Weber: Der Freischutz / Davidsen, Schager, Janowski, Frankfurt Radio Symphony
PENTATONE
SACD · 2 discs
$32.99Oct 25, 2019
Maestro Marek Janowski leads a sensational cast — including star vocalists Lise Davidsen and Andreas Schager — on this new recording of Der Freischütz, the German Romantic opera par excellence. In the years after its 1821 premiere, the catchy melodies, picturesque charm and spooky scenes of Der Freischütz thrilled audiences throughout Europe. Janowski’s inspired reading lifts out the symphonic qualities of Carl Maria von Weber’s masterpiece, and makes clear why colleagues such as Hector Berlioz and Richard Wagner raved about the work. The excellent cast consists of Lise Davidsen (Agathe), Andreas Schager (Max), Sofia Fomina (Ännchen), Alan Held (Kaspar), Markus Eiche (Ottokar) and Franz-Josef Selig (Eremit). Janowski conducts the Frankfurt Radio Symphony and MDR Radio Choir. For this recording, the original spoken dialogues have been replaced by short narrations, written by Katharina Wagner and Daniel Weber and recited by Corinna Kirchhoff and Peter Simonischeck. Marek Janowski is one of the most celebrated conductors of our times, and enjoys a vast PENTATONE discography, including complete recordings of Bruckner’s symphonies and Wagner’s mature operas. Frankfurt Radio Symphony has also released multiple albums on PENTATONE, including a recording of Richard Strauss’s Salome (2017).
-----
REVIEW:
Lise Davidsen gives her finest performance to date, with both her arias sung with a big, radiant voice, but always lyrically. She is well matched by Sofia Fomina’s perky Ännchen. Janowski conducts Weber’s masterly score with atmosphere and the choir are thrilling in the Huntsmen’s Chorus.
Axel Köhler's production of Der Freischütz at the Dresden State Opera was described by Die Presse as "a minor miracle in Dresden". In the words of the Salzburger Nachrichten, Köhler "scored a bulleye" with his sombre and satanic interpretation of Weber's Romantic opera about love, temptation, souls sold to the Devil, obsession and faith. According to the Financial Times, Christian Thielemann and the Dresden Staatskapelle conjured up a sense of "mortal terror from the orchestra pit. [...] Thielemann is in command of every detail. That makes for utterly gripping listening."
Bach: Christmas Oratorio / Otto, Mainz Bach Orchestra and Choir
Naxos
CD · 2 discs
$14.99$29.99Save 50%Oct 12, 2018
J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio was written for the Christmas season of 1734, and although it incorporates music from earlier works it belongs firmly among his timeless large-scale compositions. The development of the oratorio, which was to become a new musical form in Protestant church services at that time, was stimulated by Bach’s compositions, particularly by the unusual form of his six-part Christmas Oratorio. From its famously joyful opening ‘Jauchzet frohlocket’ to the arrival of the Wise Men from the East, this work’s enduring popularity has long proven its status as a choral ‘evergreen.’ For the conductor Ralf Otto, flexibility, diversity and transparency of sound have always been essential to his work with choirs and orchestras. The conductor’s reputation is based on his gift for interpreting different musical styles, from the Renaissance through the music of today. This recording follows the April 2018 release of Bach’s St. John Passion with the Bach Choir and Orchestra of Mainz conducted by Ralf Otto. MusicWeb International wrote: “the Bachchor Mainz is a fine ensemble: it shows great flexibility in those turbae which are performed at a high speed, and produces a surprisingly transparent sound, also thanks to the good acoustic of the Christuskirche in Mainz.”
