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"Mozart was a crocodile"
Nikolaus Harnoncourt on Mozart, his new Salzburg Figaro and his planned Idomeneo production in Graz
Mr Harnoncourt, Mozart's 250th birthday is being celebrated by artists, and it is
being exploited by business. Apart from the obvious chocolate delight of "Mozart balls",
it is an opportunity to sell almost anything: Mozart T-shirts, ball-point pens, cups, posters,
key rings and ring tones. Does this sort of "circus" diminish the Mozart anniversary year?
Harnoncourt: Well, it is true that these "sideshows" are pretty tacky. Personally, I have no sympathy
with it all. They way that the arts, business and advertising merge generally I find rather
distasteful, but in the case of Mozart I do feel that this goes well beyond the bounds of good
taste. The Mozart anniversary year as such I do of course welcome. And I do not think there is
any chance of overkill here. That is because there is still so much of Mozart left to discover.
For me, there is the opportunity to perform Mozart's early works, which I have never performed
before in my entire life.
The Salzburg Festival has announced that it plans to perform some lesser known works in the
Mozart anniversary year. All of his 22 stage works are to be performed. You will be conducting
two of them - The Marriage of Figaro and La Clemenza di Tito. How do you feel about this
large-scale project?
I won't know whether it was a good idea until afterwards. Theoretically it is a wonderful
opportunity to hear Mozart's earliest and latest works in quick succession. I once gave a
concert which combined his Requiem and the funeral cantata K42 which Mozart wrote at a
very early age, since the Requiem is not long enough to provide a full evening's entertainment.
The way the cantata weighed in alongside Mozart's last work was very impressive. However,
whether it is possible to produce an adequate performance of all these works is another
question entirely.
To what extent does the Mozart anniversary year help to attract young people
to Mozart's music?
Let's not fall into the trap of labelling young people as ignorant.
The fact that many of them may have no idea who Mozart was is the fault
of an education system aimed solely at ticking boxes and gaining qualifications,
and no longer on producing rounded individuals with good general knowledge.
At the end of the day you have to ask: is there a use for this in terms of
so-called prosperity, which is the wrong word for the wrong situation,
since true prosperity would mean truly feeling well balanced. These days
however, prosperity simply means you have a trendy bathroom. These days,
many parents have no idea whatsoever of what they owe their children.
The only thing they're interested in is a practical school training which
can be the key to a better job, a more lucrative lifestyle. The state must get
involved - having neglected so much - and bring about a change for the better.
Then you wouldn't have to ask if young people like Mozart. Of course they like Mozart.
However, many music educationalists, artists and even critics believe that the only way
to make Mozart attractive to young people is by applying him to the here and now. For
example, the Komische Oper in Berlin recently initiated a so-called intercultural
youth project in which, under the title of "HipH'Opera", Mozart's opera Così fan tutte
was embellished with rap elements.
Something like that is absolutely dreadful. You always have to make a judgement between
good and bad taste. Children's powers of judgement are sadly limited as a result of
missed opportunities to widen their horizons. As I say, children and young people
cannot help it, but most of what they find interesting is a load of rubbish.
It's not just bad for them, it is damaging. When it comes to music the same applies
as to food: if you only eat fast food, your body becomes accustomed to it to such
an extent that you no longer want to eat anything decent. That is what is happening
to the world of art.
Yet there are some projects at present and some classical stars who are actively
involved in promoting musical interest among children and young people:
Daniel Barenboim with his music kindergartens and his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra,
Simon Rattle and his education projects with the Berliner Philharmonic …
Especially if we look beyond the horizon of our European world. Look at central America for
instance, where young people do not walk round with a Walkman in their ears, they make music
themselves. They are good, they are interested. Making your own music is one way of getting
kids off the street. The enthusiasm there is unbelievable.
Let us return to the topic of the great Mozart cycle in Salzburg, which you will open with
your new version of Figaro. This is not your first Figaro, you have done it often before.
At the same time you claim that every first performance is a premiere.
What will be different this time?
I haven't actually done Figaro so often that you could say I was just going from
the last one to the next one. The last Figaro I did was in Zürich, and that's a long
time ago now. We gave a lot of performances, about 20, and I haven't done Figaro for
ten years. I haven't looked at it at all since then and when I do it again now
I want the orchestra to engage with me in such a way as if we had never done it before
together. That must be possible.
Directors like Harry Kupfer or Nikolaus Lehnhoff often speak of work in progress
when they take on a work that they haven't touched for years in order to re-stage
it in a new form. It is then new, but some basic elements remain. Is that how you see it too?
The greatest of those directors, Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, has always been developing
works further but never - if something was deemed good - completely re-worked something.
I was very lucky to have been involved in several productions with him which were completely
new to him, because he had never before directed Monteverdi. When I directed Mozart with him,
he built on earlier productions which he then developed further with me.
It is not possible for a director to simply transfer exactly the same production
to another director in every detail. I have tried it a few times and it simply does not work.
The director had to come and adjust a lot of things because something that worked for
director X in Covent Garden does not necessarily work for director Y in Vienna.
How will Claus Guth stage Figaro in Salzburg?
I would prefer to explain to you my musical concept for that opera.
First of all, as the only one of Mozart's operas apart from The Magic
Flute which has enjoyed a continuous performance history, Figaro competes with Rossini's
operas on the same subjects. As a result, it is often staged as a fast-moving, riotous comedy;
the arias in Act 4 which are felt to hold up the action are omitted and the whole thing
becomes a celebration of "a great day". That simply degraded Mozart to a second-rate Rossini.
I know that if I revert to the composer's intentions, I am going to be in conflict with
the audience's wishes. But that needs to happen, because the work goes much deeper and is
much more significant than just a tumultuous romp.
What does that mean in practical terms?
Mozart applied to all his great works a strict and exacting dramatic tempo,
recognizable in his corrections, which we must at all costs adhere to. If a
tempo did not match his wishes he would wash away the ink or scratch it off the score.
On average, this results in something between 35 and 40 different tempi and it would
seem that he was adamant that they should be applied, otherwise you have to ask yourself
why he changes an allegro assai into an allegro molto - what in fact is the difference?
He even noted these changes in the diary he kept while he was composing, so you see that
there is no mistaking his intention. Così and Don Giovanni are all alla breve operas,
while Figaro is in 4/4 time, considerably slower in tempo than the later works.
A few pieces are very fast indeed, and interestingly, those are the pieces which are
usually taken slowly these days.
In every one of Mozart's operas there is a main tempo which recurs throughout, like the work's axis.
In Così fan tutte it is very clear, in Don Giovanni even more so. There are various crucial turns
in the plot at which he returns to it. Performers who proceed from one piece to another and simply
take the best tempo from each will get utterly different results. I sometimes feel like tearing my
hair out when I hear a piece from Figaro or another opera by Mozart, and I think to myself, you
may be able to play that as a stand-alone piece, but I couldn't do that in the
context of the whole work.
You once said that you feel a joint responsibility for directing.
