Braccioli Riccardo

Riccardo Muti conducts a fine cast in the powerful and atmospheric 1991 production of Verdi's ninth opera, whose story of the heroic tussle between Ezio, a Roman general, and Attila, the Nordic invader was written for the 1846 Teatro la Fenice season and premiered there to huge acclaim.

The 2021 New Year's Concert was a New Year's Concert like none before. Due to the current Corona protection measures, it was only allowed to be played in the golden hall of the Vienna Musikverein without an audience. The Vienna Philharmonic and Riccardo Muti were alone with the 14 cameras of the ORF. Worldwide, the television broadcast of this traditional concert reached more than 50 million viewers in over 90 countries. It was eagerly awaited to see what the concert would be like without applause, without the traditional interruption of the second encore introduced by clapping, and without clapping along to the Radetzky March.

Vadim Repin’s DG debut with the Wiener Philharmoniker under Riccardo Muti gave the musical world and his many fans exactly what was expected of this first-class violinist: an incomparably refined, technically brilliant and at the same time highly emotional interpretation of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto.

Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 is an incomprehensible wonder of music history, rigorously peculiar, disturbingly new, and timelessly modern. “Wie ein Naturlaut” (Like a sound of nature) is indicated above the first notes of the symphony. It is both the prelude and the key to his symphonic cosmos as a whole. Mahler captures this music of the world, transforms it into a symphony in the old, comprehensive sense of the word and uses it to create his masterpiece of harmony. Composed over the course of just a few months at the beginning of 1888 in Leipzig, this symphony is a true musical awakening. Riccardo Chailly and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig bring Mahler’s sounds of nature to life in a riveting performance.

“…Riccardo Muti conducts Don Pasquale in Ravenna - a great celebration for everyone.” This press quote from the Italian music magazine Il giornale della musica hit the mark exactly. Watching this realistic, young and vital production, directed by the 21 year old Andrea da Rosa and listening to a high potential and unspent young cast, you feel how powerful, charming and timeless this score by Donizetti is. This production was recorded during the Ravenna Festival in the gorgeous and patriarchal Teatro Dante Alighieri, in December 2006. Maestro Riccardo Muti shows one more time, what it means to perform an Italian opera with a young and professional Italian cast – an outstanding and breathtaking performance and really, "a great celebration for everyone".

As Riccardo Chailly points out, “The Fifth begins with a dark, gloomy, and tragic tone, but then is enlivened in the Scherzo and Adagietto, and eventually ends with a more positive character in the Finale – perhaps for the last time in Mahler’s life. The Adagietto is a revelation, a spiritual oasis. It is not an expression of pain, but rather Mahler’s declaration of love to Alma – a song without words.“ With the Gewandhaus Orchestra, Chailly gives the piece an unsurpassed intensity of sound and emotional expression. He achieves a compelling arc of tension in which the symphony’s unique fascination unfolds. The Wiener Zeitung characterized Chailly’s interpretation as „impressive with powerful and unreserved intensity.“

This opera is a masterpiece. The music is some of Stravinsky's finest work and the libretto is brilliant. Based on Hogarth's satirical etchings, this is an ironic look at the nature of love and ambition. Auden and Kallman developed a libretto which is the perfect complement to Stravinsky's neoclassical style. This is probably the finest English language opera and while there isn't much competition for that title, this work is a masterpiece by any standard. This recording is a fine production with excellent singing and orchestral work.

Riccardo Chailly and the Gewandhaus Orchestra complete their cycle of Schumann s four symphonies, presented together in a specially-priced 2-CD set. The Gewandhaus Orchestra under it s Music Director Riccardo Chailly brings generations of authentic romantic style to performances of all four Schumann symphonies. These symphonies, recorded in the wonderful acoustic of the Gewandhaus itself, include the revisions made by the composer Gustav Mahler a lifelong supporter of Schumann and his symphonic writings.