Chor und Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks / Mariss Jansons RIHM Requiem-Strophen

More than any other comparable text, that for the Missa pro defunctis has assumed an existence outside of any strictly liturgical consideration. Wolfgang Rihm’s Requiem-Strophen (2016) is no exception, its treatment (rather than setting) informed by an essentially humanist approach reflected in the recourse to other and ostensibly secular writings. In this sense, his piece goes well beyond the conceptual template of Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem to reference such ‘one-offs’ as Delius’s Requiem and Zimmermann’s Requiem für einen jungen Dichter. That the former emerged during the First World War and the latter was finished just over half a century after it may be significant in terms of Rihm’s work, which exudes an unmistakable aura of commemoration through its introspective and (albeit obliquely) devotional content.

Requiem-Strophen divides into four parts, over which the Requiem sequence is interspersed with numerous other writings ranging from the Psalms, via Michelangelo sonnets, to extracts from Rilke and the German lyric poet Johannes Bobrowski. Its consistently inward mood is leavened by the burnished instrumentation (with lower woodwind and brass to the fore) and the restrained fervency of its vocal writing. Reaching its emotional apex in ‘Lacrimosa II’, the work concludes with the poem ‘Strophen’ by Hans Sahl – the idea of ‘passing on’ here made explicit.

The premiere is directed by Mariss Jansons with a keen sense of expressive continuity across the whole. Jan Brachmann essays a detailed booklet note; while there are no translations of the texts, these can be found online. A work which should amply repay repeated listening. (Richard Whitehouse / Gramophone)

Kuss Quartet / Mojca Erdmann BRAHMS String Quartet No. 3 Op. 67 - Lieder SCHOENBERG String Quartet No. 2 Op. 10

With its unique approach to music-making, the Kuss Quartet ranks amongst the world's best-renowned ensembles. 

'Worlds away from shallow showmanship' its members constantly strive for interpretations of a 'revelatory nature', 'whose individuality (is derived) entirely from a deep and comprehensive exploration of the idiosyncrasies of each work.' (Frankfurter Rundschau) 

Deep understanding of a work takes time to mature - that is self-evident for the Kuss Quartet; as is the courage, borne of personal discoveries, to develop their passion for experimentation. This is what the Kuss Quartet has stood for since the beginning of its professional career in 2002. 

The two founder members, Jana Kuss and Oliver Wille (violin) have been travelling the same musical path for 25 years. Together with their colleagues William Coleman and Mikayel Hakhnazaryan, they are pioneers of a concept-based presentation of chamber music, which reveals new musical perspectives and attracts a wide-ranging and cultured audience. 'Kuss Plus' -the ensemble's classical lounge series - has become legendary in its success, making its mark on the Berlin music scene and getting close to its audience, not only in the literal sense. However, even whilst performing in cult clubs, classical music remains the quartet's top priority.

Mojca Erdmann / La Cetra / Andrea Marcon MOSTLY MOZART

The Muses have been revered as a source of divine inspiration since the time of classical antiquity and are said to encourage artists to give of their exceptional best. From this point of view, the Hamburg soprano Mojca Erdmann seems like a figure from the distant past. Although she is still at the beginning of what promises to be a major international career, she has already inspired a number of contemporary composers, including Aribert Reimann and Wolfgang Rihm. Indeed, Rihm even wrote the main role in his operatic fantasy Dionysos with the young soprano in mind. Her performances in the world premiere at the 2010 Salzburg Festival proved a tremendous personal success.
For her debut with Deutsche Grammophon, however, Mojca Erdmann has chosen a very different type of programme in the form of works by Mozart and his contemporaries: “Mozart has accompanied me all my life. Although my father is a composer and contem­porary music has always played a major role in our lives, for me there is nothing to beat singing Mozart, even though I feel an immense respect for him. You know exactly how it should sound, but it’s insanely difficult to achieve this.”
No one listening to Mojca Erdmann’s singing would suspect for a moment that she finds Mozart difficult. Indeed, her voice is almost ideally suited to the Austrian genius’s music. Her lyric soprano voice is remarkable not only for its beauty but also for its great flexibility and bell-like tone. And she enchants her listeners not just with her voice itself but also with the unconcealed emotionality of her singing: “Mozart goes straight to my heart. That may sound a little dramatic, but that’s how it is. He touches something deep inside me, and some­times the tears come unbidden to my eyes. It’s impossible to say why this should be so, but this magic may well be the secret of his success.”
At the heart of the present album is Pamina’s famous aria, “Ach, ich fühl’s, es ist verschwunden!”, for which Mojca Erdmann has deliberately chosen a slow tempo: “I was keen to express something very inward, very vulnerable. The listener should be able to gaze into this woman’s soul, the soul of a woman who is at her wits’ end and no longer knows where to turn. Her only release seems to be death. What interests me most of all is how exactly he intended his tempo indications to be interpreted. Above all with Pamina I’d love to know whether it would have worked for him if the aria were taken really slowly. Although it says ‘Andante’, it has to be as slow as this for me. If I sang it any quicker, there would no longer be any emotional depth to it.”
The Mozart arias feature alongside works by some of Mozart’s contemporaries and forerunners, works that have been almost completely forgotten but which Mojca Erdmann discovered while preparing for this release. They immediately aroused her interest: “In a letter to his father, Mozart writes very enthusiastically about the music to Ignaz Holzbauer’s opera Günther von Schwarzburg, for example. For me, it was interesting to see what Mozart thought about his fellow composers and how his own music is related to theirs. There are certainly a number of similarities. The aria from Paisiello’s Nina, for instance, starts in exactly the same way as ‘Ruhe sanft’ from Mozart’s Zaide.”
Mojca Erdmann was also surprised by the two arias from Salieri’s Les Danaïdes. Ever since Miloš Forman’s film Amadeus, Salieri has been viewed by the wider public as the man who murdered Mozart. Less well known is the fact that as a composer he was for a time more successful than his younger colleague. Mojca Erdmann, too, is enthralled by the musical quality of Salieri’s works: “Both arias are very short, but in spite of their brevity they are wonderful masterpieces. What Salieri packs into these two minutes is simply incredible.”
The result is an album that avoids the well-worn paths of the standard repertory and introduces listeners to some of the most beautiful arias from the early-Classical and Classical periods. One such composer is Johann Christian Bach, the youngest son of Johann Sebastian and a great influence on the young Mozart’s style. Another is the Viennese composer Ignaz Holzbauer, who wrote over two hundred sinfonias and fifteen operas, most of which have now fallen into neglect. Giovanni Paisiello wrote more than one hundred operas and in his own day was one of the most famous composers in Europe. His works, too, have largely disappeared from the repertory, although they often dwarfed the compositions of his contemporaries with their melodic charm and dramatic intensity.
But the biggest surprise remains Mojca Erdmann’s voice. In her astonishing combination of technical mastery, tonal beauty and consummate expression she affords impressive proof of what Mozart singing can be like today. (Tristan Wagner 1/2011)