That presumably means you also feel responsible for the stagings by your colleagues, some
of which have not been to everyone's liking. You did Lucio Silla with Claus Guth, for instance -
how did you prepare together for Figaro?
We had a lot of pre-work conversations and we agreed everything in precise detail.
And I got the feeling that we are both talking about the same thing. When I am working
with a director for the second or third time we have usually already found a common language.
I have only been wrong about this a few times in my life. In such cases however I am not
the sort to leave rehearsal saying I can't go on like this; I try to rescue the situation
in whatever way possible. And then I never work with that director again.
Something that could be a problem is the fact that as a founder of the authentic-sound movement,
you attempt to achieve the sound closest to that of Mozart's era, but that you have been content
with staging which does the opposite, which seeks some link to the present-day …
Critical listeners sometimes make life very easy for themselves when it comes to the
question of when a piece is set. The premieres of Mozart's operas were played in
their present day i.e. La Clemenza di Tito was played at the time of the coronation
of Leopold II, which is equivalent to someone staging La Clemenza di Tito today and
allowing the protagonist to be Saddam Hussein or Milosevic. As I say, it was played
in a contemporary context and it was not until the nineteenth century that people
began saying that Don Giovanni was set in the fifteenth century, that Idomeneo is set
at the time of the Odyssey, thereby invoking those eras in the sets and costumes.
The era in which a work is set is not just a question of the modernity of its staging.
We accepted it when Ponnelle set Mozart's works in Mozart's time; that's a method which is
hardly in dispute. Yet until the main dress rehearsal, the first time that costumes were worn,
his productions were the most modern imaginable. He was utterly contemporary in his psychology
and his approach to directing.
The fact that everyone is so eager to see your new Figaro is also connected with the hype about
Anna Netrebko. Many people probably couldn't give a fig who the director is; the main thing is,
that Anna Netrebko is playing Susanna. The press office says that there has never before been
such a demand for tickets; the situation is even worse than last year, when Anna Netrebko
sang in La Traviata. Is such a cult surrounding one particular singer more of a burden to a production?
I have already done Don Giovanni with Anna Netrebko. Donna Anna was her first role in Salzburg.
She was the centre of the media circus even then, but in her work she was a true professional.
She integrated well into the company and worked faultlessly, which is what I would expect.
I do find it rather strange that there are people who only want to see The Marriage of Figaro
because Netrebko is singing in it, but that's not her fault. She has been swept along into a
sort of media Niagara Falls.
I do find it rather suspicious however, that Anna Netrebko stated that she had learned the
role of Donna Anna in a single afternoon; she looked at the score once and had already
committed it to memory. Can you believe that?
When it comes to learning a score easily: I do know conductors who can study and learn a
score in the back of a taxi. They're on their way to the rehearsal, they have a photographic
memory and they commit the score to memory, leafing through it, and then they can conduct
it with instant recall. Some people have that skill, so perhaps Anna can do it too. If she
does learn so fast, she is to be envied. That means she can better divide her time; she can
spend longer swimming in the sea if she wants, whatever. But don't think she does it with
her eyes closed. In fact, she helped me sometimes to better understand the score - perhaps
the only time that has happened in my musical career. You see, I wanted to offer her the
part of the Countess, but she said she preferred to take the part of Susanna. I thought
about it all again and then it was as if the scales fell from my eyes - I had always
confused the two parts.
In what way?
I'm not going to tell you.
That's a shame. By the way, why do you want to "draw a line" under Salzburg so to
speak with this production of Figaro?
Drawing a line under it - that sounds very brutal. I looked at my diary not long ago and I
noticed my birthday, the year I was born, and I realised that I was doing too much, that I
was risking my health. I'm not a hypochondriac; I have pretty good staying power, but I do
need to take things a bit slower. If I want to continue doing the Styriarte Festival in Graz,
a project I am very close to, then I can't keep doing opera in Salzburg on top of that.
The silly thing is that I'm really sorry that it's come to this, because of all the theatre
directors who are my friends, the new Salzburg director Jürgen Flimm is my closest friend.
So do I assume that you are saving your energy for your directing debut in Graz?
You are staging Mozart's Idomeneo at the Styriarte in 2008.
I don't think I would describe it as a directing debut; it's more likely to be a one-off.
I want to direct Idomeneo myself just once because I have an angle on it which no other
director has ever applied. I have done Idomeneo with Jean-Pierre Ponnelle and with Johannes
Schaaf, but with no-one else. Over the years, I have seen many Idomeneos and heard about
others - and they all seem to have missed the point. I have never seen a production of
it which really takes the bull by the horns. That doesn't mean however that I think
I am an opera director.
What is the key to Idomeneo, then?
Idomeneo is always viewed as an opera seria, but it isn't that at all. In fact,
it has its roots in the French tragédie lyrique. It is only in Italian because it was
written for the Italian opera company in Munich. All the sources for the Rameau operas
and for Gluck's French operas are the same. 'Idomeneo' is simply by far the best Gluck opera.
Gluck could never have written it.
What in your opinion was Mozart? A wunderkind, a genius, a monster?
A crocodile. Geniuses don't exist in educational science. Imagine that you give birth to a
genius, a sweet child whom you look after and care for and suddenly - at the age of four -
you notice that this isn't a child at all, it's a crocodile. It is a being of which the entire
knowledge and science of child-rearing and education has no knowledge or experience. That's
just how it was with Mozart. The fact that he had a father who said, OK, no school then, I'll
take all that in hand, and that the child had such an education is simply amazing. You have to
remember that Mozart was no doubt just a normal child, but as a musician he was a monster.
We call it genius, but something like that happens only very rarely, it is inexplicable to us.
The first symphony which Mozart composed and the early sacred works are streets ahead of anything
his contemporaries wrote. That said, I would not like to be the father of a child capable of
composing like that.
In this Mozart anniversary year you have rediscovered the early symphonies.
In Berlin the Deutsche Oper decided to stage an unusual production of Mozart's fragments.
That seems to give the impression that there really are a few new things to
discover in Mozart's oeuvre. After all, most people are only familiar with Eine kleine Nachtmusik …
It's a fallacy to believe that we know all about Mozart. Mozart only became popular
because the upper echelon in society was able to understand his music. As soon as you scratch the
surface you find layers which would not be able to follow. I have given up trying to grasp genius
of this dimension. I cannot understand it and I cannot explain it. I cannot explain the
harmonic sequence, nor the instrumentation; I cannot explain why music by Mozart is as it is
and is simply so perfect.
Why are so many of Mozart's pieces only fragments?
That is another question which I cannot answer. I probably know why Zaide was not performed.
Perhaps it is not a fragment at all, perhaps the torso which has come down to us is all that
Mozart wanted to composer. 'Zaide' is so radical in its approach to the Orient and was not
what the Viennese expected of the Turks. So maybe Mozart said OK, I can see that now,
I won't finish it, I'll compose something new, and instead he wrote the Seraglio, which is
actually a softer version of Zaide.
