Note: This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

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Having reviewed a slew of Twos on CD over the past few months I decided I had to make room for this much-lauded Blu-ray from Leipzig. Recorded as part of the 2011 International Mahler Festival it’s one of two video recordings from that event – the other is Chailly’s Mahler Eight – available on both DVD and Blu-ray. Up until now EuroArts has had something of a monopoly on this repertoire, having given us most of the Abbado cycle from Lucerne and the Boulez Mahler 2 from Berlin. Despite some technical issues with the Abbado Blu-rays, it’s a fine collection and a worthy companion to Leonard Bernstein’s quirky set of DVDs from Universal.

As far as the Resurrection itself is concerned, I’ve always felt it one of Abbado’s weaker efforts, on both CD and video, and I have some misgivings about the Boulez DVD as well. The Bernstein – recorded in Ely Cathedral in 1972 – is vintage Lenny, but the dizzying camerawork is a major distraction. Some viewers may also object to his jittery podium presence, but for sheer exaltation Bernstein is in a class of his own. Interpretatively, the video outshines his later, audio-only remake for DG, by which time creeping self-indulgence overwhelms all insight. By contrast, Riccardo Chailly’s Decca CD set is much more sensible which, for me at least, all too often means dull. Will this live performance from Leipzig be any different, I wonder?

First impressions are very favourable; from the conductor’s slashing downbeat to the final, dying note of the first movement one is cosseted by playing – and sonics – of rare elegance and beauty. Chailly adopts sensible speeds and tempo relationships are nicely judged; the almost holographic sound – in stereo at least – really brings out the sting of cymbals and bray of brass. As for the woodwinds, they’re immaculate, timps crisp and powerful, the harps finely etched. And all the while there’s a pleasing sense of progress, the music artfully shaped without seeming self-consciously so. The camerawork is discreet and intuitive, visuals the epitome of clarity and naturalness.

A cracking start, then, and the most sense-sating Mahler video I’ve yet encountered. Textures are rendered with great subtlety, and despite the relative intimacy of the angular auditorium there’s plenty of room for the music to grow and blossom, everything from ppp to sfz easily accommodated. And listen out for those dark, barely audible tam-tam strokes, just some of the many ear-caressing moments that permeate this performance. True, there’s no risk-taking here, but there are no mannered, self-regarding gestures either. Chailly is admirably ‘straight’, old fashioned even, and yet his reading is full of unexpected charm and character.

Nowhere is this better illustrated than in the beautifully calibrated Andante; dance rhythms are deftly done, Mahler’s gentle pizzicati miracles of finesse and feeling. This really is a most distinguished orchestra, the chromium-plated delivery of the Lucerners – impressive as it is – no match for the rich, woody patina that comes with age and tradition. And lest one think this band is too cultured for its own good the Scherzo is full of animation and, in a moment of pure theatre, that final beat of the gong is allowed to resonate for what seems like ages.

Mezzo Sarah Connolly’s ‘Urlicht’, infinitely varied, is an absolute joy, the warmth and ease of her singing a perfect fit in this most cultured company. As for Chailly, his restraint is most welcome here, every last nuance and change of metre well caught; as a result of this reticence, the orchestral detonations of the last half-hour or so are all the more seismic. At times it seems as if the music is coming from the very bowels of the earth – apt, given the impending arrival of the Last Trump and the pit-like design of the auditorium – the soft-grained chorus rising above the tumult.

Chailly may not have the galvanising energy of his rivals at this point, but his broad, unhurried pace engenders a thrill of its own. Soprano Christiane Oelze’s steely, but steady, tones are a decent foil to Connolly’s more rounded ones, and I’ve rarely heard the choirs’ ‘Bereite dich’ delivered with such hope and trepidation. Once or twice, the playing is a tad untidy, but that’s forgivable under the circumstances. Chailly’s habit of holding back really pays dividends in the closing pages where, as Donne would have it, the all-embracing sound seems to emanate from the ‘round earth’s imagin’d corners’. The brass scythes through the mix – as it should do – and the organ adds plenty of heft; as for the bells and tam-tams, they’re just sensational, every strand of the score delivered with clarity and punch.

Dull this ‘Resurrection’ most certainly isn’t, and I came away from it with renewed admiration for maestro Chailly. There’s so much to cherish in this performance, from the burnished playing and deeply felt singing to the fine picture and unrivalled sound. Indeed, if I were awarding stars for sonics this would easily be a five out of five; it’s every bit as immersive as the Decca Blu-ray of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, which I reviewed last year. Purely as a performance – and I’m thinking of recent CDs as well – Chailly’s is a thoroughly satisfying alternative to those visceral, more urgent accounts from Jonathan Nott, James Levine and Simone Young; but if we’re talking DVD or Blu-ray, this newcomer sweeps the board.

