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2 DVD
- 002.2010 - (c) 2010
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Ludwig van
Beethoven (1770-1827)
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Messe in C-Dur, Op. 86 |
51' 00" |
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DVD1
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- Gloria (Allegro con brio) |
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- Credo (Allegro con brio) |
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- Sanctus (Adagio) |
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- Benedictus (Allegretto
ma non troppo) |
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- Agnus Dei (Poco andante) |
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Symphonie Nr. 5 in
C-moll, Op. 67 |
37' 00" |
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DVD1
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- Allegro con brio |
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- Andante con moto |
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- Allegro |
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- Allegro Presto |
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BONUS: "Making of
Beethoven!" - A documentary by Günter
Schilhan |
73' 00" |
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DVD2
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Julia Kleiter,
Soprano
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Elisabeth von
Magnus, Alto
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Herbert Lippert,
Tenot
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Geert Smits,
Bass
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Arnold Schoenberg
Chor / Erwin Ortner, Chorus
master |
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Chamber Orchestra
of Europe
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Marieke
Blankestijn, Violin (concert
master) |
Kate
Gould, Violoncello |
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Sophie
Besançon, Violin |
Sally
Jane Pendlebury, Violoncello |
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Fiona
Brett, Violin |
Howard
Penny, Violoncello |
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Christian
Eisenberger, Violin |
Enno
Senft, Kontrabass |
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Ulf
Forsberg, Violin |
Denton
Roberts, Kontrabass |
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Lucy
Gould, Violin |
Lutz
Schumacher, Kontrabass |
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Iris
Juda, Violin |
Eline
van Esche, Flute |
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Matilda
Kaul, Violin |
Josine
Buter, Flute |
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Birgit
Kolar, Violin |
Magdalena
Martinez, Piccolo |
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Sylwia
Konopka, Violin |
Giorgi
Gvantseladze, Oboe |
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Maria
Kubizek, Violin |
Rachel
Frost, Oboe |
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Elissa
Lee, Violin |
Martin
Spangenberg, Clarinet |
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Stefano
Mollo, Violin |
Marie
Lloyd, Clarinet |
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Frederik
Paulsson, Violin |
Matthew
Wilkie, Bassoon |
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Joseph
Rappaport, Violin |
Christopher
Gunia, Bassoon |
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Nina
Reddig, Violin |
Ulrich
Kircheis, Contrabassoon |
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Aki
Sauliere, Violin |
Jonathan
Williams, Horn |
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Henriette
Scheytt, Violin |
Jan
Harshagen, Horn |
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Martin
Walch, Violin |
Peter
Richards, Horn |
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Mats
Zetterqvist, Violin |
Josef
Sterlinger, Horn |
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Pascal
Siffert, Viola |
Nicholas
Thompson, Trumpet |
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Gert-Inge
Andersson, Viola |
Julian
Poore, Trumpet |
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Stewart
Eaton, Viola |
Christopher
Dicken, Trumpet |
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Ida
Grøn, Viola |
Håkan
Bjorkman, Trombone |
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Dorle
Sommer, Viola |
Karl
Frisendahl, Trombone |
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Stephen
Wright, Viola |
Nicholas
Eastop, Bass trombone |
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William
Conway, Violoncello |
Geoffrey
Prentice, Timpani |
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Tomas
Djupsjöbacka, Violoncello |
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Nikolaus
Harnoncourt, Dirigent
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Luogo e data
di registrazione
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Helmut-List-Halle, Graz
(Austria) - giugno 2007
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Registrazione
live / studio
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live |
Producer / Engineer
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Steierische
Kulturveranstaltungen GmbH
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Prima Edizione
CD
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Prima
Edizione DVD
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Styriarte - 002.2010 -
(2 dvd) - 88' 00" + 73' 00" - (c) 2010 -
NTSC - Stereo
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AD NOTAM
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Mass
in C Major, Op. 86
"But dear
Beethoven, what is it you have done
here?" Prince Nikolaus II Esterházy
asked the composer after the premiere of
Mass in C Major. The prince had
commissioned Beethoven to follow in Haydn’s
footsteps and create a mass in
celebration of his wife Princess Maria
Hermenegild’s name day. What the prince
received, however, was neither obedient,
courtly music of celebration, nor was it
a continuation of Haydn’s tradition.
