SKU: CA.5165203
ISBN 9790007294243. Key: D minor. Latin.
The English conductor and composer Howard Arman has presented us with a completed version of Mozartâ??s Requiem. â??Another one?â? you might ask, since this publication is only the latest in a long line reaching back to the traditional SüÃ?mayr version. Yet such is the enormous power of Mozartâ??s score that the challenge and appeal of completing it remain undiminished. After two decades of intensive study, Howard Armanâ??s additions to Mozartâ??s great original show the requisite care and respect while incorporating many new insights.Armanâ??s approach is particularly fruitful. Always aware of the appropriate limits to such re-creative work, he orients himself towards the typical characteristics of Mozartâ??s brilliant composing style: The masterly compositional technique, the search for innovative solutions to every problem, and even the terse treatment of the text with extremely suggestive harmonies. All of this leads to a number of new listening experiences. In the Tuba mirum, for example, we enjoy a warm, cohesive ensemble sound, supported by the bassoons, which depart from the bass line. The Confutatis presents a quite different picture: Even the basset horns are drawn down into the infernal depths. This effect is reinforced by the independence of the trombones; rather than simply following the choral parts, the instrumentâ??s unique sound is given an opportunity to shine. Armanâ??s Lacrimosa achieves a lively Mozartian feel by granting the voices considerable freedom rather than following a rigid pattern. And he concludes the movement with a fugal Amen, whereby the focus is not so much on the counterpoint itself, but rather â?? in the spirit of Mozart â?? on creating a sense of drama and illuminating the theme in all its possible facets. Mozartâ??s fragment ends with the Hostias, and so does Armanâ??s completion. For the four following movements (Sanctus to Communio) we have nothing from Mozart, and so here, where the master is silent, Arman finally returns to SüÃ?mayr, the man who was closest to Mozart at the time of his death and whose efforts to fill the blank manuscripts still garner our respect today.Armanâ??s version has already proven its practical value. The premiere with the Bavarian Radio Choir was enthusiastically received by audiences and press alike â?? and celebrated as offering a scholarly, entirely fresh perspective on Mozartâ??s masterpiece.- World premiere by the Bavarian Radio Choir- Enthusiastically received by audience and press.
SKU: MN.56-0108
UPC: 688670221255. English, Latin. Psalms 142; Jeremiah 3:48, 52, 56.
Invictus: A Passion addresses one of the world’s most powerful stories through the lens of the modern world. The texts, written or inspired by women, describe not only human suffering and persecution but also the human capacity for love and humility in the face of tyranny. Composer Howard Goodall is uniquely suited to bring these texts to life with music of emotional clarity and sweeping force. This excerpt is scored for soprano solo, SATB choir and piano. This fourth movement of the larger work is inspired by the extraordinary story of Irena Sendler née Krzyżanowska, a Polish nurse and head of Å»egota, the Polish Council to Aid Jews in the Second World War, whose personal interventions saved the lives of approximately 2,500 Jewish children in the Warsaw Ghetto, smuggling them to safety, acts of humanitarian bravery that eventually caused her arrest and torture by the Gestapo. She is honoured as Righteous Amongst the Nations at Yad Vashem, Jerusalem. The Latin texts of this movement are taken from the Book of Lamentations (“My eye hath run down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people. My enemies have chased me and caught me like a bird, without cause…â€) and from Psalm 142, the Old Testament being the meeting-point of Sendler’s Catholicism and the Jewish tradition of those whose lives she saved. Duration 6:19.
SKU: MN.56-0109
UPC: 688670221262. English, Latin. John 20:1.
Invictus: A Passion addresses one of the world’s most powerful stories through the lens of the modern world. The texts, written or inspired by women, describe not only human suffering and persecution but also the human capacity for love and humility in the face of tyranny. Composer Howard Goodall is uniquely suited to bring these texts to life with music of emotional clarity and sweeping force. This excerpt is scored for soprano solo, tenor solo, SATB choir and piano. The text is by Christina Georgina Rossetti, Isaac Watts (“When I survey the wondrous cross,â€) and drawn from John 20:1 (this text in Latin). The music is serene, acknowledging the grief of those who are left to mourn. Duration 6:57.
SKU: MN.56-0106
UPC: 688670221231. English, Latin.
Invictus: A Passion addresses one of the world’s most powerful stories through the lens of the modern world. The texts, written or inspired by women, describe not only human suffering and persecution but also the human capacity for love and humility in the face of tyranny. Composer Howard Goodall is uniquely suited to bring these texts to life with music of emotional clarity and sweeping force. This movement, scored for soprano solo, SATB choir and piano, expresses the unimaginable pain felt by a mother seeing her child torn away from her at a slave auction. To this harrowing account are appended the words of William Wilberforce, spoken in the House of Commons on 18th April 1791, “You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.†Duration 6:47.
SKU: CA.3116203
ISBN 9790007171544. Language: German/English. Scripture: Matthew 22:1-14.
The cantata for the 20th Sunday after Trinity. Ah! I see now, as I to the wedding bidden, BWV 162 was first performed on 25 October 1716 in the Castle church at Weimar. During the first year in his position as Thomaskantor, Bach made a revival performance of the cantata on 10 October 1723. For this Leipzig version he added an additional obbligato voice in the first movement and in the final chorale he added a Corno da tirarsi, which played colla-parte with the soprano. However, we do not know what this mysterious instrument looked like. For performances today we recommend using a trumpet or a slide trumpet. The cantata begins not with an introductory chorus, but rather with a sonorous bass aria with a string accompaniment and obbligato trumpet. The following movements, movement 2 through 5, are also performed by vocal soloists. The third movement, a soprano aria, presents a peculiarity: the obbligato wind parts were not contained in the original version of this cantata. Our edition offers a reconstruction for the flute, made by the famous Bach interpreter and expert, Masaaki Suzuki. Score available separately - see item CA.3116200.
