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Kurt Weill - Love Life (1948)
Quirijn de Lang · Stephanie Corley · Orchestra and Chorus of Opera North · James Holmes
As a concept musical, Love Life was a real trailblazer, inspiring musical theatre favourites of the 1960s, 70s and beyond from Cabaret and Chicago (originally subtitled ‘A Musical Vaudeville’) to Sondheim’s Company (told through a series of vignettes). It is “one of Weill’s best scores” (conductor Jim Holmes), a masterpiece of putting different musical styles together, “a compendium of American musical idioms, cunningly chosen so that they suit the dramatic material”. Kurt Weill and Alan Jay Lerner teamed up in 1947, both riding high on recent successes (Street Scene for Weill, Brigadoon for Lerner) and looking for new projects. When Love Life premiered on Broadway in 1948, Weill called it “an entirely new form of theatre.” Stephen Sondheim denoted it as “a useful influence on my own work.”
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MILOSLAV KABELÁČ
ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra · Jakub Hrůša
Miloslav Kabeláč ranks among the most significant Czech composers of the 20th century. Alongside Antonín Dvořák and Bohuslav Martinů, he is recognized as one of the greatest Czech symphonists, and his work represents a cornerstone of Czech musical heritage. His work encompasses nearly all musical genres except opera, but at its core are eight symphonies, each with a unique orchestration. With the czech conductor Jakub Hrůša the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra had a welcome expert for this recording, as he examines carefully these rich orchestrated scores of this still underrated music and composer.
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Z. NOSKOWSKI
DEUTSCHE STAATSPHILHARMONIE RHEINLAND-PFALZ · ANTONI WIT
Although he had famous students (i.e. Szymanowski) and teachers (Moniuszko), few listeners know much, if anything, about Zygmunt Noskowski. And yet, for most of the 19th century, he was the primary exponent of modern symphonic music in Poland. His Third Symphony and his symphonic poem Steppe, Op. 66 blend sweeping Romanticism with Polish folk spirit. The symphony’s seasonal journey is lush and lyrical, starting with spring and ending with the optimistic outlook to the next. Steppe evokes Poland’s vast landscapes with Borodinesque colors. Under Antoni Wit, these overlooked gems shine anew and make for intriguing listening for lovers of melodic symphonic music.
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ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK: The Miracle (1911)
Rundfunkchor Berlin · Kinderchor des Georg-Friedrich-Händel-Gymnasiums Berlin · Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin · Steffen Tast
Pantomime in two Acts and an Interlude for choruses and orchestra
Libretto by Karl Gustav Vollmoeller
Engelbert Humperdinck's music for the pantomime of Karl Gustav Vollmoeller's arguably most important stage work impresses with its deeply Romantic sound and large-scale choral scenes and had so far led an unforgivable shadowy existence in the composer's oeuvre. Premiered in London in 1911, none other than Max Reinhardt adapted this work for film (1912) and staged numerous performances with hundreds of actors, singers, and dancers – finally also at the Salzburg Festival in 1925. This recording represents the first complete recording of this deeply Romantic masterpiece.
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DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH - Vocal Symphonic Music
WDR Rundfunkchor · WDR Sinfonieorchester MICHAIL JUROWSKI
Dmitri Shostakovich is known for his symphonies, his chamber music, maybe the popular Suites, and to some extent even his film. Largely unknown, however, is his vocal symphonic music, of which only the cycle on Jewish Folk Poetry, Op. 79, has gained some wider popularity. Here these hidden gems are brought together in authoritative interpretations under Michail Jurowski and the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne with its rich Shostakovich tradition under Semyon Bychkov and Rudolf Barshai, among others, from the Six Romances on words by Japanese poets to the Suite on Verses by Michelangelo Buonarroti.
