[ Warner Classics / 2 CD ]
Release Date: Monday 17 August 2009
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Nikolaus Harnoncourt at Eighty - Harnoncourt & Haydn
Once dubbed the high priest of "authenticity", dread word, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, cellist, early music specialist, author and conductor has long been both plausible and consistent in his denial of the accusation. "I would never use the word authenticity for my work", he says. "It can only be authentic 'me', not authentic Bach, Biber, Handel or Telemann. Old instruments produce the best sound for this repertory but they do not necessarily produce the sound of the period."
Nowadays, even the "early music" label can no longer be applied with undue emphasis to Harnoncourt, for he has become, over the past twenty-five years or so, as identifiable an interpreter of Classical, Romantic and twentieth-century music as he has remained in the Baroque sphere on which his reputation was established. Indeed, since his set of Beethoven symphonies for Teldec was named Record of the Year in the 1992 Gramophone Awards, Harnoncourt has performed and recorded all the Schubert symphonies (Teldec), as well as symphonies by Haydn, Mozart, Schumann, Brahms, Dvorák and Bruckner, and a wide range of vocal and choral music from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries.
"For me the emotional responses in music are the most important. Authenticity and performing practice are always in danger of becoming dogmatic. Besides musical value, an opera must have a message as a wok of art which is not bound just to its own time. The drama must be so timeless in its depiction of human psychology that you can forget it is three hundred years old, or whatever. Monteverdi is such a composer, Handel another." Happy birthday, maestro, and many happy returns of the day!
Symphony No.6 in D major, Hob.I:6 "Le Matin"
Orchestra Concentus musicus Wien
Piano Concerto in D major, Hob.XVIII:11: III Rondo all'Ungarese: Allegro assai
Soloist Herbert Tachezi
Orchestra Concentus musicus Wien
Symphony No.94 in G major, Hob.I:94 "Surprise"
Orchestra Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Armida Act I: Se pietade avete, oh Numi
Soloist Cecilia Bartoli
Orchestra Concentus musicus Wien
Die Schöpfung, Hob.XXI:2 Part I: Die Vorstellung des Chaos, Nun schwanden vor dem heiligen Strahle
Soloist Robert Holl
Soloist Josef Protschka
Orchestra Wiener Symphoniker
Te Deum in C major, Hob.XXIIIc:2
Soloist Luba Orgonasova
Soloist Elisabeth von Magnus
Soloist Deon van der Walt
Soloist Alastair Miles
Orchestra Concentus musicus Wien
Symphony No.45 in F sharp minor, Hob.I:45 "Farewell": I Allegro assai
Orchestra Concentus musicus Wien
Symphony No.73 in D major, Hob.I:73 "The Hunt": IV La Chasse: Presto
Orchestra Concentus musicus Wien
Il mondo della luna, Hob.XXVIII:7: Overture: Allegro
Orchestra Concentus musicus Wien
Missa in angustiis, Hob.XXII:11: I Kyrie
Soloist Luba Orgonasova
Soloist Elisabeth von Magnus
Soloist Deon van der Walt
Soloist Alastair Miles
Orchestra Concentus musicus Wien
Symphony No.104 in B flat major, Hob.I:104 "London"
Orchestra Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Die Jahreszeiten, Hob.XXI:3 Der Frühling
Soloist Robert Holl
Soloist Angela Maria Blasi
Soloist Josef Protschka
Orchestra Wiener Symphoniker
Die sieben letzten Worte unseres Erlösers am Kreuze, Hob.XX:2: Introduzione, No.1: Vater, vergib ihnen
Soloist Inga Nielsen
Soloist Margareta Hintermeier
Soloist Anthony Rolfe Johnson
Soloist Robert Holl
Orchestra Concentus musicus Wien