Brahms: Liebeslieder-Walzer, Op. 52

Arturo Toscanini - The Television Concerts (1948-52)

Volume Two

How can you combine the Liebeslieder-Walzer of Brahms with Pétrouchka, Stravinsky’s ballet music? Quite simple: you focus on the inherently representational character of these pieces and create a synesthetic conception, as producers Johannes Lederer and Gyula Rácz do on this DVD.
 
The music of Pétrouchka is illustrated, not as it usually is by ballet dancers, but by the musicians and the music itself. The movements of the performers, their piano- and drum-playing hands, the operating instruments, the hammers striking the strings, the pedals and the sledges are one part of the visualisation. In addition, there are colours and animations showing the precise musical development of the composition, generated by a special computer program.
 
While Pétrouchka is visualized with technical elements, the realization of Brahms’ Liebeslieder-Walzer centers on nature and feeling. The lyrics and the emotion of the music are presented with paintings, impressions of nature and human portraits.