Anton Bruckner Mass No.2 in E Minor & Te Deum Collegium Vocale Gent Orchestre des Champs-Elysées Philippe Herreweghe Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) Mass No.2 in E Minor, WAB 27 Second version (1882) Te Deum, WAB 45 Version 1884 Hanna-Elisabeth Müller Soprano Ann Hallenberg Alto Maximilian Schmitt Tenor Tareq Nazmi Bass Collegium Vocale Gent Orchestre des Champs-Élysées Philippe Herreweghe Menu Tracklist ------------------------------ English Français Deutsch Nederlands ------------------------------ Sung texts ------------------------------ Biographies Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) Mass No.2 in E Minor, WAB 27 Second version (1882) [1] I. Kyrie _________________________________________________________________________________________________________5’36 [2] II. Gloria _______________________________________________________________________________________________________5’16 [3] III. Credo _______________________________________________________________________________________________________8’40 [4] IV. Sanctus ____________________________________________________________________________________________________2’14 [5] V. Benedictus _________________________________________________________________________________________________4’57 [6] VI. Agnus Dei__________________________________________________________________________________________________4’48 Te Deum, WAB 45 Version 1884 [7] I. Te Deum laudamus _________________________________________________________________________________________5’08 [8] II. Te ergo quaesumus ________________________________________________________________________________________2’36 [9] III. Aeterna fac ________________________________________________________________________________________________1’20 [10] IV. Salvum fac populum tuum Domine ______________________________________________________________________5’35 [11] V. In te, Domine, speravi _____________________________________________________________________________________5’23 Total Time ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________51’40 > Menu Collegium Vocale Gent Te Deum Hanna-Elisabeth Müller Soprano Ann Hallenberg Alto Maximilian Schmitt Tenor Tareq Nazmi Bass COLLEGIUM VOCALE GENT Soprano I Ulrike Barth, Sylvie De Pauw, Emilie De Voght, Elisabeth Rapp, Mette Rooseboom, Roswitha Schmelzl, Nathalie Siebert Soprano II Sarah Abrams, Lore Agusti, Annelies Brants, Inge Clerix, Anja Scherg, Kathrin Volkmann Alto I Laia Cortes, Ursula Ebner, Marlen Herzog, Gudrun Köllner, Eleanor Minney, Mieke Wouters Alto II Lucia Napoli, Cécile Pilorger, Sandra Raoulx, Ursula Thurmair, Sylvia van der Vinne,Tiina Zahn Tenor I Malcolm Bennett, Benjamin Glaubitz, Christoph Hierdeis, Vincent Lesage, João Sebastião, Clemens Volkmar Tenor II Oliver Kaden, Alexander Moritz, Josef Pollinger, Florian Schmitt, René Veen, Baltazar Zuñiga Bass I Georg Finger, Philip Kaven, Julián Millán, Kai-Rouven Seeger, Jon Stainsby, Robert van der Vinne, Frits Vanhulle Bass II Philip Brömsel, Erks Jan Dekker, Stephan Drexlmeier, Joachim Höchbauer, Matthias Lutze, Edmund Saddington ORCHESTRE DES CHAMPS-ÉLYSÉES Violin I Alessandro Moccia (leader), Roberto Anedda, Carlotta Conrado, Ilaria Cusano, Asim Delibegovic, Pascal Hotellier, Philippe Jégoux, Corrado Lepore, Shiho Ono, Martin Reimann, Grazia Serradimigni, Enrico Tedde, Sebastiaan Van Vucht Violin II Bénédicte Trotereau (principal), Marieke Bouche, Adrian Chamorro, Isabelle Claudet, Federica Della Janna, Thérèse Kipfer, Clara Lecarme, Corrado Masoni, Liesbeth Nijs, Giorgio Oppo, Andreas Preuss Viola Jean-Philippe Vasseur (principal), Agathe Blondel, Laurent Bruni, Maïlyss Cain, Brigitte Clément, Delphine Grimbert, Luigi Moccia, Catherine Puig, Benoît Weeger Cello Ageet Zweistra (principal), Michel Boulanger, Vincent Malgrange, Hilary Metzger, Jennifer Morsches, Andrea Pettinau, Gesine Queyras, Harm-Jan Schwitters Double bass Axel Bouchaux (principal), Joe Carver, Damien Guffroy, Michel Maldonado, Miriam Shalinsky, Massimo Tore Flute Mathias Von Brenndorff, Amélie Michel Oboe Marcel Ponseele, Taka Kitazato Clarinet Nicola Boud, Daniele Latini Bassoon Julien Debordes, Jean-Louis Fiat Horn Jean-Pierre Dassonville, Jean-Emmanuel Prou, Renée Allen, Frank Clarysse Trumpet Alain De Rudder, Steven Verhaert, Steven Bossuyt Trombone Harry Ries, Guy Hanssen, Gunter Carlier Tuba Marc Girardot Timpani Pieterjan Vranckx Orchestre des Champs-Élysées POWER AND SPIRITUALITY Bruckner from August to November 1866. How- Rémy Louis ever, it was not performed until 29 September 1869, on the Neuer Domplatz, when the com- The sacred music of Anton Bruckner occupies a poser conducted it at a consecration ceremony place of predilection in Philippe Herreweghe’s in the open air. These special circumstances artistic pantheon. Although he has already re- explain the originality of its scoring, which dis- corded the Mass no.2 (Harmonia Mundi, 1990), penses with strings, organ and solo quartet. They this is the first time he has tackled the majes- also explain the forces marshalled for the pre- tic Te Deum on disc, drawing on his experience miere: the Liedertafel Frohsinn, the Sängerbund of conducting the symphonies. He has said that and Musikverein of Linz, and the wind band of ‘Bruckner’s music is, like Schubert’s, profoundly the Fourteenth Imperial Infantry Regiment Ernst melancholic; it mourns paradise lost’. But he also Ludwig. Bruckner revised it three times, in 1869, observes that ‘with the exception of a few mo- 1876 and 1882, which resulted in a slighter tets, this sincerely devout man did not write any longer score and changes in phrasing and ac- English more liturgical music, or even organ music, in the companiment (especially in the Credo and ‘Ben- second half of his life’. His corpus of sacred mu- edictus’). The 1882 version, by far the most fre- sic can therefore be seen as heralding Bruckner’s quently performed today, was not given in public prodigious accomplishment as a symphonist. until 4 October 1885, when Adalbert Schreyer conducted it in the Old Cathedral in Linz. The Mass no.2 in E minor, WAB 27, for mixed choir and fifteen wind instruments (woodwind The musicologist Leopold Nowak saw this highly and brass) was commissioned by the Bishop of contrapuntal and rather austere work as a culmi- Linz, Franz-Josef Rudigier, for the consecration nation: ‘In it, Bruckner combined the a cappella of the votive chapel of the New Cathedral or choral technique of Palestrina’s time with the in Mariä-Empfängnis-Dom (Cathedral of the Im- maculate Conception). Its composition occupied > Menu strumental colouring derived from the Viennese entry of woodwind and brass. The ample chords Classical School, merging these two contrasting that conclude the movement possess great ex- styles into an incomparable synthesis.’ The influ- pressive power. Sincere piety then pervades the ence of the Renaissance polyphonists is imme- ‘Benedictus’ (Moderato); noteworthy here is the diately evident in the Kyrie (Feierlich), written woodwind accompaniment (with the oboe line for unaccompanied eight-voice choir – Bruckner especially prominent), before the brass returns included a brass part ad libitum. It culminates in to punctuate the resolution of the ‘Hosanna’. The a spectacular fortissimo, before returning to the last section, Agnus Dei (Andante), is imbued with calmer atmosphere of the beginning. The vibrant melancholy. The ‘Dona nobis pacem’ fades away Gloria (Allegro) is notable for the bassoon accom- softly with a reminiscence of the Kyrie motif, paniment, the brilliance of the brass writing and, rounding off a perfect form. in the ‘Qui tollis’, a typically Brucknerian horn solo. The ‘Amen’ is set as a double fugue accom- The Te Deum in C major, WAB 45, calls for much panied by the brass. Nowak heard in the unisons bigger resources, even though its duration is of the Credo (Allegro moderato) ‘a proclamation much shorter than that of the three great mass- of unshakeable faith’. Following in the tradition es. It is scored for solo quartet, mixed chorus, of the Viennese Classical composers, the ‘Et in- large orchestra, and organ ad libitum. Bruckner carnatus est’ is full of seductive harmonies. An composed it from May 1881 to September 1883 irresistible élan impels the ‘Et resurrexit’, with a (adding the organ part in March 1884), fifteen striking climax on the word ‘judicare’ (to judge). years after the Mass no.3 in F minor (1868), at a But Bruckner returns to the initial atmosphere time when he was putting the finishing touches at ‘Et in Spiritum Sanctum’. With its quotation to his Sixth Symphony. But its gestation was also from Palestrina’s Missa brevis, the Sanctus (An- interrupted by the composition of the Seventh dante) irresistibly recalls the gentleness of the Symphony, with which it shares a number of the- Kyrie; like the earlier movement, it is scored for matic elements. The composer himself conduct- eight-part a cappella choir, before the delayed ed the first performance of the work on 2 May 1885, in the Kleiner Saal of the four-note cell that underpins the entire compo- Vienna Musikverein, with the Wiener Akademi- sition, as ‘one of the Master’s most prodigious scher Wagner-Verein accompanied by two pian- inventions’. os (played by his pupil Joseph Schalk and Robert The setting alternates powerful professions of Erben, a student at the Vienna Conservatory). Christian faith (‘Te Deum laudamus’, ‘Aeterna The highly successful premiere of the final ver- fac’) with truly mystical inspirations, such as the sion