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Debussy's Pelléas Et Mélisande
Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande - A discographical survey by Ralph Moore Pelléas et Mélisande is a strange, haunting work, typical of the Symbolist movement in that it hints at truths, desires and aspirations just out of reach, yet allied to a longing for transcendence is a tragic, self-destructive element whereby everybody suffers and comes to grief or, as in the case of the lovers, even dies - yet frequent references to fate and Arkel’s ascribing that doleful outcome to ineluctable destiny, rather than human weakness or failing, suggest that they are drawn, powerless, to destruction like moths to the flame. The central enigma of Mélisande’s origin and identity is never revealed; that riddle is reflected in the wispy, amorphous property of the music itself, just as the text, adapted from Maeterlinck’s play, is vague and allusive, rarely open or direct in its expression of the characters’ velleities. The opera was highly innovative and controversial, a gateway to a new style of modern music which discarded and re-invented operatic conventions in a manner which is still arresting and, for some, still unapproachable. It is a work full of light and shade, sunlit clearings in gloomy forest, foetid dungeons and sea-breezes skimming the battlements, sparkling fountains, sunsets and brooding storms - all vividly depicted in the score. Any francophone Francophile will delight in the nuances of the parlando text. There is no ensemble or choral element beyond the brief sailors’ “Hoé! Hisse hoé!” offstage and only once do voices briefly intertwine, at the climax of the lovers' final duet. -
Berlioz's Les Nuits D'été
Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été - A survey of the discography by Ralph Moore The song cycle Les nuits d'été (Summer Nights) Op. 7 consists of settings by Hector Berlioz of six poems written by his friend Théophile Gautier. Strictly speaking, they do not really constitute a cycle, insofar as they are not linked by any narrative but only loosely connected by their disparate treatment of the themes of love and loss. There is, however, a neat symmetry in their arrangement: two cheerful, optimistic songs looking forward to the future, frame four sombre, introspective songs. Completed in 1841, they were originally for a mezzo-soprano or tenor soloist with a piano accompaniment but having orchestrated "Absence" in 1843 for his lover and future wife, Maria Recio, Berlioz then did the same for the other five in 1856, transposing the second and third songs to lower keys. When this version was published, Berlioz specified different voices for the various songs: mezzo-soprano or tenor for "Villanelle", contralto for "Le spectre de la rose", baritone (or, optionally, contralto or mezzo) for "Sur les lagunes", mezzo or tenor for "Absence", tenor for "Au cimetière", and mezzo or tenor for "L'île inconnue". However, after a long period of neglect, in their resurgence in modern times they have generally become the province of a single singer, usually a mezzo-soprano – although both mezzos and sopranos sometimes tinker with the keys to ensure that the tessitura of individual songs sits in the sweet spot of their voices, and transpositions of every song are now available so that it can be sung in any one of three - or, in the case of “Au cimetière”, four - key options; thus, there is no consistency of keys across the board. -
07 – Spinning the Record
VI. THE STEREO ERA In 1954, a timid and uncertain record industry took the plunge to begin investing heav- ily in stereophonic sound. They were not timid and uncertain because they didn’t know if their system would work – as we have seen, they had already been experimenting with and working the kinks out of stereo sound since 1932 – but because they still weren’t sure how to make a home entertainment system that could play a stereo record. Nevertheless, they all had their various equipment in place, and so that year they began tentatively to make recordings using the new medium. RCA started, gingerly, with “alternate” stereo tapes of monophonic recording sessions. Unfortunately, since they were still uncertain how the results would sound on home audio, they often didn’t