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Beethoven: Christus am Ölberge, Elegischer Gesang
Hanna-Leena Haapamäki, Jussi Myllys, Niklas Spångberg
Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, Chorus Cathedralis Aboensis, Leif Segerstam
Awards:
-
International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Choral
Segerstam’s sure pacing ensures that this performance never flags, while ensuring room to breathe in poetic moments…Jussi Myllys is an admirably clear-voiced Jesus, and Hanna-Leena Haapämaki...
Beethoven: Christus am Ölberge, Elegischer Gesang
Hanna-Leena Haapamäki, Jussi Myllys, Niklas Spångberg
Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, Chorus Cathedralis Aboensis, Leif Segerstam
Purchase product
Awards:
-
International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Choral
Segerstam’s sure pacing ensures that this performance never flags, while ensuring room to breathe in poetic moments…Jussi Myllys is an admirably clear-voiced Jesus, and Hanna-Leena Haapämaki...
About
Ludwig van Beethoven’s only oratorio Christus am Olberge (‘Christ on the Mount of Olives’) portrays Jesus’ emotional struggles in the garden of Gethsemane before being seized by soldiers and taken for crucifixion. The work has an Italianate form with recitatives, arias and choruses, and its operatic attributes show Christ as a very human figure, a dramatic precursor to the sufferings of Florestan in Beethoven’s Fidelio. The tender and beautiful Elegischer Gesang is a memorial to the young wife of one of Beethoven’s close friends. Chorus Cathedralis Aboensis has specialized in large scale choral works since the choir’s inception in 1982. Virtually the entire canon of works for choir and orchestra are in the CCA’s repertoire: it has performed requiems by Verdi, Mozart, Faure and Part, as well as Bach’s Passions and Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem.
Contents and tracklist
- Jussi Myllys (tenor), Hanna-Leena Haapamäki (soprano), Niklas Spångberg (bass)
- Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, Chorus Cathedralis Aboensis
- Leif Segerstam
- Chorus Cathedralis Aboensis, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra
- Leif Segerstam
Awards and reviews
-
International Classical Music Awards2019Nominee - Choral
September 2019
Segerstam’s sure pacing ensures that this performance never flags, while ensuring room to breathe in poetic moments…Jussi Myllys is an admirably clear-voiced Jesus, and Hanna-Leena Haapämaki conveys the Seraph’s coloratura with suitable aplomb, ably supported by the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra.
January/February 2020
Conductor Leif Segerstam secures first-rate performances from both the chorus and orchestra. The recording is excellent, with a warm and resonant acoustic paired with a superb balance of soloists, chorus, and orchestra—no mean feat.
September 2019
In the demanding title-role, Myllys suffers little by comparison with Plácido Domingo…His baritonal reach brings grit and authority to those recitative pages of less compelling invention…Segerstam doesn’t miss a trick when it comes to Beethoven’s defiantly personal fusion of politics, religion and music.
