In Memorium Nikolaus Harnoncourt

RIP Nikolaus Harnoncourt: cellist, conductor, musicologist, musician, artist. This man helped influence my love of Bach (through his chamber music recordings, the B-minor Mass, St. Matt Passion, the Gamba sonatas, and, especially his participation in the intrepid Bach cantata series on Telefunken). Later he taught me to listen to Mozart (and Beethoven and Schumann, and even Brahms and Verdi) in different ways. Fortunately, his expansive recorded legacy ensures that he will always be with us.

Speaking of Mozart, here is the finale from his quintessential 2003 La Clemenza di Tito.

Baroque Arias – Bach and Matthias Goerne (and Barbara Bonney)

I know secular "christmas" is over, but it's still Christmastide in my world. And who has time to look at/listen to Christmas programming before Christmas, anyway? 

This whole program of Baroque (and one Mozart) music (from 1999) is wonderful. Ms. Bonney and Herr Goerne each have a few solo arias and one sweet duet, plus there's some nice orchestral and brass music—none of it blatantly, commercially Christmas-y. Because I love Matthias Goerne singing Bach, I would like to draw your particular attention to Herr Goerne’s rendition of this aria from Bach's Christmas Oratorio:

 

Großer Herr, o starker König,

Liebster Heiland, o wie wenig 

Achtest du der Erden Pracht! 

Der die ganze Welt erhält, 

Ihre Pracht und Zier erschaffen, 

Muss in harten Krippen schlafen.

Great Lord, O mighty king,

dearest saviour, O how little

you regard earthly splendour

He who maintains the whole world 

and created its glory and adornment

must sleep in a hard crib.

Here are some other seasonal posts from the past.

Gratuitous Friday – Anne Sofie von Otter, Barbara Bonney, and the Rose

Our instinct is to look at the person who's singing. But this time, watch Anne Sofie von Otter as Octavian while Sophie (Barbara Bonney) goes on about how pretty the rose smells. ASvO's emotion is electric and honest. I never ever forget that she is a girl playing a boy, but I totally believe she is totally fascinated, turned on, and perhaps even already in love with this lovely girl. And Barbara B. helps by being totally adorable. It sounds cliche, but I actually get chills watching ASvO in this scene. The singers and director make this work!

Carlos Kleiber und Der Rosenkavalier (The Conductorcam Edition)

Anyone can watch what's happening on the stage, including the conductor. But during an opera, the only people who can (or need to) watch the conductor are the musicians—the singers and instrumentalists.

Here are about 90 minutes of the orchestra-eye view of the great maestro Carlos Kleiber in action—not a rehearsal (there are a lot of those clips around, too), but a live performance; not “just” an orchestra concert, but an opera. I am a behind-the-scenes kind of guy. If I can see into the wings from my seat, I watch what’s going on backstage almost as much as what’s on stage. If I am sitting high enough to see into the pit, I watch the orchestra a lot, too.

The Otterphile – Mozart: Domine Deus from Mass in C Minor

Anne Sofie von Otter and Barbara Bonney have a sing-off in this joyful song of praise:

Mozart's "Great" C minor Mass

With John Eliot Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists.