Christiane Karg / Malcolm Martineau ERINNERUNG

ERINNERUNG

 

Freiburger Barockorchester / Zürcher Sing-Akademie / Pablo Heras-Casado BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9 - Choral Fantasy

SYMPHONY No. 9 - CHORAL FANTASY

Chamber Orchestra of Europe / Yannick Nézet-Séguin MOZART Die Zauberflöte

“So many people”, notes Yannick Nézet-Séguin, “when they think ‘Mozart opera’, think of The Magic Flute. Since the beginning, since its creation, this work has always reached different kinds of audiences. It’s just one greatest hit after another”. Each of his cast’s singers owns the rare blend of vocal shading, dramatic presence and psychological insight needed to bring Mozart’s magical characters to life.

The conductor himself was praised by mundoclasico.com for conducting an “excellent” concert production of The Magic Flute at Baden-Baden with his “characteristic precision, musicality, expressive power and energy”, and for treating every nuance and every tiny but meaningful and performance-enhancing detail with “attention, love and dedication”. The same review also hailed Rolando Villazon’s first foray into the baritone repertoire, noting that “his vocal and dramatic gifts lent themselves perfectly to the comic role of Pagageno”. 

Villazón conceived the idea for Deutsche Grammophon’s Mozart cycle in 2011 while performing Don Giovanni at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden with the COE and Maestro Nézet-Séguin. He developed the project in partnership with the conductor and DG, brought ROLEX on board as generous supporters, and has served as its joint artistic consultant from its inception. Four of the five recordings released so far have received Grammy nominations, with Le nozze di Figaro winning a prestigious Echo Klassik Award in 2017.

“This is my most ambitious artistic project to date”, recalls Villazón. “I’ve never fallen in love with any composer like this before!” Since launching the enterprise eight years ago with Don Giovanni, he has performed in each release, embracing everything from Ferrando in Così fan tutte to the title-role in La clemenza di Tito.

The Magic Flute was first performed at the Theater auf der Wieden, outside the ancient city walls of Vienna, in September 1791, barely two months before Mozart’s premature death. The show ran for over 100 performances within its first season and soon became a hit throughout Europe and beyond. It mixes music and spoken dialogue, humour and pathos, mystery and mankind’s search for wisdom. The opera balances earthy comedy with an exploration of the nature of individual freedom, fraternity, enlightened leadership and unconditional love, all expressed in music of simplicity and beauty. “I very much like the perspective of doing The Magic Flute now,” Nézet-Séguin reflects, “because it throws light on all the operas we’ve already recorded.”

Chor & Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks / Pablo Heras-Casado FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY Symphonie Nr. 2 "Lobgesang"

It has been about 45 years now since Mendelssohn’s once popular but forgotten “Lobgesang” Symphony was first revived on disc by Herbert von Karajan and Wolfgang Sawallisch. In recent times, happily, it has been welcomed back without controversy into the repertory by any number of conductors as the masterpiece that it is. The Karajan were an opera, and I would advise our readers to avoid it. But in recent times, several conductors have gotten the porridge right: Ashkenazy, Chailly, Orozco-Estrada, Bosch, and now Heras-Casado, who appears in general to be a young “Mendelssohn whisperer,” conducting Mendelssohn symphonies wherever he guests.
Among these performances, Chailly’s is perhaps the most satisfying, unashamedly large-scaled and velvety, with wonderful sound. It made a big impression a few seasons ago on his East Coast tour with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (Mendelssohn’s own, it bears remembering). But unfortunately, Chailly chose to conduct an early edition of the symphony, with a less impressive opening trombone fanfare and awkward transitions in the three orchestral movements.  

