GORDON GETTY THE LITTLE MATCH Nikolai Schukoff, Melody Moore, Lester Lynch

Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Münchner Rundfunkorchester Asher Fisch, Ulf Schirmer The Little Joan and the Bells A Prayer for My Daughter A PRAYER FOR MY In the elms above the fl ooded stream; Their magnanimities of sound, Gordon Getty (born 1933) Cantata for Soprano, Baritone, Chorus and Orchestra DAUGHTER Imagining in excited reverie Nor but in merriment begin a chase, Text by Gordon Getty Yeats was fi fty-one when he married That the future years had come, Nor but in merriment a quarrel. 1 A Prayer for my Daughter 13. 22 Georgie Hyde-Lees in 1916. He wrote WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS Dancing to a frenzied drum, Oh, may she live like some green laurel For Chorus and Orchestra 6 Judgment 7. 03 “A Prayer for My Daughter” on the birth Out of the murderous innocence of the Rooted in one dear perpetual place. Text by William Butler Yeats 7 Joan in Her Chamber 6. 16 of Anne Yeats in 1919. The “loveliest Once more the storm is howling, and sea. 8 The Square at Rouen 6. 39 woman born” in the third to last stanza half hid My mind, because the minds that I Poor Peter would be Maud Gonne, the love of his Under this cradle-hood and coverlid May she be granted beauty and yet not have loved, For Tenor, Chorus and Orchestra life, and the “old bellows full of angry My child sleeps on. There is no obstacle Beauty to make a stranger’s eye The sort of beauty that I have approved, Text by Gordon Getty wind” would be the man she married, But Gregory’s Wood and one bare hill distraught, Prosper but little, has dried up of late, Total playing time: 66. 59 Major John MacBride. Both were violent Whereby the haystack- and roof-levelling Or hers before a looking-glass, for such, Yet knows that to be choked with hate 2 Where is My Lady 2. 46 revolutionaries. MacBride had been wind, Being made beautiful overmuch, May well be of all evil chances chief. 3 Tune the Fiddle 1. 24 executed for his part in the Bred on the Atlantic, can be stayed; Consider beauty a suffi cient end, If there’s no hatred in a mind 4 Ballad of Poor Peter 5. 21 Easter uprising of 1916 when the poem And for an hour I have walked and Lose natural kindness and maybe Assault and battery of the wind was written. prayed The heart-revealing intimacy Can never tear the linnet from the leaf. 5 The Little Match Girl 23. 45 Nikolai Schukoff , Tenor (Poor Peter) It is one of the most admired works by Because of the great gloom that is in That chooses right and never fi nd a For Chorus and Orchestra Melody Moore, Soprano (Joan and the Bells) one of the most admired poets of the my mind. friend. * An intellectual hatred is the worst, Text by Lester Lynch, Baritone (Joan and the Bells) age. Any setting would need to deal with So let her think opinions are accursed. (English translation by H. B. Paull) Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks the storm described in the fi rst two I have walked and prayed for this young May she become a fl ourishing hidden Have I not seen the loveliest woman From the short story The Little Match Girl Chorus Masters: Jörn Hinnerk Andresen (1 - 5) and Robert Blank (6 - 8) stanzas. Mine abates it in the third, child an hour tree born Münchner Rundfunkorchester leaves out the fourth and fi fth, then And heard the sea-wind scream upon That all her thoughts may like the linnet Out of the mouth of Plenty’s horn, brings back fl urries now and then until the tower, be, Because of her opinionated mind Conducted by the last. The appeal to ceremony at that And under the arches of the bridge, And have no business but dispensing Barter that horn and every good Asher Fisch (1 - 5) and Ulf Schirmer (6 - 8) point invited a brass chorale to close. and scream round By quiet natures understood For an old bellows full of angry wind? * Composer did not set stanza 4 and 5 Poor Peter of Wandering Aengus,” where a girl POOR PETER Easterly, southerly, follow the train of the original poem. materializes magically, runs off , and is GORDON GETTY Where she runs in the starlight, she runs Considering that, all hatred driven hence, Poor Peter is set in the Middle Ages of followed by Aengus forever: in the rain, The soul recovers radical innocence Text: “A Prayer for my Daughter,” myth, of Sherwood Forest or Camelot WHERE IS MY LADY? In footfall and starfall, again and And learns at last that it is self- by William Butler Yeats, or Christmas carols. “Where is My “Though I am old with wandering, again, delighting, adapted by Gordon Getty. Lady,” which opens the cycle, also Through hollow lands and hilly lands, Where is my lady, O where