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Duke Bluebeard's castle
Béla Bartók

Esa-Pekka Salonen / Philharmonia Orchestra

Duke Bluebeard's castle

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Signum Classics
UPC: 0635212037225
Catnr: SIGCD 372
Release date: 28 March 2014
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Label
Signum Classics
UPC
0635212037225
Catalogue number
SIGCD 372
Release date
28 March 2014
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EN
NL

About the album

'Bartók’s Bluebeard is an immensely powerful musical construction. The work is one large sound arc; time and structure are measured by the successive openings of seven doors. There is virtually no stage action. This is a psychological drama, equally effective in concert or semi-staged performance.
This 2011 live recording features Esa-Pekka Salonen, one of the most important artists in contemporary classical music, leading the Philharmonia Orchestra and a notable cast of singers.'
Een onvergetelijke opname van Hertog Blauwbaards burcht
Dit is een opname van een live-uitvoering van Hertog Blauwbaards burcht van Béla Bartók. Het is een opera in één akte in de vorm van een psychologisch drama, gebaseerd op het verhaal van Blauwbaard. Het verhaal, wat Bartók in 1910 leerde kennen, is opvallend relevant voor het leven van de Hongaarse componist. Bartók en zijn eerste vrouw bevonden zich in een vergelijkbare situatie: een jonge vrouw die alles over haar veel oudere en mysterieuze echtgenoot wil weten, die zelf vreest dat hun relatie beëindigd zal worden als al zijn geheimen worden onthuld.

Judith, de vierde vrouw van Blauwbaard, eist hem om de zeven deuren in de hal een voor een te openen. Blauwbaard is hierop tegen, omdat hij weet dat hun relatie gedoemd is te mislukken als Judith ziet wat er achter de deuren ligt, maar ze weet hem uiteindelijk over te halen ze te openen. Achter de laatste deur bevinden zich de drie eerdere vrouwen. Blauwbaard realiseert zich dat zijn laatste kans mislukt is. Voor hem zal er alleen nog duisternis zijn.

The Arts Desk schreef over het album: “John Tomlinson and Michelle DeYoung were vocally so commanding as to render “choreography” entirely superfluous. Tomlinson’s cavernous voice seemed to embody the very interior world of his castle - its sadness, darkness, emptiness - his Hungarian so vivid and expressive in itself that it became another sonority in Bartók’s aural palette. He was quite extraordinary. Musically stunning.”

Artist(s)

John Tomlinson (bass)

