Anne-Sophie Mutter plays DUTILLEUX, BARTÓK and STRAVINSKY

Most of the great violin concertos are dual creations, works of dialogue between a composer and a chosen soloist. That was how it was in the 1930s, when Stravinsky wrote for the Polish-American violinist Samuel Dushkin and Bartók for his fellow Hungarian, Zoltán Szé-kely. And that was how it was several decades later, when Dutilleux produced his piece for Anne-Sophie Mutter. But where both the earlier partnerships were rooted in practical experience - Stravinsky worked with Dushkin while writing his concerto, and Bartók, as a pianist, had given recitals with Székely - Sur le même accord is more a dream meeting.

Henri Dutilleux’s nocturne "Sur le même accord" played by Anne-Sophie Mutter is a world premiere recording, juxtaposed with Stravinsky’s virtuosic Violin Concerto and Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2 from Mutter’s back catalogue.

Henri Dutilleux, one of the most important contemporary French composers and “the greatest living composer” according to Mutter, fashioned his nocturne to suit Mutter’s style.
At the age of 15, motivated by the conductor and patron of the arts Paul Sacher, Anne-Sophie Mutter discovered her interest in and love for modern works. Inspired by her playing, composers like Krzysztof Penderecki, Witold Lutoslawski and last but certainly not least André Previn have written music especially for her.
"Sur le même accord" (“On the one chord” – the concerto unfolds by transforming the pattern of six notes heard at the start) was commissioned by Paul Sacher when Anne-Sophie Mutter was only 16 years old. Henri Dutilleux delivered the score over a decade later. Anne-Sophie Mutter performed it on 28 April 2002 for the first time in London, with Kurt Masur conducting.

Henri Dutilleux (1916 - )
1) Sur le même accord [8:43]
Anne-Sophie Mutter
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France
Kurt Masur

Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945)
Violin Concerto No.2, Sz.112
2) 1. Allegro non troppo [16:16]
3) 2. Andante tranquillo [9:58]
4) 3. Allegro molto [12:13]
Anne-Sophie Mutter
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Seiji Ozawa

Igor Stravinsky (1882 - 1971)
Concerto en re for violin and Orchestra
5) 1. Toccata [5:51]
6) 2. Aria I [4:09]
7) 3. Aria II [5:13]
8) 4. Capriccio [5:49]
Anne-Sophie Mutter
Philharmonia Orchestra
Paul Sacher

2005 Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg
1 CD DDD
477 5376 GH

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Ludwig van Beethoven 5 KLAVIERKONZERTE Wilhelm Kempff

One of the twentieth century's most important pianists, Wilhelm Kempff found warmth in Beethoven where many others discovered only stress and passion. Concentrating on the composers of the late Classical and early-to-middle Romantic periods, Kempff achieved graceful, amiable results while not neglecting the sterner core of this music. His nobility of purpose was everywhere evident, made manifest through lucid textures, an adherence to a flowing legato, and tonal shading. In addition, he was a composer whose oeuvre included two symphonies, four operas, songs, and solo piano works.Trained first by his Lutheran church musician father, Kempff studied privately before entering Berlin's Hochschule für Musik at age 9. In 1914, he traveled to Potsdam for further studies at the Viktoriagymnasium before returning to Berlin to finish his work at the Hochschule and enroll at the university. At age 20, Kempff served as organist and pianist on a tour of Germany and Scandinavia by the Berlin Cathedral Choir. A successful 1917 piano recital at the Berlin Singakademie led to an engagement the following year with the Berlin Philharmonic, the first of innumerable collaborations with that august ensemble. During the 1920s and 1930s, he toured South America and Japan, as well as many parts of Europe, adding to his reputation for uncompromising musicianship and personable interpretation. At the same time, he taught, serving first as director at the Stuttgart Musikhochschule from 1924 to 1929 and, later, as piano instructor at Potsdam's Mamorpalais for the decade before WWII. The war kept his activities confined to Germany, but with its end, Kempff once more resumed a busy performance schedule.England and America heard Kempff only later. In London, the public, including a large number of German émigrés, applauded him upon his first appearance there in 1951. Not until 1964 did New York hear the pianist in person, although by then his many Deutsche Grammophon recordings had already established his stature for Americans. Indeed, Kempff's long and fruitful relationship with that label had brought to the market a long list of desirable recordings, among them the complete Beethoven piano concerti; the sonatas; a relaxed, but rewarding survey with Wolfgang Schneiderhan of the Beethoven violin sonatas; and various collections of Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, and Brahms. (Erik Eriksson)


Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)
COMPACT DISC 1:
Klavierkonzert No. 1 C-dur op. 15
Klavierkonzert No. 2 B-dur op. 19


COMPACT DISC 2:
Klavierkonzert No. 3 c-moll op. 37
Klavierkonzert No. 4 G-dur op. 58


COMPACT DISC 3:
Klavierkonzert No. 5 Es-dur op. 73
Klaviersonate Nr. 32 c-moll op. 111


WILHELM KEMPFF, Piano
BERLINER PHILHARMONIKER
FERDINAND LEITNER


1962, 1964 (op. 111) Polydor International GmbH, Hamburg
3 CD ADD
427 237-2 Gx3


You can download here: CD 1 / CD 2 / CD 3

THE MOZART ALBUM

Yes, they do exist, the Mozartians of our day. It isn't necessary to deliberate for long to single those names out from the almost endless list of Mozart singers in this anniversary year of 2006 - those artists whose unmistakable voices and compelling charisma excite music lovers from New York and Tokyo to Vienna and Salzburg. But to bring this hand-picked company together at the same time and place for a personal homage to the Salzburg master: that has required a special unifying idea. And this feat is what Deutsche Grammophon has pulled off - at least on CD - with its Mozart Anniversary Gala, making possible the seemingly impossible.
Anna Netrebko, Salzburg's acclaimed Donna Anna and Susanna, leads this ensemble of Mozart specialists, whose as-yet unreleased recordings have been brought together and arranged to form a quite extraordinary Mozart bouquet. Along with DG old hands like Thomas Quasthoff and Bryn Terfel, such new exclusive signings as Elīna Garanča and René Pape are accompanied by podium stars like Claudio Abbado and Sir Charles Mackerras.
Looking at this gala selection of Mozart stars in greater detail reveals the stylistic range of interpretations that it contains, from large-scale symphony-orchestra sonorities on one extreme and historically inspired “original" timbres on the other: while Dresden's illustrious Staatskapelle represents the time-honoured “classical" Mozart tradition, the Scottish and Mahler Chamber Orchestras as well as Claudio Abbado's newly founded Orchestra Mozart - here in its CD debut - are inspired in their music-making by the “authentic" style favoured by so many Mozartians in 2006.
A celebratory vocal feast to honour one of the greatest musical geniuses of all time: that's the aim of this gala of international stars. And once quiet has finally returned to peaceful Salzburg in autumn after the storm of an exceptional summer, there will be this recorded homage from Anna Netrebko and her friends to sweeten the pill of waiting for the next Mozart anniversary.


Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)
Le nozze di Figaro, K.492
1) "Giunse alfin il momento" - "Deh vieni non tardar" [3:31]
2) "Hai già vinta la causa" - "Vedrò mentr'io sospiro" [4:54]
La clemenza di Tito, K.621
3) "Parto, ma tu ben mio" [6:43]
Don Giovanni, ossia Il dissoluto punito, K.527
4) "Madamina, il catalogo è questo" [5:59]
Idomeneo, re di Creta, K.366
5) "Oh smanie!" - "D'Oreste, d'Aiace" [6:01]
Die Zauberflöte, K.620
6) "In diesen heil'gen Hallen" [4:01]
Don Giovanni, ossia Il dissoluto punito, K.527
7) Ma qual mai s'offre, o Dei - Fuggi crudele [6:16]
8) "Là ci darem la mano" [3:31]
Die Zauberflöte, K.620
9) "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" [2:53]
10) "Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja" [2:47]
La clemenza di Tito, K.621
11) "Ah perdona al primo affetto" [3:04]
Idomeneo, re di Creta, K.366
12) Solitudini amiche - Zefiretti lusinghieri [6:49]
Così fan tutte, K.588
13) "Soave sia il vento" [2:51]


