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NEW • NOUVEAUTE • NEUHEIT
03/16-(5)
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
„The First Walpurgis Night“ op. 60
Overtures „The Hebrides“ op. 26,
„The Fair Melusine“ op. 32 &
„Ruy Blas“
Birgit Remmert, alto
Jörg Dürmüller, tenor
Ruben Drole, baritone
Reinhard Nayr, bass
Zürcher Sing-Akademie
Musikkollegium Winterthur
Douglas Boyd, dir.
1 Hybrid-SACD
MDG 901 1949-6
UPC-Code:
Full Circle
What a racket! The heathen inhabitants of the
Brocken are ordered to come armed with pitchforks in
“Kommt mit Zacken und mit Gabeln” and to give
Christian missionaries a good fright in the riotous
howling of the “Rundgeheule.” The young Felix
Mendelssohn Bartholdy set Goethe’s highly allusive
ballad as a furious tone painting situated between the
symphony and the choral ballad and magnificently
bringing out the fine humor of this German Prince of
Poets. Along with three concert overtures, “The First
Walpurgis Night” now concludes the Musikkollegium
Winterthur’s highly acclaimed MDG Mendelssohn
cycle under its principal conductor Douglas Boyd.
Sound and Fury
Behind its sound and fury, “The First Walpurgis Night”
is a highly topical argument in favor of religious
tolerance. The wild nightmare, very much of earthly
origin, nevertheless is unrivaled when it comes to
noisemaking and evidently gets the job done: at the
end the light emerges victorious, and no pathos would
be too much to praise its smoke-free appearance. The
soloists and Singakademie of Zurich indeed do have
splendid fun with this opulent musical magic.
Opening Numbers
While Mendelssohn valued Goethe’s poetry above all
other literary forms, he picked apart Victor Hugo’s
tragedy Ruy Blas. However, this did not stop him from
composing an overture to it for a charitable cause and
in response to an urgent request. For a repeat
performance he perhaps only half in jest entitled it
“Overture for the Theater Pension Fund” instead of
using the original name. Mendelssohn’s overtures,
especially The Hebrides, continue to number among
his most beloved compositions. “The Fair Melusine”
also fascinated Richard Wagner in his time. The
“fishy” beginning of this tale of a water sprite later
occurs in the overture to Das Rheingold!
True to Life
Mendelssohn always rejected verbal interpretations of
his programmatic works; he thought that musical
ideas were too specific to be put into words. The
music by itself can be enjoyed all the more impartially
– especially in the high-resolution and detail-rich
three-dimensional 2+2+2 sound picture distinguishing
MDG’s SACDs. But beware: the enthrallingly graphic
reproduction of “Walpurgnis Night” may give sensitive
individuals a scare! Simply wonderful!
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
Symphonies No. 3 & No. 4 (version 1833/34)
Heinz Holliger, dir.
MDG 901 1663-6 (Hybrid-SACD)
Symphonies No. 1 & No. 5
Thomas Zehetmair, dir.
MDG 901 1814-6 (Hybrid-SACD)
Symphony No. 2 „Lobgesang“
Soloists, Ensemble Corund
Douglas Boyd, dir.
MDG 901 1857-6 (Hybrid-SACD)
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