Stravinsky: Le rossignol (Sung in Russian) Mojca Erdmann, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln & Jukka-Pekka Saraste

• Igor Stravinsky(1882-1971): Le rossignol, Act I (Sung in Russian):
• 1 Introduction 03:09
• 2 Porté au vent, tombant au loin 03:50
• 3 Ah, quand du ciel tomba la rayonnante étoile 02:07
• 4 Voici l’endroit, près de ces arbres en fleur 03:33
• 5 Beau rossignol, incomparable oiseau 03:25
• Act II:
• 6 Des feux, des feux, bien vite, illuminez! 02:03
• 7 Marche chinoise - O maître magnanime 03:34
• 8 Ah! joie, emplis mon cœur 03:57
• 9 Au coucher du soleil 01:24
• 10 Psst, psst, qu’est-ce donc? 03:43
• Act III:
• 11 Vois-nous rassemblés 03:31
• 12 Ah, me voici, o prince magnanime 02:21
• 13 Ah, j’aime à t’écouter 04:49
• 14 Cortège solennel - Bonjour à tous! 02:38
• Pribaoutki:
• 15 No. 1, Uncle Kornilo 00:53
• 16 No. 2, Little Natalie 00:25
• 17 No. 3, The Colonel 00:52
• 18 No. 4, The Old Man and the Hare 02:12
• 2 Poèmes de Paul Verlaine, Op. 9:
• 19 No. 2, La lune blanche 03:22
• 20 No. 1, Un grand sommeil noir 01:43
• Total Runtime 53:31

Info for Stravinsky: Le rossignol (Sung in Russian)

Igor Stravinskys later stage works Mavra (1922), Oedipus Rex (1927/28) or The Rakes Progress (1951) are more than matched by his early 'lyrical fairy tale in three acts' Le Rossignol, which occupies a special place due to its brevity at scarcely 45 minutes. It is also unusual for the fairy-tale subject matter, based on a story called The Nightingale by Hans Christian Andersen; for its language the original was Danish, this recording features the Russian version, yet it was premiered in French in Paris in 1914; and for its style, especially since there was a significant gap in time between the composition of the first and the other two acts, a fact that the composer was admittedly able to justify from a point of view of the shaping of the plot, since the cold atmosphere of the Chinese emperors royal household required a quite different musical approach to that of the beginning and end of the tale. The emperor, who is first enchanted by the birds song, then banishes the real thing when visiting emissaries present him with a mechanical nightingale which he names 'first singer'. When the emperor later falls ill, the nightingale returns to sing to him, and saves his life.Stravinskys sophisticated musical chinoiserie, which - despite the large orchestral formation - always sounds like chamber music, is in the safest of hands with the WDR Symphony Orchestra of Cologne under the baton of Jukka-Pekka Saraste. The singers too deliver a brilliant and incisive performance: above all, Mojca Erdmann, whose lyrical coloratura soprano delivers vocal embellishments, high tessitura and ability to effortlessly hit top notes up to D flat and D, thus perfectly conjuring up the almost inspired twittering of a nightingale to lyrics, no less. The dramatic soprano Marina Prudenskaya as the Cook and alto Mayram Sokolova as Death both lend a darker tone to the story. The Fisherman from the framework plot (tenor Evgeny Akimov) is a convincing idiomatic narrator, while the baritone Vladimir Vaneev gives a fine reading of the Emperor. Six short, finely instrumented songs by Stravinsky, sung by Katrin Wundsam and Hans Christoph Begemann, including two arrangements of poems by Verlaine that exude a Debussy-like flair, complement this CD, adding a real gem to the otherwise modest discography of Le Rossignol.

