Nikolaus Harnoncourt – Farewell from Zürich 2CD

Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducts Mozart and Beethoven: Serenade No. 10 in B-Flat Major, K.361, «Gran Partita» and the famous Symphony No. 5 in C Minor. Philharmonia Zürich.

It was a legendary moment, when famous Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducted “his” Orchestra of the Zurich Opernhaus for the last time in December 2011. He had started in 1974 to work with these musicians and together they have realized landmark productions such as the legendary Monteverdi cycle, the Ruth Berghaus production of Weber’s “Der Freischütz” or the three da Ponte Operas in productions by Jean-Pierre Ponelle or Jürgen Flimm. It has been Opera Director Claus Helmut Drese who had invited Harnoncourt to Zurich back in 1974. The concert in 2011 was officially a memorial concert for the meritful and visionary Drese, who had passed away the same year. But it was also the last concert for Nikolaus Harnoncourt with the Orchestra of the Opera House. Accordingly, the musicians gave their last on this evening to give their conductor a memorable farewell. The Neue Zürcher Zeitung wrote the next day of a “fulminant goodbye” and one critic even spoke of the «craziest performance of Beethoven’s Fifth» ever given at the Tonhalle Zurich. This legendary concert will now be available in a lavishly designed hardcover book. As a bonus there will be unique material from the rehearsals: Nikolaus Harnoncourts working on the second movement of Beethoven’s Fifth.