Beethoven had defied so many musical
conventions even with the opening notes
of this Ordinary of the Mass that the
tradition-conscious listeners at the
court in Eisenstadt completely turned up
their noses at the piece. Even ten years
later, the Allgemeine musikalische
Zeiung declared that the piece had
abandoned what had been considered
sacred style for centuries. Beethoven
had broken new ground and it was this
which drew the prince’s arrogant
comment. The maestro answered by
promptly departing and refused to
dedicate the piece to the prince. When
his Mass in C Major was
finally published as Opus 86 in
1812, it was dedicated to Prince Kinsky.
Beethoven wrote to the Breitkopf
publishing company, “I do not like to
speak of my mass, much less of myself,
but I do believe that few others have
approached the text as I have,” showing
that he was well aware he had
interpreted the Ordinary of the Mass
in a new fashion. Newspapers of the
time, attempting to grasp this
innovation in words, referred to it as a
“noble approach in which only that which
is holy manifests itself.”
Beethoven had indeed radically distanced
himself from the conventions of the
classical cantata mass, conventions
which Haydn and Mozart before him had
considered obligatory. The maestro had
chosen to exclude conventional arias and
virtuosic displays by the soloists as
well as concerto-like pomp in the
orchestra. The resulting piece is
symphonic, in the truest meaning of the
term, with an organic consonance aimed
only at attaining that which is holy.
“To come ever nearer to the divine in
order to inspire its radiance in mankind
- there is nothing more
noble,” wrote Beethoven in his diary. What
he meant by divine however was
not so much the festively celebrated God
of the Catholic Church but rather
the everlastin and transcendental
creator, whose manifestation is visible
in the natural world, Beethoven's
desire to compose his music in honour of
that which is all-powerful,
everlasting and without end had two
consequences for his Mass in C Major.
Firstly,
emotion replaces representation and,
secondly, instead of outward pomp,
we hear an emphasis more exceptional
than any other, an emphasis which
stretches past the four corners of the
earth to reach the eternal.
In order to ensure the simplicity of the
holy, Beethoven drew on an archaic
stylistic device, syllabic declamation.
There are virtually no melismas in the
choral sections of the Mass, with the
exception of the great concluding
fugues. Syllable by syllable and in
emphatic simplicity, the text is
declaimed in simple note values. This is
especially true in both of the longer
movements, Gloria and Credo.
All tone painting, every element that
depicts and paints, is created by the
orchestra, if at all. The instruments
often participate in the declamation,
lending themselves as one more voice in
an old-style counterpoint with even the
soloists adapting themselves to this
ideal. Arnold Schmitz wrote, “One would
search in vain, not only in contemporary
productions of average merit but also in
those of Mozart and both Haydns, for
accompaniment of this kind, which
follows the meaning and diction of the
liturgy.”
In his analysis of the piece, the
composer, critic and poet, E.T.A.
Hoffmann, describes the expression that
is created as that of childlike emotion,
which stands in contradiction to the
expected. As he writes, “Beethoven’s
genius sets in motion the lever of awe,
of horror. In this way, the critic
believes, viewing the supernatural would
also fill the soul with fear and that he
could express this feeling in notes.
However, what is created is an
expression of a childlike, mirthful soul
- a soul which, thanks to its purity,
believes in the mercy of God and cries
to him, as to a father who wants the
best for his children and hears their
pleas.” What Hoffmann neglects to
mention are the virtually insatiable,
expansive moments in the piece. The Sturm
und Drang produced in the presence
of the Almighty in the Mass in C
Major closely resembles examples
in the Missa Solemnis.
Regarding the individual movements of
the piece, the Mass begins, without any
overture, with a Kyrie
by the basses. The descant voices
intonate over them with a “sweet theme”,
which, as Hoffmann states, is the
“prayer of a child confident in mercy
and fulfilment.” The theme’s arch
blossoms in a rapid crescendo and is
then superseded by a second contrapuntal
theme from the soloists, which soon
leads off into a sombre minor. The Christe,
a short, intimate a cappella quartet by
the soloists, brings the piece back
around to the major. Beethoven
researcher Joseph Kerman
observed one and the same emotional
curve six times within this one
movement, calling it a murmur leading to
an expectant back and forth, followed by
a fearful plea. It is not until the end
that the tension is released in a chain
of wonderfully suspended chords.
