Great Oratorios

[vandermolen]

Novak: "The Storm"

Martinu: Gilgamesh

Martin: In Terra Pax

Finzi: In Terra Pax

Vaughan Williams: Dona Nobis Pacem, Sancta Civitas, Epithalamion, Hodie

Honegger: Joan of Arc, King David

Dyson: Nebuchadnezzar, Quo Vadis

[The new erato]

Lots of support for Martin here. That's great.

I think I like Le vin herbe even better that in Terra Pax, but maybe it isn't an oratorio?

Anyway; I'll take it before Tristan & Isolde (they are VERY different works though - but on the same subject/text) any moment.

[pjme]

SSSSSTT, did I ask you anything?   

Well, well...and what if researching music was exactly a thing I liked to do during the WE?!
Don't worry : it's fun & interesting to read the posts on this Forum...

I'm convinced that there is a huge quantity of oratoria ( cantatas, choral symphonies, opera -oratorios, Biblical scenes...) from the 19th a,nd early 20th century  that never get performed anymore. In France Jeanne d'Arc was (propably is) an inspiration for many composers. Ruth, Phaedra, Judith, Salome, the virgin Mary, St.John the Baptist,... and a host of other Saints (and their miracles )were chosen as themes .

I'll be back - later!

Enjoy the WE!
Peter

[pjme]

What did I find in my collection?



Noam Sheriff ( °1935) : Mechaye Hametim (Revival of the Dead), 1985 for baritone, tenor/kantor, male chorus, children's chorus & orch.
On : Carrière Classics (?) 21.0002. Lieuwe Visser, baritone, Joseph Malovany;tenor/kantor, The Dutch Men's chorus, Ankor children's chorus / The Israel  Ph.O / David Porcelijn ( live perf. of the premiere in Israel 1987).
4 parts : Jewish life in the Diaspora - The Holocaust - Kaddish and Yiskor - Revival and Renaissance ( lasting ca 50 mins.)
A grand, deeply felt work - pathetic( in the best sense of the word).

There's apparantly a DVD with Zubin Mehta conducting
from Amazon :
Sheriff's score is eclectic, using motifs that recall cantorial styles (with tenor and baritone cantors), folk music, and the classic oratorio techniques of mainstream Western culture. Video images are powerfully matched to the music--symbols, landscapes, ancient buildings, flowers, children at play, marching soldiers, book-burning, freight trains, and concentration camps. --Joe McLellan

Henri Tomasi : Triomphe de Jeanne - a 1956 (short -ca 25 mins;) oratorio for soprano, baritone, narrator, chorus and orchestra.
Written for the five hundreth anniversary of Joan's judicial rehabilitation.
Available on a double Forlane CD ( coupled with the opera don Juan de Manara) - a 1957 recording with Rita Gorr as Jeanne's mother and Jacques Doucet (bar.) as an Advocate. French National O. & chorus / composer
Tomasi is not in the same league as Honegger or Milhaud, but his "Jeanne "is a typical exemple of late 1950-ies mild modernism/expresionism.

...see what I can find tomorrow.

[Mozart]

I generally don't like oratorios, but 2 in particular have caught my attention.

Handel's Judas Maccabaeus and Scarlatti's La santissima trinità
http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/sIJa4XExFBo

Mainly I just think its a wonderful recording. I love Veronique Gens though so I can be biased.

[techniquest]

I can't believe no one's mentioned Waltons' 'Belshazzars Feast' yet - or did I miss it?
BTW, pjme, I have thatrecording of Sheriff's Mechaye Hametim and you're right, it is a remarkable piece. Mine is on IMP Masters which, presumably, is a licensed reissue.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I can't believe no one's mentioned Waltons' 'Belshazzars Feast' yet - or did I miss it?

You didn't. Perhaps it's too obvious?

[Gabriel]

I am particularly fond of Beethoven's Christus am Ölberge, which in my opinion has been too badly criticized. It has moments of formidable music: the introduction and Jesus' aria are simply wonderful.

Mendelssohn's Paulus is another one that I like really a lot. The overture is truly magnificent, and the moment when Jesus appears to Saint Paul is simply unforgettable.

The fragments of Mendelssohn's Christus are worth remarking even in their fragmentary state. There is a recording in Carus of two essential moments that Mendelssohn arrived to compose: "Geburt Christi" and "Leiden Christi". If the whole oratorio would have been composed, it would have a position of privilege in performances.

Spohr's Die letzten Dinge has some really amazing music too. There is a fine recent recording led by Bruno Weil.

[Lethevich]

Ooh! The mention of Mendelssohn's Christus reminds me of Liszt's one of the same name. It's a stunner. Its length, genre and neglect might imply tedium, but it's actually quite interesting (and can be listened to in different sittings as it's split into parts). It contains many surprisingly intimate sections which bely belie expectations absed on its length. There are a few enjoyable full-blast parts as well, though The Hänssler recording is very satisfying, and I believe it has been reissued on Brilliant, as both are conducted by Rilling.

