‘I find myself increasingly occupied with matters of the human soul, its sublimation and spiritual abyss. Certainly my opera The Ocean Betrayed betrays this preoccupation. This music has been to Hades and back, with Monteverdi and myself.’ Hans-Werner Henze. Henze originated this storyline by following his fascination that he had of the work of the enfant terrible of post-war Japanese literature, Yukio Mishima (1925 - 1970), whose novel “Gogo no Eiko” forms the basis of the opera. This novel, like almost all of the author's creations, sketches a suffocating scenario of hopelessness in which the struggle for normality is doomed to failure. Henzes free-tonal score ties in with musically-dramatic principles of composition following the tradition of Richard Strauss. In symphonic interludes, the luxurious orchestra gives the eponymous hero a voice: the angry “betrayed sea.”

REVIEW:

Despite his stylistic adventurousness and position as a political outsider, Henze was the last composer in the German operatic tradition (think of it as Late, Late German Romanticism), and his score beautifully exploits the lush forces of the Vienna Philharmonic. Since, as he noted, “Mishima’s novel is teeming with references to all things French”, he adopts a French musical style, mixed with Japanese elements of rhythm and exotic percussion. The vocal lines are compelling, and conductor Simone Young reveals both the work’s dense beauty and the sustained, gut-wrenching brutality of the final scenes.

Josh Lovell’s sweetly smooth lyric tenor establishes a chilling contrast between Noboru’s youth and his malevolent nature and explains Ryuji’s easy affinity with the boy. Erik Van Heyningen’s powerful bass voice is a bit mature for the gang leader (“Number One”), but Henze’s writing demands it, and his vocal authority reflects his power over the others. Vera-Lotte Boecker is a magnificent singing actress; her lean and supple sound is perfect for the sensuous Fusako, and she glides effortlessly through the coloratura of the 13th scene, as Fusako imagines a happy future for the newly formed family. Bo Skovhus shouts a bit on fortes, but his singing in the gentler sections is appropriately ingratiating.

-- American Record Guide

A New York Times 25 Best Classical Track Selection for 2019

Violinist Jennifer Koh’s Limitless, based on her groundbreaking recital project of the same name, bridges the modern divide between composer and instrumentalist, celebrates artistic collaboration, and revives the grand tradition of composers performing their own music. The album features world-premiere recordings of Koh-commissioned duets by a diverse roster of highly accomplished contemporary composers, which she performs with the composers themselves. Premieres include Quasim Naqvi’s The Banquet for violin and modular synthesizer, exploring a convergence between acoustic string and electronic sound worlds; Lisa Bielawa’s Sanctuary Songs for violin and voice, three settings of texts by American women poets of the 1920s; Du Yun’s give me back my fingerprints for violin and voice, representative of what The New York Times calls her “adventurously eclectic” style; and Tyshawn Sorey’s In Memoriam Muhal Richard Abrams, dedicated to Sorey’s beloved mentor, the avant-garde pianist, composer, and founding president of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Limitless also offers the first recording of Nina C. Young’s Sun Propeller for violin and electronics, inspired by traditional Tuvan throat-singing; Wang Lu’s Her Latitude for violin and electronics, with a quasi-improvised piano part and electronically processed sounds of Buddhist chants and old Korean pop songs; and jazz luminary Vijay Iyer’s The Diamond for violin and piano, inspired by an early Buddhist text. The album concludes with Missy Mazzoli’s A Thousand Tongues for violin, piano, and electronics, an intense response to a line in a Stephen Crane poem; and Vespers for violin and electronics, “deliciously disorienting” (National Public Radio) with a soaring solo violin.

REVIEWS:

Koh, needless to say, is sensational throughout: responsive to each composer’s demands, and fiercely committed to making each piece sing true in collaboration with its creator. The project is a paradigm shift in thinking about composers who perform, and about representation on the concert platform; the result is a beautiful, compelling collection of intimate conversations and collective statements.