-- Dan Morgan, MusicWeb International

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Recorded live at Gewandhaus zu Leipzig, 17 and 18 May 2011.

Picture format: 1080i Full-HD
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS-HD Master Audio
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, German, French
Running time: 95 mins
No. of Discs: 1 (BD 25)

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD
Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 is an incomprehensible wonder of music history, rigorously peculiar, disturbingly new, and timelessly modern. “Wie ein Naturlaut” (Like a sound of nature) is indicated above the first notes of the symphony. It is both the prelude and the key to his symphonic cosmos as a whole. Mahler captures this music of the world, transforms it into a symphony in the old, comprehensive sense of the word and uses it to create his masterpiece of harmony. Composed over the course of just a few months at the beginning of 1888 in Leipzig, this symphony is a true musical awakening. Riccardo Chailly and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig bring Mahler’s sounds of nature to life in a riveting performance. This production was recorded live in January 2015 at the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig. As a bonus, this release also includes an exclusive interview with Riccardo Chailly.

Also available on Blu-ray

Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 is an incomprehensible wonder of music history, rigorously peculiar, disturbingly new, and timelessly modern. “Wie ein Naturlaut” (Like a sound of nature) is indicated above the first notes of the symphony. It is both the prelude and the key to his symphonic cosmos as a whole. Mahler captures this music of the world, transforms it into a symphony in the old, comprehensive sense of the word and uses it to create his masterpiece of harmony. Composed over the course of just a few months at the beginning of 1888 in Leipzig, this symphony is a true musical awakening. Riccardo Chailly and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig bring Mahler’s sounds of nature to life in a riveting performance. This production was recorded live in January 2015 at the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig. As a bonus, this release also includes an exclusive interview with Riccardo Chailly.


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REVIEW:

The D major coda is played for all its worth, with standing horns joined (just as Mahler requests) by trumpet and trombone reinforcements. Multi-miked sound matches picture, taking you right inside Mahler’s orchestration at its most outlandish (and, indeed, Berliozian). Chailly’s Concertgebouw recording (1/97) was a high point of his Decca cycle but he’s one of those musicians who not only know that there is always more to say but who challenge themselves to communicate it.

– Gramophone

Also available on Blu-ray

Pierre Boulez and the Cleveland Orchestra
Soloists: Magdalena Kožená and Christian Gerhaher

Gustav Mahler: Adagio from Symphony No. 10
Twelve Songs from "Des Knaben Wunderhorn"

“Boulez’s Mahler has surely gained a degree of intensity over the years. Rather than sacrificing his legendary intellectual rigor, he has wedded it to a profound visceral understanding of this music.” -- WCLV classical FM

In celebration of the 150th anniversary of Mahler’s birth and just one month short of his own 85th birthday, composer-conductor Pierre Boulez marked his forty-five-year collaboration with the Cleveland Orchestra by directing this very special Mahler-only concert at Ohio’s splendid Severance Hall. Following the Adagio from the unfinished Tenth Symphony, he presented Twelve Songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn with soloists Magdalena Kožená and Christian Gerhaher, both much-sought-after opera and concert singers on the world’s leading stages.

Bonus:
- Interview with Pierre Boulez

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Running time: 88 mins

Note: This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

br />
Also available on standard DVD

Pierre Boulez and the Cleveland Orchestra
Soloists: Magdalena Kožená and Christian Gerhaher

Gustav Mahler: Adagio from Symphony No. 10
Twelve Songs from "Des Knaben Wunderhorn"

“Boulez’s Mahler has surely gained a degree of intensity over the years. Rather than sacrificing his legendary intellectual rigor, he has wedded it to a profound visceral understanding of this music.” -- WCLV classical FM

In celebration of the 150th anniversary of Mahler’s birth and just one month short of his own 85th birthday, composer-conductor Pierre Boulez marked his forty-five-year collaboration with the Cleveland Orchestra by directing this very special Mahler-only concert at Ohio’s splendid Severance Hall. Following the Adagio from the unfinished Tenth Symphony, he presented Twelve Songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn with soloists Magdalena Kožená and Christian Gerhaher, both much-sought-after opera and concert singers on the world’s leading stages.

Bonus:
- Interview with Pierre Boulez

Picture format: 1080i Full-HD
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Running time: 88 mins
No. of Discs: 1 (BD 25)

R E V I E W:

The performances heard on this video are identical to the program released on CD by DG and reviewed by me in Fanfare 34:4. It therefore behooves me to suggest that the only reason to acquire the video is the dramatic difference in the respective sound productions.

