Berliner Philharmoniker (Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra) plays Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Opus 55. Conductor: Herbert von Karajan. The symphony marks the beginning of the creative middle-period of the German composer. It also known as Sinfonia Eroica (Italian), meaning Heroic Symphony in English. It was first performed privately in early August, 1804. The first public performance was on 7 April 1805 in Vienna.
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Category Archives: Romantic era
Brahms – Piano Concerto No. 1 (Hélène Grimaud)
Accompanied by the Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra (SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg), French classical pianist Hélène Grimaud performs Johannes Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15. Conductor: Michael Gielen. Recorded on April 17, 2005.
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Carmen (Bizet), Vienna Opera, 1978 (complete)
One of the best versions of Georges Bizet’s famous opera Carmen, Vienna Opera, 1978. Carmen, the gypsy girl is played by Russian mezzo-soprano Elena Obraztsova and Don José, Corporal of Dragoons is played by Spanish tenor Plácido Domingo. Conductor: Carlos Kleiber. Directed by: Franco Zeffirelli.
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Perhaps the best coin ever spent
That’s beautiful… A little girl drops a coin in a musician’s hat, then the magic starts to happen: the orchestra starts playing Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 in D minor, Op 125 in the street!
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Young Pavarotti sings La Donna è Mobile in Moscow, 1964
Year 1964, in Moscow, 29-year-old Luciano Pavarotti sings the famous canzone from the beginning of act 3 of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Rigoletto, “La Donna è Mobile”. He was not “the king” yet.
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Valentina Lisitsa plays Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata Op. 27 No. 2 Mov. 1,2,3
Valentina Lisitsa plays Beethoven’s The Piano Sonata No. 14 “Quasi Una Fantasia” Opus 27 No. 2, also known as the “Moonlight Sonata”. Completed in 1801 and dedicated in 1802 to his pupil, Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, it is one of Beethoven’s most popular compositions for the piano.
It is named “The Moonlight Sonata” by poet Ludwig Rellstab who, in 1832, had this inspiration on a moon lit night on the banks of the Lucerna River.
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Schubert – Unfinished Symphony (Wiener Philharmoniker)
Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D.759, commonly known as the “Unfinished Symphony”[1], was started in the autumn of 1822, but left with only two movements known to be complete, even though Schubert would live for another six years.
It is sometimes renumbered as Symphony No. 7, in accordance with the revised Deutsch catalogue and the Neue Schubert-Ausgabe.
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Brahms – Hungarian Dance No. 5 (Conductor: Tomomi Nishimoto)
The Hungarian Dances by Johannes Brahms (WoO 1), are a set of 21 lively dance tunes based mostly on Hungarian themes, completed in 1869. They are among Brahms’s most popular works, and were certainly the most profitable for him.
Only numbers 11, 14 and 16 are entirely original compositions. The most famous Hungarian Dance is No. 5 in F♯ minor, but even this dance was based on the csárdás by Béla Kéler[1] titled “Bártfai emlék” which Brahms mistakenly thought was a traditional folksong.
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Beethoven – Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op 67 (Wiener Philharmoniker, Thielemann)
Conducted by Christian Thielemann, theWiener Philharmoniker (Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra) performs Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op 67. Written in 1804–1808, Beethoven’s fifth is one of the best-known compositions in classical music. It is first performed in Vienna’s Theater an der Wien(1) in 1808. Then, it became one of the most frequently played symphonies.
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Beethoven – Symphony No 9 in D minor, Op 125 (Conductor: Christian Thielemann)
Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 in D minor, Op 125 – Vienna Singverein, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Christian Thielemann.
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