Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. 55 "Eroica" Kammerakademie Potsdam & Antonello Manacorda

• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827): Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. 55 "Eroica":
• 1 Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. 55 "Eroica": I. Allegro con brio 17:08
• 2 Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. 55 "Eroica": II. Marcia funebre. Adagio assai 14:51
• 3 Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. 55 "Eroica": III. Scherzo. Allegro vivace 05:33
• 4 Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. 55 "Eroica": IV. Finale. Allegro molto 11:01
• Total Runtime 48:33

Info for Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. 55 "Eroica"

The Kammerakademie Potsdam (Chamber Academy Potsdam) and its principal conductor Antonello Manacorda will complete their new Beethoven cycle with the release of all nine Symphonies in a special boxset out on Sony Classical on May 3. As the third and final installment in the series, the release will include their new recording of Beethoven’s Third, Fourth and Eighth Symphonies as well as the composer’s legendary Ninth Symphony. The release coincides with the 200-year anniversary celebrations of the premiere performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in early May. The first single is out - the “Scherzo. Allegro vivace” from Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. 55 "Eroica."

The first two installments in the ensemble’s Beethoven cycle recording have been released to great critical acclaim. Reviewing their first installment, German magazine Stereoplay spoke of an “incredible anticipatory pleasure and love of life,” Gramophone Magazine remarked “The orchestra’s rhythmic assurance is similarly impressive, and especially in the way they bring a sense of the dance to these scores,” while Fono Forum singled out the performances’ “inner logic and power of conviction.” Reviewing the second installment, the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung wrote, “Those listening to these new recordings will be richly rewarded.”

Antonello Manacorda explains his approach to the cycle “What matters to me personally is that Beethoven is not just a composer but basically also a philosopher. He tells us not just about music but also about ourselves: who we are, where we are coming from and where we are going; why we are here in this world and what we hope to achieve here. A traversal of these symphonies is far more of a philosophical journey than a musical one.”

Of the composer’s seminal Ninth Symphony Manacorda believes, “it was and remains a hugely provocative piece. Every instrument in the orchestra is taken to its limits. Then comes a theme that is so simple and yet so memorable but which he repeats with dangerous frequency. What he does with the four vocal soloists borders on the ridiculous. The bass is a kind of Evangelist of Joy, the tenor a hero for the whole of humankind and the poor women are two angels. To me it’s like a Mass but with secular words, a philosophical credo. Beethoven spent his whole life asking himself why humankind has been placed on this earth and what our mission may be. Here he gives his answer: it revolves around the ideal of brotherly love, the great fraternization of humankind in a spirit of life-affirming joy.”

The Kammerakademie Potsdam and its music director Antonello Manacorda have garnered multiple awards with their complete recordings of the symphonies of Schubert and Felix Mendelssohn, while their release of Mozart’s last three symphonies earned them the title of Orchestra of the Year at the 2022 OPUS Klassik Awards – Germany’s leading televised classical awards. Brandenburg’s first orchestral academy appears in Potsdam and throughout Brandenburg, performing concerts geared to all age-groups, while also undertaking Europe-wide tours. The musicians perform on a combination of old and modern instruments which allows them to perform works for relatively large ensembles without a large string section, while enabling them to achieve the right balance and requisite degree of clarity.

As an Italian with a pronounced affinity for German music, Manacorda has appeared in many of the world’s leading opera houses from London and Munich to New York. Among the internationally renowned symphony orchestras with which he has worked are the Berliner Philharmoniker, where he returns in May, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Dresden Staatskapelle, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic and the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra. He will also conduct Carmen at London’s Royal Opera House in April this year.

Kammerakademie Potsdam
Antonello Manacorda, conductor

Antonello Manacorda
has been Artistic Director of the Kammerakademie Potsdam since 2010. With him, we have continued to develop as an orchestra over the past ten years.

We have taken decisive steps together, such as the recordings of the great symphonic cycles by Schubert and Mendelssohn and major tours at home and abroad. Working with him is a great privilege. As a concertmaster of many years, he knows the inner workings of an orchestra intimately. With his experience, his foresight and his instinct, we have steadily developed musically together over the past ten years. We are united by the joy of experimenting together. Antonello is always approachable, always open and empathetic. He leads without leading.

