Vocally impressive, Michael Tilson Thomas’s new recording of Gustav Mahler’s symphonic song cycle Das Lied von der Erde merits attention for various reasons.
Author: steve_p
Julius Rˆntgen: Aus Goethes Faust.
The release of Rˆntgen’s Faust setting on CPO makes available a recording of yet another composer’s perspective on Goethe’s famous dramatic poem.
Diana Damrau in Recital at Salzburg Festival
Recorded live on 13 August 2005, this recent release on the Orfeo label in its Festspiel Dokumente imprint makes available a recital given by soprano Diana Damrau and pianist Stephan Matthias Lademann during the 2005 Salzburg Festival and given at the Mozarteum.
Brahms: Lieder
Like her impressive recording of Lieder by Dvo?·k (Harmonia Mundi CD 901824), Bernarda Fink’s recording of a selection of Lieder by Brahms not only offers a fine representation of the music, but also demonstrate the singer’s command of this repertoire.
Jean Sibelius: Kullervo, Op. 7.
Sibelius’s 1892 symphonic poem for soloists, chorus, and orchestra is in the tradition of the cantata-like symphonies of the nineteenth century, as found in Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang or Mahler’s Second Symphony.
Schumann’s Genoveva
Robert Schumann’s only opera Genoveva (1850) is best known as a failure in its time and has since fallen into the list of succËs d’estime, but with this new release, based on a production intended for television, conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt champions the work in his second recording of the score.
Cosima Wagner — The Lady of Bayreuth
Originally published in German as Herrin des H¸gels, das Leben der Cosima Wagner (Siedler, 2007), this new book by Oliver Hilmes is an engaging portrait of one of the most important women in music during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Valencia Ring: Gˆtterd‰mmerung
Recorded in May and June 2008, this new Unitel Classica Blu-Ray disc of Gˆtterd‰mmerung is the final opera in the staging of Richard Wagner’s Ring der Nibelungen staged at the Palau de les Arts “Reina Sofia”, Valencia, by La Fura dels Baus, Valencia, conducted by Zubin Mehta, and directed by Carlus Padrissa.
Valencia Ring: Siegfried.
Siegfried is a challenging opera to stage effectively, and the presentation by La Fura dels Baus in Zubin Mehta’s new Ring cycle merits attention on various counts.
Valencia Ring: Die Walk¸re
The second of Zubin Mehta’s new Ring cycle on DVD, the staging of Die Walk¸re by La Fura dels Baus, is as engaging as the production of Das Rheingold in its innovative presentation and effective performance of one of Wagner’s most popular operas.