Mojca Erdmann

Soprano

Prices shown exclude VAT. (UK tax is not payable for deliveries to United States.)
See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates.

Puccini: Suor Angelica

Puccini: Suor Angelica


Kristine Opolais (Angelica), Lioba Braun (Princess), Nadezhda Serdyuk (Sister Monitor) & Mojca Erdmann (Sister Genovieffa)

WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Andris Nelsons

Puccini’s 'Suor Angelica' used to be seen as one of the composer’s ‘problem children’. As the central work of 'Il Trittico', it is sandwiched between two dramatically more effective pieces: a tale of life in a convent and of the suicide of a mother robbed of her child, it simply could not hold its own against its sister works at their world première in New York. Various cuts sanctioned by Puccini testify to his concessions to the conventions of the opera business. Uncut, 'Suor Angelica' lasts just about an hour, and one often hears it in the concert hall today. With its restrained melancholy and mystical ambience, a concert performance does not diminish the impact of the title heroine and her moving fate. On the contrary, when Kristine Opolais sings Angelica – one of our most exciting young Puccini sopranos (fêted at Covent Garden in Madama Butterfly and in this role) – even a concert hall audience is moved to tears, as we can read in the reviews of her concert performances with the WDR Symphony Orchestra Köln conducted by her husband, Andris Nelsons. Kristine Opolais’s uniquely shaded timbre, her clear sense of line and her subtle characterisation make Angelica a woman of flesh and blood. Andris Nelsons, too, explores the full breadth of Puccini’s musical language in this one-acter, from its formulaic sacred elements to its uninhibited outbursts of emotion. This becomes especially clear when Opolais’s character meets her adversary, the Princess [Lioba Braun] whose dramatic mezzo offers an extreme authoritarian portrait. Angelica’s sisters in the convent offer several of the best women’s voices from the WDR Radio Chorus welcome solo opportunities. This superb cast includes the luxurious voices of the dark-toned mezzosoprano Nadezhda Serdyuk as the stern Sister Monitor and of Mojca Erdmann’s clear, graceful soprano as Sister Genovieffa, who brings the greatest sympathy for the plight of Angelica.

“Nelsons draws sensitive responses from the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus but resists the temptation to “go soft” on the story, so that the performance unfolds with inexorable dramatic sweep. Even better, Opolais uses her considerable vocal powers to draw a psychological portrait of formidable insight.” Financial Times, 25th August 2012 ****

“Kristine Opolais (Mrs Andris Nelsons) may not have the vocal opulence of Renata Tebaldi or Mirella Freni, or the intensity of Renata Scotto, but her beautifully sung account of this heart-rending role demonstrates that her sensational Royal Opera debut as Butterfly was no fluke...Nelsons and the WDRSO relish Puccini’s orchestration.” Sunday Times, 2nd September 2012

“Opolais's bright, intensely focused soprano, together with her husband Andris Nelsons's equally crisp handling of the orchestral writing, gives the score a much sharper definition than usual. Not everything in her singing is idiomatically Italianate, but there is nothing remotely mawkish or sugary sweet about the performance...Lioba Braun's haughty, formidable Principessa is the perfect foil to Opolais” The Guardian, 20th September 2012 ****

“Nelsons evokes atmosphere with energy and clean-cut textures. All told, the effect is slightly cool, but many will prefer it to overheated Italianate performances, especially with such a credibly young and affecting heroine.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2012 *****

“a winning combination. Opolais possesses a freshness, richness and sense of urgency in her soprano that matches well with the fragility and strength of Puccini’s nun … [a] beautifully-managed recording” Opera, December 2012

“[Kristine Opolais has] a fine lyric spinto, silvery tone, perfect for Puccini...Mojca Erdmann is a delightful Suor Genonieffa, her crystal-clear soubrette just right for this well-meaning chatterbox...[Braun's] mezzo has suitable coldness and depth...Puccini's orchestration is revelled in.” International Record Review, December 2012

