Maybe I'm just not sophisticated. Why isn't this audience giving them an overwhelming standing ovation, if not jumping up and down? Orozco-Estrada and his wonderful collaborators, musicians and singers, have brought this old nineteenth century work to life...more than any other interpretation or recording has been able to do. for me. An incandescent resurrection of a seldom-sung marvel. . .
You're right. Unfortunately, this is what I'm not proud to discover almost every time I'm in concert in Germany. And I dare say this sad development has increased the last years...
+Philipp Görges I'm so sorry to hear that. Having lived there, I still have great faith in Germany. After all, the Rhine was restored to a river in which Lorelei would once again be proud to lure sailors to their ecstatic doom. I am always prepared to meet the same fate at the siren-sounds of German musical genius. Thanks for your response. And keep the faith. And pride.
Well lets be fair a bit, firstly its a church so jumping up and down is kinda not what you would do there anyway also the church seems really like it would make for a bad experience for the 2/3 of the audience that didn't get to sit right in the front. And those who do are probably rich 70+ aged ppl who obviously still enjoyed the music but probably dont like to stand up to clap :)
Great music, great orchestra, great singers, great chorus, great concert, great performance, great conductor, great space, great sound and image record. Great festival, congratulations to all.
Brilliant soloists and choir. The alto part was both demanding and, at times, haunting. The whole came together wonderfully with the well directed and competent orchestra. The German diction was far clearer in this presentation than in most choral works. Thank you for an enthralling performance.
Eine großartige Aufführung eines Werkes, das ich in den 80ern als junger Musikstudent in Freiburg kennenlernen und im Hochschulchor mitsingen durfte. Gewiss eines der herrlichsten Werke für Soli, Chor und Orchester überhaupt. Tut gut, gerade in Pandemiezeiten dieses hoffnungserfüllte Werk wieder zu hören.
@@chambermuses7802 absolutely! I can’t forget the energy that he gave to orchestra, choir and solos in each rehearsal… And each time in this sinfonia I cried. This music is truely unique, magnificent and full of energy but under his baton it becomes something else that I cannot even describe with words… I simply desire to sing this again with him!
@@Tenormind Lovely to hear from you! I hope you do get another opportunity to sing with him - and this utterly supernal orchestra, which never fails to impress. Are you in Frankfurt? (Mein Vater war in Pirmasens geboren...)
Ich als Walpurgisnachtgeborene liebe Mendelssohn und erkenne in diesem Werk viele Motive aus dem Lobgesang. Mendelssohn berührt mich sehr. Würde ich auch gerne mit meinem Vokalensemble singen. Unsere Leiterin ist ebenfalls an Walpurgis geboren.....
This is lesser-known than the "Midsummer Night's Dream" music, but it really shouldn't be; it too is a masterpiece, and its more overtly dramatic, exciting score is impressive, even moving, and contains some passages as delightful as in "MSD". The works share an ascending four-note motif, but here transformed into something quite different, appropriate for its subject matter. (Whether the subject matter itself is appropriate for a convert to Christianity to set to music is another matter.) And the phrase first heard at 13:40 seems lifted from Beethoven's Ninth, no accident I assume. This performance is a stunner - the conductor and everyone really bring it to life!
I've recently been listening to a lot of performances conducted by Orozco-Estrada, and I find them electrifying. This one is, too, but I think the central scene--terrifying the superstitious Christians--is taken too fast. Certainly, it must move, but Mendelssohn's sharply articulated lines are lost in a blur of sound at this tempo. Otherwise, among the finest performances I have heard.
Ich find es immer Schade wenn die Leute in der ersten Reihe, die meist eingeladen sind und keinen Eintritt zahlen mussten wie wir "normalen " Menschen ( gerne aber) einen mehr als müden Eindruck machen... Was für ein tolles Stück, danke
Thanks to the excellent soloists and the well-synchronized choir the discrepancy between the baton and the performance seems to be minimized in this full-scale masterwork. Quite a relief!
It's quite usual for conductors to articulate directions a few seconds ahead of the performers, though this conductor is certainly hyper-animated. A Splendid interpretation of Mendelssohn's genius, nonetheless.....
