Giovanni Simone Mayr’s most successful opera, Medea
in Corinto, is now available for the first time on
recording, performed from the new critical edition
recently published by Ricordi. For the most part,
the new edition is based on an 1821 manuscript that
contains essential changes over all previously published
editions. It excludes, for example, a cavatina
for Medea, which the composer eliminated for this
edition and then later published in a single edition
for voice and piano.
The production heard here is a live recording from
the Theater St. Gallen. The performance received
great international acclaim and was considered to be
a breakthrough for the long forgotten work by Mayr.
A new production of Medea in Corinto will be performed
at the 2010 Opera Festival in Munich....more
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
Ein Sommernachtstraum, Lieder ohne Worte op. 62, op. 67/1
Piano Duo Silver Garburg
Hervorragende Bewertungen für ihre Einspielung der
beiden Doppel-Klavierkonzerte von Felix Mendelssohn
Bartholdy (OC 739) steigern die Erwartungen für
das Mendelssohn-Soloprojekt des jungen, international
erfolgreichen Piano Duo Silver Garburg, das
jetzt veröffentlicht wird. Hauptwerk des Programms
ist die Originalbearbeitung der Sommernachtstraum-
Musik für Klavier zu vier Händen. Hier entfalten
Sivan Silver und Gil Garburg ihr überaus vielfältiges
Klangfarbenspektrum zur Illustration der zwischen
Traum und Wachen changierenden Handlung.
Einige besonders populäre Themen finden sich in
den Liedern ohne Worte, Silver Garburg spielen den
gesamten Zyklus op. 62 sowie die Nr. 1 aus op. 67.
more
It was only after many concert performances and
precise historical research that pianist Amir Katz,
who lives in Berlin, decided to record all of Frédéric
Chopin’s nocturnes. In doing so he attempts to precisely
follow Chopin’s guidelines concerning tempo
and dynamics, but he also pays attention to the
apparent freedoms of the composition which were
A kaleidoscope of the small form –
Amir Katz plays Chopin’s 21 Nocturnes
quite natural for Chopin and other interpreters of
his time. This results in a meticulously developed yet
lively interpretation which does not fail to capture the
energy of spontaneity.
Amir Katz was born in Israel in 1973 and received
his first piano lessons there. He continued his education
in Europe. Amir Katz lives in Berlin. more
Chor und Orchester der Ludwigsburger Schlossfestsp
16th century Venice had four “Ospedali” to care for
sick and orphaned children. During the 17th century,
these developed into boarding schools for girls
that placed great value on an outstanding musical
education. They were soon an important part of
Venetian musical life and attracted renowned musicians
and composers as kapellmeisters. Johann Wolfgang
Goethe reported about a performance in which
“the women performed an oratorio from behind a
screen; the church was full of listeners, the music was
beautiful and the voices were wonderful”. The kapellmeisters
in the Ospedale degl’Incurabili included
Johann Adolf Hasse, who composed the oratorio we
hear on this recording, Sanctus Petrus et Sancta Maria
Magdalena, for this institution. more
With his January 2001 production of Lulu when he
was GMD of the Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Stefan
Anton Reck drew all eyes upon himself. The opera
was acclaimed by the most important international
arts magazines and journals.
Reck studied at the HdK Berlin as well as in
Tanglewood with Seiji Ozawa and Leonard Bernstein.
In 1985, he won the International Arturo Toscanini
Conducting Competition as well as the International
Gino Marinuzzi Conducting Competition. From
1997 to 2000, Reck was Claudio Abbado’s assistant
in Berlin. During this period, he developed
great expertise in the music of Mahler as well as the
New Viennese School. Before his engagement at the
Teatro Massimo di Palermo, he headed the Orchestra
Sinfonica di San Remo and the Orchestra Regionale
del Lazio Roma. He also made guest appearances
with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bavarian
State Opera, the Gran Teatro del Liceo in Barcelona
as well as at the Semperoper Dresden. more
Joseph Messner wrote over 700 works in nearly all
genres. He was born in 1893 in Schwaz (Tyrolia,
Austria) and died in 1969 in Salzburg. He achieved
great international renown as an organist, conductor
and composer. His Salzburger Festspielfanfare,
which introduced and closed all broadcasts from
the Salzburg Festival, was performed for decades
and became his most popular piece. As homage
to the former Domkapellmeister zu Salzburg, the
Mozarteumorchester Salzburg under Ivor Bolton
plays four of Messner’s orchestral works that have
particularly close ties to Salzburg. more
When Harald Serafin assumed the directorship of this
festival in 1992, the ascent of Mörbisch as the “Mecca
of operetta” began its course. Today, up to 220,000
visitors attend the festival at the open-air stage on
Lake Neusiedler. After an excursion to the neighboring
area of the musical in 2009 (My Fair Lady), this
year’s program again brings an operetta classic to the
stage: Der Zarewitsch by Franz Lehár. Although this
operetta has an unusually tragic plot for the genre and
sends the audience away without the typical happy
end, it became a hit, not only because of Richard
Tauber, for whom the piece was practically customtailored.
