The Idil Biret Archive contains all of the pianist’s professional recordings and many of her radio and television recordings

In December 2008 the Idil Biret Archive (IBA) will join the Naxos family of labels, IBA recordings will be distributed worldwide as well as digitally on major websites including Naxos Music Library, ClassicsOnline, iTunes, eMusic and Amazon.

Biret is a prolific recording artist whose repertoire includes mastery of music from the classical to modern era. Since she began her recording career in 1949 she has made over 80 recordings for nine labels, as well as countless radio and television recordings. Many of these recordings have never been available commercially and will debut on IBA.

First four recordings will be released in December 2008. Four volumes from the 19 volume Beethoven Edition will be released first. The Beethoven Edition includes the 32 Piano Sonatas, Five Piano Concertos, Choral Fantasia, and Liszt’s transcriptions of the Nine Symphonies. The Sonatas and Piano Concertos (with the Bikent Symphony Orchestra conducted by Antoni Wit) are new recordings. The Liszt transcriptions were originally issued by EMI in 1986.

Starting in February 2009, remaining recordings in the Beethoven Edition will be released on a monthly basis. Biret is the only pianist to have performed all of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas, Concertos and Liszt transcriptions of the Nine Symphonies in public concerts. She is now the first pianist to have recorded them all. A DVD film, “The Making of the Beethoven Recordings” will also be available shortly.

Major Concertos Newly Recorded
For future release, Biret has also recorded new versions of concertos by Tchaikovsky, Liszt, Grieg and Schumann. In addition to the newly recorded CDs, the legendary and long unavailable recordings Biret made for Atlantic/Finnadar in the 1970s will be released.

Awards and Publications
In 2006, “Idil Biret, A Turkish Pianist in France,” a book about Biret’s life and musical philosophy, was published by the French publisher Buchet-Chastel. Turkish and German language versions of the book are now available. English, Polish, Russian and Greek translations will be available shortly. In 2007, Biret was awarded the Distinguished Service Order - Cavalry Cross by the Polish President for her service to Polish culture through her Chopin recordings. Biret is now preparing a new edition of Chopin’s piano music for the New York publisher IMC.

Euryanthe, J.291
Peter Schmoll und seine Nachbarn, J.8
Oberon, J.306
Der Beherrscher der Geister, J.122
Turandot: Overture and Act II March, J.75
Preciosa, J.279
Silvana, J.87
Jubel-Ouvertüre, J.245
Abu Hassan, J.106
Der Freischütz, J.277

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
Antoni Wit

Naxos ▪ 8.570296 ▪ 1 CD ▪ DDD

Die Werke, die Karl Maria von Weber für die Opernbühne oder als Zwischenmusiken komponierte, kombinieren durch ihre Klarheit die Prinzipien der Klassischen Epoche mit einer einzigartigen Lyrik und meisterhaften Orchestrierung. Diese Qualitäten machte Webers Musik auch zur Inspirationsquelle für viele Komponisten der Romantik. Auf dieser CD sind die Ouvertüren seiner berühmtesten Opern

Der Freischütz, Euryanthe, Oberon und anderer

Sinfonia in G major (Eisen G8) Berchtesgadener Musik ‘Kindersinfonie’ (’Toy Symphony’)
Sinfonia in D major (Eisen D15)
Sinfonia in A major (Eisen A1)
Sinfonia in G major ‘Neue Lambacher Sinfonie’

Toronto Chamber Orchestra • Kevin Mallon
 
Naxos ▪ 8.570499D ▪ 1 CD ▪ DDD

Normalerweise stehen die Kinder prominenter Eltern oft im Schatten Ihrer Mütter und Väter. Im Falle von Leopold Mozart war es genau anders herum. Der Glanz seines Sohnes Wolfgang Amadeus, des musikalischen Genies, überstrahlte alle künstlerischen Fähigkeiten des Vaters Leopold, in dem man bis heute mehr den Pädagogen als den Musiker sieht. Leopold Mozart war jedoch, wie es seine Musik und der Erfolg seines Sohnes zeigen, beides: Er war aufmerksamer und kritischer Beobachter, ein Musikpädagoge und ein hervorragender Komponist, dessen Werke weit über die Grenzen Salzburgs hinaus bekannt und geschätzt waren. In seiner Kindersinfonie, die diesen Namen wohl erst 1813 erhielt, arbeitete Leopold Mozart neben der üblichen Orchesterbesetzung sieben typische Kinderinstrumente aus dem Berchtesgadener Land in das Instrumentarium ein: Kuckuck, Wachtel, Trompete, Trommel, Ratsche, Orgelhenne und Cymbelstern.

JOSEPH HAYDN

(1732-1809)
Sämtliche Sinfonien Vol. 34 Sinfonien Nr. 62 D-Dur
Nr. 107 B-Dur .
Nr. 108 B-Dur
Ouvertüre zu La vera costanza (List & Liebe).
Ouvertüre zu Lo speziale (Der Apotheker)
Toronto Chamber Orchestra
Dirigent: Kevin Mallon
(Letzte Folge der Gesamteinspielung)
Naxos ▪ 8.572130 ▪ 1 CD ▪ DDD 

Die letzte Ausgabe der NAXOS-Serie mit den kompletten Sinfonien von Joseph Haydn

enthält die relativ unbekannte Sinfonie Nr. 62, die von ausgesprochener Schönheit und Dramatik ist und in Haydns mittleren Schaffensphase entstand.

Haydn schrieb dieses Werk im Jahre 1780 auf Schloss Eszterházy, für dessen Hausherrn er mehr als 30 Jahre lang arbeitete und eine Fülle von Werken komponierte. Zu dieser Zeit entstanden auch zahlreiche Bühnenmusiken, die Haydn ebenfalls für seine Sinfonien adaptierte.

Die Sinfonien Nr. 107 und Nr. 108 sind nicht – wie es die Werkezählung vermuten lässt, frühe Werke Haydns, sondern sie entstanden tatsächlich schon in den 1750er Jahren, zu einer Zeit als Haydn noch nicht als Hofkomponist im Dienste des Fürsten Eszterházy stand.

Beide Sinfonien sind für zwei Oboen und zwei Hörner, Streicher und Cembalo-Continuo komponiert.

On November 18, Opus Arte releases the world-premiere DVD of Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s latest opera, The Minotaur, recorded live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on April 25 and 30 and May 30, 2008. Also included is a bonus documentary film, Myth is Universal.

This gripping new work by Birtwistle and librettist David Harsent brings the monstrous creature from Greek mythology to the operatic stage. The Minotaur, part man, part beast, trapped in his labyrinth and constrained by his bloodthirsty existence, longs to discover his true identity and his own voice. Athens must pay a blood sacrifice to Crete, and among the innocents is Theseus, who has come to challenge the violent Minotaur. He attracts the attention of Ariadne, half-sister and keeper of the monster, and it is with her help that he succeeds.

Winner of the Grawemeyer Award for his opera The Mask of Orpheus, Birtwistle’s inspiration for The Minotaur goes back over two decades; he felt that “the mythic beast was lurking” in his orchestral work Earth Dances (1985). David Harsent, who had provided the libretto for Birtwistle’s 1990-91 opera Gawain, was charged with the task of “[finding] a language for the characters.” The Minotaur received its premiere at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in April 2008.

