Wagner: Preludes and Overtures Yakov Kreizberg & Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra

• Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883): Der fliegende Holländer, WWV 63: Overture
• 1 Wagner: Der fliegende Hollander: Overture 11:47
• 2 Wagner: Rienzi: Overture 13:02
• 3 Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Prelude (Vorspiel) 11:20
• 4 Wagner: Tannhäuser: Overture 15:20
• 5 Wagner: Lohengrin: Prelude 3rd Act (Vorspiel 3. Akt) 03:18
• Tristan und Isolde
• 6 Wagner: Tristan und Isolde, WWV 90: I. Prelude 13:07
• 7 Wagner: Tristan und Isolde, WWV 90: II. Isoldens Liebestod] 07:07
• Total Runtime 01:15:01

Info for Wagner: Preludes and Overtures

Richard Wagner, a symphonic composer in disguise - The overtures and preludes to his operas and music dramas

'I do not know precisely what is my destination: however, I do know that one evening, after for the first time hearing a symphony by Beethoven, I became feverish and ill. As soon as I recovered, I became a musician.' Thus Richard Wagner described the enormous impression that Beethoven's music had made on him in his novelette Eine Pilgerfahrt zu Beethoven (= a pilgrimage to Beethoven). Although it is difficult to separate fact and fiction in this novelette, Beethoven's music did indeed exert a major influence on the life of the young composer. Wagner was 17 years old when he first heard Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, a work which was to play a central role during his entire life, and which he was, for instance, to conduct in 1846 at the opening of the Festival Theatre in Bayreuth.

At this time, Wagner also began to compose music. The first works he penned included a string quartet, piano music and a number of overtures (including one for Schiller's play Die Braut von Messina (= the bride of Messina). In 1832, he completed his Symphony in C within six weeks (as he himself recorded), which was performed in Prague that same year. A year later, Mendelssohn programmed this symphony for a concert at the Leipzig Gewandhaus. Although Wagner never actually quoted his great example Beethoven in this work, he did admit that he could never have written the slow movement of the symphony had he not first heard the Andante from Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 and the Allegretto from his Symphony No. 7.

Remarkably, Wagner hung on to this early work, as opposed to many other scores, which he destroyed. He conducted it himself only once: in 1882, one year before his death, for the birthday of his wife, Cosima. That performance marked a turning point in the way Wagner thought as a composer. Until that moment, he had believed that there was no real sense in instrumental music by itself, and that it could develop into something meaningful only within the context of a music drama. He then wrote that he planned to turn his back on the music theatre and to dedicate himself entirely to the development of a new symphonic form. Beethoven had taken the sonata form - in which contrasting themes are responsible for the development - to its limits. Wagner planned to write one-movement symphonies, in which one single melody would be developed ceaselessly, in similar fashion to the so-called 'Orchestermelodie' (= orchestral melody): the continuously developing network of 'leitmotivs' in his music dramas.

Unfortunately, these orchestral works never came about, as Wagner died at his desk on February 13, 1883. Therefore, his symphonic oeuvre remains limited to the above-mentioned symphony; the Faust Overture from 1840/1844; the Siegfried Idyll, which he wrote for Cosima's birthday in 1870; and a number of less important short pieces.

'…if you have a five-speaker system of fairly similar speakers, you will be transported by the fire and gusto of these recordings. This reading of the Flying Dutchman Overture will make you realize why the music was once used on the soundtrack of so many movie serials and TV shows.' (John Sunier, Audiophile Audition)

'Superior acoustics and superior PentaTone engineering are particularly flattering to the rich and burnished string sound so essential to a convincing Wagnerian reading.' (Harry Pearson)

Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra
Yakov Kreizberg, conductor

Executive Producer: Job Maarse
Recording Producer: Job Maarse
Balance engineer: Erdo Groot (1-5); Everett Porter (6-7)
Recording engineers: Sebastian Stein, Rob Aarden (1-5) Mario Nozza, Taco van der Werf (6-7)
Editing: Erdo Groot

Yakov Kreizberg (1959 - 2011)
One of the most interesting and exciting conductors of his generation, Yakov Kreizberg conducted most of the major orchestras throughout Europe, North America and Asia. At the time of his death he held the posts of Artistic and Music Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, and Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Netherlands Philharmonic and Netherlands Chamber orchestras.

He had previously held the posts of Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Wiener Symphoniker and Generalmusikdirektor of the Komische Oper Berlin. In Europe, Yakov Kreizberg worked with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Münchner Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Staatskapelle Dresden, Gewandhausorchester, Orchestre National de France and WDR Sinfonieorchester. In the UK he worked with the London Symphony, BBC Symphony, London Philharmonic and the Philharmonia orchestras. He was a frequent guest at London's BBC Proms and last appeared there in 2008 with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra.

