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Pfitzner - Palestrina                 | Brilliant Classics 9093

Pfitzner - Palestrina

New Item

Label: Brilliant Classics

Cat No: 9093

Barcode: 5029365909327

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 3

Genre: Opera

Release Date: 26th October 2009

This product has now been deleted. Information is for reference only.

Contents

Artists

Nicolai Gedda
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Helen Donath
Brigitte Fassbaender
Karl Ridderbusch
Bernd Weikl
Hermann Prey
Friedrich Lenz
Tolzer Knabenchor
Chor und Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks

Conductor

Rafael Kubelik

Works

Pfitzner, Hans

Palestrina

Artists

Nicolai Gedda
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Helen Donath
Brigitte Fassbaender
Karl Ridderbusch
Bernd Weikl
Hermann Prey
Friedrich Lenz
Tolzer Knabenchor
Chor und Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks

Conductor

Rafael Kubelik

About

The classic recording of this opera, made in 1973.

First performed in 1917 in Munich (conducted by Bruno Walter), Pfitzner’s opera on the great 16th-century composer Palestrina became popular with those in German musical society who had become hostile to the direction which Schoenberg and Busoni had taken. Richard Strauss seemed to be able to straddle both camps successfully, but for other composers the musical tastes of the period were polarised between the progressives and the traditionalists.

Pfitzner’s Palestrina is clearly based on Wagnerian models, and can be viewed as a ‘Papal Meistersinger’. Palestrina is claimed to have ‘saved the arts of counterpoint and polyphony’ in the face of a Papal edict that church music must be more traditional and revert to plainsong. Palestrina produces a work that contains all the ‘modern’ and ‘sinful’ musical styles the Pope disapproves of. Upon hearing the work, the Pope and Palestrina’s arch critic, Archbishop Borromeo relents. The Pope congratulates the composer, and Borromeo begs his forgiveness.

Palestrina is an impressive and moving work, and stands as Pfitzner’s masterpiece.

It is that sense of communion established by the conductor and orchestra that above all makes this a recorded performance to cherish.’ - Gramophone, 1974

Cast:
- Nicolai Gedda: Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
- Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau: Carlo Borromeo
- Helen Donath: Ighino
- Brigitte Fassbaender: Silla
- Karl Ridderbusch: Pope Pius IV, Cardinal Christoph Madruscht
- Bernd Weikl: Giovanni Morone
- Hermann Prey: Count Luna
- Friedrich Lenz: The Bishop of Budoja

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