Mojca Erdmann, soprano
WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln
Jukka-Pekka, conductor

Mojca Erdmann
Praised by critics and loved by audiences for her beauty of tone and impeccable artistry, soprano Mojca Erdmann is a rapidly rising star in the international music scene. Of her return to the Metropolitan Opera in 2012, the New York Times wrote “Mojca Erdmann brought a sweet, beguiling voice and a demure sincerity to Susanna”. Known for her versatility in repertoire ranging from baroque to contemporary music, the BBC Music Magazine praised her as an “interpreter of major gifts”.

Mojca Erdmann kicks off the 2016/17 season with a concert together with the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra in Ankara with orchestra songs by Strauss and Mozart arias. On the concert stage the sought-after singer can be heard in a very broad and versatile repertoire this season: she performs Beat Furrer’s Spazio immergente at the Mozartwoche Salzburg, works by Daj Fujikura and Harrison Birwistle at the Ultraschall Festival in Berlin, with the world premiere of Wolfgang Rihm’s Requiem-Strophen with the Symphonieorchester of the Bayerische Rundfunk under the baton of Mariss Jansons in Munich’s Herkulessaal and Lucerne´s KKL, as well as songs by Franz Schubert with the Württembergisches Kammerorchester and Mendelssohns Lobgesang with the Tonhalle Orchestra at the Tonhalle Zurich. In Berlins renowned Konzerthaus the soprano will join the Delian Quartett performing Schubert and Schönberg before closing the season with Luigi Nono’s Il Canto sospeso with the SWR Sinfonieorchester at the Konzerthaus Freiburg. On the operatic stage, Mojca Erdmann will make her debut at the Gran Teatro del Liceu Barcelona singing Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro) and return to the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich as Landlady in Miroslav Srnka’s new opera South Pole alongside Thomas Hampson and Rolando Villazón.

In the 2015/16 season Mojca Erdmann could be heard in a concert tour together with the Bach Collegium Japan with concerts in Tokyo, Nagoya and Kobe. The programme was recorded for a CD release. On the concert stage the sought-after lied singer could be twice at the Schubertiade Festival in Hohenems and Schwarzenberg, sang a concert in Istanbul together with the Kuss Quartett as well as a recital with the Mozart Festival Wurzburg. She sang the soprano part in Mozart‘s Requiem with the Munich Philharmonic under the baton of Zubin Mehta and returned to the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, where a piece by Wolfgang Rihm together with the SWR Symphony Orchestra was performed. In spring 2016 Mojca Erdmann returned to Japan for recitals with Malcolm Martineau in Tokyo. On the operatic stage, Mojca Erdmann sang in the world premiere of Miroslva Srnka’s new opera South Pole alongside Thomas Hampson and Rolando Villazón at the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich as well as Wolfgang Rihm’s Proserpina at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma.

In 2011, the soprano made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera New York as Zerlina in a new production of Don Giovanni and as Waldvogel in Siegfried. The latter production was released on DVD by Deutsche Grammophon in September 2012. She returned to the Metropolitan Opera the following season for performances as Susanna in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. In 2012, she made her highly acclaimed debut as the titular character in Berg’s Lulu, in a new production led by Andrea Breth and conducted by Daniel Barenboim at the Staatsoper Berlin. After her Salzburg Festival debut in 2006 as Mozart’s Zaide under Ivor Bolton, she was invited to return to the festival in 2007 and 2009 to sing Zelmira in Haydn’s Armida, (again, under the direction of Ivor Bolton in a production by Christof Loy). In 2013, she returned to the festival to perform a series of world premieres in concert with the Scharoun Ensemble. In 2014, she starred as Sophie in the festival’s new production of Der Rosenkavalier, conducted by Franz Welser-Möst and made her operatic debut at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala as Marzelline in a new production of Beethoven’s Fidelio, conducted by Daniel Barenboim, to open the theatre’s season. She reunited with Daniel Barenboim later in the season for performances of Berg’s Lulu at the Berlin Staatsoper and for a concert featuring music by Boulez.

