Lebensmittel Praxis Nr. 6, 2015

This Blu Ray C Major Entertainment release of Gustav Mahler's Fifth and Sixth Symphonies continues the issuance of the complete, acclaimed Mahler cycle with Paavo Järvi and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, which since the 1980s and the release of Eliahu Inbal's FRSO Mahler cycle has come to be known as a "powerful Mahler orchestra" (Frankfurter Rundschau). As on previous releases, conductor Paavo Järvi's learned and probing introductions to the symphonies heard on the accompanying release are a worthy and self-recommending bonus feature.

In 2015 the Berliner Philharmoniker dedicated an evening of their renowned Easter Festival in Baden-Baden to one of the most famous and beloved of German composers, Ludwig van Beethoven. Together with Bernard Haitink, a universally acclaimed authority on the works of that composer, they performed Beethoven’s exquisite expression of nature, his Symphony No. 6, the “Pastoral”. They were joined for Beethoven’s Violin Concerto by Isabelle Faust, whose interpretation of the work has enjoyed widespread acclaim.

The programming for this, the final double CD in the series, is somewhat different from earlier releases. The first CD presents two complete Masses, the Missa Peccata mea by Lupus Hellinck and the Missa Nisi Dominus by Pierre de Manchicourt; these are complemented by a number of short liturgical works. The second CD demonstrates how a polyphonic Mass would have sounded in the context of a celebration of the Mass in the 16th century.

Ian Bostridge brings his characterful lyricism, and singing of beautiful intelligence, to a welcome sixth volume in Graham Johnson’s comprehensive series.

This is the sixth CD in the first complete recording of the 72 cantatas in Georg Philipp Telemann’s collection Harmonischer Gottes-Dienst, published in Hamburg in 1726 – the first complete set of cantatas for the liturgical year to appear in print. The cantatas are designated for voice, an obbligato instrument (recorder, violin, transverse flute or oboe) and basso continuo, and generally take the form of two da capo arias with an intervening recitative. Although intended for worship, both public and private, Telemann’s cantatas are a masterly blend of tunefulness with skilled counterpoint and vocal and instrumental virtuosity.

Paavo Järvi is one of the most successful and distinctive conductors in the international music scene. His recordings of the complete Beethoven and Bruckner symphonies have received rave reviews and are in fact regarded as “reference recordings” (Fono Forum). His current project with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony is again another great symphonic cycle: the six symphonies by Denmark’s most famous composer, Carl Nielsen (1865 – 1931), whose 150th anniversary is celebrated this year…