mark and/or didn’t file the alternate stereo takes properly. As a result, the stereo versions of Charles Munch’s first stereo recordings – Berlioz’ “Roméo et Juliette” and “Symphonie Fanastique” – disappeared while others, such as Fritz Reiner’s first stereo re- cordings (Strauss’ “Also Sprach Zarathustra” and the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 with Ar- thur Rubinstein) disappeared for 20 years. Oddly enough, their prize possession, Toscanini, was not recorded in stereo until his very last NBC Symphony performance, at which he suf- fered a mental lapse while conducting. None of the performances captured on that date were even worth preserving, let alone issuing, and so posterity lost an opportunity to hear his last half-season with NBC in the excellent sound his artistry deserved. Columbia was even less willing to pursue stereo. -
Bellini's Norma
Bellini’s Norma - A discographical survey by Ralph Moore There are around 130 recordings of Norma in the catalogue of which only ten were made in the studio. The penultimate version of those was made as long as thirty-five years ago, then, after a long gap, Cecilia Bartoli made a new recording between 2011 and 2013 which is really hors concours for reasons which I elaborate in my review below. The comparative scarcity of studio accounts is partially explained by the difficulty of casting the eponymous role, which epitomises bel canto style yet also lends itself to verismo interpretation, requiring a vocalist of supreme ability and versatility. Its challenges have thus been essayed by the greatest sopranos in history, beginning with Giuditta Pasta, who created the role of Norma in 1831. Subsequent famous exponents include Maria Malibran, Jenny Lind and Lilli Lehmann in the nineteenth century, through to Claudia Muzio, Rosa Ponselle and Gina Cigna in the first part of the twentieth. Maria Callas, then Joan Sutherland, dominated the role post-war; both performed it frequently and each made two bench-mark studio recordings. Callas in particular is to this day identified with Norma alongside Tosca; she performed it on stage over eighty times and her interpretation casts a long shadow over. Artists since, such as Gencer, Caballé, Scotto, Sills, and, more recently, Sondra Radvanovsky have had success with it, but none has really challenged the supremacy of Callas and Sutherland. Now that the age of expensive studio opera recordings is largely over in favour of recording live or concert performances, and given that there seemed to be little commercial or artistic rationale for producing another recording to challenge those already in the catalogue, the appearance of the new Bartoli recording was a surprise, but it sought to justify its existence via the claim that it authentically reinstates the integrity of Bellini’s original concept in matters such as voice categories, ornamentation and instrumentation. -
George Frederick Bristow Im Magazin Klassik #7
200x307_mowo18_rk_stephansdom.qxp_Layout 1 10.10.17 17:13 Seite 1 magazin KLASSIK No. 7/Winter € 5,50 2017/ 18 MOZART WOCHE 2018 26. JÄNNER – 4. FEBRUAR www.mozarteum.at 26.01 PREMIERE 30.01., 02.02. jeweils 19.30, Haus für Mozart MOZART DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL KV 384 René Jacobs (Dirigent), Andrea Moses (Regie), Jan Pappelbaum (Bühne), Svenja Gassen (Kostüme), Olaf Freese (Licht), Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Salzburger Bachchor. Mit Robin Johannsen, Sunhae Im, Sebastian Kohlhepp, Julian Prégardien, David Steffens, Alban Berg S. 2 Musik für die Weihnachtsfeiertage S. 10 Peter Lohmeyer Konzerte Wissenschaft Museen Gottfried von Einem – zum 100. Geburtstag S. 12 Erinnerung an Rudolf Nurejew S. 16 Die Macht der Musik S. 31 fb communications Bei uns RADIO KLASSIK sind HÖRERREISE Musikalischer Höhepunkt BASKISCHES OPERNHAUS Private Banking im neuerbauten Palacio Euskalduna BILBAO 22.2. - 25.2.2018 Kunden DIE HAUPTSTADT DES BASKENLANDES – VON DER INDUSTRIERUINE ZUR LEBENDIGEN KULTURHAUPTSTADT. GEPLANTE HIGHLIGHTS herzlich Altstadt & Guggenheim Museum • • Busrundfahrt Baskenland: Besichtigung Gernika und die malerisch gelegene Kirche San Juan de Gaztelugatxe, willkommen. Getxo, der noble Vorort mit der ältesten Schwebefähre (Weltkulturerbe) Guggenheim Bilbao © Pixabay • Opernbesuch Palacio Euskalduna Richard Strauss Salome • Flug mit Austrian Airlines / Umstieg in Brüssel • Reiseleitung Dr. Helmut Pitsch / radio klassik Stephansdom PAUSCHALPREIS Suspention Bridge of Bizkaia © Basquetour inkl. Flug, 2xMittagessen, 1 Abendessen, Opernkarte, 3 ÜN Hotel Coliseo Bilbao, Tagesausflug Baskenland, Eintritt & Führung Guggenheim Museum, Altstadtführung Pauschalpreis pro Person im DZ EUR 1.295,– EZ EUR 1.405,– Zusätzliche Informationen: WWW.RADIOKLASSIK.AT San Juan de Gaztelugatxe © Basquetour PRIVATBANK SEIT 1832 Veranstalter: Mondial GmbH & Co. KG, Operng. -