The beautiful interior of Severance Hall, with its Art Deco accents, makes a very pleasant backdrop indeed. In contrast to the CD, the program starts with the Adagio from the 10th Symphony. The performance, a very good one, is greatly improved in its surround-sound version, especially on Blu-ray. It must be said, though, that watching Boulez with his minimal gestures and dour expression is not terribly exciting.

The occasional clever use of split screen provides a discrete frame each for the singer’s and conductor’s faces, though in this case the contrast between the animated vocalists and the stone face of the conductor is somewhat unnerving. As I wrote in my review of the CD, this is not my ideal version of this program, though Magdalena Kožená can hold her own with the best of the competition. Christian Gerhaher is a fine baritone but is not as dramatically convincing and lacks the heft of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau or Thomas Hampson, two of my preferences for the male voice. Of the two singers, Kožená is more fun to watch, too, as her facial expressions bring character to her songs.

The bonus interview program provides Boulez’s thoughts on Mahler’s music and the specific program performed in Cleveland, his observations on the orchestra and its hall, the future of classical music, and some personal observations. The questions appear written on the screen (typos and all), and then Boulez is shown answering. The interview can be heard in English, German, and French. Also included (from the Severance Hall stage) is a short tribute to the conductor on his 85 birthday with Franz Welser-Möst and the management of the Cleveland Orchesta, which includes an audience-particapatory sing-along.

FANFARE: Christopher Abbot

Alexander Liebreich has been Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Polish National Radio Symphony in Katowice since 2012. This orchestra is more familiar with the works of Lutosławski and Szymanowski than perhaps any other in the world. A triumphal success at its premiere in 1954, Witold Lutosławski’s opulent and stylistically eclectic Concerto for Orchestra remains his most popular work. Karol Szymanowski made a significant 20th c. contribution to the song genre. Contralto Ewa Podlés has a uniquely warm and expressive voice of breathtaking range, volume, and agility.

A documentary by Günter Atteln

with
Sofia Gubaidulina
Paul Hillier
Gidon Kremer

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: German, English, French, Korean, Japanese
Running time: 56 mins
No. of DVDs: 1 (DVD 9)

Also available on Blu-ray

For the very first time Daniel Barenboim tackled Franz Liszt's two highly virtuosic piano concertos in a single concert. With Pierre Boulez, his friend and esteemed colleague of many years, conducting Barenboim’s own orchestra, the Staatskapelle Berlin, they were showered with praise on their tour across Europe. For both musicians, Liszt was one of the most important pioneers of modern music, as composer, conductor and pianist. He influenced revolutionary contemporaries such as Robert Schumann and Richard Wagner. Two examples of the latter's magnificent orchestral work round off this concert programme celebrating Liszt’s bicentenary.

LISZT: PIANO CONCERTOS

Franz Liszt:
Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat major, S124/R455
Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major, S125/R456
Consolations, S172/R12: No. 3 in D flat major
Valse oubliée No. 1

Richard Wagner:
A Faust Overture
Siegfried Idyll

Daniel Barenboim, piano
Berlin Staatskapelle
Pierre Boulez, conductor

Recorded live at the Philharmonie Essen on 9–10 June 2011 during the Klavier-Festival Ruhr

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Running time: 90 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

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Also available on standard DVD

LISZT: PIANO CONCERTOS
(Blu-ray Disc Version)

For the very first time Daniel Barenboim tackled Franz Liszt's two highly virtuosic piano concertos in a single concert. With Pierre Boulez, his friend and esteemed colleague of many years, conducting Barenboim’s own orchestra, the Staatskapelle Berlin, they were showered with praise on their tour across Europe. For both musicians, Liszt was one of the most important pioneers of modern music, as composer, conductor and pianist. He influenced revolutionary contemporaries such as Robert Schumann and Richard Wagner. Two examples of the latter's magnificent orchestral work round off this concert programme celebrating Liszt’s bicentenary.

Franz Liszt:
Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat major, S124/R455
Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major, S125/R456
Consolations, S172/R12: No. 3 in D flat major
Valse oubliée No. 1

Richard Wagner:
A Faust Overture
Siegfried Idyll

Daniel Barenboim, piano
Berlin Staatskapelle
Pierre Boulez, conductor

Recorded live at the Philharmonie Essen on 9–10 June 2011 during the Klavier-Festival Ruhr

Picture format: 1080i Full-HD
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Running time: 90 mins
No. of Discs: 1 (BD 25)

