"Bernstein stamps his outsize personality on every bar and regularly has you convinced it is Mahler's own" (Gramophone). Leonard Bernstein, whose performances of the Seventh were instrumental in pushing the woek towards mainstream status, conducts it here with white-hot communicative power. When he prepared the huge "Symphony of a Thousand" with the Vienna Philharmonic for the 1975 Salzburg Festival there had been only one previous Austrian performance. The DVD encompasses the exultancy of the opening movement, Mahler's setting of the final scene from Goethe's Faust, Bernstein drives the music to the final redemptive blaze of glory.

Very late in his career Sándor Végh came together with the world class orchestra renowned for its supremely Viennese interpretations of Mozart: the Vienna Philharmonic. It was not until 1991 that Végh and the orchestra worked together briefly, in the Konzerthaus in Vienna, and this led to a memorable concert during the Mozart Week, on 30 January 1992 in the Grosses Festspielhaus in Salzburg. Two of the “late” Mozart symphonies were played, the Symphony in G minor, K. 550 and the Symphony in E flat major, K. 543. The recording of this legendary interpretation can be heard on the third CD in the edition.

"Bernstein stamps his outsize personality on every bar and regularly has you convinced it is Mahler's own" (Gramophone). Bernstein's youthful, urgent conducting of the Fourth takes a refreshing slant on the symphony's classical temper, while in the Fifth he coaxes from the Vienna Philharmonic a detailed response to the work's tragic beginning and triumphant conclusion. The reverie of the Adagietto is uniquely intense in this performance. Bernstein's thrilling traversal of the epic Sixth Symphony comes from the end of his Mahler cycle in Vienna, during which the conductor and his orchestra forged an unbreakable bond.

Falstaff was one of Verdi's greatest creations and this set is the finest of all reacordings of the work. Only Toscanini comes close and even then his cast is a shade less accomplished. Gobbi may not have a 'fat' voice, but his keen intelligence and magnificent shading of phrases and text more than compensates.

"Bernstein stamps his outsize personality on every bar and regularly has you convinced it is Mahler's own" (Gramophone). Beginning with the First Symphony, Bernstein reveals Mahler's position at the hinge of modernism, while emphasizing his emotional extremism. The uplifting Second "Resurrection" Symphony, with which Bernstein had an especially long and close association, is recorded here in a historic performance from 1973, set in the Romanesque splendour of Ely Cathedral. In the Third, Bernstein encompasses the symphony's spiritual panorama like no other conductor - with the Vienna Philharmonic players alive to every nuance.

Die Wiener Philharmoniker sind häufig so etwas wie eine sichere Bank für R. Strauss - und für die Alpensymphonie allemal (man denke nur an die phantastische Aufnahme unter Thielemann). Und auch hier gelingt ihnen - unter dem sehr engagierten Dirigat von S. Ozawa eine herausragende Interpretation.

Recorded - Grosser Saal, Musikverein, Vienna 27th May 1953. During the 1950's, Karl Böhm made a handful of orchestral recordings for Decca with the Wiener Philharmoniker of, music by, among others, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Weber. Reappearing here, for the first time on CD, internationally, are his swift recordings of Beethoven's Eighth and of two Schubert symphonies (Nos. 5 and 8). Never imposing his will too strongly on his Viennese orchestra - and they had these classics in their blood - he directs performances that are fresh and gives full rein to the Vienna Philharmonic's wonderful tonal resources. Add the acoustic of the Grosser Saal at the Musikverein, familiar as daily bread to all the participants, and you have the best kind of tradition.

"Bernstein stamps his outsize personality on every bar and regularly has you convinced it is Mahler's own" (Gramophone). Filmed on tour at Berlin's Philharmonie, this account of the valedictory Ninth Symphony is an intense interpretation, expressing Bernstein's conviction that modern man had at last caught up with the message encoded in Mahler's last completed work. Having made his famous 1966 studio recording of "Das Lied vin der Erde" in Vienna, Bernstein re-recorded this in Israel with the same searing subjectivity. René Kollo draws on the voice of a great Wagner tenor, while Christa Ludwig, the greatest exponent of the contralto songs at the time, is unbearably poignant in the final movement's fusion of elation and sadness.

The Vienna Philharmonic New Year’s Concert It has long been a Philharmonic New Year’s Day tradition to present a program consisting of the lively and at the same time nostalgic music from the vast repertoire of the Johann Strauss family and their contemporaries. These concerts not only delight the audience in the Wiener Musikverein, but also enjoy great international popularity through the worldwide television broadcasts, which now reach over 50 countries. The concert was conducted by Seiji Ozawa for the first time in 2002 and the light-hearted nature of the event finds this always engaging conductor at his most impishly playful.

Jedes Jahr begeistert die traumhafte Kulisse des Sommernachtskonzertes im Park von Schloss Schönbrunn nicht nur die über 100.000 Besucher im Park, sondern auch die Fernsehzuschauer in aller Welt. Die Wiener Philharmoniker und der Dirigent Christoph Eschenbach präsentierten ein farbenprächtiges, stimmungsvolles Programm zum Thema "Märchen und Mythen": von Dvorák erklingt die Konzertouvertüre "Karneval", Stargast Renée Fleming singt eine Arie aus der Oper "Armida" und das berühmte Lied an den Mond aus "Rusalka"; dann folgen von Tschaikowsky Stücke aus der "Dornröschen-Suite" und von Rachmaninow die orchestrierten Lieder Sumerki (Twilight), Ne poy, krasavitsa, pri mne ((Sing not to me, beautiful maiden) und Vesenniye vodi (Spring waters), von Humperdinck das Vorspiel aus der Oper "Hänsel und Gretel".

The Summer Night Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic is the world's biggest annual classical open-air concert that takes place in the magical setting of the Schönbrunn Palace Baroque park in Vienna (Concert date: June 16, 2022).

Live recordings from Austrian Radio broadcasts (ORF) released for the very first time by one of the greatest musicians of all time. The Schumann Piano Concerto requires virtually everything a pianist should have to offer: poetry, virtuosity, poised restraint – Brendel passes the test on all accounts with his passionate, insightful and refreshing interpretation.

On Thursday, 20 June 2019, The Vienna Philharmonic performed its annual Summer Night Concert at Schönbrunn, an open air event with free admission in the unique ambience of the gardens of Schönbrunn Palace. Gustavo Dudamel conducts this open-air concert for the second time after 2012, the evening's soloist is the Beijing-born pianist Yuja Wang.
The focus of the Summer Night Concert 2019 is the music history of the United States of America. The works that were performed this year were written in or for America.

Bernstein opera sets come few and far between, but those that do emerge are treated as isolated landmarks. Such was his recording of Richard Strauss` ''Der Rosenkavalier'' of 1971 (CBS M3K 42564, three CDs), recorded three years after he virtually swept the Viennese off their collective feet with it at the Staatsoper.