Evening Star - German Opera Arias

A thoroughly satisfying, intelligently planned recital of arias from a singer now in his prime

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Richard Wagner, (Gustav) Albert Lortzing, Carl Maria von Weber, Richard Strauss

Genre:

Vocal

Label: Deutsche Grammophon

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 67

Mastering:

Stereo
DDD

Catalogue Number: 471 493-2GH

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Zar und Zimmermann, Movement: O sancta justitia (Gustav) Albert Lortzing, Composer
(Gustav) Albert Lortzing, Composer
Berlin Deutsche Oper Chorus
Berlin Deutsche Oper Orchestra
Christian Thielemann, Conductor
Thomas Quasthoff, Baritone
Zar und Zimmermann, Movement: Den hohen Herrscher würdig zu empfangen (Cantata) (Gustav) Albert Lortzing, Composer
(Gustav) Albert Lortzing, Composer
Berlin Deutsche Oper Chorus
Berlin Deutsche Oper Orchestra
Christian Thielemann, Conductor
Thomas Quasthoff, Baritone
Zar und Zimmermann, Movement: Sonst spielt ich (Gustav) Albert Lortzing, Composer
(Gustav) Albert Lortzing, Composer
Berlin Deutsche Oper Chorus
Berlin Deutsche Oper Orchestra
Christian Thielemann, Conductor
Thomas Quasthoff, Baritone
(Der) Wildschütz, Movement: Lass Er doch hören! (Gustav) Albert Lortzing, Composer
(Gustav) Albert Lortzing, Composer
Berlin Deutsche Oper Chorus
Berlin Deutsche Oper Orchestra
Christian Thielemann, Conductor
Christiane Oelze, Soprano
Thomas Quasthoff, Baritone
(Der) Wildschütz, Movement: Fünftausend Taler! (Gustav) Albert Lortzing, Composer
(Gustav) Albert Lortzing, Composer
Berlin Deutsche Oper Chorus
Berlin Deutsche Oper Orchestra
Christian Thielemann, Conductor
Thomas Quasthoff, Baritone
(Der) Wildschütz, Movement: ~ (Gustav) Albert Lortzing, Composer
(Gustav) Albert Lortzing, Composer
Berlin Deutsche Oper Chorus
Berlin Deutsche Oper Orchestra
Christian Thielemann, Conductor
Thomas Quasthoff, Baritone
Euryanthe, Movement: Wo berg'ich mich? Carl Maria von Weber, Composer
Berlin Deutsche Oper Chorus
Berlin Deutsche Oper Orchestra
Carl Maria von Weber, Composer
Christian Thielemann, Conductor
Thomas Quasthoff, Baritone
Tannhäuser, Movement: Gar viel und schön (Landgrave's address) Richard Wagner, Composer
Berlin Deutsche Oper Chorus
Berlin Deutsche Oper Orchestra
Christian Thielemann, Conductor
Richard Wagner, Composer
Thomas Quasthoff, Baritone
(Die) Schweigsame Frau, '(The) Silent Woman', Movement: Wie schön ist doch die Musik Richard Strauss, Composer
Berlin Deutsche Oper Chorus
Berlin Deutsche Oper Orchestra
Christian Thielemann, Conductor
Richard Strauss, Composer
Thomas Quasthoff, Baritone
Once more Thomas Quasthoff puts us in his debt with a recital wholly out of the ordinary, executed – with Thielemann’s eager cooperation – confidently in singing of such strength and beauty as to almost silence criticism. Surveying German Romantic opera from the now-neglected Lortzing to Richard Strauss, he ranges easily through roles usually assigned to either a specifically baritone or bass voice.

In the lengthy extracts from Zar und Zimmermann he portrays both the pompous, amusingly portrayed mayor Van Bett and the upright figure of the Tsar, whose Act 3 aria he sings with refined tone and elegiac feeling having by then portrayed Van Bett’s preening in a voice perhaps not quite ‘fat’ enough for the ridiculous fellow. In Der Wildschütz he is funny as the schoolmaster Baculus, a buffo bass figure whose ‘Fünftausend Taler’ used to be a staple of a German bass’s repertory; then he sings Graf Eberbach’s lovely solo in a mellow baritone. It’s good to be reminded in such a positive way of Lortzing’s merits.

In a complete change of mood he then projects all the malevolent ardour of Lysiart’s highly original aria from Euryanthe, a work just revived this summer at Glyndebourne. This is a reading that recalls the style, in compact tone and verbal acuity, of the late, great Hermann Uhde. In the Tannhäuser pieces he projects the address of the benevolent Landgrave with complete authority and then sings Wolfram’s Evening Star aria, from which the CD takes its title, with perfection of tone and line. Finally he catches finely old Morosus’s restored peace after all the disturbing events of Die schweigsame Frau have finally come to an end. Once again, like his bass-baritone predecessor Hans Hotter, he easily encompasses the low range of this solo.

Thielemann, and his Berlin orchestra and chorus, are at one with their soloist throughout, and the recording catches everything in a clear, warm perspective.

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