When Bach composed them, in his last years in Kothen, those pivotal years that were to lead him to Leipzig, he already had an incredible number of masterpieces behind him. He took the trouble to make a beautiful fair copy of this work. It's a product of his maturity. But since these pieces serve as a basic tool for learning the piano, they're inevitably overshadowed by the larger cycles, like The Well-Tempered Clavier, the Goldberg Variations, The Art of Fugue and so on. But that's a mistake, because there's an extraordinary density of music in the Inventions and Sinfonias. Zhu Xiao-Mei

From the Church of St Mary, Marienberg

Sächsische Bläserphilharmonie
(The Saxony Philharmonic Wind Orchestra)
Thomas Clamor, Conductor
Ruth Ziesak, Soprano
Rundfunk – Jugendchor Wernigerode
Peter Habermann, Chorus Master
Ensemble Sonora

TRACK LIST
1. Wolfgang Schumann: Christmas Toccata
2. Gloria in Excelsis Deo
3. George Frideric Handel: Arrival of the Queen of Sheba
4. George Frideric Handel: Let the bright Seraphim
5. George Frideric Handel: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion
6. From Heaven above to Earth I come (trad.)
7. Richard Wagner: Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral
8. Blest Mary wanders through the thorn (trad.)
9. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Excerpts from the “Nutcracker” Suite
10. Felix Mendelssohn: Christmas / In Advent
11. Lo, how a rose e’er blooming (trad.)
12. Felix Mendelssohn: For He shall give His angels charge
13. Let us listen, blessed angels (trad.)
14. Eduard Ebel: Snow falls softly at night
15. Sweeter the bells never sound (trad.)
16. Richard Eilenberg: St Petersburg Sleigh Ride
17. Roger Harvey: Festive Cheer
18. John Francis Wade: Adeste fideles
19. Engelbert Humperdinck: Evening Prayer
20. Siegfried Köhler: A thousand stars are a cathedral
21. Franz Gruber: Silent night, holy night
22. Oh, how joyfully (trad.)

Picture Format DVD: NTSC 16:9
Sound Formats DVD: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1, PCM Stereo
Region Code: 0 (worldwide)
Running Time: 84:15 min
Number of Discs: 1
Disc Format: DVD-9

In pianist Sunwook Kim’s second album with Accentus Music, he presents Cesar Franck’s Prelude, Choral et Fugue and Johannes Brahms’s Third Piano Sonata in F minor. While there are obvious differences between the works of the two composers featured here, there are also many similarities. Both composers were virtuosic pianists, both revered Bachian polyphony, and both valued the spirit of Classicism. Sunwood Kim rose to fame after winning the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2006 when he was just 18 years old. This feat made him the youngest winner in four decades. He has since established a reputation as one of the foremost pianists of today, and a stunning concert soloist.

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD
Recorded live at the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig in May 2017, this release features a delightful concert by the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and conductor Andris Nelsons. For the program, the conductor has chosen works by Antonin Dvorak, including the Othello Concert Overture, and his famous Symphony No. 9 in E minor- “From the New World.” Also featured in this concert is young soprano Kristine Opolais. Acknowledged as one of the most exciting sopranos before the public today, she made her debut in October 2010 at the Bavarian State Opera House in Munich in the title role of the new production of Dvorak’s Rusalka directed by Martin Kusej. It seems only fitting that she return to Dvorak for this performance. This recording was made during Andris Nelsons first season as Gewandhauskapellmeister.

Also available on Blu-ray

A Film by Paul Smaczny & Günter Atteln

Founded in 1212 the St. Thomas Choir Leipzig is one of the most famous and prestigious boys' choirs in the world. This documentary accompanies “Die Thomaner”, aged between 9 and 18 years old, over a period of one year. Their unique world, from motets to boarding school and the football pitch, is distinguished by success, pressure to perform, doubt, pride, homesickness, and friendship. The film charts the breadth of the boys' experience from the classroom to traveling on tour to South America.

BONUS Two tracks from Johann Sebastian Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion” performed by the choir for which it was written - St. Thomas Boys Choir - in St. Thomas Church, Leipzig, where the composer worked and is buried. No. 1 Chor: "Kommt, ihr Töchter, helft mir klagen" No. 39 Arie (Alto): "Erbarme dich"

Founded in 1212 the St. Thomas Choir Leipzig is one of the most famous and prestigious boys' choirs in the world. This documentary accompanies “Die Thomaner”, aged between 9 and 18 years old, over a period of one year. Their unique world, from motets to boarding school and the football pitch, is distinguished by success, pressure to perform, doubt, pride, homesickness, and friendship. The film charts the breadth of the boys' experience from the classroom to traveling on tour to South America.

BONUS
Two tracks from Johann Sebastian Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion” performed by the choir for which it was written - St. Thomas Boys Choir - in St. Thomas Church, Leipzig, where the composer worked and is buried.