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Presto News - 26th March 2012Wagner - Klaus Florian Vogt and a new Parsifal |
 As plans for next year’s Wagner bicentenary gather apace, I have a new recital disc and the latest Pentatone opera to savour this week. In the recital corner, we have ‘Helden’ (Heroes) from the German tenor Klaus-Florian Vogt, who first caught my eye and ear two years ago as a graffiti-spraying, combat-trousered and gloriously sweet-toned Walther in Katherina Wagner’s controversial Bayreuth Meistersinger. Wagner forms the mainstay of the programme (and of Vogt’s current repertoire), but it’s a treat to hear him in Tamino’s aria, which still fits him like a glove despite almost a decade of singing heavier roles, and serves as a reminder that even Wagner’s most taxing roles were written for singers who would have been performing Mozart and bel canto alongside their new demanding repertoire.  Klaus Florian Vogt Despite the title, Vogt sounds nothing like a typical Heldentenor (I think my initial response when Chris played this in the office was ‘Wow, this sounds like Ian Bostridge singing Siegmund!'). His sound is far slimmer, lighter and brighter than one usually hears in heroic repertoire, but has a real metallic core and a thrilling ‘blade’ in the upper register that allows him to scythe through even the heaviest orchestration. There’s no bellowing or bluster: he really sings this music, and his plangent, youthful timbre make him an exceptionally vulnerable Siegmund, a shy but quietly-confident Walther and one of the most truly ethereal Lohengrins you’re likely to hear. The disc was recorded live in concert last July, so the arias are interspersed with orchestral interludes from the operas in order to give Vogt some well-earned breathing space. The Deutsche Opera Orchestra play them all beautifully, so it seems a bit churlish of me to say that I was left wanting more Vogt, but he’s so consistently beguiling that I was itching to hear him in Lohengrin and Walther’s Act One arias and Siegmund’s great ‘Walse!’ monologue: a viable programme in a studio-recording but an impossibly tough night as a live performance! No matter – there are riches aplenty here, and I’m sure we’ll be hearing more from this distinctive singer in the years to come!  Christian Elsner For another dramatic tenor with lyricism and stamina to burn, look no further than Christian Elsner, the eponymous hero of Marek Janowski’s Parsifal. Like Vogt, Elsner isn’t especially well-known outside his native Germany (or on disc) and, whilst there’s far more ‘muscle’ and baritonal colour in his voice, he shares Vogt’s Mozart background, vocal freshness and willingness to ‘do’ vulnerability – major assets in this role. His Kundry, Michelle de Young, may sound a little matronly to some ears (she sounds vastly more mature than the skittish flower-maidens), but it’s entirely in keeping with the weirdly Oedipal aspects of the role, and she’s fully alive to the schizophrenic shifts in mood which Wagner demands. Not afraid to make ugly sounds when the drama calls for them, she turns on the maternal warmth and voluptuousness to great effect in the seduction-scene. Veteran Wagnerian Franz-Josef Selig is every bit as eloquent and insightful as you’d expect in the verbose role of Gurnemanz: the long monologues never run out of steam, and his elegy for the dead swan in Act One is quite exquisitely poignant. Eike Wilm Schulte is searingly abrasive as Klingsor but still elicits shards of sympathy in his narration of his own failed quest to join the Grail-Knights (the booklet essay also argues against reading the character as a one-dimensional villain). In the pit, Janowski paces things immaculately: there’s a serene, lucid radiance to the Prelude and Good Friday Music, and never a hint of anything ponderous or stodgy. What a valuable undertaking this Wagner cycle is turning out to be!
