Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra - Matthaus-Passion - DVD

This box set documents Andris Nelson's work with two world-class orchestras. After Claudio Abbado's death, he led the Lucerne Festival Orchestra in 2014-15, the Inchgreatest challengeInch - as he himself called it - of his career until then. In the recording of his first concert with the orchestra, Nelsons explores the musical landscape of the German Romantic composer Johannes Brahms through his Second Symphony and Second Serenade. A year later, he impresses with a fiery and powerful interpretation of Mahler's Fifth Symphony and excerpts from InchDes Knaben WunderhornInch with Matthias Goerne. For his inaugural concert as the new Gewandhauskapellmeister, Andris Nelsons chose three pieces with great symbolic power the InchScottishInch Symphony by his probably most important predecessor in office, Felix Mendelssohn, Alban Berg's Violin Concerto, played by Baiba Skride, and a commissioned work by the Leipzig-based composer Steffen Schleiermacher. A recording of Dvorák's Ninth Symphony InchFrom the New WorldInch and arias with Kristine Opolais demonstrates the instantly close relationship between the Gewandhaus Orchestra and their chief conductor.

The eight Mahler symphonies contained in this box were all recorded live as part of the Leipzig Mahler cycle that began with the acclaimed Mahler Festival in 2011. They once again confirmed the Gewandhausorchester's reputation as a Mahler reference orchestra, which was consolidated in particular thanks to the intensive examination of Mahler's work under the direction of former Gewandhaus Kapellmeister Riccardo Chailly, who emphasized the compositional qualities of the works, traced the origins of their interpretive history and avoided false pathos and sentimentality despite all the drama and urgency. This becomes clear especially in the more than two hours of documentation material which supplements these exceptional Mahler recordings. In addition to Riccardo Chailly, leading Mahler experts such as Henry-Louis de la Grange and Reinhold Kubik give an insight into Mahler's works and their interpretation. In addition to it's musical excellence, the Leipzig Mahler cycle impresses with it's graphic design. Each cover of the cycle is adorned with a work by the Leipzig painter Neo Rauch that was inspired by Mahler's music and painted specifically for this cycle.

St. Matthew Passion [DIGITAL VIDEO DISC] Released 2014 product/publication from Berliner Philharmon