[ BSO Recordings DVD / 2 DVD ]
Release Date: Friday 30 July 2021
GRAMOPHONE RECORDING OF THE YEAR - WINNER
GRAMOPHONE RECORDING OF THE YEAR - OPERA
The premiere of Korngold's Die tote Stadt at the Bayerische Staatsoper in 2019 was praised both by press and audiences. Marlis Petersen (Marie/Marietta) and Jonas Kaufmann (Paul) sang the main roles, with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester under Kirill Petrenko's baton, in the intense staging by Simon Stone. After opening night, Joshua Barone wrote in the NY Times: "[The] work's comeback may have reached its peak at the Bavarian State Opera. It's difficult to imagine a better case for Die tote Stadt than was made in Munich." The boundary between dream and reality dissolves as Paul, mourning his dead wife Marie, meets the dancer Marietta. With her looks so similar to Marie's, Marietta becomes the object of the projection of Paul's erotic desires. Following a nerve-racking "vision", Paul is finally reeled back to reality and he can leave Bruges as the place of his death cult. The original title of the piece, "Triumph des Lebens", is symbolic of the main character's personal development. Just a few weeks before the successful world premiere of Die tote Stadt, none other than Puccini himself described Korngold as the "greatest hope of new German music". Because of their melodic urgency, arias such as "Glück, das mir verblieb (Marietta's Lute Song)" and "Mein Sehnen, mein Wähnen (Pierrot's Song)" have found a home among the concert repertoires of many opera singers and radiate far beyond the fame of Die tote Stadt.
Paul - Jonas Kaufmann
Marietta / Die Erscheinung Mariens - Marlis Petersen
Frank / Fritz - Andrzej Filończyk
Brigitta - Jennifer Johnston
Juliette - Mirjam Mesak
Lucienne - Corinna Scheurle
Gaston / Victorin - Manuel Günther
Graf Albert - Dean Power
Bavarian State Opera Children's Choir
Bavarian State Opera Chorus
(chorus master: Stellario Fagone)
Bavarian State Orchestra
Kirill Petrenko, conductor
Simon Stone, stage director
Ralph Myers, set designer
Mel Page, costume designer
Roland Edrich, lighting designer
Recorded live at the Bayerische Staatsoper, December 2019
Picture format: 1080i High Definition
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Audio language: German
Subtitles: German, English, French, Korean, Japanese
GRAMOPHONE RECORDING OF THE YEAR - WINNER
GRAMOPHONE RECORDING OF THE YEAR - OPERA
"There's a depth and emotional intelligence to this staging that disarmed my initial resistance...on every level, a glorious achievement." Gramophone Award Winner 2022 - Opera
"In Kaufmann and Petersen, Stone is lucky to have a pair of protagonists whose go-for-broke performances show total commitment to his concept, and to Korngold...Petrenko emphasizes the score's full-blown theatricality; his fondness for it is clear from the joyous expression on his face during his conducting of the exciting Act 2 prelude." Opera
"It could hardly be better cast...But it's Kirill Petrenko's impassioned conducting that really makes the performance compelling: he clearly cares passionately about every note of the score, its overripe romanticism and all." Guardian
International Classical Music Awards
2022 Winner - Video Performance