Wagner: Rienzi - Dresden Staatskapelle, Hollreiser

Richard Wagner: Rienzi

Peter Schreier (Tenor), Siv Wennberg (Soprano), René Kollo (Tenor), 

Janis Martin (Mezzo Soprano), Nikolaus Hillebrand (Bass), Theo Adam (Bass Baritone), 

Siegfried Vogel (Bass), Günther Leib (Baritone), Ingeborg Springer (Mezzo Soprano) 

Heinrich Hollreiser 

Leipzig Radio Chorus,  Dresden Staatskapelle,  Dresden State Opera Chorus 

Bach: Christmas Oratorio BWV 248 (Harnoncourt, 1981)

2nd recording of Christmas Oratorio BWV 248 by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Recorded at Waldhausen, Stiftskirche (1981)

adapted for CD

Customer review (2005):

The performance is vintage Harnoncourt. A trail-blazing advocate of authentic performance practice, his approach may not please purists. Apparently, some controversial aspects of this performance (choices in instrumentation, in voices and disposition of the parts) have made for a certain defensiveness on the part of the Conductor. In an interview, he asserts that conveying the spirit of the work is his primary concern. As this recording is nearly 25 years old, it hardly seems fair to compare it to today's more rigorous notion of "period performance". The Orchestra sounds fine (although there are some intonation problems amongst the period horns), the Tolzer boys choir are quite good and Tenor Peter Schreier is superb, if not at his peak here! Bass Robert Holl is also excellent. Bach's magnificent score played lovingly and well that makes it worth owning.

Carl Maria von Weber: Der Freischutz - Schreier, Janowitz, Weikl, Adam, Vogel, Mathis, C. Kleiber, Staatskapelle Dresden, Rundfunkchor Leipzig

Carl Maria von Weber : Der Freischutz

Peter Schreier, Gundula Janowitz, Bernd Weikl, Theo Adam, Siegfried Vogel, Edith Mathis

Carlos Kleiber - Staatskapelle Dresden, Rundfunkchor Leipzig

1973
 

Music Web International : Marc Bridle
"..And that is the colossal scale of Kleiber's life and death. There exist some of the greatest recorded performances of symphonies and operas anywhere in the catalogue (are there many people who would deny that his Der Freischütz is the greatest opera recording ever made?) Kleiber does what every great conductor does : he brings to a work something personal and unique. .."


Penguin Guide 3 star


Especially for Parzifal


Carl Maria Von Weber : Der Freischutz
Romantic Opera in Three Acts
Libretto Johann Friedrich Kind
Bernd Weikl : Ottokar
Siegfried Vogel : Kuno
Gundula Janowitz : Agathe
Edith Mathis : Annchen
Kaspar : Theo Adam
Max : Peter Schreier
A Hermit : Franz Grass
Kilian : Gunther Leib
First Bridesmaid : Renate Hoff
Second Bridesmaid : Brigitte Pfretzschner
Third Bridesmaid : Renate krahmer
Fourth Bridesmaid : Ingeborg Springer
Rundfunkchor Leipzig
Leipzig Radio Chorus
Chorus Master : Horst Neumann
Staatskapelle Dresden
Carlos Kleiber
Year: 1973