I suspect that we agree, since my subjective sense of what I called "a few seconds" in this regard is probably not any longer in duration than what you more-precisely describe as "a second or two...." FWIW: when I took some conducting courses at Juilliard several decades ago, both of my instructors used actual stop watches to time, discuss, and variously advocate for what they judged to be the parameters of a minimally needed delay vs. the outer limits of any such delays ( all such delays are apparently called more properly, Uptake Advances.) They both thought that any Advance of anything less than one full second was always verboten; but one thought that the outer limit of the Advance was OK at 2+ seconds -- while the other instructor thought that a 3+ second Advance was workable [and allegedly was used by German conductors, like Furtwangler and Von Karajan.]. Apologies for my rambling on such seeming minutiae ...... Bestu Kvedjur.
Thank you for your elaborate reply. Your experience at Juilliard is quite precious. But now is not the time of Furtwängler or von Karajan. I think most of orchestra members nowadays cannot bear the discrepancy of more than two seconds, particularly when they perform 20th century works.
I agree! The subject is daring: Those that mostly fear the devil often do best the devils work and those accused of it might be the more purehearted. I am sure this must have been strongly though secretly resounding in the heart of someone who'd been converted under societal pressure.
NESTA OBRA "DIE ERSTE WALPURGISNACHT", FOI MAIS UMA VEZ FENOMENAL, PARA NÃO CAIR NA VULGARIDADE DE DIZER QUE FOI GENIAL. EM WALPURGISNACHT, MENDELSSOHN ALCANÇOU A PERFEITA INTEGRAÇÃO DE SOLISTAS, CÔRO E ORQUESTRA; COMO TAMBÉM ALCANÇOU NA PARTE CANTADA DO SONHO DE UMA NOITE DE VERÃO, E NOS GRANDES ORATÓRIOS "PAULUS" E "ELIAS. WALPURGISNACHT É UMA DAS OBRAS CAPITAIS DO ROMANTISMO MUSICAL.
Œuvre absolument sublime que j'ai chantée avec le chœur et l'orchestre du conservatoire de la Réunion. Sublime mais très difficile à apprendre. Interprétation magistrale !
This music is exceptional! A score so perfected and at times highly demanding for the musicians. Musically overwhelming and with the unique vigour and unrest, typical of many of Mendelssohn's stormy works. The text is bold and daring, for its time and must have been an inspiration on complex levels. Orozco-Estrada does a terrific job and catches, I think, the nerv of the music in the orchestral parts. The rest of the ensemble (with beatiful exceptions!) seems more average. The soloists are good but not top notch and the orchestral unity falls apart at times. I love this recording for the beautiful enthusiasm that this conductor expresses by his jumping, dancing way of conducting (I've read somewhere that Felix M loved dancing and was really good at it!) - but I'm still waiting for a definitive version of this masterpiece.
Wow! More than music drama - a sort of dramatic symphony. Don,t need sets or costumes when the music is There. Imagine if Mendelssohn had added an orchestrated version of Hexenlied!
A PRIMEIRA NOITE DE WALPURGIS DE MENDELSSOHN, FOI COMPOSTA EM 1830 E REVISADA EM 1842. É UMA LINDA E EXPRESSIVA OBRA DESSE COMPOSITOR, AINDA TÃO MAL COMPREENDIDO PELOS CRÍTICOS FRUSTRADOS (TODO CRÍTICO É UM MÚSICO FRUSTRADO). MAS O VALOR DESSA OBRA VEM CRESCENDO PAULATINAMENTE E SENDO RECONHECIDA COMO OBRA PRIMA INSPIRADÍSSIMA.
Die erste Walpurgisnacht (The First Walpurgis Night) is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, telling of the attempts of Druids in the Harz mountains to practice their pagan rituals in the face of new and dominating Christian forces. It was famously set to music by Felix Mendelssohn as a secular cantata for ... The attractions of this text for Mendelssohn likely were the ghost scene ...