One of your most recent CD releases, which include the early Mozart symphonies that earned
you the Echo Klassik award last October, is a complete recording of Haydn's opera Orlando paladino.
What was your motivation for recording this rare work?
This is really Haydn's unknown opera. He has his very own opera language which you cannot compare
with anything else that was composed at the same time. You cannot say let's do a Mozart opera after
all, because Haydn's operas are simply quite different. Haydn's humour is also very different to
that of Mozart. The two men were very different and they each revered each other as equals, as
great masters. I think Haydn believed that Mozart's operas were unsurpassable because he once
declined to write an opera; he said, ask Mozart if he won't write you one. Yet Haydn's operas
are so inimitable that you can't compare them with those of Mozart today.
Sadly, Haydn's operas are rarely performed these days. Nevertheless, a couple of years ago
in Berlin they did stage Il mondo della luna; that was your colleague René Jacobs. Talking of
which: why do we never see you on the rostrum with one of the Berlin opera orchestras? After
all, you are Berlin born and bred!
No Berlin opera house has ever asked me, nor for that matter has the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.
Wolfgang Sawallisch and Günther Rennert did ask me many years ago if I would do Monteverdi's
L'incoronazione di Poppea in Munich. However, I insisted that if I did it, I wanted Seneca's
death not to be accompanied by the chorus because Monteverdi had expressly written it for
three individual voices. Rennert refused. Later he came to Zürich to see my production
of L'incoronazione di Poppea with Ponnelle, and he came to see me and said: "I take it all back.
You were absolutely right back then."
What other plans do you have for the future apart from Idomeneo?
Is there something you would still really like to do?
Wozzeck and Lulu. But that will come to nothing, since my "sell-by date" is fast approaching.
I am not going to live forever. Of course I am making plans, because I like pretending
I'm going to live forever. But the youngsters can start rolling their sleeves up now.
© Interview: Kirsten Liese for FAS, July 4, 2007
Reprint of excerpts from the interview are free of charge, for complete reprint,
please contact: silke.zimmermann@sonybmg.com
» Translation: Janet & Michael Berridge
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Schumann: Das Paradies und die Peri
“Time flew by: The marvellous Radio Symphony Choir and the soloists Malin Hartelis, Rebecca Martin, Bernarda Fink, Werner Güra, Christoph Strehl and Christian Gerhaher. Only Dorothea Röschmann as Peri was deceiving. Hopefully she can be corrected on the CD.”
» Volker Boser, Abendzeitung München, Oct. 24th, 2005
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Artistique 10, Technique 10
« […]Comme Gardiner, Harnoncourt est un fervent du détail, mais ce détail (par exemple tel ou tel timbre mis en exergue, tel ou tel accent) est intégré dans une architecture ample au profit d'une et une seule chose: la narration.[…] C'est en nous captivant dès la première intervention de la Péri (exceptionnelle Röschmann) qu'Harnoncourt arrive à nous gagner à la cause de cet oratorio qui s'inscrit dans une filiation haydnienne (Les Saisons) et mendelssohnienne (1re Nuit de Walpurgis).[…] »
» By Christophe Huss, www.classicstodayfrance.com, May 2008
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four star review
“In charge of the fine Bavarian Radio SO and Chorus and helped by a first-rate team of soloists [Harnoncourt] shapes his tender reading beautifully, positively demanding admiration for the work”
» Sunday Times ‘The Culture’, May 11, 2008
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“For a work that is usually reckoned to have fallen into neglect, like all of Schumann's choral music, Das Paradies und die Peri is surprisingly well represented in the CD catalogue. I make Nikolaus Harnoncourt's fine account at least the 12th to be available at the moment, and with Simon Rattle having taken up the work and championed it far and wide over the past year, a version from Berlin might be in the offing, too. For the moment, Harnoncourt's performance takes over as the recommended version, using standard rather than period-instrument forces. It musters an outstanding cast of soloists. Dorothea Röschmann is in exceptional voice as the Peri, the fairy who - in George Moore's sentimental and rather questionable story on which Schumann's text was based - is excluded from heaven until she has performed a series of redemptive tasks, while having singers of the stature of Bernarda Fink and Christian Gerhaher taking subsidiary roles is a treat in itself. The score may be uneven, but as Harnoncourt's typically committed conducting shows, the best of it ranks alongside Schumann's finest orchestral music.”
» By Andrew Clements, The Guardian, May 16, 2008
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“…With Dorothea Roeschmann in the title role and luxury support from the likes of Bernarda Fink and Christian Gerhaher, Harnoncourt lends this charming work the polish it deserves”
» The Observer, May 25, 2008
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four star review
“…Harnoncourt, with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orcheatra, is a gripping judge of narrative, exploiting the loneliness of the Peri’s disconsolate sobbing outside the gates of Heaven. Dorothea Roeschmann is excellent as Peri, fluidly colouring hope and despair”
» The Times, May 24, 2008
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five star review
“…a performance that radiates total belief … Dorothea Roeschmann is a heavenly Peri and the supporting line-up – Bernarda Fink, Werner Guera, Christian Gerhaher could hardly be bettered”
» Financial Times, May 24, 2008
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“In charge of the fine Bavarian Radio SO and Chorus, and helped by a first-rate team of soloists, he shapes his tender reading beautifully, positively demanding admiration for the work.”
» The Sunday Times, May 11, 2008
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„NH findet nicht nur Schumanns klangliche Mischfarben eindrücklich, sondern erzählt und schildert die orientalisch angehauchte Geschichte mit viel Überzeugungskraft und vehement herausmusizierten dramatischen Zuspitzungen, aber auch immer wieder lyrischer Innerlichkeit, womit diese Kontraste zu wunderschöner Wirkung kommen.“
» Musik & Theater, 05/2008
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„Nikolaus Harnoncourt hat für seine Neuaufnahme eine Riege großartiger Sänger engagiert, [sie] ist die erste hochkarätige Einspielung seit John Elliot Gardiners „Peri“ von 1999. […] Harnoncourts Sängerriege (Bernarda Fink, Werner Güra, Christoph Strehl und Christian Gerhaher) ist eine Traumbesetzung für dieses Werk, dessen Lyrismus inspirierte Stimmen braucht, um den hohen Ton ständiger Beseeltheit glaubwürdig zu machen. Auch der Vielschichtigkeit der musikalischen Charaktere wird Harnoncourts Aufnahme im höchsten Maße gerecht.“
» FAZ, 20.05.2008
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„[Das Paradies und die Peri], eingespielt mit dem exzellenten Chor und Sinfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks. So klar, so farbintensiv und differenziert hat Schumanns Orchestrierung wohl noch nie geklungen: ein Weben und Wogen in steter Bewegung, eine Musik zudem, die Weltliches und Geistliches, Ernstes und Volkstümliches auf überzeugende Weise verbindet. Unter Harnoncourts Händen bleibt der lyrische Ausdruck stets gewährleistet, und die Deklamation der Gesangslinien wird von einem feinen Motivgewebe des Orchesters unaufdringlich untermalt.
