Gioachino Rossini - Stabat Mater (2006)

01. Introduzione: Andantino Moderato: Stabat Mater Dolorosa
02. Aria Allegretto Maestoso: Cujus Animam Gementem
03. Duetto Largo: Quis est Homo
04. Aria Allegretto Maestoso: Pro Peccatis Suae Gentis
05. Coro e Recitativo: Andante Mosso: Eja, Mater, Fons Amoris
06. Quartetto Allegretto Moderato: Sancta Mater, Istud Agas
07. Cavatina Andante Grazioso: Fac, ut Portem Christi Mortem
08. Aria e Coro Andante Maestoso: Inflammatus et Accencus
09. Quartetto Andante: Quando Corpus Morietur
10. Finale Allegro: Andantino Moderato: Amen. In Sempiterna Saecula



Katia Ricciarelli - Soprano
Lucia Valentini Terrani - Mezzo-Soprano
Dalmacio Gonzalez - Tenor
Ruggero Raimondi - Bass-Baritone
Philharmonia Orchestra & Chorus
Conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini

Released in 2006 by Deutsche Grammophon

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Karlheinz Stockhausen - Sirius (1977)

Sirius has been described as "a modern mystery play, clothed as a science fiction story" (Kurtz 1992, 207). While not described by the composer as an opera, it is nevertheless a musical drama, in which four emissaries from a planet orbiting the star Sirius bring a message to earth. "This was to be the big leap into theatre proper. . . . Sirius is the key work that leads to his magnum opus LICHT (LIGHT)" (Ball 1997).

When Stockhausen's daughter, Julika (aged 5 or 6 at the time), asked for a dog, he obtained one for her and named it Sirius, after the star in the constellation Canis Major, which was in his mind because he had just finished composing Sternklang ("Star-sound", 1971). Shortly afterward, he chanced upon a passage in a book by Jakob Lorber describing Sirius as the sun at the center of our universe, and this fired his imagination:

Other snippets of vitally important information then came to me through a couple of revelatory dreams. Crazy dreams, from which it emerged that not only did I come from Sirius itself, but that, in fact, I completed my musical education there. (Tannenbaum 1987, 34–35)

Stockhausen never explained these dreams in detail (Kurtz 1992, 207), maintaining that "It would lead to misunderstanding and false interpretation" (Stockhausen 1989, 18). In the composer’s imagination, for beings from the planets of the Sirius system, "everything is music, or the art of co-ordination and harmony of vibrations. . . . The art is very highly developed there, and every composition on Sirius is related to the rhythms of nature . . . the seasons, the rhythms of the stars." Stockhausen’s composition therefore is based on "the cycles and rhythms of nature—of the seasons—with all of their characteristics, and to the planets, animals, and to the twelve main characters of human beings" (Stockhausen 1989, 17–18).



Sirius was commissioned by the West German government to celebrate bicentenary of the United States, and is dedicated to the "American pioneers on earth and in space". Composition was begun in 1975, and the first performance was given before an invited audience at the opening of the Albert Einstein Spacearium in Washington, D.C., on 15 July 1976, though only the "summer" section had been completed by then. The "autumn" portion was added in time for performances later that year in Japan, France, Germany, and Italy. After interrupting work in order to compose the second part of his choral opera Atmen gibt das Leben and the orchestral Jubiläum, Stockhausen finished Sirius and the première of the complete form took place on 8 August 1977 at the Aix-en-Provence Festival (Kurtz 1992, 208–209).


Sirius consists of three main parts: "Presentation", "The Wheel" (subdivided into four sections, corresponding to the four seasons), and "Annunciation". The words were written by Stockhausen, except for a text by Jakob Lorber used in the Annunciation. The musical material consists of the twelve zodiac melodies of Tierkreis, originally composed for music boxes in connection with the percussion sextet Musik im Bauch (Music in the Belly). Four of these melodies are principal, each associated with one of the protagonists, and are subjected to a variety of transformations, even undergoing metamorphosis from one to another. The remaining eight melodies serve a subsidiary role. In the Presentation, the four characters introduce themselves and their attributes. They are:

* North (bass): Earth, Man, Night, Winter, Seed
* East (trumpet): Fire, Youth, Morning, Spring, Bud
* South (soprano): Water, Woman, Midday, Summer, Blossom
* West (bass clarinet): Air, Friend/Beloved, Evening, Autumn, Fruit.