Anna Netrebko
Thomas Quasthoff
Bryn Terfel
Elina Garanca
René Pape
Erika Miklósa
Christoph Strehl
Orchestra Mozart
Mahler Chamber Orchestra
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Staatskapelle Dresden
Claudio Abbado
Sir Charles Mackerras
Sebastian Weigle

2006 Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg
1 CD DDD
477 6297 GH

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Benjamin Britten WAR REQUIEM

Benjamin Britten spent most of the 1950s adding to a string of successful operas that had begun with Peter Grimes in the mid-1940s. Though he took a brief sojourn from opera to write the War Requiem, it is clear that the dramatic spirit that fueled his operatic efforts carried over into this work, his most monumental effort. While the Requiem is in its own way even more overtly theatrical than Verdi's well-known Requiem (described by Hans von Bülow as "an opera in ecclesiastical guise"), it cannot properly be thought of as an opera without staging. The musical procedures of Britten's operas were quite well established by 1961, and the War Requiem really has little to do with them. The work instead relies on simple, sectional musical means to convey a pattern of thought that even listeners unfamiliar with the often confusing realm of mid-twentieth century music can follow with little trouble.Indeed, such an immediately accessible idiom was one of the composer's basic goals when he set himself to interpolating the anti-war poetry of Wilfred Owen (killed in action just one week before the Armistice of 1918) into the traditional requiem scheme. The War Requiem is by no means pure music, nor could its various sections conceivably stand alone. It is a work with a basic human message, simple and uncontrived and utterly reliant on the distribution of textual materials (separate instrumental and vocal forces are assigned to the two disparate bodies of text) to achieve its impact. The work attained an almost immediate rapport with English-speaking audiences around the world after its May 9, 1962, premiere at the new Coventry Cathedral, and to many it remains Britten's supreme achievement. On a structural level, the War Requiem is massive, its six large movements, each comprising several smaller sections, of some 90 minutes' total duration. From the bells and chantlike chorus in the opening bars of the Requiem aeternam, Britten's use of the tritone as a basic unifying device is obvious. A boys' choir breaks in with the Te decet hymnus, only to be interrupted by Owen's poem "What passing-bells" set as a tenor solo. (The solo tenor and baritone sing all the poetic texts.) The restless tritone gives way to a moment of temporary repose at the end of this first movement, which resolves on an F major chord.The Dies Irae, containing no fewer than ten separate subsections, is the longest of the six movements, while the following Offertorium and Sanctus together comprise only six sections of music. The Dies Irae closes with a quiet choral Pie Jesu, while the Sanctus is the only movement to end with one of Owen's poems, the grim baritone solo "After the blast of lightning." Chillingly, the closing Dona nobis pacem (Grant us peace) of the following Agnus Dei is sung not by the chorus, as might be expected, but rather by the anguished tenor soloist. At the end of the final Libera me, however, some peace, or at least rest, is reached at last as the unaccompanied chorus finds the strength, after a lengthy and tortured tumult, to resolve the burdensome tritone to the sonorous F major chord of the final "Amen." (Blair Johnston)

CD 1

I Requiem aeternam

II Dies irae

III Offertorium

CD 2

IV Sanctus

V Agnus Dei

VI Libera me

1985 The Decca Record Company Limited, London

2 CD AAD

414 383-2 DH2

Benjamin Britten, Conductor
Edward T. Chapman, Choir Director
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Baritone
Peter Pears, Tenor
Simon Preston, Organ
Galina Vishnevskaya, Soprano
London Symphony Orchestra
Melos Ensemble of London
Highgate School Choir
London Symphony Orchestra Chorus
Bach Choir
David Willcocks, Choir Master

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Rodrigo CONCIERTO DE ARANJUEZ - FANTASÍA PARA UN GENTILHOMBRE

