After the “flood of the century” the Semperoper resumed limited activities towards the end of 2002. Light was appearing on the horizon, life was going on! The first events took place at the beginning of December, with symphony concerts in which the Staatskapelle performed Anton Bruckner's Eighth Symphony conducted by Bernard Haitink. Expectant audiences were again able to assemble in the opera. The concert of December 3 was broadcast live by MDR; the single recording made of that broadcast forms the basis of this CD.

The focus of this impressive release is not only the stunning performance by the Staatskapelle Dresden, but the audiophile-quality sound engineering: “Real live recording – without a safety net, so to speak, without sound engineers in dark horn-rimmed glasses and white coats – belongs to the days of direct cutting to cylinder in the early days of sound recording up to the introduction of magnetic tape after World War II. From that moment on, editing and manipulation became the order of the day – indeed, it is clearly audible on many LPs and may often cause some amusement ... In the short period during which the Direct-to-Disc process was in use, in the 1970s, the aim was to transfer purist recordings to LP without tape noise – mainly in the area of jazz – and this produced some recordings that are hailed even today as ground-breaking and legendary. Made using just one single microphone, these Electrola shellac recordings remain, after a process of careful and time-consuming restoration, a benchmark to this day when it comes to motivation, joy of musicmaking and a determination to give the best performance possible on the part of the musicians, the orchestra, the conductor and the sound engineers. This is perceptible on nearly all the tracks on this album. And the conductor Karl Böhm was surely seldom in such good spirits, so carefree – brisk in his tempi – and yet simultaneously so sensitive in imparting subtle messages. All in the hope that the crackling needle will leave some of the sound for the restoration process ...“ (Sound engineer Holger Siedler)

It was a debut that will long be remembered. It was in October 2006 that Yannick Nezet-Seguin first conducted the Dresden Staatskapelle, which with its invitations to younger conductors in particular was increasingly emerging “as a talent scout for the next generation of baton-wielders” (German daily Die Welt). The 31-year-old newcoming, whose very name was a tonguetwister for most, had hitherto attracted the most attention in his native Canada; since 2000 he had been directing the Orchestre Metropolitain, little brother of the Orchestre Symphonique in his birthplace of Montreal. After debuts with orchestras in Toulouse, Goteborg and Birmingham, he was now in the Semperoper, standing for the first time in his life before one of Europe’s long-established, tradition-steeped orchestras. Nezet-Seguin was no disappointment. In fact, he was just the opposite. Straight away at rehearsals, it was obvious that this young man knew exactly what he wanted in works by Britten, Ravel and Shostakovich; in concerts, he was in full command of musicians and audience alike with his energetic and precise conducting manner, his sens of sound and rhythmic structures. Word soon got around that news of “the Great Canadian Conductor for whom this country’s classical music buffs have been waiting” (Toronto Star) was more than a mere marketing device. And people believed him when he admitted that conducting had been “like a vocation” for him ever since he was ten years old. “Today I have the feeling that I am living the dream I had as a little boy,” he confessed.

The works on this release were performed in the Dresden Staatskapelle’s second symphony concert of the 2002/2003 season on September 29 and 30 and October 2, 2002. It was Bernard Haitink’s first subscription concert as Principal Conductor of the orchestra, after he had spontaneously declared his willingness to take over this position and support the Staatskapelle in the difficult situation that had arisen following the sudden death of Giuseppe Sinopoli the previous year. It still seems a stroke of luck for Dresden, and in particular for its orchestra, that it could find a personality of such international standing who had a deep understanding both of the Staatskapelle’s great tradition and of its special character and thus was uniquely qualified to maintain and enhance its high artistic level, its individual sound and its worldwide reputation. Orchestra and conductor had known each other since 1989 from recordings and concerts at home and abroad. This then was the beginning of a sustained, if all too short, period of continuous work togheter, which wonderfully met the highest expectations “at home” and on tour in Europe and the Far East.

