Nicolai Terra Firma

The short-lived Nicolai is better known for his operatic effort The Merry Wives of Windsor so it is good that MD&G are celebrating the less obvious. Of course neglect is sometimes justified. This turns out not to be the case here. Joyous Beethovenian bravura from same bloodgroup as the Beethoven's Choral Fantasy (much under-rated) and the Third and Fourth piano concertos. There is also restraint and tenderness aplenty amidst all the coruscating notes. The dashing piano part is pressed forward and breasted by MD&G regular Claudius Tanski - a most convincing performance. The work is restless with excitement and rich in detail.

Te Deum von 1832, eine groß angelegte Festmusik, überzeugt durch rasche Ausdruckswechsel und warme Orchesterfarben. Die 15-sätzige Komposition vereint klangprächtige, teils achtstimmige Chorsätze und filigrane Arien, experimentiert mit ungewöhnlichen Instrumentalklängen und Ensemblegruppen. Hochdramatisch wird es, wenn schmetternde Posaunen und bebende Streicher das jüngste Gericht ankündigen, woraufhin ein Solisten-Sextett die Erlösung erfleht.

Te Deum von 1832, eine groß angelegte Festmusik, überzeugt durch rasche Ausdruckswechsel und warme Orchesterfarben. Die 15-sätzige Komposition vereint klangprächtige, teils achtstimmige Chorsätze und filigrane Arien, experimentiert mit ungewöhnlichen Instrumentalklängen und Ensemblegruppen. Hochdramatisch wird es, wenn schmetternde Posaunen und bebende Streicher das jüngste Gericht ankündigen, woraufhin ein Solisten-Sextett die Erlösung erfleht.

Prince Igor is an epic opera,with its wonderful crowd scenes and intimate love music and although it can at times appear more a patchwork of scenes than a coherent work it does contain wonderful music which moves along with great vigour and excitement. This version with mainly Bulgarian singers is most enjoyable with Tchakarov bringing out the dramatic tension,vivid melody and colour with finesse and passion,the orchestra responding admirably to all the nuances in the score,the chorus too so important in this work give an outstanding performance in the Polovtsian music.

Te Deum von 1832, eine groß angelegte Festmusik, überzeugt durch rasche Ausdruckswechsel und warme Orchesterfarben. Die 15-sätzige Komposition vereint klangprächtige, teils achtstimmige Chorsätze und filigrane Arien, experimentiert mit ungewöhnlichen Instrumentalklängen und Ensemblegruppen. Hochdramatisch wird es, wenn schmetternde Posaunen und bebende Streicher das jüngste Gericht ankündigen, woraufhin ein Solisten-Sextett die Erlösung erfleht.

Otto Nicolai is known to most listeners, at least outside Germany, for his opera Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor (The Merry Wives of Windsor), and among most of those specifically for the opera's sparkling overture. Nicolai, who died at age 39, wrote four other operas and various pieces of orchestral music as well; the latter has been collected in two volumes by the German audiophile label MDG, performed by the little-known and exquisitely confusingly named Southern Westphalian Philharmonic – Orchestra of the Land of North Rhine–Westphalia (entirely capable, for all that). The program doesn't make perfect sense.

Quartet Records and GDM are proud to present a mammoth 3-CD set with the complete, remastered edition of scores by the great Bruno Nicolai from three of the most renowned and lovely mid-sixties Eurospy movies.

When Haydn first came to London in 1791 he was recognised as one of the greatest composers in the world, but his extensive operatic output was essentially unknown outside Eszterháza, where the works had originated. He was commissioned to produce a new opera to celebrate the opening of the King’s Theatre in the Haymarket, but political intrigue prevented its production. Although the resources in terms of orchestra and chorus (particularly in the final Underworld act) were far greater than anything he had known in Hungary, Haydn seems to have been unworried by the fracas, since his generous fee was already in his bank in Vienna, and his concerts were proving an outstanding success. But he never composed another opera. The official title, L’anima del filosofo, seems to have been a half-hearted attempt to distinguish it from the successful Gluck version of Orfeo.