Title: Mariss Jansons Conducts Beethoven & Strauss
Release Date: 2011
Genre: Classical
Conductor: Mariss Jansons
Performers: Mitsuko Uchida, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Production/Label: Arthaus Musik, BR Klassik
Duration: 44:59 + 50:02
Quality: Blu-ray
Container: BDMV
Video codec: AVC
Audio codec: DTS, PCM
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video 21447 kbps 1080i / 29.970 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio#1: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.0 / 48 kHz / 3338 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio#2: LPCM Audio 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit
Subtitles: Italian, English, German, French, Korean, Japanese
Size: 20,17 GB
Presumably taking his cue from Ein Heldenleben, the author of the program notes makes a big deal of the concept of the hero in music. The connection with Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto is more nebulous. Yes, the music is generally heroic in a Beethovenian sense, but it does not have a program about a hero. In that context, Mitsuko Uchida is an elite pianist who hardly takes a heroic approach to Beethoven. Despite an unexpectedly forceful entry in the first movement, Uchida’s style quickly emerges to the forefront. Her playing has been correctly described as elegant, refined, transparent, poetic, controlled, and relatively laid back. As a specialist in Mozart and Beethoven, she leans toward the classical side of Beethoven, and that approach is very refreshing. There is also no lack of power when absolutely necessary, but it is invariably applied with restraint. Anyone who thinks that Uchida lacks gravitas for big Beethoven should listen to the Largo. Mariss Jansons is in complete accord with her approach.
Jansons launches Ein Heldenleben at a nearly ideal middle-of-the-road tempo, but then seems to run out of energy in the middle of the first section before recovering at the end. The clattering woodwinds and brass in “The Hero’s Adversaries” are outstanding. Concertmaster Anton Barachovsky’s seductively sweet tone is mesmerizing in “The Hero’s Companion” and the ending. The climaxes in “The Hero’s Companion” are absolutely ravishing. Jansons’s tempo in “The Hero’s Battlefield” is fairly expansive, but I really like it because it gives him the chance to bring out some incredible instrumental detail and unashamedly highlight Strauss’s gorgeous sound world, as he shows off the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra’s amazing brass section. The ending with its violin and French horn solos is stunning, and Barachovsky gets his deserved ovation.
As I heard the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra play this music, I could only think that this is undoubtedly one of the greatest orchestras in the world, and the best in terms of precise ensemble. I feared that Jansons might be ill at ease with Strauss’s florid romanticism, but he doesn’t shy away from it at all. It is interesting to see Jansons sometimes pull in his baton as if to just let the orchestra go and do its thing.
Technically, the picture and sound (PCM stereo and DTS 5.0 surround) are all that you would expect from a Blu-ray disc. I have no major problems with the visual direction as it alternates between various close-ups and distant shots, except perhaps that some of the extreme close-ups of Uchida and Jansons seem to be almost intrusive.
Don’t miss this if you are interested in hearing a great orchestra make music that is outstanding in every conceivable way. (more…)
Mariss Jansons
The Beethoven Symphonies
Live Recordings From Suntory Hall, Tokyo, 2012
Symphonieorchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks conducted by Mariss Jansons
Disc 1
Symphony No. 1 in C major op. 21
Symphony No. 2 in D major op. 36
Symphony No. 3 in E-fl at major op. 55 “Eroica”
Special Feature: Mariss Jansons rehearses Beethoven’s Eroica
Disc 2
Symphony No. 4 in B-fl at major op. 60
Symphony No. 5 in C minor op. 67
Symphony No. 6 in F major, op. 68 “Pastorale”
Disc 3
Symphony No. 7 in A major op. 92
Symphony No. 8 in F major op. 93
Symphony No. 9 in D major, op. 125
Christiane Karg – Soprano
Mihoko Fujimura – Alto
Michael Schade – Tenor
Michael Volle – Bass
Chor Des Bayerischen Rundfunks
This must be one of the year’s best performances of the Ninth Symphony. Not a trace of lofty heroism here – Mariss Jansons and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra bring out the lifeaffirming aspects of the work, culminating in a hymn of heartfelt naturalness from which the audience draws inner strength. Mostly Classic
Jansons calls Beethoven’s Symphonies ‘the very best music there is in this world. I am absolutely crazy about them’. Korea Times
Sound Formats: PCM Stereo, DD 5.0
PCM Stereo, dts-HD Master Audio 5.0
Picture Format: 16:9, 1080i High Defi nition
Subtitles: GB (Bonus) / DE, GB, ES, FR, IT, KOR (Symphony No. 9)
Running Time: 384 mins + 44 mins (Bonus)
Blu-ray Disc: 3 x 25 GB (Single Layer)
Arthaus Musik 3Blu-Ray Discs 107536 (more…)
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Title: In War and Peace: Harmony Through Music
Release Date: 2018
Genre: Classical
Director: Tobias Helbich
Conductor: Mariss Jansons
Artist: Genia Kühmeier (soprano), Elisabeth Kulman (mezzo), Mark Padmore (tenor), Adam Plachetka (baritone). Bavarian Radio Choir, Bavarian Radio Symphony
Production/Label: Concorde Video
Duration: 54:36
Quality: Blu-ray
Container: BDMV
Video codec: AVC
Audio codec: DTS, PCM
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 27383 kbps / 1080i / 29.970 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio#1: Latin / DTS-HD Master Audio / 5.0 / 48 kHz / 3832 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio#2: Latin / LPCM Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit
Subtitles: French, German, English, Japanese, Korean, Latin
Size: 13,63 GB
Mozarts Requiem may have been written under strange circumstances in the final months of the composers life, but the work itself it is timeless.
Mariss Jansons and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus give a powerful and poignant performance of Mozarts masterpiece with an impressive group of solo singers, in a concert recorded live in Munich in May 2017.
Even its composers death could not halt the success of Mozarts Requiem.
Although left incomplete on his death in December 1791, having been anonymously commissioned, the Requiem was completed by a pupil of Mozarts, Franz Xaver Süssmayr.
By the time it was premiered in 1793, it was already a famous work, shrouded in mystery.
But even more mysterious than the story behind it is the magisterial quality of Mozarts writing, from the ferocity of the Dies irae to the otherworldly grace of the Lacrimosa.
Genia Kühmeier, Elisabeth Kulman, Mark Padmore and Adam Plachetka are the world-class soloists joining Jansons and his orchestra and chorus.
Padmore was Artist in Residence with the orchestra for the 2016/17 season and his rapport with the orchestra is evident.
His ringing, distinctive tenor voice is well matched, too, to Jansonss eloquent and subtle interpretation.
For him it is not about rhetoric, but more about transcendence, wrote Süddeutsche Zeitung of Jansonss conducting suggesting a transcendent faith in humanity, even in the face of death. (more…)