The choir’s Gloria begins
attacca and without any lead in. It
is wild, an outcry, with the violins
striving rapidly heavenward, Ini
excelsis Deo. This beginning
stands in stark contrast to the quiet Et
in terra
pax, a nearly halting song of
supplication. The Laudamus,
however, takes up the Gloria's
ecstatic style once more. Beethoven
entrusted the solo tenor with the
simplest declamation of the Gratias
agimus. Like a precentor at mass,
the choir answers him in interjections.
The Qui tollis is dominated by
anxious melodics, an alto solo in F
minor, which is accentuated by the
strings' sighs, the
choir’s pleading misereres and finally,
by the four soloists. The Quouiam
is, as Hoffmann puts it, a “rather
jubilant unison” and the Cum sancto
spiritu is a
completely free, powerfully escalating
fugue.
Hoffmann found the Credo to be a
living, fiery movement, whose manifold
imitations emerge in a well-ordered,
delightful manner. It is much more than
just that, however. It is a moment of
awe in the presence of God, a mysterious
ripple that escalates rapidly towards
fortissimo. Ecstasy seizes the entire
ensemble, the string figure rolls upward
and the choir sharply chants the lines
of the creed. A brief clarinet solo
segues into the Incarnatus,
a quartet of soloists sung over plucked
strings, folk-like in its simplicity.
The choir’s sombre declamation of the Crucifixus
is answered by the soloists with the
utmost trepidation in the Passus et
sepultus est. Hoffmann describes
the movement as enacted in a muffled
manner in which the bass solo elevates
the Et resurrexit in common
time. He goes on to praise the movement
as vigorous and ingenious, with
alternating tutti and solos as well as
manifold imitations, which bear witness
to the maestro’s imagination.
Furthermore, Hoffmann declares the
appearance of the Et vitam
a jubilant fugue theme.
The beginning of Beethoven’s Sanctus,
much like Schubert’s later version, is
immersed in mysterious, pianissimo
notes. Schmitz claimed the silence of
eternity could be heard more clearly
here than in the line “Can you sense
your creator?” in the finale of
Beethoven`s Symphony No. 9. Hoffmann
describes this movement as gentle and
stirring, thanks in part to the
instrumental atmosphere created by the
oboes, A clarinets, middle string
instruments and bassoons. The four
soloists start the Benedictus
unaccompanied. This is yet
another simple song of thanks to heaven,
which is later taken up by the choir. In
1815, one critic wrote that the soul
dwells in the Benedictus
quartet, immersed in the glory of the
eternal with the continual recurrence of
the theme in every harmonic composition.
The same critic goes on to describe the
segue between the pious song of
supplication, Agnus Dei, into
the Dona nobis
pacem, full of solace and delight,
as being of indescribable impact. The Agnus
Dei’s triplet bebungs in sombre C
minor set up the choir’s pleas. In the Dona
nobis pacem, they pass over into a
radiant C major, a per aspera ad
astra, which corresponds to the
segue between the scherzo and the finale
in the fifth. The simple, sober music of
the Kyrie returns here at the
end to round up the mass.
In regards to the
piece’s impact, E.T.A. Hoffmann wrote
that the tempos are not overhasty, as
had unfortunately become the custom at
the time, and that the singers and
musicians endeavour to do justice to
this ingenious piece by adhering exactly
to the piano and the forte as well as
all other forms of expression. Thus, not
only the connoisseur is lifted up and
affected but also the listener who is
unable to delve into the actual essence
of the piece.
Symphony
No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67
It is understandable that
a work as popular as Beethoven’s Symphony
No. 5 should be entwined with
anecdotes. One of these is particularly
characteristic of the piece: Beethoven’s
triumphant C major tones so compellingly
suggested the heroic figure of Emperor
Napoleon, that a veteran of the Grand
Armée jumped up after just the
first bars had been played and called
out, “C’est l’empereur! Vive
l’empereur!”.
Beethoven, however, very unlikely sought
to create a political association of
that kind. In fact, in 1808,
as Vienna was threatened by war,
Beethoven aligned himself with those who
stood against the Emperor. The great per
aspera ad astra of
Beethoven’s Symphony in C minor
does suggest a heroic battle and
perseverance in the face of fate, but on
a very general level, not affiliated
with the warring parties. And yet, the
Symphony is a piece of combative vigour,
an expression of Beethoven’s wish to
understand military strategy as well as
he understood the art of composing. He
was convinced that were this the case,
he could certainly defeat the French
emperor.
