Credits:

Verdi / Leenaars, Gijs / Rundfunkchor Berlin

Description:

A collection of Italian late 19th and early 20th century choral works by chief conductor Hayes Lehners & the Rundfunkchor BerlinThe Rundfunkchor Berlin is one of Germany's most successful mixed choral ensembles. It has won numerous record awards, among them three Grammy Awards and many Classical Echo Awards. The choir has also proven its international quality in many ways as an indispensable choir for performances with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, and others. Current chief conductor Hayes Lehnerth's 2019 release of "Brahms: Choral Works" was no less beautiful, but this time it includes rarely performed choral works from the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Italy. The centerpiece of the collection is Verdi's "Four Chants. In his later years, Verdi returned to his starting point as a musician, namely, religious music, and published a collection of vocal works composed separately between 1887 and 1897 under the title "Four Chants" in 1898. Although the compositions are different, with two unaccompanied and two orchestrated pieces, the audience can enjoy a style that literally condenses the essence of Verdi's music, from pious prayers to passionate and dramatic cantabiles. Rossini's "Oh Sacrifice of Salvation" is from the "Little Solemn Mass," later one of his most outstanding works.The following two choral pieces from "Eight Choruses Op.2" by Wolf-Ferrari, known primarily as an opera composer, are early works with texts in Italian and German that reveal his love of Italian Renaissance music. Another unusual inclusion on this album is a work by Marco Enrico Bossi (1861-1925). A lifelong organist and composer who contributed to the "revival of Italian instrumental music," his other works, with the exception of his organ works, are still largely unknown. Bossi was a close friend of Puccini and is known to have received many suggestions from him. The album closes with Puccini's Requiem, Verdi's answer to his dramatic late works. Puccini composed a short requiem for mixed three-part chorus with viola solo and organ accompaniment on January 27, 1905, on the fourth anniversary of Verdi's death, subtitled "To the memory of Verdi." Again, under the masterful direction and leadership of Lehners, the singing on this album is remarkably clear and transparent, and the singing is steady and even from pianissimo to fortissimo, full of beautiful echoes of praise for these religious works. Sony Music

Tracklisting:

1.Quattro Pezzi Sacri~Ave Maria
2.Quattro Pezzi Sacri~Stabat Mater
3.Quattro Pezzi Sacri~Laudi alla Vergine Maria
4.Quattro Pezzi Sacri~Te Deum
5.Pater noster
6.O Salutaris Hostia
7.Otto cori, Op. 2~Due canti No. 1
8.Otto cori, Op. 2~Due canti No. 2
9.A Raffaello Divino
10.Requiem, SC 76