Ein Heldenleben - Amériques by Ingo Metzmacher / Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin

Richard Strauss, Edgard Varèse

Ingo Metzmacher / Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin

Ein Heldenleben - Amériques

Price: € 12.95
Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917264425
Catnr: CC 72644
Release date: 12 September 2014
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1 CD ✓ in stock	€ 12.95	Buy

Label
Challenge Classics

UPC
0608917264425

Catalogue number
CC 72644

Release date
12 September 2014

"N.A."

Mostly Classic Sawaya, 27-5-2015

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

Press

About the album

Even though the title Ein Heldenleben (A Hero' Life) may not suggest it, both symphonic poems recorded on this disc were dreams of the future at the time of their premieres. The elaborate soundscapes of big orchestras - Varèse's original version of the Amériques requires 142 musicians! - were unheard of at the turn of the century and even in the 1920s.

New sounds and exotic instruments, however, not only push musical understanding, but also allow the audience to catch a glimpse of a composer's life and experiences. Strauss thus gives us his ideas about certain things and persons in his immediate surroundings, while Varèse invites the audience with steamboat whistles and crow calls to experience Paris as he did: the lonely fog horns, the shrill whistles and the sense of adventure America has given him since his childhood days.

Toekomstmuziek uit de vroege 20e eeuw
Dit album bevat een opwindende en unieke combinatie van twee orkestrale meesterwerken uit de vroege 20e eeuw, door twee componisten die op het eerste gezicht ver van elkaar af lijken te staan. Ingo Metzmacher bewijst op dit album opnieuw dat hij muziekprogramma’s op een geweldige manier kan vernieuwen, en dat hij een verfijnde kennis heeft op het gebied van verborgen verbanden in de muziekgeschiedenis.

Zo ver staan Richard Strauss en Edgard Varèse namelijk helemaal niet zo van elkaar af. De twee componisten hebben elkaar ontmoet in Berlijn, waar ze samen studeerden. De invloed van Strauss is merkbaar in Varèses virtuoze orkestwerken.

Zowel Ein Heldenleben van Strauss en Amériques van Varèse kunnen toekomstmuziek genoemd worden. In het begin van 20e eeuw was het publiek nog niet bekend met het uitgebreide klanklandschap van grote orkesten (De originele versie van Amériques vereist 142 musici!).

De exotische instrumenten en nieuwe klanken geven het publiek de mogelijkheid om een blik van het leven en de ervaringen van de componist op te vangen. Strauss geeft in Ein Heldenleben zijn mening over dingen en personen in zijn directe omgeving, terwijl Varèse het piubliek uitnodigt om de geluiden van New York te ervaren zoals hij ze ervaarde. Het album bevat de ongebruikelijke, originele versies van deze meesterwerken.

Auch, wenn der Titel Ein Heldenleben es nicht vermuten lässt, so waren die beiden hier aufgenommenen Symphonischen Dichtungen zur Zeit ihrer Entstehung und Erstaufführung noch Zukunftsmusik. Die aufwändigen Klanginszenierungen mit großen Orchesterapparat – Varèses Erstfassung der Amériques verlangt 142 Musiker! – waren in den Jahren um die Jahrhundertwende und auch einige Zeit später noch ungewöhnlich, wenn nicht gar unerhört.

Neue Klänge und exotische Instrumente aber bringen nicht nur das musikalische Verständnis weiter, sondern lassen den Zuhörer am Leben und Erleben des Komponisten teilhaben. Strauss erlaubt uns so einen Blick auf seine Meinung zu Geschehnissen und Personen in seinem Umfeld, und Varèse lädt den Zuschauer mit Dampfschiffpfeifen und Krähenruf ein, "sein" Paris kennenzulernen: die einsamen Nebelhörner, die schrillen energischen Pfeifen, und den Hauch von Abenteuer, den Amerika für ihn schon seit Kindertagen hatte.