Born in 1934, British composer Harrison Birtwistle studied clarinet and composition at the Royal Manchester College of Music. His 1968 opera Punch and Judy, together with his Verses for Ensembles and The Triumph of Time, firmly established him as a leading voice in British music. Among Birtwistle’s many works are Exody, premiered by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Barenboim, Panic, and The Shadow of Night, commissioned by the Cleveland Orchestra and Christoph von Dohnányi. His work The Last Supper received its first performances at the Deutsche Staatsoper in Berlin and at Glyndebourne in 2000. Pulse Shadows, a meditation for soprano, string quartet, and chamber ensemble on poetry by Paul Celan, was released on disc by Teldec and won the 2002 Gramophone Award for best contemporary recording. Birtwistle has received many awards and honors, including the Grawemeyer Award (1986), the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (1986), a British knighthood (1988), the Siemens Prize (1995), and a British Companion of Honour (2001). He is currently Director of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

On November 18, just in time for the holiday season, Opus Arte presents the 2007 San Francisco Ballet production of Tchaikovsky’s beloved holiday favorite, Nutcracker. Recorded live at the War Memorial Opera House on December 19 and 20, 2007, the production features choreography by SF Ballet artistic director Helgi Tomasson, scenic design by Tony Award-winner Michael Yeargan, costume design by Tony Award-winner Martin Pakledinaz, lighting design by James F. Ingalls, and projections by Wendall K. Harrington. PBS stations across the country will air this production on December 17 on “Great Performances”.

This visually-stunning all-new production of Nutcracker is set in early-20th-century San Francisco and includes more than 200 colorful characters, larger-than-life scenery, and magical surprises that will mesmerize and delight adults and children alike. Each breath-taking scene from the Waltz of the Flowers to the Snowflake Waltz is a reminder that this adored ballet offers a nostalgic musical journey while transcending all generations. Bonus features include an illustrated synopsis and cast gallery, interviews with Tomasson, Yeargan and Pakledinaz and a documentary on the 1915 World’s Fair.

As America’s oldest professional ballet company, San Francisco Ballet has enjoyed a long and rich tradition of artistic “firsts” since its founding in 1933, including performing the first American productions of Swan Lake and Nutcracker, as well as the first 20th-century American Coppélia. San Francisco Ballet is one of the three largest ballet companies in the United States. Guided in its early years by American dance pioneers and brothers Lew, Willam and Harold Christensen, San Francisco Ballet currently presents more than 100 performances annually, both locally and internationally. Under the direction of Helgi Tomasson for more than two decades, the Company has achieved an international reputation as one of the preeminent ballet companies in the world. In 2005, San Francisco Ballet won the prestigious Laurence Olivier Award, its first, in the category of “Outstanding Achievement in Dance,” for its 2004 London tour. In 2006, San Francisco Ballet was the first non-European company elected “Company of the Year” in Dance Europe magazine’s annual readers’ poll. This year, San Francisco Ballet celebrates its 75th anniversary.

On November 18, Naxos releases Gian Carlo Menotti’s beloved 1951 Christmas classic Amahl and the Night Visitors, paired with My Christmas (1987), a short choral work with a libretto by the composer (Naxos 8669019). This recording features the Nashville Symphony, led by Alastair Willis; members of the Nashville Symphony and Chicago Symphony choruses, led by directors George Mabry and Duain Wolfe; and soloists Ike Hawkersmith (Amahl), Kirsten Gunlogson (Mother), Dean Anthony (King Kaspar), Todd Thomas (King Melchior), Kevin Short (King Balthazar), and Bart LeFan (Page to the Kings). This recording marks the third in two months featuring the Nashville Symphony; the other releases are Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (Naxos 8570716) and John Corigliano’s A Dylan Thomas Trilogy (Naxos 8559394).Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, the first opera written for television, enjoys over 500 performances annually around the world and is immensely popular with amateur groups. A disabled boy, Amahl, and his mother encounter the three Kings who seek the newborn Jesus. After deciding to give his crutch to the Christ Child, Amahl is miraculously healed, and he joyfully accompanies the Magi to Bethlehem to give thanks. Sung in English, the opera is a humorous and poignant Christmas classic, beloved by audiences of all ages.

No post-war opera has enjoyed exposure comparable to Amahl and the Night Visitors, commissioned by NBC and first televised on Christmas Eve in 1951. Although it was subsequently staged at Bloomington in February 1952, conducted by Thomas Schippers, with whom Menotti enjoyed a long working relationship, the opera’s television potential has been explored in a number of subsequent presentations. Between 1951 and 1966, it was shown each year on NBC on or around Christmas Eve. In 1963, it was remade by NBC with an all-new cast, a production shown for the next three years. Then, in 1978, NBC filmed another new production, partly on location in the Holy Land. Meanwhile, the BBC commissioned two versions of its own, the first broadcast in December 1955, with the second following four years later. Menotti himself directed another filmed version as late as 1996. All of these productions attest to the appeal that Menotti’s unassuming stage work has exerted over audiences for almost six decades.

On October 28, Naxos released its fourth recording featuring the acclaimed Baroque music ensemble Opera Lafayette, performing Jean-Baptiste Lully’s Armide.

Armide was the zenith of Lully’s long and fruitful career as the most powerful musician at the court of Louis XIV and the first major composer of French opera. Though not his final composition, Armide was his last complete tragédie en musique and the last work he wrote in collaboration with librettist Philippe Quinault. It was an instant and enduring success: a crowd-pleaser at its initial production and a perennial favorite of audiences and critics in the 18th century.

OPERA LAFAYETTE is a period-instrument ensemble dedicated to performances of 17th- and 18th-century operas, particularly of the French repertoire. Founded in 1995 in Washington, D.C. by Artistic Director Ryan Brown, Opera Lafayette has earned critical acclaim and a loyal following for its performances and recordings with international singers renowned for their interpretations of Baroque and Classical operas. The Washington Post called the ensemble “one of the most intellectually exciting fixtures of the Washington music world.” Of their recording of Rameau Operatic Arias with tenor Jean-Paul Fouchécourt, England’s OPERA magazine wrote: “The period-instrument orchestra of the Washington-based Opera Lafayette … in its decade-long existence has done so much to further the cause of 18th-century French Opera.” Upcoming recordings by Opera Lafayette include Rebel and Francoeur’s Zélindor, roi des Sylphes (2009), and Le Déserteur, to be recorded in February 2009.

On October 28, Naxos released The Christopher Nupen Films’ new documentary, Vladimir Ashkenazy: Master Musician. Nupen, dubbed “king of the music documentary” by Gramophone and a three-time winner at Midem in Cannes (2005, 2006, and 2008), has put together a revealing portrait of the Russian-born pianist and conductor. The film includes Vladimir Ashkenazy: The Vital Juices Are Russian (1968); a montage of Nupen’s composer films with Ashkenazy as conductor; and a performance segment featuring Rachmaninoff’s Corelli Variations, released for the first time on this disc. Additionally, the DVD features a short interview with Ashkenazy.