has she Beauty and grace she is, beauty and Self-appeasing, self-aff righting, Source: William Butler Yeats, “A Prayer appears in my opera Usher House. I will fi nd out where she has gone, gone? grace And that its own sweet will is heaven’s for my Daughter” in Michael Robartes There it is sung by the narrator, who And kiss her lips and take her hands; Over the moonrise and over the dawn. Hang in the air like chimes where she will; And The Dancer, (Churchtown, I make to be Poe himself, and then And walk among long-dappled grass, Follow her easterly, follow the trace goes by. She can, though every face should Dundrum, Ireland: Cuala Press, 1920), reprised wordlessly by Madeline as she And pluck, till time and times are done, Of her toe on the wind; she has run to scowl Pages 20-23. walks up from her crypt at the end. The The silver apples of the moon, the place TUNE THE FIDDLE And every windy quarter howl “Beauty and grace…” refrain, although The golden apples of the sun.” Where the morning begins, and the sea Or every bellows burst, be happy still. not so much the whole poem, is meant and the sky; Tune the fi ddle and fetch the drum, to sound as if Poe might have written it. The debt of my own lines to this, Beauty and grace she is, beauty and Stamp and clap as the dancers come, And may her bride-groom bring her to particularly in my third stanza, is plain grace In green and blues, in ranks and a house “Tune the Fiddle” off ers a foot-stomping enough. Hang in the air like chimes where she queues, Where all’s accustomed, ceremonious; contrast in tempo and dynamic, and goes by. Two by twos in dancing shoes. For arrogance and hatred are the wares gives a hint of the sass and cheek Even so, Aengus and Poor Peter are not Peddled in the thoroughfares. expected of actual minstrels in festive the same. We cannot imagine Aengus What if I follow, as best I can try, Carve the roast and fi ll the bowl, How but in custom and in ceremony songs. Minstrels seem to have been a singing “Tune the Fiddle.” Poor Peter And ring the wide world, and yet fail in Here’s to our host, and the thirsty soul, Are innocence and beauty born? Münchner Rundfunkorchester rowdy lot, incidentally, judging from has a twinkle; he is audience-aware, he the chase? And the company whole. Ceremony’s a name for the rich horn, © Denis Pernath Grove’s. invites the smile and the tear together. Follow her southerly, follow the mark And custom for the spreading laurel The main idea of “The Ballad of Poor These traits give him a place in the world Of her foot in the light, of her foot in O Master of Revels, O Lord of Misrule, tree. Peter” comes from Yeats’ “The Song we know, as well as the world of dreams. the dark, You have set us to school with the ape and the fool! Ladies fair will dance in the air, You lost me when the world began.” Or nothing if you haven’t any, The Little Match Girl THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL which were quite red and blue with even a penny of money. Her father If we drink, we are giddy, if not, we are Gallants tall will chase them all, I asked her meaning, but she ran And bless you all the while. HANS CHRISTIAN the cold. In an old apron she carried a would certainly beat her; besides, it dry, And catch them as they fall. Into the wild. “The Little Match Girl” is best read number of matches, and had a bundle was nearly as cold at home as here, for Then let it go by, with never a why. Poor Peter: © 2013 Rork Music sitting down. Heartbreak, catharsis, ANDERSEN of them in her hands. No one had they had only the roof to cover them, Tune the fi ddle and fetch the drum, Now where she went, and what she redemption. We are the ones redeemed bought anything of her the whole day, through which the wind blew, although Up to your toes, Miss Gillian, Stamp and clap as the dancers come, meant, because we care. It was terribly cold and nearly dark on nor had anyone given her even a penny. the largest holes had been stuff ed up Follow your nose, Maid Allison, In green and blues, in ranks and I do not know, the last evening of the old year, and the Shivering with cold and hunger, she with straw and rags. Her little hands Watch how she goes, Dame Jocelyn, queues, Or how the world was fi rst begun, Andersen’s story is only three pages snow was falling fast. In the cold and crept along; poor little child, she looked were almost frozen with the cold. Ah! One, two, three, A, B, C, merrily. Two by twos in dancing shoes. But I will fi nd where she has run, long. I picked a translation from the the darkness, a poor little girl, with bare the picture of misery. The snow-fl akes perhaps a burning match might be And follow her