Diese Neueinspielung ist eine reine Ohrenwonne, und sie hat zweifellos das nötige künstlerische Gewicht, um die Vorurteile diesem nach wie vor vernachlässigtem Werk gegenüber stichhaltig zu entkräften.“
» Fono Forum: 06/2008 (Musik 4 Sterne, Klang 5 Sterne)
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„Auch dank toller Sänger gibt es jetzt eine Einspielung des Oratoriums auf höchstem Niveau“
» Audio: 06/2008
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Live Performance / Recording Munich, Oct. 21st and 22nd, 2005
“You can thank Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Symphony of the Bavarian Radio for having brought back to life Schumann’s oratorio “Das Paradies und die Peri”. […]Ms. Röschmann is the ideal incarnation of Peri, not easy , the part that Schumann composed for her. […] They will need the recording of the second evening to burn the CD version of the piece. Brilliant tenor Christoph Strehl and the ravishing Peri Dorothea Röschmann will it worth the try.”
» www.klassik.com, Oct. 21st, 2005
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“Harnoncourt led the public to standing ovations after the performance. […] Perhaps it was the quiet approach of Harnoncourt that made the naïve pathos, especially of the libretto, not only bearable, but left the listener curious and amazed with the colourful pictures in front of him. […] Choir and Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio seemed highly motivated, outstanding soloists like Dorothea Röschmann and Christian Gerhaher made the evening a complete success.”
» Süddeutsche Zeitung, Oct. 24th, 2005
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„Harnoncourt, in only a few days, shaped choir and orchestra to astounding quality. We hope it will be the beginning of a long standing cooperation between the conductor and the orchestra […] A performance that makes history.“
» Münchner Merkur, Oct. 24th, 2005
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„A Tear opening up the Sky
Harnoncourt is not about effect. He questions every tone, reveals Schumann’s structure of the piece, conveys the sense and the sensuality of the piece. The supreme quality singer cast has enough taste and spirit to add to the heavenly harmonies (immaculate: Dorothea Röschmann as Peri, Werner Güra as narrator, wonderful: Christian Gerhaher as velvety baritone).”
» TZ München, Oct. 24th, 2005
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Haydn: Orlando Paladino
Harnoncourt may once have been a period Haydn pioneer, but now many of his ideas sound mannered and eccentric – exaggerated double forte blasts, extremes of tempi – and he doesn’t make his case for regarding this parody of the Orlando myth as Haydn’s funniest opera (1782). Some of the singing is more likely to provoke winces than smiles: von Magnus is dull-voiced and untemperamental as the charismatic Alcina, and Petibon is Woefully shrill and under the note as the heroine, Angelica. The tenors Schade and Werner Güra as their lovers, Orlando and Medoro, sing stylishly, and Gerhaher supplies comic relief as the squire, Rodomonte.
» The Sunday Times June 06
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Here he comes again: Harnoncourt, whom we already so admired. Because behind every original tone he is a passionate musician sounding the depth of the score. And in Haydn’s’ comical opera it doesn´t glow, it is ablaze in minds, voices and orchestration: Orlando Paladino sounds as fresh revolutionary as Mozart’s Figaro, flaring up as a Rossini-Crecendo. Nice that Harnoncourt’s old sound technicians were part of it too.
» Audio, June 06
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We owe Harnoncourt´s conducting performance a really pleasing restitution of the work´s spirit - with all its brio and theatricality. A single regret: the energy of the conductor – as usual a bit wrathful – breathing life into the work seems somehow unanswered.
» Classica Répertoire, June 06
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Mozart: Early Symphonies and Letters Vol. I and II
“The freshness and brillance in which the rapid movements are being performed, are as inspiring as the charming delicacy coming from the slow movements. Harnoncourt Viennese accent does the trick to make this 3-CD-Set a triumph.”
» Sound Star of the Month, Stereoplay 1/05
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"Mozart in tunes and letters"
It’s a very original idea to approach the first symphonies of young Mozart to the letters which the family wrote to each other at the time. A pity that Nikolaus Harnoncourt and his two grandchildren read in German and that the translation doesn’t figure in the listening notice, which is somewhat misleading for the non-Germanophones.
However, there are eleven youth symphonies, which makes it more than two hours of music, and Harnoncourt and his orchestra take us away into the music con brio. These pages, written by a genius child, come to us with eloquence and virility and an exceptional underlying power.”
» La Croix, Sept. 11th, 2004
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Wenn man die frühen Symphonien, komponiert im Alter von acht bis zwölf Jahren, so genau hört wie Harnoncourt und sein Concentus Musicus, die Musik aufnimmt und auch die von Harnoncourt und seinen Enkeln vorgetragenen Mozart-Briefe, dann kann man sich die eine oder andere Krokodilsträne nicht verkneifen.“
» Süddeutsche Zeitung, 3.11.2004
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„Überflüssig zu betonen, dass die drei CDs von musikalisch allererster Güte sind. Der Concentus Musicus spielt mit Witz und Frische, mit lustvoller Spontaneität und größter Präzision: eben das Beste, was dem kleinen Amadeus passieren konnte.“
» Münchner Merkur, 27.10.2004
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„“Frech, frühreif, genial“, nennt Harnoncourt diese Musik, die schon spätere Werke antizipiert: Man glaubt in mehreren Passagen bereits Motive aus der „Jupiter-Symphonie“ zu hören.“
» Financial Times Deutschland, 19.10.2004
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Verdi:
Requiem
Harnoncourt wäre nicht Harnoncourt, hätte er nicht Eigenes zu
sagen und damit gleich auch einen weiteren Mitschnitt im Reigen der teilweise
ganz vortrefflichen Einspielungen zu rechtfertigen.
Augenfällig an dieser Interpretation, vergleicht man sie etwa mit
jener von Giulini von 1963, ist die fast schon geometrisch anmutende Architektur
der musikalischen Phrasen. (…) Auch in der Wahl der Tempi ist er
restriktiver (…) Das ist insgesamt eine überzeugende Sichtweise,
die in ihrer Klarheit das Werk zudem deutlich in der Tradition der Sakralmusik
verwurzelt.
Dank SACD muss auf den besonderen Hörgenuss nicht verzichtet werden.
Besonders reizvoll: „Tuba mirum“ im Surround-Sound, mit den
im Raum verteilten Trompeten und den tiefen Trommelwirbeln gleich einem
Donnergrollen.
» Fono Forum, 10/2005 |
|
Bartók/ Orchestral Works
“Although all the great symphony orchestras have recorded these
two masterpieces, it’s the strings of the established chamber
orchestras, which are often more adept and comfortable performing
without their wind and brass colleagues, that seem to bring the most
to this music. That is certainly the case with the Chamber Orchestra
of Europe, which boasts one of the finest String sections in the business.
Harnoncourt, moving even further from his Baroque/Classical roots,
proves himself a champion for these two mid-20th-century masterpieces,
driving his players to extremes of expression and energy.