In the Mörbisch production, Romanian born
tenor Tiberius Simu sings the role of the Zarewitsch;
Alexandra Reinprechtin, who has made guest appearances
at the Oper unter den Linden, the Munich State
Opera, the Vienna State Opera as well as the Salzburg
and Bregenz Festivals, sings Sonja. She performed the
same role in 2009 at Munich’s Prinzregententheater
with the Munich Radio Orchestra under Ulf
Schirmer. more
Mahler‘s songs from “Des Knaben Wunderhorn” are
closely related to his 2nd, 3rd and 4th symphonies.
This series of Wunderhorn songs thus follows
the release of Mahler‘s Fourth Symphony in
the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln‘s complete Mahler
cycle. The Wunderhorn song recording ends with
„Himmlischen Leben“, which is the same song that
closes the Fourth Symphony.
Christiane Oelze and Michael Volle alternate as
soloists; some songs they sing as duets. In his Mahler
symphony cycle project, conductor Markus Stenz succeeds
right from the start in creating an unmistakable
sound, which – without resorting to any non-textual
effusiveness or cheap showmanship – demonstrates
a very personal character that makes this cycle significant
and interesting, despite the many of its kind.
And the sound quality of these recordings, made in
audiophile SACD format, can hardly be surpassed. more
Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester / Chor der Oper Frankfurt
Franco Leoni was born in Milan in 1864, the same year
as Richard Strauss. In 1892, he moved to London
and achieved some popularity as a song and opera
composer. His fourth opera was his most successful
work: L’Oracolo, based on the drama The Cat and
the Cherub by Chester Bailey Fernald. The opera
premiered on June 28, 1905 at Covent Garden with
Antonio Scotti in the role of Cim-Fen. This became
Scotti’s best-known role, which he sang for many
years at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. The piece
was a repertoire staple from 1917 to 1926, then again
after 1931. Scotti also chose it for his 1933 farewell
from the Met; this was the opera’s 55th performance.
Amazingly, however, the work disappeared almost
completely from opera stages following this. Franco
Leoni died on February 8, 1949 in the British town
of Hampstead. more
With his January 2001 production of Lulu when he
was GMD of the Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Stefan
Anton Reck drew all eyes upon himself. The opera
was acclaimed by the most important international
arts magazines and journals.
Joseph Messner wrote over 700 works in nearly all
genres. He was born in 1893 in Schwaz (Tyrolia,
Austria) and died in 1969 in Salzburg. He achieved
great international renown as an organist, conductor
and composer. His Salzburger Festspielfanfare,
which introduced and closed all broadcasts from
the Salzburg Festival, was performed for decades
and became his most popular piece. As homage
to the former Domkapellmeister zu Salzburg, the
Mozarteumorchester Salzburg under Ivor Bolton
plays four of Messner’s orchestral works that have
particularly close ties to Salzburg.
When Harald Serafin assumed the directorship of this
festival in 1992, the ascent of Mörbisch as the “Mecca
of operetta” began its course. Today, up to 220,000
visitors attend the festival at the open-air stage on
Lake Neusiedler. After an excursion to the neighboring
area of the musical in 2009 (My Fair Lady), this
year’s program again brings an operetta classic to the
stage: Der Zarewitsch by Franz Lehár. Although this
operetta has an unusually tragic plot for the genre and
sends the audience away without the typical happy
end, it became a hit, not only because of Richard
Tauber, for whom the piece was practically customtailored.