beyond the sun, Danish, and set it more or less word head and naked feet, roamed through fell on her long, fair hair, which hung in some good, if she could draw it from Dance to the cembalo, dance to the THE BALLAD OF POOR PETER And ask, before the world is done, for word. The occasional speedups the streets. It is true she had on a pair curls on her shoulders, but she regarded the bundle and strike it against the pipe, How came it so. and slowdowns in my setting pose of slippers when she left home, but them not. wall, just to warm her fi ngers. She drew Step to the measure while beauty is Gentles, children, come awhile a challenge to the orchestra, and they were not of much use. They were one out—“scratch!” how it sputtered as ripe, My song to hear, And now I pass, a white old man, particularly the chorus, in staying very large, so large, indeed, that they Lights were shining from every window, it burnt! It gave a warm, bright light, The lad and the lass and the music will And if the song be worth a smile, From there to here, together. The climax comes when had belonged to her mother, and the and there was a savory smell of roast like a little candle, as she held her hand pass, Or worth a tear, By wit and wile, the little girl rises to heaven in her poor little creature had lost them in goose, for it was New-year’s eve—yes, over it. It was really a wonderful light. As the wine from the glass, as the dew Then grant Poor Peter but a penny, A skip, a footstep and a year, grandmother’s arms. An orchestral running across the street to avoid two she remembered that. In a corner, It seemed to the little girl that she was from the grass. Or two or three if you have many, A minute and a mile, interlude then recapitulates the carriages that were rolling along at a between two houses, one of which sitting by a large iron stove with brass Or nothing if you haven’t any, To fi nd her where the world began, themes, and the chorus returns in terrible rate. One of the slippers she projected beyond the other, she sank ornament. How the fi re burned! and Skip and away, young Jeremy, And keep good cheer. And sing of her, as best I can, serenity. could not fi nd, and a boy seized upon down and huddled herself together. She seemed so beautifully warm that the Best of the day, good Timothy, And if the song be worth a tear, the other and ran away with it, saying had drawn her little feet under her, but little child stretched out her feet as if to What do you say, Squire Anthony, Upon a day, along a way, Or yet a smile, he could use it as a cradle, when he she could not keep off the cold; and she warm them, when, lo! the fl ame of the Four, fi ve, six, candlewicks, fi shing I met a child. Then grant Poor Peter but a penny, had children of his own. So the little dared not go home, for she had sold match went out, the stove vanished, sticks. She said, “Come fi nd me if you can; Or two or three if you have many, Nikolai Schukoff girl went on with her little naked feet, no matches, and could not take home and she had only the remains of the half-burnt match in her hand. the glass door at the rich merchant’s. cried the little one, “O take me with holding the matches in her hand, one Joan and the Bells was captured in battle a few months meanwhile that church bells brought her age of war and freebooters and Thousands of tapers were burning you; I know you will go away when the bundle of which was burnt. “She tried later he did not ransom her, although Joan’s visions and voices, but not that the Black . It was the genius of She rubbed another match on the upon the green branches, and colored match burns out; you will vanish like the to warm herself,” said some. No one 1429 was the 92nd year of the Hundred he could have done so easily under any were silenced at her trial. Shaw that inverted this safe literary wall. It burst into a fl ame, and where pictures, like those she had seen in the warm stove, the roast goose, and the imagined what beautiful things she Years’ War. Three generations of French the customs of the time. She was sold tradition and brought out the spunky its light fell upon the wall it became as show-windows, looked down upon it all. large, glorious Christmas-tree.” And she had seen, nor into what glory she had had been bloodied in the disasters of to the Duke of Burgundy, and tried by There is also no reason to suppose that teenager in Joan. Jean Anouilh went transparent as a veil, and she could see The little one stretched out her hand made haste to light the whole bundle entered with her grandmother, on New- Crecy, Poitiers and Agincourt. In the the Church for heresy and witchcraft Cauchon was compassionate in