[ Deutsche Grammophon / 2 CD ]
Release Date: Friday 7 July 2023
Christoph Eschenbach conducts this generous survey of the sumptuous, hyper-Romantic music of Austrian composer Franz Schreker. Not only was he the pre-eminent opera composer of his generation, he also, says Eschenbach, "took Mahler's symphonic writing to a whole new level". The album includes the ecstatic "Nachtstück" from Der ferne Klang, the exquisite Chamber Symphony and some ravishing orchestral songs, featuring Chen Reiss and Matthias Goerne.
"The playing of the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra under Christoph Eschenbach is both meticulously prepared and wonderfully idiomatic." Gramophone Editor's Choice June 2023
"The album's title is pinched from Schreker's opera Der ferne Klang, whose Nachtstück begins proceedings with its swelling climaxes and twinkling harp and celesta (the musical equivalent of icing sugar) - all spooned out with loving care by Eschenbach's Konzerthausorchester Berlin. Then there's the masterful 1917 Chamber Symphony, writhing about like Schoenberg with tunes, a work whose beauties invite us to curl up in ecstasy." The Times Five Stars
Nachtstück from 'Der ferne Klang'
Valse lente
Chamber Symphony
Zwei Lyrische Gesänge (Walt Whitman)
Fünf Gesänge
Little Suite for Chamber Orchestra
Romantic Suite, Op. 14