SACDs - Wagner

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Wagner: Wesendonck-Lieder, Siegfried-Idyll & Overtures

Wagner: Wesendonck-Lieder, Siegfried-Idyll & Overtures


Wagner:

Der fliegende Holländer: Overture

original version

Wesendonck-Lieder (5)

orch. Mottl (Nos. 1-4)/Wagner (No. 5)

Nina Stemme (soprano)

Der fliegende Holländer: Overture

final version

Siegfried Idyll

Träume (No. 5 from Wesendonck-Lieder)

Katarina Andreasson (violin)

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Prelude to Act 3


Svenska Kammarorkestern, Thomas Dausgaard

In June 2013 the Swedish Chamber Orchestra under the expert direction of Thomas Dausgaard are joined by one of today's foremost Wagner singers. Named 'Singer of the Year' by Opernwelt magazine in 2012, Nina Stemme has been the Isolde of choice at Glyndebourne, Bayreuth and Covent Garden.

For this new release Nina performs the five Wesendonck-Lieder, of which two in particular, Im Treibhaus and Träume, were referred to by Wagner as 'studies' for Tristan and Isolde. Wagner himself prepared a version for violin and orchestra of Träume, and the ensemble includes this setting featuring principal violinist, Katarina Andreasson, as soloist.

The Wesendonck-Lieder are framed by two versions of the overture to Der fliegende Holländer, the rarely heard 1841 original version and the composer's final creation from 1860, with its new ending inspired by Tristan, composed three years earlier.

“[Stemme] brings heroic refulgence as well as sensibility to music that luxuriates in the chromatic agony and ecstasy of Tristan und Isolde.” Sunday Times, 26th May 2013

“Surprisingly, these performances don’t come across as anaemic, thanks to a very vivid, closely-miked recording...There’s no excess fat, but no absence of drive or drama either...Stemme’s rapt account of the Wesendonck-Lieder is among the best around.” The Arts Desk, 1st June 2013

Released or re-released in last 6 months

Super Audio CD

Format:

Hybrid Multi-channel

BIS - BIS2022

(SACD)

Normally: $17.50

Special: $15.75

(also available to download from $11.00)

In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day.

Wagner for the Piano

Wagner for the Piano


Brassin:

Siegmund‘s Lovesong, Forest Murmurs & Magic Fire (after Wagner)

Walhall (after Wagner)

Der Ritt der Walküren (after Wagner)

Busoni:

Funeral March from The Ring of the Nibelung (after Wagner)

Corbett, S:

Grabmal Kundry (in memoriam Hans Werner Henze)

Kocsis:

Einleitung (after Wagner's Tristan und Isolde)

Moszkowski:

Isoldens Tod (after Wagner)

Stradal:

Verwandlungsmusik und Karfreitagszauber (after Wagner's Parsifal)


Liszt was the first, but pianists of later generations also journeyed through the gigantic cosmos of the Wagnerian music drama with paraphrases and transcriptions for the piano. Severin von Eckardstein has brought together the best of these on his latest SACD. The result is a fascinating look at the reception history of Wagner’s music.

Released or re-released in last 6 months

Super Audio CD

Format:

Hybrid Multi-channel

MDG Scene - MDG9041805

(SACD)

$18.50

In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day.

Wagner: Das Rheingold

Wagner: Das Rheingold


Tomasz Konieczny (Wotan), Christian Elsner (Loge), Iris Vermillion (Fricka), Günther Groissböck (Fasolt), Timo Riihonen (Fafner), Jochen Schmeckenbecher (Alberich), Ricarda Merberth (Freia), Andreas Conrad (Mime), Maria Radner (Erda), Julia Borchert (Woglinde), Katharina Kammerloher (Wellgunde), Kismara Pessatti (Flosshilde)

Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester & Rundfunkchor Berlin, Marek Janowski

Following on from their recent success at this year’s 2013 BBC Music Magazine Awards where they won the Award for Technical Excellence for their recording of Parsifal, PentaTone is delighted to bring you the next installment, Das Rheingold.

This is the 7th release in PentaTone’s successful Wagner Edition and the 1st one in the Wagner Year. Das Rheingold is the first release of the cycle: Der Ring des Nibelungen. The other 3 “Ring recordings” will follow in the course of 2013.

Continuing with their critically acclaimed Wagner series, the attached images show previous releases which have received unprecedented critical acclaim.

The recordings have various been awarded The Sunday Times CD of the Week, The Opera Choice of the month in BBC Music Magazine, the Recording of the month also in BBC Music Magazine and several Gramophone Editor’s Choices.

