BPO Digital Concert Hall – Part 2: The One that's not about Opera or Regie

I talked about the Berliner Philharmoniker's Digital Concert Hall (DCH) in the last post, and I want to share two more gems that I found recently on the site. DCH is a subscription service of the Berliner Philharmoniker that provides access to live broadcasts in addition to an abundance of archived concerts.

You have to pay to see the concerts, but a lot of specials, interviews, and extras are free. I came across the site through Anne Sofie von Otter's (ASvO) Facebook page.  

Anne Sofie von Otter's interview about performing Mahler is in German. Fortunately for me, her German vocabulary, though much larger than mine, is not enormous, so I understood about 97% of what she was saying (context helps, too). I got much less of what the interviewer (BPO oboist Christoph Hartmann) said; in addition to being fluent in German, he managed, annoyingly, to barely move his lips while speaking.

Even if you know little-to-no German, it's worth watching ASvO talk. She is so obviously in love with music. I've seen the concert they were discussing: Das Lied von der Erde with ASvO, Jonas Kaufmann, and Claudio Abbado. The performance was awesome, moving, and heartbreaking. (Can Abbado do anything wrong? I admire his conducting, his musicianship and his determination as a cancer survivor!) Here is a preview clip:

Another video on the DCH that I enjoyed when I should have been sleeping is a retrospective of The 12 Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic – this is in German with English subtitles. Not opera, nor regie, but a really interesting little documentary, and a great sales tool. I'm ready to download some of their recordings now. 

Someone at the Berliner Philharmoniker figured out a great way to use the internet with their DCH. It's fun, it's educational, it sells tickets and recordings, and it showcases great performances of great music. 

Read Part 1: The One about the New Carmen Recording