That puts Orozco-Estrada, Bosch, and Heras-Casado at the top of the list. The perfectly fine Ashkenazy has been available only as part of a complete set of the symphonies. The Bosch is in a league of its own for beautiful SACD sound and a swift, soft-grained yet lean approach, with just the slightest touch of “early music” phrasing to detract from the romance of it. The Orozco-Estrada and Heras-Casado performances are extremely similar and uncontroversial in their approach. Both feature fine soloists, beautiful renditions of the famous chorale Nun danket alle Gott , and lively, emotionally engaged playing in the three orchestral movements. I might be tempted to favor Orozco-Estrada on Preiser, recorded live with the Tonkunstler in the open acoustic of Vienna’s Musikverein, but that is a subjective judgment. Heras-Casado gets finely balanced sound as well, studio-recorded for Harmonia Mundi in Munich’s Philharmonie am Gasteig, but I find it just a touch dry.
Even so, I think it hard to imagine how one could fail to be swept up by the great trombone fanfare which opens the symphony and unifies it with such subtlety—and deeply moved by all which follows. Mendelssohn is lucky once again to be considered a great symphonic composer, and lucky that this hybrid work has made it back onto the concert stage. But he is not so lucky as the listener. This is memorable music, exciting, noble and pure of heart. (FANFARE / Steven Kruger)

Christiane Karg / Malcolm Martineau STRAUSS, FAURÉ, DEBUSSY, POULENC, WOLF & BERG

The Wigmore Hall debut of young Bavarian soprano Christiane Karg in July 2012 proved a glistening highlight of the summer’s song recital series. A regular guest at the world’s leading opera houses, singing roles from Musetta (La bohème) to Poppea (L’incoronazione di Poppea), she is also renowned throughout the world for her enchanting performances on the concert platform.

Her recital featured two themes to link the programme: botanical in the first half, nocturnal in the second. Exploring celebrated jewels of the art song repertoire alongside lesser-known, but equally charming, discoveries, the programme moves from rarely heard floral songs from Strauss’s teens, through dreamy settings by Fauré, Debussy and Poulenc, mysterious and nocturnal Lieder of Wolf to Berg’s Sieben frühe Lieder.
 

Christiane Karg PORTRAIT

"All of the recordings I have borrowed from, whether they be pure lieder programmes with Burkhard Kehring and Malcolm Martineau, or those with Jonathan Cohen and his ensemble Arcangelo, are the fruit of longstanding ideas, the outcome of hours of sifting through material in libraries and archives, and the result of discussions with artistic colleagues. All of these pieces provide some form of insight into my inner thoughts, my very soul." (Christiane Karg)

Christiane Karg / David Afkham / Bamberger Symphoniker PARFUM

Christiane Karg is one of the most-sought-after lyric sopranos of the present day, acclaimed for her embodiment of operatic roles and as a lieder, concert and oratorio singer. She can be seen and heard all around the world: at lieder recitals in New York’s Carnegie Hall and in the Vienna Konzerthaus, at La Scala in Milan with her 2016 debut in “Der Rosenkavalier”, at regular guest appearances at the Munich State Opera and the Chicago Lyric Opera House, at the Salzburg Festival and at the Royal Opera House London. At the end of 017 she will give her debut at the famous MET Opera in New York (The Marriage of Figaro) and the Vienna State Opera.

David Afkham is Principal Conductor of the Spanish National Orchestra and Chorus. He is in high demand as a guest conductor with some of the world’s finest orchestras and opera houses The Bamberg Symphony – Bavarian State Philharmonic has always enjoyed a special status in the music world.

This album is pure poetry – taking its spark from Christiane Karg’s engagement with the poetical works of Charles Baudelaire, Leconte de Lisle, Paul Verlaine, Tristan Klingsor and Victor Hugo. A poetry in diction that has a wonderful affinity with Impressionist music at the turn from the 19th to the 20th century. Christiane Karg finally decided upon works by Duparc, Koechlin, Debussy and Ravel for her new album. Her selection also includes an early composition by Benjamin Britten, which in its turn was inspired by Debussy and Ravel. Christiane Karg’s voice wafts this poetic scent, these colours in sound, aloft.

