Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie; Stefan Vanselow
Release Date: 05 November 2021
Label: Christophorus
Packaging Type: Brilliant Case (Jewel Case size, Holds 2 CDs)
No of Units: 2
Barcode: 4010072774583
Description
Philipp Wolfrum (1854-1919) was one of the most influential personalities in German musical life around 1900.
He worked as a choirmaster, organist, composer, professor and university music director in Heidelberg and friendships connected him with Engelbert Humperdinck, Max Reger and Richard Strauss. He also maintained close contact with the Bayreuth circle around Richard Wagner's widow Cosima. Liszt and Wagner were his great idols and this is also noticeable in his compositions.
His opus magnum is the "Weihnachtsmysterium" (Christmas Mystery), first performed in 1898, in which the birth of Jesus is pictorially staged.
The conception for this more than one-and-a-half-hour work is influenced by medieval mystery plays and Wagner's Gesamtkunstwerk.
The musical material consists of well-known German Christmas carols, which are processed in high chromatic harmony and late Romantic melody as well as with masterfully colourful orchestral treatment and are reminiscent of Wagner's operas or Liszt's symphonic poems, in places also of Brahms, Humperdinck or Reger.
Tracklisting
Rebeka Ruso; Sebastian Wienand
Kurt Meier; Howard Griffith; Royal Northern Sinfonia
Francesca Venturi Ferriolo; Salon Violet
Luca Cervoni; Concerto Romano
Max Hattwich; Johannes Wieners; Jonathan Boudevin
La Petite Bande, Sigiswald Kuijken
Miriam Feuersinger; Klaus Mertens
Sebastian Mirow; Les Escapades
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
