Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks / Münchner Rundfunkorchester / œsterreichisches ensemble fuer neue musik / Howard Arman ARVO PÄRT Miserere

 

MISERERE

Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks ENNO POPPE Fett - Ich kann mich an nichts erinnern

 

FETT - ICH KANN MICH AN NICHTS ERINNERN

 

Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks / Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin / Howard Arman MOZART Requiem D-moll KV 626

REQUIEM D-MOLL KV 626

 

Il Giardino Armonico / Giovanni Antonini HAYDN Die Schöpfung

DIE SCHÖPFUNG

 

Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks / Daniel Harding CARL ORFF Carmina Burana

CARMINA BURANA

 

Münchner Rundfunkorchester / Ivan Repušić GIUSEPPE VERDI Attila

ATTILA

Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks / Münchner Rundfunkorchester / Keri-Lynn Wilson GIOACHINO ROSSINI Sigismondo

SIGISMONDO

Yaara Tal LOVE?

When Yaara Tal and Andreas Groethuysen provisionally formed a piano duo in 1985 for a single concert, they naturally did not realise how important this step would be, both for themselves personally and for the entire genre. The unforeseeably positive artistic development and the continuing interest displayed by the record label SONY CLASSICAL and the international concert market, however, meant that Tal and Groethuysen gradually matured into one of the programmatically most exciting and tonally and aesthetically perfect piano duos in the world. Their work has been honoured five times with the "Echo Klassik" award and ten times with prizes such as the "Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik", "Cannes Classical Award", etc.

During the first few years of their career together Andreas and Yaara devoted themselves primarily to playing on one piano, which is more complicated and from the point of view of the audience at first not quite so effective. In recent years, however, they have altered their focus and are now delighted to record and give concerts of the fascinating repertoire for two pianos, which is to some extent still unknown.

Chor & Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks / Pablo Heras-Casado FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY Symphonie Nr. 2 "Lobgesang"

It has been about 45 years now since Mendelssohn’s once popular but forgotten “Lobgesang” Symphony was first revived on disc by Herbert von Karajan and Wolfgang Sawallisch. In recent times, happily, it has been welcomed back without controversy into the repertory by any number of conductors as the masterpiece that it is. The Karajan were an opera, and I would advise our readers to avoid it. But in recent times, several conductors have gotten the porridge right: Ashkenazy, Chailly, Orozco-Estrada, Bosch, and now Heras-Casado, who appears in general to be a young “Mendelssohn whisperer,” conducting Mendelssohn symphonies wherever he guests.
Among these performances, Chailly’s is perhaps the most satisfying, unashamedly large-scaled and velvety, with wonderful sound. It made a big impression a few seasons ago on his East Coast tour with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (Mendelssohn’s own, it bears remembering). But unfortunately, Chailly chose to conduct an early edition of the symphony, with a less impressive opening trombone fanfare and awkward transitions in the three orchestral movements.  

That puts Orozco-Estrada, Bosch, and Heras-Casado at the top of the list. The perfectly fine Ashkenazy has been available only as part of a complete set of the symphonies. The Bosch is in a league of its own for beautiful SACD sound and a swift, soft-grained yet lean approach, with just the slightest touch of “early music” phrasing to detract from the romance of it. The Orozco-Estrada and Heras-Casado performances are extremely similar and uncontroversial in their approach. Both feature fine soloists, beautiful renditions of the famous chorale Nun danket alle Gott , and lively, emotionally engaged playing in the three orchestral movements. I might be tempted to favor Orozco-Estrada on Preiser, recorded live with the Tonkunstler in the open acoustic of Vienna’s Musikverein, but that is a subjective judgment. Heras-Casado gets finely balanced sound as well, studio-recorded for Harmonia Mundi in Munich’s Philharmonie am Gasteig, but I find it just a touch dry.
Even so, I think it hard to imagine how one could fail to be swept up by the great trombone fanfare which opens the symphony and unifies it with such subtlety—and deeply moved by all which follows. Mendelssohn is lucky once again to be considered a great symphonic composer, and lucky that this hybrid work has made it back onto the concert stage. But he is not so lucky as the listener. This is memorable music, exciting, noble and pure of heart. (FANFARE / Steven Kruger)

Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks / The Hilliard Ensemble / Münchner Rundfunkorchester ARVO PÄRT Live