In North America Yakov Kreizberg conducted, amongst others, the Philadelphia, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony and Minnesota orchestras, as well as the Los Angeles and New York Philharmonics. In Asia he worked with orchestras such as the NHK and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony. Equally at home in the opera house he conducted productions at the Chicago Lyric Opera, Canadian Opera, English National Opera, Bregenz Festival, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, De Nederlandse Opera and the Royal Opera House.
Yakov Kreizberg encouraged and dedicated time to inspiring youth in music and for a number of years he was Music Director of the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra. In October 2007 he was bestowed the ‘Ehrenkreuz’ by the Austrian President in recognition of his achievement in the Arts. A prolific recording artist, he leaves behind an extensive and award-winning discography. His most recent recordings were recorded for the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo’s new label – OPMC Classics – launched in autumn 2010 with a triple CD of Stravinsky’s major ballets. This was followed by a Ravel and Debussy compilation in 2011. His many and much admired recordings for PentaTone included symphonies by Shostakovich (Nos. 5 and 9), Dvořák (Nos. 5 - 9), Schmidt (No. 4 – a piece with which he was closely associated) and a number of discs in collaboration Julia Fischer. He also recorded for Decca, Orfeo and Oehms Classics.

Born in St Petersburg, Yakov Kreizberg studied conducting privately with the legendary Ilya A. Musin, before emigrating to the United States in 1976. There he was awarded conducting fellowships at Tanglewood with Bernstein, Ozawa and Leinsdorf, and at the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute with Michael Tilson Thomas. In 1986 he won first prize in the Leopold Stokowski Conducting Competition in New York.

Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra Amsterdam
It could have been a slogan from a tv-commercial: "the most versatile orchestra in the country", but in the case of the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra Amsterdam this title is entirely justified. No other orchestra in the Netherlands covers such a broad range of repertoire like the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra Amsterdam does. With 130 musicians the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra is the largest orchestral organization in the Netherlands. Founded in 1986 as a merger of the Amsterdam Philharmonic, the Utrecht Symphony and the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra continues the tradition of its predecessors in offering an attractive combination of accessible concert programs, in which works from the core repertoire are combined with contemporary music. The orchestra has a tradition in performing the music of Dutch composers and has commissioned and premiered works by Louis Andriessen, Theo Loevendie, Willem Jeths, Jeff Hamburg, Hans Kox, Hans Koolmees and Otto Ketting.

Next to these concerts, the majority of which take place in the world- famous acoustics of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra Amsterdam accompanies most of the performances of Netherlands Opera in the Amsterdam Muziektheater. From the start Hartmut Haenchen has been chief conductor with the orchestra. His performances of Wagner’s Ring des Nibelungen and of the complete Mahler symphonies met with high critical acclaim, both nationally and internationally. Many of his performances were issued on CD, e.g. on the orchestra’s own label. On the young and enterprising Dutch label Pentatone a recording on super-audio (SACD) format of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony appeared.

Other conductors that have performed with the orchestra are: Rudolph Barshai, Andrew Litton, Markus Stenz, Dmitri Kitaenko, Emmanuel Krivine, Sir Yehudi Menuhin and Hans Vonk. The orchestra worked with esteemed soloists like Frank Peter Zimmerman, Leonidas Kavakos, Vadim Repin, Maxim Vengerov, Bella Davidovich, Leif Ove Andsnes, Maria Joao Pires, Stephen Hough, Stephen Kovacevich, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Radu Lupu, Heinrich Schiff, Natalia Gutman, Frans Helmersson, Mischa Maisky and Antonio Menesses. In September 2003 Hartmut Haenchen will be succeeded by the dynamic Russian born American conductor Yakov Kreizberg. With Kreizberg the orchestra will broaden its repertoire, raise its international profile and start on a prestigious recording scheme. Following successful concerts in Amsterdam Kreizberg and the orchestra already recorded Franz Schmidt’s Fourth Symphony (again for Pentatone on SACD) and in the coming seasons milestones of the repertoire will be recorded as well as compositions featured on the programmes of the orchestra’s international tours.

Enthusiasm and diversity: these are the keywords to describe the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra. A small string Divertimento by Mozart, the vast structure of a Wagner opera, or a new work by Peteris Vasks: the Netherlands Philharmonic plays it all, and together with our new chief conductorYakov Kreizberg and guest artists we try to bring our enthusiasm for the music to the audience. An audience that consists for the largest part of real music lovers, for whom an evening at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw or the Muziektheater is the ultimate experience.

Booklet for Wagner: Preludes and Overtures