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Presto News - 20th September 2010Wagner's Parsifal from the Mariinsky and Gergiev |
 The subject of today’s newsletter has devoured a lot of my time over the past few weeks - a new recording of Wagner’s last opera Parsifal from Valery Gergiev and his Mariinsky Orchestra & Chorus. Although the Mariinsky Theatre has a long association with Wagner’s music (the composer himself conducted his own music there in 1863), Parsifal itself fell out of favour for much of twentieth century and when Gergiev first performed it there in 1999 it had not been heard in the theatre for eighty years. Since then Gergiev has performed a lot of Wagner and even taken the Ring cycle on tour (to mixed reviews admittedly) but this is his first recording of a Wagner opera.  Valery Gergiev The recording took place in June 2009 in the Mariinsky Concert Hall in St Petersburg, incorporating live concert performances. It is the best of both worlds really as you gain the added spontaneity from performing to an audience but, with such an acoustically perfect concert hall and the time to re-do any necessary passages, it sounds like a studio recording. The orchestral playing is out of this world and has a wonderfully vivid theatricality about it. This theatricality is matched by the characterisation of the singers. For example Nikolai Putilin (who sings Klingsor - the evil magician) has a superb nasty snarl to his voice, while Evgeny Nikitin’s agonised Amfortas (who suffers throughout the opera from a painful wound which will not heal) is right up there with the very best on record. For the three big roles, Gergiev brings in some true international stars - Gary Lehman (Parsifal), Violeta Urmana (Kundry), René Pape (Gurnemanz). Gary Lehman trained as a baritone before becoming a tenor and this power stands him in good stead here. Violeta Urmana’s voice is one of the most remarkable around, and while I wish she could sound a bit more seductive when trying to seduce Parsifal in Act II there are still plenty of fireworks and emotional extremes to impress. The star for me though is René Pape’s outstanding Gurnemanz. He has authority, power and great characterisation and is vocally and musically superlative throughout. Arguably the finest performance of the role now on disc. Apart from René Pape the other real reason to look at this set is Gergiev himself who seems to get the pacing and moods of the music just right. The spiritual moments have a real ethereal glow about them, while the manic bits sparkle with excitement. It never sounds too slow or too fast and the tempo changes all sound natural and well judged. I gather there are more recordings of Wagner operas to come in the years ahead from Mariinsky and if they can get anywhere near the standard of this set, there is much to look forward to. In short, a must for both Wagner fans and an excellent choice for those looking to add this great opera to their collection.
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 Wagner: ParsifalGary Lehman (Parsifal), Violeta Urmana (Kundry), René Pape (Gurnemanz), Evgeny Nikitin (Amfortas), Alexei Tano Vitski (Titurel) & Nikolai Putilin (Klingsor), Mariinsky Orchestra & Chorus, Valery Gergiev
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Chris O'Reilly - chris@prestoclassical.co.uk |
Watch a short video of Gary Lehman discussing his move from baritone to tenor and this recordingNew Releases20th September 2010 |
This is just the pick of the recent releases. The New Releases and Future Releases pages are always available for browsing all the new and forthcoming releases. |
 Puer natus est - Tudor Music for Advent & ChristmasStile AnticoStile Antico’s newest programme centres on Tallis’ magnificent 7-part ‘Christmas’ Mass, based on the festive plainchant Puer natus est, in a new edition prepared by Sally Dunkley. The mass is interspersed with seasonal Tudor music, including Byrd’s exquisite Propers for the fourth Sunday of Advent, responsories by Taverner and Sheppard, Robert White’s exuberant setting of the Magnificat, and Tallis’ own sublime Videte miraculum. |
