Program Mezzo

Boris Pergamenschikow (cello), Elena Bashkirova (piano), Maxim Vengerov (violin) Johannes Brahms 1833 – 1897 Piano Trio No. 2 in C major, op. 87 1997 Directed by Janos Darvas

Stan Getz in Concert Stan Getz (tenor saxophone) Kenny Barron (piano) Eddie de Barrio (Synthesizer) Frank Zottoli (synthesizer) Alex Blake (bass) Terri Lyne Carrington (drums) Directed by Dieter Hens Munich, Philharmonie, (Munich Klaviersommer), 18 July 1990

Rivalry in Music – Furtwängler vs. Toscanini Two men without whom the profession of conductor would not be what it is today. Two men who couldn't be more different from each other: Arturo Toscanini and Wilhelm Furtwängler. The former was rigorously faithful to the musical score, the latter conducted with radical subjectivity. In 1931 they both conducted at the Bayreuth Festival – for the first and last time. Soon the polite rivalry turned into bitter enmity. Both men were forced to take a stand on the regimes in their respective countries – and chose radically different paths. Toscanini, "the dictator", bravely challenged Mussolini; Furtwängler, a conservative, meanwhile proclaimed that art is always apolitical and reluctantly made a pact with the Nazis. The documentary not only opens up the different musical universes of the two great conductors by retracing their careers in Milan, Bayreuth and New York, but also raises a question that is more topical than ever: what has art to do with politics? Directed by Thomas von Steinaecker 2020

Budapest Festival Orchestra, Iván Fischer (conductor) Nicolas Namoradze (piano) Johannes Brahms 1833 - 1897 Hungarian Dance No. 10 Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-Flat Major, Op. 83 Hungarian Dance No. 7 Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73 Budapest, Müpa Budapest, Béla Bartók National Concert Hall, 10 February 2024

Directed by Nathan Benisty and Olivier Deck

Go behind the scenes at the Steinway & Sons factory and discover Spirio, the incredible technology that allows a piano to replay a performance exactly as it was played live. Mr. Guido Zimmermann, the president of the world-famous pianomakers, talks us through the revolutionary concept, accompanied by images of the precise, fascinating craftmanship and engineering that goes into each one of the Spirio pianos. Hugo Cohen Sprung's documentary also allows us insight into French pianist and Steinway artist Bertrand Chamayou's experience with the technology and features a preview of his unique two-piano concert in which he performs with his "shadow"!

Wenzel Fuchs (clarinete), Elena Bashkirova (piano), Dietmar Schwalke (cello) Johannes Brahms 1833 - 1897 Trio for clarinet, piano and cello in A minor, Op. 114 1996 Directed by Jean-Claude Piroué