Weber - Overtures - Naxos: 8570296 - CD or download

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…Antoni Wit has a genuine feel for the music, and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra responds well throughout. Strongly recommended. — BBC Music Magazine, April 2009, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 1st Dec 2008
Catalogue No: 8570296
Label: Naxos
Length: 75 minutes

Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days

Excerpt, Weber: Euryanthe

Work length8:31

$2.00

$2.60

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
Antoni Wit

Overture

Track length8:31

$2.00

$2.60

Weber: Peter Schmoll und seine Nachbarn, J. 8

Work length10:04

$3.00

$3.85

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
Antoni Wit

Overture

Track length10:04

$3.00

$3.85

Excerpt, Weber: Oberon

Work length9:38

$2.00

$2.60

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
Antoni Wit

Overture

Track length9:38

$2.00

$2.60

Weber: Der Gerrscher der Geister Overture (Ruler of the Spirits Overture)

Work length5:50

$1.00

$1.30

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
Antoni Wit

Weber: Overture and Marches for Turandot, Op. 37, J. 75, Overture and Marches for Turandot, J. 75

Work length5:41

$1.00

$1.30

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
Antoni Wit

Overture - Act II: March

Track length5:41

$1.00

$1.30

Weber: Preciosa, J. 279

Work length8:03

$2.00

$2.60

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
Antoni Wit

Overture

Track length8:03

$2.00

$2.60

Excerpt, Weber: Silvana, J87

Work length6:19

$1.00

$1.30

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
Antoni Wit

Overture

Track length6:19

$1.00

$1.30

Weber: Jubel-Ouvertüre, J245 (Op. 59)

Work length8:05

$2.00

$2.60

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
Antoni Wit

Excerpt, Weber: Abu Hassan

Work length3:33

$1.00

$1.30

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
Antoni Wit

Overture

Track length3:33

$1.00

$1.30

Excerpt, Weber: Der Freischütz

Work length10:14

$3.00

$3.85

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
Antoni Wit

Der Freischutz, J. 277: Overture

Track length10:14

$3.00

$3.85

About
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About

Carl Maria von Weber composed a number of pioneering works for the operatic stage as well as incidental music whose highly attractive scores combine Classical principles of clarity with a unique lyricism and orchestral mastery that would inspire later Romantic composers.

This disc presents overtures from his ever-popular Der Freischütz, Euryanthe and Oberon, as well as from other undeservedly lesser-known operatic works, alongside concert pieces such as the Jubel-Ouvertüre and Der Beherrscher der Geister, and the incidental music for the plays Preciosa and Turandot, all of which amply display his vivid and refined dramatic imagination.

In a recent concert the Dominion Post praised the “superb playing” of the NZSO.

Reviews

April 2009

…Antoni Wit has a genuine feel for the music, and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra responds well throughout. Strongly recommended.

2010

Here are all six opera overtures, plus those for the incidental music to Preciosa and Turandot.
The Ruler of the Spirits and Jubel are independent pieces, the latter celebratory and ending with a terrific orchestration of the tune we know as 'God Save the Queen', the former one of Weber's most brilliant pieces, one that really ought to feature more as a concert-opener.
Antoni Wit goes at it with a will, and nimbly catches the good humour of the Abu Hassan overture, not least thanks to a lively oboe here and in Peter Schmoll. The orchestra also boasts a good horn section, very much called for in both Oberon and Der Freischütz. Peter Schmoll and Silvana are attractive examples of how early Weber began finding his voice as an orchestrator, in the case of Schmoll when still in his teens.
If only the sound were better, this would be an easy record to recommend. But as well as writing beautifully for wind, Weber makes demands on the richness and depth of the full orchestra and, especially in Euryanthe and Oberon, on the hurtling virtuosity of the strings. A crowded acoustic does not help clarity here, or in the busy figuration at the climax of Jubel. The seldomplayed Turandot, with its quirky little oriental tune that caught Hindemith's ear for his Weber Metamorphoses, fares rather better.

February 2009

Descriptive, colourful opera overtures - it's a pity that the sound isn’t better.

Weber - Overtures

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