– National Sawdust

Part of Ms. Koh’s double-disc project of collaborations with composers who also perform alongside her, Du Yun: ‘Give Me Back My Fingerprints’ rises from quietly uneasy to rabid and raw, then back again. Violin lines emerge, as if from far away, to mingle with Ms. Du’s earthy, murmuring, sometimes choking voice.

– New York Times (Zachary Woolfe)

The Hunting of the Snark tells the tale of several characters who go on a sea journey, searching for a mythical creature called “The Snark,” whatever it may be, for the Snark is different things to each of the characters. The Baker’s uncle once told him, “If your Snark be a Boojum!... You will softly and suddenly vanish away, and never be met with again!” Through this journey relationships develop, tensions rise and the Baker’s worst nightmare comes true. The Hunting of the Snark shares its fictional setting with Lewis Carroll’s earlier poem “Jabberwocky” published in his children’s novel Through the Looking Glass (1871). Eight nonsense words from “Jabberwocky” appear in The Hunting of the Snark: bandersnatch, beamish, frumious, galumphing, jubjub, mimsiest, outgrabe and uffish. In a letter to the mother of his young friend Gertrude Chataway, Carroll described the domain of the Snark as “an island frequented by the Jubjub and the Bandersnatch- no doubt the very island where the Jabberwock was slain.” Douglas Young (b. 1947) won the competition scholarship to the Royal College of Music, London and the Karl Rankl Prize for orchestral composition. He has written several scores for the Royal ballet, and in the 90’s widened his scope to encompass jazz, popular dance music, film scores, and advertising jingles.

Johan Botha’s unfailingly radiant and yet powerfully carrying voice established him over many years as a Strauss and Wagner singer par excellence, but most of all as a youthful hero, and not as a weighty heroic tenor. In fact, Tannhauser was something of a marginal role for him, but what a role! The recording of the Rome episode in the Vienna State Opera premiere of June 16, 2010, with which the release’s four-part Wagner portrait begins with excerpts from Vienna Staatsoper productions, movingly reveals how as a suffering yet passionate pilgrim he returns from Rome dejected and unredeemed. The bridal-chamber scene from the third act of Lohengrin looks back to Botha’s early years at the Staatsoper. Fifteen years later, he is an ideal Walther von Stolzing, who after a night of dreams reveals his Prize Song to cobbler-poet Hans Sachs, who in turn refines it and writes it down. The most moving scene comes perhaps at the close of Ariadne auf Naxos, when a figure hailed as Hermes, the divine messenger of death, proves to be Bacchus, the god of love. The recording captures one of Botha’s last appearances at the Vienna Staatsoper.

The celebrated Bruckner cycle by the Hamburg Philharmonic under Simone Young saw its completion during the 2014–15 season. On 30 August 2014, this mature, practiced Brucknerian orchestra recorded Bruckner’s radiant Seventh Symphony in the Laeiszhalle, heard live on this CD. With the beauty of its themes and its moving homage to Bruckner‘s great, intimidating model, Wagner, this Symphony - ranking among the composer’s finest orchestral statements - offers a particularly impressive listening experience.

REVIEWS:

The most apposite word I can apply to Simone Young's approach to Bruckner is 'fluidity.' She allows the lyrical melodies of the first two movements to unfold naturally and with a good sense of structural cohesion.

-- BBC Music Magazine

I enjoyed this performance very much. I also liked the sound on this SACD which has presence and definition. There’s a good front-to-back perspective and all sections of the orchestra have been well served by the engineers. In particular the brass, so important in Bruckner’s sound-world, register very satisfyingly yet never excessively.

-- MusicWeb International

This is one of those performances where you feel from the opening phrases that everything is just right. The music soars, yet has all the heft and depth one could want. Orchestral balances are excellent… Above all, the spirit of Bruckner, often felt in the concert hall but so elusive in recordings, is present. This is a glorious Bruckner Seventh.

-- Fanfare

October 2011 marked the 100th anniversary of the Hamburg premiere of Mahler’s Second Symphony. This release features music recorded from the previous year with the Hamburg Philharmonic under the direction of Simone Young. Michaela Kaune and Dagmar Pecková appear as the soloists, performing with the NDR Choir and the Latvia State Choir in an impressive interpretation of Mahler’s Second.

