Robert Schumann – Das Paradies und die Peri – London Symphony Chorus & Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle (2015) [nativeDSDmusic DSF DSD64/2.82MHz]

Robert Schumann – Das Paradies und die Peri – London Symphony Chorus & Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle (2015)
DSD64 (.dsf) 1 bit/2,82 MHz | Time – 01:27:50 minutes | 3,48 GB | Genre: Classical
Official Digital Download – Source: nativeDSDmusic | Digital Booklet | © LSO Live
Recorded live in DSD 128fs, 11 January 2015 at the Barbican, London

In his debut recording on LSO Live, Sir Simon Rattle conducts a stunning performance of Schumann’s rarely recorded Das Paradies und die Peri featuring a superb line-up of soloists. Rattle is well-known for being a champion of this rarely-heard work, and yet this is the first audio recording he has made of it. Here it is brought to life by the LSO under his baton, and the starry line-up makes the best possible case for Schumann’s great oratorio. Sir Simon says of the piece, ‘It’s the great masterpiece you’ve never heard, and there aren’t many of those now…. This is just something else, a complete anomaly if you think about it. In Schumann’s life it was the most popular piece he ever wrote, it was performed endlessly. Every composer loved it. Wagner wrote how jealous he was that Schumann had done it and he’d stolen this subject that he wanted to do and how extraordinary it was… It was a playground for composers and the piece was extraordinary.’
Based on an episode from Thomas Moore’s epic poem Lalla Rookh, itself inspired by exotic, colourful tales taken from Persian mythology, Das Paradies und die Peri reflects the 19th-century craze for all thing Oriental. Completed in 1843, Schumann’s ‘secular oratorio’ tells how the Peri, a legendary creature, was expelled from paradise and follows her quest to redeem herself by giving the gift that is most dear to heaven. Writing about the work in a letter to a friend, Schumann said, ‘at the moment I’m involved in a large project, the largest I’ve yet undertaken – it’s not an opera – I believe it’s well-nigh a new genre for the concert hall.’ Conceived in three beautifully sequenced parts, it is unlike any oratorio of Schumann’s day. Sustained melodic invention is clear throughout, with Peri’s high C in the final forming a deftly timed climax. Soprano Sally Matthews gives a soaring performance as the Peri, showcasing Schumann’s imaginative and emotive vocal writing, while there are also superb supporting performances from Mark Padmore, Kate Royal, Andrew Staples and Florian Boesch.

Tracklist:

Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Das Paradies und die Peri, Op 50 (1843) Oratorio for soloists, chorus, and orchestra in three parts
Libretto by Emil Flechsig (1808-1878), after Lalla Rookh by Thomas Moore (1779-1852)

Disc 1
1. Erster Teil: No 1: Vor Edens Tor im Morgenprangen
2. Erster Teil: No 2: Wie glücklich sie wandeln
3. Erster Teil: No 3: Rezitativ – Der hehre Engel, der die Pforte
4. Erster Teil: No 4: Wo find ich sie?
5. Erster Teil: No 5: So sann sie nach
6. Erster Teil: No 6: Doch seine Ströme sind jetzt rot
7. Erster Teil: No 7: Und einsam steht ein Jüngling
8. Erster Teil: No 8: Weh, weh, er fehlte das Ziel
9. Erster Teil: No 9: Die Peri sah das Mal der Wunde
10. Zweiter Teil: No 10: Die Peri tritt mit schüchterner Gebärde
11. Zweiter Teil: No 11: Ihr erstes Himmelshoffen schwand
12. Zweiter Teil: No 12: Fort streift von hier das Kind der Lüfte
13. Zweiter Teil: No 13: Die Peri weint
14. Zweiter Teil: No 14: Im Waldesgrün am stillen See
15. Zweiter Teil: No 15: Verlassener Jüngling
16. Zweiter Teil: No 16: O lass mich von der Luft durchdringen
17. Zweiter Teil: No 17: Schlaf nun und ruhe in Träumen voll Duft

Disc 2
1. Dritter Teil: No 18: Schmücket die Stufen zu Allahs Thron
2. Dritter Teil: No 19: Dem Sang von ferne lauschend
3. Dritter Teil: No 20: Verstossen! Verschlossen aufs neu
4. Dritter Teil: No 21: Jetzt sank des Abends goldner Schein
5. Dritter Teil: No 22: Und wie sie niederwärts sich schwingt
6. Dritter Teil: No 23: Hinab zu jenem Sonnentempel
7. Dritter Teil: No 24: O heilge Tränen innger Reue
8. Dritter Teil: No 25: Es fällt ein Tropfen
9. Dritter Teil: No 26: Freud, ewge Freude, mein Werk ist getan

Personnel:
Sally Matthews, soprano Peri
Mark Padmore, tenor Narrator
Kate Royal, soprano Maiden / Vocal Quartet
Bernarda Fink, alto Angel / Vocal Quartet
Andrew Staples, tenor Young Man / Vocal Quartet
Florian Boesch, bass Gazna / Man / Vocal Quartet
Simon Halsey, chorus director
London Symphony Chorus
Soloists from the Guildhall School:
Francesca Chiejina, soprano
Elizabeth Skinner, soprano
Bianca Andrew, mezzo-soprano
Emily Kyte, mezzo-soprano
Sir Simon Rattle, conductor
London Symphony Orchestra