Audiovisual Recording As Registers of Opera Productions1
Comunicação e Sociedade, vol. 31, 2017, pp. 39 – 56 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.17231/comsoc.31(2017).2603 The world in a bottle and the archeology of staging: audiovisual recording as registers of opera productions1 Mateus Yuri Passos Abstract This work focuses on the use of the audiovisual opera recording as a document to analyze contemporary stagings labeled by the German critics as director’s theater [Regietheater]. In direc- tor’s theater, Wagner’s total artwork project [Gesamtkunstwerk] achieves a turn in meaning, for the three artistic dimensions of opera – word, music and staging – become different texts. In this paper, we discuss the limitations of audiovisual recording as a register of director’s theater opera stagings, as well as filmic resources that allow for a reconstruction of the audiovisual text of such productions with solutions that are often quite distinct from those adopted on the stage. We are in- terested above all in problematizing the equivalence that is sometimes established between a stag- ing and its recording – especially in the contemporary context of productions that frequently suffer considerable changes and are characterized by the unique aspect of each performance, always full of singular events and relatively autonomous regarding the general plan of the director. Thus, we will discuss problems and solutions of video direction of audiovisual recordings of stagings of the operatic cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen [The Ring of Nibelungo], by Richard Wagner (1813-1883). Keywords Opera recording; director’s theater; opera staging; Regietheater; Richard Wagner Resumo Este trabalho se debruça sobre o uso de gravações audiovisuais como documentos para análise de producções de ópera contemporâneas agrupadas pela crítica alemã sob o termo tea- tro de director [Regietheater]. -
Guild Gmbh Guild -Historical Catalogue Bärenholzstrasse 8, 8537 Nussbaumen/TG, Switzerland Tel: +41 52 742 85 00 - E-Mail: [email protected] CD-No
Guild GmbH Guild -Historical Catalogue Bärenholzstrasse 8, 8537 Nussbaumen/TG, Switzerland Tel: +41 52 742 85 00 - e-mail: [email protected] CD-No. Title Composer/Track Artists GHCD 2201 Parsifal Act 2 Richard Wagner The Metropolitan Opera 1938 - Flagstad, Melchior, Gabor, Leinsdorf GHCD 2202 Toscanini - Concert 14.10.1939 FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797-1828) Symphony No.8 in B minor, "Unfinished", D.759 NBC Symphony, Arturo Toscanini RICHARD STRAUSS (1864-1949) Don Juan - Tone Poem after Lenau, op. 20 FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN (1732-1809) Symphony Concertante in B flat Major, op. 84 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor (Orchestrated by O. Respighi) GHCD Le Nozze di Figaro Mozart The Metropolitan Opera - Breisach with Pinza, Sayão, Baccaloni, Steber, Novotna 2203/4/5 GHCD 2206 Boris Godounov, Selections Moussorgsky Royal Opera, Covent Garden 1928 - Chaliapin, Bada, Borgioli GHCD Siegfried Richard Wagner The Metropolitan Opera 1937 - Melchior, Schorr, Thorborg, Flagstad, Habich, 2207/8/9 Laufkoetter, Bodanzky GHCD 2210 Mahler: Symphony No.2 Gustav Mahler - Symphony No.2 in C Minor „The Resurrection“ Concertgebouw Orchestra, Otto Klemperer - Conductor, Kathleen Ferrier, Jo Vincent, Amsterdam Toonkunstchoir - 1951 GHCD Toscanini - Concert 1938 & RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (1872-1958) Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis NBC Symphony, Arturo Toscanini 2211/12 1942 JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897) Symphony No. 3 in F Major, op. 90 GUISEPPE MARTUCCI (1856-1909) Notturno, Novelletta; PETER IILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840- 1893) Romeo and Juliet -