PentaTone’s Wagner Edition is an unprecedented project and we aim at supporting it with a lot of attention in the media throughout the year. In the Wagner year there will be a lot of attention for Wagner through articles in the media and performances of his opera’s. We expect therefore the interest for the PentaTone Edition (especially as a collector’s item) to increase substantially.

This next release will be supported by advertising in various magazines.

“Janowski's dramatic instincts and his ability to obtain orchestral playing of great intensity and presence are as keenly honed as ever – there are some thrilling interludes in this Rheingold...the classiest [vocal] performances come from Günther Groissböck's Fasolt and Iris Vermillion's Fricka.” The Guardian, 30th May 2013 ***

“he fields several outstanding singers from the rising Wagnerian generation ...Above all, this is Janowski’s triumph. His decision to focus on the music at the expense of theatrical ideas has been criticised, but he is vindicated by the gripping, dramatic playing here.” Sunday Times, 2nd June 2013

Released or re-released in last 6 months

Super Audio CD

Format:

Hybrid Multi-channel

Pentatone Marek Janowski Wagner Opera Cycle - PTC5186406

(SACD - 2 discs)

Normally: $36.75

Special: $33.75

In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day.

Wagner: Die Walküre

Wagner: Die Walküre


Nina Stemme (Brünnhilde), René Pape (Wotan), Jonas Kaufmann (Siegmund), Anja Kampe (Sieglinde), Mikhail Petrenko (Hunding), Zhanna Dombrovskaya (Gerhilde), Irina Vasilieva (Ortlinde), Natalia Evstafieva (Waltraute), Lyudmila Kanunnikova (Schwertleite), Tatiana Kravtsova (Helmwige), Ekaterina Sergeeva (Siegrune), Anna Kiknadze (Grimgerde), Elena Vitman (Rossweisse)

Mariinsky Orchestra, Valery Gergiev

In February 2013 the Mariinsky label launches its most ambitious project to date, releasing the first title in a cycle of Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen conducted by Valery Gergiev. Recorded in the sumptuous acoustic of the Mariinsky Concert Hall, the cycle features a sensational cast, helping create the most finely crafted Ring cycle of modern times.

The first release features Die Walküre, starring Anja Kampe, Jonas Kaufmann, René Pape, Nina Stemme, Mikhail Petrenko and Ekaterina Gubanova. Recorded during sessions and performances in 2011 and 2012, it will be released internationally in February 2013 in a 4-disc Super Audio CD box and as a high resolution download. This will be followed in September 2013 by the Das Rheingold (chronologically the first opera in the cycle, although originally envisaged as a prelude by Wagner) with Siegfried and Götterdämmerung completing the cycle in 2014.

Der Ring des Nibelungen was the pinnacle of Richard Wagner’s long and turbulent career and without question one of the greatest achievements in opera. Wagner wanted to create the perfect synthesis of music and drama and assumed total creative control of the project which was to take him 26 years to complete, with frequent interruptions. He introduced numerous innovations, not least the sheer scale of the project – typically a complete performance will last in excess of 15 hours, spread over four evening. No other opera matches the scale or ambition of the Ring. The Mariinsky Theatre has close connections with Wagner and his music. The composer conducted at the theatre and was even offered the post of Music Director. It is also believed to be the first place where any of the music from the Ring was performed. Since Valery Gergiev became Music Director of the Mariinsky, Wagner’s music has once again become a core part of the theatre’s repertoire, both in St Petersburg and on tour. The Mariinsky label’s recording of Wagner’s final opera Parsifal starring René Pape, Gary Lehmann and Violetta Urmana, was released in 2010 to international acclaim.

“In the first act at least, with Jonas Kaufmann as an incomparable Siegmund, Anja Kampe a profoundly moving Sieglinde and Gergiev pacing the performance to an overwhelming climax, the result is spellbinding...In fact, few performances on disc can match it for sheer excitement, or for Kaufmann's blend of easy power, immaculate diction and lyric beauty...a fine beginning to what promises to be a very worthwhile cycle.” The Guardian, February 2013 ****

“it’s thrilling … If this instalment is anything to go by then this it’s going to be a Ring to cherish.” MusicWeb International, 31st January 2013

“Wagnerites will not be disappointed...[Gergiev] he has imported what is arguably the best quartet of principals available today for this opera – Stemme’s classic Brünnhilde, Kampe’s exciting Sieglinde, Pape’s heavyweight Wotan and, yes, the peerless Kaufmann.” Financial Times, 2nd February 2013 ****

“Act I has Jonas Kaufmann’s heroic, poetic Siegmund at the peak of his powers, partnering a limpid, youthful-sounding Sieglinde in Anja Kampe — a dream pair of Wälsung twins for our time, and one to compare with the greatest on disc. Nina Stemme’s Brünnhilde, too, is a Valkyrie for the ages...She is one of the most complete and musical Brünnhildes ever recorded” Sunday Times, 17th February 2013

