Anton Bruckner 200 (1824-2024)

Bruckner's symphonies are strenuous alpine hikes, and Blomstedt is a mountain guide who not only has the next fork in the road in mind but knows every stone on the path before the group has even started. The listener observes an ongoing creative process as if watching a sculptor at work. Blomstedt's unique Bruckner cycle impressively reflects the extraordinary spirit of the long-standing partnership between the legendary conductor and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. The nine symphonies released in this box were recorded at the Gewandhaus Leipzig between 2005 and 2012.

REVIEW:

Bruckner's symphonies are akin to strenuous mountain hikes, and Herbert Blomstedt is a mountain guide who not only has an eye on the next fork in the road, but also knows every stone on the path before the group has even started. The listener observes an ongoing creative process as if watching a sculptor at work. Blomstedt's unique Bruckner cycle impressively reflects the extraordinary spirit of the longstanding partnership between the legendary conductor and the orchestra.

An exemplary cycle of recordings. Recorded between 2005-12.

-- Merker Online (Germany

In 1970 Kurt Masur took over the direction of one of the best orchestras in Germany and the world: the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. One year later, in 1971, these recordings of the 12 Youth Symphonies by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy were made. They are testimony to the emergence of a fruitful artistic relationship between Kapellmeister and musicians that was to last 26 years. Bold artistic spirit meets musical excellence here, leading to a high level of listener enjoyment. Kurt Masur's masterful interpretation provides a revealing insight into the imagination of a talented young composer. These recordings now shine in new splendor through a loving analog remaster.

Pentatone presents a diverse range of world-class artists, and is dedicated to premium quality productions captured in exceptional sound. The label works together with today and tomorrow’s leading artists to provide timeless recordings of core, fringe, and lesser-known repertoire, with Pentatone’s uncompromising attention to the best possible quality in artistry, design and recording technology. In this series of recordings from the 2000s, conductor Kurt Masur and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig surveyed Beethoven's symphonies and overtures.

This box set documents Andris Nelson's work with two world-class orchestras. After Claudio Abbado's death, he led the Lucerne Festival Orchestra in 2014-15, the "greatest challenge" - as he himself called it - of his career until then. In the recording of his first concert with the orchestra, Nelsons explores the musical landscape of the German Romantic composer Johannes Brahms through his Second Symphony and Second Serenade. A year later, he impresses with a fiery and powerful interpretation of Mahler's Fifth Symphony and excerpts from "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" with Matthias Goerne. For his inaugural concert as the new Gewandhauskapellmeister, Andris Nelsons chose three pieces with great symbolic power: the "Scottish" Symphony by his probably most important predecessor in office, Felix Mendelssohn, Alban Berg's Violin Concerto, played by Baiba Skride, and a commissioned work by the Leipzig-based composer Steffen Schleiermacher. A recording of Dvorák's Ninth Symphony "From the New World" and arias with Kristine Opolais demonstrates the instantly close relationship between the Gewandhaus Orchestra and their chief conductor.

Ludwig van Beethoven's 9th Symphony and the musical city of Leipzig are closely intertwined with each other: Felix Mendelssohn, Kapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester, made the work an indispensable part of the concert hall repertoire and Arthur Nikisch, one of his successors, established in 1918 the worldwide tradition of performing this groundbreaking and pioneering work at the end of the year. The phenomenal Herbert Blomstedt, Gewandhaus-kapellmeister from 1998 to 2005, once again conducted Beethoven's Ninth in Leipzig for the 2016 New Year celebrations. With his former orchestra, of which he has been Conductor Laureate since 2005 and with whom he enjoys a close friendship, he achieves a gripping interpretation of this monumental work. Under the direction of Blomstedt, together with his excellent musicians, the choirs, and an outstanding quartet of soloists led by the magnificent voice of Christian Gerhaher, the utopia of global freedom and humanity in Friedrich Schiller's "Ode to Joy," penned in Leipzig in 1785, grows to overwhelming dimensions.

In his Sixth Symphony, the "Pastoral", Ludwig van Beethoven conveys his musical message in such a way that lets the listener literally "see" images of beautiful nature, tempestuous storms, and shepherds singing in the fields, whereas in his Seventh Symphony, Beethoven lets the music speak for itself. The performances of these works by the Gewandhausorchester under its conductor laureate Herbert Bomstedt give the uplifting feeling that the intentions of both composer and performers are united in serving the musical message. In the lively, subtly differentiated interpretation of the works, sincere happiness, deep respect, piety, joyful, serenity and an affinity to nature as well as passion, vitality and spirit can all be felt. This is what the "authenticity" of making music is all about. The humanist and musician Herbert Blomstedt embodies this truth in a unique way, creating an atmosphere where the wonders of music all become true.