The Concierto de Aranjuez was Joaquín Rodrigo's first attempt in the concerto genre; it quickly became, and has subsequently remained, the most popular and recognizable of his works. Written for solo guitar and orchestra, it reveals the composer's great affinity for those two mediums, as well as his reverence for the long-standing traditions of Spanish Classical music. It was composed after Rodrigo's return to Madrid from France (he fled the turmoil of the Spanish Civil War) in 1939, and premiered there to great success in 1940.Aside from its overt references to Spanish folk music and straightforward lyrical disposition, the Concierto de Aranjuez is notable for the way in which Rodrigo managed to wed the relatively small voice of the solo guitar to that of the full orchestra. His writing is extremely idiomatic for both guitar and orchestra, and one leaves a hearing of the work with the impression that writing for the two together is quite natural; the guitar never seems overmatched or out of its element. Rodrigo's orchestration is simple, clear, and yet interesting: at times he creates a dialog between soloist and ensemble, and at others he manages to turn them together into one giant guitar — an extremely imaginative and successful effect. Rodrigo also creates distinctive colors by combining the guitar with other solo instruments, such as the bassoon.
In the Fantasía para un gentilhombre of 1954, written for and dedicated to Andrés Segovia, Joaquín Rodrigo turned for inspiration to a fellow Spaniard and one of the first great guitar virtuosi, Gaspar Sanz. Not much is known about Sanz. He was born somewhere around the middle of the seventeenth century and lived into the early eighteenth, and he wrote one of the earliest surviving guitar methods (published in 1674). He also composed a fair amount of guitar music that reflects the styles of song and dance popular in Spain at that time. Rodrigo borrowed several of Sanz's short pieces in crafting his Fantasía for guitar and orchestra. The result is a perennially charming work that evokes an antique world in a natural way, free of musty airs.
(Allen Schrott and Chris Morrison)


Joaquin Rodrigo (1901 - 1999)
Concierto de Aranjuez for Guitar and Orchestra
1) 1. Allegro con spirito [6:02]
2) 2. Adagio [11:09]
3) 3. Allegro gentile [5:10]
Narciso Yepes
Philharmonia Orchestra
García Navarro

Fantasía para un gentilhombre for Guitar and Small Orchestra
4) 1. Villano y Ricercare (Adagietto - Andante moderato) [4:53]
5) 2. Españoleta y Fanfare de la Caballería de Nápoles (Adagio - Allegretto molto ritmico) [9:40]
6) 3. Danza de las hachas (Allegro con brio) [2:06]
7) 4. Canario (Allegro ma non troppo) [4:56]
Narciso Yepes
English Chamber Orchestra
García Navarro

1979 Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg
1 CD ADD
415 3492 GH

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Bellini I CAPULETI E I MONTECCHI

Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet has inspired literally hundreds of opera composers, and each setting has cast a light not only on the original work, but also on the composer and his or her era. Bellini's treatment, the most notable from the bel canto era, emphasizes the poignancy of the story — further enhanced by his choice of a mezzo-soprano trouser role for Romeo (a device that by then was considered slightly old-fashioned for a romantic lead), which emphasizes the youth and vulnerability of the lovers. While there are fiery moments, particularly the various martial declarations in the first scene (for both Tebaldo and Romeo), most of the opera spins out extended threads of wistful and longing song, in passages that count among the best of the bel canto elegiac style.

This opera actually has very little in common with Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, retaining only the names of the protagonists and the faked death/missed messages debacle. It sets the story into a more historical perspective, changing the feud between the Capulets and Montagues into that of the Guelphs (Capulets) versus Ghibellines (Montagues) from Italian history. It also trims characters out of the story line — we see only Romeo, Juliet (Giulietta), Juliet's father, Friar Lawrence, and Tebaldo (who is now the Capulet engaged to Juliet), and when the opera opens, Romeo and Juliet have already met and fallen in love.

