Search - Robert Schumann, John Eliot Gardiner, Barbara Bonney :: Robert Schumann: Das Paradies und die Peri / Requiem für Mignon / Nachtlied - The Monteverdi Choir / Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique / John Eliot Gardiner
No. 1 - 'Wen bringt ihr uns zur stillen Gesellschaft?'; No. 2 - 'Ach! Wie ungern brachten wir ihn her!'; No. 3 - 'Seht die machtigen Flugel doch an!'; No. 4 - 'In euch lebe die bildende Kraft'; No. 5 - 'Kinder! kehret ins Leben zuruck!'; No. 6 - 'Kinde...
Nachtlied: 'Quellende, schwellende Nacht'
Paradise And The Peri: No. 1 - 'Vor Edens Tor im Morgenprangen'
Paradise And The Peri: No. 2 - 'Wie glucklich sie wandeln, die sel'gen Geister'
Paradise And The Peri: No. 3 - Rezitativ - 'Der hehre Engel, der die Pforte des Lichts bewacht'; 'Dir, Kind des Stamms, schon, doch voll Sunden'
Paradise And The Peri: No. 4 - 'Wo find' ich sie? Wo bluht, wo liegt die Gabe'
Paradise And The Peri: No. 5 - 'So sann sie nach und schwang die Flügel'; '0 susses Land! 0 Götterpracht!'
Paradise And The Peri: No. 6 - 'Doch seine Ströme sind jetzt rot'
Paradise And The Peri: No. 7 - 'Und einsam steht ein Jungling noch'; 'Komm, kuhner Held, und huld'ge mir'; 'Du schlugst des Landes Burger'
Paradise And The Peri: No. 8 - 'Weh, weh, weh, er fehlte das Ziel'
Paradise And The Peri: No. 9 - 'Die Peri sah das Mal der Wunde'; 'Sei dies, mein Geschenk, willkommen dorten'
Track Listings (17) - Disc #2
Das Paradies und die Peri: No. 10 - 'Die Peri tritt mit schüchterner Gebärde vor Edens Tor'; 'Gern grussen wir, die so gegangen'
Das Paradies und die Peri: No. 11 - 'Ihr erstes Himmelshoffen schwand'; 'Hervor aus den Wassern geschwind'; 'Ach Eden, ach Eden'
Das Paradies und die Peri: No. 12 - 'Fort streift von hier das Kind der Lüfte'; 'Für euren ersten Fall'
Das Paradies und die Peri: No. 13 - 'Die Peri weint'
Das Paradies und die Peri: No. 14 - 'Im Waldesgrün am stillen See'; 'Ach, einen Tropfen nur aus der See'
Das Paradies und die Peri: No. 15 - 'Verlassener Jüngling'; 'Doch sieh, wer naht dort leise schleichend'; 'Du hier?'
Das Paradies und die Peri: No. 16 - '0 lass mich von der Luft durchdringen'; 'Sie wankt - sie sinkt'
Das Paradies und die Peri: 4 Bars Before No. 17 - 'Schlaf nun und ruhe in Traumen voll Duft'
Das Paradies und die Peri: No. 18 - 'Schmücket die Stufen zu Allahs Thron'; 'Auch der Geliebten vergesset nicht'; 'Seht da, die Bahn zum ew'gen Licht'
Das Paradies und die Peri: 3 Bars Before No. 19 - 'Dem Sang von ferne lauschend'; 'Noch nicht! Treu war die Maid'
Das Paradies und die Peri: No. 20 - 'Verstossen: Verschlossen aufs neu das Goldportal!'
Das Paradies und die Peri: No. 21 - 'Jetzt sank des Abends goldner Schein'
Das Paradies und die Peri: No. 22 - 'Und wie sie niederwärts sich schwingt'; 'Peri, ist's wahr, dass du in den Himmel willst?'; 'Mit ihrer Schwestern Worten wachst ihr Schmerz'
Das Paradies und die Peri: No. 23 - 'Hinab zu jenem Sonnentempel!'; 'Sie schwebt herab im frohen Hoffen'; 'Doch horch, wie Vesperruf zum Beten'; 'Und was fuhlt er, der sund'ge Mann'; 's war eine Zeit, du selig Kind'
Das Paradies und die Peri: No. 24 - '0 heil'ge Tränen inn'ger Reue'
Das Paradies und die Peri: No. 25 - 'Es fallt ein Tropfen aufs Land Ägypten'; 'Und sieh, demutig betend kniet der Mann'
Das Paradies und die Peri: No. 26 - 'Freud', ew'ge Freude, mein Werk ist getan'; 'Willkommen, willkommen unter den Frommen!'