In the slow build-up of the opening movement of the Music for Strings,
Percussion and Celesta, there’s a real sense of mystery and
anguish as the competing string lines slither around chromatically
in search of some sort of resolution, helped, it must be said, by
a tempo markedly slower that the composer’s indication. It’s
a resolution that Harnoncourt evades in the ensuing Allegro, too:
for all the music’s cadential inclinations, it is still underwritten
by a sense of unease. Even with the folk-derived rhythmic drive of
the finale the release comes late in the day. Overall, it’s
a tension often lacking in rival performances, even from such expert
Bartókians as Boulez (DG) and Solti (DECCA).
The comparative fierceness of the sound in the Divertimento belies
the recording’s identical venue – the Stefaniensaal in
Graz. But there’s a nice sense in the opening Allegro non troppo
of the changing aural perspectives between tutti and solo passages
and the phrases is tended lovingly throughout. Perhaps the conductorless
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (DG) is a little more daring, but Harnoncourt’s
interpretative zeal has its own rewards here.”
» Matthew Rye, BBC Music Magazine, June 2005
“Just when you thought you'd heard it all, along comes Nikolaus Harnoncourt
to teach you and thing or two. Now as we all know, there are two Harnoncourts,
one brilliant and one weird. This recording features the brilliant
one. He finds textural details in the Music for Strings, Percussion
and Celesta, particularly from the harp in the second and fourth movements,
that will amaze you. Of course there's a price for this luxurious
detail: with the happy exception of the dynamic and driving second
movement, the remaining three movements move at a pace well below
the composer's suggested timings. In the opening fugue and nocturnal
third movement this hardly matters, but the finale sounds just a bit
underpowered, even though its later stages contain magical moments.
No such reservations concern the performance of the Divertimento,
which opens with scorching accents and a driving intensity that carries
all before it. Once again the central slow movement is a marvel of
texture and gentle gradations of tone and timbre, while the earthy
finale recaptures the vivacity of the opening movement. There is no
finer performance of this piece available. The Chamber Orchestra of
Europe plays both works as if its collective life depended on it,
and taken as a whole this excellently recorded disc further confirms
Harnoncourt's claim to be considered one of today's podium greats.
Not to be missed”.
» David Hurwitz, www.classic.com, May 17th, 2004 |
|
Anton Bruckner - Symphony No. 9
Blick ins Paradies
Anton Bruckners Sinfonien haben schon viele interpretiert. Dirigent
Nikolaus Harnoncourt entdeckt sie ganz neu – als die Werke eines
Sehnsüchtigen.
Von Anton Bruckners letzter, neunter Sinfonie sind nur drei Sätze
vollständig erhalten. Sie gilt als «Unvollendete»
und schliesst mit einem weit ausschwingenden Adagio. Günter Wand,
bedeutendster Bruckner-Dirigent im späten 20. Jahrhundert, sagte
dazu: «Für mich ist nach dem Schluss des Adagios nichts
mehr möglich. Diese Ruhe, diese Zuversicht, diese Verklärung.
Und das hat Bruckner wohl gespürt.» Da ist Nikolaus Harnoncourt
ganz anderer Meinung. Er hat sich in den letzten Jahren in die Brucknersche
Tonwelt hineingebohrt. Er beharrt darauf, dass Bruckner nur aus äusseren
Gründen – Krankheit, Tod – das Finale seiner Neunten
nicht abgeschlossen habe. Hätte der Komponist nur wenige Wochen
länger gelebt, so seine kühne These, wäre das Werk
vollendet worden.
Harnoncourt schreitet, wie es seiner aufklärerischen Art entspricht,
vom Wort gleich zur Tat. Auf der einen seiner neuen CDs finden wir
die Aufzeichnung jenes Gesprächskonzertes, das er vor einem Jahr
bei den Salzburger Festspielen veranstaltet hat. Es nennt sich in
der offiziellen Schreibweise «Dokumentation des Fragments»
und fasst alle jene Teile zusammen, die vom Finale erhalten blieben.
Das sind voll ausgeführte Passagen, aber auch nur locker (bloss
mit Streichern oder Solotrompete statt des vollen Blechbläsersatzes)
instrumentierte Abschnitte. Immerhin an die 18 Minuten, das heisst
578 Takte, mit Löchern und Leerstellen dazwischen. Harnoncourt
glaubt, dass die meisten der fehlenden Noten vorhanden gewesen, aber
verschwunden seien. Daher sein Aufruf an alle Musikfreunde, auf dem
Estrich nach einschlägigen Fundstücken zu suchen.
«Wie ein vom Mond gefallener Stein»
Dabei hat es keineswegs an Versuchen gefehlt, diese Einzelteile zusammenzubinden.
Solchem Vorgehen steht Harnoncourt jedoch skeptisch gegenüber;
er hält sich ausschliesslich ans authentische Material. Er klärt
das Vorhandene und lässt es von den Wiener Philharmonikern spielen.
Er verweist auf Bruckners Konzeption, die offenbar am Schluss «als
riesenhafte Kathedrale» die Hauptthemen der fünften, siebenten,
achten und neunten Sinfonie übereinandertürmt. Nikolaus
Harnoncourt bekennt sich voll und ganz zum Aussenseitertum eines Komponisten,
dessen Œuvre weit ausserhalb seiner Zeit gestanden sei, «wie
ein vom Mond gefallener Stein». Ihn fasziniert gerade das Widerborstige,
Regelsprengende von Bruckners Musik: «Bei einem Genie gibt es
immer Sachen, die es nicht gibt.»
Auf der zweiten CD sind dann die drei vollständig erhaltenen
Sätze dieser «dem lieben Gott gewidmeten» Sinfonie
zu hören. Von den Wiener Philharmonikern mit glühender Intensität
gespielt, die belegt, dass sich diese routinierten Musiker von einem
engagierten Dirigenten eben immer noch – und vielleicht ganz
gerne – aus der Reserve locken lassen. Zwar ist, auch laut Harnoncourt,
dieses Opus Bruckners eine «Auseinandersetzung mit dem eigenen
Sterben» (tatsächlich hatte Bruckners innere Welt, trotz
und vielleicht gerade wegen ihrer tiefen Gläubigkeit, immer schon
nekrophile Züge besessen). Vor dem Tod aber steht das Leben,
und die erhaltenen Sätze der Neunten künden durchaus von
irdischen Belangen: von der Ungewissheit des Seins im kontrasterfüllten
Kopfsatz «Feierlich, misterioso»; vom dämonischen
Totentanz in den stampfenden Rhythmen des Scherzos, samt visionärem
Trio; vom «Abschied vom Leben» beim Anfang des Adagios,
das in Wellen heranrollt und im dissonanzengespickten Schmerzensschrei
kulminiert.
