Krzysztof Penderecki’s Utrenja, inspired by the Orthodox liturgy of Holy Saturday, depicts the lamentations of Christ’s death and the Easter Sunday service commemorating the Resurrection. The work is scored for three male voices (tenor, bass and basso profondo, which correspond, respectively, to the roles of the chaplain, deacon, and lector) and two female voices (soprano and mezzo-soprano, who fulfill purely musical roles). Supporting the soloists are two choirs and an orchestra rich in brass and percussion. The composer has commented: “Utrenja is a combination of pure, a cappella vocal writing and orchestral effects (for strings and percussion) very much connected with electronic music.’The two-part work uses an Old Slavonic liturgical text without inhibition as to its traditional function and usage. Part One, Entombment (dedicated to the conductor Eugene Ormandy), was commissioned by West German Radio and had its premiere in Altenberg on April 8, 1970. The Polish premiere took place in Kraków on June 26, 1971.
After the premiere of Part One, West German Radio commissioned Penderecki to compose Part Two, Resurrection, which premiered on May 28, 1971 in Munster, paired with a performance of Entombment. Since then, ensembles have generally (though not exclusively) performed the two parts together. The first Polish performance of the complete Utrenja duly took place in Kraków on September 16, 1971.
Enthusiastically received by audiences, Utrenja stands beside the composer’s Polish Requiem (8557386-87) and St Luke Passion (8557149) among the masterpieces of modern Polish music.
Garnering two nominations this year, the Naxos world premiere recording of John Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man picked up a Best Classical Contemporary Composition nomination for the Pulitzer, Oscar, Grammy®, and Grawemeyer award-winning composer. The album, which features conductor JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic, also brought in a nomination for the recording’s soloist, Israeli-born soprano Hila Plitmann, who received a nomination for Best Classical Vocal Performance.
The Pacifica Quartet, recently named 2009 Ensemble of the Year by Musical America, was honored with a nomination for Best Chamber Music Performance for its acclaimed Naxos recording of Elliott Carter String Quartets Nos. 1 & 5. The second volume of this series is due for release in February 2009. Renowned producer Judith Sherman picked up a nomination for Producer of the Year for her work on the Carter String Quartets on Naxos and 4 additional albums.
A Choral Performance nomination went to chorus master Henryk Wojnarowski and conductor Antoni Wit for the Naxos recording of Karol Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater with the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir. A Best Engineered Album (Classical) nomination went to engineer John Newton for his work on the Naxos recording Respighi: Church Windows, Brazilian Impressions, Rossiniana, which featured conductor JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.
NAXOS OF AMERICA DISTRIBUTED LABEL ARTISTS NOMINATED FOR GRAMMYS®
Artists from British-based label Chandos received 5 nominations in multiple categories this year. Spotless Rose: Hymns to the Virgin Mary featuring the Phoenix Chorale, conductor Charles Bruffy, and produced by Blanton Alspaugh, was nominated for Best Classical Album (Awards to Artists and Producer). Additionally, Mr. Bruffy and the Phoenix Chorale were nominated in the Best Small Ensemble Performance category for this recording. Another Chandos choral recording, Rheinberger: Sacred Choral Works, conductor Charles Bruffy (with the Kansas City Chorale and Phoenix Bach Choir) earned nominations for Best Surround Sound Album and Best Choral Performance. Finally, a Best Orchestral Performance nomination went to conductor Rumon Gamba and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra for their Chandos recording D’Indy Orchestral Works, Volume 1.
A EuroArts production earned two nominations in the categories of Best Classical Album (Award to Artists and Producers) and Best Opera Recording (Award to Conductor, Producer, and Principal Soloists) for their DVD recording of Kurt Weill’s Rise and Fall of The City of Mahagonny. The performance featured conductor James Conlon, soloists Anthony Dean Griffey, Patti LuPone and Audra McDonald; the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra and Chorus; and was produced by Fred Vogler. This is the first Grammy® Awards in which DVD recordings of operas are eligible for nomination. Only the audio portion of the DVD is considered in the nominating process.
Also in the category of Best Opera Recording nominations went to conductors Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs for their CPO recording of Jean Baptiste Lully’s Psyché with the Boston Early Music Festival (Mr. O’Dette and Mr. Stubbs also were nominated last year for their CPO recording of Jean Baptiste Lully’s Thésée with the Boston Early Music Festival).
Renowned Italian conductor and Baroque-specialist, Rinaldo Alessandrini was nominated for his Naïve classique recording of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo.
Finally, violinist Elmar Oliveira earned a nomination for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance with Orchestra for his Artek recording of Violin Concertos by Ernst Bloch and Benjamin Lees with John McLaughlin Williams conducting the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine.
“To have the freedom to decide what kind of repertory to record is a most exhilarating feeling a musician can experience. The establishment of the Idil Biret Archive label with worldwide distribution by Naxos is simply the realization of a wish, a dream coming true for me.”
-Idil Biret
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.
