Beethoven - Die Ruinen von Athen, Meeresstille und gluckliche Fahrt, Opferlied | CPO 7776342

Beethoven - Die Ruinen von Athen, Meeresstille und gluckliche Fahrt, Opferlied

£13.25

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Label: CPO

Cat No: 7776342

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Vocal/Choral

Release Date: 29th May 2020

Contents

Artists

Valda Wilson (soprano)
Simon Bailey (bass)
Sidonie von Krosigk (speaker)
Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno
Cappella Aquileia

Conductor

Marcus Bosch

Works

Beethoven, Ludwig van

Meerestille und gluckliche Fahrt (Calm Sea and a Prosperous Voyage), op.112
Opferlied, op.121b
The Ruins of Athens, op.113

Artists

Valda Wilson (soprano)
Simon Bailey (bass)
Sidonie von Krosigk (speaker)
Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno
Cappella Aquileia

Conductor

Marcus Bosch

About

The focus of our second collaborative venture with the Cappella Aquileia and Marcus Bosch for the Beethoven Year is formed by the complete recording of The Ruins of Athens, an incidental composition penned by Beethoven for the opening of the recently constructed theatre in Pest (today: Budapest) in 1812 and an occasional work set to a text by the then popular writer August von Kotzebue. Those who perform this work today are faced with a dilemma. If they perform Beethoven’s music without the spoken text, then a work in which language and music are closely intertwined is reduced to an arbitrary sequence of musical numbers. However, if they perform The Ruins of Athens with Kotzebue’s text, then they confront audiences with a political metaphor that without explanation would cause today’s listeners to shake their heads (at least) in bewilderment. In a new version Kai Weßler has endeavored to update Beethoven’s important idea of a classical-humanistic heritage embodied by Pallas Athena and to free it from the political connotations current during his times (and from Hungarian nationalism). The twofold goal was on the one hand to situate The Ruins of Athens in its time of composition during a period of social and political upheavals and on the other hand once again to render audible and intelligible the symbolism of the work (Athens as the cradle of European civilization, etc.).

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