Das letzte Stück, dass Fanny Mendelssohn vor ihrem Tod hörte. Sie war die Schwester von Felix Mendelssohn und ihrem Bruder ebenbürdig sowohl im Komponieren, als auch im Klavierspiel. Leider wird sie immer vergessen... Wunderschönes Stück!🧡
Gran versión de una de las obras más dramáticas de Mendelssohn, la demoníaca cantata La Primera Noche de Walpurgis (sobre textos de Goethe) , la hermana diabólica de Un sueño de una Noche de Verano. Comenzando por la Obertura (una de las mejores de Mendelssohn, con momentos que anticipan la Cabalgata de las Valquirias de Wagner) la obra es un continuo de solos acompañados por coro y orquesta. Son unos 35 min de música que no para ni decae. Sólo cabe reprochar unos pequeños saltos en el sonido que se esuchan cada tanto.
Agreed! A generally-underappreciated, super-genius-level work of F. Mendelssohn's mid-carrier compositions -- and quite well performed in this case.... BUT, IMO, the superlative version of Walpurgisnacht [OP. 60] --- complete w/ original score dynamics, plus rarely-heard, frenzied orchestral flourishes-- was recorded by an unlikely source: The North Texas State Orchestra & Chorus, and then later distributed on 2 cassette analogue tapes, via the now-defunct Musical Heritage Society of New Jersey... way back in the 1980's. My comment, here, is being written in April 2022, and for years I've been searching for a CD version of the MHS cassette-tape recording. Perhaps no such CD-format version was ever subsequently commercially marketed.....but if anyone reading my comment herein has any knowledge to the contrary,, please e-maii me at: agrim808@gmail.com. I will pay you a $50 'finder's fee for any such info... Alex Grimsson. Missoula, Montana/USA
2:36 The beautiful blond flautist is really into this music--probably a real Mendelssohn lover. And there's nothing Mendelssohn loved more than writing flute lines for beautiful blonde flautists. 9:34 For all you Midsummer Night's Dream chorus lovers like I am, the chorus enters here and the music is stunning, almost as good as "Ye Spotted Snakes" from MN'sD which I could listen to a minimum dozen times in one sitting and the MN'sD Finale, again what can one say about absolutely pitch-perfect choral music?
I agree about enjoying listening to it several times in a row. It is a piece of music that charms you into enjoying it without surfeit. Glad to know that you feel the same.
Трудно представить насколько такое помещение улучшает или усложняет запись . Хор звучит прекрасно, но голоса головных исполнителей звучат не так ярко. Очень удачна работа режисера съемок. Ему удалось показывать казалось невозможное. В целом впечатление прекрасное. Дирижер сумел представить во всем блеске всех исполнителей. От этого никуда не уйдешь. Всем отлично. Привет из Киева.
FELIX MENDELSSOHN LA PRIMERA NOCHE DE WALPURGIS cuando la música clásica recurre a una cantata profana, de tematica relacionada a la brujeria, con música de Felix Mendelssohn en una iglesia desconsagrada... no son casualidades, hijo mío. Ayer, 30 de abril, se celebró la "festividad" opuesta al Dia de todos los Santos (6 meses posterior), la Noche de Walpurgis.
Maria Sonia, te informo que los "directores" o "conductors" son nada más que unos changos con batuta: los músicos son los que trabajan incesantemente para tocar ese mundanal de notas hermosas, y a ellos debe de darse el crédito. Saludos, y espero que no te haya ofendido, pero es la verdad.
@@Elpuma1374 Mendelssohn, while himself elevating the art of conducting to new and more competent heights, was at least never any "...monkey with a baton...." He alone, at the outset of his conducting career, began demanding a much higher level of technical precision from both players and from the conductors' interpretative meta-awarenesses -- and he ever afterward never slackened his orchestral leadership standards in this regard. Likely, this gradually-increasing precision of orchestral performance would have eventually occurred with or without Mendelssohn's lifelong campaign for ever-more excellence in public performance of symphonic/choral music, but Felix is due the lion's share of credit for initiating a heightened "expectation of musical excellence" in the listening public & the players/conductors, in the early -mid 19th century -- w/o which the excellence we enjoy today may have been much slower-in-coming.
