Browse by Artist: ZIMMERMANN, BERND ALOIS

Artist:	ZIMMERMANN, BERND ALOIS
Title:	Requiem For A Young Poet
Label:	CYBELE RECORDS (GERMANY)
Format:	CD/SACD
Price:	$21.00
Catalog #:	CYBELE 860501CD

"The Requiem for a Young Poet, a lingual for speakers, soprano and boss soli, three choirs, orchestra, jazz combo, organ, and electronic sounds, to texts from various poets, features and news reports, is a late masterpiece of its composer Bernd Alois Zimmermann (1918-1970). In the piece, Zimmermann, one of Germany's leading composers of the post-World War II era, arrives at a totality: a summation of his own biography and also a summation of the intellectual situation of his lifetime, the 50 or so years between the October Revolution and the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Soviet troops. The Requiem, written principally between 1967 and 1969, is the sprawling realization of a grand oratorio project which had preoccupied Zimmermann since the mid-1950s, as well as the most intense incarnation of his 'pluralistic' way of musical thinking. At the time of its premiere, the Requiem could be compared to no other work. In our age, when cross-boundary explorations are quite familiar to us and many works no longer neatly fit into the categories of 'oratorio', 'cantata' or 'radio art', Zimmermann's 'lingual' seems all the more relevant. In an introductory text written for the premiere of his Requiem, the composer emphasized that while working on the piece, he had not thought in terms of cultivating a concrete artistic personality, but rather in imagining how the young poet himself would present to listeners the preceding fifty years and all of its multiplicity, seen from his own intellectual, historical and linguistic perspective and thus ours. Zimmermann arrived at the decision to use his own life span as the foundation of his Requiem at a rather late stage in the process and after varied earlier drafts. Although the composer listed the years of composition as 1967 to 1969, the Requiem should be seen in the context of larger thematic concerns which Zimmermann had been developing for some fifteen years and which found expression in many works leading up to, and stretching beyond, the Requiem. For this SACD recording, Zimmermann's own recommendation for the spatial distribution of the 250 or so participants was followed, which means that the three choirs were arranged in front of the auditorium (choir I), on the left respectively on the right (choir III) and behind the auditorium (choir II). The eight-track tape compiled by Zimmermann in 1969 has been painstakingly restored, so that the recordings of Papandreou, Hitler, Ribbentrop, and all others are again heard as they should be. The eight channels of sound heard on this SACD recording of the concert on 23 June 2005 in the Concertgebouw Haarlem (The Netherlands), were reproduced per the composer's intentions, via eight loudspeakers arranged throughout the hall. This SACD is the first surround sound recording of the Zimmermann Requiem. Owners of a home theatre system can thus enjoy the Requiem even outside the concert hall, as Zimmermann had originally conceived." Stereo/multichannel hybrid SACD that can be played on any CD player.

Artist:	ZIMMERMANN, BERND ALOIS
Title:	Die Soldaten
Label:	WERGO (GERMANY)
Format:	2CD
Price:	$48.00
Catalog #:	WER 6698

"Wergo's original-cast recording of Bernd Alois Zimmermann's opera Die Soldaten (premiered 1965, Cologne) was a signal event of the analog era. With the reissue of this legendary recording on CD, we can re-live the birth of a path setting masterpiece of 20th century music. The completely new perspective on the possibilities of musical theater manifested by Zimmermann, who extended the unifying ideas of serialism as far as the scenic and spatial aspects of the piece, have given the work a level of vitality and endurance matched by only a few other operas from the same half-century. In spite of its immense performance difficulties, the work went on to conquer opera stages not only throughout Germany but also around the world." Includes a 196-page booklet.

Artist:	ZIMMERMANN, BERND ALOIS
Title:	Initiale - Lieder and Early Chamber Music
Label:	WERGO (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$24.00
Catalog #:	WER 6735

"This CD is the first recording of Bernd Alois Zimmermann's complete vocal works. His eleven songs are interpreted here by renowned singer Anna Prohaska, who captivates the opera world with her light and lyric soprano voice. Never had Zimmermann been as close to the neo-romantic tonal language as he was in his songs. They reflect both an expression of intimate feelings and his strong interest in literature. The CD also contains his early chamber music. Members of the Berlin Philharmonic, including the Trio Berlin, present his Trio, Kleine Suite and Aria and Sonate."

Previous Page Index of Artists Next Page