of the most popular pieces of classical music in the world. But what is it about this global hit? The film charts the success of the symphony around the globe and encounters passionate amateur musicians and musical personalities. Watch as Greek conductor Teodor Currentzis works on Beethoven’s Ninth with his ensemble, MusicAeterna. Follow Chinese composer and Oscar winner Tan Dun as he creates a new composition inspired by the great Beethoven symphony. Experience the Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as they play the Ninth. Visit a favela in Brazil, where Beethovens’s music helps people get off the streets. Be amazed as a choir of 10,000 in Japan sings the final chorus of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, with great enthusiasm. Learn how Paul Whittaker helps make Beethoven accessible for deaf people. And find out how British DJ Gabriel Prokofiev performs a symphonic remix of Beethoven’s Ninth.

Also available on Blu-ray

The contemporary vocal music of the Baltic states is infused with the timeless resonances of a folk tradition dating back to pagan times, and created a sensation when it was first unleashed upon European concert halls in the second half of the 20th century. This very special programme from the acclaimed SWR Vokalensemble represents the most eloquent and sophisticated choral repertoire of this region. Veljo Tormis’ intense folk song arrangements, and compelling works by Peteris Vasks and Arvo Part are included next to music of entrancing colors, heard in remarkable settings by a younger generation of award-winning composers.

Also available on Blu-ray

Giovanna d'Arco is based on Friedrich Schiller's tragedy The Maid of Orleans and deals with the life of Joan of Arc. But Verdi and his librettist Temistocle Solera departed from both Schiller and historical fact by turning Joan's father into the opera's powerful antagonist. Ever since its first performance in Milan in 1845, Giovanna d'Arco has been admired and loved for its emotionally affecting arias and thrilling choral writing.

Giuseppe Verdi
GIOVANNA D’ARCO

Carlo VII – Evan Bowers
Giacomo – Renato Bruson
Giovanna – Svetla Vassileva
Delil – Luigi Petroni
Talbot – Maurizio Lo Piccolo

Parma Teatro Regio Chorus and Orchestra
(chorus master: Martino Faggiani)
Bruno Bartoletti, conductor

Gabriele Lavia, stage director
Alessandro Camera, set designer
Andrea Viotti, costume designer
Andrea Borelli, lighting designer

Recorded live from the Teatro Regio di Parma, 2008

Bonus:
- Introduction to Giovanna d’Arco

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: Italian, English, German, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Japanese
Booklet notes: English, German, French
Running time: 128 mins (opera) + 10 mins (bonus)
No. of DVDs: 1 (DVD 9)

Also available on Blu-ray

Recorded at the Philharmonie am Gasteig, Munich, 2016. As an artist in residence with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the American cellist Yo-Yo Ma had the opportunity to do what is perhaps the second thing he loves the most after playing: sharing his love of music with others. Yo-Yo Ma doesn’t fade away into the music, nor does he take a worshipful attitude towards the pieces he performs. From the moment he walks onto the stage, he exudes charisma that immediately confirms his truly exceptional status as the “best cellist in the world”. With its ten variations on a theme of knightly character for full orchestra, Richard Strauss’ tone poem “Don Quixote” not only depicts the colourful adventures of Cervantes’ chivalrous hero, but also functions as a virtuoso display of glorious solo melodies embedded in stunning orchestral passages. It is, in a way, a second Strauss cello concerto that can take it up with any other late-19th century piece of this kind. Joining “the Don” later is a viola solo that personifies the faithful Sancho Panza and is played by Wen Xiao Zheng.

Also available on Blu-ray

Stefano Landi was an influential early opera composer, and La morte d’Orfeo is regarded as a milestone in the development of the genre. The narrative starts where Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo ends, taking us through the remaining adventures of Orpheus in the underworld. Beaten to death and torn apart by the fearsome maenads, Orpheus survives as a wandering soul and is finally reincarnated as a star in the sky. Landi succeeded in turning Greek tragedy into timeless music-drama, the starting point of all opera, and Seen and Heard International declared that it had ‘never before encountered such technical perfection’ in Pierre Audi’s Amsterdam production.