“[Opolais's] bright soprano, with its surface sparkle, vividly portrays the intense feelings of Sister Angelica...Lioba Braun has the right dark forceful mezzo for the Princess... Nelsons paces the opera fluidly and the orchestral balance is close, making Puccini's colours come over strongly.” Gramophone Magazine, January 2013

“Excellence of singing in a warm blooded performance, recorded immaculately … a wholehearted success” MusicWeb International, March 2013

BBC Music Magazine

Opera Choice - November 2012

BBC Music Magazine Awards 2013

Opera Finalist

Orfeo - C848121A

(CD)

$16.75

In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day.

Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 19 & 23

Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 19 & 23


Mozart:

Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K488

Piano Concerto No. 19 in F major, K459

Ch'io mi scordi di te?... Non temer, amato bene, K505

Mojca Erdmann (soprano)


Hélène Grimaud (piano)

Kammerorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks

This album marks two 'firsts' for Hélène Grimaud - her first live DG recording and her first ever Mozart concerto recording – the Piano Concertos Nos. 19 in F, and 23 in A. Hélène Grimaud considers the concerto in A major "probably the most sublime concerto Mozart ever wrote", with a slow movement that is "an extremely deep and painful expression of longing, where you find the real Mozart." The concerto in F major K459 is less well-known, but with a very special vitality and a virtuosic finale that is for Grimaud, "pure pianistic pleasure". As well as the two concertos, the album includes the beautiful concert aria for orchestra, soprano and piano 'Ch'io mi scordi di te', sung by Mojca Erdmann. The aria was Mozart's declaration of love to the soprano Nancy Storace, his Susanna in the world premiere of "Le nozze di Figaro".

“the performances are spontaneous and muscular, to a degree indeed that won’t be to every taste. Busoni’s cadenza duly pops up: I can see why it ruffled Abbado’s feathers” The Times, 25th November 2011

“[Erdmann] characterises her role with both tenderness and fervour. This track and the slow movement of K488 are worthy of full attention.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2012

“[the orchestra] plays with exemplary precision and clarity, with especially remarkable virtuosity coming from the winds...Grimaud's playing is always fleet, alert and musical, but the recorded piano sound is often too bright...Erdmann projects the ardent sentiments of the text strongly” International Record Review, January 2012

“Grimaud's playing is full of carefully graded subtleties: it's evident she has thought deeply about each gesture, yet the resulting performance sounds fresh and spontaneous...Erdmann has a lovely, supple, warm soprano but she could do with more steel in the voice for this dramatic music. The conductorless chamber orchestra is impressive. Grimaud takes great care to desentimentalise the music and make it, in her own words, 'weightless'” Classic FM Magazine, March 2012 ****

“There is no question that the music emerges vibrantly energetic. But those listeners accustomed to thinking fine Mozart playing permits the subtle play of emotions across a poised surface will probably find that Grimaud runs roughshod over some delicious details...[the concert aria] is played and sung (by soprano Mojca Erdmann) with commendably considered eloquence.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2012 **

DG - 4779455

(CD)

$16.75

In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day.

Wolf, H: Italienisches Liederbuch (46 songs, complete)

Wolf, H: Italienisches Liederbuch (46 songs, complete)


Mojca Erdmann (soprano), Christian Gerhaher (baritone) & Gerold Huber (piano)

Baritone Christian Gerhaher has already set new standards with his interpretations of the most famous romantic song cycles. On his new album he turns his attention to Hugo Wolf's "Italian Songbook" together with the young German soprano Mojca Erdmann. They are accompanied on the piano by Gerhaher’s long-term musical partner Gerold Huber.

