In addition to his symphonies, Anton Bruckner is best known for his sacred works: his stirring masses and his deeply moving a cappella motets. On this new BR-KLASSIK CD, to mark the Bruckner Year 2024, the Bavarian Radio Chorus and the Münchner Rundfunkorchester conducted by Peter Dijkstra present his Mass No. 2 together with five well-known motets and the two short Aequali for three trombones from 1847. The new studio recordings were made in connection with the opening concert of the 2023/24 season on October 28, 2023. On a second CD, "Bruckner's World" by Markus Vanhoefer offers not only an introduction to the recorded works but also a detailed description of the life and work of this important Late Romantic composer.

After Bruckner's uncommissioned Mass (No. 1) in D minor had brought him to the attention of a wider public – following its premiere on November 20, 1864 in the Old Cathedral in Linz and a repeat performance in the city’s Redoutensaal – Bishop Franz Joseph Rudigier commissioned a second mass from the composer. Bruckner wrote the work between August and November 1866, and it was to be premiered at the consecration of the Votive Chapel of the New Cathedral; due to delays in the construction work, however, the performance could not take place until September 29, 1869. The premiere of the Mass (No. 2) in E minor for eight-part mixed choir and wind ensemble was also a great success, and Bruckner described it as “the most glorious day” of his life. The unusual instrumentation was due to the occasion and the open-air performance venue on the cathedral building site (the new chapel had proven too small for the choir). The work derives its particular tension from the sharp contrasts between archaic, psalm-like monophony and a strictly polyphonic movement structure modeled on Palestrina, combined with the "modern" wind accompaniment in sweeping, romantic harmony.

Bruckner thoroughly revised the Mass (No. 2) between 1876 and 1882, and the premiere of the second version in the Old Cathedral on October 4, 1885, as part of the Diocesan Jubilee in Linz, was once again an outstanding success. The composer "stood at the organ during the performance and gazed rapturously at the vault of the cathedral, his lips moving in silent prayer."

Bruckner's sacred motets are characterized by Catholic worship and the church spaces that were Bruckner's home from childhood. In 1837, at the age of 13, he was admitted as a choirboy to the Augustinian canons' monastery of Sankt Florian near Linz, where he worked as an organist from 1848 to 1855. His religious devotion and early influence meant that he initially saw himself as a church musician, before broadening his scope to include symphonic music - in whose sound architecture the organ also found an audible echo.

To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BRSO) in 2024, the BR-KLASSIK label is releasing previously unreleased recordings of concerts for the first time on CD and as a stream. Excerpts from Richard Strauss's comic opera "Die schweigsame Frau" ("The Silent Woman") were pre-produced as studio recordings for a television program in November 1960. The impressive cast was almost identical to that of the opera production at the Salzburg Festival in 1959 under the premiere conductor Karl Böhm: Hans Hotter (Sir Morosus), Hermann Prey (Barber), Fritz Wunderlich (Henry), Ingeborg Hallstein (Aminta), and many others sang. Here, Heinz Wallberg conducts the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. In contrast to the live recording from Salzburg, which is marred by the clearly audible stage noises of a turbulent production, the outstanding cast of singers in this recording is more effective. The BR-KLASSIK label is now marking the 75th anniversary of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BRSO) in 2024 by making this previously unreleased studio production available for the first time on CD and as a stream.

After the death of Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Strauss thought he had reached the end of his operatic career – but then he found a librettist of equal calibre in Stefan Zweig, who provided him with "the best libretto for an opéra comique since Figaro" (Strauss). The comic opera was written between 1932 and 1935 and, despite the fact that Zweig was a Jewish librettist (who had since emigrated), Strauss managed to have the opera premiered in Dresden on June 24, 1935, conducted by Karl Böhm. However, because the composer insisted on printing Zweig's name on the posters and in the program, the Nazis boycotted the performance. After the Gestapo intercepted a letter that Strauss had written to Zweig expressing his delight at the successful premiere, the composer finally fell out of favor. The opera was taken off the program after only three performances and was not performed at any other German theater until 1946. Strauss resigned from the presidency of the Reich Chamber of Music "for health reasons".

Strauss endowed "Die schweigsame Frau" with an overabundance of musical ideas: turbulent ensembles and individual tone colors, light comedy, and grand arias alternate. He casually quotes himself and a dozen other composers, including Rossini, whose "Barber of Seville" was the model for his talkative and manipulative barber. Music connoisseurs appreciate the many musical allusions in the work.