Nicolai: Die Heimkehr des Verbannten / Beerman, Robert-Schumann-Philharmonie
CPO
CD · 2 discs
$36.99Nov 18, 2016
It was not too long ago that Otto Nicolai's name was known to pera audiences exclusively in association with his comic opera The Merry Wives of Windsor. Then the performance of his opera Il Templario changed our view of this composer's oeuvre. Il Templario, a work premiered in Turin in 1840, met with great international acclaim and recognition when it was produced on the stage. It's success has encouraged us to acquaint the music world with yet another Italian opera by Nicolai produced in Chemnitz: Die Heimkehr des Verbannten, which celebrated it's premiere as Il proscritto in Milan in 1841. Three years later it was presented as a German opera entitled Die Heimkehr des Verbannten in Vienna in a version revised by Nicolai that went on to be successfully performed about forty times over a period of three years at the Court Opera Theater.
The solo and dialogue cantatas are the exceptions amongst the cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach. They do not correspond to the cliche, surely already predominant during Bach's time, of works of greater length or for larger ensembles in the sequence of recitatives and arias with an instrumental or vocal instrumental introduction and concluding with a chorale for the instrumental-choral ensemble. After rave reviews of the solo cantatas in the press, Thomas E. Bauer, Johanna Winkel and Christoph Spering show us on this new production how magnificently the cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach can be interpreted.
In 1786 Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach presented the greatest musical achievements of his century to a captivated audience and enthusiastic reviewers. The music director from Hamburg arranged a remarkable program for a charity concert, including not only his own music, but also popular and forgotten works by his father J S Bach and works by George Frideric Handel.
As a tribute to the 300th anniversary of CPE Bach, the RIAS Kammerchor and the Akademie für Alte Musik in Berlin revive the memorable concert from April 9, 1786 and reawaken a great historic moment in music history. C.P.E. BACH: THE 1786 CHARITY CONCERT – A Revival
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: Introduction to the Credo of J.S. Bach’s Mass BWV 232, H. 849 Sinfonia in D Major, Wq. 183/1, H. 663 Magnificat, Wq. 215, H. 772 Heilig, Wq. 217, H. 778: Herr, wert, dass Scharen der Engel / Heilig ist Gott
Johann Sebastian Bach: Mass in B Minor, BWV 232: Credo
George Frideric Handel: Messiah, HWV 56: Ich weiss, dass mein Erloser lebet / Hallelujah!
Christina Landshamer, soprano Wiebke Lehmkuhl, alto Lothar Odinius, tenor Thomas E. Bauer, bass
RIAS Chamber Chorus Berlin Akademie für Alte Musik Hans-Christoph Rademann, conductor
Recorded live at Konzerthaus Berlin, 15 June 2014
Picture format: NTSC 16:9 Sound format: PCM Stereo / Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1 Region code: 0 (worldwide) Subtitles: Latin, German, English, French, Japanese, Korean Running time: 109 mins No. of DVDs: 1 (DVD 9)
A work of great depth and eloquence, and the longest work in Brahms’s œuvre, A German Requiem inspiration from Bach’s contrapuntal genius but avoids overt religious tradition. Brahms chose the texts himself, placing an emphasis on an affirmation of life with the suggestion that he would gladly have substituted ‘human’ for ‘German’ in the title. This release joins Antoni Wit’s ‘richly satisfying’ (Gramophone) recording of Brahms Choral Music [8.572694].
The longest work in Brahms’s entire oeuvre, A German Requiem was almost certainly triggered by the death of his mother, although it also seems likely that the tragic loss of his friend Robert Schumann, some years earlier, added to its depth and eloquence. Taking inspiration from Bach’s contrapuntal genius but avoiding overt religious tradition, Brahms chose the texts himself, placing an emphasis on an affirmation of life with the suggestion that he would gladly have substituted ‘human’ for ‘German’ in the title. This release joins Antoni Wit’s ‘richly satisfying’ (Gramophone) recording of Brahms Choral Music [8.572694].