Poetry and music, words and voice blend into “Parfum”! (Presto Classical)

Christiane Karg / Malcolm Martineau HEIMLICHE AUFFORDERUNG

Christiane Karg feels close to Richard Strauss, and not simply because they both grew up amid Bavarian landscape. Together with Mozart, the great late Romanticist now plays an ever greater part in her repertoire: she was recently acclaimed in both Antwerp and Ghent as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier. Since Strauss has always figured in her lieder recitals, this CD of Strauss lieder comes as no surprise, especially in view of the forthcoming anniversary year, marking the composer's 150th birthday. Indeed, anyone who has followed Christiane Karg's career will see this new release as a logical consequence. You only have to listen to the timbres in her voice and the skill with which she lends them an artistic and natural touch, and you will hardly be able to avoid comparisons with the great voices of her Fach.

Christiane Karg's personal choice of lieder combines the familiar with the seldomheard, lively songs with more reflective ones, and delivers a convincing range that rightly demotes such details to a secondary role. She succeeds in demonstrating as has seldom been achieved the touching manner in which Strauss's early and mature lyricism is able to transform the great themes of love and transience that were woven into his expression of the Romantic world around him.

One especially charming example is the song "Alphorn" written when the composer was a mere twelve years old, requiring an obbligato horn, played on this recording by Felix Klieser. Her pianist is Malcolm Martineau, an exceptional artist in his own right, who navigates virtuoso hurdles with ease while giving the vocal part a steady foundation. One only needs to hear the opening bars of "Morgen" in order to capture that remarkable musical pulse. – This is a real summit of achievement! (Presto Classical)

Christiane Karg / Romina Basso / Il Complesso Barocco / Alan Curtis G.F. HANDEL Mitologia

One of the very last recordings of baroque-pioneer conductor Alan Curtis (1934-2015), a supreme Handelian conductor and scholar. Alan Curtis, described by the New York Times’ as “one of the great scholar-musicians of recent times”, conducts a brilliant cast including German soprano star Christiane Karg and the Italian mezzo soprano Romina Basso. Christiane Karg is one of those fascinating voices of our time. She is certainly one of today’s most interesting German singers with an international profile. Many of her recordings such as “Scene!”, “Heimliche Aufforderung” or “Portrait” (for Berlin Classics) have been internationally acclaimed and were big commecial successes. A selection of arias, duets and instrumental pieces from Handel masterworks such as Semele, Hercules, Partenope, a.o. With liner notes by the british Handel specialist Dr. David Vickers. Incl. a dedication by mystery writer Donna Leon, who was a close friend to Alan Curtis. (Presto Classical)

Christiane Karg / Malcom Martineau SCHUMANN & BRAHMS

Bavarian soprano Christiane Karg made her Wigmore Hall debut in 2012 with a beautiful song recital which also became her first release on Wigmore Hall Live; four years on we are excited to present her second release. A regular guest at the world’s leading opera houses, singing roles from Musetta (La bohème) to Amor (Orfeo ed Euridice), she is also revered for her enchanting performances on the concert platform alongside conductors such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Christiane is joined by Malcolm Martineau celebrated as one of his generations greatest accompanists.

This recital explores the unique relationship between the Schumanns and Brahms. After Robert’s death Brahms’s passion for Clara grew but it was reciprocated only with a protective motherly care. They remained close friends but Brahms never truly recovered. This programme presents love in many different guises from the stirring ‘Widmung’, to the heartfelt ‘Liebst du um Schönheit’ and the love-drunk passion of ‘Meine Liebe ist grün’. (Wigmore Hall)

