Selig

Since founding Bach Collegium Japan in 1990, Masaaki Suzuki has established himself as a leading authority on the works of Bach. He has remained their Music Director ever since, taking them regularly to major venues and festivals in Europe and the USA and building up an outstanding reputation for the expressive refinement and truth of his performances.

This live 2008 performance of Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem is John Eliot Gardiner's second recording of the piece, the first from 1991, and he uses the same performing forces, the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique. This second interpretation is part of his Brahms series, begun in 2008, which includes the four symphonies, for the label Soli Deo Gloria. The performance is approximately the same length as his earlier version and clocks in at less than 65 minutes, considerably shorter than the usual performance of the Requiem, making it one of the shortest recorded versions, in fact. Gardiner generates genuine excitement with his propulsive tempos in the faster sections.

Of all the 22 Mozart operas available through this M 22 DVD collection by Deutsche Gramophon, Betulia Liberata is the only one that is not staged. This is due to the fact that the piece itself is technically an oratorio, but its dramatic features (a city besieged, murder, starvation, religious conversion) generally assimilate the piece to an opera. And in a way it is a shame that Betulia is not staged since the music itself is not interesting enough to cope well with a concert version. The arias tend to drag along, the music is more serene, less expansive than Mitridate (the prior opera of young Wolfgang), and the musicians need to be seriously good to avoid their audience to fall into boredom… By Autonome

There is no doubt that the forces Herrweghe has employed here are some of the best in the 'Passion' business. Aside from this, however, one cannot eliminate the fact that there are several other notable recordings of this work that stand on their own merit, which for the most part are as 'good' or as 'bad' as this one. The three that I own which includes this one(all reviewed by me on Customer reviews) are: Gardiner's 1988 recording with the outstanding Monteverdi Choir that sparkles and shines as only they can; the 1994 Cleobury King's College Choir recording, whose soloists are superb etc. etc. etc. So it all really amounts to what YOU hear and what turns YOU on!

Covent Garden’s 2003 production of The Magic Flute , designed by John F. Macfarlane, directed by David McVicar, and conducted by Sir Colin Davis, is magnificent from a strictly musical standpoint. More than that, it’s vastly entertaining. The comedic elements of the story integrate far more comfortably than is often the case with Schikaneder’s high-minded (if vague) theme of a quest for enlightenment, particularly in the second act. Visually, the production is a feast, yet it doesn’t distract from the music.

Covent Garden’s 2003 production of The Magic Flute , designed by John F. Macfarlane, directed by David McVicar, and conducted by Sir Colin Davis, is magnificent from a strictly musical standpoint. More than that, it’s vastly entertaining. The comedic elements of the story integrate far more comfortably than is often the case with Schikaneder’s high-minded (if vague) theme of a quest for enlightenment, particularly in the second act. Visually, the production is a feast, yet it doesn’t distract from the music.

This is a rather brisk reading of Brahms' masterpiece, the most ambitious work in his output and one of the greatest compositions of its type. Though Herreweghe's tempos often pushed the music to its limits here (except for the first section), the performance never actually sounded fast, or at least not offensively fast. In fact, it challenges the Levine/RCA effort.

Richard Wagner - Parsifal (2012) [4CD BoxSet] {PentaTone Classics}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 0.99 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 601 Mb
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© 2012 PentaTone Classics / Deutschlandradio Kultur | PTC 5186 401
Classical / Orchestral / Opera

The third issue in PentaTone's ambitious project to record ten mature Wagner operas by the time of the composer's bicentenary in 2013 proves to be the finest so far released. The live recording was made on April 8, 2011 in the Philharmonie, Berlin, with an exceptional international cast of soloists under the direction of Marek Janowski and the superb contribution of the Rundfunkchor, Berlin, a vital component in the success of this undertaking… From the opening bars of the Prelude one is struck by the luminous and pellucid sonic quality that the engineers have achieved. The ethereal string playing benefits from the unexpectedly spacious acoustic, and when the brass enter they are rich and weighty in tone. Janowski imparts a wonderful sense of purpose to the music and the clarity of execution that he achieves from his orchestra is remarkable.

There are so many variables affecting a recording of Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem that the chances are almost zero that any one conductor, orchestra, couple of soloists, and chorus (not to mention the sound crew) will get everything, or even most everything, “right” at a given outing. And of course, “right” is a matter of personal taste: after all, this is a major work that most choral music fans and practitioners, both amateur and professional, know, have heard on recordings, and likely have sung—at the very least the fourth-movement chorus “Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen”. They have an idea of how the piece is supposed to go, from the particular sound and interpretive style of the soloists to the size of the chorus and character of the singing and orchestral playing.