"The Warsaw Philharmonic Choir, a highly capable of the most subtle gradations of tone, is always here the centre of creativity, creating the music’s existential continuum and arising to sombre unexpected splendour at ‘Die Erlöseten des Herrn’ and ‘Der Gerechten Seelen sind in Gottes Hand'...There is some beautiful orchestral playing." -- BBC Music Magazine [5/2014]
"The Warsaw Philharmonic Choir sings beautifully throughout…Of the soloists, Christiane Libor and Thomas E. Bauer are excellent singers and the orchestra is also first-class...Wit conducts with considerable insight and interpretative command and the recording quality is equally first-rate." -- International Record Review [5/2014]
"The Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir outdo themselves, with some especially fabulous singing that is worth the price of the disc alone. As for the orchestral contributions, Wit uncovers all sorts of wonderful details in the low strings and winds, his expansive vision allowing for a huge emotional expressive range. Attention to dynamics, especially in the singing, is simply tremendous. This is really moving." -- Brian Wigman, Classical Net [6/2014]
Michiko Hirayama inspired Giacinto Scelsi to write his twenty-part cycle "Canti del Capricorno" between 1962 and 1972. To this day the Japanese singer (b. 1923) is a unique performer of this spiritual yet energy-filled work for solo voice, with instrumental accompaniment for certain songs: Scelsi's notes in his own hand in the score; that is her treasure, when she comes to Ulm in May 2006 to give a concert in the series neue musik i'm stadthaus. Michiko Hirayama is a vocal power station; she is once again very young. On this WERGO CD, it has been recorded: a document of lived, immediate music. This is to be her legacy, she says openly.
At the tender age of 15, Francis Poulenc was introduced to a circle of daring French composers that included Eric Satie and Georges Auric. The experience no doubt left a mark on the young composer, whose style is wonderfully eclectic and ever challenging throughout. Poulenc became a member of this circle, a celebrated group of French composers that also included such luminaries as Arthur Honnegger and Darius Milhaud. Nicknamed "Les Six," they changed the face of French music forever. This recording, the fourth in a series dedicated to the chamber music of Poulenc, offers a healthy cross-section of the composer's work in the genre, with particular attention paid to his vocal works. Poulenc's music is dizzyingly eclectic, and this recording of chamber music includes his celebrated "cantate profane," 'Le Bal masquè.' The delicious whimsy of 'Le Bal masquè' comes to life in a superb performance by baritone Franck Leguérinel and a talented instrumental ensemble. Purely instrumental works are included as well, including the rarely heard 'Sarabande for guitar,' played by Pierre Laniau with a sensitivity that captures the work's dreamy spirit.
Schönberg: String Quartets No 2 & 4 /Oelze, Leipzig Quartet
MDG
CD · 1 disc
$23.99Nov 01, 1999
REVIEWS: International Record Review (3/00, p.80) - "...The Leipzig Quartet handle the work with an obvious awareness of its inherent clarity....The blink-and-you'll-miss-it punctuation which anounces the entrance of [Oelze's] full-throated voice is superb in its...elegeant simplicity..."
Lutoslawski: Orchestral Works Vol 4 / Wit, Polish Rso
Naxos
CD · 1 disc
$13.99$19.99Save 30%Apr 23, 1998
Somewhat unusually, the fourth volume of the Naxos series of Lutoslawski orchestral recordings concentrates entirely on the music of his full maturity where the composer used brief passages of aleatoric counterpoint. As the composer stated many times, this is not improvisation: All the music is written out, but the precise coordination over a set duration is left to the moment. Thus each performance is, in its small details, literally unique. By the time of 'Livre pour orchestre,' written in 1968, Lutoslawski had begun to incorporate a certain amount of indeterminacy in all of his music. The masterful Cello Concerto, written for Rostropovich in 1970, marked Lutoslawski's mature return to concertante writing. At the great cellist's request, only musical considerations were taken into account, hence the fearsome solo part. It is one of the composer's finest works, and is very well performed here. The 'Novelette' was also written for Rostropovich, this time as conductor, as a companion piece to the Cello Concerto in 1979. Finally, from Lutoslawski's last period comes 'Chain No.3,' the last of three works all employing a similar chain method of construction. All three works reflect the increasingly refined idiom of Lutoslawski's final decades.
