Vladimir Jurowski conducts Zemlinsky

Jurowski demonstrates a masterly control of dramatic pace, ratcheting up the tension slowly but surely so that the final denouement reaches a devastating climax. The LPO proves superbly responsive... — BBC Music Magazine, October 2014, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 30th Jun 2014
Catalogue No: LPO0078
Label: LPO
Length: 73 minutes

Presto Recording of the Week

23rd June 2014
Presto Recordings of the Year

Finalist 2014

This item is currently out of stock at the UK distributor. You may order it now but please be aware that it may be six weeks or more before it can be despatched.

This release includes a digital booklet

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Zemlinsky: A Florentine Tragedy, Op. 16

Work length54:31

$17.00

$20.40

$27.20

Heike Wessels (soloist), Albert Dohmen (soloist), Sergey Skorokhodov (soloist)
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Vladimir Jurowski
Recording Venue: Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London, UK

Feurig Sturmend

Track length4:44

$1.00

$1.20

$1.60

So Langsam, Weib

Track length2:11

$1.00

$1.20

$1.60

Ich heisse Guido Bardi

Track length2:44

$1.00

$1.20

$1.60

Wo ist Mein Bundel?

Track length1:55

$1.00

$1.20

$1.60

Wackrer Simone, Genug

Track length3:08

$1.00

$1.20

$1.60

Bianca, Sag, Stunde nicht dies kostbar edle Kleid...

Track length3:30

$1.00

$1.20

$1.60

Wie, wenn ich die weisse Bianca forderte?

Track length3:21

$1.00

$1.20

$1.60

Was gibt es Neues, mein Prinz?

Track length5:16

$1.00

$1.20

$1.60

Wie er gleich einem schalen Kramer spricht!

Track length3:32

$1.00

$1.20

$1.60

Genug! Zur Freunde reif ist diese Nacht

Track length5:26

$1.00

$1.20

$1.60

Was meint der Fleck hier auf dem Tuch?

Track length2:28

$1.00

$1.20

$1.60

Holdsel'ge Bianca, der schale Kramer langweilt mich

Track length6:12

$1.00

$1.20

$1.60

Simone, jetzt buss ich nach Hause gehn!

Track length2:00

$1.00

$1.20

$1.60

Ei, welch' ein Schwert!

Track length2:18

$1.00

$1.20

$1.60

Bianca, hol mein Schwert!

Track length2:06

$1.00

$1.20

$1.60

Narr, nimm mir vom Hais deine Wurgefinger!

Track length1:15

$1.00

$1.20

$1.60

Und jetzt du dir!

Track length2:25

$1.00

$1.20

$1.60

Zemlinsky: Six Maeterlinck Songs, Op. 13

Work length19:29

$6.00

$7.20

$9.60

Petra Lang (soloist)
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Vladimir Jurowski
Recording Venue: Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London, UK

I. Die drei Schwestern

Track length4:02

$1.00

$1.20

$1.60

II. Die Mädchen mit den verbundenen Augen

Track length2:50

$1.00

$1.20

$1.60

III. Lied der Jungfrau

Track length2:13

$1.00

$1.20

$1.60

IV. Als ihr Geliebter schied

Track length1:58

$1.00

$1.20

$1.60

V. Und kehrt er einst heim

Track length3:11

$1.00

$1.20

$1.60

VI. Sie kam zum Schloss gegangen

Track length5:15

$1.00

$1.20

$1.60

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Recording of the Week, Vladimir Jurowski conducts music by Zemlinsky

23rd June 2014

Katherine listens to a stormy, passionate tragedy by the late Romantic composer Alexander Zemlinsky, with Vladimir Jurowski conducting the LPO.

Recorded live at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, London, on 22 September 2010 (Six Maeterlinck Songs) and 26 September 2012 (A Florentine Tragedy).

Mezzo-soprano Petra Lang is the soloist in the rarely performed Six Maeterlinck Songs. One of the most sought-after performers in the Austro-German song repertoire, Lang captures perfectly the dark foreboding and eerie, dreamlike quality of the songs.

Zemlinsky’s one-act opera A Florentine Tragedy is based on an unfinished play by Oscar Wilde. Set in 16th-century Florence, the opera tells of jealousy, betrayal and ultimately murder, and was described as ‘a splendid work’ by Zemlinsky’s pupil and brother-in-law, Arnold Schoenberg.

Both works reference Zemlinsky’s unrequited love for Alma Schindler, who eventually chose the international star conductor Mahler as her husband. Zemlinsky never got over this, and when Alma saw A Florentine Tragedy she was furious at what she saw as the depiction of herself, Mahler and her affair with Walter Gropius.

This recording is the only currently available physical/CD pairing of these two works, both of which are rarely recorded and not readily available elsewhere.

Reviews

October 2014

Jurowski demonstrates a masterly control of dramatic pace, ratcheting up the tension slowly but surely so that the final denouement reaches a devastating climax. The LPO proves superbly responsive to Jurowski's demands. The opera's protagonists...vividly project the mendacious nature of the drama.

19th July 2014

a gory tale of illicit love, portrayed in sumptuous orchestral colours, its intensity barely contained until the denouement...Jurowski’s performance makes a thrilling appeal to the imagination, abetted by visceral contributions from the three soloists.

Awards Issue 2014

it's a short piece whose cumulative power is extremely impressive...Jurowski and the LPO capture both its passion and its restrain well. It's a reading of remarkable orchestral clarity and lucidity...[Dohmen] remains imposing and authoritative, even if the voice is rather dry...Wessels is a gloriously voluptuous and vibrant Bianca.

October 2014

Here all three roles are well taken, with Albert Dohmen surprisingly light on his feet in the heavyweight role of the unsympathetic Simone. Sergey Skorokhodov brings tonal warmth and expects, as the lithe young tenor, to survive the operatic fray, but who doesn’t. Heike Wessels has much less to do as the inscrutable woman in the middle but she does it very well. Vladimir Jurowski his conducting, succeeding in keeping the potentially excessive late-Romanticism that was Zemlinsky’s stock-in-trade within bounds, yet without diluting its genuine impact.

23rd June 2014

The performance is terrific – the LPO draw out all of the score’s terrible beauty, and Jurowski’s pacing really turns the dramatic screw. All the singers were new to me, and Heike Wessels in particular is tremendous as the sullen, frustrated Bianca...her huge dark sound glints and surges to thrilling effect.

10th July 2014

Jurowski's belief in both [works] is never in doubt and his thoughtful yet intense conducting is matched by playing of exquisite if sinister detail from the London Philharmonic.

Classical Music

A masterly account of Zemlinsky’s intense one-act opera...All three parties to the doomed love triangle are supremely well-sung, especially Wotan-du-jour Albert Dohmen.

Vladimir Jurowski conducts Zemlinsky

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Recording of the Week, Vladimir Jurowski conducts music by Zemlinsky