“Stemme, in particular, is a magnificent Brünnhilde, emphasising the humanity of a woman discovering the meaning of love rather than the fierce Amazon. She stands in powerful contrast to the awesomely implacable Wotan of René Pape...Jonas Kaufmann is a consummate Siegmund, and Ekaterina Gubanova makes a regally persuasive Fricka...[but] the result that the opera’s moral grandeur never registers” The Telegraph, 22nd February 2013

“This show belongs to Jonas Kaufmann, whose bronzed timbre is deeply satisfying whether in heroic or intimate utterance. His legato is immaculate … Kaufmann sings as thrillingly as any Siegmund since Jon Vickers … the recorded sound is excellent.” International Record Review, March 2013

“[Stemme] is rock solid throughout her range, with gleaming top notes without any great wobble or sense of blasting the speakers...[Kaufmann's] baritonal timbre and almost smoky half tones make his Siegmund intensely masculine...The orchestral playing is excellent, especially lower woodwinds in solo passages, while the brass is superb...It is to be fervently hoped that Gergiev’s luxury casting stretches to the whole cycle.” Mark Pullinger, Opera Britannia, 8th February 2013

“The result, in superb sound, is revelatory...[Kampe] gives Sieglinde both lyrical beauty and narrative power, well matched by Jonas Kaufmann's Siegmund...[Pape] turns out to be the finest [Wotan] I've heard lately...Most exciting of all is Nina Stemme's Brunnhilde, larger-voiced and steelier than one might expect, yet feminine, spirited and vulnerable... So far this recalls, and must rank with, the great Rings of the 1960s. More, please.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2013 *****

“Stemme has the measure of her role in spades...Act 1 goes well from all three participants...Gubanova is a lively, probing Fricka and the Valkyries a well-saddled bunch. The still decidely un-Western sound of Gergiev and his orchestra is a dramatic advantage to this opera's tense underlay.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2013

“Vocally Kaufmann is unmatched on record, a heroically dark tenor with ringing top notes. Kampe gives him a run for his money with full, rich tone and beautiful text work. Nina Stemme is a fine Brünnhilde, projecting the character’s emotional journey better than any of her current contemporaries” Limelight Magazine, May 2013

BBC Music Magazine

Opera Choice - May 2013

Released or re-released in last 6 months

Super Audio CD

Format:

Hybrid Multi-channel

LSO and Mariinsky - up to 25% off

Mariinsky - MAR0527

(SACD - 4 discs)

Normally: $46.25

Special: $34.68

In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day.

Wagner: Tannhäuser

Wagner: Tannhäuser


Robert Dean Smith (Tannhäuser), Nina Stemme (Elisabeth), Marina Prudenskaya (Venus), Christian Gerhaher (Wolfram von Eschenbach), Peter Sonn (Walther von der Vogelweide), Albert Dohmen (Landgraf Hermann von Thüringen),

Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin & Rundfunkchor Berlin, Marek Janowski

This is the 6th instalment of PentaTone’s successful Wagner Edition. It is the first time in the recording history that a label records all major Wagner opera’s with the same orchestra, choir and conductor. This makes the PentaTone Wagner Edition a great collector’s item. After this release follows Der Ring des Nibelungen. The 4 opera’s of the “The Ring” will all be released in the course of 2013, The WAGNER YEAR (Celebrating the 200th anniversary of his birth in 1813)

All operas are recorded live in the Philharmonie in Berlin. The first five recordings were awarded with “Editor’s Choice” (Gramophone), Recording of the Month and Opera Choice of the Month (BBC Music Magazine), CD of the week (Sunday Times).

Based on the reviews of the concert we expect high scores for the Tannhäuser recording as well.

“Janowski's casting aims at getting an audible distinction between each voice...Both women have the measure of their words...while Robert Dean Smith - apparently a late substitute - continues to develop with a passionate assault on the fiendish title-role. Swift tempi and light orchestral/choral textures...complete a potentially exciting live performance...but the lack of understood drama behind Janowski's conducting gets in the way.” Gramophone Magazine, April 2013

“Janowski keeps the score, which has some longueurs, moving and builds up impressive climaxes in each act...Prudenskaya, though her enunciation is vague, is adequately sexy...Stemme sound[s] too heroic for the part...but she makes an impression. All told I would say that this is the best recording since that made in Bayreuth in 1962.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2013 ****

Released or re-released in last 6 months

Super Audio CD

Format:

Hybrid Multi-channel

Pentatone Marek Janowski Wagner Opera Cycle - PTC5186405

(SACD - 3 discs)

$45.75

(also available to download from $35.50)

In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day.

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