Classical/Symphonic/Opera (Concerts)

The Concerto in G major for piano and orchestra, a masterpiece by Maurice Ravel, in the extraordinary interpretation of Martha Argerich and Claudio Abbado with the RAI Symphony Orchestra of Rome. Recorded on 8 February 1969 in the Auditorium Rai del Foro Italico

A 2005 Art Documentary Film about the French Baroque composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier, written and directed by Olivier Simonnet. Audio in French with English subtitles. Music from: Actéon, Sonate a 8, Epitaphium Carpentarii, Medée, with Le Parlement de Musique, Fabio Biondi, Jordi Savall, Europa Galante, Academie Baroque, and more. Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643 – 24 February 1704) was a French Baroque composer during the reign of Louis XIV. One of his most famous works is the main theme from the prelude of his Te Deum, Marche en rondeau. This theme is still used today as a fanfare during television broadcasts of the Eurovision Network, the European Broadcasting Union. Marc-Antoine Charpentier dominated the Baroque musical scene in seventeenth century France because of the quality of his prolific output. He mastered all genres, and his skill in writing sacred vocal music was especially hailed by his contemporaries. He began his career by going to Italy, there he fell under the influence of Giacomo Carissimi as well as other Italian composers, perhaps Domenico Mazzocchi. He would remain marked by the Italian style and become the only one with Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville in France to approach the oratorio. In 1670, he became a master of music (composer and singer) in the service of the Duchess of Guise. From 1690 Charpentier composed Médée, on a piece by Corneille. It would be a determining failure in his career of composer: he devoted himself henceforth to religious music. He became the composer of the Carmelites of Rue du Bouloir, Montmartre Abbey, Abbaye-aux-Bois and Port-Royal. In 1698, Charpentier was appointed music master for the children of the Sainte-Chapelle du Palais. After having obtained from the king Louis XIV a softening of Lully's monopoly, Molière turned to Charpentier to compose the music for the intermissions of Circe and Andromeda, as well as sung scenes for the revivals of The Forced Marriage, and finally the musical pieces of The Imaginary invalid. He composed secular works, stage music, operas, cantatas, sonatas, symphonies, as well as sacred music, motets (large or small), oratorios, masses, psalms, Magnificats, Litanies. At his death, Charpentier's complete works must have numbered about 800 opus numbers, but today only 28 autograph volumes remain, or more than 500 pieces that he himself took care to classify. This collection, called Mélanges, is one of the most comprehensive sets of musical autograph manuscripts of all time.

Valery Gergiev and the acclaimed Mariinsky Orchestra with an emotionally-charged performance of Shostakovich 7th symphony. Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 60, nicknamed the Leningrad, was begun in Leningrad, completed in the city of Samara (then known as Kuybyshev) in December 1941, and premiered in that city on March 5, 1942. Shostakovich's longest symphony typically takes approximately 80 minutes to perform. The work has four movements. Shostakovich at first gave them titles: "War", "Reminiscence", "Home Expanses", and "Victory" - but he soon withdrew these and left the movements with their tempo markings alone.

From the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem Mass. Audio in Latin with Latin subtitles. English subtitles version: https://www.bitchute.com/video/uP4k0aQrW97g/ A historical interpretation of Verdi's score which was born on the wave of emotion for the death of Alessandro Manzoni and was performed for the first time by the composer himself on 22 May 1874 in the Basilica of San Marco in Milan. A Requiem imbued with a strong dramatic charge, which reflects the main line of Verdi's theater: a grandiose meditation on the mystery of death, which, despite the sign of rebellion against divine will, restores dignity and consolation to man. This production was recorded on film in 1967 at the Teatro alla Scala under the conduction of Karajan. Among the protagonists is a very young Luciano Pavarotti, alongside three other top performers such as Leontyne Price, Fiorenza Cossotto and Nicolai Ghiaurov. The production, with orchestra and choir of the Teatro alla Scala, was made to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the death of Arturo Toscanini and was followed by a triumphal tour in Moscow, Montreal and New York.