 The Celtic Viol IIJordi Savall (6 strings treble viol & lyra-viol), Andrew Lawrence-King (Irish harps & psaltery) & Frank McGuire (bodhran)This second volume follows the critically acclaimed and best-selling Volume I, but is far from being only a continuation. Thanks to different types of viol (treble and lyra) and particularly inspired rhythms coming from Frank McGuire on bodhran (an Irish frame drum), Jordi Savall has enriched his vision of this fascinating repertoire. Andrew Lawrence-King offers a perfect counterpoint on Irish harp and psaltery. This album is organised in seven sets and enables us to discover many sides of a repertoire Jordi Savall explores with the steadiest and most respectful hand. |
 Nelson Goerner: ChopinNelson Goerner (piano)The Argentinian pianist Nelson Goerner, whose Chopin playing has prompted Gramophone to describe him as ”a player of exalted poetic verve”, celebrated the bicentenary of Chopin’s birth with a major series of performances of his music, including this Wigmore Hall concert last October. |
 Beethoven: The ‘Late’ QuartetsTokyo String QuartetThe Tokyo String Quartet completes its acclaimed Beethoven cycle with the composer’s valedictory quartets of 1825-26. As he looked ahead to structures and soundworlds then unimagined, and glanced back to the bedrock counterpoint of Western music, Beethoven turned inwards to his well of experience, much of it harsh, from which he drew this music of transcendent power. |
 Officium NovumJan Garbarek & The Hilliard EnsembleThe long-awaited third album from one of the most touching and magical sound combinations in music today: Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek with Britain’s premier vocal group, The Hilliard Ensemble. The first album, Officium, has sold nearly 1.5 million copies, and it is still in the charts as one of the top 20 best-selling classical albums of the past decade, well after its 1994 release. The spellbinding Officium album, with Garbarek’s saxophone as a free-ranging ‘fifth voice’ with the Ensemble, gave the first indications of their immense combined musical scope and emotional power. Mnemosyne (1999) expanded the repertoire beyond ‘early music’ to embrace works both ancient and modern. Now Officium novum finds the collective at the crossroads of East and West. |
 Telemann: Tafelmusik Part I-III (complete)Freiburger Barockorchester, Petra Müllejans & Gottfried von der GoltzIn his Musique de Table, through skilful organisation, breadth of imagination and sheer masterful inspiration, Telemann concentrates the entire range of European musical styles. This bravura display brings together ‘what stern custom had divided’. Here is the ultimate glittering banquet of late Baroque goût in all its rich diversity. |
 Schumann - Piano Works & Chamber Music XGordan Nikolitch (violin 1), Lise Bertaud (viola), François Salque (cello) & Eric Le Sage (piano)The penultimate volume of Eric le Sage's epic Schumann series reaches the chamber music which, with Mendelssohn’s, is the benchmark for the first half of the century in Europe. From Brahms to Fauré, from Saint-Saëns and Lalo to Borodin, passing by Tchaikovsky, none could escape his emotional power nor his formal model. Posterity seems to have operated a definite rating: the Quintet at the top followed by the trios and then the Quartet. If we follow this, the Quintet for piano and Strings would be one of the summits of the chamber music repertoire, whilst the Quartet for piano and strings, its little brother, composed during the summer of 1842 in the same E flat major colour, would be its lesser replica. Discuss! |
 Marais: Trios pour le Coucher du RoyRicercar Consort, Philippe PierlotThe Pièces en Trio enable us to see a totally different side of Marin Marais’ work; he is no longer writing for himself and his own bass viol, but rather for his colleagues, the musicians of the Chambre du Roi. Marais opened the gates to a new instrumental genre in France with this collection in 1692. |
 BBC Radio 3 CD ReviewSaturday 18th September 2010 |
Building a Library - Sibelius: Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 105 |
 First Choice(single disc coupled with No. 6 and Tapiola)Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Osmo Vänskä |
 First Choice(4 CD set comprising the complete Symphonies and Tapiola)Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Osmo Vänskä |
 First Choice(15 CD set called "The Essential Sibelius" - great value! )Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Osmo Vänskä |
Disc of the Week |
Wagner: ParsifalGary Lehman (Parsifal), Violeta Urmana (Kundry), René Pape (Gurnemanz), Evgeny Nikitin (Amfortas), Alexei Tano Vitski (Titurel) & Nikolai Putilin (Klingsor), Mariinsky Orchestra & Chorus, Valery Gergiev |
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