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.