The Vital Juices Are Russian was shot in 1968 when Ashkenazy moved with his wife and son from London to Iceland. The title refers to a statement about the composer’s Russian-ness that he makes during the film. Mr. Nupen comments: “The portrait film was made at an important turning point in Vladimir Ashkenazy’s life and career, a time when everything was changing, much to do and much being done. Some piquancy was added by the fact that our young hero felt that he was struggling to come to terms with the great traditions of the West, because, as he says in the film, he felt inadequately prepared. At that time, the idea that he might, somewhere in the distant future, become an internationally-recognized conductor was not even on the horizon.”

Since the original film was made, Ashkenazy-possibly the most frequently-recorded pianist in history, with a discography of 56 pages-has also become an international conductor. The DVD includes a montage of sequences from Nupen’s composer films featuring Ashkenazy at the podium. Next is a short but revealing interview with the composer on music and musical gifts and, finally, a segment on Rachmaninoff’s Corelli Variations, which Ashkenazy discusses at length. The film concludes with a complete performance of the piece, filmed live at a public concert in Lugano.

Ashkenazy won the Queen Elizabeth of the Belgians Prize at age 18 and later won the Tchaikovsky competition. That was only the start, however; his career has continued to rise steadily from then until now. In 2007, he celebrated his 70th birthday, an event that inspired worldwide press celebrations and an eight-disc boxed set of CDs from Decca; the final disc is an 80-minute conversation between Ashkenazy and Christopher Nupen.

Christopher Nupen is the recent recipient of myriad awards, including DVD of the Month from both Classic FM and Gramophone; three German Record Critics’ Awards; the Diapason d’Or (France); and, most recently, the DVD of the Year Award (documentary category) from Midem at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes for Jacqueline du Pré - A Celebration. This is Nupen’s third Midem DVD of the Year Award in four years, an unprecedented achievement; it is the top international classical DVD prize awarded by the institution. Founded in 1968, Christopher Nupen’s company Allegro Films has produced significant documentaries on Vladimir Ashkenazy, Evgeny Kissin, Nathan Milstein, Franz Schubert, Andrés Segovia, Jean Sibelius, and Pinchas Zukerman. Through close relationships with these artists, Allegro Films has produced a series of intimate portraits recognized as classics, with a longevity rarely achieved in television programming.

 David Oistrakh, Artist of the People? (Medici 3073178) is the latest film by acclaimed French filmmaker and violinist Bruno Monsaingeon (Glenn Gould Hereafter; Nadia Boulanger: Mademoiselle). One of the greatest violinists of the 20th century, David Oistrakh (1908-1974) was largely self-taught, yet he became the true founder and undisputed master of the Soviet school of violin-playing, the most prestigious school of our times. The film includes rare archival footage (on and offstage) gathered over many years by Monsaingeon, whose fascination with Oistrakh dates back to his childhood. In addition to performances by David Oistrakh, Yehudi Menuhin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Sviatoslav Richter, Igor Oistrakh and Gennadi Rozhdestvensky (among others), the filmmaker spoke at length with Menuhin, Rostropovich, and the violinist’s son Igor.

Some of the stories related by Rostropovich and Menuhin chillingly reveal the exceptionally troubled circumstances in which Oistrakh lived. Despite being Jewish, Oistrakh refused to leave Soviet Russia even when emigration may have been possible. The interviews shed light on a man who, like his contemporary Dimitri Shostakovich, found ways to survive during the dark years of Stalin.

Because of the political climate of the time-Stalinism and the Second World War-Oistrakh’s career in Western Europe, America, and Japan blossomed relatively late. It was not until 1953 that he began to make regular appearances in the West, by which time he was already 45 years old-though his legendary reputation had already made him the subject of endless speculation throughout the Western musical world. His first proper international tours instantly confirmed the legend, and from then until his death in Amsterdam in 1974, he pursued a varied career in the concert hall, as a soloist and conductor, and as a teacher. Oistrakh’s genius inspired numerous composers to write for him. He premiered sonatas and concertos by Prokofiev, Khachaturian and Shostakovich, among others, and performed these works all over the world.

 Tony Palmer writes: “There are always dates which resonate forever in our lives … for me that date is May 30, 1962. By chance, I had been taken to Coventry Cathedral by a friend, John Culshaw, to hear a ‘big new choral piece’ by Benjamin Britten, whose entire works Culshaw was in the process of committing to disc by Decca.” The work to which Palmer refers, of course, is Britten’s War Requiem, one of the most important works to come out of the later half of the 20th century. Palmer went on to make a film in 1967 about the opening of the original Snape Concert Hall called Britten & His Festival. Britten was so taken with that film that after his death, his longtime partner Sir Peter Pears asked Palmer to make another, more substantive film in his memory.

 Benjamin Britten: A Time There Was (1979) is as much a love story as it is a biography. Pears’ commentary and conversation provide the central focus for the film, which also includes numerous musical excerpts from Britten’s operas and other works and features artists who include Leonard Bernstein, Kathleen Ferrier, Dame Janet Baker, Sviatoslav Richter (another Russian champion of Britten’s music), Julian Bream, Peter Glossop, John Shirley-Quirk, and others. The film also highlights the more personal side of the composer, with commentary from Britten’s housekeeper Miss Hudson, Rita Thompson (who nursed him through his final illness), his copyist and musical confidants Imogen Holst and Rosamund Strode, and the Mayer family who housed Britten and Peter Pears when the two left England in 1938 in objection to the war.

Palmer says, “I could never repay my debt to him, but I hoped (and hope) the film would enable others to share something of this strange, haunted man, and his enduring power for us. Humphrey Carpenter once played the Young Person’s Guide on his program In Tune on Radio3. Following the tumultuous fugue at the end, there was a long pause, and eventually Humphrey said: ‘That, ladies and gentlemen, is pure genius.’ Yes, it is.”‘

It’s the night before Christmas and Gabe Snow, a tabloid writer haunted by the Ghosts of Christmas past, is investigating a Yule Tide conspiracy. Gabe knows that Flight 1225 was brought down one foggy Christmas Eve, by a flying creature with a “glowing nose”. Now, a bloodsucking Vampire - Santa Claus - has put Gabe on his list and unleashed the demonic fury of the North Pole. An army of zombie elves, who have no interest in Toys or pointy hats or dentistry, are about to turn Gabe’s white Christmas blood red…

On October 28, ERM Media released the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to Two Front Teeth with a score composed, orchestrated and conducted by James Guymon. Two Front Teeth, released in October of 2007 has enjoyed critical success at many festivals including Horrorfest UK, Spooky Movie Film Festival, and the Utopia Film Festival and has had feature showings at the Seattle True Independent Film Festival. Written by Jamie Nash (Altered and Seventh Moon) and co-directed and co-produced by Nash and David Sckrabulis, Two Front Teeth is destined to become a horror cult classic.