This lovely, unjustly neglected work should have become part of the mainstream repertoire long ago. Based on a Persian legend retold by poet Thomas Moore, the story is an endearing mixture of Western and Eastern religion... more ». Setting a Christian vision of Heaven in Allah's garden, it tells of a supplicant tainted not by guilt but by inheritance, who must be cleansed by compassion and undaunted personal effort to be admitted to Paradise. The music is basically lyrical, tender, and serene but encompasses the depths and heights of intensity, lamentation, devotion, ecstasy, and triumph. A succession of vintage Schumann songs, sometimes bursting into operatic arias, is held together by often highly dramatic accompanied tenor recitatives and by long passages melding the solo voices with chorus and orchestra; the instruments evoke images of sun, moon, flowers, water, even the clash of war, refuting Schumann's supposed inability to orchestrate. The singing by both chorus and soloists is beyond praise; the orchestra is wonderfully transparent but often too subdued, evidently by interpretive choice. Of the two short pieces, the second is more beguiling for its mysterious, shimmering atmosphere. --Edith Eisler« less
This lovely, unjustly neglected work should have become part of the mainstream repertoire long ago. Based on a Persian legend retold by poet Thomas Moore, the story is an endearing mixture of Western and Eastern religion. Setting a Christian vision of Heaven in Allah's garden, it tells of a supplicant tainted not by guilt but by inheritance, who must be cleansed by compassion and undaunted personal effort to be admitted to Paradise. The music is basically lyrical, tender, and serene but encompasses the depths and heights of intensity, lamentation, devotion, ecstasy, and triumph. A succession of vintage Schumann songs, sometimes bursting into operatic arias, is held together by often highly dramatic accompanied tenor recitatives and by long passages melding the solo voices with chorus and orchestra; the instruments evoke images of sun, moon, flowers, water, even the clash of war, refuting Schumann's supposed inability to orchestrate. The singing by both chorus and soloists is beyond praise; the orchestra is wonderfully transparent but often too subdued, evidently by interpretive choice. Of the two short pieces, the second is more beguiling for its mysterious, shimmering atmosphere. --Edith Eisler
Gardiner proves himself again in another great recording
10/01/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This superb album of three Schumann choral works proves (yet again) that John Eliot Gardiner belongs in the class of major conductors and not just of "period instruments" specialists. And the works themselves richly deserve to be heard, particularly the spectacular "Paradise and the Peri," which is Schumann at his best; despite the somewhat quaint period flavor of the text, the evocative nature of the music makes this an oratorio that deserves more than to be trotted out as a curiosity. Gardiner and his singers and instrumentalists play it for all it's worth, as they do the magnificent "Requiem for Mignon" and the explosive "Nachtlied." An album not to be missed!"
Revolution!
D. Gammelgard | Falun, Sweden | 01/15/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is actually beyond words! What Gardiner is doing with the romantic repertoire should have been done a long time ago! The clarity of the orchestra, the superb soloists and the wonderful choir blended together to create something absolutuely overwhelming! This cd makes you wonder...what have we really been doing all these years...is the 20th century ideals really good when it comes to the music and the way we hear it? Anyway, this is a superb disc with music ignored by the people who had no understanding for Schumann's way of writing when it actually were themselves who didn't understand a thing!"
Schumann must be smiling
10/07/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"In an interview, Gardiner said that he thought that no one understood Schumann. And you know what -- he's right. It's too easy to criticize Gardiner for his hubris, but when the results are this good, who cares? Schumann is NOT the incoherent, rambling, second rate Romantic composer that too many people view him as (Schumann, BTW, absolutely *hated* the term "Romantic"). Such a misguided point of view makes musicians think that it's perfectly fine to tamper with Schumann's scores, modifying dynamics, setting out sluggish tempi that are modified with self-indulgent rubato, and blaming him for poor orchestration without making an effort to bring out the often cleverly beautiful counterpoint and part-writing in proper balance. With great soloists (lead by the incomparable Barbara Bonney as the Peri), a disciplined choir, and a "period" orchestra, Gardiner's recording of Schumann's "Paradis and the Peri" is a triumph in every way. Gardiner finally reveals Schumann as the one of the most important (if not *the* most important) and vital composers of the first generation of European Romanticism (the others include Mendelssohn, Liszt, Berlioz, and Chopin). The use of period instruments and a properly balanced choir (NOT of the overblown Victorian type, thank god!) ensure clarity, so that the various lines come out with great eloquence. And Gardiner's direction is forthright and vigorous, yet eloquent and expressive, not entirely lacking in rubato (which is a hallmark of 19th century performance practice, after all) yet careful to keep the score moving, thus emphasizing the overall strucuture of this glorious and deeply moving work. Gardiner presents Schumann as Master Raro -- Florestan and Eusebius in perfect balance. Also, don't miss Gardiner's recording of Schumann's symphonies! And I do hope Gardiner will go on to record Schumann's Faust Scenes -- one of the composer's greatest yet most neglected works."