To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BRSO) in 2024, the BR-KLASSIK label is releasing previously unreleased recordings of concerts worth listening to, available on CD and as a stream.

Gustav Mahler's Third Symphony remains today one of the greatest and most powerful creations of the Late Romantic period. The immense symphony, longer and more monumental than others, incorporates texts from the collection of poems by Clemens Brentano and Achim von Arnim entitled “Des Knaben Wunderhorn”. Composed over a period of four years from 1892 to 1896, with particular focus during the summers of 1895 and 1896 spent at the Attersee in Austria, it was premiered in its entirety on June 9, 1902, at the 38th “Tonkünstler Festival” in Krefeld. Mahler conducted the Städtische Kapelle Krefeld and Cologne’s Gürzenich Orchestra at this momentous event, which garnered great acclaim from his contemporaries. Between 1902 and 1907, the composer conducted his Third Symphony a further 15 times.

Among the symphony's six powerful movements, the slow fourth movement necessitates not only a large orchestra but also a mezzo-soprano solo for a setting of the “Midnight Song” (“O Man! Take heed!”) from Friedrich Nietzsche's poetical-philosophical work "Thus Spoke Zarathustra." In the cheerful fifth movement, the mezzo-soprano soloist is joined by a children’s choir and a female chorus for the song "Es sungen drei Engel" from "Des Knaben Wunderhorn." The symphony presents a significant challenge for all its performers, and this concert recording from December 2010 features a prestigious lineup: Mariss Jansons conducting the Chor and Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, with the Tölzer Knabenchor, and solo parts sung by Nathalie Stutzmann.

To mark the 75th anniversary of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BRSO) in 2024, the BR-KLASSIK label is now making previously unreleased recordings of concerts available on CD and as a stream. The six-part composition My Melodies for eight horns and orchestra was composed between 2016 and 2018, revised for the first time in 2019, and then again in 2023 as the musica viva Munich version. It was commissioned by Bavarian Radio’s musica viva with the support of the Friends of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra e.V. This is a live recording of the premiere of the Munich 2023 version on June 23, 2023, from the Herkulessaal, again as part of BR's musica viva concert series, with the horn section and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Matthias Hermann.

Helmut Lachenmann, born in Stuttgart in 1935, is one of the most renowned German composers of contemporary music. He studied piano, music theory, and counterpoint in Stuttgart and composition with Luigi Nono in Venice. The first public performances of his works took place in 1962 at the Venice Biennale and at the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music. He taught composition in Hanover (1976-1981) and in Stuttgart (1981-1999), and gave numerous master classes in Germany and abroad. His works are performed by internationally renowned players and orchestras all over the world. Helmut Lachenmann has received numerous awards, most recently the GEMA German Music Authors' Prize for his life's work (2015).

The phenomenon of melody has long preoccupied Helmut Lachenmann. He went to study in Venice at the end of the 1950s with Luigi Nono, a teacher who strictly insisted on a critically reflective approach to musical material. Nono had objected to any trace of linear progression in Lachenmann's compositional sketches as a "tonal cell" – a melodic object that was seen as a recourse to a romanticizing tonal language that had to be overcome. The impetus for the scoring of My Melodies came from a rehearsal of Lachenmann's opera The Little Match Girl in Madrid in 2008: eight horns forming a homogeneous yet at the same time complex instrument. The premiere took place ten years later. In 2023, My Melodies was extended by 77 additional bars since that first performance, with Lachenmann drawing on further sketch material. It is rare for the composer to alter his own works after their premiere - but the sound ideas for the eight horns seem to have retained a special fascination for him. The bonus tracks offer short excerpts from this concert recording of My Melodies. They present characteristic passages of the work, inviting listeners to detect specific noises or sequences and to familiarize themselves with Lachenmann's world of sound.

Guido Bardi, the son of the Duke of Florence, kneels before Bianca, the wife of the rich merchant Simone, and holds her hands. Simone, who has returned early from a business trip, then enters the room. The very beginning of Alexander Zemlinsky's one-act opera "A Florentine Tragedy", based on Oscar Wilde's play of the same name in the German translation by Max Meyerfeld, presents the conflict from which the tragedy arises. This stage work by the Austrian composer, who was forgotten for many decades, had its world premiere on January 30, 1917, in Stuttgart and was not performed again until 1977. This CD from BR-KLASSIK documents the Munich premiere on November 27, 2022, with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester conducted by Patrick Hahn, recorded live at the city’s Prinzregententheater.

