Korngold: Die tote Stadt

Jonas Kaufmann (Paul), Marlis Petersen (Marietta), Andrej Filonczyk (Frank/Fritz), Jennifer Johnston (Brigitta), Mirjam Mesak (Juliette), Corinna Scheurle (Lucienne), Manuel Günther (Gaston/Victorin), Dean Power (Graf Albert), Bayerische Staatsoper, Kirill Petrenko, Simon Stone (director)

There’s a depth and emotional intelligence to this staging that disarmed my initial resistance...on every level, a glorious achievement. — Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2021 More…

Release Date: 16th Jul 2021
Catalogue No: BSOREC2001
Label: BSO Recordings

Gramophone Magazine

Critics' Choice 2021
Presto Recording of the Week

23rd July 2021
Opera

October 2021

Disc of the Month
Gramophone Magazine

Awards Issue 2021

DVD/Blu-ray of the Month
Presto Recordings of the Year

Finalist 2021
Presto Recordings of the Year

Winner 2021

DVD/Blu-ray of the Year
International Classical Music Awards

2022

Nominated - Video Performance

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Korngold: Die Tote Stadt, Op. 12

Jonas Kaufmann (Paul), Marlis Petersen (Marietta), Andrej Filonczyk (Frank/Fritz), Jennifer Johnston (Brigitta), Mirjam Mesak (Juliette), Corinna Scheurle (Lucienne), Manuel Günther (Gaston/Victorin), Dean Power (Graf Alber), Bayerische Staatsoper (opera company), Simon Stone (director)
Kirill Petrenko

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Recording of the Week, Korngold's Die tote Stadt from Munich

23rd July 2021

Jonas Kaufmann and Marlis Petersen both thrive under the camera's close scrutiny in Korngold's early opera about a volatile widower who attempts to refashion a new love-interest in his late wife's image.

The premiere of Korngold's Die tote Stadt at the Bayerische Staatsoper in 2019 was praised both by press and audiences. Marlis Petersen (Marie/Marietta) and Jonas Kaufmann (Paul) sang the main roles, with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester under Kirill Petrenko's baton, in the intense staging by Simon Stone. After opening night, Joshua Barone wrote in the NY Times: “[The] work's comeback may have reached its peak at the Bavarian State Opera. It’s difficult to imagine a better case for Die tote Stadt than was made in Munich.” The boundary between dream and reality dissolves as Paul, mourning his dead wife Marie, meets the dancer Marietta. With her looks so similar to Marie’s, Marietta becomes the object of the projection of Paul’s erotic desires. Following a nerve-racking “vision”, Paul is finally reeled back to reality and he can leave Bruges as the place of his death cult. The original title of the piece, “Triumph des Lebens”, is symbolic of the main character’s personal development. Just a few weeks before the successful world premiere of Die tote Stadt, none other than Puccini himself described Korngold as the “greatest hope of new German music”. Because of their melodic urgency, arias such as “Glück, das mir verblieb (Marietta's Lute Song)” and “Mein Sehnen, mein Wähnen (Pierrot's Song)” have found a home among the concert repertoires of many opera singers and radiate far beyond the fame of Die tote Stadt. This production is the first AV release on our newly launched label.

Reviews

Awards Issue 2021

There’s a depth and emotional intelligence to this staging that disarmed my initial resistance...on every level, a glorious achievement.

October 2021

In Kaufmann and Petersen, Stone is lucky to have a pair of protagonists whose go-for-broke performances show total commitment to his concept, and to Korngold...Petrenko emphasizes the score’s full-blown theatricality; his fondness for it is clear from the joyous expression on his face during his conducting of the exciting Act 2 prelude.

23rd July 2021

Kaufmann and Petersen are utterly fearless in squaring up to the formidable vocal and emotional demands of the central roles…The third knock-out performance comes from the pit: Petrenko clearly adores this score, and ensures that every detail of Korngold’s precociously brilliant orchestration comes across loud and clear.

12th August 2021

It could hardly be better cast…But it’s Kirill Petrenko’s impassioned conducting that really makes the performance compelling: he clearly cares passionately about every note of the score, its overripe romanticism and all.

4th August 2021

Wow! Half of its lustre derives from the uniformly excellent cast…Clearly loving every note of the teeming score, Kirill Petrenko does a magnificent job conducting the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, balancing Korngold’s marzipan opulence with glimpses into the heart of darkness hidden within.

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Korngold: Die tote Stadt

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