Karol Szymanowski war zweifellos Polens herausragende Musik-Figur in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts. Geboren am 6. Oktober 1882 in der heutigen Ukraine als Sohn einer wohlhabenden Kunst- und Musikinteressierten Familie des Landadels, erhielt Szymanowski seinen ersten Musikunterricht aufgrund einer langwierigen Beinverletzung auf dem heimischen Anwesen. Danach wurde er von seinem Onkel Gustav Neuhaus unterwiesen, der eine Musikschule in Elisavetgrad, dem heutigen Kirowograd leitete.
1901 ging Szymanowski nach Warschau und studierte dort bei Marek Zawirski Harmonielehre und bei Zygmunt Noskowski Kontrapunkt- und Kompositionslehre am dortigen Konservatorium. Innerhalb des russischen Imperiums war das Warschau jener Zeit allerdings lediglich Provinz, und seit Chopin war es keinem polnischen Komponisten mehr gelungen, die internationale Musikszene zu erobern. Doch Szymanowski gehörte einer Gruppe junger, begabter und ambitionierter polnischer Musiker an, die weit über den Tellerrand hinaus blickten. Bereits 1905 unternahm er gemeinsam mit Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz seine erste Italienreise und gründete im selben Jahr mit Grzegorz Fitelberg, Ludomir Rozycki und Apolinary Szeluto mit Hilfe des Mäzens Wladyslaw Lubomirski die “Verlagsgenossenschaft junger polnischer Komponisten”, die sich der Verbreitung der Werke zeitgenössischer polnischer Komponisten widmete. Die Gruppe wurde schon bald darauf als “Junges Polen” bekannt, die Werke wurden 1906 in Warschau und Berlin uraufgeführt.
Auch Szymanowskis Sinfonie Nr. 2, die er 1910 vollendet hatte, wurde ein Jahr später in Warschau uraufgeführt, fand allerdings wenig Anklang beim dortigen Publikum. Die Besucher seiner Konzerte in Leipzig, Berlin und später auch Wien waren hingegen sehr angetan von der Sinfonie, die – wie sein gesamtes Werk vor dem 1. Weltkrieg – stark von Alexander Skrjabin beeinflusst war. In Wien beschäftigte sich Szymanowski mit dem Werk Debussys, Strawinskys und Ravels, doch seine Neugierde und die Suche nach Inspiration veranlassten seinen unruhigen Geist zu weiteren Reisen.
1914 brach er nach Italien auf, bereiste Sizilien und Nordafrika und landete schließlich über Rom und Paris in London, wo er Strawinsky traf.
Die Kriegsjahre verbringt er weitestgehend auf dem elterlichen Gut, wo er sich eingehend mit mediterraner und islamischer Geschichte und Kultur beschäftigt. Die Eindrücke seiner Reisen in den Mittelmeerraum und den Orient und diese Studien mündeten in eine Phase äußerster Kreativität, in der auch seine dritte Sinfonie Lied der Nacht auf Worte des persischen Sufi-Dichters Mevlana Dschelaleddin Rumi entstand, die Szymanowski 1916 vollendete. „…impressionistischer Farbenreichtum in Verbindung mit antiker, christlich-byzantinischer und orientalisch-mystischer Geisteshaltung…“ kennzeichnen diese Schaffensphase. „ Freie Handhabung der Harmonik, die sich mitunter der Grenze der tonalen Bindung nähert, dicht verflochtene Artikulationen, quasi improvisatorische Entwicklung der Form, raffinierte Orchestrierung, jugendstilhafte Ornamentik und expressive Melodik als Keimzelle der musikalischen Erfindung sind die Ingredienzien von Szymanowskis ganz persönlicher Klangsprache, die nun zur vollen Entfaltung kommt.“ (Peter T. Köster)
Szymanowskis Verdienst für die Musik besteht in seinem herausragenden Talent zur Synthese. Er verschmolz in seinem Werk verschiedene musikalische Kulturen und Stile zu seinem ganz eigenen Gepräge und fand so eine in die Zukunft gerichtete musikalische Mitteilungsform. Szymanowski starb im Alter von nur 54 Jahren in einem Sanatorium in Lausanne.
Antoni Witt, Chefdirigent der Warschauer Philharmoniker und selbst Schüler des berühmten polnischen Komponisten Krzysztof Penderecki, erfasst den individuellen Stil, die Tiefe und den Weitblick in Szymanowskis Kompositionen. Die Warschauer Philharmoniker, die als polnisches Nationalorchester auf das epochenübergreifende musikalische Werk Polens spezialisiert sind, geben Szymanowskis Sinfonien eine nationale Authentizität.
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writing and orchestral effects (for strings and percussion) very much connected with electronic music.’The two-part work uses an Old Slavonic liturgical text without inhibition as to its traditional function and usage. Part One, Entombment (dedicated to the conductor Eugene Ormandy), was commissioned by West German Radio and had its premiere in Altenberg on April 8, 1970. The Polish premiere took place in Kraków on June 26, 1971.
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