Episodes
| Episode | First Broadcast | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | 20120508 | Louise Fryer presents a week of performances by Berlin's greatest orchestras. Today Riccardo Chailly conducts the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in Shostakovich's lively Suite No 2 for Jazz Orchestra, and in Nino Rota's music for the 1954 Fellini film La Strada. Mahler described his vast Symphony No 8 as a joyful 'gift to the nation'. Nicknamed the 'Symphony of a Thousand' the programme from the first performance states that it required 858 singers and 171 instrumentalists. Written in a ten week burst of inspiration in 1906, its premiere four years later was a great success and marked the climax of Mahler's career as a conductor-composer. Just eight months later he was dead. Pierre Boulez conducts the Berlin Staatskapelle with a starry line up of soloists including Michelle De Young and Robert Holl. c.2.00pm Nino Rota: La Strada, suite Riccardo Chailly (conductor) c.2.23pm Shostakovich: Suite No. 2 for Jazz Orchestra c.2.50pm Ravel (arr Clytus Gottwald): Soupir, a 16 Ravel: La vall退e des cloches Berlin Radio Chorus Marcus Creed (director) c.3.00pm Mahler: Symphony No 8 Ricarda Merbeth (soprano) Camilla Nylund (soprano) Adriane Queiros (soprano) Michelle DeYoung (alto) Jane Henschel (alto) Robert Dean Smith (tenor) Hanno Müller-Brachmann (baritone) Robert Holl (bass) Vienna Singverein Vienna Boys' Choir Slovak Philharmonic Chorus Pierre Boulez (conductor). Louise Fryer presents music by Nino Rota, Shostakovich, Ravel and Mahler. |
| 02 | 20120509 | Louise Fryer continues this week's performances by Berlin's great orchestras. In a red letter day for all music lovers, two musical legends perform with the Berlin Philharmonic. Claudio Abbado, the orchestra's former principal conductor and pianist, Maurizio Pollini, renew an old friendship in Mozart's Piano Concerto no 17 in G, K.453. Abbado then brings a lifetime's musical wisdom to Mahler's final symphonic utterance: the Adagio from his Tenth Symphony,. This Berlin concert also includes the suite from Lulu by Alban Berg, another composer with whom Abbado has long been associated. The orchestra is joined in the Berg by the young English-Austrian soprano Anna Prohaska, who opens the programme with two Mozart arias. Mozart: Vorrei spiegarvi, oh Dio, Ah conte, partite, aria for soprano, K. 418 Anna Prohaska (soprano) Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Claudio Abbado (conductor) Mozart: Ach, ich fuhl's, aria from 'The Magic Flute c 2.10pm Berg: Symphonic Pieces from 'Lulu' (Suite) c 2.30pm Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 17, K. 453 Maurizio Pollini (piano) c3.00pm Mahler: Adagio from 'Symphony No. 10 Claudio Abbado (conductor). Louise Fryer presents the Berlin Philharmonic in music by Mozart, Berg and Mahler. |
| 03 | 20120511 | Louise Fryer concludes a week of performances from Berlin with Act 3 of Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg in a highly acclaimed performance conducted by Marek Janowski with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus . c.2.00pm Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg, Act 3 Hans Sachs - Albert Dohmen (baritone) Veit Pogner - Georg Zeppenfeld (bass) Kunz Vogelgesang - Clemens Bieber (tenor) Konrad Nachtigall - Sebastian Noack (bass) Sixtus Beckmesser - Dietrich Henschel (bass) Fritz Kothner - Detlef Roth (bass) Balthasar Zorn - Timothy Fallon (tenor) Ulrich Eisslinger - Tobias Ebenstein (tenor) Augustin Moser - Thorsten Scharnke (tenor) Hermann Ortel - Tobias Berndt (bass) Hans Schwarz - Greg Ryerson (bass) Hans Foltz - Kouta Rasanen (bass) Walther von Stolzing - Robert Dean Smith (tenor) David - Christoph Strehl (tenor) Eva - Edith Haller (soprano) Magdalena - Michelle Breedt (soprano) Nightwatchman - Matti Salminen (bass). Berlin Radio Chorus Marek Janowski (conductor) c.4.05pm Respighi: Pines of Rome Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Riccardo Chailly (conductor). Marek Janowski conducts the Berlin Radio SO in Act 3 of Wagner's Die Meistersinger. |