Haydn / Kermes / Wdr Funkhausorchester Koln - Haydn: Opera Gala - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Haydn - Haydn [COMPACT DISCS] date 01/18/2005

How can a great oratorio such as InchThe CreationInch be reduced to a few instruments in order to enjoy it in a small, domestic setting? How should the arias, choirs and recitatives be presented, and how can the biblical text be conveyed? Joseph Haydn delegated this apparent challenge to the then well known composer Anton Wranitzky, who arranged the music for string quintet. He left open questions about the text, so the Pandolfis Consort, playing on historical instruments, embarked on the great adventure of integrating spoken recitatives as well as passages of the libretto to illustrate the history of divine action. The role of the narrator took over Fritz von Friedl, one of the most famous Austrian speakers and actors. The result is this highly impressive and moving recording of the chamber music version of this monumental work, which had been wrongly forgotten.

After their acclaimed recording of Telemann's Miriways, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin returns to PENTATONE with Joseph Haydn's opera L'isola disabitata, together with an excellent quartet of vocalists. Officially called an azione teatrale, L'isola is a serious opera about love, loss and misunderstanding with a happy ending, set on an exotic deserted island. Special about this opera is that Haydn chose orchestral accompaniment for the entire work, with colourful and dramatic accompagnato recitatives. In Haydn's printed score, many of the elaborate instrumental sections were deliberately cut, because he feared that they demanded too much from the players, and that some audiences may not have been cultured enough to fully appreciate them. Special about this recording is that these parts have all been reinstated, using a recent edition by Thomas Busse. The seasoned players of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, led by Bernhard Forck, play this lavish score with fervour and swing, while Anett Fritsch (Costanza), Sunhae I'm (Silvia), Krystian Adam (Gernando) and André Morsch (Enrico) offer an equally virtuosic vocal delivery. The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin is generally seen as one of the best period-instruments ensembles of today, and has a substantial PENTATONE discography, including Telemann's Miriways (2020), CANTATA with Bejun Mehta (2018), as well as Handel's Messiah (2020) and Concerti grossi Op. 6 (released in 2019 and 2020) and Op. 3 (2020). Annet Fritsch and André Morsch featured on Telemann's Miriways, while Sunhae I'm and Krystian Adam make their PENTATONE debut.