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Cover: Brahms-Glanert · Detlev Glanert – Four Preludes and Serious Songs · Distant Land (Music with Brahms for Orchestra) · Brahms-Berio · Op. 120 No. 1 (Clarinet Sonata No. 1 for clarinet and orchestra by Luciano Berio)

Brahms-Glanert · Detlev Glanert

Four Preludes and Serious Songs

Distant Land (Music with Brahms for Orchestra) · Brahms-Berio · Op. 120 No. 1 (Clarinet Sonata No. 1 for clarinet and orchestra by Luciano Berio)

Michael Nagy, baritone
Kari Kriikku, clarinet
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
Olari Elts, conductor

ODE 1263-2 · CD · January 2017

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Track listing

14 tracks · 58:33

Listen to samples on selected tracks.

Detlev Glanert

  1. Brahms-Glanert: Four Preludes and Serious Songs 24:28
  2. 1 Präludium zu Nr. 1 2:04
  3. 2 I Denn es gehet dem Menschen 4:15
  4. 3 Präludium zu Nr. 2 1:49
  5. 4 II Ich wandte mich 3:32
  6. 5 Präludium zu Nr. 3 1:35
  7. 6 III O Tod, wie bitter bist du 3:08
  8. 7 Präludium zu Nr. 4 2:03
  9. 8 IV Wenn ich mit Menschen- und Engelszungen redete 4:02
  10. 9 Postludium 1:55
  11. 10 Music with Brahms for Orchestra 11:25

Luciano Berio

  1. Brahms-Berio: Op. 120 No. 1, Sonata No. 1 for clarinet and orchestra 22:45
  2. 11 I Allegro appasionato 8:04
  3. 12 II Andante un poco adagio 5:47
  4. 13 III Allegretto grazioso 3:45
  5. 14 IV Vivace 5:09

About this recording

This Ondine recording includes a fascinating programme: Luciano Berio’s
(1925–2003) iconic adaptation of Johannes Brahms’ (1833–1897) Clarinet
Sonata No. 1 combined with Detlev Glanert’s (b. 1960) recent arrangement of
Brahms’ late vocal masterpiece, Four Serious Songs. Also included is
Glanert’s new orchestral work Weites Land (2013) written in the spirit of
Brahms. This disc includes as its soloists award-winning clarinetist Kari
Kriikku and German baritone Michael Nagy. This is the second Ondine
release of Estonian conductor Olari Elts together with the Helsinki
Philharmonic Orchestra.

Detlev Glanert (b. 1960) was, like Brahms, born in Hamburg. A pupil of
Diether de la Motte and Hans Werner Henze, Glanert has long felt a deep
connection with Brahms’ music through “a specific North German tradition, in
which I believe myself to be connected with Brahms, to do with a melancholy
in his pieces, with a certain severity.” Melancholy and severity dominate the
Four Serious Songs (1896), Brahms’ final set. Glanert’s Four Preludes and
Serious Songs (the orchestrated Songs may be performed separately) were
created in 2004 and they were premiered complete in the Marienkirche in
Prenzlau on June 25th 2005 by the baritone Dietrich Henschel and the
Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin conducted by Kent Nagano. Glanert’s
Weites Land was written in 2013. It is not a transcription but a fully
independent, original work written, as it were, with Brahms’ Fourth
Symphony firmly in view: the thematic and harmonic material originates from
the first eight notes of the symphony and is developed through a single
movement running to nearly twelve minutes.

Luciano Berio (1925–2003) was commissioned by the Los Angeles
Philharmonic Orchestra in 1986 to provide an orchestral version of the first of
the two late sonatas Brahms composed in 1894, two years prior to the Serious
Songs. Berio created a 25-minute concerto, although retaining the designation
‘Sonata’. Berio’s treatment of Brahms’ was highly respectful and
straightforward and the solo part is almost identical with the original sonata.

Features

Sleeve notes in English and Finnish

Lyrics in German and English

The artists

Michael Nagy

Michael Nagy, a baritone with Hungarian roots, was initially an ensemble member of the Komische Oper Berlin before moving on to Frankfurt Opera, where he was able to develop his repertoire in leading roles such as Papageno (The Magic Flute), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), The Count (The Marriage of Figaro), Hans Scholl (Die weiße Rose), Wolfram (Tannhäuser), Valentin (Faust), Prince Yeletsky (Pique Dame), Marcello (La Bohème), Albert (Werther), Frank/Fritz (Die tote Stadt), Jason (Medea), Dr. Falke (Die Fledermaus) and the title role in Owen Wingrave. Between 2011 and 2013 he sang the role of Wolfram at the Bayreuth Festival. He appeared as a guest at the Oslo Opera House, Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, at Zurich Opera House and the Theater an der Wien, among others. In 2013 he performed the role of Papageno (The Magic Flute) with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle at the Whitsun Festival in Baden-Baden.

Full biography

Kari Kriikku

Hailed by the New York Times as “A physically flamboyant player of Olympian virtuosity…”, Kari Kriikku has been a living inspiration behind a great number of remarkable Finnish compositions for the clarinet. On stage and through recordings, he has championed concertos and chamber works written for him by Kimmo Hakola, Jouni Kaipainen, Magnus Lindberg, Uljas Pulkkis, Kaija Saariaho, and Jukka Tiensuu. Above all, Kari Kriikku has premiered the entire output for clarinet by Magnus Lindberg. His recording of the Clarinet Concerto earned him both a Gramophone Award and a BBC Music Magazine Award in 2006. Furthermore he has championed the clarinet works of Jukka Tiensuu. Both concerto works Puro (“brook”, or “Bach” in German) and Missa he has performed more than fifty times.

Full biography

Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the first professional symphony orchestra to be founded in the Nordic countries (1882), has grown from a band of 36 players to an orchestra of 102 regular members.

Full biography

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