Manyfaces of Inspiration Conversations on Australian Creativity
William Barton Bruce Beresford Tony Bilson Wendy Blacklock Joan Carden Geoffrey Chard David Clarkson Michael Crouch Rosemary Crumlin Tania De Jong Ross Edwards Robert Gard Stephen Kovacevic Greta Lanchbery Justin Macdonnell David Malouf John McCallum Elisabeth Murdoch Ted Myers Roland Peelman Helena Rathbone Rodney Seaborn John Shaw ManyFaces of Inspiration Conversations on Australian Creativity Dinah Shearing Rachael Swain ANTONY Ken Tribe Googie Withers JEFFREY Martin & Peter Wesley-Smith Many Faces of Inspiration — Antony Jeffrey.indd 1 2/09/10 4:52 PM ntony Jeffrey has worked A in arts management since 1975 when he joined the Australia Council as Music Board director. He was the first general manager of the Australian Chamber Orchestra and for many years has maintained a close association with the orchestra. Prior to that he was commercial manager of the Australian Opera. More recently he was general manager of the Song Company until 2009. He originally trained as an accountant with Price Waterhouse, where he worked in Australia and overseas until his passion for music seduced him into the professional music scene. Since that time, in addition to his executive appointments, he has worked as director or consultant to many arts organisations including the Australian Ballet, Melbourne Theatre Company, Lyric Opera of Queensland, Musica Viva, Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust. He has been a leader in establishing philanthropy, corporate sponsor- ship and strategic planning in the arts in Australia, publishing several books in this field, notably 101 Good Ideas for Assisting the Arts. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2008 for his services to the arts. -
Die Zauberflöte
June 4, 2020 – Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte On this week’s Thursday Evening Opera House I'll be presenting everyone’s favorite Mozart Singspiel, Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute). It was premiered on September 30, 1791 in Vienna’s Theater auf der Wieden, which was operated by librettist Emanuel Schikaneder (the first Papageno). Mozart’s penultimate opera, it is a fairy tale work overlaid with Masonic and humanist symbolism. Three Ladies (soprano Hildegard Hillebrecht, mezzo-soprano Doris Cvetka Ahlin, contralto Sieglinde Wagner) save Prince Tamino (tenor Fritz Wunderlich) from a monster and give him a portrait of Pamina (soprano Evelyn Lear), daughter of their mistress, the Queen of the Night (soprano Roberta Peters). Tamino falls in love with Pamina’s beautiful image, and the Queen charges him with rescuing her from the hands of the supposedly evil Sarastro (bass Franz Crass), the high priest of Isis. She gives him an enchanted flute to aid him through perils, and sends the bird catcher Papageno (baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau) with him as a guide. On arrival at the Temple of Isis, Tamino is told by the Speaker (bass-baritone Hans Hotter) that only truth and wisdom reside within, and Sarastro bids him enter and learn. Pamina, lusted after by Sarastro’s Moorish slave Monostatos (tenor Friedrich Lenz), returns Tamino’s love, and the two agree to undergo tests to prove their virtue and constancy. Papageno is also tested and even though he makes a poor showing, is rewarded with Papagena (soprano Lisa Otto). With the aid of the magic flute, Tamino and Pamina pass through the ordeals of fire and water. -
CHAN 3086 BOOK.Qxd 21/5/07 5:36 Pm Page 2
CHAN 3086 Book Cover.qxd 21/5/07 5:33 pm Page 1 CHAN 3086(2) CHANDOS O PERA IN ENGLISH CHAN 3086 BOOK.qxd 21/5/07 5:36 pm Page 2 Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924) Turandot Lyric drama in three acts Libretto by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni, after Gozzi’s dramatic fairy-tale Lebrecht Music Collection Music Lebrecht Princess Turandot............................................................................................Jane Eaglen soprano The Emperor Altoum, her father....................................................................Nicolai Gedda tenor Timur, the dispossessed King of