“Erdmann’s light, bright soprano is the right voice for the flirtatious coquettes represented in the female songs...The swains of Gerhaher...meanwhile, languish, despair and rage with a confessional soul-baring...Is there a Lieder singer blessed with a more beautiful voice, greater musical intelligence and communicative power before the public today? I don’t think so. Gerhaher and Huber give us Wolf for the ages.” Sunday Times, 8th May 2011 ****

“While Mojca Erdmann seems a decent enough lieder singer, with a bright, silvery timbre and an even, clean delivery, Christian Gerhaher is already an authentically great one; he invests every phrase with specific meaning, employing a huge range of colours and nuances to tease out the emotional currents that surge beneath the apparently innocent surfaces of these songs and their accompaniments.” The Guardian, 19th May 2011 ***

“The tonal freshness, and emotional freedom commanded by the great German baritone Christian Gerhaher is showcased in this performance of Wolf’s 46 miniatures: sample his exquisite singing of Dass doch gemalt to hear him at his peak. His soprano partner Mojca Erdmann isn’t quite on this level, but her singing has winning charm and purity.” The Telegraph, 23rd June 2011 ****

“Gerhaher and Erdmann complement each other, she offering coy charm against his mystic romanticism. With Huber on piano, both singers conjure the sense of weightlessness that is a feature of these songs – though it is Gerhaher’s eloquence that provides the stand-out moments on an outstanding disc.” Financial Times, 25th June 2011 *****

“Christian Gerhaher's baritone is one of the wonders of our generation, while Mojca Erdmann's visionary, shining soprano complements him perfectly. At the piano, Gerold Huber characterises each piercing, tiny vision unerringly. Outstanding, but strangely disturbing.” The Observer, 26th June 2011

“Gerhaher is an ideal exponent of these charming little songs. His voice is rich, even and smooth; his delivery clear; and his sense of engagement total.” Classic FM Magazine, August 2011 ***

“[Erdmann's] voice is lustrous and beautifully integrated throught its registers...Gerhaher, now in his prime, is a delight throughout: robust in ardent adoration, nuancing his voice for the vignettes of lunar beauty, and darkening it for the moments of passing anger and frustration...[his] regular accompanist, Gerold Huber, enlivens every miniature tableau with vivid piano playing” BBC Music Magazine, August 2011 ****

RCA - 88697727202

(CD)

$17.25

In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day.

Reimann - Cantus, Ollea & Arietta

Reimann - Cantus, Ollea & Arietta


Reimann, A:

Cantus, for clarinet & orchestra

WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Peter Rundel

Ollea - four poets by Heine for soprano

Arietta

Solo for Clarinet

Ni una Sombra - trio for soprano clarinet and piano


Jörg Widmann (clarinet), Mojca Erdmann (soprano), Axel Bauni (piano)

Cantus is a clarinet concerto and has a dark requiem-like air. In Ollea, Reimann has set poems by Heine. Moijca Erdmann’s light soprano voice is perfect for these works. Arietta was written for the long forgotten bass clarinet.

Capriccio - C5020

(CD)

$17.75

(also available to download from $10.50)

In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day.

Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail, K384

Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail, K384

Recorded live at Het Musiektheater, Amsterdam on 2nd, 7th & 19th February 2008.


Laura Aikin (Konstanze), Edgaras Montvidas (Belmonte), Kurt Rydl (Osmin), Mojca Erdmann (Blonde), Michael Smallwood (Pedrillo), Steven Van Watermeulen (Bassa Selim)

The Netherlands Chamber Orchestra & Chorus of De Nederlandse Opera, Constantinos Carydis (musical director) & Johan Simons (stage director)

Johan Simons’ feisty production of Die Entführung aus dem Serail is an intelligently innovative account of Mozart’s 1782 comic tale of abduction, love, loyalty and forgiveness. Kurt Rydl’s Osmin is hilarious, with just the right edge of latent thuggery; Mojca Erdmann’s smart and cheeky Blonde sports a red riding coat, high latex boots and a belt that she is not afraid to use on the men! Laura Aikin’s Konstanze, torn between true love and obligation, reveals a vast range of human emotions and Edgaras Montvidas’ Belmonte portrays his coming-of-age with clarity and genuine charisma. The performance is whipped up to a feverish pitch in the pit by Constantinos Carydis, the orchestra and chorus responding with fleet virtuosity. This ground-breaking performance delivers everything one could wish for from a Mozart opera, combining thrilling energy with a profound sense of lyrical beauty and truth.