I. Es lacht der Mai (9:05) A DRUID Sweet smiles the May! The forest gay From frost and ice is freed; No snow is found, Glad songs resound Across the verdant mead. Upon the height The snow lies light, Yet thither now we go, There to extol our Father’s name, Whom we for ages know. Amid the smoke shall gleam the flame; Thus pure the heart will grow. THE DRUIDS (11:52) Amid the smoke shall gleam the flame; Extol we now our Father’s name, Whom we for ages know! Up, up, then, let us go! II. Könnt ihr so verwegen handeln? (13:12) ONE OF THE PEOPLE Would ye, then, so rashly act? Would ye instant death attract? Know ye not the cruel threats Of the victors we obey? Round about are placed their nets In the sinful heathen’s way. Ah! upon the lofty wall Wife and children slaughter they; And we all Hasten to a certain fall. CHORUS OF WOMEN Ay, upon the camp’s high wall All our children loved they slay. Ah, what cruel victors they! And we all Hasten to a certain fall. III. Wer Opfer heut' zu bringen scheut (15:37) A DRUID Who fears to-day His rites to pay, Deserves his chains to wear. The forest’s free! This wood take we, And straight a pile prepare! Yet in the wood To stay ’tis good By day till all is still, With watchers all around us placed Protecting you from ill. With courage fresh, then, let us haste Our duties to fulfil. IV. Verteilt euch, wack're Männer hier CHORUS OF WATCHERS Ye valiant watchers now divide Your numbers through the forest wide, And see that all is still. While they their rites fulfil. V. Diese dumpfen Pfaffenchristen A WATCHER Let us in a cunning wise, Yon dull Christian priests surprise! With the devil of their talk We’ll those very priests confound. Come with prong and come with fork, Raise a wild and rattling sound Through the livelong night, and prowl All the rocky passes round. Screech-owl, owl, Join in chorus with our howl! VI. Kommt mit Zacken und mit Gabeln CHORUS OF WATCHERS Come with prong, and come with fork, Like the devil of their talk, And with wildly ratthng sound, Prowl the desert rocks around! Screech-owl, owl, Join in chorus with our howl! VII. So weit gebracht A DRUID Thus far ’tis right, That we by night Our Father’s praises sing; Yet when ’tis day, To Thee we may A heart unsullied bring. ’Tis true that now. And often, Thou Favourest the foe in fight. As from the smoke is freed the blaze, So let our faith burn bright! And if they crush our olden ways, Who e’er can crush Thy light? IIX. Hilf, ach, hilf mir, Kriegsgeselle A CHRISTIAN WATCHER. Comrades, quick! your aid afford! All the brood of hell’s abroad: See how their enchanted forms Through and through with flames are glowing! Dragon-women, men-wolf swarms, On in quick succession going! Let us, let us haste to fly! Wilder yet the sounds are growing, And the arch fiend roars on high; From the ground Hellish vapours rise around. CHORUS OF CHRISTIAN WATCHERS. Terrible enchanted forms, Dragon-women, men-wolf swarms! Wilder yet the sounds are growing! See, the arch fiend comes, all-glowing! From the ground Hellish vapours rise around. IX. Die Flamme reinigt sich vom Rauch CHORUS OF DRUIDS As from the smoke is freed the blaze, So let our faith burn bright! And if they crush our olden ways, Whoe’er can crush Thy light? this was the first good translation i could find, it's from this blog post (they don't list the translator though) www.theoldcraft.com/2018/04/29/occult-art-the-first-walpurgis-night-cantata-by-felix-mendelssohn-bartholdy-after-a-poem-by-johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/
Just an advise. Get yourself a good pair of headphones and, if possible a DAC/phone amplifier and you will find out that you can hear everything very clearly, all the instruments, all the harmonies . Of course it will not be top Hi-Fi but I find it very satisfactory. And I own a very expensive and top of the range hi-fi system.
Great performance by Choir and Orchestra, but slightly disappointing from the side of the soloist singers. Was more intense and vocally better in the Walpurgis night performance in Bad Homburg 2016 (e.g., Simon Bailey and Britta Jacobus).
Hört sich gewaltig an, eben heidnisch, Daher auch sehr unruhig, ja, beunruhigend, wenig strukturiert, überbordend, beinahe chaotisch. Kein Leitmotiv o. ä.
Ja, wunderbare Fassung, mutig und kraftvoll! Ein junger Komponist erfüllt weise Worte eines alten Meisters mit frischen Klängen. ... und über allem schwebt die letzte Zeile des Götterfunken in uns allen: "Dein Licht, wer kann es rauben"