Notes and Editorial Reviews
BERLIOZ
Te Deum.
1
MOZART
Kyrie,
K 341
•
Sir Colin Davis, cond; Neill Stuart (ten);
1
Hans-Dieter Schöne (org); Dresden Singakademie; Staatskapelle Dresden; Dresden P Children’s Ch;
1
Dresden St Op Children’s Ch;
1
Dresden St Op Ch;
1
Dresden S
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Ch
1
•
PROFIL 6039 (59:40) Live: Dresden 10/3–4/1998
Sir Colin’s take on the
Te Deum
—the Gothic mien moved along with dignity and vivacity hand-in-hand—hadn’t changed since his 1969 account, for the path-breaking Philips Berlioz cycle, when this live performance was taped in 1998 by Mitteldeutsche Rundfunk. In all but “Christe, rex gloriae,” in fact, the pace is slightly brisker. What has changed is another generation of musicians rising to the demands of ever more responsive technology. Within a panoramic aural frame, even distant detail comes across with lustrous immediacy. Where, for instance, the inspired Franco Tagliavini in the “Te ergo quaesumus” in 1969 seemed a voice crying in the wilderness, Neill Stuart—still relatively recessed—is not merely audibly scaled to his surroundings and properly embedded in his sonic context, but straightforwardly and satisfyingly ringing. And while Sir Colin’s forces in 1969 were generous (the LSO, LSO Chorus, and Wandsworth School Boys’ Choir), the 400 musicians assembled here approach Berliozian proportions—the 1855 premiere at Saint-Eustache featured 950 performers—with an effect of grandly rendered massiveness. As usual, a Prélude and March for the presentation of the colors, for ceremonial occasions, have been omitted. To date, only Inbal (Denon 6142 ,
Fanfare
14:3) and John Nelson (Virgin 45499,
Fanfare
25:1) have included them, Inbal making the best case for them. Nelson’s tilt, with the Orchestre de Paris, and Marie-Claire Alain at the organ, is otherwise carried off with flair for a handsome alternative, curiously couched in multi-miked, compressed sound in which everything, except soulful Roberto Alagna, is closely captured. That is, spaciousness is sacrificed for detail. Dennis Keene’s estimable live 1997 go at the
Te Deum
, with the Voices of Ascension Chorus and Orchestra (Delos 3200,
Fanfare
21:1) preserves spaciousness—leaving earnest John Aler toiling in the rear—while fronting an almost equal number of musicians with comparable awe but without quite matching Profil’s glowing sound. Interpretively, every one of these performances scores big time, while the tradeoffs in sonic slant reveal essential elements of Berlioz’s monumental art that are still too vast for state-of-the-art technology to wholly encompass—but this comes close. If you’re coming to the
Te Deum
for the first time, this is the performance of choice. Count in Mozart’s brooding
Kyrie
as a magnificent bonus.
FANFARE: Adrian Corleonis
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Works on This Recording
1.
Te Deum, Op. 22 by Hector Berlioz
Performer:
Hans-Dieter Schöne (Organ),
Stuart Neill (Tenor)
Conductor:
Sir Colin Davis
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Dresden Staatskapelle,
Dresden State Opera Chorus,
Dresden Philharmonic Children's Chorus
...
Period: Romantic
Written: 1849; France
Venue: Live Kreuzkirche, Dresden, Germany
Length: 50 Minutes 4 Secs.
Language: Latin
2.
Kyrie in D minor, K 341 (368a) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performer:
Hans-Dieter Schöne (Organ)
Conductor:
Sir Colin Davis
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Dresden Staatskapelle,
Dresden Singakademie
Period: Classical
Written: circa 1788; Munich, Germany
Venue: Live Kreuzkirche, Dresden, Germany
Length: 8 Minutes 10 Secs.
Language: Greek
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