Trudeliese Schmidt

Live performance, part of Monteverdi cycle staged by Oper Zürich with Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the Zürich Opera House Monteverdi Ensemble. Staged and directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle

Opera in one act with prologue. Based on the production of the Vienna State Opera by Filippo Sanjust. Libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal

Herbert von Karajan, who led the Belgian Philharmonic for more than three decades until his death in 1989, conducts this moving June 1985 concert filmed in Rome's breathtaking St. Peter's Basilica. Karajan and the orchestra take on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Coronation Mass," which displays the considerable talents of the composer and of Karajan himself, who managed to tease scores of emotion out of every note.

Live performance, part of Monteverdi cycle staged by Oper Zürich with Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the Zürich Opera House Monteverdi Ensemble. Staged and directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle

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Opera by Richard Strauss as performed in Barcelona in 1990

Eine Nacht in Venedig (A Night in Venice) is an operetta in three acts by Johann Strauss II. Its libretto was by F. Zell and Richard Genée based on Le Château Trompette by Eugène Cormon and Richard Genée. The farcical, romantic story involves several cases of mistaken identity. The piece premiered in 1883 in Berlin and then Vienna. It became one of Strauss's three most famous stage works and has been seen in New York, London and elsewhere, and has been adapted for film.

Live performance, part of Monteverdi cycle staged by Oper Zürich with Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the Zürich Opera House Monteverdi Ensemble. Staged and directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle. Filmed 28 March – 20 April 1978 in Vienna, sound recorded 1 – 25 December 1977 in Zürich.

These recordings are with two different orchestras (Mahler 1st with the Chicago Symphony and the 8th with the London Philharmonic). Tennstedt's live performances are much better than his studio versions of the same works, and it's wonderful to watch him coaxing what he wants from the players. Even though he conducts from the score rather than from memory, he always seems to be directly connected to the orchestra in an almost magical way. The sound is good in both performances, and there is a sense, on both occasions, of being present for something quite special. These are great performances.

Live performance of Mozart's immortal Requiem in D minor from the Herkulessaal in Munich, 1984. Soprano Edith Mathis, alto Trudeliese Schmidt, tenor Peter Schreier, and bass Gwynne Howell, with the The Bavarian Radio Symphony and Orchestra, are conducted by Sir Colin Davis.