Bellini was only 29 when he began his setting, but he had already enjoyed two major critical successes (Il Pirata in 1827 and La straniera in 1829) as well as three other operas and numerous songs and pieces of sacred music. For many, the work opens Bellini's mature period as a composer, displaying a powerful grasp on musical structure and harmony. His characteristic blending of arioso and aria and intensely melodic setting of recitative (which at times almost becomes indistinguishable from arioso) is already present in many moments, most notably in the final ensemble, and this is a style he was to bring to much fuller fruition in La sonnambula, Norma, and I Puritani. While much of the opera contains reworked materials, the reworkings were generally improvements on their originals. (Ann Feeney)

Anna Netrebko

Elina Garanca

Joseph Calleja

Robert Gleadow

Tiziano Bracci

Wiener Singakademie

Wiener Symphoniker

Fabio Luisi

2009 Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg

2 CD DDD

477 8031 GH 2

You can download here: CD One / CD Two

Gustavo Dudamel TCHAIKOVSKY 5

For many of us, Tchaikovsky was the first musical love, triggered perhaps by a visit to The Nutcracker, where the music may have outweighed the charms of the dancing, a performance of the “1812” Overture complete with fireworks, cannon and military bands, or simply a recording of the ballet suites. In Venezuela this first musical encounter, like so many others, is likely to have been even more meaningful. Once the Sistema provides the instruments, you’re soon playing in a children’s orchestra where, thanks to the taste and passion of Maestro José Antonio Abreu, the guiding light of the world’s most significant musical education system, you will soon be embarking on the finale of the Fourth Symphony, the Marche Slave or the “1812” Overture. So, as Gustavo Dudamel points out: “It’s part of our education. Just as when you learn the violin, you have to play Carl Flesch scales, so when we are growing up, Tchaikovsky is already part of our culture – even though Venezuela is far from Russia. I remember in concert recently I conducted the Simón Bolívar Orchestra including its founding musicians in Mahler’s Fifth Symphony for the first half and Beethoven’s Fifth for the second, and when we finished a lot of young people came up shouting, ‘please, last movement of Tchaikovsky Four’, just like in a pop concert you have the audience asking for their favourites.”
I asked Dudamel whether there was something about Tchaikovsky that suited the Latin temperament; after all, Abbado and Muti are among his greatest interpreters. “It has something to do with the fact that when you play Tchaikovsky you can fall in love with it immediately”, he says. “Of course the melodies are so grateful, and he plays with the harmonies so perfectly. The phrases are often regular and easy to understand, and it’s important for our orchestra to be able to grasp the structure of a symphony immediately.” (David Nice)

PETER ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840–1893)
Symphony no. 5 in E minor op. 64
1) 1. Andante – Allegro con anima [15’14]
2) 2. Andante cantabile, con alcuna licenza – Moderato con anima - Andante mosso – Allegro non troppo – Tempo I [14’29]
3) 3. Valse: Allegro moderato [6’17]
4) 4. Finale: Andante maestoso – Allegro vivace – Molto vivace - Moderato assai e molto maestoso – Presto [12’04]
5) Francesca da Rimini op. 32 [25’33]

Gustavo Dudamel
Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela

2008 Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg
1 CD DDD
477 8022 GH

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Emerson String Quartet BRAHMS Piano Quintet / The String Quartets

The Emerson Quartet celebrate their 30th anniversary with the three Brahms quartets plus the Piano Quintet. Technical finesse has always been a given with this group, and as ever their playing has a sureness and ease that leaves most ensembles behind. Their reading of the ebullient Third Quartet is particularly fine, with the leader imbuing the ravishing second-movement melody with teasing little portamenti. And in the finale, lyricism is combined with an infectious élan.
What comes across most strongly in these performances is the very different nature of each quartet. The urgency of the First belies its long gestation. Textures are kept crisp and even the densest passages never become clogged. It’s a work where the viola in particular gets to shine, and Lawrence Dutton enjoys the limelight. The Belcea Quartet are more euphonious, more sleek, but I find the Emerson ultimately more compelling. The Alban Berg Quartet perhaps convey the edgy changeability of the Second Quartet more naturally, but overall this new version remains an impressive achievement.
For the Piano Quintet, the Emerson are joined by Leon Fleisher, who continues his rehabilitated two-hand career with a strongly etched performance of this concerto-like work. Once again there is much to impress here, from the slow and sensitive piano introduction to the precision of the string playing in the third movement. But turn to Pollini and the Quartetto Italiano in their classic account and the picture changes. The Emerson’s interpretation is warmer, cosier almost. The Italiano emphasise the outlandishness of some of Brahms’s innovations – the ghostly opening of the finale, the malevolence of the Scherzo – and their final presto outburst is close to breaking-point. If this is too uncomfortable, then you’re likely to love the Emerson; but for me, the earlier recording reigns supreme. (Harriet Smith)

Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897)

CD 1:
String Quartet No.1 in C minor, Op.51 No.1
1) 1. Allegro [10:27]
2) 2. Romanze (Poco adagio) [6:29]
3) 3. Allegretto molto moderato e comodo - Un poco più animato [8:20]
4) 4. Allegro [5:36]
String Quartet No.2 in A minor, Op.51 No.2
5) 1. Allegro non troppo [12:19]
6) 2. Andante moderato [8:54]
7) 3. Quasi minuetto, moderato - Allegretto vivace [4:48]
8) 4. Finale (Allegro non assai - Più vivace) [6:39]

CD 2:
String Quartet No.3 in B flat, Op.67
1) 1. Vivace [9:29]
2) 2. Andante [6:53]
3) 3. Agitato (Allegretto non troppo) [7:42]
4) 4. Poco allegretto con variazioni - Doppio movimento [9:29]
Piano Quintet in F minor, Op.34
5) 1. Allegro non troppo [16:30]
6) 2. Andante, un poco adagio [8:59]
7) 3. Scherzo (Allegro) [8:00]
8) 4. Finale (poco sostenuto - Allegro non troppo) [11:05]

Leon Fleisher

Emerson String Quartet

2007 Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg

CD DDD

477 6458 GH 2

2 Compact Discs

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Keith Jarrettt BACH Goldberg Variations

Wanda Landowska brought the Goldbergs out of hiding on the harpsichord in the '40s and Glenn Gould made them a bonafide hit on the piano in the '50s, opening the floodgates for keyboardists of all stripes. So, in one of his earlier recorded voyages into the classical world, Keith Jarrett is up against an imposing legacy as he tackles what has become the most famous set of variations in Western music. First, he chooses to play them on a double-manual harpsichord — which makes the task somewhat easier, avoiding the finger-tangling cross hand difficulties that can trip up a piano performance. Second, he doesn't seem to treat the Goldbergs as a single cycle, inserting pauses between each variation to create 30 little pieces, bookended by the two renditions of the aria (which is perfectly acceptable). He's not in any hurry, not tempted to showboat or flaunt his considerable technique — and in no way does this jazz pianist try to make the variations swing a la Jacques Loussier. The added ornamentation seems to be random and so are his observance of the repeats; he only does so in ten of the variations. As a result, we are left with a technically adept, sometimes aimless, intelligently conceived, ultimately not very moving or exhilarating rendition of the music — a confirmation of Jarrett's keyboard prowess for his fans, but not much in the way of competition for the brass ring among Goldbergs. (Richard Ginell)

1) Aria 2:36

2) Variatio 1 a 1 Clav. 1:17

3) Variatio 2 a 1 Clav. 2:17
4) Variatio 3 Canone All'unisono 2:43
5) Variatio 4 a 1 Clav. 1:19
6) Variatio 5 a 1 Ovvero 2 Clav. 1:05
7) Variatio 6 Canone Alla Second 1:42
8) Variatio 7 a 1 Ovvero 2 Clav. 1:11
9) Variatio 8 a 2 Clav. 1:12