Sir John Tomlinson was born in Lancashire. He gained a BSc in Civil Engineering at Manchester University before winning a scholarship to the Royal Manchester College of Music. He was awarded a CBE in 1997 and knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours of 2005. He was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award for Singer in 1991, 1998 and 2007 and in 2014 their Gold Medal. He has sung for the world’s leading opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Deutsche Oper and Staatsoper, Berlin, Munich, Dresden, Geneva and Paris, the Salzburg, Aix-en-Provence, Munich and Glyndebourne festivals and all the leading British companies. He made his Bayreuth Festival debut in 1988 as Wotan (Der Ring des Nibelungen) under Daniel...
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Sir John Tomlinson was born in Lancashire. He gained a BSc in Civil Engineering at Manchester University before winning a scholarship to the Royal Manchester College of Music. He was awarded a CBE in 1997 and knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours of 2005. He was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award for Singer in 1991, 1998 and 2007 and in 2014 their Gold Medal. He has sung for the world’s leading opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Deutsche Oper and Staatsoper, Berlin, Munich, Dresden, Geneva and Paris, the Salzburg, Aix-en-Provence, Munich and Glyndebourne festivals and all the leading British companies. He made his Bayreuth Festival debut in 1988 as Wotan (Der Ring des Nibelungen) under Daniel Barenboim and went on to sing there every summer from 1989 to 2006. His repertory has included Boris Godunov, Bluebeard, Baron Ochs (Der Rosenkavalier), Golaud (Pelléas et Mélisande), Claggart (Billy Budd), General (The Gambler), Philip II and the Grand Inquisitor (Don Carlo), Méphistophélès (Faust), the four villains (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), the title role of Ivan Susanin, Jacopo Fiesco (Simon Boccanegra), Tommaso Becket (Assassinio nella cattedrale), Boris Ismailov and Moses (Moses und Aron). He also created Green Knight (Gawain) and the Minotaur (The Minotaur) for Harrison Birtwistle. Tomlinson’s wide discography includes CDs of works by Handel, Mozart, Wagner and Stravinsky and DVDs of The Minotaur, Parsifal and Der Ring des Nibelungen.
Rozanna was born in Leicestershire, England, of Ukrainian descent. After completing her undergraduate degree in English Literature and Philosophy at the University of East Anglia, Rozanna decided to dedicate herself to classical singing. She won a place to continue her vocal studies on the postgraduate course at the Royal Academy of Music with Anne Howells and Jonathan Papp in September 2011, where she was recipient of the Kohn Foundation Award. A year later, she became a member of the internationally acclaimed Royal Academy Opera School and Academy Song Circle, where she was recipient of the Karaviotis Scholarship, the Sir Charles Mackerras Award and the Carr-Gregory Trust Award and was a finalist in the prestigious Royal Academy of Music Patrons Award. Rozanna was also awarded the Karaviotis Prize at Les Azuriales Young Artist Competition, Nice, in August 2012 and, in the summer of 2013, attended the Solti Accademia in Castiglione della Pescaia. In May 2012, Rozanna was awarded a place on the prestigious Young Artist Platform at the Oxford Lieder Festival. Since then, she has been invited to perform in various concert halls around the UK and abroad, including the Holywell Music Room, Kings Place, the Mendelssohn-Remise Berlin, the Prokofiev Hall at the Mariinsky Theatre and the Small Hall of the St Petersburg Philharmonia. Previous roles include Prinz Orlofsky in Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus (Berlin Opera Academy), Mother Goose in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress (cover for Festival d’Aix-en-Provence), Second Woman/Second Witch in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (Birmingham Opera Company), Jezebel in Goehr’s Naboth’s Vineyard (Melos Sinfonia), Beggar Woman in Britten’s Death in Venice (Garsington Opera), Smeraldina in Dove’s The Little Green Swallow (British Youth Opera), the title role in Handel’s Ariodante (Royal Academy Opera), Madame de la Haltière Cendrillon (RAO), Fidalma in Cimarosa’s The Secret Marriage (cover for BYO), the title role in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges (RAO and the BBC Symphony Orchestra), Hansel in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel (Sinfonia d’Amici) and Maddalena in Verdi’s Rigoletto (Stanley Opera).

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Michelle DeYoung (mezzo soprano)

Juliet Stevenson (spoken word)

Philharmonia Orchestra

The Philharmonia was founded in 1945 by EMI producer Walter Legge, and has worked with a who’s who of 20th- and 21st-century musicians. Finnish conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali took up the baton as Principal Conductor in September 2021. The sixth person to hold the title, he is known for his expressive, balletic conducting style and irrepressible energy. Herbert von Karajan, Otto Klemperer, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Arturo Toscanini, Riccardo Muti and Esa-Pekka Salonen are just a few of the great artists to be associated with the Philharmonia, and the Orchestra has premiered works by Richard Strauss, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Errollyn Wallen, Kaija Saariaho and many others. Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, in the heart of London, has been the Philharmonia’s home since 1995. The Orchestra also has residencies at venues and festivals across England, each embracing a Learning & Engagement programme that empowers people to engage with, and participate...
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The Philharmonia was founded in 1945 by EMI producer Walter Legge, and has worked with a who’s who of 20th- and 21st-century musicians. Finnish conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali took up the baton as Principal Conductor in September 2021. The sixth person to hold the title, he is known for his expressive, balletic conducting style and irrepressible energy.
Herbert von Karajan, Otto Klemperer, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Arturo Toscanini, Riccardo Muti and Esa-Pekka Salonen are just a few of the great artists to be associated with the Philharmonia, and the Orchestra has premiered works by Richard Strauss, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Errollyn Wallen, Kaija Saariaho and many others.
Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, in the heart of London, has been the Philharmonia’s home since 1995.
The Orchestra also has residencies at venues and festivals across England, each embracing a Learning & Engagement programme that empowers people to engage with, and participate in, orchestral music.
The Philharmonia’s international reputation is built in part on its extraordinary 79-year recording legacy, which in the last ten years has been built on by pioneering work with digital technology. The Orchestra’s installations and VR experiences have introduced hundreds of thousands of people to the symphony orchestra. The Philharmonia has won four Royal Philharmonic Society awards for its digital projects and audience engagement work. The Philharmonia is the go-to orchestra for many film and videogame composers in the UK and Hollywood, and its music-making has been experienced by millions of cinema- goers and gamers. It has recorded over 150 soundtracks, with film credits stretching back to 1947. Since 2023, the Orchestra has released live recordings on its own label, Philharmonia Records, in collaboration with Signum Records.
The Philharmonia has over 2m listeners each month on Spotify, and a vibrant YouTube channel with over 140,000 subscribers. The channel features free performances; instrument guides; interviews with artists; and in-depth documentaries.
The Philharmonia is an official partner of Classic FM and broadcasts extensively on BBC Radio 3.
The Philharmonia is a registered charity, proud to be supported by Arts Council England, many generous individuals, corporate supporters and Trusts and Foundations.
A team of 80 outstanding musicians from 16 countries, the Philharmonia looks forward to bringing music into your life, through great concerts, recordings and ground-breaking projects, for many years to come.