REVIEWS:

Hugely impressive, a must for all Mahlerians...the heroine of the hour is Simone Young.

Mahler’s Resurrection has been much recorded in recent years, so much so that new versions prompt one to groan inwardly and mutter: ‘Not another one’. Such ubiquity has its price, for any newcomer has to be something out of the ordinary if it’s to have any impact. Of recent releases David Zinman (Sony-BMG), Jonathan Nott (Tudor) and James Levine (Orfeo) definitely belong in this category; Vladimir Jurowski (LPO) and Markus Stenz (Oehms) manifestly don’t. And now Oehms are taking another bite out of the cherry, with the Hamburg orchestra led by their chief conductor Simone Young.

But does this strategy pay off? First impressions are highly favorable; Young adopts sensible speeds and a generally spacious approach that really lets the music breathe. As for the orchestra, they play like a group of chamber musicians, each miraculous contribution dovetailing neatly with the next. Textures have a shot-silk quality that’s especially attractive, putting Oehms’ Super Audio efforts for Stenz to shame. And climaxes are superbly judged as well, expanding without any sense of strain; as for the soundstage, it’s as broad as it is deep, perspective natural and timbres vividly registered.

This lightness of touch – not to be confused with lightweight – is such a relief after the heavy-handedness of some rivals, especially in the affectionate phrasing of the Andante. Young doesn’t dawdle, the music as fleet-footed as one could wish for, the silken strings lifting Mahler’s lovely tunes and really making them sing. There’s little of the tugging and misjudged tempo relationships that mar so many readings of this symphony; that tends to underline this conductor’s unwavering sense of clarity and purpose, qualities that I yearn for – but don’t always find – in this glorious work.

This tautness of conception and ensemble continues in the Scherzo...As for the woodwinds, they’re alert and idiomatic, the lower brass growling with the best of them. But it’s the liquidity of rhythm that’s most telling here. Young presses on without ever seeming rushed or perfunctory. Indeed, that’s another aspect of this performance that demands a mention; none of Mahler’s quirkier passages is ignored or sidelined. The music is in a constant – and intoxicating – state of efflorescence. This really is Mahler playing of the highest order, magnificently recorded

Young builds and maintains tension throughout. The sudden eruptions are entirely expected and, more important, suitably scaled. Just sample the outburst at 8:04; it’s massive without being ponderous or overdriven. Moreover, it’s not as histrionic as some, which fits in well with Young’s clear-eyed view of this score. I know Klaus Tennstedt’s recently released live Resurrection has its devotees, but its extreme soul-baring strikes me as self-serving and, ultimately, self-defeating. While the LPO play this music as if to the manner born, the Hamburg playing is more sharply characterized. They’re precise but not at all pedantic, every nuance and instrumental strand is uncovered in the most easeful way.

...the cataclysm that follows is truly thunderous, Young dimming the lights as it were, so that when the Resurrection motif appears it glows beautifully in the inky darkness. It’s an effective piece of theatre that works this time round. Although the passages that follow aren’t as broad as they can be, they’re alive with incident and chockful of detail. This really is a most impressive recording, every bit as immersive as Nott’s Super Audio disc. Indeed, the crack of timps here is just as arresting as it is on the high-tech Tudor one; oh, and I’d love to know what tam-tams the Hamburg band use, as they pack a mighty shimmer.

Young presses on, but there’s so much in which to revel – helped by the fact that the orchestra keeps its composure throughout – that one isn’t aware of just how swift she is from this point on. It’s incredibly exciting, the offstage contributions rather distant but just audible above the hike in ambient noise.

Again one can only marvel at the subtle instrumental and vocal shading the engineers extract from this acoustic. It’s a pity the soloists aren’t ideally secure, but what a heart-racing sense of anticipation Young conjures here - what trembling inexorability, that throwaway harp figure like the rending of a veil. Although the organ isn’t very prominent the tam-tams are simply stunning, the closing pages as death-defiant as ever.

