Kent Nagano & Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg
Release Date: 12 October 2018
Label: ECM New Series
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 2
Barcode: 028948170074
Description
For the opening of Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie concert hall, the German composer Jorg Widmann was commissioned to write a new oratorio for soloists, choirs, organ and orchestra, Arche.
Widmann drew inspiration from the shape of the building itself: "From the outside it resembles a ship. To me, the interior looked like the hold of a ship, an ark…Re-emerging into the daylight, the ark idea would not leave me alone. The inflection of the music I had to compose was clear…."
Arche is a compendious work embracing the course of history in the west with a collaged libretto drawing upon a range of writers: from the unknown authors of the Old Testament to Nietzsche and Sloterdijk via Francis of Assisi, Michelangelo and Schiller. Arche looks at the tradition of the oratorio and transforms it. Dieter Rexroth in the liner notes: "What immediately stands out is above all the impression of paradox and the vast diversity of forms and musical resources. Everything happens at once, everything interlocks. Every moment transports us into another world."
Kent Nagano directs the massed musical forces with characteristic verve, clarity and imagination in this concert recording from the premiere performance in January 2017.
Personnel: Marlis Petersen (soprano), Thomas E. Bauer (baritone), Gabriel Böer (boy soprano), Jonna Plathe & Baris Özden (narrators), Iveta Apkalna (organ), Chor der Hamburgischen Staatsoper, Hamburger Alsterspatzen, Audi Jugendchorakademie, Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, Kent Nagano (conductor).
Tracklisting
Gidon Kremer, Kremerata Baltica & Vida Mikneviciute
Arvo Part
Thomas Larcher
John Holloway Ensemble
Heinz Holliger & Anton Kernjak
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra & Tonu Kaljuste
Karlheinz Stockhausen Michaels Reise
Andras Schiff
BachWerkVokal, Gordon Safari
Dionysos Now!
Soloists; Les Traversees Baroques; Meyer
The Gesualdo Six / Owain Park
La Compagnia del Madrigale
Cappella Pratensis, Stratton Bull, Sollazzo Ensemble
Frieder Bernius, Klassische Philharmonie Stuttgart, Barockorchester Stuttgart, Hofkapelle Stuttgart
Collegium Cantorum Choir, Janusz Siadlak