Artist(s)

Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin

Present and Future: Tugan Sokhiev A new chapter opened for the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO Berlin) on 7 September 2012: Tugan Sokhiev conducted the DSO as Music Director for the first time during the Musikfest Berlin, 65 years to the day after the orchestra’s first public concert. After two years as the Designated Music Director he thus officially succeeded Ferenc Fricsay, Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Chailly, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Kent Nagano and Ingo Metzmacher. The response speaks for itself: »At his inaugural concert, Sokhiev – a springy, intelligent conductor who reacts to the music as quick as a flash – enthralled his orchestra, controlling with a light touch right from the start Stravinsky’s ›Pulcinella‹ Suite and, on the second half, Sergei Rachmaninov’s Third Symphony, which is rarely performed in Germany,« the Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote.
Founding by RIAS In 2013, the DSO looks back on a 67-year tradition as a Berlin radio and concert orchestra. Founded in 1946 as the RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester by Radio in the American Sector (RIAS), its first Principal Conductor Ferenc Fricsay set standards in repertoire, sound ideal and media presence starting in 1948. Music of the 20th century immediately became a programming staple, in addition to interpretations of the classical repertoire characterised by transparency, structural conciseness and plasticity.
From RSO to DSO Starting in 1956 the radio station Sender Freies Berlin (now Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, rbb) participated in sponsoring the orchestra; this is why it changed its name to Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin (RSO Berlin). The RSO acquired an excellent reputation in Berlin and on numerous tours, with radio and television productions, through its concert programs, as well as significant conductors who committed to them. After Ferenc Fricsay’s early death, the young Lorin Maazel 1964 took over artistic responsibility for the orchestra, followed by Riccardo Chailly in 1982 and Vladimir Ashkenazy in 1989. In 1993 the RSO changed its name to Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.
As of 1 January 1994 the existing RSO GmbH was extended to become Rundfunk Orchester und Chöre GmbH (roc berlin). Its shareholders are Deutschlandradio (40%), the Federal Republic of Germany (35%), the state of Berlin (20%) and Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (5%).
The DSO in the new millennium Kent Nagano was appointed Principal Conductor and Artistic Director in the 2000|2001 season. He led the orchestra to engagements at the Salzburg Festival, the Baden-Baden Festival House and the Paris Théâtre du Châtelet. Kent Nagano bade the orchestra farewell in 2006; since then he has been associated with them as its honorary conductor. Ingo Metzmacher held the position of the DSO’s Music Director from 2007 to 2010. His annual programs were characterised by overarching themes. By launching the Casual Concerts concert format he emphasised the orchestra’s openness and its desire to address new groups of listeners.
The DSO in the media The DSO’s symphony concerts in the Berliner Philharmonic Hall are recorded by Deutschlandradio Kultur and by the rbb Kulturradio, and are regularly broadcast in Germany and throughout Europe and beyond via the European Broadcasting Union. Selected concerts outside of Germany are recorded by Deutsche Welle, the German international broadcaster for radio and television.
The DSO is also globally present with numerous prize-winning CD recordings. In 2011 it received the ›Grammy Award‹ for the world premiere recording of Kaija Saariaho’s opera ›L’amour de loin‹, conducted by Kent Nagano. Among other CD publications of recent years, recordings with Ingo Metzmacher on ›Phoenix Edition‹, Christoph Eschenbach on ›Capriccio‹ and with Yutaka Sado on ›Challenge Classics‹ stand out. Recordings of contemporary music have been released on ›Neos‹ and ›Kairos‹. Furthermore, the orchestra has released several live opera recordings from the Baden-Baden Festival House as DVDs on ›Arthaus Musik‹. The DVD series ›Monuments of Classical Music‹ produced by Deutsche Welle has received several awards.
The DSO on tour Over and above its concerts in Berlin, the DSO is active in international music life with numerous guest appearances. Concert tours have led the orchestra to Russia, Asia, North and South America and Lebanon. In recent years it has given guest performances in Brazil and Argentina, in Japan, China, Malaysia and Abu-Dhabi, and a number of tour concerts in Eastern Europe in an ongoing collaboration with Deutsche Welle and the German Federal Foreign Office.
Besides performances at national and international festivals such as the Rheingau Music Festival, the Edinburgh International Festival, the Salzburg Festival, the BBC Proms and the Beethovenfest Bonn, the DSO can regularly be experienced in the major concert halls of Europe such as the Vienna Musikverein, the Salle Pleyel in Paris and the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels.

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Ingo Metzmacher (conductor)

Composer(s)

Richard Strauss

Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier, Elektra, Die Frau ohne Schatten and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; his tone poems, including Don Juan, Death and Transfiguration, and An Alpine Symphony; and other instrumental works such as Metamorphosen and his Oboe Concerto. Strauss was also a prominent conductor in Western Europe and the Americas, enjoying quasi-celebrity status as his compositions became standards of orchestral and operatic repertoire. Strauss, along with Gustav Mahler, represents the late flowering of German Romanticism after Richard Wagner, in which pioneering subtleties of orchestration are combined with an advanced harmonic style.

Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier, Elektra, Die Frau ohne Schatten and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; his tone poems, including Don Juan, Death and Transfiguration, and An Alpine Symphony; and other instrumental works such as Metamorphosen and his Oboe Concerto. Strauss was also a prominent conductor in Western Europe and the Americas, enjoying quasi-celebrity status as his compositions became standards of orchestral and operatic repertoire.
Strauss, along with Gustav Mahler, represents the late flowering of German Romanticism after Richard Wagner, in which pioneering subtleties of orchestration are combined with an advanced harmonic style.

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Edgard Varèse

Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse was a French-born composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States. Varèse's music emphasizes timbre and rhythm and he coined the term 'organized sound' in reference to his own musical aesthetic. Varèse's conception of music reflected his vision of 'sound as living matter' and of 'musical space as open rather than bounded'. He conceived the elements of his music in terms of 'sound-masses', likening their organization to the natural phenomenon of crystallization. Varèse thought that 'to stubbornly conditioned ears, anything new in music has always been called noise', and he posed the question, 'what is music but organized noises?' Although his complete surviving works only last about three hours, he has been...

Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse was a French-born composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States.
Varèse's music emphasizes timbre and rhythm and he coined the term "organized sound" in reference to his own musical aesthetic. Varèse's conception of music reflected his vision of "sound as living matter" and of "musical space as open rather than bounded". He conceived the elements of his music in terms of "sound-masses", likening their organization to the natural phenomenon of crystallization. Varèse thought that "to stubbornly conditioned ears, anything new in music has always been called noise", and he posed the question, "what is music but organized noises?" Although his complete surviving works only last about three hours, he has been recognised as an influence by several major composers of the late 20th century. Varèse saw potential in using electronic mediums for sound production, and his use of new instruments and electronic resources led to his being known as the "Father of Electronic Music".

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Press

N.A.
Mostly Classic Sawaya, 27-5-2015

["].. Orchestra and conductor ended their three-year association with an electrifying take on Mahler's Seventh Symphony that would be well worth issuing on disc."
International Record Review, 01-2-2015

['']...This thoughtful recording of the first version of the work, by the German Symphony Orchestra Berlin under Ingo Metzmacher, brings out both brashness and complexity of a piece that caused outrage at its premiere but has since become a regular concert feature...['']
Scotland on sunday, 11-1-2015

['']...You could spend many hours shifting between the first and second versions (though don't tell the neighbours it was my idea) but unlike with Ein Heldenleben i wouldn't care to predict which you'd end up preffering, possibly this one, a fascinating and exciting CD...['']
GRAMOPHONE, 01-12-2014

['']...This astute pairing is one of the most remarkable releasess I've heard this year...[''] ['']...Challenge Classics have provided the quality of sonics needed to display these flamboyant scores at their finest."
Music Web International, 01-12-2014

['']...A challenging but rewarding coupling well performed and superbly engineerd...['']
Music Web International, 01-12-2014

Tip - Metzmacher scintillate in showing the interconnections in a fascinating way. (...) An acoustic pattern with exemplary depth of focus supports the analytic style of Metzmacher.
Fono Forum, 17-11-2014

Ingo Metzmacher and the Deutsche Symphonie Orchester Berlin play Heldenleben fascinating and sensual, pedestrian and in an absolutely not heroic way, which suits the piece well
BR Prisma, 10-11-2014

This is a supremely entertaining, snappily played performance, with waspish woodwinds and a visceral, exciting battle scene. Wei Lu's violin solos are glorious. The horns are magnificent. Ein Heldenleben sometimes sags, but Metzmacher's canny pacing avoids any trace of flabbiness.
theartsdesk.com, 01-11-2014

"There's bone-crunching dissonance, rhythmic flair and some slinky, voluptuous tunes."
The Arts Desk, 01-11-2014

This excellent new release offers stunning, twenty four carat gold versions of Ein Heldenleben and Amériques. This astute pairing is one of the most remarkable releases I’ve heard this year.
Music Web International, 29-10-2014

The Deutschen Symphonie Orchester Berlin masters to realise this musical score in a fascinating way. With Metzmacher it sounds wonderful since he quits the pathos whenever possible.
Tageblatt, 25-10-2014