The main, central "wheel" lasts over an hour, and can be rotated, according to the season of the performance, to produce four different forms:

* Winter version, beginning with "Capricorn"
* Spring version, beginning with "Aries"
* Summer version, beginning with "Cancer"
* Autumn version, beginning with "Libra".

The total duration of Sirius is 96 minutes.

The eight-channel electronic music was realized in the Electronic Music Studio of WDR, Cologne in 1975–77, using an EMS Synthi 100 synthesizer. The electronic music can be performed by itself, without the four soloists, and there are also three excerpted versions, each for a soloist with a specially prepared version of the electronic music: Aries, for trumpet, Libra, for bass clarinet, and Capricorn, for bass voice.

[in wikipedia, more info @ http://home.earthlink.net/~almoritz/sirius.htm ]


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André Previn & David Finck - We Got it Good & That Ain't Bad (1999)

"André Previn's standing in the world of classical music has had its ups and downs (though certainly more of the former than the latter), but as a jazz pianist he has always been at the top of his profession. One of the few classically trained artists who can "cross over" stylistically with complete success, his album of Ellington classics builds on his and bassist David Finck's impressive achievement in an earlier DG release devoted to Gershwin favorites. The selection of tunes nicely explores Ellington's range as a composer, from the up-tempo sassiness of "It Don't Mean a Thing" and the Gospel-influenced "Come Sunday", to the cool, smooth "In a Mellow Tone". Previn's improvisations and embellishments respect the original melodies while at the same time revealing their different facets and potential for musical development. Ellington was, as Previn himself notes, a genuine composer, not just a bandleader or songwriter, and it's to Previn and Finck's credit that you come away from this program with a renewed sense of just how marvelous a musician Ellington really was. And you can't really ask for more than that". David Hurwitz

"Previn has always been an adept, if not brilliant, pianist whose jazz leanings have belied his classical training. Here he interprets the music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn lovingly and as well as any legit jazzster could, with help from the fine bassist David Finck. While this music can easily stand on its own, Previn's technical ability and heartfelt stretching of the original blueprints urge these well-worn tunes to carry new meaning and substance. If there are any stock treatments here, it's because the pianist tends to lay back and let the melodies come to him, as evidenced on the steady-paced "Isfahan," the easy "Serenade to Sweden," and the even easier swung "I Didn't Know About You." Previn wrings every emotional drop out of "In a Sentimental Mood," dismisses a time frame for the pristine "I Got It Bad" and "Come Sunday," while Finck is in late for the pensive "Chelsea Bridge." Melody is more implied with tempos at half and full speed on "It Don't Mean a Thing," Previn uses an off-minor change-up on the good swinger "Things Ain't What They Used to Be," and swaps 4/4 in the bridge for a waltzing 3/4 head and tail on "Take the A Train." Obviously an admirer of Oscar Peterson, Previn takes liberties and risks on the easy swing take of "In a Mellow Tone," trades ripped-up lines with the capable Finck, counter-punching during "Do Nothin' 'Til You Here From Me," and fervently digs into the up-tempo "Squatty Roo." Perhaps Previn's voracity is not well known, or as regarded in the modern jazz world as it should be, but on this recording it's clear how great he can be. This second CD with Finck, the previous being a Gershwin songbook "We Got Rhythm," signifies a step up for the veteran pianist, and is perhaps his shining recorded hour. Recommended." MG Nastos, All Music Guide

1. Take The "A" Train (Strayhorn)
2. Isfahan (Ellington / Strayhorn)
3. I Got It Bad ( And That Ain't Good) (Ellington / Paul Francis Webster)
4. Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me (Ellington / Strayhorn / Bob Russel)
5. Chelsea Bridge (Strayhorn)
6. Things Ain't What They Used To Be (Mercer Ellington / Ted Persons)
7. In A Sentimental Mood (Ellington / Irving Mills / Manny Kurtz)
8. Squatty Roo (Johnny Hodges)
9. Come Sunday (Ellington)
10. Serenade To Sweden (Ellington)
11. I Didn't Know About You (Ellington / Bob Russell)
12. In A Mellow Tone (Ellington / Milt Gabler)
13. It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) (Ellington / Strayhorn / Irving Mills)

André Previn - piano

David Finck - double bass

Released in 1999 by Deutsche Grammophon.

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