“Athenian wonder boy Constantinos Carydis has everything you could want from a Mozart conductor, combining manic energy with perfectionism and a profound sense of lyrical beauty.” Bloomberg News

PICTURE FORMAT: 16:9
LENGTH: 214 Mins
SOUND: 2.0 LPCM STEREO / 5.0 DTS SURROUND
SUBTITLES: EN/FR/DE/ES/IT/NE

“Director Johan Simons's take on Die Entführung is summed up by a remark in one of the accompanying interviews: 'At the end people see that the Pasha is a much better match for Konstanze than Belmonte is.' Other productions have suggested a mutual attraction between the heroine and her oriental captor. Simons carries this to extremes. His staging is dominated by Konstanze's inner struggle between her loyalty to her betrothed and her disturbing feelings for the man who, we sense, has awakened her sexually.
Far from resisting his advances, she and the youthful, half-westernised Pasha, subtly and believably portrayed by Steven van Watermeulen, can hardly keep their hands off each other during her opening aria; and the longing she sings of in 'Traurigkeit' here takes on a very different meaning. Yet even in the final vaudeville, exchanged glances with the Pasha suggest an undertow of regret for romantic passion and exotic adventure sacrificed in the cause of duty.
While there are irritating details in Simons's modern-dress production, it is psychologically credible, often compelling. Laura Aikin vividly portrays Konstanze's fluctuating emotions in dialogue and aria. If 'Traurigkeit' ideally needs a softer, more plangent colour, she makes 'Martern aller Arten' a graphic embodiment of her conflicting feelings of desire and guilt, charging the stratospheric coloratura with a sense of neurotic desperation.
In Simons's conception Belmonte is an anxious, self-absorbed ditherer, understandably fazed by Konstanze's initial coolness towards him. Wearing a more-or-less permanently bemused air, Edgaras Montvidas sings his four arias with firm, sappy tone, if no special grace of phrasing.
Michael Smallwood makes a likeable, resourceful Pedrillo, cheerfully enduring Osmin's sadistic hair-pulling and nose-tweaking; and Mojca Erdmann, clad in mini-skirt and high-heeled patent leather boots, is a delightful, thoroughly selfassured Blonde, impatient with Konstanze's soulsearching, and using her sexual power to reduce Kurt Rydl's formidable, orotund Osmin to a doeeyed baby. In keeping with the whole production, comic gags are largely eschewed. Constantinos Carydis conducts the excellent Netherlands CO with zest and a fair sense of period style. While many will prefer a more comically straightforward staging, Simons's production certainly makes you think afresh about Mozart's ostensibly innocent, happily-ever-after harem Singspiel.”
Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Other productions have suggested a mutual attraction between the heroine and her oriental captor. Simons carries this to extremes. His staging is dominated by Konstanze's inner struggle between her loyalty to her betrothed and her disturbing feelings for the man who, we sense, has awakened her sexually. While there are irritating details in Simon's modern-dress production, I found it psychologically credible, often compelling. Laura Aikin vividly portrays Konstanze's fluctuating emotions in dialogue and aria. ...she makes "Marten aller Arten" a graphic embodiment of her conflicting feelings of desire and guilt, charging the stratospheric coloratura with a sense of neurotic desperation. Constantinos Carydis conducts the excellent Netherlands CO with zest and a fair sense of period style.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2009

DVD Video

Region: 0

Format: NTSC

Opus Arte - OA1003D

(DVD Video - 2 discs)

$39.25

In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day.