James Guymon is an award-winning composer for film and the concert stage. He studied composition with Robert Ian Winstin, New Mexican composer Michael Mauldin, and commercial composer Ben Carson. Guymon’s first film of critical acclaim was Jacques Thelemaque’s Transaction (2005), which won the prestigious Grand Prix du Jury Prize at the 2006 Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival in the experimental category. This was the first time an American film had ever won the top prize in the experimental category, and the first time in ten years an American Film had won either of the two Grand Prix du Jury Awards. Transaction was also an official selection of the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, London Film Festival, Los Angeles International Film Festival, Santa Fe Film Festival, and a BAFTA award winner at the Mill Valley Film Festival.

To find out more about the Two Front Teeth Original Motion Picture Soundtrack visit http://www.myspace.com/twofrontteethoriginalsoundtrack

On October 28, PentaTone Classics released the debut recording of Sa Chen, marking the beginning of a long-term exclusive contract between PentaTone and the acclaimed Chinese pianist. The SA-CD recording features her performing the two Chopin piano concertos accompanied by the Gulbenkian Orchestra, led by conductor Lawrence Foster. Also included are a bonus PAL-format DVD featuring footage of the recording session of the second movement of Piano Concerto No. 1 and an interview with Ms. Chen by Gramophone’s James Jolly.

Of Ms. Chen’s recent performance of the two Chopin concertos with the Plano Symphony, Scott Cantrell of the Dallas Morning News wrote: “In both Chopin concertos she was as surely attuned to the honeyed romanticism as to the glitters and grand rhetorical gestures.” Ms. Chen’s Hollywood Bowl debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in August also brought accolades for the young pianist. Rick Schultz of the Los Angeles Times commented: “The pianist’s chamber music-like dialogues with clarinet and violins, which dominated the eventful opening Allegro, created a memorable poetic intimacy. In Schumann’s nuanced Intermezzo and exuberant finale, the pianist’s sparkling tone was probably as natural-sounding as it could be in an outdoor setting.”

Already a star in China, the Chongqing native first studied at the Sichum Conservatory and the Shenzhen School of Arts. From 1994-2001, she studied with Professor Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London and later continued her studies with Professor Arie Vardie at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hanover. Ms. Chen gave her first major performance at age 16 at the Leeds International Piano Competition, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle and broadcast live on BBC Television. As the youngest contestant in the final round, she won fourth place and captivated British audiences. That successful performance marked the beginning of her international career. Since then, Ms. Chen has won a number of prestigious awards, including the overall fourth prize at the 14th Annual Chopin Piano Competition and the Crystal award at the 12th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

Ms. Chen performs regularly throughout Europe, Asia, and the U.S. with celebrated conductors like Leonard Slatkin, Edo de Waart, and James Conlon. In August, she participated in the Piano Extravanganza as part of the cultural events surrounding the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

On October 28, Naxos releases the world-premiere recording of John Corigliano’s A Dylan Thomas Trilogy (Naxos 8559394), performed by the Nashville Symphony and its Music Advisor Leonard Slatkin. Also featured are the Nashville Symphony Chorus (George Mabry, Chorus Director), renowned British baritone Sir Thomas Allen, Canadian tenor John Tessier, and boy soprano Ty Jackson.

The genesis of this work began in 1959, when the composer, then a senior at Columbia University, first encountered Thomas’ poetry. He called it a “revelation” and composed the first of several settings in the following year using the text of Fern Hill. (The original version was for mezzo-soprano, chorus, and orchestra, but as the work morphed to reflect “the three stages of man,” Corigliano recast the mezzo-soprano solo for boy soprano.) In 1969, Charles Wadsworth of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center asked Corigliano to write a work for the Society’s opening season. He returned to Dylan Thomas, this time setting the bittersweet Poem in October, inspired by the poet’s 30th birthday. This time, the narrator’s voice was that of a tenor, accompanied by flute, oboe, clarinet, string quartet, and harpsichord.

In 1975, Corigliano again revisited Thomas’ poems while dealing with complex professional and personal issues. His discovery of Poem on his Birthday, in which the poet’s 35th year “is not celebrated but ‘spurned,” was an eerie reflection of his own struggles. Unlike the bel canto vocalism of Fern Hill and Poem in October, Poem on his Birthday needed to reflect the character’s midlife crisis. Scored for a baritone and full orchestra and chorus, Corigliano incorporates a broad spectrum of musical styles, “dreaming up an array of sounds (sea winds, bird calls, ghost cries) deciding on their precise shape first, their notation later.” In 1976, the newly-complete Dylan Thomas Trilogy received its premiere in Washington National Cathedral.

Twenty years later, and more at peace with his life, Corigliano asked Maestro Leonard Slatkin if he could finish the trilogy, which no longer felt complete. For the composer the oratorio was about a man “interpreting … his future through his past”; Fern Hill and Poem in October, therefore, needed to be recast to appear as memories rather than actual events. Additionally, Corigliano needed another work to frame the quasi-operatic oratorio, and eventually settled on Author’s Prologue, Thomas’s introduction to Collected Poems. The newly recast oratorio begins with baritone, chorus, and orchestra, presenting the first 51 lines of text from Author’s Prologue (Part I). Fern Hill, scored for chamber choir, orchestra, and boy soprano, follows. The baritone soloist then reappears with the chorus in Part II of Author’s Prologue, preparing the audience for the pastoral Poem in October (also rescored for chamber orchestra). The work concludes with Poem on his Birthday.

John Corigliano, among the most honored composers in the United States, was awarded the 2001 Pulitzer Prize in Music for his Symphony No. 2. In March 2000, his third film score, for The Red Violin, won the Academy Award (”Oscar.”) Corigliano’s Symphony No. 1, an impassioned response to the AIDS crisis, won the 1991 Grawemeyer Award for Best New Orchestral Composition; the Chicago Symphony’s recording of it won Grammy® Awards for Best New Composition and Best Orchestral Performance, and it has been played by over 150 different orchestras. A Distinguished Professor of Music at the City University of New York, Corigliano was named in 1991 to the faculty of The Juilliard School and to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, an organization of American’s most prominent artists, sculptors, architects, writers, and composers. Commissioned by The Metropolitan Opera, where it premiered in December 1991, Corigliano’s “grand opera buffa,” The Ghosts of Versailles, sold out two Met engagements in 1991 and 1994, as well as its 1995 production at the Chicago Lyric Opera. It is due for another Met revival in the ‘09-’10 season. Corigliano’s recent works include 2004’s Circus Maximus: Symphony No. 3, for multiple wind ensembles, and Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (‘The Red Violin’), released by Sony in December 2007, with Marin Alsop leading soloist Joshua Bell and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Corigliano’s catalogue includes three symphonies, seven concerti (for violin, flute, clarinet, oboe, guitar, percussion, and piano), numerous shorter works for orchestra, and an extensive catalogue of chamber works, recorded on major labels. His music is published exclusively by G. Schirmer, Inc.

Leonard Slatkin was appointed Music Director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 2008, after completing his 12th and final season as Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra. The distinguished American conductor continues as Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Music Advisor to the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, and Conductor Laureate of the Saint Louis Symphony, of which he was Music Director for 17 seasons. He has served as Festival Director of the Cleveland Orchestra’s Blossom Festival (1990-1999), Principal Guest Conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra (1997-2000), Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra (2000-2004), and Principal Guest Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl (2004-2007). Mr. Slatkin’s many recordings have won seven Grammy® awards. He is the recipient of honors that include the 2003 National Medal of Arts, the Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, the American Symphony Orchestra League’s Gold Baton for service to American music, ASCAP awards with both the National and Saint Louis symphonies, honorary doctorates from Juilliard, Indiana University, and the University of Missouri, and the Declaration of Honour in Silver from the Austrian ambassador to the U.S. for outstanding contributions to cultural relations.

