Liszt: Christus, S3

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Christus is essentially a contemplative work and so could really be said to exist in a different timescale to most music. Much of the opening part, the 'Christmas Oratorio', uses very simple... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Catalogue No: HAEN98121
Label: Hänssler
Length: 2 hours 41 minutes

Liszt: Christus, S3

Work length2:41:45

Album only

Henriette Bonde-Hansen, Iris Vermillion, Michael Schade, Andreas Schmidt
Gächinger Kantorei, Cracow Chamber Choir, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR
Helmuth Rilling

Christmas Oratorio: Introduction

Track length14:19

$3.00

$3.85

Christmas Oratorio: Pastorale und Verkundigung des Engels (Pastorale and Herald Angel's Song) (Soprano, Tneor, Chorus)

Track length7:02

$2.00

$2.60

Christmas Oratorio: Stabat Mater speciosa (Chorus)

Track length10:52

$3.00

$3.85

Christmas Oratorio: Hirtenspiel en der Krippe (Pastoral Music at the Manger)

Track length13:26

$3.00

$3.85

Christmas Oratorio: Die heiligen drei Konige (March of the Three Magi)

Track length14:31

$3.00

$3.85

After Epiphany: Die Seligpreisungen (The Beatitudes) (Baritone, Chorus)

Track length11:04

$3.00

$3.85

After Epiphany: Das Gebet des Herrn (The Lord's Prayer): Pater noster (Chorus)

Track length7:52

$2.00

$2.60

After Epiphany: Die Grundung der Kirche (The Founding of the Church) (Chorus)

Track length5:37

$1.00

$1.30

After Epiphany: Das Wunder (The Miracle) (Baritone, Chorus)

Track length8:56

$2.00

$2.60

After Epiphany: Der Einzug in Jerusalem (Ride into Jerusalem) (Soloists, Chorus)

Track length13:58

$3.00

$3.85

Passion and Resurrection: Tristis est anima mea (Baritone)

Track length14:12

$3.00

$3.85

Passion and Resurrection: Stabat Mater dolorosa (Soloists and Chorus)

Track length32:49

Album only

Passion and Resurrection: O filii et filiae (Women's Chorus)

Track length1:42

$1.00

$1.30

Passion and Resurrection: Resurrexit (Soloists and Chorus)

Track length5:25

$1.00

$1.30

About
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About

The complete work was first performed on 29 May 1873 in the Protestant church in Weimar, under the direction of the composer and in the presence of, among others, Liszts daughter Cosima and her second husband, Richard Wagner. The performers numbered three hundered.

During Liszt´s lifetime it was performed ten more times. But after 1914 it virtually disappeared from the repertoire.

This recording will provide a start towards restoring an important oratorio to the rightful status which it occupied once before, at the turn of the 20th century.

Reviews

2010

Christus is essentially a contemplative work and so could really be said to exist in a different timescale to most music. Much of the opening part, the 'Christmas Oratorio', uses very simple melody and harmony, and is studiously undramatic. Helmuth Rilling does well not to charge it with too much colour, and, if listened to as meditation rather than drama, what can seem static takes on a positive atmosphere as a group of long reflections on the Christmas events. This is a far cry from the sensational Liszt of the early virtuoso years, not yet reaching the terse, inward pieces of the last years. There's greater drama in the middle part, 'After Epiphany', especially in the superb scene of Christ walking on the water. Although there's still the suggestion that a wonder is being contemplated, Liszt stirs up a terrific storm. This part also includes the beautiful setting of the Beatitudes, sung by Andreas Schmidt with a degree of uncertainty which he entirely sheds when he comes to pronounce the sentences in Part 3 ('Passion and Resurrection') for the scene of the Agony in the Garden. The long Stabat mater is beautifully controlled by Rilling. His soloists support him well.
The recording does excellent justice to Liszt's wide-ranging orchestration.

Liszt: Christus, S3

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