Movies are the resolution of a conflict between light and shadows. Light reveals truth and shadows obscure it, with a broad base of tonality in between. These six Bach sonatas have been recorded in one of Germany’s most beautiful Baroque halls in…

Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 8 in C minor is the last Symphony the composer completed. When Bruckner sent it in 1897 to Hermann Levi, the conductor who had lead his 7th to great success, he did not understand this very different work at all and…

This festive concert from the Gethsemanekirche in Berlin marks the 60th anniversary of the RIAS Kammerchor. Under the baton of the new chief conductor Hans-Christoph Rademann, the RIAS Kammerchor and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin are performing…

In August of 2007, Anne-Sophie Mutter performed the world premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina's 2nd violin concerto in Lucerne with conductor Sir Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker. This piece by the Russian composer (born in 1931) is an…

The Symphony No. 5 in E minor by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was composed between May and August 1888. It was first performed, under Tchaikovsky's own baton, in St Petersburg on November 6, 1888. While composing the symphony, Tchaikovsky constantly…

Gioacchino Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle was written in 1863, "the last", the composer called it, of my "péchés de vieillesse" (sins of old age). For its first performance (1864) Rossini arranged the work with only two pianos and harmonium…

“We are not a couple in the traditional sense. And that is exactly what is so paradoxical – a musical couple can become even more intimate with one another than a couple in love”. This is how Gidon Kremer describes his long partnership with Martha…

The six Brandenburg Concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach rank among the undisputed favorites of all baroque fans. They have become a firm fixture in music education and an integral part of our international musical heritage. So what’s their secret? The…

The film recounts the life of the composer Dmitri Shostakovich from the perspective of a film director, played by Armin Mueller-Stahl, who is shooting a movie about Shostakovich. While editing the film, the director shifts through scenes from feature…

“Aggressive, nasty and violent. That’s us: Estonians.” This is Anu Tali´s warning on her first meeting with the Munich Chamber Orchestra. For her debut, the Estonian conductor has put together a very Baltic programme: Peteris Vasks´ violin concerto…