Arvo Pärt, who was born in Estonia in 1935, has succeeded in bringing sacred music back to a broader audience, and away from the confines of the church service, more than almost any other contemporary composer. The meditative character of his works, and his return to the simplest and most basic musical forms, convey moments of intense spirituality. Even before his emigration from the Soviet Union to Austria and then to Germany, Pärt had already invented what he termed the tintinnabuli style of composition (from the Latin word for a bell). He produced an early and important example of this style in 1977 with the ""Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten"", scored for string orchestra and bell, and it is also a key feature of the three great choral works that form the greater part of this new BR-KLASSIK CD ""Arvo Pärt: Live"", namely the ""Seven Magnificat Antiphons"" for mixed choir a capella, the large-scale oratorio ""Cecilia, vergine romana"" for mixed choir and orchestra, and the vocal work Litany Prayers of St John Chrysostom for Each Hour of the Day and Night for soloists, mixed choir and orchestra. Also included on this CD is the ""Collage on B-A-C-H"" for strings, oboe, harpsichord and piano. Composed in 1964, before Pärt's aesthetic reorientation, it is one of his most famous works. Despite its radical reduction of means of expression, Pärt's music demands the greatest care in execution from those performing it and this has been masterfully realized in the present recording by the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks and the Münchner Rundfunkorchester, whose combined and homogenous sound is a direct result of their regular cooperation. Ulf Schirmer, Marcello Viotti und the choir's current artistic director Peter Dijkstra here demonstrate their deep familiarity with the subtle sound-world of Arvo Pärt.These live recordings were made at Munich concerts in July 2000, February and December 2005, and January and October 2011, all of which received public and critical acclaim.

Mariss Jansons / Chor und Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks TSCHAIKOWSKY Pique Dame

While Eugene Onegin is Tchaikovsky’s most popular opera, there’s a fair argument that The Queen of Spades is his best. A gripping drama, it requires performances where you believe in Herman’s psychological descent as the desire to learn the secret of the three cards from the old Countess consumes everything, including his love for Lisa.

The opera has been lucky on disc, dominated in recent decades by recordings from Valery Gergiev and Seiji Ozawa, both from the early 1990s. They are joined by this resplendent account from Mariss Jansons and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, recorded in concert. Jansons has a fine pedigree in Tchaikovsky (his cycle of the symphonies for Chandos still holds strong) and he paces the opera unerringly well, building tension superbly. His Bavarians respond with atmospheric playing, burnished strings and dark woodwind coloration to the fore.

Alexandra Maria Dielitz’s excellent booklet essay explains how the Mariinsky director tried to persuade Tchaikovsky to set Pushkin’s story as an opera, ‘a Russian Carmen’. Parallels are drawn in deciphering fate from cards, but Tchaikovsky also channels Bizet in his children’s mock-soldier chorus. The Bavarian State Opera children’s choir offer characterful singing, if not as earthily Russian as Gergiev’s urchins. Jansons keeps the Mozartian pastiche light and fleet-footed, and even employs a fortepiano for Lisa and Polina’s duet to give a period feel.

Tatiana Serjan is a vibrant, fearless Lisa, as one might expect from a soprano who tackles the roles of Abigaille and Lady Macbeth. Hers is a voice with plenty of ‘blade’ when required, yet she can shade it beautifully. Her aria by the River Neva, as she awaits her final confrontation with Herman, is heartfelt. I prefer her to Mirella Freni, past her best when recording the role for Ozawa, while she matches Maria Guleghina (Gergiev) for drama. Misha Didyk, a less than convincing Manrico at La Monnaie (Bel Air, 2/15), surprises with his baritonal depths here as Herman, as well as a ringing top. There’s vivid characterisation too, thrilling in his encounters with Serjan’s Lisa, without the occasional spills of Vladimir Atlantov (Ozawa) or Gegam Grigorian (Gergiev).

Larissa Diadkova’s Countess happily relies more on secure vocal technique than scary histrionics and Oksana Volkova is a rich-voiced Polina. When it comes to the baritones, Jansons can’t quite compete with Ozawa. Alexey Markov is less refulgent of tone than Dmitri Hvorostovsky but sings a noble account of ‘Ya vas lyublyu’. Similarly, Alexey Shishlyaev lacks Sergei Leiferkus’s sardonic bite as Tomsky, but his narration of the legend of the three cards is effective, despite his upper notes being pushed.

With an excellent recording – despite applause and some stage noise – this is a highly recommendable version of Tchaikovsky’s opera which pulls the listener into the drama. (Gramophone)