9/11 Peace Concert - Live in Piazza San Marco, Venice. Conducted by Ennio Morricone, with Roma Sinfonietta Orchestra, Choir of La Fenice and Soprano Susanna Rigacci. Maestro Ennio Morricone was one of the most famous film composers of the 20th century. He scored music for hundreds of films through the past decades including ‘The Good The Bad and the Ugly’, ‘A Fistful of Dollars”, Once Upon A Time In The West” and “The Mission”. In 2007, The Motion Picture Academy awarded Maestro Ennio Morricone the Oscar for “Life Achievements”. Tracklist: - Three Adagios 1. Deborah's Theme (From Once Upon A Time In America) 2. Addio Monti (From The Betrothed) 3. Vatel - Scattered Sheet 4. H2S 5. The Sicilian Clan 6. Love Circle 7. Uno Che Grida Amore (From Love Circle) 8. Maddalena - The Modernity Of Myth In Sergio Leone Cinema 9. The Good, The Bad And The Ugly - Titles 10. Once Upon A Time In The West 11. A Fistful Of Dynamite 12. The Ecstasy Of Gold (From The Good,The Bad And The Ugly) - Social Cinema 13. The Battle Of Algiers 14. Investigation Of A Cittizen Above Suspicion 15. A Brisa Do Coragao (From According To Pereira) 16. The Working Class Goes To Heaven 17. Casualties Of War 18. Abolisson (From Queimada) - Tragic, Lyric And Epic Cinema 19. The Desert Of The Tartars 20. Richard III 21. The Desert Of The Tartars - Reprise 22. Gabriel's Oboe (From The Mission) 23. Falls (From The Mission) 24. On Earth As It Is In Heaven (From The Mission) 25. Cinema Paradiso 26. Here's To You (From Sacco And Vanzetti)

Mythodea - Music for the NASA Mission: 2001 Mars Odyssey is a choral symphony by Greek electronic composer and artist Vangelis. It premiered as a single concert in Athens, Greece, in 1993. For the 2001 version of Mythodea, Vangelis expanded and re-orchestrated the original composition. It was first recorded and then played live on-stage by: Vangelis on synthesizers and keyboards, the London Metropolitan Orchestra augmented by two harpists, sopranos Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman, the chorus of the Greek National Opera, and, for the concert only, the Seistron and Typana percussion ensembles. The concert was held in Athens, Greece on June 28, 2001, in the Temple of Zeus in Athens, for thousands of audience and even more numerous spectators who watched the concert on a huge video screen at the Marble Stadium, built in honor of the revival of the Olympic Games in 1896. Director: Declan Lowney Producer: Mia Bongiovanni, Rocky Oldgam Executive Producer: Peter Gelb

Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique, Op.14 Orchestre de Paris Conducted by Herbert von Karajan Filmed in Paris, June 25 1970 Director Roger Benamou Symphonie fantastique: Épisode de la vie d'un artiste … en cinq parties (Fantastical Symphony: Episode in the Life of an Artist … in Five Sections) Op. 14, is a program symphony written by the French composer Hector Berlioz in 1830. It is an important piece of the early Romantic period. The first performance was at the Paris Conservatoire on 5 December 1830. Franz Liszt made a piano transcription of the symphony in 1833 (S. 470). Symphonie fantastique is a piece of program music that tells the story of a gifted artist who, in the depths of hopelessness and despair because of his unrequited love for a woman, has poisoned himself with opium. The piece tells the story of the artist’s drug-fueled hallucinations, beginning with a ball and a scene in a field and ending with a march to the scaffold and a satanic dream. The artist’s lust is represented by an elusive theme called the idée fixe — the object of fixation. After attending a performance of William Shakespeare's Hamlet on 11 September 1827, Berlioz fell in love with Irish actress Harriet Smithson, who played the role of Ophelia. He sent her numerous love letters, all of which were unanswered. When she left Paris in 1829, they had still not met. Berlioz wrote Symphonie fantastique as a way to express his obsession. Smithson did not attend the premiere in 1830, but she heard the work in 1832 and realized the piece was about her. Berlioz began to court Smithson and later manipulated her into marriage by swallowing a lethal dose of opium in front of her. Hysterical, she accepted the proposal, upon which Berlioz produced a vial of antidote from his other pocket. The two were married in 1833 and eventually separated. The symphony has five movements, instead of four as was conventional for symphonies of the time: I. "Rêveries – Passions" (Daydreams – Passions) – C minor/C major II. "Un bal" (A Ball) – A major III. "Scène aux champs" (Scene in the Fields) – F major IV. "Marche au supplice" (March to the Scaffold) – G minor V. "Songe d'une nuit du sabbat" (Dream of a Witches' Sabbath) – C minor/C major