Gerade diesen Aufschrei im vollen Orchester hat man kaum je so brennend,
ja so entsetzlich gehört wie bei Harnoncourt. Dann aber, im heiklen
Übergang zum ätherischen Ausklang des langsamen Satzes,
will der Dirigent nicht so recht mitmachen. Günter Wand und Bruno
Walter oder Sergiu Celibidache haben diese Auflösung zwingender,
entrückter gestaltet. Für sie stand der Blick ins Paradies
offen. Harnoncourt aber bleibt diesseits von Eden – vielleicht
gerade deshalb, weil er kein Ende sehen will, sondern erst den Übergang
ins Finale – mit seiner grandiosen Choralüberhöhung.“
» Mario Gerteis, Weltwoche Zürich, 4.9.2003
-------------------------------------
“When you are listening to this Bruckner 9th by Harnoncourt,
you realise you are in front of one of the greatest interpretatory
revolutions of the last 20 years. This record is an event.”
» Répertoire, 10/2003
-------------------------------------
“This very interesting and worthwhile disc offers an excellent
reason to acquire yet another Bruckner Ninth.”
“It's Harnoncourt who makes all the difference. This is the
most savage performance since Jochum's Dresden recording, and we
all know how wonderful that one is.”
“Another reason is the superb quality of the playing that
he elicits from the Vienna Philharmonic, which of course always
plays this music (unlike that of Mahler) with proprietary zeal and
consummate style. RCA's sonics in stereo are remarkably clean, solid,
and well balanced, indeed state-of-the-art for a live production
coming from the Grosses Festspielhaus in Salzburg.”
» Daniel Hurwitz, Classics Today /Oct. 20th, 2003
|
|
Joseph Haydn - The Creation
„Harnoncourt always has the touch! He recorded a
compelling Creation in 1986 with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra (Teldec),
making nonsense of all our established certainties (Jochum, Karajan,
Marriner, Bernstein) with his absence of prior assumptions. A bombastic
and sinister concert with the Concertgebouw, just two seasons ago
at the Châtelet, gave us the impression that the Austrian
maestro had confused Haydn with Bruckner. And it is Haydn's oratorio
to which he returned in March 2003 to celebrate fifty years of the
"creation" of the Concentus Musicus of Vienna (the ensemble
got together for the first time in 1953 but did not give its first
concert until 1957).
This was a salutary return to the original sources: tackling Haydn's
masterpiece with his ensemble in place of a symphony orchestra,
Harnoncourt has recovered his former energy, for which we can be
wholeheartedly grateful, along with his wealth of invention. It
is sufficient to compare the new recording with that of 1986 (both
concert performances) to appreciate the lightening of the discursive
tone (which loses none of its impact), the (reasonable) acceleration
of tempos, the vivacity of phrasing. Incidentally, Harnoncourt needs
eight minutes less than he did seventeen years ago to conclude the
Schlusschor! The timing is only one criterion: listen to Gabriel's
air at the start of Part II, for instance, and see how its performers
give it a grace and refinement that are entirely Baroque. The same
is true of the first duet between Adam and Eve, revealed as a moment
of vibrant lyricism compared with the rather stiff rendering of
1986. The theatrical element of the recitatives is happily brought
to the fore; and then there are the incomparable timbres of the
Concentus: the light strings led by Erich Höbarth, the radiant
flute of Robert Wolf, notably in the accompagnatos, the gleaming
clarinets and the brass spreading their strident green tones far
and wide (Raphael's air creating an electric effect).
The soloists too have a freshness that their predecessors truly
did not attain. Dorothea Röschmann, dazzling, unquestionably
has a greater feel for this music than Gruberova. Schade is more
stylish than Prorschka, and Gerhaher sharper than Robert Holl. Some
choral numbers, despite the beauty of the Arnold Schönberg
Choir, are liable to sound a little Germanic, and the assemblage
of refinements brought together for this celebration does somewhat
contradict that naivety of Haydn which the director so justly praises
in his note. But who can complain if the bride is too beautiful?
This the best recent version of The Creation (infinitely superior
to that of 1986) and one of the most accomplished on period instruments.“
» Jean-Luc Macia, Diapason, 2/2004
-------------------------------------
„Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s previous recording of the Creation
is 18 years old and is beginning to show its age. The new version
is better in balance and clearer in definition. The chorus is given
more presence, the orchestral instruments are more sharply differentiated.
[…] the broader view prevails: less deliberately driven, this
is more calmly responsive to rhythm, richer in colour – and
wisdom.”
» John Steane, Gramophone, May 2004
-------------------------------------
“A fine choral performance from the Arnold Schoenberg Choir,
delightful orchestral playing and Dorothea Roschmann’s intense,
rosy-toned soprano make Harnoncourt’s new recording of The Creation
an imperative addition to any collection. Harnoncourt’s interpretation
achieves the impossible by retaining a sense of rhythmic bounce and
urgency…this is an extremely impressive, beautifully detailed
and genuinely moving account of Haydn’s most generous and well-loved
work.”
» Anna Picard, Independent on Sunday
-------------------------------------
“An inspired live recording…the reading has a sense of
awe and mystery…Inspired, especially as Harnoncourt’s
players conjure such an integrated sonority. The recording is richer
than any other on period instruments, and the soloists - Dorothea
Röschmann, Michael Schade and Christian Gerhaher - are a well-nigh
matchless line-up.”
» Rob Cowan, Independent
-------------------------------------
“An exceptional line-up of soloists: there is an audible murmur
of wonderment at Dorothea Roschmann’s raptly tender account
of the angel Gabrile’s Nun beut die Flu, and Christian Gerhaher’s
virile, youthful bass-baritone is a notable new voice as Raphael and
Adam, beautiful in timbre and eloquent of diction. Harnoncourt’s
approach combines the best of period and traditional performing styles.”
» Hugh Canning, Sunday Times
-------------------------------------
“With Concentus Musicus, the Vienna-based period-instrument
group he founded more than 50 years, his performances retain their
freshness and sense of adventure. Much of the playing and singing
is expressively supple…the trio of soloists, led by the tenor
Michael Schade, is first rate too.”
» Andrew Clements, Guardian
-------------------------------------
“It begins magnificently, with a desolate evocation of the primeval
void, made all the more eerie by the astringent sonorities of the
period instruments. Elsewhere, Harnoncourt responds powerfully to
the awe, grandeur and mystery of creation…The soloists, led
by Dorothea Roschmann’s tender, radiant soprano…No Harnoncourt
performance is ever dull.”
» Richard Wigmore, Daily Telegraph
-------------------------------------
“No one out-dazzles Harnoncourt and his forces in the elemental
blaze of Light. The first sunrise is equally overwhelming…the
awe and mystery of the creation can rarely have been more compellingly
evoked.”
» BBC Music Magazine
-------------------------------------
“Harnoncourt’s admirers will be in their element with
this release...Harnoncourt’s scrupulous interpretation has precision
and vitality in a most persuasive account.”
» Michael Cookson, Classical Music Web.
-------------------------------------
La meilleure version récente de La Création et l'une
des plus accomplies sur instruments anciens. »
["The best recent reading of the Creation and one of the most
consummate performances on period instruments."]