Serene ,uplifting & captivating Schumann
Paul Harben | Sydney, NSW Australia | 10/31/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I have just re listened to this marvelously moving collection of Schumann's choral works again after my initial purchase. I am even more moved and in awe at both Gardiner's way with the Romantic era, and Schumann's powerfully wrought music. Lilting, intense, lyrical but always serene and flowing.If Gardiner's driven and superbly played HIP Schumann Symphonies were not enough to entice, then do try these beautifully proportioned and recorded works. The clarity is amazing. The Nachtlied is spell binding. Barbara Bonney is enthralling in the Peri role. The choral ending and final brass blaze to part one of Paradise and the Peri is spine tingling, no other way to describe my reaction.I'm a real Schumann convert. Now wouldn't John Eliot like to try Schumann's opera Genoveva? I hope so. This is simply a spectacularly affecting set. Don't hesitate."
An Essential Schumann Recording
M. C. Passarella | Lawrenceville, GA | 07/21/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I recall a biography of Schumann that I once read in which the author opined that Schumann was a miniaturist foolishly driven to try his hand at bigger works. The author went on to say the composer's tiny piano piece "Elf" (from Bunte Blatter, I believe) is worth more than all his massive choral works together, collecting dust as they are on library shelves. I submit there are two things wrong with this assessment. First, when it was issued, no one had taken Schumann's big choral works down form the shelf and dusted them off for a long time, so it was pretty impossible for music lovers to make a judgment about their contents. Second, the person who took them down off the shelf, when it occurred, was not John Eliot Gardiner. Pretty strong praise, maybe, but though "Das Paradies und die Peri" has been recorded before, more or less successfully (there used to be a semi-decent version by Armin Jordan on Erato), the beauty and sheer genius of Schumann's work was only hinted at in earlier recordings. And it is a thing of beauty, with music that would beguile even Schumann's detractors. Much is made of Schumann's naivete about orchestral color when he wrote his First Symphony in 1841. Well, by the time of "Peri" in 1843, Schumann knew how to write for the orchestra. His writing for winds, harp, high percussion--instrumentation he rarely used for coloristic effect in his works--is beautifully rich.
Part of the success, of course, is original instruments, whose freshening effect in Schumann's music can be likened to the efforts of a restorer working on the oil painting of an old master. However, it must be said that Schumann was in the thrall of Mendelssohn at this point in his career, so a piece like "The Chorus of the Nile Spirits" (No. 11) has all the lightness of a Mendelssohn scherzo; this is an influence Schumann progressively shed in his later choral music. Still, it is not merely original instruments nor Mendelssohnian influence but Gardiner's sure ear for balance that makes this music come up so fresh and radiant.
Add the fact that Gardiner has at his disposal the radiant voice of Barbara Bonney for his Peri, and it would be difficult to imagine finer talents employed on Schumann's behalf. The other soloists are fine as well--Christoph Pregardien being an especially sweet-voiced match for Bonney in the tenor-solo role.
As critics have pointed out, in "Peri" Schumann benefited from his work with the German lied; the vocal writing is always fluent, and Schumann is always sensitive to the text he is setting. High points for me are the gentle finale to Part 2 (No. 17); No. 20, where the rejected Peri vows to keep on keeping on; No. 23, where the Peri wins her wings, so to speak, by capturing the tears of the repentant sinner; and the final magnificent solo and chorus (No. 26), to which I could listen again and again. No. 23 is like one of Schumann's famous ballads, Nos. 17 and 26 like the best of his great love songs. Sure, the libretto is more than a bit corny for modern tastes. Just skim it, and listen to the music.
Actually, Schumann did miscalculate a bit in this work, and that may be why it isn't heard as often as it should be. The first part is clearly the most dramatic, with a thrilling battle scene using "Turkish" percussion and a powerful final chorus with thundering timpani; Schumann would use that trick again at the end of his wonderful Second Symphony. At this point, Schumann wasn't a seasoned enough oratorio composer to pick, or craft, a libretto that would share the dramatic wealth across all parts. But Parts 2 and 3--especially Part 3--have so many individual beauties that we're the losers if we don't overlook Schumann's miscalculation.
As to the other works on the disc, "Requiem fur Mignon," a very unusual setting of a scene from Goethe, is probably Schumann's best-known choral work, though you are unlikely to hear it in as imaginative and subtle a treatment as Gardiner gives it. Until hearing Gardiner, I thought Abbado's recording, also on DG, was as much as I needed to know about this work, but again, original instruments make all the difference. Despite the enthusiasm of Schumann expert John Devario, who wrote the excellent notes, for "Natchlied," I find it is not on the same exalted plain as either Peri or the Requiem, but it is short and relatively sweet and certainly nice to have as an addendum to the other pieces.
All in all, this is one of the most important Schumann recordings in years. And years.