With the "Florentine Tragedy", albeit rather belatedly, Zemlinsky followed the fashion for Renaissance and one-act works at the turn of the century. Richard Strauss had made his mark in that genre with "Salome" and "Elektra" – and the literary basis for the former had also been provided by Oscar Wilde. In the very first notes, seemingly aware of this similarity with Strauss’s work, Zemlinsky goes on the offensive with an "upbeat fanfare" – as the prelude to an orchestral introduction that can easily be interpreted as a musical representation of the main romantic relationship. At the transition to the actual stage action, however, Zemlinsky switches to a somber minor-key atmosphere. When Simone appears, the music already makes it clear that the plot cannot end otherwise than tragically. For whom, we do not yet know…

In the Munich premiere of Zemlinsky's "A Florentine Tragedy", Rachael Wilson (mezzo-soprano) sang the part of Bianca, Benjamin Bruns (tenor) was Prince Guido Bardi, and Christopher Maltman (baritone) portrayed the merchant Simone. The Münchner Rundfunkorchester performed under the young conductor Patrick Hahn. Last year, the 27-year-old Austrian – who since 2021 in Wuppertal has been the youngest Generalmusikdirektor in the German-speaking world – was engaged as the Münchner Rundfunkorchester’s Principal Guest Conductor.

The BR-KLASSIK label is now commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BRSO) in 2024 by releasing previously unreleased recordings of concerts worth listening to on CD and as a stream for the first time. Hector Berlioz's passionate "Symphonie fantastique," the nearly revolutionary symphonic masterpiece by the great French composer, was performed by Colin Davis with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra at Munich’s Philharmonie im Gasteig on January 15 and 16, 1987.

In his "Symphonie fantastique", subtitled "Episodes from the Life of an Artist", Berlioz combines the structures of the musical symphony with the form of a five-part classical drama. Using a leitmotif (an "idée fixe"), he narrates to the listener the story of the beloved woman of his dreams. The "Symphonie fantastique" thus paved the way for the symphonic poems of the Romantic period as well as the leitmotif method in Wagner's music dramas.

"I am still unknown," wrote Berlioz in June 1829 at the age of 25 – but he was certain that he could achieve resounding success with the idea of a major instrumental work. With his "Symphonie fantastique", he created a new kind of programmatic music. Berlioz was inspired by the works of Goethe and by Beethoven's symphonic music – and also by the fascination he felt for the Irish actress Harriet Smithson, whom he saw play Ophelia in Shakespeare's Hamlet at the Odéon Theatre in Paris on September 11, 1827. The "Idée fixe", the main theme, represents the artist going through his life story in various inner states of mind.

Taken from the 2012 Japan tour that performed the complete Beethoven cycle in various cities across Japan garnering much acclaim for the Chor and Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and now available in single editions, this live recording of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 from Tokyo's Suntory Hall also includes noted vocal soloists, Christiane Karg, Mihoko Fujimura, Michael Schade and Michael Volle, all frequent collaborators with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks.

Since its premiere in Prague in 1890, Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony has become one of the composer’s most-performed works. Josef Suk, Dvořák’s son-in-law and student-is obviously influenced by Dvořák, but displays his compositional skills in his own right in his Serenade for Strings. Consistently praised for his interpretation of Slavic music, Mariss Jansons conducts the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks in this live recording.

REVIEW

This disc contains three very fine performances and I thoroughly enjoyed it all. The BR Klassik recording is very good indeed. I’ve come to expect clarity and very pleasing, natural sound from this label and this latest disc is another excellent example of their work.

--MusicWeb International (John Quinn)

For Bach, the Mass in B minor marked the culmination and also the end point of his life’s work as a composer. This "great Catholic Mass," the only mass he composed, and in which he set to music the complete Ordinary of the Latin Mass, was his last great vocal work. The Mass, completed in 1748/49, is a musical masterpiece in which the Baroque musical splendor is always to the fore, though reflective moments and intense, heartfelt chorales are also very important elements. The Latin Ordinarium constitutes the silk thread along which all these musical pearls are strung. Even after almost three hundred years, the music of Bach's Mass in B minor is still animated, fresh, and a true Baroque delight – whether heard live in concert or recorded.