One of the foremost British ensembles, the Kreutzer specializes in new music and has already made many recordings for Metier and other labels. This superb film is not only the record of brilliant performances of major modern quartets and fine entertainment, it is also a valuable and rewarding tool for observing how the players of an ensemble communicate and interact, especially in works like that of Lutoslawski which allow performers a degree of choice. Above all it is a demonstration that music very often should be seen as well as heard. This disc is universal-play (Region 0) and double sided PAL/NTSC so will play in any country.

The journey starts in Switzerland, in the canton of Thurgau, leading from Steckborn and the Bodensee to the Rhine Falls. From Styria, in Austria, comes Hochosterwitz Castle and from Bavaria Weikersheim Castle, the latter intercut with wild life from the Austrian Assling Nature Park. The tour ends amid the strangely shaped mountains of the Dolomites in Southern Tyrol, a region divided between Austria and Italy. In a remarkable way Mahler, in his symphonies and songs, has seemed to reflect the world of today in all it's bewildering variety and has now won an established place in concert repertoire. Distinguished as a conductor, his fame as a composer has grown over the years since his death. The music included here is Mahler's ymphony No. 1, nick-named Titan, not for it's massive power, but after the book by Jean Paul, a strong influence over earlier romantics and over Mahler at this stage in his career. The symphony breathes the spirit of the Austrian countryside, reflected in Mahler's songs.

Despite the limitations of life in his Salzburg birthplace - and the patronage of a new and somewhat unsympathetic Prince-Archbishop - opportunities nevertheless presented themselves to Mozart. Following a commission for Il re pastore in 1775, he wrote a sequence of violin concertos that reveal his own performer’s understanding of the instrument. The concertos are suffused with elegance and refinement and charged with vivacity and wit. His mastery of solo violin cantilena is matched by prodigious melodic invention and moments of exotic colour, such as the Turkish episode in the Rondeau finale of K.219.

Commissioned in 1846, MacBeth offered Verdi the opportunity to make a qualitative leap in his career and it's premiere was triumphantly received by audiences. Yet the libretto had proved problematic and many Italian critics did not share the composer's reverence for Shakespeare. Verdi surmounted all concerns with an opera that valued brevity but also preserved the play's most important elements. The formidable final concertato stands as one of his greatest achievements thus far, his pacing and detailing of the opera as a whole far surpassing his previous works. This production preserves the preferred 1865 revision of the work, sung in Italian and retaining the original 1847 finale.

"•The particularity of this edition of Donizetti’s masterpiece is in its reconstruction of the 1845 Saint Petersburg version. Along with some key transpositions, this 2010 performance presents the alternative finale adopted at the same time. • Bass-baritone Lorenzo Regazzo is an acclaimed “bel canto” and “coloratura” singer and renowned Mozart and Rossini interpreter. Giovanni Battista Rigon is considered “one of the best Rossini conductors...spirited...never tiring” (Il Corriere della Sera)."

Before moving into the Elbphilharmonie, chief conductor Thomas Hengelbrock and his NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester performed a “Brahms Marathon” with all four symphonies of the Hamburg-born composer in the historic Laeiszhalle. Brahms’ music has always played an important role in the history of the orchestra, whose defining interpretations of the symphonies by Brahms and Bruckner have become the ensemble’s artistic hallmark. The orchestra, founded in 1945, was led by outstanding conductors such as Günter Wand, Christoph Eschenbach and Christoph von Dohnanyi. Since 2011, chief conductor Thomas Hengelbrock is in charge of continuing the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester’s history. In the bonus program ''Discovering Brahms'', Thomas Hengelbrock offers interesting background information on all four symphonies. “The evening was more than worth it” (Hamburger Abendblatt).