Diapason

In a career that lasted barely a decade, dramatic soprano Anita Cerquetti established an immense reputation that survives into the 21st century. Why did she retire at age 30? Countless explanations have been advanced to justify Cerquetti's early departure from the stage, ranging from heart problems to ennui, impending motherhood to an instrument about to collapse owing to overuse. Yet not one seems satisfactory. Spasms in the facial nerves were an initial cause cited by the singer. After retiring for a period to rest, she returned to the stage

No figure in 20th century American classical music had as prominent or controversial a career – or did more to sell classical music to the general public as something genuinely exciting, and worth getting into a sweat over – than Leonard Bernstein. For more than 30 years, from his assumption of the post of Music Director of the New York Philharmonic in 1958 until the final concerts that he conducted in obviously failing health near the end of his life in 1990, he was the most prominent and widely recognized American-born conductor in the world, and the dominant personality in American classical music as both a conductor and, to a lesser degree, a composer. A flamboyant public figure, he burst three different times on the musical world – twice in classical with a rush of success on Broadway in between – in a blaze of glory, in the space of 15 years; and over a career lasting from the early '40s until the beginning of the '90s, he never lost an opportunity to advance his reputation as well as the cause of music.

Composée en décembre 1850 à Düsseldorf, où Schumann vient de prendre ses fonctions de Generalmusikdirektor, la « Rhénane » est la plus ouvertement picturale des quatre symphonies. L’euphorie dans laquelle elle voit le jour explique en partie que le compositeur ait osé l’articuler en cinq mouvements. Elle est aussi la plus redoutable pour ses interprètes et constitue le maillon faible de presque toutes les intégrales en raison de la difficulté d’en dompter les mouvements extrêmes, tous deux marqués Lebhaft : ils exigent, de fait, un élan, une ampleur, un souffle dont Ferdinand Leitner (1912-1996) est l’un des très rares chefs à avoir su trouver la clef.

Dédié à la comtesse Marie von Erdödy, grande amie et bienfaitrice de Beet­hoven, le Trio avec piano no 5 en ré majeur (1808) est souvent appelé Trio des Esprits (Geister-Trio) parce que la substance thématique de son deuxième mouvement provient d’un cahier d’esquisses dans lequel le compositeur avait noté des idées musicales pour la scène des sorcières d’un opéra jamais réalisé, Macbeth.

Musica classica , informazioni su caratteristiche e scheda tecnica del prodotto Piano sonata no. 17 in d minor, op. 31 no. 2 "the tempest": iii. allegretto (1961 recording), realizzato da .

Orchestra del Teatro della Scala di Milano Since the 19th century, La Scala Theater Orchestra has played important roles outside its main function of accompanying operas at the city's La Scala Opera House. In the 20th and 21st centuries, the orchestra has been led at one time or another by most of Italy's most prestigious conductors. La Scala Theater Orchestra (Italian: Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala) was recognized for its exceptional quality as it performed at the world premiere of operas by Rossini and Verdi in the 19th century, originally with the first violinist, or, in the very early years, the harpsichordist, as the leader. The orchestra's first conductor was Alberto Mazzucato, who ascended the podium in 1854. His successor Franco Faccio instituted independent concerts in 1872, and the orchestra appeared in Paris during the Exposition Universelle in 1878, one of the first major world's fairs. That triumph led to the establishment of a Società Orchestrale della Scala, which put the group on a firmer institutional footing. Offering two concert seasons annually, the orchestra stimulated the growth of instrumental music in Italy, formerly heavily dominated by opera.