Sir Thomas Allen is an established star of the great opera houses of the world. At the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden-where, in 2006, he celebrated the 35th anniversary of his début with the company-he has sung over 40 roles. In 2006, he also celebrated the 25th anniversary of his début at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. A regular guest at the world’s great opera houses, he is particularly acclaimed for his Billy Budd, Pelléas, Eugene Onegin, Ulisse, and Beckmesser, as well as the great Mozart roles of Count Almaviva, Don Alfonso, Papageno, Guglielmo, and Don Giovanni. Equally renowned on the concert stage, Sir Allen has appeared with many of the world’s great orchestras and conductors. He has recorded with distinguished names rhat include Solti, Levine, Marriner, Haitink, Rattle, Sawallisch and Muti. In the New Year’s Honours of 1989, he was created a Commander of the British Empire, and in the 1999 Queen’s Birthday Honours, he was made a Knight Bachelor.

On the international stages of opera, concert, and recital, Canadian tenor John Tessier has gained attention and praise for the beauty and honesty of his voice and his refined style and artistic versatility in the lyric tenor repertoire. He has performed with the major orchestras of Canada and the U.S., as well as in opera house throughout Canada, the U.S., and Europe.

12-year-old Ty Jackson has performed with the Nashville Symphony on numerous occasions, including a recent recording of George Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess. He is a member of the Nashville Boy Choir at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music.

Led by Music Advisor Leonard Slatkin, incoming Music Director Giancarlo Guerrero, and President and CEO Alan D. Valentine, the Grammy® Award-winning Nashville Symphony has a growing international reputation for its recordings and innovative programming. With 140 performances annually, the 84-member ensemble is an arts leader in Nashville and beyond, offering a broad range of pops and jazz concerts, special events, children’s concerts, and community outreach programs.

For over 40 years, the Nashville Symphony Chorus has regularly presented significant works from the classical choral repertoire, from Baroque music to contemporary. During George Mabry’s 10-year tenure as Chorus Director, the Chorus has also been featured in three CDs: Celebration in Song, a collection of sacred music recorded in 2000; Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, recorded on the Naxos label (8.557060) in 2003; and Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, released on Decca in 2006. A further Nashville Symphony recording with the Chorus is in progress with Naxos: Gian Carlo Menotti’s My Christmas, a cantata with male chorus to be coupled with Menotti’s popular opera Amahl and the Night Visitors.

“Those lucky enough to be present will never forget that historic evening, when people from two long-divided nations were united through the beauty and power of music. By the end of the final encore, both the audience and the musicians onstage stood waving to each other in a new-found spirit of understanding. We are honored and pleased that through this DVD we can share this transformative experience with new audiences for years to come.” -Zarin Mehta, President and Executive Director, New York Philharmonic

The New York Philharmonic’s historic February 2008 trip to Pyongyang, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, at the invitation of its government, was an unprecedented event that garnered worldwide media attention and was broadcast on PBS’ Great Performances series. The concert, which took place on February 26 in the East Pyongyang Grand Theater, was led by the Philharmonic’s Music Director Lorin Maazel and featured music by Wagner, Dvořák, Gershwin, Bizet, and Bernstein-along with the national anthems of both countries.

On September 16, Medici Arts, distributed by Naxos of America, released this remarkable concert on both DVD and Blu-ray disc. This is the first time a performing arts new release has been offered simultaneously in both formats on street-date.

The New York Philharmonic in Pyongyang (Medici Arts 2056948 and BD2056944) includes, in addition to footage of the historic performance, the never before seen documentary film Americans in Pyongyang: The New York Philharmonic Trip to North Korea, directed by Ayelet Heller. Heller’s film features footage of orchestra members giving master classes, as well as other memorable moments from the trip.

“The piccolo played a long, plaintive melody. Cymbals crashed, harp runs flew up, the violins soared. And tears began forming in the eyes of the staid audience … And right there, the Philharmonic had them. The full-throated performance of a piece deeply resonant for both North and South Koreans ended the historic concert in this isolated nation … in triumph.”
-Daniel J. Wakin, The New York Times

PROGRAM
National Anthem of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Aegukka
National Anthem of the United States of America The Star-Spangled Banner
Richard Wagner Lohengrin: Prelude to Act III
Antonín Dvořák Symphony No.9 in E minor, From the New World
George Gershwin An American in Paris
Georges Bizet Farandole from L’Arlésienne Suite No.2
Leonard Bernstein Candide: Overture
Traditional Arirang

Documentary: “Americans in Pyongyang”
The New York Philharmonic’s Trip to North Korea
Directed by Ayelet Heller

The New York Philharmonic is the oldest symphony orchestra in the United States and one of the oldest in the world. Lorin Maazel became Music Director in 2002, succeeding Kurt Masur in a distinguished line of 20th-century musical giants that has included Bernstein, Zubin Mehta, and Pierre Boulez; Mahler, Walter, and Toscanini. Since the Orchestra was founded in 1842 it has championed the new music of its time, commissioning or premiering many important works, from Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, From the New World (1893) and Gershwin’s An American in Paris (1928) to John Adams’s Pulitzer Prize-winning On the Transmigration of Souls (2002, the CD of which received three Grammy Awards), and Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Piano Concerto (2007).

The Philharmonic has long played a leading role in American musical life, and over the last century has become renowned around the globe, having appeared in 420 cities in 58 countries on 5 continents, in capitals such as London and Paris, São Paulo and Buenos Aires, and Hong Kong and Tokyo. Long a media pioneer, the Philharmonic began radio ew York Philharmonic To Perform in Democratic People’s Republic of Korea/4 broadcasts in 1922, and is currently represented by The New York Philharmonic This Week; the program is syndicated nationally 52 weeks per year, streamed on the Orchestra’s Website, nyphil.org, and carried on XM Satellite Radio. In addition, the Orchestra’s concerts are now broadcast throughout Europe on BBC Radio 3. On television, in the 1950s and ’60s the Philharmonic inspired a generation of music lovers through Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts, telecast on CBS; its presence on television has continued with annual appearances on PBS’s Live From Lincoln Center, which began with that series’ inaugural episode in 1976. In 2003 the Philharmonic made television history as the first Orchestra ever to perform live on the Grammy Awards telecast, one of the most-watched television events worldwide.

The New York Philharmonic may be the most recorded orchestra in history, with more than 1,500 authorized releases to its credit, starting with its first pressing in 1917. The Internet has expanded the Orchestra’s reach, and in 2006 the Philharmonic became the first major American orchestra to offer downloadable concerts, recorded live, which are available on the DG Concerts label, exclusively on iTunes.