» Jean-Luc Macia, Diapason, 2/2004
-------------------------------------
"A fine choral performance from the Arnold Schoenberg Choir,
delightful orchestral playing and Dorothea Röschmann's intense,
rosy-toned soprano make Harnoncourt's new recording of The Creation
an imperative addiction to any collection. [...] this is an extremely
impressive beautifully detailed and genuinely moving account of Haydn's
most generous and well-loved work."
» Anne Picard in the Independent on Sunday, 29 February 2004 |
|
Joseph Haydn – Symphonies Nos. 82-87 (Paris Symphonies)
(RCA RED SEAL/BMG 82876606022)
“A revelatory set that
joyfully recaptures the originality and novelty of these works”
“Harnoncourt and Haydn is a combination that always demands
a response: it may be one of exasperation at this conductor’s
occasional wilfulness or, as here, delight at the freshness of interpretation
of these colossally inventive works. The Concentus Musicus Wien play
for their founder with great spirit and zest a real ear-opener for
this listener at least.”
Editor’s Choice/Recording of the Month August 2005, Gramophone
-------------------------------------
„Als Originalklang-Pionier hat Nikolaus Harnoncourt
mit seinem „Concentus Musicus Wien“ begonnen. Heute scheren
Dogmen ihn kaum noch; wichtiger ist ihm die Lebendigkeit der Klangrede.
Eine „musikalische Visitenkarte“ habe Meister Haydn in
diesen Werken abliefern wollen, schreibt Harnoncourt, 75, im lesenswerten
Booklet – und bündelt sie mit sattem, aber transparentem
Klang zu einem Panorama der Stimmungen.“
Kulturspiegel, 4/2005 |
|
Mozart Requiem
Christine Schäfer (soprano), Bernarda Fink (alto), Kurt Streit
(tenor), Gerald Finley (bass), Arnold-Schoenberg-Chor, Concentus
Musicus Wien
“This new recording of Mozart's Requiem (in the edition I
prefer, by Franz Beyer), has everything going for it. The soloists
are all excellent--really excellent. Soprano Christine Schäfer
leads the group with lovely tone and a total commitment to expressing
the text through her singing. She's seconded by the magnificent
Bernarda Fink (whose Dvorák song recital for Harmonia Mundi
became a Disc of the Month selection), while Kurt Streit's bright
tenor has none of the insipid "church choir has-been"
aura that leads so many performances to make do with second raters
just because the actual part isn't very large. Gerald Finley delivers
a truly dignified Tuba mirum, aided in no small measure by Nikolaus
Harnoncourt's Concentus Musicus Wien, which sports a trombone player
who actually makes his solo sound both lyrical and imposing rather
than merely awkward.
The Arnold Schoenberg Choir sings its collective heart out in the
opening movements, but especially in the Dies irae, Confutatis,
Lacrimosa, and Sanctus. Combine this with Harnoncourt's determination
to wring every last bit of drama from the music and with orchestral
playing that's the last word in commitment, and the result is pretty
astounding. I can't remember a performance of the Lacrimosa that
so graphically evokes the sound of actual weeping, or a Confutatis
so vicious at its opening and so vividly contrasted thereafter.
Usually Süssmayr's contributions leave me somewhat cold, but
when played and sung with such conviction, there's little reason
to question their authority and aptness.
In stereo the engineers capture the excitement and impact of a live
concert. The multi-channel format, depending on your preferences,
is either thrilling as a "surround" experience, or a travesty
of what real music sounds like--Chacun á son gout! The disc
also can be used as a CD-ROM containing a facsimile of Mozart's
original manuscript, which I found a fascinating and intelligent
addition because it encourages listeners to discover just how much
Mozart there is in the work, and to think about the music anew.
Of course, Harnoncourt's performance does that all by itself, but
it's nice to have the option to carry the investigation further.
In short, this is a first-class production all the way, and the
performance is simply a knock-out.”
» David Hurwitz, Classicstoday.com, July 10th, 2004
-------------------------------------
“This is haunting music,” says Nikolaus Harnoncourt, the
conductor of this new recording of Mozart’s Requiem. He’s
right, though to a degree it’s the myth that haunts us. Mozart
died before he could finish the piece, so his widow authorised a former
student of his named Süssmayr to finish the work. But that left
posterity with a problem — was this piece really by Mozart?
Some conductors have thrown out Süssmayr’ s version and
used one of the modern completions, which claim to get nearer to Mozart’s
intentions. I’m sceptical about these, and Harnoncourt takes
the same view, though he does use a modern edition that corrects Süssmayr’s
technical blunders.
As for the performance, there are wonderful things in it. Harnoncourt’s
reverence and love for this music shines through every bar. The
mysterious opening has a penitential tread, the basset horns lines
lending an otherworldly glow to the sound. This tone keeps recurring,
rescuing even the Tuba Mirum with its bathetic trombone solo. There
are many original touches, but there are exasperating things, too.
I’ve rarely heard such a joyless performance of the Hosanna,
a piece which should be a triumphant shout.
» Ivan Hewett, The Times, July 3rd, 2004
-------------------------------------
“Face à un tel moment de la musique, à une telle
lecon de direction d’orchestre, on je peut qu’enrager
contre l’abruti, caché derrière ses potentiomètres,
qui a inversé tous les plans sonores, mettant les vents devant
les cordes en reléguant le chœur dans un coton brumeux.
Et en plus ca change tout le temps. Cela dit, c’est une interprétation
fantastique, à la fois théâtrale et mystique,
fondée sur une nouvelle édition corrigée (différence
très audible pour tout ce qui concerne la partie ajoutée
par Süssmayr.)»
» Jacques Drouillon, Le Nouvel Observateur, Jeudi, 17 Juin 2004
-------------------------------------
”Nikolaus Harnoncourt has recorded the Mozart Requiem before,
for Teldec in the early 1980s when he was still regarded primarily
as one of the pioneers of authenticity. For this new version he has
gone back to Concentus Musicus, the group he founded more than 50
years ago.
The reading has much of the same energised forcefulness as its predecessor,
for Harnoncourt never allows the music to dwell and remains ever
aware of rhythmic detail. But with a finely matched quartet of soloists,
he also manages to balance the liturgical with the theatrical -
the Kyrie is rapt and understated, the Dies Irae positively terrifying.”
» Andrew Clements, Friday July 2, 2004, The Guardian
-------------------------------------
“Pour ses infinies qualités musicales, pour son éloquence,
pour sa bouleversante humanité, ce Requiem s’impose désormais
au sommet. » [“The outstanding musical qualities of the
recording, its eloquence and overwhelming humanity, this Requiem shows
Harnoncourt at his best.”]
» Bertrand Dermoncourt, Classica, July 2004
-------------------------------------
“More than two decades have passed since Harnoncourt’s
first recording of Mozart’s unfinished swan song. This version,
recorded live at the Musikverein in Vienna, has a better choir and,
on the whole, superior soloists, who blend especially well in the
reflective “quartets”, the Recordare and the Benedictus
(mostly composed by Mozart’s final amanuensis, Franz Xaver Süssmayr).