The Gurre-Lieder occupied various phases in Schoenberg’s life. He explained it to Alban Berg thus: “I wrote the first and second parts and much of the third in March 1900. Then a long break, filled with operetta orchestration. Rest completed March 1901. Then orchestration commenced in August 1901 (again held up by other work). Continued in Berlin mid-1902. Then long interruption by operetta orchestrations. Last worked on in 1903. After that put aside and totally abandoned! Taken up again in Vienna in July 1910. All orchestrated except for the closing chorus. Finished in 1911 in Zehlendorf (outside Berlin).” On this release, the Gurre-Lieder is presented by the Staatskapelle Dresden as the 50th volume in their Edition Staatskapelle Dresden.

Also available on Blu-ray

Two unforgettable evenings showcase the artistry of Renée Fleming alongside Christian Thielemann’s mastery of the Austro-German Romantic idiom, as the Salzburg Festival honours one of its founding fathers, Richard Strauss, and the Staatskapelle Dresden draws on the deep well of its living Bruckner tradition. The mixed vocal and symphonic programmes feature five lieder by the prolific Austrian songsmith Hugo Wolf in addition to four of Strauss’s finest and an opera scene featuring Fleming in one of her career-defining roles, Arabella. At Dresden’s Semperoper, the Staatskapelle’s then newly appointed music director leads them in Bruckner’s lyric Seventh in which the composer mourns the death of Wagner, whereas in Salzburg, Thielemann helms the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra for the spectacular mountain journey of Strauss’s titanic Alpine Symphony. Filmed in High Definition and recorded in true Surround Sound. "Thielemann, whose reading is satisfyingly spacious, reveals the work's structural mastery in intermingling and transforming its many themes. The excellent video director Michael Beyer expertly lays out the orchestra in front of us, following the music sensibly so that we can relish Strauss's detailed scoring...[Fleming] sings gloriously and the result is ravishing " (Gramophone)

Herbert Blomstedt has made more than 130 recordings with the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden. Most of them were made during his time as principal conductor between 1975 and 1985. Thanks to the fruitful cooperation between Denon and MDG, selected gems from this inexhaustible treasure chest are now available again. After the brilliant opening with Bruckner's Symphonies 4 and 7, now follows the legendary interpretation of Mozart's last four symphonies from 1981 and 1982. Blomstedt knows how to make perfect use of the qualities of what is probably the world's most tradition-steeped orchestra with it's "sound of old gold" (Karajan): The Adagio introduction to the Prague Symphony sets in powerfully. The magical sound of the strings fills the famous acoustic of Lukaskirche without any effort, and even in the surprisingly broad tempo, a wide-ranging musical arc develops, which can do without fashionable, superimposed drama. Cleverly and with the overview of a mature artist, Blomstedt arranges the relations between the movements as well as within the symphonic quadriga: the Allegro is fresh without being rushed; this creates space for a Presto that really deserves this name. Out of itself, the Schlager in G minor begins to glow, and the beginning of the "Jupiter" Symphony radiates with almost Olympian grandeur. Herbert Blomstedt is now 94 years old. He is still in demand on the world's most important podiums. His Mozart interpretations are already a historical document and yet timelessly valid. At that time, the Denon sound engineers were already among the best in the world. This also benefits these recordings in immaculate audiophile quality.

The opportunity to celebrate, in 2020, the 250th birthday of Ludwig van Beethoven alongside the 30th anniversary of German reunification is akin to a gift for a label that has been instrumental in preserving the recording heritage of the GDR, offering as it does the opportunity for a retrospective view and assessment of the past. This series with 10 new editions from the archive of ETERNA recordings includes audio productions from the early days of the label as well as later productions from the late 80s. Partly remastered from the original tapes and provided with the original covers, these historic-legendary recordings shine in new glamour. The present volume presents Lenore in its original 1805 version.