Lorin Maazel, who has led more than 150 orchestras in more than 5,000 opera and concert performances, became Music Director of the New York Philharmonic in September 2002. His appointment came 60 years after his debut with the Orchestra at Lewisohn Stadium, then the Orchestra’s summer venue. As Music Director he has conducted seven World Premiere-New York Philharmonic Commissions, including the Pulitzer Prize- and Grammy Award-winning On the Transmigration of Souls by John Adams; Stephen Hartke’s Symphony No. 3; and Melinda Wagner’s Trombone Concerto. He has led cycles of works by Brahms and Beethoven, and in 2007 led a Philharmonic festival devoted to Tchaikovsky. He also conducted the Orchestra’s inaugural performances in the DG Concerts series - a groundbreaking initiative to offer downloadable New York Philharmonic concerts exclusively on iTunes.

Mr. Maazel has taken the Orchestra on numerous international tours, including the May 2007 Tour of Europe; the November 2006 visit to Japan and Korea; the June 2006 Tour of Italy, sponsored by Generali; and in autumn 2005, the two-part 75th Anniversary European Tour to thirteen cities in five countries. In addition to the New York Philharmonic, Mr. Maazel is music director of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, Spain, and Italy’s Symphonica Toscanini. He has served as music director of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (1993-2002), and has held positions as music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (1988-96); general manager and chief conductor of the Vienna Staatsoper (1982-84) - the first American to hold that position; music director of The Cleveland Orchestra (1972-82); and artistic director and chief conductor of the Deutsche Oper Berlin (1965-71).

“As always, Alison Melville’s playing is exquisitely executed with warmth, wit and tenderness…these airs, dance tunes, variations and sonatas are performed with the grace, humor and touching sensitivity inherent in the music.” - The WholeNote

A collection of Scottish music from the 18th century, She’s Sweetest When She’s Naked is the brainchild of Baroque flutist Alison Melville. The collection and preservation of Scots tunes began during the 17th century following Scotland’s union with England. Scotland wanted to protect its cultural heritage, a large part of which existed in the traditional music that had been passed down through many generations. “It was many years ago when I first began exploring eighteenth-century Scottish music”, said Melville. “Having been steeped in the more typical Baroque repertoire for my instruments, I was always on the lookout for more esoteric musical fare; and as a first-generation Canadian with ancestry in Glasgow and Dundee, perhaps it was genetic.” Ms. Melville’s curiosity resulted in a recording to be released by early-music.com on September 30 that explores how these traditional songs would have sounded when played three centuries ago, on instruments like the flute, recorder, harpsichord, guitar, baroque cello and bodhrán.

Including songs from James Oswald’s Caledonian Pocket Companion (a multi-volume collection of Scots tunes for violin or flute solo published between 1742 and 1759), The Braes of Ballandyne from Edward Miller’s flute instruction method of 1799, Nicola Matteis’ Ayrs for the Violin (1685), and an anonymous 18th century song “Goodnight and God be with you”, from the National Library of Scotland, the music on She’s Sweetest When She’s Naked is true evidence of the virtually non-existent gap between what was 18th century ‘art’ and traditional music.

Now active as one of North America’s leading performers on historical flutes, Toronto-born Alison Melville has performed across Canada and the USA, New Zealand, Iceland, Japan, and Europe. With extensive television, film and radio performance credits, Alison can also be heard on over 40 CD recordings, including four internationally acclaimed solo recordings. She has been Assistant Professor of Recorder at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music since 1999.

Composer and court harpsichordist to King Louis XIV, J. Henry D’Anglebert also holds the distinction of having the first printed music in France to contain a table of ornaments as well as their realizations. Published by the D’Anglebert in 1689, Pièces de clavecin contains 57 pieces grouped into four suites. The collection remained widely-regarded for years after its publication and its table of ornaments served as a model for many composers in France and abroad. On this early-music.com recording, critically-acclaimed harpsichordist and recitalist Hank Knox performs pieces from three of the four suites on a reproduction of a 1768 Albertus Delin upright harpsichord.After studying harpsichord in Montreal and Paris, Hank Knox went on to become an accomplished recitalist, chamber musician, and continuo player. He is a founding member of Ensemble Arion, with whom he has toured extensively. He also has performed with ensembles such as Tafelmusik, the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, as well as with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. Hank Knox directs the Early Music program at McGill University, where he teaches harpsichord and figured bass accompaniment, coaches chamber music ensembles, and conducts the McGill Baroque Orchestra. He has been a William Dawson Scholar in recognition of his work in Early Music since 2003, and was awarded the Thomas Binkley prize for an outstanding university collegium director by Early Music America in 2008.

Early-music.com is dedicated to the promotion of the best early music performance artists in the world. Launched in 1998, early-music.com was founded with the intention of encouraging the appreciation of historically informed performance of music written in the 17th and 18th centuries played on period instruments, while also offering a platform on which member artists can communicate biographies and concert schedules on the early-music.com website.

Conducted by Lorin Maazel and filmed live at La Scala during the summer of 2007, this production of La Traviata is a revival of the 1990 production, directed by Liliana Cavani and with sets designed by Dante Ferretti. Cavani’s direction of Traviata has been praised for its psychological and realistic detail. Ferretti’s sets are luxurious and beautiful, perfectly portraying the mid-nineteenth century time period in which the opera occurs.

As a composer creatively driven by text, it is no surprise that one-quarter of Hanne Ørvad’s compositions are full choral works or that almost all of them use the human voice somewhere in their orchestrations. On September 30, Dacapo releases Corona, a recording that celebrates Danish composer Hanne Ørvad’s most important choral works expertly and powerfully performed by the Danish National Vocal Ensemble, Danish National Chamber Choir, and Danish National Girls Choir.

Ørvad, who began her career as a professional singer in the Danish National Chamber Choir/DR, didn’t start to compose until 1990.The 5 pieces represented on this recording span most of Ørvad’s compositional career, from Winter Organ (1991) to Threna (2003). Vega, composed in 1996 for the Netherlands Chamber Choir, comprises seven continuous pieces in seven strophes that illustrate the star Vega and its luminous surroundings. Using word rhythm and vocal color, Ørvad depicts a far-away galaxy as seen by an earth-dweller. Ørvad’s second choral work, Kornell, consists of three movements, Melody, Adagio and Serenade, based on the poetry by Bo Bergman. Although it refers to music, the poem’s text actually is an expression of love and nature that easily translates into song: “Just walking in the fields / You bring each wellspring alive, Each little mound sings your name.”

Threna (Easter Music I), orchestrated for girls’ choir, tubular bells, snare, low gong, and cello, is a setting of the 13th-century text of the Stabat Mater, which describes the grieving Virgin Mary at the foot of the Cross. Dramatic, pleading, and dark, this piece leaves listeners with an impression of the questions raised in the Stabat Mater, using the cello and girls voices as the primary storytellers. The second Easter work on the recording, Paschal Hymn (Easter Music II), is a setting of three English hymns that Ørvad has abridged and edited. Here Ørvad paints a vivid picture of the most significant moment in Christianity: the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The final piece on the recording, Winter Organ, is a striking 12-part choral work of great complexity. Based on the poetry of Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Ørvad uses the choir as a unified instrument, while also testing the limits of its expression

Other featured artists include American-born tenor Lawrence Williford, a graduate of the University of Toronto and the Canadian Opera Company’s prestigious Ensemble Studio; Laura Andriani, the first violinist of the Alcan Quartet since 2003; and pianist Robert Kortgaard, one of the most sought-after vocal accompanists in Canada today.