Yannick Nézet-Séguin / Chamber Orchestra of Europe MOZART Le Nozze di Figaro

. . . [from the first chords of the "Figaro" overture, Nézet-Séguin] establishes a bold, fully crystallized concept of Mozartean sonority and the psychological implications behind it . . . [Christiane Karg as the wily servant Susanna and Sonya Yoncheva as the Countess] are just wonderful . . . [Luca Pisaroni's Figaro] makes dramatic points not with his usual word articulation but with more microphone-friendly use of tone Color . . . Even small roles are cast with stars: Anne Sofie von Otter as Marcellina and Rolando Villazón as Basilio help sustain Act 4 . . . [the 50-plus "Figaro" recordings on CD and DVD] show how the opera showcases each generation of Mozart performers . . . Nézet-Séguin's recording takes its place among these touchstones. A great musical mediator . . .

Record Review / David Patrick Stearns, Philadelphia Inquirer / 10. July 2016

 

Luxuriously presented and cast . . . [Nézet-Séguin's Mozart recording] oozes confidence . . . You are in his safe hands the moment Mozart's upstairs-downstairs comedy kicks off, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe buoyant, textures balanced, colours vibrant . . . the romp of a fandango that concludes Act III is a marvellous little scene-stealer . . . Sonya Yoncheva's magnificently melancholic Countess is a peach of a performance, lusciously, dreamily sung. Luca Pisaroni is an experienced Figaro and his velvety baritone is smoothly delivered . . .

Record Review / Neil Fisher, The Times (London) / 01. July 2016

 

Christiane Karg SCENE!

That indefatigable one-man libretto factory Pietro Metastasio is the linking thread in these scenas of damsels in extremis, complemented in Ch’io mi scordi di te by the pseudo-Metastasio of Idomeneo librettist Gianbattista Varesco. With Beethoven’s Ah, perfido!, Christiane Karg’s expressive lyric soprano edges towards Leonore territory in a bid, as she puts it in the booklet interview, ‘to push boundaries, and to test my voice in other registers’. If you’ve heard Nilsson and Callas in this music, Karg might initially seem underpowered. But we are, after all, still in the 18th century. In close collusion with Jonathan Cohen’s crack period band, Karg lives each nuance of the abandoned heroine’s fluctuating emotions, from vengeful outrage to morbid pathos. She burns into the Italian consonants in the recitative, spins a tender legato in the aria’s slow opening section, then flares thrillingly into accusatory fury in the Allegro. Throughout, Karg holds vocal finesse and expressive intensity in near-ideal equipoise.

Haydn noted in his quaint English that the Italian diva Brigida Banti ‘song very scanty’ in the 1795 premiere of his Scena di Berenice. He would surely have had no qualms about Karg’s performance, whether in the gravely sculpted line of the Adagio aria or the passionate abandon of the F minor close, where she unfurls a surprisingly powerful chest register. In Miseri noi, Haydn’s music is too serenely dignified for such a grim text, but Karg brings it alive in a way I have never heard before, making the coloratura sound desperate, in the right sense, rather than merely brilliant.

In Mozart’s ravishing Ch’io mi scordi di te, Karg complements the delicate tones of Malcolm Martineau’s fortepiano in an unusually intimate performance, softening her naturally bright timbre and ornamenting with taste and discretion. The relative oddball here is the rare Mendelssohn scena in its original London version of 1834: an entertaining piece of near-pastiche, with a slow aria with violin obbligato – silkily expounded by Alina Pogostkina – that sounds like Mozart grown faintly decadent, and a seething Allegro that seems to cross Beethoven and Rossini. Karg spits contempt for her faithless lover in the opening recitative, then matches the violin in yearning eloquence before surging with controlled delirium through Mendelssohn’s long lines in the Allegro. Looking for trouble, I wanted a slightly closer balancing of the fortepiano in Ch’io mi scordi di te. But this is nit-picking. Singing with style, grace and fiery temperament, Karg brings each of these distraught heroines excitingly, individually alive, while the superb players of Arcangelo – not least the dulcet clarinets – are true dramatic partners rather than mere accompanists. (Richard Wigmore / Gramophone)