Tag: Mariss Jansons

Mariss Jansons – R. Schumann: Symphony No. 1, Op. 38 “Spring” – Schubert: Symphony No. 3, D. 200 (Live) (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/48 kHz | Time – 58:05 minutes | 575 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © BR-Klassik

The two orchestral works on this new CD from BR-KLASSIK reflect early experiments with the symphonic genre by Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann, who would both later become such important Romantic composers. In his Third Symphony in D major, D. 200, written in the early summer of 1815 and probably first performed at a private concert, the eighteen-year-old Schubert emancipated himself from the style copies of his First and Second Symphonies and finally found his own musical expression. None of his symphonies would be heard in public during his lifetime, however; the Third was first performed as late as 1881 in London, where it was immediately received with great enthusiasm. Schumann’s First Symphony in B flat major, op 38 (after an unfinished symphony he wrote in his youth) was an impressive success for the 31-year-old composer. Two months after its completion, in January 1841, the work was premiered by Felix Mendelssohn at the Leipzig Gewandhaus to great public acclaim.

RCO & Mariss Jansons – Stravinsky: Petrushka & Rachmaninov: Symphonic Dances (Live) (2005/2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:09:12 minutes | 1,06 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front covers | © Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Stravinsky’s Petrushka was performed to great public acclaim and recorded in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam on 29 and 31 October 2004, whilst Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances were recorded later that same year on 22, 23 and 25 December.

From the clear and transparent orchestral sound in Stravinsky’s Petrushka to the full glory of the symphony orchestra in the Rachmaninoff, Mariss Jansons and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra demonstrate once again the immense artistic heights attained by this unique collaboration between conductor and orchestra.

Mariss Jansons – Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz  | Time – 57:06 minutes | 568 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © BR-Klassik

“It seems that the Ninth is a limit. He who wants to go beyond it must pass away. […] Those who have written a Ninth stood too close to the hereafter.” Arnold Schoenberg wrote those words in reference to Gustav Mahler, who had just died without ever having heard his own Ninth Symphony performed. Bruckner was apparently afraid of the fatal number as well: “I don’t want to start on my Ninth at all, I don’t dare”. However, very soon after the completion of his Eighth Symphony in September 1887, Bruckner started on his first drafts. Overall, work on the Ninth then dragged on over the long period from 1887 to 1896, having to be constantly interrupted because of the composer’s deteriorating health. Bruckner finally died while working on the fourth movement – and his masterpiece dedicated to “the beloved God” remained unfinished. Even without a finale, the three-movement torso that survives is, of course, extremely impressive. The completed movements were first performed in Vienna on February 11, 1903, in an unusual personal version by the conductor Ferdinand Löwe. The actual first performance of the original score with its three movements only took place on April 2, 1932 in Munich. Ever since, Bruckner’s Ninth has been an essential part of the Late Romantic symphonic repertoire – above all in its original version. In January 2014, Mariss Jansons and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks presented the original version of the three completed movements to the public in Munich at the Philharmonie in Gasteig. In its current position, the slow movement cuts a fine figure and helps the symphony reach a dignified conclusion. What could be more appealing than this swan song, swaying as it does between suffering and promise before fading away into a vision of peace and serenity?

Mariss Jansons – Wolfgang Rihm: Requiem-Strophen (Live) (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz  | Time – 01:19:39 minutes | 782 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © BR-Klassik

Wolfgang Rihm’s Requiem-Strophen is a magnificent work. The composer, who was long contained with avant-garde circles, shows us here that he is also Brahms’ direct heir – the formal parallels with Brahms’ German Requiem are obvious in the lyrical tenderness of the most contemplative moments. Requiem-Strophen – created in 2017 by the same Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra who recorded it live here – combines Latin and German, mixing both the sacred biblical texts (the “Requiem” as well as passages from the Bible) with the secular poems (“stanzas”) of Rilke, Michelangelo and Johannes Bobrowski. The orchestral writing, powerfully modern and yet in tune with all the music of the past, displays sounds that are disturbing at times, reassuring at others, but always fascinating. Undoubtedly Rihm’s Requiem-Strophen joins the elite group of great Requiems in the history of music: Mozart, Britten, Brahms, Duruflé, Verdi, Penderecki, Berlioz and Fauré, to name of few of the best.

Mariss Jansons – Beethoven: Mass in C Major & Leonore Overture No. 3 (Live) (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz  | Time – 58:31 minutes | 572 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © BR-Klassik

The tonal language of Beethoven’s Mass in C major, the first of his two Mass settings, is that of a personal confession, making the work very modern and forward-looking and opening up entirely new worlds of expression for the liturgical text. It is in no way to be seen as a precursor of the “Missa solemnis’ but instead as a highly independent work that set new standards for the advancement of mass compositions in the 19th century. Beethoven himself was well aware of its innovative nature, and wrote as much in a letter to his publisher: ‘I am reluctant to say anything about my Mass, or indeed about myself, but I do believe that I have treated the text in a manner to which it has rarely been treated.’ For people at the time, the Mass in C major, Op. 86 of 1807 provided unprecedented access to the Christian faith in a way that is still relevant today.

Mariss Jansons – Stravinsky: Le sacre du printemps & The Firebird Suite (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz  | Time – 01:04:27 minutes | 622 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © BR-Klassik

The two essential pieces of early 20th-century ballet music by Stravinsky combined on this new CD are live recordings of concerts performed on January 16, 2009 in the Philharmonie im Gasteig (Le sacre du printemps) and on November 17, 2016 in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz (L’oiseau de feu), and both feature the excellent recording quality of the Bayerischer Rundfunk.