The Messiaen works on this recording are from the composer’s first creative period, before his reputation had spread beyond France. This music is closely associated with a period of great personal happiness in Messiaen’s private life-his marriage to his first wife, the violinist and composer Claire Delbos (1906-1958). It was for Delbos that Messiaen composed the Thème et variations (1932) for violin and piano; she also inspired the two song cycles Poèmes pour Mi and Chants de terre et de ciel, composed between 1936 and 1938. The Trois mélodies from 1930 honor the composer’s mother, the poet Cécile Sauvage.

The dramatic cantata La mort du nombre is unusual for Messiaen; it is the only work before his opera Saint-François d’Assise to use a male soloist. While it evokes the French tradition of dramatic opera, the dialogue between two souls also alludes to Bach cantatas. The music is also influenced by Massenet and by Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande.

ALSO FROM ATMA IN SEPTEMBER:

Les Violons du Roy are a Canadian national treasure. Outside Quebec, the group had built its reputation performing music from before 1800 until they released their acclaimed ATMA album Piazzolla. Under conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni, Les Violons du Roy’s surprising shift of style was a complete success: the album won the Juno Award as Best Classical Album of the Year (solo or chamber ensemble) and has been added to regular playlists of both public and commercial radio.

For this new recording, Artistic Director Yoav Talmi again leads the OSQ in a program of transcriptions, this time of works by J.S. Bach. In addition to Stokowski’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor, Talmi has selected an unusual group of transcriptions by Walton, Elgar, Holst, and even Webern and Respighi.

DEUTSCHE FLÖTENKONZERTE - CD des Monats SEPTEMBER 2008
DEUTSCHE FLÖTENKONZERTE - WELTERSTEINSPIELUNG !!!
 

PETER VON WINTER (1754-1825)
Flötenkonzert Nr. 2 in d-moll
Flötenkonzert Nr. 1 in d-moll
Allegro-Andante-Allegro

FRANZ LACHNER (1803-1890)
Flötenkonzert in d-moll

ANTONIO ROSETTI (CA. 1750-1792)
Flötenkonzert in Es-Dur (Murray RWV C19)

WELTERSTEINSPIELUNGEN!

Bruno Meier, Flöte · Prager Kammerorchester · Antonín Hradil

NAXOS ▪ 8.570593D ▪ 1 CD ▪ DDD 

WELTERSTEINSPIELUNGEN: 

Alle vier Konzerte, die unter dem Titel „Deutsche Flötenkonzerte“ auf der vorliegenden CD zu hören sind, hat der Solist eigens für diese Produktion eingerichtet. Die Werke lagen bislang lediglich als autografische Partitur bzw. als Einzelstimmen-Erstdruck vor. Die Komponisten dieser wunderschönen Konzerte waren alle in Deutschland tätig und stammten, mit Ausnahme des in Böhmen geborenen Antonio Rosetti, auch aus Deutschland. Ihre hier vorgestellten Werke entstanden über einen Zeitraum von fünfzig Jahren hinweg und spannen einen epochalen Bogen von der Klassik (Rosetti) über die Frühromantik (von Winter) bis zur Romantik (Lachner). Wegen ihrer virtuosen und ausdrucksstarken Anlage und der unterschiedlichen, klanglich abwechslungsreichen Orchesterbesetzung gehen die bisher unveröffentlichten Flötenkonzerte weit über die damals vielfach übliche gesellschaftliche Unterhaltungsmusik hinaus.

Giovanni BOTTESINI (1821–1889)

Ero e Leandro – Opera: Prelude
Concertino in C minor (original version for double bass and strings)
Il diavolo della notte – Opera: Sinfonia
Passioni amorose for  two double basses and orchestra
Elégie in D  Alì Babà – Opera:
Duo Concertante on Themes from Bellini’s I Puritani for cello,
double bass and orchestra

Thomas Martin, Double Bass
Moray Welsh, Cello

London Symphony Orchestra
Franco Petracchi, Double Bass and Conductor
Matthew Gibson, Conductor

NAXOS ▪ 8.570398 ▪ 1 CD ▪ DDD

Seinen Zeitgenossen war Giovanni Bottesini als Paganini des Kontrabasses bekannt, denn die technischen Möglichkeiten dieses Instrumentes wurden von Bottesini sowohl als Komponist wie auch als virtuoser Solist signifikant erweitert. Und er war einer der ersten, wenn nicht der erste Italiener überhaupt, der 1847 in der kubanischen Hauptstadt Havanna den Konzertsolisten und Dirigenten vereinigte. Auch in der letztgenannten Eigenschaft bereiste er die ganze Welt: Seine Präzision, seine Akkuratesse und die Genauigkeit, mit der er die jeweiligen kompositorischen Absichten befolgte, trugen ihm großen Respekt ein. Er war einer der führenden italienischen Dirigenten, ein äußerst innovativer Künstler, der viele Symphonien dirigierte und mit vielen verschiedenen Instrumentalsolisten zusammenarbeitete. Auf dieser Einspielung ist es Franco Petracchi, der, ganz im Geiste Giovanni Bottesinis, sowohl als Kontrabassist auftritt (Passioni amorose) als auch als Dirigent der übrigen Werke verantwortlich zeichnet. Außer Bottesinis größtem Meisterwerk auf dem Opernsektor, dem Prelude zu Ero e Leandro, enthält diese CD die unter Bassisten noch heute populärste Komposition für ihr Instrument, das Concertino in c-moll. Bei diesem Werk steht die Virtuosität immer im Dienste der Musik.Auch das eher selten gespielte Duo Concertante für Cello und Kontrabass nach Themen von Bellinis I Puritani stellt bemerkenswerte technische Ansprüche an die Solisten.

SCHUBERT: Romantic Poets Vol. 4 - CD des Monats JULI 2008

Franz Peter SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
Romantic Poets, Vol. 4

Amphiaraos, D. 166 
Gebet während der Schlacht, D. 171
Die Wallfahrt, D. 778a
Das Abendrot, Op. 173, No. 6, D. 627
Greisengesang, Op. 60, No. 1, D. 778
Ihr Grab, D. 736
Totengräbers Heimweh, D. 842 
Im Walde, D. 708 
Der Schiffer, D. 694 
Fülle der Liebe, D. 854 
Lebensmelodien, Op. 111, No. 2, D. 395 
Das Marienbild, D. 623 
Die drei Sänger, D. 329 
Grablied für die Mutter, D. 616

Florian Boesch, Baritone
Burkhard Kehring, Piano

NAXOS ▪ 8.570067 ▪ 1 CD ▪ DDD 

Im Mittelpunkt dieser Folge der Schubert Liedvertonungen Romantischer Dichter stehen die vier Autoren Theodor Körner, Friedrich Rückert und die Brüder August Wilhelm und Friedrich Schlegel. Friedrich Körner steht für die politische Seite der Romantik, was sich vor dem Hintergrund seiner Lebensgeschichte erklären lässt. Körner kämpfte gegen die napoleonischen Besatzungsarmeen und fiel in einer Schlacht 1813. Auch Schubert bringt bei der Vertonung die Dramatik der Schlacht und die Gefühle des Soldaten zwischen Pathos, Furcht und Demut eindrucksvoll zum Ausdruck.Friedrich Rückert wurde besonders durch die Vertonungen seiner Gedichte einem großen Publikum bekannt. Unter dem wegweisenden Pseudonym Freimund Reimer schrieb der Privatgelehrte Rückert die Geharnischten Sonette gegen die napoleonische Besatzung und wurde später besonders durch seine Übersetzungen des Korans und der Hamasa berühmt.Die Gebrüder Schlegel gelten als Mitbegründer der Deutschen Frühromantik und versammelten auch durch die Herausgabe ihrer Zeitschrift Athenäum einen Kreis großer Literaten dieser Zeit wie Novalis und Ludwig Tieck um sich.