the farther, in The Lark, and gave her the into the room. The table was covered towards them, and the match went of matches, because she wanted to year’s day. spring of that year an illiterate peasant at Rouen in 1431. Pierre Cauchon, the end. He is made so here to mitigate simplicity of preadolescence. Joan with a snowy white table-cloth, on out. keep her grandmother there. And the girl told fi rst the Governor of her region, Bishop of Beauvais, led the prosecution. Church-bashing, to give the benefi t and the Bells owes much to these which stood a splendid dinner service, matches glowed with a light that was Text: “The Little Match Girl,” by Hans and then the Dauphin, that she had She renounced her visions under a of the doubt to little-known historical masters, particularly Anouilh, and and a steaming roast goose, stuff ed The Christmas lights rose higher and brighter than the noon-day, and her Christian Andersen, translated by been chosen by God to drive the English promise that her life would be spared, fi gures, and to keep the focus on Joan. takes the same poetic license. It is a with apples and dried plums. And higher, till they looked to her like the grandmother had never appeared so H.B. Paull, adapted by Gordon Getty. back to their shores. She was given and recanted on learning that the Her story needs no villains. It is the tale of a child’s faith in an age without what was still more wonderful, the stars in the sky. Then she saw a star fall, large or so beautiful. She took the little Source: Hans Christian Andersen, “The a few soldiers and sent to join the terms included life imprisonment on hero, not the saint, who is measured by childhood, of a valor undefl ected, goose jumped down from the dish and leaving behind it a bright streak of fi re. girl in her arms, and they both fl ew Little Match-Seller” in Fairy Tales, trans. defense of Orleans. She led the French bread and water. She was now trapped the size of the dragon slain. The saint and of the redemption these qualities waddled across the fl oor, with a knife “Someone is dying,” thought the little upwards in brightness and joy far above H. B. Paull (Chicago: S. A. Maxwell & army to victory. Later in that year she as a relapsed heretic, and was burned is measured by the promise kept, by commend. and fork in its breast, to the little girl. girl, for her old grandmother, the only the earth, where there was neither cold Co., 1888), Pages 227-229. broke the English strongholds along at the stake. She was about nineteen the beauty of the vision, and by the Then the match went out, and there one who had ever loved her, and who nor hunger nor pain, for they were with the Loire, and led the Dauphin through years old. straightness of the path. remained nothing but the thick, damp, was now dead, had told her that when God. Burgundian territory to his coronation cold wall before her. a star falls, a soul was going up to God. at Rheims. Myth can add little to such a history. Schiller and Mark Twain, and Verdi and In the dawn of the morning there lay Like other writers, even so, I have Tchaikovsky, made Joan wise beyond She lighted another match, and then She again rubbed a match on the wall, the poor little one, with pale cheeks Soon she had proved too warlike cast Joan’s story in a myth to suit my her years. Indeed she was. The record she found herself sitting under a and the light shone round her; in the and smiling mouth, leaning against and independent for the new king’s telling. Joan and the Bells keeps to of her trial, which was meticulous beautiful Christmas-tree. It was larger brightness stood her old grandmother, the wall; she had been frozen to death comfort. In 1430 she attacked some facts and makes up others. Thus by the fi ne-printing standards of the and more beautifully decorated than clear and shining, yet mild and loving on the last evening of the old year. The Burgundian Paris, without result, after Domremy is given a Lourdes-like setting time, shows a defendant of acumen the one which she had seen through in her appearance. “Grandmother,” child still sat, in the stiff ness of death, he had declared a truce. When she for picturesqueness alone. It is true and poise. People grew up fast in JOAN AND THE BELLS Cauchon Joan Cauchon Cauchon PART TWO: JOAN IN HER CHAMBER Then I saw you, Saint Michael, Saint Catherine, GORDON GETTY You are mistaken. Satan armed you, I thank the court. Your Reverences She is obdurate. We can do nothing. He took their tongues. And you, Saint Catherine, A soldier?” And you answered, child. Are old and wise, the Church is God’s Remove her. Pray for her. The trial is Joan And now I ask your pardon too. I am “If you are not afraid, and keep your PART ONE: JUDGMENT The sword was his. Repent, be healed, true agent, closed. Chorus Saint Margaret, ashamed, word, be saved. And I am perjured. There was no fault in it. God help us Her visions come with them. I ask your pardon fi rst, For I have broken faith with you, And do your very best, Cauchon and Chorus Cast him away, and you will bless our I was afraid, and was not true to them, now, Because it was you I saw the fi rst of all, And made you angry, Then you will be a soldier, and ride a Joan the Maid, you are condemned. judgment. Saint Catherine, Saint Margaret, Saint But, Brothers, who can say we were not Cauchon Running to church. Do you remember? And that is why you will not come to horse, You have done prodigies by witchcraft, Receive God’s grace and you will bless Michael, fair? The bells are mute. God help us, It was fall and cool and morning and me. And hold a sword, and crown a king, Beyond all temporal power, in men’s t h e fl a m e s , I did them evil, We were most circumspect. The pope Brothers, beautiful; And do brave things that will be told clothes, Let God’s grace shine in them and sing Here in this room I called them frauds absolves us. But who can say we were not fair? I was running up where the path was But then you came, all three, forever.” You have led armies and defeated in them, and specters, The laity consent. highest, And, Blessed Margaret, you said, And I said, “Well, then, I will try, armies, Let them drive out the husk, the dross, But I have asked their pardon, Chorus Up where the bells came loudest, on “Joan, do you know us?” And I said, But how can I do all of that?” And counseled heresies. You have heard the slag, And must not wrong them more. Chorus Who can say we were not fair? the hillside, “I do, Saint Margaret, And then, Saint Michael, you said, our judgment. Let them drive out that antichrist, the Your Reverences have sentenced me Thus far. In the forest by the spring, But I think you must have lost your way. “You will know how, all by yourself, Let it be entered. mortal world, most justly. But there must be no bells. Where I could see our roof and all the Not even the abbé comes to And when you need us we will come to Let them refi ne, cleanse, cauterize, I am still wicked and afraid. roofs, Domremy.” you.” Joan Let them anneal, let them distill, But, Reverences, I must not wrong Cauchon But this time I was running not to be Saint Michael, then you said, “Joan, I wore men’s clothes and armor Let them make pure. Renounce your them more, There will be none. late, Are you afraid of us?” And I said, “No, Oh, blessed saints, it was the truth. And fought their fi ght. visions, And I will ask their pardon in the fi re. The Duke of Bedford stilled them. And did not look. Saint Michael,” At Chinon Castle you led me to the God put a sword into my hand. Know them aright. They are not your Do you remember? All at once I saw And then, Saint Catherine, you said, Dauphin three saints. Chorus Chorus you, “It is good that you are not, And made him trust me. At Orleans Chorus You have confessed that these things Defi ance! Blasphemy! Brothers, you are They are her voices. As plain as anyone, but beautiful and For you must ride a horse, and be a Where we had fought all day without She is blaspheming. Silence her. are not saints too patient. shining, soldier, advantage, But Satan and his minions. And I knew you were a saint. And hold a sword.” And I said, “Oh, And had fallen back to garrison as weak as death, Dear saints, I will do better, PART THREE: THE SQUARE AT ROUEN Cauchon (aside) once, Chorus (saints) Come running, riding; now you are See, the gates open, child, the You came and said that we must try There is only a little time, but I will try, Her head is high. When I was very young. Come, child, come, soldier, riding, child! pennants fall, the captains kneel! once more. And then perhaps you will not be so Various Voices The task is fi nished, fi nished and settled Ride forward, faster, faster, higher, Ride up, child, up to the battlements, Somehow I made them do it, and we angry, They are building the fi re too high. Other Voices Other Voices away, higher, up to the stars, won. And you will come to me. The executioner will not be able to She is a witch. The court condemned They are other bells. It is all mended and folded away, Up to the front, child! Ride up in the cool of the morning. So it was on the Loire, come near, her. The battle is done with, over and gone, See the battalions align, there are At Meung, Jargeau, Patay, so many Once it is lit, There are no bells. Lord Bedford stilled And washed away with the morning. Dunois, LaHire, Joan