It's almost Christmas... and once again time for the traditional Christmas' competition at the Berliner Philharmoniker. This year of 2013 they are offering 3 copies of a recent magnificent recording of The Magic Flute. All you have to do is answer to 3 quite easy questions about this opera and click submit.Now, you are not going to miss the opportunity to win, right? Access the contest page here.Need a help to answer the questions? There you go the answers...Year of premiere of the opera: 1791Who wrote the libretto: Emanuel SchikanederWhat influenced the libretto: FreemasonryBut remember: you have only until Dec 12, 2013 to join!Good luck! :) And today we are celebrating the birthday of another acclaimed German conductor, Herr Wilhelm Furtwangler. Known as an unpredictable conductor, and mostly misinterpreted due to this artistic characteristic, in fact he used to take musical liberties as required by his free mind. He held positions in many important musical places - Leipzig's Gewandhaus and Wien among them - but built himself fame as the chief conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker between 1922 and 1954.I need to say that I particularly share his non-acceptance about the end of tonality. Ok, it may not be something to be proud of - and believe me, I am not - but I would not be 100% honest if I stated otherwise. I really appreciate the repertoire he developed.If you want to know a bit more about his impact as a conductor, I encourage you to read Daniel Barenboim's post Why Furtwangler still moves us today, originally published at the German's newspaper Der Tagesspiegel.And before closing, I give you 3 petit-cadeaus:A special free track of Furtwangler's 1951 Haydn recording with the Berliner Philharmoniker (you need to register at Deutsche Grammophon in order to get access to free tracks);The 2014 documentary Furtwangler's Love (free trailer and film available online at the Digital Concert Hall of the Beliner Philharmoniker);Schumman's 4th Symphony in D minor, Op. 120, in a studio recording made in Berlin 1953 conducted by Furtwangler (watch the video in youtube).Elisabeth Furtwangler, wife of the formerConductor, and central source in theDocumentary "Furtwangler's Love"That's it for today. Happy birthday, Mr. Furtwangler! Or like the Germans would say it: Alles gut sum Geburtstag, Herr Futwangler! :) Para voce que chegou agora, novidades. Para voce que nos acompanha ha mais tempo, inclusive como membro deste blog, uma notinha de mudanca. Para avisar que o LesAmis se mudou para um novo endereco: lesamisdelamusique.sheilamaceira.com.Apesar de causar um certo desconforto - inclusive para nos que infelizmente nao pudemos continuar contando com o servico do Blogger para publicar no novo dominio (o Blogger nao suporta publicacao em subdominios) - esperamos que a nova casa, onde temos maior autonomia e novas funcionalidades, possa nos proporcionar novas formas de interacao e mais conforto para todos.Entao e isso. Gostariamos muito de recebe-los por la. Atualizem seus bookmarks e que a gente possa continuar falando e escrevendo e ouvindo musica de qualidade e falando sobre arte por muito tempo!Um abraco!Sheila M :)lesamisdelamusique.sheilamaceira.com***For you that has just arrived, we've got news. And for you