Almirante (PH 121) was conceived by Baroque and early music specialist Jörg Zwicker, who originally intended to compile a disc of Baroque duets for soprano and alto. Despite stylistic differences among the composers, compiling the arias was simple for Zwicker because the texts demonstrated a contextual bond. Instead of a straightforward compilation of Baroque duets, however, Zwicker and librettist Thomas Höft invented a new love story with a supplementary libretto, creating, in essence, a dramaturgical framework for these musically diverse masterpieces. Handel was known to have written a number of pastiches himself, including arias and melodies by other composers, so this idea was not so unique. By using recitatives to link arias together, Zwicker and Höft formed this “new” Baroque opera featuring the heroine Almirante. The opera features music by Daniel and Henry Purcell, Georg Friedrich Handel, Johann Joseph Fux, and Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by soprano Deborah York and alto Lydia Vierlinger.

This recording from 1992-93 features two powerhouse performers-German bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff and Swedish baritone Håkan Hågagard-in three beloved works by Gustav Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Des Knaben Wunderhorn, and Kindertotenlieder. The late Israeli conductor/composer Gary Bertini leads the Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester.

“Doctor Atomic came across as the most complex and inventive of Mr. Adams’s works, an engrossing operatic drama, even though very little happens. Yet by the end the entire world has changed forever.”
-Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times

On September 30, Opus Arte releases John Adams’ Doctor Atomic (OA0998D), in a production from the Het Musietheater in Amsterdam in June 2007. Directed for television by its librettist/director and Erasmus Prize-winner Peter Sellars, Doctor Atomic is John Adams’ and Peter Sellars’ fifth work in almost 20 years of artistic collaboration.

Doctor Atomic features a superb cast, including Canadian baritone Gerald Finley, who created the role and has made it his signature. The luminous soprano Jessica Rivera performs the role of Kitty Oppenheimer, a part originally conceived for the late mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. For the Chicago Lyric production, Adams rewrote the role for soprano, adding additional music. Anthony Tommasini called Ms. Rivera, “a radiant lyric soprano … in a vulnerable and intense portrayal.” Other cast members include Eric Owens, Richard Paul Fink, James Maddalena, Thomas Glenn, Jay Hunter Morris, and Ellen Rabiner.

Doctor Atomic received its world premiere at the San Francisco Opera on October 1, 2005. In December 2007, the Lyric Opera of Chicago produced the opera in a revised version. Doctor Atomic will enjoy its fourth production at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, opening on Monday, October 13, 2008 at 8 PM.

Pianist Martin Helmchen was born in Berlin in 1982. He received his first piano lessons at the age of six and went on to study with Galina Iwanzowa at the Hanns Eisler Academy in Berlin. He continued his studies with Arie Vardi at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover, going on to win the Clara Haskil competition in 2001. Helmchen has performed with orchestras that include the Deutsche Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin, RSO Stuttgart, Bamberg Symphoniker, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Royal Flemish Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, and the chamber orchestras of Zurich, Amsterdam, Vienna, Lausanne, Cologne, and Munich. He has worked with conductors who include Marek Janowski, Philippe Herreweghe, Marc Albrecht, Vladimir Jurowski, Jiri Kout, Bernhard Klee, and Lawrence Foster. Mr. Helmchen records exclusively for PentaTone.

Marc Albrecht’s 20-year-old career has led him to the major European opera houses and the most renowned symphony orchestras. He has garnered high praise for his well-known interpretations of works by Wagner and Strauss, as well as his enviable commitment to contemporary music. Since 2006, he has further established the profile of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg as its Artistic Director and Chief Conductor; he most recently directed them on a highly successful tour of Germany in 2007.

In concert, Mr. Albrecht has conducted major orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, St. Cecilia Rome, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Munich Philharmonic, and the Orchestre National de Lyon. He has led operatic productions at the Bayreuth and Salzburg festivals and has served as Principal Guest Conductor at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he led an acclaimed production of Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise in 2002.

The 11 consorts by William Lawes “for the Harp, Bass Viol, Violin and Theorbo” are known collectively as “The Harp Consorts.” This creative collection occupies a unique niche in music history, with no exact precedent, and, through the catastrophic interruption of the English Civil War, no descendants whatsoever. That war not only ended the brilliant musical circle that had assembled at the court of Charles the First for which these works were conceived, but also ended the lives of Charles and Lawes himself at the siege of Chester in 1645. This is the first complete recording of Lawes’ Harp Consorts. It is the specificity of the instrumentation and the inventive and idiomatic writing for each voice, combined with Lawes’ intensely personal, expressive and quirky musical language, that make the collection a unique treasure.

Maxine Eilander was born in Holland, grew up in South Africa, and now lives in Seattle. She plays on a range of early harps: the Italian arpa doppia, the Spanish cross-strung harp, the German ‘Davidsharfe’, the Welsh triple harp, and the single action pedal harp. Eilander has appeared as a soloist with many ensembles, including Teatro Lirico, Tragicomedia, Tafelmusik, The Toronto Consort, The Sixteen, and Seattle Baroque. She is managing director of the Seattle Academy of Baroque Opera, where she teaches harp.

After a 30-year career in Europe, Stephen Stubbs recently returned to his native Seattle to establish his new opera company Pacific Operaworks. David Greenberg taught himself folk fiddle tunes by ear as a young child growing up in Maryland. He spent the ‘90s performing and recording with Tafelmusik while developing a specialty in Scottish Baroque-folk music and has recorded several CDs in this genre, including the groundbreaking Bach meets Cape Breton.

Susie Napper and Margaret Little have thrilled audiences with their performances of exotic masterpieces of the 17th and 18th centuries for the past two decades. Les Voix Humaines are renowned for their spectacular arrangements of a wide variety of music for two viols, as well as their brilliant performances of contemporary music commissioned by the duo. Their Montreal concert season offers a unique opportunity for an international array of instrumentalists and singers to explore unusual repertoire that includes virtuoso viols. The duo is regularly joined by some of Montreal’s finest young gambists to form the Voix Humaines Consort, which specializes in the vast 17th-century repertoire for viol consort. Les Voix Humaines has recorded over 20 CDs on the ATMA, Naxos, and CBC Records labels, several of which have received critical acclaim and prizes.