Following Wendepunkt, Pierre Dumoussaud continues his epic through the twilight of German Romanticism: a seldom-performed three-part work by Max Reger, abundant with nocturnal hues and elfish dances, appears here alongside two of Gustav Mahler's major poetic cycles, sung by Aude Extr�mo and St�phane Degout. The Deauville Easter Festival Orchestra adopts an intimate chamber-style line-up which is characteristically Viennese, perfect for voices to murmur these tales of love and death into the listener's ear

18.99

A veritable musical metaphor for the suicide of Europe that was the Great War, both apotheosis and apocalypse. We also hear evocations of Schubert, Liszt, Mahler and Kreisler, all imbued with a kind of nostalgia that belongs only to this mythical city. - Aurélien Pontier

Dedicated to the last years of Imperial Vienna, which gave rise to an artistic effervescence unique in European history. The program opens with a piano transcription of Strauss's Die Fledermaus and ends with Ravel's La Valse.

The collaborative efforts, the mutual emulation and inspiration of Sir Antonio Pappano and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome have spanned 18 years, led to one of the world's greatest and most versatile virtuoso ensembles and to acclaimed live and studio recordings showcasing an eclectic selection of symphonic and choral music. Their repertoire features already legendary performances of Verdi's Requiem and Quattro pezzi sacri. In addition, their recording of Bruckner's 8th Symphony features here for the very first time! This box brings together all the recordings that the British conductor Sir Antonio Pappano (b.1959) made with the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in the years from 2005 to 2022 for Warner Classics.

EMI classics celebrates the 150th anniversary of Gustav Mahler with the release of this exclusive 16-CD box set containing the composers complete works.

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Simon Rattle Mahler: The Complete Symphonies Limited Edition CD - Rattle's Mahler symphony recording cycle spans the Birmingham City Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, beginning at No. 2 in 1986 and being completed at No. 8 in 2004. "9" of the live recording when I debuted in the Vienna Philharmonic in 1993 was recorded in the boxes before, but this time the box has been recorded with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 2007 "Rattle's most One of the wonderful achievements "has been replaced by a recording highly appreciated by the Zeitung paper in Berlin that is highly valued as indicating the power of Rattle and Berlin Phil.

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All the great reviewing publications, Penguin Guide, Gramophone, International Record Review, gave this release a rapturous reception when first issued. The atmoshpere of a great occasion is caught admirably with impressive timpani and organ, and a special mention for the final Chorus Mysticus bringing a real sense of gravitas and uplift. The massed voices are wonderfully hushed. Outstanding.

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Mahler: Symphony No. 9

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Mahler: Symphony No. 2 in C Minor "Resurrection"

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SYMPHONY NO. 6

Gustav Mahler has come to enjoy a unique position in the music of our own time. He was able to revivify the symphony of Austro-German tradition, creating in it a poignant expression of sorrow, a sense of Weltschmerz, but encompassing a much wider range of feeling. He was able to enlarge the symphony, not only by an expansion of form and an enlargement of the orchestra itself, but by the use of song, a logical extension of Beethoven's Choral Symphony, including and summarizing a whole tradition of music. Mahler was born in Bohemia in 1860 into a relatively humble Jewish family of no great intellectual or cultural pretensions. His father, at one time little more than a pedlar, came to own a successful business that included a distillery and several taverns. At the same time he read w hat he could, in an attempt to further his own intellectual interests. Mahler himself was eventually able to study at the Conservatory in Vienna and to enroll in other courses at the University. It was as a conductor that Mahler made his name, with a series of appointments in resort opera-houses during the summer season. From these he moved to more important appointments in Prague, Leipzig, Budapest and Hamburg. Finally, in 1897, he reached the summit of any conductor's ambition, when he was made director of the Vienna Court Opera. During ten years he revived the opera, particularly with his performances of Mozart and of Wagner. By 1907, however, he had aroused sufficient hostility to decide to resign. His high standards in the opera-house made him enemies, and the amount of time he was obliged to give to performances of his own music and his Jewish origins were enough reason for his critics to condemn him. 1907 brought not only Mahler's resignation from the Vienna Court Opera, but the death of one of his two daughters, a bereavement that deeply depressed him. There was further cause for anxiety when it was found that he was suffering from a weakness of the heart that made it necessary to avoid any physical exertion. His final years were spent partly in the United States where he conducted first at the Metropolitan Opera during a difficult period in it's history and undertook to reform the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. At the same time he fulfilled a series of engagements as a conductor in Europe. He died in Vienna in May, 1911. Although his music met opposition from some in his life-time, his subsequent importance has been incalculable, both as one of the greatest composers of his generation and as an influence on his contemporaries and successors. Mahler's compositions include a number of songs and ten symphonies, the last incomplete, as well as Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth), a symphony in fact, if not in name. He completed his Fifth Symphony in 1902 during the summer following his marriage to Alma Schindler, a young woman of considerable and varied talents, daughter of the landscape painter Anton Schindler and later wife of Walter Gropius and subsequently of Franz Werfel. The symphony is in three parts, the first, which includes the first two movements, allows the material of the opening Funeral March to undergo further development and expansion in a turbulent second movement. The March itself recalls the song of the deserter, Der Tamboursg'sell (The Drummer-Boy), from Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Boy's Magic Horn), von Arnim and Brentano's seminal collection of German folk-song, and the Kindertotenlieder (Songs of the Death of Children), posthumously published poems by R�ckert, while the contrasts of the second movement bring moments suggesting a Bruckner chorale or a fragment of Wagner. The second part is the Scherzo, a substantial centre to the whole symphony, while the third consists of an Adagietto recalling two of Mahler's settings of R�ckert and a final Rondo that touches again on the world of Des Knaben Wunderhorn.

REVIEW:

It's the marvelous singing of Lilli Paasikivi, with her intelligence, penetrating insight, and richly rounded tone that fully captures the spirit of these works and makes them little gems that no Lieder enthusiast can afford to overlook. Ondine's warmly resonant, naturally balanced recording makes this important disc even more welcome. It's a "must-have".

It's not long into this disc before it becomes evident that Alma Mahler was a very different composer from her famous husband Gustav. Alma studied with Zemlinsky, whose influence (along with that of Hugo Wolf) shows most readily in her work--yet this is Alma's music through and through. Even before Mahler forbade her from composing once they were married, Alma displayed a distinctive voice, one steeped in 19th-century Romanticism (her father often sang Schumann lieder) as well as the musical currents of the new century. The first set of Five Songs comes from this early period, and right from the opening "Die stille Stadt" Alma's skill at word setting captivates, as does her ability to recreate in music each poem's unique emotional state. Of the five, "Bei dir ist es traut", with its recurring falling major second, is the only one that sounds remotely close to her husband's style.

After Gustav's death Alma again took up composition, and the following Four Songs reveal a new richness and poignancy in her writing as well as an expanded harmonic palette. "Licht in der Nacht"'s haunting atmosphere lingers after the song has ended, while "Anstrum"'s tonal waywardness displays Alma's awareness of modern musical developments. Alma's last set of Five Songs, published in 1924, is based on spiritual texts, emphasizing both their reverential (Hymne) and mystical (Hymne an die Nacht) themes.

The program concludes with two unpublished songs, "Leise Weht ein erstes Bluhn" and "Kennst du meine Nachte", both composed in a cultivated Romantic style that would indicate their belonging to Alma's earlier period. The impact of the music is no doubt enhanced by Jorma Panula's idiomatic and imaginative orchestrations, beautifully rendered by the Tampere Philharmonic.

--Victor Carr Jr, ClassicsToday.com