Harnoncourt remains faithful to the Süssmayr completion in the
revision by Franz Beyer — still the most convincing, despite
the efforts of modern scholars to prove otherwise. Süssmayr’s
composition of the Lacrimosa on the basis of only scraps of music
remains one of the wonders of the Requiem as it has come down to us;
Harnoncourt concludes that the composer’s pupil would have known
more about his intentions than more “learned” modern scholars.
This is a performance of grandeur and power, notably in the Dies Irae
and Rex Tremendae. My only reservation is the jaunty tempo adopted
for Hostias, but a Harnoncourt recording would not be such without
some element of controversy.”
» Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times, June 27th, 2004
-------------------------------------
Classical CD of the week: Four stars
“Each month seems to bring a new Mozart Requiem
- there are now more than 70 in the catalogue - so it has to be
something pretty special to stand out from the crowd. Trust Nikolaus
Harnoncourt to do just that. No messing around with new versions,
uneven soloists, ropy choirs or bored instrumentalists: this is
a Requiem as pristine and potent as they come, with outstanding
personnel in all departments. Only by way of tempi does Harnoncourt
deign to show how hard he's thought it all through - the 'Hostias'
is typically original - and the label thoughtfully throws in Mozart's
original manuscript on CD-rom. Your cup runneth over.”
”Franz Süssmayr's 1792 completion of Mozart's Requiem
has fallen out of favour as musicologists from Duncan Druce to Robert
Levin have produced new performing editions. But Franz Beyer's subtle
revision of the Süssmayr score may be the most pragmatic solution
and is certainly the edition that adheres most closely to Mozart's
unfinished original. Nikolaus Harnoncourt's live recording is perhaps
the most tender and thoughtful of his long career. Each detail is
carefully unfolded, the tempi are perfectly judged, the dynamics
impressive and the blend exceptional. With great soloists (Schäfer,
Fink, Streit, Finley) and excellent choral singing, this Requiem
is the new definitive.”
» Anna Picard, Independent on Sunday, June 27th, 2004 |
|
Má Vlást
”Hier kann eine Neueinspielung des Zyklus
”Mein Vaterland” von Nikolaus Harnoncourt und den Wiener
Philharmonikern (erschienen bei RCA) Abhilfe schaffen, die mit betörender
Sensibilität jede Blume an des Ufers Rand feiert, ohne je den
Fluss als Ganzes aus dem Auge zu verlieren. Detailgenauigkeit mit
einem untrüglichen Gespür für musikalische Charaktere
und Dramatik sind die Charakteristika dieser Aufnahme – ein
wunderbares musikalisches Porträt der Tschechischen Heimat
Bedrich Smetanas.”
» Viola Bayer, Kreuzer, 2-2004
-------------------------------------
”...spannungsreich, vibrierend, großartig....”
» Brigitte, 4.2.2004
-------------------------------------
”Dieser Interpretationsansatz - statt mit patriotisch breitem
Pinselstrich nur Oberfläche zu malen - ist eminent modern, und
er führt gerade beim bekanntesten Stück, der ”Moldau”,
zu einem ganz neuen Hören. Famos!
» Werner Pfister, Musik & Theater, 11.11.2003
-------------------------------------
”Schon die leisen Flöten des Beginns gelangen in ausgezirkelter
Trennschärfe ans Ohr, das Moldau-Thema selbst wirkt auf das Feinste
abgestuft und geformt, genau phrasiert, nicht am Aufbau des Stücks
wirkt auf das Feinste abgestuft und geformt, genau phrasiert, nicht
am Aufbau des Stückes wirkt naiv natur(red-)selig, alles ist
dem Kunstcharakter der Komposition unterworfen.”
» Wolfgang Schreiber, FonoForum, 1/2004
-------------------------------------
”In der Mischung aus liebevollem Blick auf Smetanas tschechische
Heimat liegt die besondere Stärke dieser Aufnahme – Vergangenheit
und Zukunft, Erinnerung und Mahnung sind für Harnoncourt eng
verzahnt – und das ist hörbar.”
» Otto Paul Burkhardt, Audio, Januar 2004
-------------------------------------
"DIE MOLDAU - Plätschert, fließt, strömt und
überzeugt: "Die Moldau" von Bedrich Smetana. Es gibt
unzählige CDs damit, aber diese Neuaufnahme mit Nikolaus Harnoncourt
und den Wiener Philharmonikern ist aufregend schön wie eine Uraufführung."
» Bild am Sonntag, 2.11.2003
-------------------------------------
”Nikolaus Harnoncourt à la tête d’un Orchestre
philharmonique de Vienne des meilleurs jours.”
["Nikolaus Harnoncourt heads the Vienna Philharmonic at its
zenith."]
» Le Monde de la Musique, 11/2003
-------------------------------------
ӆberhaupt :Harnoncourt, den seine Neider als Anti-Karajan,
als nüchternen Kalkulator verdächtigen, erweist sich als
Schwelger. Wie sagte er mir doch einst beim allerersten Interview,
1975 kurz vor dem Monteverdi-”Orfeo” in Zürich (als
er noch ausschließlich barocke Musik betreute:) ”Wissen
Sie, eigentlich bin ich ein Romantiker.” Jetzt ist Nikolaus
Harnoncourt im Herzen der Romantik angelangt.”
» Weltwoche, 16.10.2003
-------------------------------------
”Die BMG hat entschieden, seine klassische Produktion insbesondere
um das Schaffen Nikolaus Harnoncourts herum wieder anzukurbeln, und
darüber kann man sich ja nur freuen.”
» Classica, 11/2003
-------------------------------------
”The recording is spacious and I was surprised to read that
it was in fact a live performance (Musikverein, Vienna) for there
is no audience intrusion during the near-silent ultra-pianissimo passages.
The orchestral sections are brilliantly balanced, as good as any studio
recording.”
» www.musicweb.co.uk, Raymond Walker, Nov. 18th, 2003
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”Er, der sich jüngst auch Dvoràks annahm, führte
Smetanas Zyklus im November 2001 im Wiener Musikverein auf. Zu dem
nunmehr erschienenen Mitschnitt schrieb er selbst den mit Notenbeispielen
gespickten Kommentar, der von seiner Begeisterung über ”Má
Vlast” zeugt. Sie ist dort, wo sie sich kompositorisch auszahlt,
auch interpretatorisch spürbar, ja hilft der Dramatik von ”Sarka”
beinahe auf die Sprünge. Belassen wir es also bei der Freude
über eine wunderschön ausmusizierte ”Moldau”,
über die melodische Frische von ”Aus Böhmens Hain
und Flur”. Das weitere ist sozusagen eher eine innerböhmische
Angelegenheit.”
» Alfred Beaujean, Stereoplay, 1/2004 |
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KONZERTE
Concert reviews are not available at the moment. |
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PUBLIKATIONEN
Publication reviews are not available at the moment. |
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