The musicians of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden were committed to their tradition of staging an annual commemorative concert even under these difficult circumstances and decided to organize a Memento Mori to mark this date that is inscribed in the annals of city history. The program comprised a small ensemble conducted by an expert for Baroque music and two ideally suited voices for the format. The concert was recorded for the Deutschlandfunk Kultur station and broadcast as a message of peace in the world. There were fewer than ten people in the auditorium of the Semperoper, all socially distanced and listening raptly to this unique event. Ultimately this was the first sign of life, the first musical greeting from the orchestra in a concert not open to the public after months of inactivity due to the pandemic. When, barely a year ago, Arnold Schoenberg’s “Gurre-Lieder” (featuring more than 300 performers on stage to a full house!) were performed and produced for album shortly afterwards (Edition Staatskapelle Vol. 50, PH 20052), no one would have predicted that this sonorous performance would be followed by a long phase of silence. May the present recording serve as testimony in the form of a contemporary sign of a cultural reawakening.

Review

With this latest release entitled Stumme Seufzer, stille Klagen (Mute Sighs, Silent Laments) the Edition Staatskapelle Dresden series has reached volume 51. Contained here is a pair of J.S. Bach’s greatest church cantatas from the 2021 anniversary concert held in memory of the destruction of Dresden in 1945. The themes of chosen cantatas are death and hope of salvation seen from the standpoint of their being a gateway to everlasting life.

The city of Dresden was destroyed by three days of Allied bombing raids, in February 1945. It is now an annual tradition for the Sachsische Staatskapelle Dresden to mark the anniversary date with a commemorative concert with no interval and or applause during the performance or at the conclusion. For the 2021 memorial concert, the Staatskapelle Dresden was keen to maintain the tradition and went ahead while observing coronavirus regulations – specifically, without a public audience and players socially distanced players on stage.

Dorothee Mields sings Bach’s original 1714 version of Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut a solo cantata for soprano with obbligato parts for oboe and viola. As the cantata begins with a recitative and aria, Herreweghe has chosen to start the score with the Sinfonia from the church cantata Weinen, klagen, sorgen, zagen (Weeping, lamenting, sorrow, sighing) BWV 12. Such an exquisite lament, the aria Stumme Seufzer, stille Klagen (Mute Sighs, Silent Laments) is sung sublimely by Mields, the overall effect heightened by the accompanying oboe part played by Rafael Sousa. In the following short chorale: Ich, dein betrübtes Kind (I, your troubled child) one senses that Mields is living the words of the penitent sinner while the viola part played by Sebastian Herberg is very much her equal.

Recorded in the outstanding acoustic of Semperoper, the sound has clarity and first-class balance. The second ‘bonus’ CD contains extracts from three huge works for chorus and orchestra appropriate to the theme of death and hope of salvation by Verdi, Berlioz and Mahler, all recorded and previously released for the Edition Staatskapelle Dresden series on Profil. Included on the ‘bonus’ CD are the interviews that Stefan Lang held in German with Philippe Herreweghe and with violist Andreas Schreiber.

Verdi completed his Messa da Requiem in 1874...[the] three chosen extracts, the sections: Requiem, Dies irae and Tuba mirum are from the recording conducted by Christian Thielemann at the Memorial Concert held on 13th February 2014 in the Semperoper, Dresden.

Berlioz wrote his Grande Messe des Morts a massive work using a huge orchestra and choral forces, in 1837...[the] recording here is the Dies irae by Sir Colin Davis, conducting the Memorial Concert given on the 13th February 1994 at the Kreuzkirche, Dresden.

The chosen extract [from Mahler's Symphony no. 2 "Resurrection" [is] the Finale...part of the recording conducted by Bernard Haitink at the Memorial Concert on the 13th February 1995 in the Semperoper.

A valuable feature of this Edition Staatskapelle Dresden series, a bilingual edition in German and English, is the scrupulously produced booklets, produced to a high standard[.] These are exemplary performances. From first to last note, I am totally engaged by Herreweghe’s rewarding accounts of two of J.S. Bach’s greatest church cantatas.

--MusicWeb International (Michael Cookson)