On the occasion of his 70th birthday, this box set shows the different facets of Riccardo Chailly's life. The documentary Music – A Journey For Life, the first ever film portrait of the Italian maestro, shows him at work with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, at La Scala in Milan or during rehearsals for an energetic, authentic and atmospherically dense “La Bohème” at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia, the recording of which is also included in the box. With an interpretation of Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor with the fabulously inspired Lars Vogt and the recording of two milestones of the violin literature by Beethoven and Mendelssohn with Nikolaj Znaider, the box harks back to Chailly's time as Gewandhauskapellmeister. A recording with Chailly as principal conductor of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra pays tribute to Maurice Ravel with a program of waltzes and wild dreams of ecstasy and elegance.

“While my Usher House turns Poe upside down, the libretto for The Canterville Ghost follows Wilde’s short story pretty closely.” So says Gordon Getty about his second Gothic-themed one-act opera, based on the popular short story by Oscar Wilde. The opera serves as the perfect comic foil to the more sinister and disturbing tale of the previous opera, which was loosely based on Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. The Canterville Ghost was first performed in 2015 at Leipzig Opera, with Matthias Foremny conducting the Gewandhaus Orchestra and an international cast of singers. This premiere recording invites us to witness again the delightful culture clash of the Old World invaded by modern Americans, set in a haunted mansion in Victorian England. The unhappy ghost of Sir Simon, who for centuries has tormented the mansion’s inhabitants, is no match for the new pragmatic owners. Sir Simon attempts to scare them away, but finds himself teased and terrorized by the stalwart Otis family instead. He ultimately finds peace and redemption with the help of young Virginia Otis. Getty’s libretto and music serve up the perfect balance of humor and humanity required to bring the much-loved story to life. The theme of the opera is a perfect fit for PENTATONE’s American Opera Series, mirroring how European opera has been transformed by “modern Americans” into something new, while honoring the traditions of its origins. The American Opera Series seeks to highlight the rich and varied examples of how this imported art form has evolved in America. “Wilde’s finest poetry is in his prose, and his finest prose is in his children’s stories. Most are dark. Sacrifice and heartbreak are the themes. The Canterville Ghost looks at the sunnier side. Virginia’s sacrifice, and the ghost’s heartbreak, reach the endings we hoped. Wilde was never in better form. Not many writers could have sent up the stolid Otises or the indignant Sir Simon so richly while leaving us in on their side throughout. The Canterville Ghost is romantic comedy, though with heartbreak and redemption along the way. The dos and don’ts of romantic comedy are pretty much eternal. Wilde has given us one, in short story form, of unique beauty and genius. We laugh and cry, and are enriched. I added music, and some words, with the same intention.”

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REVIEW:

Getty has a fine sense of the contrast between Old World and New World that lies at the heart of the tale. He casts Virginia (Alexandra Hutton) in a rather more heroic mode than is strictly necessary, and as a result the ghost (Matthew Treviño) is somewhat less the center of attention than he is in Wilde’s tale. In operatic terms, this certainly works, and the two characters’ voices are particularly well contrasted. The PentaTone recording is very fine, and opera lovers looking for something new will find The Canterville Ghost an involving experience.

– Infodad.com

More than 200 years after its premiere at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Isabelle Faust, Jean-Guihen Queyras and Martin Helmchen have congenially mastered the artistic challenge of Beethoven’s gemstone. Under Herbert Blomstedt's sensitive direction, the soloists unite chamber musical intimacy together with virtuoso sophistication – and prove once again that the Triple Concerto is an unduly underestimated, much too rarely programmed masterpiece. With the composer's 5th Symphony, Blomstedt succeeds in achieving an entirely new perspective of this work. In the culmination of his three-year, intensive reenactment of Beethoven’s cosmos, the impressive sound that characterizes the Swedish grand seigneur's conducting is heralded by transparency rather than showmanship, relevance instead of pathos, and tenderness in place of sentimentality.

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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.

Ludwig van Beethoven's 9th Symphony and the musical city of Leipzig are closely intertwined with each other: Felix Mendelssohn, Kapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester, made the work an indispensable part of the concert hall repertoire and Arthur Nikisch, one of his successors, established in 1918 the worldwide tradition of performing this groundbreaking and pioneering work at the end of the year. The phenomenal Herbert Blomstedt, Gewandhaus-kapellmeister from 1998 to 2005, once again conducted Beethoven's Ninth in Leipzig for the 2016 New Year celebrations. With his former orchestra, of which he has been Conductor Laureate since 2005 and with whom he enjoys a close friendship, he achieves a gripping interpretation of this monumental work. Under the direction of Blomstedt, together with his excellent musicians, the choirs, and an outstanding quartet of soloists led by the magnificent voice of Christian Gerhaher, the utopia of global freedom and humanity in Friedrich Schiller's "Ode to Joy," penned in Leipzig in 1785, grows to overwhelming dimensions.