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 Klaus Florian Vogt: HeldenKlaus Florian Vogt (tenor), Orchestra of Deutsche Oper Berlin, Peter Schneider |
 Wagner: ParsifalEvgeny Nikitin, Christian Elsner, Franz-Josef Selig, Michelle de Young, Dimitry Ivaschenko, Eike Wilm Schulte, Rundfunkchor Berlin & Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester, Marek Janowski
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Katherine Cooper - katherine@prestoclassical.co.uk |
Listen - sound samples available for this item
Download - download options available for this itemNew Releases26th March 2012 |
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. |
 Erik Chisholm: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2Danny Driver (piano), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Rory MacdonaldWho was Erik Chisholm? A fascinating musical polymath: composer, conductor and performer, and collector of folk music from his native Scotland. Born in Glasgow in 1904, his attitude to music was progressive, looking towards central European modernism (he was dubbed ‘MacBartók’). Chisholm’s understanding and mastery of the piano – he performed the Scottish premieres of Rachmaninov’s Third and Bartók’s First Concertos – is evident in his two concertos. |
 Notte VenezianaXavier de Maistre (harp), l’arte del mondo, Werner Ehrhardt (Artistic Director)Today’s leading virtuoso of the harp presents famous Baroque concerti by Albinoni, Marcello and Vivaldi in unique new arrangements. |
 Graupner: Wo gehet Jesus hinAnton-Webern-Chor Freiburg & Ensemble Concerto Grosso, Hans Michael BeuerleIn his testament, Christoph Graupner (1683-1760) decreed that every single one of his compositions should be destroyed after his death. It is quite unimaginable that the composer’s last will should have been carried out! Fortunately, posterity preserved the musical memorial, and so today we find his musical legacy in the library of the ‘Darmstädter Hofkapelle’. To date, very little of Graupner’s extensive vocal oeuvre has been recorded, and thus the Anton-Webern-Chor Freiburg together with the Ensemble Concerto Grosso conducted by Hans Michael Beuerle present imaginative baroque vocal music recorded for the first time. A programme of four passion cantatas was selected from the enormous body of Graupner cantatas – altogether 1414 sacred cantatas grouped in 46 annual cantata volumes are extant!
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 Joaquín Turina: Chamber MusicThe Nash EnsembleThe colourful folk melodies and rhythms of Spain knit seamlessly with twentieth-century French compositional sophistication in Joaquín Turina’s chamber works. Born in Seville, Andalucia, the young composer went to study in Paris in 1905, where he was greatly attracted to the forward-looking style of the likes of Debussy. However, his musical course was altered when he encountered countrymen Falla and Albéniz, who encouraged him to write in a style that fully embraced his Andalucian musical heritage. |
 Beethoven - Complete Works for Solo Piano Volume 11Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano)Following his acclaimed recordings of Beethoven’s sonatas, sonatinas and bagatelles, Ronald Brautigam here presents the first disc of four with variations, comprising works composed between 1796 and 1802.
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 Sofia Gubaidulina: Complete String QuartetsStamic QuartetSofia Gubaidulina, one of the most distinct composers of the present time, says of herself that she is “a daughter of two worlds, whose soul lives in the music of both the West and East”. The five string quartets represent a singular journey towards a vision of freedom beyond the borders of any system: she extracts the material from beyond major-minor tonality, using micro-intervals, serial techniques, aleatory elements, unusual playing methods, thus revealing previously unthought-of acoustic possibilities of instruments, including the space itself, the movement of musicians, etc. |
 Kalevi Aho: Chamber Symphonies Nos 1–3Tapiola SinfoniettaThe Tapiola Sinfonietta here performs Kalevi Aho’s three chamber symphonies: three works that stretch the expressive capabilities of a string orchestra, and are thus highly demanding for the players. The solo alto saxophone part in Chamber Symphony No.3 was written for the soloist John-Edward Kelly who appears here. Aho describes the piece as ‘a hybrid of chamber symphony and saxophone concerto’.
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 Verdi: La Traviata - DVDNatalie Dessay, Charles Castronovo, Ludovic Tézier, Adelina Scarabelli, |
Watch - Video trailers available for this item BBC Radio 3 CD ReviewSaturday 24th March 2012 |
Building a Library - Schubert: Piano Sonata No. 19 in C minor, D958 |
 First Choice(as part of an 8 CD Mitsuko Uchida plays Schubert collection)Mitsuko Uchida (piano) |
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