The Legacy of Seiji Ozawa

This Blu-ray sampler with carefully selected-concerts accompanies Seiji Ozawa's impressive career over 3 decades. Seiji Ozawa was not only Japan's best-known conductor but also the founder of the Saito Kinen Festival in Matsumoto, which in 2015 was renamed the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival. Special feature included in this edition from Matsumoto: on the occasion of Maestro Ozawa's 80th birthday, Martha Argerich and Matthias Goerne joined the orchestra to perform Beethoven's Choral Fantasy, Op. 80, plus a rendition of 'Happy Birthday' - a deeply emotional moment for the Maestro! Included in this sampler: the first Seiji Ozawa concert, ever recorded in Europe, from 1989 with Maestro Ozawa and Kazuyoshi Akiyama conducting the Saito Kinen Orchestra at the Alter Oper Frankfurt. Supported by the Marcus Roberts Trio, conductor Seiji Ozawa presented An American in Paris, Rhapsody in Blue and the Concerto in F, turning the Waldbühne inta a vast, swinging jazz club. The collaboration between Maestro Ozawa and Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, with the members of the Vienna Philharmonic gave a very refreshing and energetic lively and beautiful performance of the Beethoven Violin Concerto - a fitting tribute to the late Maestro von Karajan.