and the Bells: © 2012 Rork Music times, To do the act of mercy. Now they will light the fi re. It is lit. them. You have won and rested. Listen! The In the cool of the morning, Xantrailles Whenever we were nearly broken, It is cruel. bells! and his lancers, With fresh reserves against us, banners The fl ames are terrible. She is looking at something up high. See, you have won, child! Now rise up The ground is resilient, quick for the high, Cauchon (aside) In the cool of the morning, run to us, charge, Mocking at us, our ordnance driven Yes, it is cruel. Listen! There are bells. I hear them. What is it? Run up in the cool hills, run barefoot, See the horses, the riders, the ranks, back, Yes! There are bells. run, child, feel the wind, How they quiver and quicken, their Dust-blind, our force encircled, then Other Voices She is watching the tower. Feel the cool wind, run higher, higher, eyes, they are ready, you came It is justice. She is a witch. There are no bells. Lord Bedford took Up to the mountaintops, higher! All of them furious, dangerous, ready, In our great need, just as you said, She is a heretic relapsed. their tongues. No, she is looking above it. Jump higher than the world! The bells Spur, child! Up to the gallop, apace, To give me courage, and the fi eld was Sometimes the bells can bring her are louder! hear the war-shout, ours. She is young and beautiful. visions to her. Her lips are moving. Here, child! Faster! See, you are almost The banner, aloft! Let it fl y, let it carry Even when I was taken at Compiègne, That is why he made them mute. She is praying. I cannot make out the home! them, And even here, you came to me each I do not think she is a witch. words. Up here, child! Run up to the sky and Jesu Maria, they see it, they follow, day, They are not the bells of Rouen. What does she say? past it, Attack, child! Into the enemy, at them! But now I have been untruthful, She is not afraid. She is very calm. Past clouds and moons and comets, Into the cavalry, up to the cannon, the And that is why you will not speak to Melody Moore Cauchon (aside) Cauchon (aside) Up, child! It is so blue and bright! colors! Lester Lynch me. © Chip Gillespie No, they are other bells. I heard them She is saying, “Jesu, Jesu, Jesu.” You can hardly see! Brighter and brighter! The bells are everywhere! © Rex Lott Gordon Getty performance which was simulcast previously released by PENTATONE in Nikolai Schukoff As a concert singer, Nikolai Schukoff her fi rst career moves in her native on Bavarian Radio and released by 2002. has sung with many major orchestras, America. Major performances in the In 1986, American composer Gordon PENTATONE. The tenor Nikolai Schukoff was born in including the Philharmonic, the U.S.A. have included the Countess Getty was honored as an Outstanding In 2010, PENTATONE released a CD Graz, Austria. His repertoire is varied, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro in Los American Composer at the John F. Getty has produced a steady stream devoted to six of his orchestral pieces, ranging from Danilo in Lehár’s Die the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Angeles, the title role in Puccini’s Suor Kennedy Center for the Performing of compositions, beginning in 1981 with Sir Neville Marriner conducting lustige Witwe and Pollione in Bellini’s Nikolai Schukoff has often performed Angelica at the Orlando Opera, and Arts. His music has been performed in with The White Election, a much- the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Norma to Dionysus in Henze’s Die with conductor/pianist Christoph Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni such prestigious venues as New York’s performed song cycle on poems by and followed up in 2013 with a CD of Bassariden. Other roles include Max Eschenbach, with whom he also gives with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, Emily Dickinson, recorded by Delos and the composer’s solo-piano works played in Weber’s Der Freischutz, which he joint Lieder evenings. At the Opera, she sang London’s Royal Festival Hall, Vienna’s PENTATONE. Other song cycles include by Conrad Tao. His ballet Ancestor performed in Geneva and Salzburg, and in a contemporary opera, Séance on a Brahmssaal, and Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Poor Peter and Four Dickinson Songs, Suite was given its premiere staging in Don José in Bizet’s Carmen, which he Melody Moore Wet Afternoon, by Stephen Schwartz. Hall and Bolshoi Theatre. both recorded by Lisa Delan and pianist 2009 by the Bolshoi Ballet and Russian sang in Baden-Baden, Zurich and, most Kristin Pankonin on their PENTATONE National Orchestra