The original Televised Concerts 1948-1952, March 15-22, 1952 at Carnegie Hall, New York City. 1. March 15, 1852 at Carnegie Hall, New York City. Introduction: César Franck (1822-1890) - Rédemption: Symphonic Interlude Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) - En Saga: Tone Poem, Op.9 Claude Debussy (1862-1918) - Nuages - Fètes - Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868) - William Tell: Ouverture 2. March 22, 1852 at Carnegie Hall, New York City. Introduction: Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) - Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op.67 Ottorino Respighi (1878-1936) - The Pines of Rome: Symphonic Poem The Pines of Villa Borghese The Pines near a Catacomb The Pines of the Janiculum The Pines of the Appian Way

Arturo Toscanini: Hymn of the Nations, is a 1944 film directed by Alexander Hammid, which features the Inno delle nazioni, a patriotic work for tenor soloist, chorus, and orchestra, composed by Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi in the early-1860s. For this musical work, Verdi utilized the national anthems of England ("God Save the King"), France ( "La Marseillaise") and Italy ("Il Canto degli Italiani"). It is one of only two secular choral works composed by Giuseppe Verdi. Although written for the 1862 International Exhibition in London, it premiered at Her Majesty's Theatre on 24 May 1862. It became the centerpiece of a 1944 propaganda film, Hymn of the Nations, where it was performed by the NBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Arturo Toscanini with the Westminster Choir and Jan Peerce as tenor soloist. In December 1943, Arturo Toscanini filmed a performance of this music for inclusion in an Office of War Information documentary about the role of Italian-Americans in aiding the Allies during World War II. Toscanini added a bridge passage to include arrangements of "The Star-Spangled Banner" for the United States and "The Internationale" for the Soviet Union and the Italian partisans. Joining Toscanini in the filmed performance in NBC Studio 8-H, were tenor Jan Peerce, the Westminster Choir, and the NBC Symphony Orchestra. The film also included the overture to Verdi's opera La Forza del Destino. The narration was written by May Sarton, film editing by Boris Kaufman, and narration read by actor Burgess Meredith. The original version was released on VHS by Blackhawk Films, which retitled it Arturo Toscanini Conducts Giuseppe Verdi. During the Cold War, the US government crudely censored "The Internationale" out of the film. The version continued to be released without any acknowledgement of censorship. The uncensored version was thought to have been lost until a print was rediscovered in Alaska.

Stravinsky: Symphony Of Psalms Orchestre Philharmonique et Choeurs de l'ORTF Filmed at the ORTF, Paris, 14 June 1967 The Symphony of Psalms is a choral symphony in three movements composed by Igor Stravinsky in 1930 during his neoclassical period. The work was commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The symphony derives its name from the use of Psalm texts in the choral parts. The three movements are performed without break, and the texts sung by the chorus are drawn from the Vulgate versions in Latin. Unlike many pieces composed for chorus and orchestra, Stravinsky said that it is not "a symphony in which I have included psalms to be sung." On the contrary, "it is the singing of psalms that I am symphonizing." Although the piece was written for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the world premiere was actually given in Brussels by the Société Philharmonique de Bruxelles on December 13, 1930, under the direction of Ernest Ansermet. The American premiere of the piece was given soon afterwards by Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, with the chorus of the Cecilia Society (trained by Arthur Fiedler) on December 19, 1930. The first recording was made by Stravinsky himself with the Orchestre des Concerts Straram and the Alexis Vlassov Choir at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris on February 17 and 18, 1931.