Copland / Britten / Tippett / Barber / Thompson - Simple Gifts - SUPER-AUDIO CD [Super Audio CD (SACD)]

Klaus Hellwig - 6 Preludes & Fugues [SUPER-AUDIO CD] date 11/09/2010

A brief glance at the list of contents is enough to reveal who the singer is - only Anne Sofie von Otter could have come up with a programme as varied and wide-ranging. And only von Otter could hold it together seamlessly by finding the resonances between these very different pieces, and bringing them out with a rare ability of embracing different singing styles and expressive registers to paraphrase Bernstein in his A Simple Song, Anne Sofie von Otter never fails to 'sing like she likes to sing'. From Liszt to Pärt and from Mahler's Resurrection Symphony to Richard Rodgers' Sound of Music, von Otter is supported by her long-time accompanist Bengt Forsberg, here at the organ instead of his usual piano. At various points in the programme they are joined by a number of musical friends, in the organ loft of St James's Church in central Stockholm - the very church where the young von Otter began her singing career as a chorister and, together with Forsberg, gave one of her very first public concerts.

Philippe Manoury is one of the most prominent compositional voices in France today, and this WERGO recording of his InchLab. OratoriumInch presents one of Manoury's most significant works. Not only is the piece a fascinating exploration of sound color with more than 250 performers, it was inspired by the innovative architecture of many new concert halls (such as Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie with it's evocation of ships and the sea). And perhaps most importantly, the work deals with themes that are urgently relevant in our troubled times. Working together with director Nicolas Stemann, Manoury composed the piece for Cologne's Gürzenich Orchestra as a completely new kind of concert experience, a Gesamtkunstwerk combining theater, oratorio, live electronics, and spatial composition. InchLab. OratoriumInch was conceived as an independent work, but it also marks the high point and conclusion of a trilogy of monumental spatial works for orchestra including the prize-winning compositions InchIn SituInch and InchRingInch. InchLab. OratoriumInch is Manoury's moving artistic response to one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes of our time the drowning deaths of countless refugees in the Mediterranean Sea. The idea of a modern InchOdysseyInch is made heartbreakingly clear through conversations with members of maritime rescue teams. Sabine Grenard (SOS Me´diterrane´e) collected eyewitness reports that were integrated into the work.