An Italian with a strong affinity for the German repertoire. A "melodist by nature" (Der Tagesspiegel) who convincingly knows how to transfer the detailed joy of stylistically informed interpretation practice to the large apparatus. A true orchestral practitioner, moreover, whose artistic creative power is combined with the need for a partnership style of music-making. Antonello Manacorda's versatility as a conductor is rooted in the wealth of his musical and cultural imprints: Born in Turin into an Italian-French family, educated in Amsterdam, and at home in Berlin for many years, Manacorda was a founding member and longtime concertmaster of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, founded by Claudio Abbado, before studying conducting with the legendary Finnish teacher Jorma Panula. Today, Antonello Manacorda can be heard as frequently in opera productions at the world's most important opera houses as he can on the podium of leading symphony orchestras. The focal point of his work is the Kammerakademie Potsdam, which he has led as Artistic Director since 2010 and with which he has made a number of award-winning recordings. In the 2021/22 season, Antonello Manacorda will make his debut at the Staatsoper Berlin (Ariadne auf Naxos). Productions of Giacomo Puccini's Madame Butterfly will take him to the Alte Oper Frankfurt and the Bavarian State Opera. Furthermore, he follows re-invitations to the Vienna State Opera (Le nozze di Figaro and Entführung aus dem Serail) and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London (La Traviata). Among the highlights of the 2021/22 season will be his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker. The main works on the program are Schubert's Unfinished Symphony and Mahler's Rückertlieder with Christian Gerhaher. Antonello Manacorda can also be heard this season as a guest conductor with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, and on tour with the Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment. In recent seasons, Antonello Manacorda has enjoyed success with debuts with the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, among others, as well as with his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York (Le nozze di Figaro) and a new production of Dmitri Tcherniakov's Der Freischütz at the Bavarian State Opera. With the Kammerakademie Potsdam, Antonello Manacorda has recorded both a Mendelssohn cycle and a Schubert cycle for Sony, both to critical acclaim. At the ECHO Klassik 2015, the Kammerakademie Potsdam received the prize in the Ensemble of the Year category for the cycle.

The Kammerakademie Potsdam
celebrated its 20th anniversary in the 21.22 season. 20 years in which the orchestra of the state capital and house orchestra of the Nikolaisaal has earned a reputation far beyond the city limits.

Electrifying musical experiences are the trademark of the dynamic orchestra, which with great passion and curiosity leaves hardly any corner of the classical music repertoire undiscovered.

Numerous concert series for all age groups in Potsdam and Brandenburg, guest performances throughout Europe, award-winning CD recordings and Brandenburg's first Orchestra Academy, founded in 2018, are testimony to the orchestra's success and innovative spirit. Since the 2010/11 season, Antonello Manacorda has been principal conductor and artistic director of the KAP.

In the 2022.23 season, the orchestra is looking forward to working with the gifted horn player, virtuoso harpsichordist, charismatic conductor and accomplished musicologist Václav Luks as Artist in Residence. The KAP also welcomes many internationally sought-after soloists, including Elena Bashkirova, Gábor Boldoczki, Hugu Ticciati, Anna Vinnitskaya, Jan Lisiecki, Sabine Meyer and Anna Prohaska - our Artist in Residence last season. Successful conductors such as Michael Sanderling, Bernard Labadie, Justin Doyle and Holly Hyun Choe are at the podium.

As a cultural ambassador for Potsdam and Brandenburg, the KAP performs in major concert halls and at well-known festivals, including the Philharmonie Berlin, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Isarphilharmonie Munich, the Philharmonie Cologne, the Koningin Elisabethzaal Antwerp, the European Weeks Passau and the Heidelberger Frühling.

The Potsdam Winter Opera, a highlight of the Potsdam calendar of events in the unique ambience of the Palace Theater in the New Palace Potsdam, is this year's opera buffa "Il matrimonio segreto" ("The Secret Marriage") by Domenico Cimarosa. Attilio Cremonesi has been won for the musical direction. Adriana Altaras will direct the production.

In order to give everyone access to music, the orchestra offers a wide range of formats, from interactive family concerts and the KiKoKAP video series to participation programs for daycare centers. With the model project "Music Creates Perspectives," which was awarded the BKM special prize "Culture Opens Worlds" in 2017, the KAP sustainably anchors cultural education, participation and equal opportunities in the Potsdam-Drewitz district.

This album contains no booklet.