10) Variatio 9 Canone Alla Terza. 2:23
11) Variatio 10 Fughetta. A 1 Cla 1:05
12) Variatio 11 a 2 Clav. 1:24
13)Variatio 12 Canone Alla Quart 1:47
14) Variatio 13 a 2 Clav. 2:57
15) Variatio 14 a 2 Clav. 1:19
16) Variatio 15 Canone Alla Quint 2:07
17) Variatio 16 Ouverture. A 1 Cl 3:10
18) Variatio 17 a 2 Clav. 1:16
19) Variatio 18 Canone Alla Sesta 0:55
20) Variatio 19 a 1 Clav. 0:49
21) Variatio 20 a 2 Clav. 1:14
22) Variatio 21 Canone Alla Setti 2:58
23) Variatio 22 a 1 Clav. Alla Br 0:53
24) Variatio 23 a 2 Clav. 1:15
25) Variatio 24 Canone All'ottava 1:44
26) Variatio 25 a 2 Clav. Adagio 7:20
27) Variatio 26 a 2 Clav. 1:18
28) Variatio 27 Canone Alla Nona. 1:22
29) Variatio 28 a 2 Clav. 1:23
30) Variatio 29 a 1 Ovvero 2 Clav 2:35
31) Variatio 30 Quodlibet. A 1 Cl 2:09
32) Aria 2:34

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Anna Netrebko - Rolando Villazón VIOLETTA

Both exude youth, life and high spirits. It's almost unnecessary to add that, to top it all off, they also sing so fabulously well. Anna Netrebko with her unmistakable dark, guttural timbre... has already portrayed the role several times before and has clearly worked hard at it. Dramatically, her performance is the strongest... Rolando Villazón as Violetta's lover Alfredo Germont... also brings colour to the piece with his singularly flexible, agile, radiant and versatile bel canto instrument, from which he can summon up the entire palette of expressive values, from lyrical ecstasy to heroic metal... Anna Netrebko dies so beautifully that it's pure pleasure to watch her graceful reeling and swaying, stumbling and final collapse. (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 9 August 2005)

”I need music to be able to open up. To express something without the support of music is hard for me to imagine . . . You actually need four different voices to be able to sing [Violetta]. And you have to act, too . . . once I get on to the stage, everything becomes easy – I’m there and I sing. I simply feel best when I’m on stage.”(Anna Netrebko)

Giuseppe Verdi (1813 - 1901)
La traviata (Highlights)

1) "Libiamo ne'lieti calici (Brindisi) [3:04]
2) "Un dì felice, eterea" [3:33]
3) "E strano!" - "Ah, fors'è lui" [4:30]
4) Follie! Delirio vano è questo! [1:00]
5) Sempre libera [3:52]
6) "Lunge da lei" - "De' miei bollenti spiriti" [3:39]
7) "O mio rimorso!" [1:38]
8) "Pura siccome un angelo" [1:51]
9) "Non sapete quale affetto" [2:13]
10) "Un dì, quando le veneri" [2:49]
11) "Ah! Dite alla giovine" [4:52]
12) "Imponete" "Non amarlo ditegli" [5:04]
13) "Che fai?" "Nulla" [2:28]
14) "Invitato a qui seguirmi" [2:25]
15) "Ogni suo aver tal femmina" [1:32]
16) "Di sprezzo degno se stesso rende" [1:56]
17) "Alfredo, Alfredo, di questo core" [4:43]
18) "Annina?" "Comandate?" [4:59]
19) Teneste la promessa [1:56]
20) Addio del passato [5:34]
21) "Signora..." "Che t'accade?...Parigi, o cara" [1:42]
22) "Parigi, o cara, noi lasceremo" [4:21]
23) "Ah, non più!" - "Ah! Gran Dio! Morir sì giovine" [3:43]
24) "Ah, Violetta!" "Voi? Signor?" [1:45]
25) "Prendi, quest'è l'immagine" [4:35]

Anna Netrebko
Rolando Villazon
Thomas Hampson
Diane Pilcher
Luigi Roni
Wiener Philharmoniker
Carlo Rizzi

2005 Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg

1 CD DDD

477 5953 GH

You can buy it on Amazon.com
You can download here: Part One / Part Two