Edit: Cursed obscure words

[Monsieur Croche]

Let me add a few more to the list (and forgive me if I mention anything that is too obvious):

Carissimi - Jephte, Jonas
(This is the coupling in the version that I have. It seems, however, that Jephte is this composer's most famous work. If you are wondering about pre-Handel oratorio, this is a good place to start).

Schubert - Lazarus

Berlioz - L'enfance du Christ

Franck - Les Beatitudes

Schoenberg - Gurrelieder

Tippett- A Child of Our Time

Shostakovich - Songs of the Forest (It's not really that bad).

Of the works in the list above I honestly feel that Les Beatitudes, one of Franck's masterpieces, is a vastly underrated work. In my opinion the music is fine enough to withstand comparison with the very best of Mendelssohn or even Haydn! I suppose its neglect is mainly due to the piece lacking in dramatic quality compared to, say, the oratorios of Handel, but there is a certain mystical beauty here and even a sense of grandeur that would surely move most listeners – that is, after they dispense with the idea that an oratorio needs to be dramatic first and foremost. Arkiv Music only listed 3 recordings of the work!  Can I have some love for this work over here? Pretty please?

Schubert's Lazarus is another very worthy and highly original work that deserves to be better-known. It was left incomplete by the composer – The version I have on Brilliant Classics contains a completion by Edison Denisov in a rather un-Schubertian idiom... but it is interesting nevertheless.

[Christo]

What did I find in my collection?



Noam Sheriff ( °1935) : Mechaye Hametim (Revival of the Dead), 1985 for baritone, tenor/kantor, male chorus, children's chorus & orch. On : Carrière Classics (?) 21.0002. Lieuwe Visser, baritone, Joseph Malovany;tenor/kantor, The Dutch Men's chorus, Ankor children's chorus / The Israel  Ph.O / David Porcelijn ( live perf. of the premiere in Israel 1987). 4 parts : Jewish life in the Diaspora - The Holocaust - Kaddish and Yiskor - Revival and Renaissance ( lasting ca 50 mins.) A grand, deeply felt work - pathetic( in the best sense of the word). 

Very good that you remind us of it! I own it too - actually bought it in Israël back in 1996 - but it's only now that I give it a first listen. First impressions are very much as you describe.

I wonder, who knows more work by Noam Sheriff? I have always been curious after his Sephardic passion (1992) performed in Toledo with the Spanish King and a huge attendence, in order to commemorate the expulsion of the jews from Spain in 1492.

[Monsieur Croche]

Surely someone else here like Franck's Les beatitudes?

[karlhenning]

Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy)

Shorter than Handel, funnier than Handel, but obviously not as good theologically.

[Wanderer]

Surely someone else here like Franck's Les Béatitudes?

Two and counting.

[Kullervo]

Has anyone heard Franz Schmidt's Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln? Apparently it was the inspiration for Leverkuhn's Apocalypse oratorio in Doktor Faustus.



The Welser-Most recording is available very cheaply.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Has anyone heard Franz Schmidt's Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln? Apparently it was the inspiration for Leverkuhn's Apocalypse oratorio in Doktor Faustus.



The Welser-Most recording is available very cheaply.

Yes, I for one. And Christo. And a few others, too. I don't know the Welser-Möst, but the work itself is tremendous and really worth a listen.

[Christo]

Has anyone heard Franz Schmidt's Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln? Apparently it was the inspiration for Leverkuhn's Apocalypse oratorio in Doktor Faustus.



The Welser-Most recording is available very cheaply.

... and well done, too. If you can get the Welser-Most, you'll not be disappointed. There are a few other recordings available - the newest one a live recording with Viennese forces under Kristjan Järvi for Chandos, that I don't know yet. But as far as I'm informed, there is no reason to opt for one of these other recordings in case you'll be able to buy the Emi with Welser-Most.

[Wanderer]

Schmidt's Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln

The Welser-Möst recording would be my top overall recommendation, followed by Harnoncourt. These two compliment each other very nicely.
I'm not familiar with the recent rendition by K. Järvi (I doubt it can surpass the other two already mentioned) and would welcome some comments.

[knight66]

I have ordered Walter Braunfels: Te deum......it had better be good pmje. I will let you know what I think IDC.

Thanks for prompting my interest, I had never heard of it. I have his opera The Birds and like it...or at least I like stretches of it a lot.

Mike

[pjme]

......it had better be good pmje....

Ooh, I'm really frightened now!!

What can I say!?
I do like the piece : I hear the voice of an inspired composer. He may be no Mahler or Richard Strauss , but it is a complex,difficult work in a grand,very- late - Romantic style.

Good luck!
P.