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CD (3 items)
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€ 29.95
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| Label Challenge Classics |
UPC 0608917266528 |
Catalogue number CC 72665 |
Release date 06 May 2021 |
"Prégardien provides a notably fine and sensitive performance throughout; he carefully judges exactly how much emphasis to give every syllable, with often tiny inflections in his voice on a single note."
Music Web International, 13-1-2022Is this an hommage to Schubert? Or just to a leading Lieder tenor of our time? Probably this box is both and it represents a clear reference for anyone who is a seasoned Lieder lover or a neophyte wanting to approach this genre.
I don’t say anything new when I state that the three Schubert’s Lieder cycles are the the pinnacle in the history of the art song. Not by chance any serious male singer wants to record at least one of these masterpieces.
Christoph Prégardien has been through the last two decades one of the most important and interesting voices confronting this engaging repertoire. He has taken an innovative approach in the hystory of interpretation, a way of singing that is linked to his consolidated experience as a Baroque tenor.
The three discs originally issued met with the unanimous acclaim from critics and consumers. They immediately turned up to be reference versions of each cycle.
So, this box comes as the discographic crowning achievement of Prégardien’s career and it is easy to predict it will be the reference version of one of human history highest musical moments: Schubert’s most complex and most beloved output in the Lieder medium.
About ‘Die Schöne Müllerin’: Prégardien, 2008 vintage, definitely joins the tenor Schöne Müllerin shortlist. (Gramophone)
About ‘Die Schwanengesang’: ‘While it is absurd to speak of an outright “winner” in such a crowded field, Prégardien and the ever-illuminating Staier join Schreier, Fischer-Dieskau and Brigitte Fassbneder on my roster of indispensable Schwanengesang recordings.’ (Gramophone)
About ‘Die Winterreise’: The Voice is in superb form, sensing out the underlying pulse and the minutest inflections of longing, delight, determination and soul-weariness within each lithe, live line of melody. (BBC Music Magazine). This is beautiful singing by a master of his craft, and Prégardien brings to the cycle his early-music-specialisation qualities of precise diction, tuning and articulation. (Early Music Review)His lyric tenor voice had a youthful glow, yet he sang with plaintive beauty and piercing insight.
- The New York Times
Precise vocal control, clear diction, intelligent musicality, and an ability to get to the heart of everything he sings all ensure Christoph Prégardien’s place among the world’s foremost lyric tenors. Especially revered as a Lieder singer, he also regularly appears with renowned orchestras the world over. He has worked with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, as well as the Boston and San Francisco Symphonies, alongside conductors such as Barenboim, Metzmacher, and Thielemann. His wide orchestral repertoire includes the great baroque, classical, and Romantic oratorios and passions, as well as works from the 17th and 20th centuries. In opera, his roles have included, among others, Tamino, Almaviva (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Fenton (Falstaff), Don Ottavio, Titus, Ulisse, and Idomeneo.
The current season begins with recitals at the Oxford International Song Festival, together with Yaara Taal in Munich, at Haus Marteau, in Monheim, and in Weiden as well as with Michael Gees in Marbach and Blaibach. In December, he returns to the Filharmonie Brno, where he most recently performed Handel’s Messiah, to sing songs from Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn under Dennis Russell Davies. This is followed in January by two trio concerts in Switzerland with violinist Leila Schayegh, featuring works by Beethoven and Schubert; the programme will also be presented at the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg in June. Further engagements include a recital at the Festival internacional de música de Bogotá and the closing concert and a masterclass at the Leeds Song Festival. He will also serve as a jury member at the Concours Reine Elisabeth and the Bachwettbewerb Leipzig. A major project of recent seasons has been Johannes Maria Staud’s Die schöne Müllerin/These Fevered Days, combining Schubert’s cycle in a newly orchestrated version with seven new songs after texts by Emily Dickinson. Following the 2024 world premiere with Ensemble Kontraste, highly successful performances followed last season with Klangforum Wien (Klangspuren Schwaz and Vienna Konzerthaus) as well as with the Remix Ensemble in Porto.
His extensive experience singing the Evangelist roles, together with his close working relationship with conductors such as Nagano, Chailly, Herreweghe, Harnoncourt, Luisi, and Gardiner, have provided the perfect base for his increasing dedication to conducting this repertoire as well. Following the success of his conducting debut in 2012 leading Le Concert Lorrain and the Nederlands Kammerkoor, he now regularly conducts renowned ensembles like the Balthasar Neumann Choir, Dresdner Kammerchor, Collegium Vocale Gent, and RIAS Kammerchor. In 2024, he took to the podium for Bach’s St Matthew Passion with Vespres d’Arnadí and the Cor de Cambra del Palau in Barcelona, returning to the latter in 2025 for a tour of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Belgian ensemble Il Gardellino.
The singer has recorded much of his repertoire on a discography of over 150 albums, which have received awards such as the Orphée d’Or of the Académie du Disque Lyrique, the Edison Award, the Cannes Classical Award, and the Diapason d’Or. For the label Challenge Classics, he has recorded Schubert’s Schwanengesang with Andreas Staier and Die schöne Müllerin with Michael Gees, which was selected as Editor’s Choice by Gramophone magazine and awarded the MIDEM Record of the Year award. Shortly thereafter followed recordings of Hugo Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch with Julia Kleiter, Between Life and Death, Wanderer, and the Grammy-nominated Winterreise disc – all with Michael Gees – as well as Father and Son with his son Julian Prégardien. His Schubert CD Poetisches Tagebuch with Julius Drake was awarded the German Critics’ Award 2016. His most recent releases include one recorded in collaboration with the Warsaw Chopin Institute with pianist Christoph Schnackertz featuring songs by Paderewski, Moniuszko and Duparc, and a new recording of Schubert’s Schwanengesang and Schumann’s Liederkreis, Op. 39 (with Julius Drake). In 2023, the Etcetera label released an album of Bach cantatas recorded with Stephan Schultz and Le Concert Lorrain, featuring Christoph Prégardien as baritone.
Teaching remains an important part of Christoph Prégardien’s musical life. Following many years at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Zurich and a professorship at the Academy of Music in Cologne, he continues to give masterclasses for young singers around the world.
He has formed a highly successful trio with violinist Daniel Sepec and cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras; In 2001, Andreas gave the world premiere of ‘Contra-Sonata’, a work for fortepiano by the French composer Brice Pauset.
Prégardien provides a notably fine and sensitive performance throughout; he carefully judges exactly how much emphasis to give every syllable, with often tiny inflections in his voice on a single note.
Music Web International, 13-1-2022
There are many beautiful recordings of these three great cycles, but there shall always be a place on our shelves for a more beautiful recording.
Ritmo, 01-11-2021
The whole set is a triumph for Christoph Prégardien's refined interpretations, and I urge readers to sample it. I wouldn't be surprised if more than one were to place their orders at once.
Musicweb International, 26-8-2021
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