Viva Verdi! The Ultimate Collection

Viva Verdi! The Ultimate Collection


includes

Verdi:

Va, pensiero (from Nabucco)

Orchester und Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin, Giuseppe Sinopoli

La donna è mobile (from Rigoletto)

Joseph Calleja (tenor)

Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, Riccardo Chailly

È il sol dell'anima (from Rigoletto)

Anna Netrebko (soprano), Rolando Villazón (tenor)

Staatskapelle Dresden, Nicola Luisotti

Bella figlia dell'amore (from Rigoletto)

Renata Scotto (soprano), Fiorenza Cossotto (mezzo), Carlo Bergonzi (tenor), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone)

Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Rafael Kubelik

Stride la vampa (from Il Trovatore)

Brigitte Fassbaender (mezzo)

Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Carlo Maria Giulini

Anvil Chorus (from Il Trovatore)

Orchestra e Coro dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Carlo Maria Giulini

Di quella pira (from Il trovatore)

Luciano Pavarotti (tenor)

National Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Bonynge

Miserere d'un' alma gia vicina (from Il Trovatore)

Rosalind Plowright (soprano), Plácido Domingo (tenor)

Orchestra e Coro dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Carlo Maria Giulini

Fontainebleau! Forêt immense et solitaire … (from Don Carlos)

Roberto Alagna (tenor)

Orchestre de Paris, Antonio Pappano

O tu che in seno agli angeli (from La Forza del Destino)

José Carreras (tenor)

Philharmonia Orchestra, Giuseppe Sinopoli

La traviata: Prelude to Act 1

Bavarian State Orchestra, Carlos Kleiber

Libiamo, ne' lieti calici (from La Traviata)

Anna Netrebko (soprano), Rolando Villazón (tenor)

Wiener Philharmoniker, Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor, Carlo Rizzi

È strano! è strano!...Ah! fors è lui (from La traviata)

Anna Netrebko (soprano)

Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Claudio Abbado

Sempre libera (from La Traviata)

Anna Netrebko (soprano), Saimir Pirgu (tenor)

Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Claudio Abbado

Di provenza il mar (from La Traviata)

Sherrill Milnes (baritone)

Bavarian State Orchestra, Carlos Kleiber

Parigi, o cara (from La Traviata)

Joan Sutherland (soprano), Luciano Pavarotti (tenor)

National Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Bonynge

Se quel guerrier io fossi!…Celeste Aida (from Aida)

Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Claudio Abbado

Gloria all'Egitto (from Aida)

Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Claudio Abbado

Grand March from Aida

Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Claudio Abbado

Aida: Ballet Music, Act II

Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Claudio Abbado

Vieni, o guerriero vindice (from Aida)

Nicolai Ghiaurov (bass)

Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Claudio Abbado

O terra, addio (from Aida)

Katia Ricciarelli (soprano), Elena Obraztsova (mezzo), Plácido Domingo (tenor)

Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Claudio Abbado

Dies Irae (from Requiem)

Berliner Philharmoniker, Ernst Senff Chor, Carlo Maria Giulini

Ingemisco (from Requiem)

Rolando Villazón (tenor)

Orchestra del Teatro Regio di Torino, Gianandrea Noseda

Lacrymosa (from Requiem)

Sharon Sweet (soprano), Florence Quivar (mezzo), Vinson Cole (tenor), Simon Estes (bass)

Berliner Philharmoniker, Ernst Senff Chor, Carlo Maria Giulini

Sanctus (from Requiem)

Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Claudio Abbado

O don fatale (from Don Carlo)

Grace Bumbry (mezzo)

Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Janos Kulka

Udisti?…Vil disegno! (from Simon Boccanegra)

José Carreras (tenor), José van Dam (bass)

Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Claudio Abbado

Esultate! (from Otello)

Plácido Domingo (tenor)

Orchestre et Choeurs de l'Opéra Bastille, Myung-Whun Chung

Ave Maria (from Otello)

Renée Fleming (soprano)

London Symphony Orchestra, Georg Solti

Ehi! Paggio! ... L'onore! Ladri! (from Falstaff)

Bryn Terfel (bass-baritone)

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, James Levine

Dal labbro il canto estasiato vola (from Falstaff)

Mojca Erdmann (soprano), Rolando Villazón (tenor)

Orchestra del Teatro Regio di Torino, Gianandrea Noseda


Leading tenor, Rolando Villazon, has personally selected 34 great Verdi tracks, sung by the great names of the present and past, both to celebrate Verdi at 200 and to inspire a new generation with the composer’s great arias, powerful choruses and popular tunes.