at the Bolshoi recently, Hamburg. When Melody Moore made her début in Melody Moore has collaborated with Getty’s newest opera, The Canterville recitals And If the Song Be Worth a Theatre, Moscow. London at the English National Opera renowned conductors such as Kent Ghost, premieres in Leipzig in 2015. Smile and The Hours Begin to Sing. Nikolai Schukoff was especially during the 2008-2009 season as Mimi Nagano and Donald Runnicles. Another one-act opera, Usher House, In 2005, PENTATONE released Getty’s Getty’s music is published by Rork successful in the title role of Wagner’s in Puccini’s La bohème, she was widely was premiered in 2014 by the Welsh fi rst CD of choral works, featuring Music. Parsifal, which he performed in acclaimed for her magnifi cent voice. Lester Lynch National Opera and opens at the San Victorian Scenes, Annabel Lee, Young Munich and Dresden, among others. Subsequently, she was reinvited to sing Francisco Opera in 2015. Getty’s fi rst America, and Three Welsh Songs. Joan www.gordongetty.com Subsequently, he was invited to sing the role of Marguerite in Gounod’s Faust. One of the most important American opera, Plump Jack, was fi rst performed and the Bells, a cantata portraying the this role in 2013 at the Easter Festival in operas, Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, by the San Francisco Symphony in trial and execution of Joan of Arc, has Salzburg under the baton of Sir Simon However, as a graduate of the holds an important position in Lester 1984 and was revived in a new concert been performed widely since its 1998 Rattle. Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Lynch’s biography. The baritone, who Gordon Getty version in 2011 by Ulf Schirmer and premiere, notably at Windsor Castle Music and a 2007 San Francisco Opera was born in Ohio and studied at New © Emily Polar the Münchner Rundfunkorchester, a in 2004 with Mikhail Pletnev, and was Adler Fellow, the young soprano made York’s Juilliard School of Music, has performed in this opera in Washington, Münchner Rundfunkorchester Since September of 2006 Ulf Schirmer Chor des Bayerischen Thanks to its exceptional degree of Haitink, Riccardo Muti, and Christian Leipzig, and Vienna; Milan’s Teatro alla from operetta, opera and fi lm music Chicago, and San Francisco; and he has served as artistic director of the Rundfunks homogeneity and stylistic range – Thielemann. The Chor des Bayerischen Scala; Paris Opera; the Royal Opera to the sacred music of 20th and 21st has also toured Europe with Porgy and Founded in 1952, the Münchner Münchner Rundfunkorchester. With a which embraces all fi elds of choral Rundfunks also sets new interpretive House, and Covent Garden. centuries in the series “Paradisi gloria.” Bess (with the Houston Grand Opera), Rundfunkorchester (Munich Radio program including such highlights as The Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks singing, from medieval motets to accents with contemporary music at Among North American symphony He often presents rarely performed or alternately singing the roles of Porgy Orchestra) has developed over the the world premieres of commissioned (Bavarian Radio Choir) was founded contemporary works, and from oratorio the musica viva concerts as well as orchestras, Fisch has conducted unjustly neglected works – recently, and Crown. course of its 60-year history into an works at the “Paradisi gloria” series, in 1946. Its artistic upswing took place to opera – the ensemble enjoys an in the “Paradisi gloria” series with the those of Boston, Chicago, New York, for instance, Richard Wagner’s opera ensemble that covers a vast artistic as well as intriguing rediscoveries in parallel to the development of the exceptional reputation world-wide. Münchner Rundfunkorchester. Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Dallas, Das Liebesverbot and Albert Lortzing’s However, Lester Lynch has also made spectrum. And just because of this the fi elds of opera and operetta, he Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Seattle, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Houston, opera Regina. a name for himself singing Verdi. Past great versatility, it has established has introduced new content to the Rundfunks (Bavarian Radio Symphony The choir has given guest performances Asher Fisch St. Louis, Toronto, Montreal, Minnesota roles have included the Count di Luna a prominent position on Munich’s repertoire. Orchestra). Since 2003, Mariss Jansons in Japan, as well as at festivals in and the National Symphony in Ulf Schirmer was born in Eschenhausen in Il trovatore at the Deutsche Oper orchestral landscape. has been chief conductor of both