She made her debut at Opera Amsterdam as Blondchen in Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail, conducted by Constantinos Carydis and returned to Amsterdam in the role of Lulu for a new production by William Kentridge in 2014. Simon Rattle invited her to sing Waldvogel in his new production of Wagner’s Siegfried in Aix (2008) and at the Salzburg Easter Festival in 2009. In the same year she debuted as Sophie in Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier in a new production by Stefan Herheim at the Staatsoper Stuttgart, a role she also sang for the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich. Mojca Erdmann appeared in a new production of Weber’s Der Freischütz, another debut, at Theater an der Wien and made her debut as Zerlina in an all-star gala performance of Don Giovanni in Baden-Baden, where she returned as Despina in a new production of Così fan tutte in 2012. Zerlina was also the vehicle for her debut with Teatro Real Madrid in 2013. She has performed Pamina in Die Zauberflöte with Cologne Opera and Marzelline in Fidelio with Nice Opera.

Mojca Erdmann regularly appears in concert and recital in Germany, Austria, Denmark, Spain, France Switzerland, South Korea and Japan, where she was last heard in 2014 in performances of Orff’s Carmina Burana and Catulli Carmina in Tokyo and on a multi-city recital tour with harpist Xavier de Maistre. She is a frequent guest at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, the Cologne and Berlin Philharmonie, the Alte Oper Frankfurt where she was Artist in Residence in 2012-13, the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna and the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg as well as the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg or the Kissinger Sommer. She has a vast concert repertoire and is frequently working with conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Ivor Bolton, Manfred Honeck, Kent Nagano, Fabio Luisi and Daniel Harding. She appeared with the Berliner Philharmonic, the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

The soprano made her debut at the Lucerne Festival with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra under Jonathan Nott, performing Ligeti’s Requiem. Nikolaus Harnoncourt invited her to the Vienna Musikverein for Schumann’s Paradies und die Peri, to the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orkest for Scenes from Goethe’s Faust, and to the Berlin Philharmonic for Haydn’s Orlando Paladino. In 2009 she appeared as Sorge/Soprano 1 in Schumann’s Scenes from Goethe’s Faust with the Stockholm Radio Symphony under Daniel Harding, the DSO Berlin conducted by Ingo Metzmacher, and with the Orchestra at La Scala di Milan conducted by Pinchas Steinberg in what marked her debut at La Scala. In 2011 Ms Erdmann joined the Mahler Chamber Orchestra on their tour to Asia and for concerts in Dortmund and Leipzig, performing Mahler´s Symphony No 4.

An unusually versatile performer, Mojca Erdmann is much sought after for her interpretation of contemporary music: She made her debut with the Berlin Staatsoper in the world premiere of Takemitsu – My Way of Life, conducted by Kent Nagano. In 2009 she performed the title role in Wolfgang Rihm’s monodrama Proserpina and the following year Rihm entrusted her with the lead soprano role in his new opera Dionysos, which saw its world premiere at the Salzburg Festival in 2010 under the baton of Ingo Metzmacher, and was premiered in Germany at the Berlin Staatsoper in 2012. Also in 2012, she premiered Rodion Schchedrin’s Cleopatra and the Snake at the Salzburg Whitsun Festival, conducted by Valery Gergiev.

Mojca Erdmann can be heard on many recordings, including an acclaimed version of Mahler’s Symphony No 4 with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra under Jonathan Nott released by Tudor and in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle, released by Sony. In 2011, RCA released a recording of Wolf´s Italian Songbook which featured Mojca Erdmann, Christian Gerhaher and Gerold Huber. In 2009, the soprano signed an exclusive agreement with Deutsche Grammophon, with the first solo recording, Mozart´s Garden, featuring arias by Mozart and his contemporaries, having been released in 2011. She can be heard as Zerlina and Despina respectively on Deutsche Grammophon’s recently released complete recordings of Don Giovanni and Cosi fan tutte, both conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Booklet for Stravinsky: Le rossignol (Sung in Russian)