What makes this concert version of April 2016 in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz so special that it should definitely be added to any audio collection? The fresh voices of the young but excellent vocal soloists: the regularly praised "astonishing three-dimensionality" and "crystalline clarity" of the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks under the direction of Peter Dijkstra and of course of the renowned period instrument ensemble Concerto Köln; and last but not least, the exciting live atmosphere of a concert event that delighted the audiences, and even managed to coax the word “magical” from Munich’s music critics – rare praise, but in this case, richly deserved!

REVIEW

Dijkstra obtains remarkably sympathetic playing from the Concerto Köln. This engaging performance has plenty of vitality when needed, with the textures of the period instruments sounding clean and transparent. Up to its usual level of consistency, the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks gives a performance high on radiance and reverence.

Recorded at live performances in the renowned acoustic of the Herkulessaal, Munich, the BR Klassik sound engineers provide reasonably close sound that feels warmly atmospheric and seems to add to the sense of sacred awe. The clarity is pleasing and the balance between the soloists, chorus and orchestra is satisfyingly achieved. In the accompanying booklet, full texts of the Latin Mass with a German translation are provided.

Dijkstra’s compelling live performance, full of insights and detail, can take its place alongside the finest recordings.

--MusicWeb International

The music of J.S. Bach's "St. John Passion", which the composer wrote for Holy Week in 1724, immediately after his appointment as cantor of St. Thomas's Church in Leipzig, still retains all its freshness and vitality nearly 300 years later, and is a true Baroque delight. The two main choruses "Herr, unser Herrscher" and "Ruht wohl, ihr heiligen Gebeine" form the beginning and culmination of a large-scale orchestral and vocal structure in which Bach reveals his absolute mastery of polyphony. Inwardly reflective chorales are as much interwoven into the events of the Passion as the haunting arias which comment on the biblical texts of the Gospel of St. John. Throughout this solemn Passion oratorio, there is a constant emphasis on Baroque musical magnificence. What makes this live recording of the concert version in March, 2015 so special? The fresh voices of the young and excellent vocal soloists, the regularly praised "astonishing three-dimensionality" and "crystalline clarity" of the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks under the direction of Peter Dijkstra and, of course, the renowned period instrument ensemble Concerto Köln.

In an interview about great conductors with the newspaper Die Welt in 2015, Sir Simon Rattle said of Mariss Jansons, “He’s the best of all of us!” This new release from BR-Klassik focuses on the career of Mariss Jansons, and contains a total of five albums offering a representative cross-section of the classical symphonic repertoire- as well as a cross-section of the repertoire for which the chief conductor of the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks has been highly praised again and again for his outstanding interpretative qualities. Landmarks of great choral music can be found here, as well as milestones in symphonic development and select orchestral songs. The works range from music of the First Viennese School to early 20th-century late romanticism; from Haydn’s “Harmoniemesse” to the Minuet from Haydn’s Symphony Hob. I:88; from Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony, Brahms’ Fouth Symphony and Mahler’s Ninth Symphony to Strauss’ Eine Alpensinfonie.

REVIEW

Jansons’ thoughtful interpretations are consistently clear and often profoundly insightful, and the playing of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra is impressive, whether in purely orchestral performances or with the Bavarian Radio Chorus in the Haydn and the Stravinsky. Considering Jansons’ high productivity, this set can only give a small sample of his many recordings, but fans who have yet to delve into his full repertoire will appreciate this package.