Bonn, , Luzern and Salzburg. Asher Fisch began his conducting Washington, D.C. In Europe he appears (near Bremen, ). He received am Rhein and the Minnesota Opera, Supplementing its activities at its the choir and the orchestra. In 2005, Top European orchestras, such career as Daniel Barenboim’s assistant regularly at the , his musical training from György Ligeti, and Germont in La traviata at the The parade of chief conductors of the home base of Munich, the Münchner Peter Dijkstra was appointed artistic as the Berlin Philharmonic, the and kappellmeister at the Berlin Staatskapelle Dresden, and has also Christoph von Dohnányi, and Horst Cleveland Opera and Houston. At Münchner Rundfunkorchester was Rundfunkorchester also makes regular director and has since presented a Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Staatsoper. After making his United conducted the Berlin Philharmonic, Stein. He was assistant to , the Bregenz Festival 2011, he sang in led on by Werner Schmidt-Boelcke appearances at guest concerts and variety of programmes in collaboration Amsterdam, the Staatskapelle States debut at the Los Angeles Opera London Philharmonic Orchestra, chief conductor of the Vienna State Umberto Giordano’s Andrea Chénier, (1952-1967), followed by Kurt Eichhorn well-known festivals like the Kissingen with both orchestras of the Bavarian Dresden from Saxony, and the in 1995, he has since conducted at Gewandhaus Orchestra, and Orchestre Opera, Music Director in , under conductor Ulf Schirmer. (1967-1975), (1975-1981), Summer and the Radio in the subscription series given Bamberg Symphonic-Bavarian State the Metropolitan Opera (Rigoletto, National de France, among others. and house conductor of the Danish Lester Lynch has demonstrated his Lamberto Gardelli (1982-1985), Giuseppe Festival in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. At by the choir. The main focus has been Philharmonic all enjoy working with Parsifal), Lyric Opera of Chicago, Radio Symphony Orchestra. enormous stylistic range in the concert Patané (1988-1989) and Roberto Abbado the Salzburg Festival, it accompanied on contemporary vocal music, as well the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks. Houston Grand Opera, and San Ulf Schirmer fi eld in performances including works (1992-1998). From 1998 to 2004 Marcello a series of operas in concert as the collaboration with early-music In recent years, the choir has Francisco Opera. Now a regular guest He is a regular guest at the Deutsche such as Handel’s Messiah, Fauré’s Viotti was the chief conductor of the performances starring such major specialist orchestras, such as the performed with renowned conductors at leading European opera houses, Since 2006, Ulf Schirmer has been Oper Berlin and the Vienna State Requiem, and Vaughan Williams’ Sea orchestra. artists as Anna Netrebko, Plácido Concerto Köln (Concerto Cologne) such as Claudio Abbado, Andris Fisch has conducted all the major the Artistic Director of the Münchner Opera, as well as at the Bregenz Symphony. Domingo, Elīna Garanča and Juan and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin Nelsons, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Ulf German and Austrian opera houses Rundfunkorchester, with which he Festival, where he presented Umberto Diego Flórez. (Academy for Ancient Music Berlin). Schirmer, Herbert Blomstedt, Bernard including Berlin, Munich, Dresden, presents a varied programme, ranging Giordano’s Andrea Chénier in summer 2011. At the New National Theatre Acknowledgments in Tokyo he conducted Arabella by Richard Strauss. All music published by Editing Rork Music Jean-Marie Geijsen In 2000, Ulf Schirmer was appointed a professor at the Hamburg Academy Executive producers Audio recording & Postproduction of Music. In 2009, he was appointed Lisa Delan (Rork Music) Polyhymnia International B.V. Music Director of the , Veronika Weber & and shortly afterwards Artistic Director. Katharina Oberhofer Liner notes In Leipzig, Ulf Schirmer has conducted () Gordon Getty performances of Puccini’s La bohème, Job Maarse (PENTATONE) Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, and Cover art Wagner’s Lohengrin, among others. Recording producer Nicolette Beck Job Maarse Design Balance engineer Joost de Boo Jean-Marie Geijsen Product manager Recording engineers Angelina Jambrekovic Roger de Schot, Karel Bruggeman, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunk Carl Schuurbiers © Johannes Rodach BR This album was recorded at Studio One of the Bavarian Radio Munich (November 2013, April 2014). Premium Sound and Outstanding Artists

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