Robin Ticciati Archive
BERLIOZ: Roméo et Juliette ‒ Soloists/ Valery Gergiev on London Sym. Live SACD & Soloists/Robin Ticciati on Linn CD
BERLIOZ: Roméo et Juliette ‒ Olga Borodina, mezzo-sop. / Kenneth Tarver, tenor / Evgeny Nikitin, bass-bari. / Guildhall School Singers / London Sym. Chorus / London Sym. Orch. / Valery Gergiev ‒ London Symphony Live 2SACD LSO0762 (2 SACDs), 57:06, 33:19 (7/8/16) [Distr. by Naxos] ***: BERLIOZ: Roméo et Juliette ‒ Katija Dragojevic, mezzo-sop. / Andrew Staples, tenor / Alastair Miles, bass / Swedish Radio Choir / Swedish Radio Sym. Orch. / Robin Ticciati ‒ Linn CKD 521 (2 CDs), TT: 94:00 (10/14/16) [Distr. by Naxos] ****: Two approaches to a Berlioz classic; one SACD and one CD. Berlioz’s hybrid masterwork, dubbed by the composer a symphonie dramatique, could be considered an advance on Beethoven’s Choral Symphony. Like Beethoven’s final symphony, it includes among its forces vocal soloists, chorus, and orchestra. But whereas Beethoven’s work is a symphony with an uncommon choral finale (and some boneheaded commentators still take the composer to task for daring to tinker with the basic tenets of symphonic construction), Berlioz’s conception is more radical, incorporating as it does set pieces that could only be considered orchestral tone poems (before the fact) along with lengthy narrative-dramatic sections delivered by the soloists and orchestra. Perhaps the only genuinely symphonic […]
MOZART: Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail (comp. opera), Blu-ray (2015)
A setting according to Mozart’s original intentions? What heresy! MOZART: Die Entfuhrung aus den Serail [The Abduction from the Seraglio] (complete opera), Blu-ray (2015) Performers: Sally Matthews (Konstanze)/ Edgaras Montvidas (Belmonte)/ Tobias Kehrer (Osmin)/ Mari Eriksmoen (Blonde)/ Brenden Gunnell (Pedrillo)/ Franck Saurel (Pasha Selim)/ The Glyndebourne Chorus/ Orch. of the Age of Enlightenment/ Robin Ticciati Producer: George Bruell Director: David McVicar Studio: Opus Arte Glyndebourne OABD7204D [Distr. by Naxos] Video: 1080i HD, 16:9 for widescreen, color Audio: PCM 2.1, DTS-HD MA 5.1 Subtitles: German, English, French, Japanese, Korean No region code Extras: Concept, Craft & Collaboration: The Visual Story and a cast gallery (12 min.) Length: 168 min. Rating: ***** I must confess to being washed with refreshment at seeing an Entfuhrung staged at the actual time Mozart indicated—what a concept! It makes most of the modern stagings seem rather simplistic and silly, which of course is what most of them are! This idea that times and dates must be updated to speak to confused and stupid modern mankind is hopefully becoming passé, returning the brilliance and importance of Mozart’s message back to his original concept. After all, Entfuhrung is not actually intended to give a “realistic” account of Muslim Turkey, and even […]
HAYDN: Symphony No. 101 – Scottish Ch. Orch./ Robin Ticciati – Linn 45 rpm vinyl
Terrific vinyl sonics as well as performance. 45 rpm!
HAYDN: Symphonies 31, 70 and 101 – Robin Ticciati / Scottish Chamber Orch. – Linn
A fresh approach to playing and recording Haydn.
BERLIOZ: L’Enfance du Christ – Yann Beuron, narr./ Veronique gens, sop./ Swedish Radio Sym. Orch. & Choir/ Robin Ticciati – Linn (2 discs)
Berlioz for the modern age? Certainly! But Ticciati is very persuasive even if he doesn’t supplant the greats of the past.
* BERLIOZ: Symphonie fantastique; Overture to Beatrice & Benedict – Scottish Ch. Orch./ Robin Ticciati – Linn
********** MULTICHANNEL DISC OF THE MONTH ***********
Don’t let the chamber orchestra or relatively unknown conductor deter you—this is superb!
BRAHMS: Haydn-Variations; Serenade No. 1 for Large Orchestra in D Major; Hungarian Dances Nos. 1, 3 & 10 – Bamberger Symphony/ Robin Ticciati – Tudor/BR Klassick
BRAHMS: Haydn-Variations Op. 56a; Serenade No. 1 for Large Orchestra in D Major, Op. 11; Hungarian Dances Nos. 1, 3 & 10 – Bamberger Symphony/ Robin Ticciati – Tudor/BR Klassick 7183, 68:44 [Distr. by Naxos] ****: An excellent Brahms SACD with the Bavarian State Philharmonic and their young conductor Ticciati, but up against rather stern competition in two other fine SACD versions of the Serenade No.1 (both also include the Serenade No. 2) plus nine other SACD versions of the popular Haydn Variations. (Of the Serenades, my choice is the pairing of both of them conducted by Bernard Haitink on LSO Live.) The two major Brahms works here were written on his arduous path toward writing the first of his four symphonies. He had terrible misgivings after first hearing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and wrote to a friend that he would never write a symphony. The First Serenade was originally going to be an octet; it went thru many changes on its way to being the First Serenade. Haydn’s Finale of the London Symphony inspired the theme of Brahms’ first movement. The Serenade’s first three movement total about a half hour; the Minuet, Scherzo and Finale at the end seem more […]
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