– AllMusic Guide.com

Edita Gruberova – her very name is melodious. The Slovak soprano is undoubtedly one of today’s most well-known interpreters of coloratura opera singing, and especially of Italian bel canto. She made her debut in 1970 as Queen of the Night in Mozart's "Magic Flute" at the Vienna State Opera and, ever since her performances in the same role at Glyndebourne and Salzburg in 1974, she has been a regular fixture on the world’s leading operatic stages and concert podiums. Flattering epithets such as "the Queen of Coloratura", "the Slovak Nightingale" or "prima donna assoluta" are hardly exaggerated, for they really do represent what Edita Gruberova has embodied for almost half a century. She is celebrated all over the world for her perfect mastery of vocal technique, her astonishing ability to master even the most difficult coloraturas and highest notes, her clear and precise intonation and, most importantly, for something that overshadows and transfigures everything else: the seductive and beguiling timbre of her voice. This album, released by BR-KLASSIK to celebrate her 50th stage anniversary, presents nine recordings made between October 1983 and June 2000 at Bayerischer Rundfunk concerts. In addition to well-known as well as lesser-known arias from operas by Handel, Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini, and also the Couplet of Adele from Johann Strauss' operetta "Die Fledermaus", Edita Gruberova can also be heard in interpretations from Mozart's "Exsultate, jubilate", his “Laudate Dominum” from the “Vesperae solennes de confessore,” and also Michael Haydn’s far too rarely performed Christmas cantata “Lauft, ihr Hirten, allzugleich.” This album is more than a historical portrait – it offers a representative musical cross-section of Edita Gruberova's wide-ranging repertoire, and also includes several surprises that complement and enrich her comprehensive discography.

For the last seventeen years of his life – from 2003 to 2019 – Mariss Jansons was chief conductor of the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and the Bavarian Radio Chorus. Both ensembles and their conductor appreciated each other deeply on an artistic as well as a human level, and this resulted in numerous unforgettable concerts. Jansons’ unrelenting demands on himself and his musicians, his always respectful treatment of his colleagues, and his great devotion to music all played a lead role in their work together. Mariss Jansons occupies a place of honor in the orchestra’s history, and its players will always revere and cherish his memory. With the death of Mariss Jansons one year ago, the music world lost one of its greatest artistic personalities.

Born the son of conductor Arvids Jansons in Riga in 1943, the young Mariss studied at the Leningrad Conservatory before completing his studies with Hans Swarowsky in Vienna and Herbert von Karajan in Salzburg. In 1971 he was a prizewinner at the Karajan Conducting Competition and began his close collaboration with today's St. Petersburg Philharmonic. From 1979 to 2000, Jansons was Music Director of the Oslo Philharmonic; from 1997 to 2004 he conducted the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra; and in the 2003/04 season he became Chief Conductor of the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and the Bavarian Radio Chorus. The 2004/05 season marked the start of his tenure at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, which ended in 2015. As a guest conductor, he worked with all the leading orchestras of Europe and the USA, and his discography includes many award-winning recordings.

This CD box set from BR-KLASSIK combines Mendelssohn's twelve string symphonies, his “Symphoniesatz“ in C minor (No. 13) and his early violin concerto in D minor in the form of studio recordings made by the Münchner Rundfunkorchester under its leader Henry Raudales. The violinist has won several awards and made numerous recordings with the orchestra as a conductor and soloist. (The Violin Concerto and Symphonies Nos. 1-6 have already been released separately). It was thanks to his father's penchant for organizing musical concerts in his family's Berlin apartment on Sunday mornings that the 11-year-old Felix Mendelssohn began to compose quite a long series of string symphonies, and also that the works were initially performed. The study of music and composition spurred the young composer on greatly; his diligence as well as his youthful creativity developed early, and he made astonishing progress. In 1821, he wrote the first half of his string symphonies, which together took less than two years to complete. During performances that formed part of the concerts at home, he always took over the direction of the chamber orchestra, which consisted of amateur and professional musicians from the Berlin court orchestra.

Mendelssohn’s early concerto for violin and string orchestra, written at around the same time for his violin teacher Eduard Rietz, was probably played in the same setting. Formally, it owes much to the concertos of Johann Sebastian Bach, but it clearly sounds like Mendelssohn. Ever since their long-lost manuscripts were successfully rediscovered in 1950, Mendelssohn’s early string symphonies have been a fixed part of the string and chamber orchestra repertoire. In the youthful freshness and carefreeness of these early works, one can already hear echoes of the instrumental masterpieces by this important symphonic composer of early Romanticism that were soon to follow.

REVIEW

The Belgian violinist Henry Raudales, originally from Guatemala and significantly promoted by Yehudi Menuhin, has been concertmaster of the Munich Radio Orchestra since September 2001.

These are gripping interpretations performed at a high technical level. They convince not only with exuberant temperament, tight rhythm, and great textures, but also express the melancholy of the Grave movements very well.

–Pizzicato (Remy Franck)