Napoleon and his Grand Armée
have the Symphony No. 5 to thank
at least for their emotional appeal as
Beethoven concretely borrows from the
French revolutionaries’ songs for his
piece. The throbbing rhythm at the
beginning of the piece was inspired by
Cherubini’s Hymne dn Panthéon,
with the heroic oath, “We swear, with
iron in our hands, to die for the
Republic and the rights of mankind.” The
music of the revolution’s aesthetic
ideal, namely the elan terrible
and éclat
triumphal,
are classically manifested in Symphony
No. 5.
The first movement is the most extreme
execution of elan terrible
imaginable. It is unrelenting in its
development of the famous opening motif
charging ahead almost without caesura
and with only a scarce idyll in the
secondary theme, which is accompanied by
an unsettling basic rhythm. When
confronted with the manner in which this
movement unrelentingly charges ahead,
Wilhelm Furtwängler
once asked himself how Beethoven could
be considered a classical composer, “It
is made up of just the driest facts, no
ambiance. Is that a classical composer?
At any rate, not a romantic one. It has
nothing to do with these historical
terms. It is the sculptor, or better
yet, the dramatist who speaks here. It
is all development, everything is
portrayed at the moment it is acted
out”.
Even the flowing andante con moto
of the second movement, with the cellos’
stirring notes in A flat major, is
interrupted by the brute force fanfare
of military music, creating a triumphant
episode which detaches itself from the
main theme in unrestricted variations.
If the Symphony’s climax and ultimate
objective is the segue between the
sombre C minor into the radiant C major,
then Beethoven’s segue in the scherzo
and finale is consummate. The musical
path starts with the tentative beginning
of the scherzo and continues on to the
theme’s blaring horns, finally arriving
at the overwhelming escalation just
before the break through to C major,
with this immense arc of tension being
interrupted by the contrapuntal trio. In
the finale, Beethoven summons all the
sounds of the éclat
triumphal: vibrant trumpets,
blaring horns, trombones and piccolos
and a constant wave of string and
woodwind instruments. There is no
differentiation of expression here.
Rather, the nervous emphasis of victory
and the insatiableness of apotheosis
reign supreme here - until the notorious
conclusion that can find no end.
Josef Beheimb
(Translation: Fiona
Begley)
At the first rehearsal in the
Helmut-List-Halle in Graz, Nikolaus
Harnoncourt surprised the Chamber
Orchestra of Europe with his own
insights into the Fifth Symphony,
which was completed at about the same
time as the Mass in C Major.
“In the preparation for this concert, I
found out two things: The Mass and the
Symphony were composed simultaneously.
Whenever Beethoven got in the wild mood
of the Symphony, he composed the
Symphony, and when ideas of piety and
smoothness came up to him, he shifted to
the other table in order to compose the
Mass. I think this is very interesting
for the programme, you can feel the
connection. But until one week ago, I
did not know what the Symphony really
means.
Now, I am convinced that the first
movement of the Symphony shows how a
population is depressed because of
dictatorship: everybody is afraid, every
justice is injustice, people have been
imprisoned, and nobody knows why. So it
is maybe a pre-revolution situation, the
main point being that there is no
justice. The famous beginning means
people in chains who want to free
themselves. This goes through the whole
piece. There is a great revolutionary
energy in the work, not a victorious
energy, but the energy of the oppressed.
The second subject is like a vision of
light: How could it be if we all were
free? The main part of the first
movement is really
bold.
The second movement - I am sure - means
a prayer. Here in Graz, I was a boy
during Nazi time, and it was not really
allowed for us to go to church. So, to
go there was a prayer of the believing
part of the population who prayed: "Please,
God, free us from that oppression."
That is what Beethoven meant with the
first subject of the second movement. In
the middle sections of the variation
movement you can hear the others who do
not believe in God: Your prayer is for
nothing. We have to take our guns and
free ourselves from oppression without
God’s help!
The third movement is a revolution of
the students who are very idealistic,
but not very effective. In the trios we
hear the students with their student
song, in the main part the real
population who say: Wait! That is what
the beginning of the movement tells us.
"Let us wait for the
right moment." In the
great repetition it is the story of the
act of liberation.
What does the end of the Symphony mean,
when the trombones, the piccolo flute
and the double bassoon come in? It is
open air music, it has something to do
with agitation. It is victorious,
triumphant music: Now, we have won!"
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Nikolaus
Harnoncourt (1929-2016)
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