The tracklist is framed by two stirring overtures, it includes famous numbers by all the leading singers on DG and Decca (as well as a couple from EMI), including Roberto Alagna, Carlo Bergonzi, Grace Bumbry, Joseph Calleja, José Carreras, Plácido Domingo, Renée Fleming, Anna Netrebko, Luciano Pavorotti, Katia Ricciarelli, Joan Sutherland and BrynTerfel. There are rousing choruses and several extracts from the Requiem too. It’s a splendid 150-minute collection.

The striking cover includes one of Rolando’s inimitable Verdi sketches, and will include a sticker incorporating a photo of the artist. The all-colour booklet has an article by journalist Richard Lawrence which also takes in some quotes from the artist in a recent interview for this release.

Villazón is confident that every excerpt on these discs will make the listener want to hear the complete work. “No other composer creates such an immediate link with the audience. Go to see La traviata: you hear those rhythms, those melodies, that dramatic force, and you are drawn into his world. It doesn’t matter whether you love opera or know nothing about it: it just captures you, it grabs you.” Listening to the numbers from La traviata here, you have to agree.

Released or re-released in last 6 months

DG - 4791171

(CD - 2 discs)

Normally: $17.75

Special: $15.50

(Sorry, download not available in your country)

Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days.

Wagner: Siegfried

Wagner: Siegfried


Production by Robert Lepage

“Deborah Voigt's Brunnhilde is attractively lyrical. Jay Hunter Morris's stand-in Siegfried is a discovery, a handsome, extrovert giant.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2013 ****

Released or re-released in last 6 months

DVD Video

Region: 0

Format: NTSC

DG - 0734845

(DVD Video - 2 discs)

$26.50

Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days.

Wagner: Siegfried

Wagner: Siegfried


Production by Robert Lepage

Released or re-released in last 6 months

Blu-ray Disc

Region: all

Blu-rays - up to 40% off

DG - 0734854

(Blu-ray)

Normally: $26.25

Special: $19.68

Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days.

Mostly Mozart

Mostly Mozart


Bach, J C:

À qui pourrai-je avoir recours? (from Amadis de Gaule)

Holzbauer:

Es ist geschrieben (from Günther von Schwarzburg)

Ihr Rosenstunden (from Günther von Schwarzburg)

Die Klüfte sausen! (from Günther von Schwarzburg)

Mozart:

Tiger! Wetze nur die Klauen! (from Zaïde)

Quando avran fine omai ... Padre, germani, addio! (from Idomeneo)

Ruhe sanft, mein holdes Leben (from Zaïde)

Batti, batti, o bel Masetto (from Don Giovanni)

(with preceding recitative, from 'Ma se colpa io non...')

Giunse alfin il momento... Deh, vieni, non tardar… (from Le nozze di Figaro)

Vedrai, carino (from Don Giovanni)

Ach, ich fühl's (from Die Zauberflöte, K620)

Se il padre perdei (from Idomeneo)

Paisiello:

Il mio ben quando verrà (from Nina, o sia La pazza per amore)

Salieri:

Par les larmes dont votre fille (from Les Danaïdes)

Père barbare, arrache-moi la vie! (from Les Danaïdes)


Mojca Erdmann (soprano)

La Cetra, Andrea Marcon

Mojca Erdmann’s Deutsche Grammophon recording debut combines a variety of Mozart’s best beloved arias and works by his contemporaries such as J.C. Bach, Holzbauer, and Paisiello. The album also features Andrea Marcon and the outstanding period instrumentalists of La Cetra Baroque Orchestra, Basle. Plans in 2011 include her debut at New York’s Metropolitan Opera as Zerlina in a new Don Giovanni.