Tartary...............................................................Clive Bayley bass Calaf, his son.................................................................................................Dennis O’Neill tenor Liù, a slave-girl ................................................................................................Mary Plazas soprano Ping, Grand Chancellor ............................................................................Peter Sidhom baritone Pang, General Purveyor Ministers ..............................................................Mark Le Brocq tenor Pong, Chief Cook } ...................................................................................Peter Wedd tenor A Mandarin .................................................................................................Simon Bailey baritone Prince of Persia ..............................................................................................Mark Le Brocq tenor -
Werner-B02c[Erato-10CD].Pdf
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) The Cantatas, Volume 2 Heinrich Schütz Choir, Heilbronn Pforzheim Chamber Orchestra Württemberg Chamber Orchestra (B\,\1/ 102, 137, 150) Südwestfunk Orchestra, Baden-Baden (B\,\ry 51, 104) Fritz Werner L'Acad6mie Charles Cros, Grand Prix du disque (BWV 21, 26,130) For complete cantata texts please see www.bach-cantatas.com/IndexTexts.htm cD t 75.22 Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis, BWV 2l My heart and soul were sore distrest . Mon cceur ötait plein d'ffiiction Domenica 3 post Trinitatis/Per ogni tempo Cantata for the Third Sunday after Trinity/For any time Pour le 3n"" Dimanche aprös la Trinitö/Pour tous les temps Am 3. Sonntag nachTrinitatis/Für jede Zeit Prima Parte 0l 1. Sinfonia 3.42 Oboe, violini, viola, basso continuo 02 2. Coro; Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis 4.06 Oboe, violini, viola, fagotto, basso continuo 03 3. Aria (Soprano): Seufzer, Tränen, Kummer, Not 4.50 Oboe, basso continuo ) 04 4. Recitativo (Tenore): Wie hast du dich, mein Gott 1.50 Violini, viola, basso continuo 05 5. Aria (Tenore): Bäche von gesalznen Zähren 5.58 Violini, viola, basso conlinuo 06 6. Coro: Was betrübst du dich, meine Seele 4.35 Oboe, violini, viola, fagotto, basso continuo Seconda Parte 07 7. Recitativo (Soprano, Basso): Ach Iesu, meine Ruh 1.38 Violini, viola, basso continuo 08 8. Duetto (Soprano, Basso): Komm, mein Jesu 4.34 Basso continuo 09 9. Coro: Sei nun wieder zufrieden 6.09 Oboe, tromboni, violini, viola, fagotto, basso continuo l0 10. Aria (Tenore): Erfreue dich, Seele 2.52 Basso continuo 11 11. -
Sacred & Secular Vocal
SACRED & SECULAR VOCAL SACRED WORKS BACH 333 BACH 1 2 BACH 333 SACRED WORKS SACRED AND SECULAR VOCAL Tracklists Chorales 2 Magnificat, Motets, Masses, Passions, Oratorios 16 Secular Cantatas 68 Vocal Traditions 92 Sung texts Chorales 160 Magnificat, Motets, Masses 205 St John Passion 214 St Matthew Passion 234 Easter Oratorio 263 Ascension Oratorio 265 Christmas Oratorio 268 Secular Cantatas 283 CD 49 68:51 4-Part Chorales Sung texts pp. 160–174 1 Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan BWV 250 0:53 2 Sei Lob und Ehr dem höchsten Gut BWV 251 0:53 3 Nun danket alle Gott BWV 252 0:52 Kölner Akademie | Michael Alexander Willens conductor 4 Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ BWV 253 0:38 5 Ach Gott, erhör mein Seufzen und Wehklagen BWV 254 0:48 6 Ach Gott und Herr BWV 255 0:36 7 Ach lieben Christen, seid getrost BWV 256 0:57 Augsburger Domsingknaben | Reinhard Kammler conductor CHORALES Claudia Waßner organ 8 Wär Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit BWV 257 0:55 9 Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält BWV 258 0:56 Vocalconsort Berlin | Daniel Reuss conductor Ophira Zakai lute | Elina Albach organ BACH 333 BACH 4 10 Ach, was soll ich Sünder machen BWV 259 0:55 11 Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr BWV 260 0:56 12 Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ BWV 261 1:13 13 Alle Menschen müssen sterben BWV 262 0:57 14 Alles ist an Gottes Segen BWV 263 0:42 15 Als der gütige Gott BWV 264 1:22 16 Als Jesus Christus in der Nacht BWV 265 1:42 17 Als vierzig Tag nach Ostern warn BWV 266 0:48 18 An Wasserflüssen Babylon BWV 267 1:23 19 Auf, auf, mein Herz, und du mein ganzer Sinn