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Esa-Pekka Salonen (conductor)

Esa-Pekka Salonen’s restless innovation drives him constantly to reposition classical music in the 21st century. In 2020, he will become the Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony. Until the end of the season 2020-2021, he is the Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor for London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, where the award-winning RE-RITE and Universe of Sound installations have allowed people all over the world to step inside the orchestra through audio and video projections. Salonen also drove the development of a much-hailed app for iPad, The Orchestra, which gives the user unprecedented access to the internal workings of eight symphonic works.  As the Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where he is now Conductor Laureate, Salonen was instrumental in opening the...
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Esa-Pekka Salonen’s restless innovation drives him constantly to reposition classical music in the 21st century. In 2020, he will become the Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony. Until the end of the season 2020-2021, he is the Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor for London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, where the award-winning RE-RITE and Universe of Sound installations have allowed people all over the world to step inside the orchestra through audio and video projections. Salonen also drove the development of a much-hailed app for iPad, The Orchestra, which gives the user unprecedented access to the internal workings of eight symphonic works. As the Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where he is now Conductor Laureate, Salonen was instrumental in opening the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall and made the orchestra one of the best attended and funded in the country. He is the Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence at the New York Philharmonic and Artist in Association at the Finnish National Opera and Ballet. Additionally, Salonen is Artistic Director and cofounder of the annual Baltic Sea Festival.
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Composer(s)

Béla Bartók

Next to Arnold Schoenberg and Igor Stravinsky, Béla Bartók was a third seminal innovator of European art music at the start of the twentieth century. Bartók, too, sought a way out of the deadlock of tonal music around 1900, and he found it in folk music. Initially, he tied in with the nationalistic tradition of Franz Liszt with his tone poem Kossuth, but eventually he found his own voice with the rediscovery of the music of Hungarian peasants. Together with Zoltán Kodály he was one of the first to apply the results of folkloric research into his own compositions. One major difference between him and composers of the 19th century, was that Bartók did not adjust to the system of tonality, but created...
more
Next to Arnold Schoenberg and Igor Stravinsky, Béla Bartók was a third seminal innovator of European art music at the start of the twentieth century. Bartók, too, sought a way out of the deadlock of tonal music around 1900, and he found it in folk music. Initially, he tied in with the nationalistic tradition of Franz Liszt with his tone poem Kossuth, but eventually he found his own voice with the rediscovery of the music of Hungarian peasants. Together with Zoltán Kodály he was one of the first to apply the results of folkloric research into his own compositions. One major difference between him and composers of the 19th century, was that Bartók did not adjust to the system of tonality, but created his own musical idiom from folk music. Because of this, his composition style was flexible to other musical trends, without having to violate his own view points. For example, his two Violin sonates come close to Schoenberg's free expressionism, and after 1926 his music started to show neoclassicistic tendencies, comparable to Stravinsky's music. Bartók was not just interested in Hungarian folk music, but could appreciate musical folklore from all of the Balkan, Turkey and North-Africa as well.
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