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Order number: B 108 084

Audi Jugendchorakademie | Munich Opera Horns

Kent Nagano

Recorded at the Funkhaus Berlin Nalepastraße, 2013 (Chorus/horn works) and in the Bruno-Walter-hall, Bavarian State Opera, 2009 (Horn ensemble works)

CD



  • Johannes Brahms | Four Songs for women's chorus, two horns and harp, op. 17
  • Robert Schumann | Hunting Songs, Five songs for four-part men's chorus and four horns, op. 137
  • Franz Schubert | Night Song in the Forest, for four male voices and four horns, D 913
  • Igor Strawinsky | Saucers - Four Russian Peasant Songs for women's chorus and four horns
  • Richard Wagner | Parsifal, Act III Good Friday Magic for 10 horns, Arr. Franz Kanefzky
  • Richard Strauss | Suite from Der Rosenkavalier, for 10 horns, Arr. Franz Kanefzky


  • Audi Jugendchorakademie (choir)
  • Antonia Schreiber (harp)
  • Munich Opera Horns (horn ensemble)
  • Kent Nagano (conductor)

    • Chorus and horns: an unusual musical combination

    Remarkably, there is little repertoire for choral ensembles and horns, even though the sound of the horn has a very close resemblance to that of the human voice. For the Munich Opera Horns, this was a great incentive to present these rarely played works to the public in an exemplary interpretation.
    Featuring various combinations of voices and horns, the works tell of the joys and woes of hunting, romantic love, night-time in the woods, and Russian women who have devoted themselves to fortune-telling.


    The singers and horn players on the recording give wonderfully vivid and highly impassioned performances of these many-faceted pieces.


    The programme is rounded off by two works from the world of opera arranged for ten-part horn ensemble. While the 'Good Friday Magic' arrangement adopts what Wagner wrote almost note for note, the 'Rosenkavalier Suite' is a skilfully and freely ordered series of passages from the opera Der Rosenkavalier that sometimes uses bridging passages composed by the arranger.


    For Kent Nagano, musical education for young people is very close to his heart. A first one-off rehearsal with the Audi Young Persons‘ Choral Academy in 2010 led to a long-term and intensive collaboration. "The Audi Young Persons‘ Choral Academy is an investment in the future," Kent Nagano says. "The young people have a wonderful passion for music, beautiful voices, and are really ready to work together." Under Nagano's direction, the Audi Young Persons‘ Choral Academy gave concerts with top international orchestras at the Vorsprung Festival, first held in 2014.


    The Munich Opera Horns also enjoy a continued artistic association with their former principal conductor. In his time as Bavarian General Music Director (2006-2013), Kent Nagano developed a very special working relationship with “his” horn section:
    “One of the most beautiful and striking experiences of my career as a conductor has been the encounter with the horn sound of the Bavarian State Orchestra,” Nagano says. The two works for horn ensemble on this CD bear convincing witness to the kindred musical approach of conductor and ensemble.




    A Take during the recordings in Berlin, 2013

    Press review

    Fanfare

    ... this release is a welcome addition to the slim discography of Romantic choral works with horn ensemble, and should be of interest to admirers of both fine choral singing and of extraordinary French horn playing. Need I say it is highly recommended?
    Ronald E. Grames, 12/14/2015

    American Record Guide

    ... These are great horn players, and they know this music intimately.
    Barry Kilpatrick, 1/27/2016