“Agile, clean, bright: Mojca Erdmann’s soprano voice was made for Mozart...it’s easy to enjoy her natural ease and golden glow, backed by high-class playing from Andrea Marcon and the Basel period orchestra, La Cetra. The booklet has plenty of starstruck pictures.” The Times, 30th April 2011 ****

“The two arias from Zaide show off Erdmann's strengths: the outer sections of 'Tiger!' are full of fire, and 'Ruhe sanft' is delicate without being merely pretty...Erdmann's spirited, impeccably tuned soprano is a delight to hear, and this unhackneyed recital is richly enjoyable.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2011

“Erdmann clearly has a lot going for her in terms of sheer musicianship. A notably well-schooled artist, she shapes phrases (in 'Ruhe sanft', to name one example) with a precision that is almost clinical...Marcon and La Cetra, his brilliant period-instrument orchestra, support the soprano with considerable sensitivity.” International Record Review, July 2011

“Erdmann is certainly an interpreter of major gifts, most obvious in the more regular Mozart assignments, which all possess dramatic individuality as well as musical and vocal distinction...But contributing just as much to the disc's success is the orchestral playing under Andrea Marcon. The Basel-based period-instrument ensemble maximises the characterful elements of the writing throughout.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2011 ****

DG - 4778979

(CD)

$16.75

Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days.

Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 52 'Lobgesang'

Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 52 'Lobgesang'


Ruth Ziesak (soprano), Mojca Erdmann (soprano) & Christian Elsner (tenor)

MDR Radio Choir & MDR Symphony Orchestra, Jun Märkl

Hot on the heels of October’s release of Elijah, comes a new recording of Mendelssohn’s opulent Symphony No. 2 ‘Lobgesang’. Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony, and Music Director of the Orchestre National de Lyon, Jun Märkl is one of the most notable conductors of his generation.

Mendelssohn’s immense Symphony No. 2 enjoyed great success following its 1840 première in Leipzig. Using texts from the Lutheran Bible, he created a stirring symphonic cantata in which the whole world unites in a triumphant song to the Heavenly Father. Jun Märkl, whose Naxos recordings have gained high praise, leads an outstanding line-up of artists in this thrilling performance.

“Strong performances from the MDR orchestra and chorus counter Wagner's jealous claim that this was merely a feeble imitation of Beethoven's Ninth.” The Observer, 19th December 2010

“Märkl's version has many beauties, not least the duet before the final chorus which Ruth Ziesak and Christian Elsner sing with great tenderness...The chorus sing with gusto, and their final hymn of praise is triumphant and exciting.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2011 ****

“The secret...is not to let the inner tension sag...This Jun Märkl does admirably...The solo singing is outstanding...This is a splendid CD of an unfairly neglected and often misunderstood work, and at the attractive price it will be very hard to beat.” International Record Review, January 2011

“[Märkl] shrewdly judges the balance between dignity and urgency, while the choral singing (with a notably incisive tenor line) is aptly full-blooded without compromising clarity in Mendelssohn's fugal textures...Ziesak and Mojca Erdmann combine attractively in the famous, and oft-maligned, duet "I waited for the Lord", which emerges with freshness and charm.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2011

“Märkl blows away any Victorian cobwebs with a reading that keeps Mendelssohn's precision scoring firmly on its toes...Those listeners who like their Mendelssohn fleet-footed and light as air should be well satisfied with Märkl's sparkling reading of this wonderful score.” Classic FM Magazine, March 2011 ****

20% off Naxos

Naxos - 8572294

(CD)

Normally: $8.25

Special: $6.60

(also available to download from $6.00)

Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.)

Page: 

 1   2   3 

 Next >>

Copyright © 2002-13 Presto Classical Limited, all rights reserved.