What a glorious coda to this double centenary, with its hits and misses, and what a triumph for Oehms[.] But the heroine of the hour is Simone Young who, while no stranger to these symphonies, here confirms her Mahlerian credentials in a most emphatic fashion. Despite one or two minor caveats, this Resurrection belongs in the select company of recent issues from Zinman, Nott and Levine, all of whom bring something memorable to this oft-played score. Hugely impressive, a must for all Mahlerians.

-- Dan Morgan, MusicWeb International

Of all Hamburg Ring Cycle premieres, the third waystation, Siegfried, has received the most applause until now. Audience members were exuberant not only about the singers and orchestra under the direction of Simone Young, but about the production as well. The transparency of the orchestra allowed the singers to really sing, in contrast to many Wagner productions in which they are often in a pure struggle against waves of instrumental force. Director Claus Guth’s finely wrought protagonists were brilliantly brought to life on stage by the excellent cast of soloists. This Ring is lucid and transparent, even when only heard in the living room. The singers, who include experienced Wagner singers like Christian Franz, Falk Struckmann and Wolfgang Koch, guarantee first-class musical standards.

REVIEW:

We can always find room for another good Ring in the recorded archives. This is shaping up so far to be a fine example. The singing cast is altogether satisfactory, if not star-studded. Every member offers a reasonably forceful and vivid impersonation of his assigned role.

Christian Franz offers a fine Siegfried, the forging scenes in I going well, with vigorous singing and the metallic sound effects as good as they come. Did you know that Siegfried’s actions follow standard metallurgical procedures for forging, annealing, heat-treating and quenching, needed to produce a good weapon? It is true! Wagner wasn’t a metallurgist, but he knew what was needed to keep the action true to life. Falk Struckmann’s Wotan- Wanderer is also forceful and gives a fine rendering of the critical scene with Erda in III. His smooth, dark voice is most effective not only here but also as the Wanderer in I and the opening scenes of II.

I wish I could be as positive about Deborah Humble’s Erda, but to me she sounds wobbly and unsteady. I suppose she’s about par for the part by current standards, which isn’t saying much. Catherine Foster, on the other hand is a good, strong Brünnhilde, not quite in the class of Flagstad or Nilsson, but surely as fine as they come at present. Alberich, Mime, and Fafner are conventionally well performed, also. Finally, Ha Young Lee was a complete newcomer to me, but she sings the forest bird’s songs more clearly, sweetly, and convincingly than anyone I’ve ever heard. Something tells me that this is not the last we shall hear from her.

The Hamburg Philharmonic is absolutely perfect, flawless, indeed thrilling. Its tone is colorful, its ensemble flawless. Simone Young leads an unhurried performance that lasts over four hours. This is usually a recipe for dullness, but she somehow manages to conduct with gorgeous tone and unfailing presentation of detail, as well as flawless presentation of larger issues. I think this must be what Wagner had in mind when he employed the word gesamtkunstwerk. Moreover, Oehms offers sound that is totally realistic without undue intrusion of gimmicks like the ones in Solti’s Decca Rheingold. Finally, there is a 145 page booklet, giving full German texts with their English translations. The introductory notes are outstanding, exploring and explaining every action in detail and the motivations of everyone concerned, including the composer. It is original and thought-provoking—one of the best essays of this genre I’ve ever encountered.

In this booklet also, there are numerous illustrations of the stagecraft, which I would suggest you not even look at, if you can resist the temptation, for they depict the cheapest, most dreary, most totally irrelevant collection of garage-sale paraphernalia you could imagine—dirty, unkempt, randomly scattered about the stage. This isn’t staging; it is a treasonous, subversive, cheap refutation of everything Wagner stood for!

But of course, that is the advantage the CD has over DVD—there’s no temptation to look at it—indeed, there’s no way of doing so. But this little rant is irrelevant to the main point that, for an audio Siegfried, this is about as good as it gets.

-- American Record Guide