Almirante, an opera in three acts with music by Bach, Handel, and Henry and Daniel Purcell; and Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Des Knaben Wunderhorn, and Kindertotenlieder with renowned bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff and baritone Håkan Hågegard
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.
Directed by Peter Sellars and recorded live at Het Muziektheater in Amsterdam in June 2007, the superb cast includes baritone Gerald Finley as J. Robert Oppenheimer and soprano Jessica Rivera as Kitty Oppenheimer.
“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.
Naxos of America, Inc. has released two new SACDs from Dutch-based surround-sound specialists PentaTone Classics (www.pentatonemusic.com). German pianist Martin Helmchen makes his solo recording debut performing Schubert’s Piano Sonata in A, D959 and Six Moments Musicaux (PTC5186329). Additionally, conductor Marc Albrecht leads the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg in his PentaTone recording debut, featuring a program devoted to beloved tone poems by Richard Strauss, including Till Eulenspiegel, Don Juan, Träumerei am Kamen and Tod und Verklärung (PTC5186310).
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.
On August 26, Opus Arte presents Sleeping Beauty performed by The Royal Ballet and conducted by Valeriy Ovsyanikov. This performance of Tchaikovsky’s second ballet, filmed in December of 2006 to mark the 75th anniversary of The Royal Ballet Company, is a revival of the original full-length 1946 production of Sleeping Beauty. As a fitting tribute to The Royal Ballet’s unique style and lush designs, the original designs by Oliver Messels and choreography by famed Marius Petipa are used for this commemorative occasion. Dancers Alina Cojocaru, Federico Bonelli, Christopher Saunders, Genesia Rosato, and Marianela Nuñez lead the viewer through this wonderfully whimsical fairy tale.
Based at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, The Royal Ballet is Great Britain’s most prestigious ballet company. The 95-strong troupe is acknowledged to be reaching a new artistic and technical peak with talented dancers at all levels in its ranks. The Company’s wide-ranging repertory showcases the great classical ballets including The Royal Ballets own heritage, alongside new works by the foremost international choreographers of today and choreographers from within the Company’s own ranks. This range embraces all the celebrated three-act classical ballets, together with works by Founder Choreographer Frederick Ashton and Principal Choreographer Kenneth MacMillan, ballets by George Balanchine, William Forsythe, Christopher Wheeldon and works by Ashley Page and rising British talents amongst those regularly performed.
August 26 brings a new release from Canary Classics, record label of virtuosic violinist Gil Shaham. Three Grammy® award winning musicians have come together for this recording of Tchaikovsky’s beloved Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 50; Yefim Bronfman (piano), Gil Shaham (violin), and Truls Mørk (cello) which was written in 1881-2 in tribute to his friend and great pianist Nicolai Rubinstein. The Piano Trio, which is subtitled ‘In memory of a great friend’, begins with a seventeen-minute first movement in the middle of which we hear a wrenching cello theme that musically personifies Tchaikovsky’s grief at the loss of his friend Nicolai. The second movement consists of a theme and 12 variations. The last variation introduces a new highly-charged theme that undergoes many passionate transformations. The listener prepares to be carried to the end of the Trio by this turbulent finale, only for the piece to return to the reflective and mournful melody of the first movement. The Trio ends in the quiet desolation in which is began.
ATMA-Classique releases the latest recording by acclaimed early and Baroque music ensemble Les Voix Humaines, entitled William Lawes: The Harp Consorts (ATMA-Classique ACD2 2372). For this recording, Les Voix regulars-gambists Susie Napper and Margaret Little-collaborate with renowned harpist Maxine Eilander, American lutenist Stephen Stubbs (co-artistic director of the Boston Early Music Festival and founder of the Seattle Academy of Baroque Opera), and American-born Canadian violinist David Greenberg, who spent 10 years performing with the Toronto-based Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir.
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.
To listen to the episodes from the respective Podcast you will need to have Adobe's FLASH player installed. Please use Adobe's web page to choose the appropriate version to install for your platform.
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.
Entries (RSS)