The Two New War Requiem Recordings (Plus One)

On the (near) eve of the U.S. release Antonio Pappano's recording of Britten's War Requiem (November 19), we can hear the entire performance online at NPR for about a week. The soloists are Anna Netrebko, Ian Bostridge, Thomas Hampson. Pappano leads the Coro e Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. (Thanks to Mr. Hampson for the heads-up.)

Meanwhile, the Mariss Jansons recording with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Chorus and Orchestra, the Tölzer Boys Choir, soprano Emily Magee, tenor Mark Padmore, and baritone Christian Gerhaher is available now. And you can download it from Amazon.com for less than six bucks!

Update: Thanks to Stray (see below) we also have a link to a recent Boston Symphony Orchestra broadcast. Soloists are Tatiana Pavlovskaya, John Mark Ainsley, and Matthias Goerne, with Charles Dutoit conducting. The BSO Media Center is a super resource, with lots of great information, videos, broadcasts and podcasts, including an 11-minute video that offers background on Britten and the War Requiem.

BBC Radio 3 Reminder – Britten and Wagner

Here's another chance to hear Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem, originally broadcast in March by Bayrische Radio. The BBC will broadcast it on Radio 3, Wednesday May 8. The BBC usually archives these concerts for about a week after the broadcast. 

Wagner: Wesendonck for Wednesday – More Nina Stemme

Last month, I posted Nina Stemme singing the Wesendonck Lieder in their original guise, with piano, from (I believe) a studio recording. Here is a live performance from the 2012 Salzburg Festival. Mariss Jansons conducts the Vienna Philharmonic (sounding lush as always, even in their reduced chamber configuration.) Is Nina's voice getting darker and richer? She sounds almost contralto-ish to me.  (Upon re-listening, I think it just takes her the first song to warm up.)

Wagner: Wesendonck Lieder, op. 91 

Nina Stemme, Wiener Philharmoniker, Mariss Jansons

Britten – War Requiem Broadcast from Munich

The radio broadcast of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem is now available at the BR website. Mariss Jansons leads the Bavarian Radio Symphony Chorus and Orchestra, the Tölzer Boys Choir, soprano Emily Magee, tenor Mark Padmore, and baritone Christian Gerhaher.  

Emily Magee gives a dramatic reading to the Mass texts (check out the Sanctus and Libera me in particular) in concert with the two choirs. And Messers Padmore and Gerhaher take us from light to dark and back to the light again as they share the sometimes poignant, sometimes terrifying, and always emotional Owen texts. Maestro Jansons holds the notoriously-difficult-to-coordinate work together with aplomb.

Britten – War Requiem Broadcast from Lucerne: March 23, 2013

In observance of the Benjamin Britten centenary, Mariss Jansons and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Chorus and Orchestra will present his War Requiem. They'll be joined by the Tölzer Boys Choir, American soprano Emily Magee, English tenor Mark Padmore, and German baritone Christian Gerhaher.