Su	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	1	2	3	4	5

Beethoven: Christus Am Olberge - Nagano, Orgonasova, Domingo (2013)

Posted By: peotuvave

Date: 2 Apr 2014 03:20:07

'Christus am Ölberge', text by Franz Xaver Huber, is Beethoven's only oratorio and an isolated piece in his overall output. He composed it early in 1803, shortly before his great Third Symphony and a few months before he began work on his only opera, 'Fidelio'. Huber chose the biblical accounts of Jesus and his disciples in the garden of Gethsemane and of Christ's capture there as the basis of his work.

Originally released in November 2003, this spectacular recording launched a new collaboration between Kent Nagano and harmonia mundi.

Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer: Luba Orgonasova, Placido Domingo, Andreas Schmidt
Conductor: Kent Nagano
Orchestra/Ensemble: Berlin Radio Chorus, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin

Reviews: Christus am Ölberge (Christ on the Mount of Olives) is Beethoven's only oratorio, and while the 1803 work hardly measures up to the peaks of the Beethoven canon, it's well worth hearing, especially in so sympathetic a performance. Nowhere near as sweepingly dramatic as the great Bach Passions, it's sharply focused on Jesus' mental turmoil. The action is confined to the Mount of Olives, and besides Jesus, the other soloists are the Seraph as God's messenger, and Peter, whose small role is confined to anger at the Roman soldiers. The chorus takes on the parts of the soldiers, disciples, and angels, eschewing Bachian opportunities for meditative lessons for the faithful.

The musical language is unmistakably Beethoven's, but with visible fingerprints of Haydn, Mozart, and Handel, the latter most apparent in the final choral fugue that quotes Messiah's "Hallelujah!" chorus. Likewise, while the orchestral introduction recalls Haydn, the bassoon-led sonorities and ominous throbbing timpani mark it with Beethoven's originality. That introduction also exemplifies the quality of much of the work, as does the following extended recitative and aria for Jesus. The soprano aria "Preist des Erlösens Güte" is another high point, gracefully and often floridly written.

But the oratorio is front-loaded; the first part is more compelling musically, and while the second part has its moments, notably the final choral fugue, there are too many banal sections, such as the soldier's choruses and Peter's outburst, heir to the traditional vengeance aria. Perhaps the work's unevenness is due to Beethoven's greater attraction to the emotions and spiritual wrestlings in preference to the more conventional narrative of the rest of the work.

Kent Nagano and his forces are persuasive advocates, making the most of the oratorio's best moments and making the perfunctory ones palatable. But in most respects, this is Placido Domingo's show. The man never ceases to amaze. On the brink of qualifying for Social Security, he still sings with commitment and tonal strength, investing the text with expressiveness to portray a very human Jesus. Likewise, soprano Luba Orgonasova is about all we can ask for in the role of the Seraph–warmly angelic and agile in coping with the role's modest coloratura demands. The jewel box lists baritone Andreas Schmidt as a bass, but even a darker voice wouldn't make anything of the formulaic part. Fine sound allows details to emerge with clarity. But isn't 47 and a half minutes skimpy timing for a full-price disc? [3/17/2004]

Tracklisting:

1. Christus am Ölberge, Op. 85 by Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer: Luba Orgonasova (Soprano), Placido Domingo (Tenor), Andreas Schmidt (Baritone)
Conductor: Kent Nagano
Orchestra/Ensemble: Berlin Radio Chorus, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Period: Classical
Written: 1803-1804; Vienna, Austria

EAC

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 1 from 15. November 2010

EAC extraction logfile from 28. March 2014, 20:55

Ludwig van Beethoven / Christus am Olberge

Used drive : Optiarc DVD RW AD-7203A Adapter: 4 ID: 1

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 48
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 128 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\FLAC\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -T "COMMENT=Ripped by GFox" -8 -V %s

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 4:49.46 | 0 | 21720
2 | 4:49.46 | 2:56.10 | 21721 | 34930
3 | 7:45.56 | 4:34.15 | 34931 | 55495
4 | 12:19.71 | 1:17.54 | 55496 | 61324
5 | 13:37.50 | 7:45.69 | 61325 | 96268
6 | 21:23.44 | 1:04.15 | 96269 | 101083
7 | 22:27.59 | 5:26.51 | 101084 | 125584
8 | 27:54.35 | 0:54.48 | 125585 | 129682
9 | 28:49.08 | 2:34.18 | 129683 | 141250
10 | 31:23.26 | 1:13.33 | 141251 | 146758
11 | 32:36.59 | 2:23.23 | 146759 | 157506
12 | 35:00.07 | 1:11.48 | 157507 | 162879
13 | 36:11.55 | 4:45.08 | 162880 | 184262
14 | 40:56.63 | 2:31.45 | 184263 | 195632
15 | 43:28.33 | 4:05.13 | 195633 | 214020

Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename D:\EAC\Ludwig van Beethoven - Christus am Olberge.wav

Peak level 99.8 %
Extraction speed 0.3 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC FCEB090C
Copy CRC FCEB090C
Copy OK

No errors occurred

AccurateRip summary

Track 1 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 5) [B0367B8B], AccurateRip returned [9F9DE6F1]
Track 2 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 5) [883694C7], AccurateRip returned [35CC7162]
Track 3 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 5) [50CFDE63], AccurateRip returned [C93C132E]
Track 4 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 5) [3ECF346C], AccurateRip returned [19B5DC4E]
Track 5 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 5) [6E58F0EC], AccurateRip returned [D170233C]
Track 6 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 5) [B242DEE7], AccurateRip returned [14FF5AB5]
Track 7 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 5) [4F997046], AccurateRip returned [1979CE12]
Track 8 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 5) [9C99DFA2], AccurateRip returned [5395E806]
Track 9 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 5) [ED43DD6E], AccurateRip returned [ECDCEFA7]
Track 10 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 5) [70B7B359], AccurateRip returned [B0DA2D39]
Track 11 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 5) [367290E7], AccurateRip returned [7CDB7E25]
Track 12 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 5) [159E27F8], AccurateRip returned [AEFAD7A6]
Track 13 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 5) [1778F8B3], AccurateRip returned [2DE55E23]
Track 14 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 5) [8100E797], AccurateRip returned [5540D4D7]
Track 15 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 5) [C2DAB636], AccurateRip returned [1A859395]

No tracks could be verified as accurate
You may have a different pressing from the one(s) in the database

End of status report

==== Log checksum 1E7794391D64BAED7513323D49F8894B92C374F8EA46F59E668B6A344C7AA16B ====

Thanks to the original releaser

Download:

Uploaded | Uploadable

Viennese School 2013 Classical Lossless