Six great composers, six landmark symphonies, a top orchestra and its star
conductor Kent Nagano - these are the components of an extraordinary
classical-music television event. Shot in High Definition, it takes a bold
and innovative approach to the recording of classical music. Boom and
tracking shots, quick cuts, remote-controlled cameras - stylistic means
previously used chiefly for pop music recordings give the programs an
up-to-the-minute look and feel. A team of more than 30 specialists makes
sure that viewers enjoy a truly cinematic experience.
The programs also go new ways by featuring entertaining, historically
founded animated sequences illustrating episodes from the lives of the
composers. Backstage interviews with the musicians and excerpts from their
rehearsals let us share in the spirit of their music-making. Conductor Kent
Nagano also relates what is of special importance to him in each work, and
offers fascinating insights on the origin and context of the work in
question. The main element of each episode is the live recording of a
concert from the Berlin Philharmonie.
Kent Nagano is one of the most successful and high-profile conductors of
today. He has led all the major orchestras of New York, London, Berlin,
Vienna, Paris... In 2000 he was named artistic director of the Deutsches
Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. In fall 2006 he succeeded Zubin Mehta as
General Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera.
Although symphonies with five movements such as Schumann's "Rhenish
Symphony" are more common than those with three, any deviation from the
conventional four-movement structure was considered unusual in Schumann's
day. Beethoven's Pastorale and Hector Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique had
to some extent paved the way for the "Rhenish". Gustav Mahler was later to
burst the traditional symphonic structure once and for all. The source of
Schumann's inspiration for the solemn, chorale-like fourth movement was a
visit to the Cologne Cathedral, where Schumann attended the installation of
Archbishop Geissel as Cardinal. The ceremony seems to have made a deep
impression on the composer, who had taken up the post of municipal director
of music in Düsseldorf in 1850. The characteristic Rhenish zest for life
also permeates the musical texture of the Third Symphony. In Schumann's own
lifetime, it was by far the most successful of his four symphonies. The
composer himself conducted the first performance in 1851.
The DVD is also released within the complete "Kent Nagano conducts classical masterpieces" DVD package which is available in selected stores worldwide and through Amazon or JPC.