KURT WEILL Das Berliner Requiem
I Solisti del Vento Flemish Radio ChoirPaul Hillier
GCDSA 9222071 Hybrid SACD
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Performing artists
I Solisti del Vento Flemish Radio Choir Paul Hillier
Production details
Total playing time 66:67 Recorded at Jezuïetenkerk, Heverlee (Belgium) on 5-7 September 2007 Engineered and produced by Manuel Mohino Executive producer: Carlos Céster Art direction: Valentín Iglesias Booklet essay: Kathleen Snyers English Français Nederlands Deutsch Español
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Commercial release sheet (PDF)
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Kurt Weill (1900-1950):
Das Berliner Requiem 01 Großer Dankchoral 02 Ballade vom ertrunkenen Mädchen 03 Epitaph 04 Erster Bericht über den Unbekannten Soldaten 05 Zweiter Bericht über den Unbekannten Soldaten 06 Großer Dankchoral
07 Vom Tod im Wald
Paul Hindemith (1895-1963):
08 Der Tod
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971):
Octet for Wind Instruments 09 Sinfonia 10 Tema con Variazioni 11 Finale
Darius Milhaud (1892-1974):
12 Cantate de la Guerre 13 Cantate de la Paix
About this CD
After Jean Cocteau had issued tracts such as Le Coq et l’Arlequin (1918) and Le Rappel à l’ordre (1926), arguing against French Impressionism and German Romanticism and in favour of art for art’s sake and with prominence being given to accessibility, simplicity and structural clarity, many composers responded to his clarion call.
The devastation and emotional misery caused by the First World War and the fear of an impending further cataclysm also struck hard at existing artistic certainties. Through their music Igor Stravinsky, Paul Hindemith, Darius Milhaud and Kurt Weill all endeavoured to make sense of this “new Europe” which they were experiencing around them and for its latest Glossa release the Flemish Radio Choir (VRK) has selected an ideal quintet of works to demonstrate these tendencies as well as highlighting the vocal talents of this leading European choral formation. Kurt Weill’s 1928 secular mass for the dead, Das Berliner Requiem (along with the contemporaneous cantata Vom Tod im Wald), represents the jewel in this crown, and the VRK is accompanied by I Solisti del Vento, who also offer Stravinsky’s 1923 Octet for Wind Instruments.
Both ensembles are performing here under the direction of one of the leading choral directors of today in Paul Hillier, who is as exacting in his interpretation of music from the 20th century onwards as he is in compositions from distinctly earlier periods.
This coming together of two current dynamic musical forces in the Flemish Radio Choir and the Danish conductor Bo Holten in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach signals the latest development in Glossa’s association with the Brussels-based professional choral ensemble, which has already seen the artistry, versatility and flexibility of the 24 singers displayed in Zoltán Kodály’s Missa brevis and Sergei Rachmaninov’s Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. [read more...]
In the world of choral music the increasingly higher standards reached in recent years by a number of chamber-sized choirs has been a hugely encouraging development. With every intention and capacity to join such an elite group is Glossa’s recent signing, the Vlaams Radio Koor from Belgium – the Flemish Radio Choir. Although the choir has been in existence for 70 years it is only in the last decade or so that it has been able to move itself from being an all-purpose studio-based operation for broadcasting purposes and raise its standards. Such is its success at home that it now acts as a catalyst for amateur choirs in the Flanders region in areas such as repertoire and performance. Additionally it is organizing projects which will be involving students from various Flemish music conservatories. [read more...]