Classical Music

Despite the (mainly traditional) cuts, this 1955 BBC broadcast is treasurable. Not only does it feature Joan Sutherland’s touchingly pure and limpid Euryanthe – a role she only sang this once – but it also extends the small discography of Frans Vroons, in a lyric-heroic role which could have been written for him. Marianne Schech and Otakar Kraus are matchless villains, Kurt Bohme a comfortable King. Yet perhaps the performance’s prime virtue is the candescent conducting of Fritz Stiedry. His visionary readings of the familiar Overture and the desolate Prelude to Act 3 are heightened by unusually good broadcast sound, captured by the late Richard Itter on state-of-the-art equipment. This thrilling Euryanthe fully vindicates Weber’s – and Chezy’s –achievement.

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REVIEW:

Despite big cuts (including around 20 minutes’ worth of Act 3), this is a well-prepared performance of considerable merits. Not the least of these is the proof that Joan Sutherland could indeed have made a serious career in the dramatic German Fach: she sounds an outstandingly fluent and natural exponent of the titlerole. Conductor Fritz Stiedry’s preserved Wagner performances are often a little spotty but here he seems in well-ordered control of everything. All the other major roles are on committed top form.

– Gramophone

Carl Maria von Weber's achievements as a composer were considerable and influential, demonstrating new possibilities in opera and orchestration, particularly in the handling of wind instruments. His attractive, lyrical style is ideal for the making of arrangements, and the impressive and beautifully proportioned Flute Sonata is a virtuoso masterpiece, as is the operatic Grand Duo Concertant. There is a feeling of solemnity in the G minor Trio, an unusual work with an enigma at it's heart: the song-like Schafer's Klage or 'Shepherd's lament'- the origins of which remain a source of conjecture.

The Freisch�tz counts as a milestone in the history of German opera. Created in 1821 under the impression of the liberation wars against Napoleons, the so-called National Opera expresses the Germans' desire for cultural identity. The librettist Johann Friedrich Kind temporally places the plot in the vicinity of the Thirty Years' War. Here people in a society are shaped by religious power struggles, war and outdated rituals. This shows the blurring of reality and an apparently perfect world. According to old custom, the huntsman Max is allowed to take his beloved Agathe as his wife and inherit a hereditary forester if his only test shot succeeds. But Kaspar tries to get Max into a pact with the devil. There should be seven free bullets for Max, who will not miss their goal in the Wolfschlucht... The premiere took place on December 8th, 2018 with the Essen Philharmonic under Toma� Netopil in the Aalto Theater Essen. There will be another performance in April 2020.

DER FREISCHUETZ

Axel K�hler's production of Der Freisch�tz at the Dresden State Opera was described by Die Presse as "a minor miracle in Dresden". In the words of the Salzburger Nachrichten, K�hler "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."

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).

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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.

– Sunday Times (UK)

Classical Music

It Was in Frankfurt Am Main on 16 September 1810 That Carl Maria Von Weber's Opera Silvana Was First Performed. A Box-Office Hit, Silvana Is Practically Forgotten Today, Even Though It Enjoyed a Very Respectable Performance History. CPO Is Now Releasing the First Recording of the Original Version of Weber's Heroic Opera. The Present Recording Now for the First Time Relies on the Materials for the Critical Scholarly Edition of the Work, Including the Dialogues, As Well As Many Changes Weber Made for the Work's Premiere. The Positive Final Result Is Can Now Be Heard on This Release.

Classical Music

Carl Maria von Weber wrote some of the great piano works of the late 1700s and early 1800s. Here they are played on a fortepiano appropriate to the works that is owned by Christopher Hogwood. Hogwood joins Cumming in The Sic Pieces, Op. 10.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Clarinetist Michael Collins, plays three works for clarinet and orchestra by Weber, as well as conducting the City of London Sinfonia. The disc also includes Weber’s horn concertino, featuring horn soloist Stephen Stirling.

The two concertos and the concertino for clarinet and orchestra are considered among the repertoire cornerstones for today’s clarinettists. Weber wrote the works for his personal friend Heinrich Bärmann, the principal clarinettist of the Munich court orchestra, whose own embellishments of the works (changes of articulation, extra grace notes, and even an added accompanied cadenza in the first concerto) have been incorporated in the performances recorded here. Michael Collins suggests that these changes ‘do not make the music any easier to play, but they do make it more thrilling’.

Each of the works displays a well-balanced mix of virtuosity, daring, humour, and sheer beauty, and throughout, the role of the orchestra is much more than a mere accompaniment. The woodwind solos, a trio of horns, blaring trumpets, and dashing violins contribute greatly to making these works so captivating.

Written in 1806, when Weber was just nineteen years old, the virtuosic Horn Concertino pushed known horn techniques to new limits, requiring the soloist among other feats to produce a ‘four-note chord’, the technique known as multiphonics. The work is today considered a gem in the horn repertoire, and our soloist, Stephen Stirling, is ‘a player gifted with the utmost sensitivity and imagination, which is shown through the beautiful way he shapes musical phrases and the extraordinary range of colours he employs’ – in the words of the late Richard Hickox.

KLARINETTENKONZERTE