“An die Königin der Nacht” was commissioned by the International Mozarteum Foundation and written in 1997. It was given its world premiere on 23 January 1998 at the opening concert of the 1998 Salzburg “Mozartwoche” by the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg under Hubert Soudant. Alexander Mullenbach was born in Luxembourg in 1949. As with so many composers of today, the composer’s work catalogue mirrors a strong interest in the music of earlier eras. The relationship to the past is clearly evoked in the titles of pieces such as the violin works “Für Orlando di Lasso” (1993) and “Capriccio per Niccolò Paganini” (1994), for example. In other pieces, one notices a strong affinity to Johann Sebastian Bach, Romantic music and the French impressionists.
Mozart, Piano Concerto No.23 in A major, K. 488 (Mozartwoche 1998)
The Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg was originally founded in 1841 as the “Dom-Musik-Verein und Mozarteum.” Since 1958 it has been Salzburg’s municipal and state orchestra, and concertizes regularly at both the Salzburg Festival and the Mozartwoche. The principal conductor of the orchestra as well as the conductor of this recording is the Dutch maestro Hubert Soudant. He led the Nouvel Orchestre Philharmonique de France in Paris from 1981 to 1983 and the Utrecht Symphony Orchestra in Holland from 1983 to 1986. The pianist Till Fellner was born in Vienna and studied with Alfred Brendel and Oleg Maisenberg, among others.
Mozart, Symphony No.25 in G minor, K. 183 (Mozartwoche 1998)
The Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg was originally founded in 1841 as the “Dom-Musik-Verein und Mozarteum.” Since 1958 it has been Salzburg’s municipal and state orchestra, and concertizes regularly at both the Salzburg Festival and the Mozartwoche. The principal conductor of the orchestra as well as the conductor of this recording is the Dutch maestro Hubert Soudant. He led the Nouvel Orchestre Philharmonique de France in Paris from 1981 to 1983 and the Utrecht Symphony Orchestra in Holland from 1983 to 1986.
Mozart, Divertimento in D major, K. 205 (Mozartwoche 1998)
The Camerata Academica Salzburg was founded in 1951 by Bernhard Paumgartner, who was the ensemble’s mentor for many years and secured its extraordinary reputation. Sándor Végh was the artistic director of the chamber orchestra from 1978 to 1997, and since then the ensemble has been in the hands of Sir Roger Norrington. Alexander Janiczek, who conducts this concert and plays the solo violin, was born in Salzburg and has been the concertmaster of the Camerata Academica Salzburg since 1991. This recording was made in January 1998 during the 1998 Mozartwoche in Salzburg.
Hermann Prey – Portrait
The internationally acclaimed baritone Hermann Prey was born in Berlin in 1929. He made his breakthrough in 1956 as Figaro in the Vienna State Opera’s production of Rossini’s “Barber of Seville”. His resounding success as Figaro in Jean-Pierre Ponnelle’s 1969 staging of Rossini’s “Barber of Seville” at the Salzburg Festival stamped him as the Figaro of that era. Recorded a few years later by Unitel, this production has taken on an almost legendary status. Prey soon became a Mozart singer par excellence, portraying Guglielmo (“Così fan tutte”), Almaviva (“The Marriage of Figaro”), Papageno (“The Magic Flute”) and, of course, Figaro. His unforgettable interpretation of this role in Ponnelle’s production of “The Marriage of Figaro” is preserved for all times by Unitel in a 1976 recording with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Kiri Te Kanawa and Mirella Freni. Prey also enjoyed great popularity in the United States, appearing in operas in San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Houston and New York. After his Met debut as Wolfram in “Tannhäuser” in 1960, he regularly sang at that house until 1995. In addition to Mozart and Rossini, Prey’s other favorite composers included Lortzing, Donizetti, Strauss and Wagner. Prey made his Bayreuth debut in 1965. It was there that he transformed the Meistersinger’s Beckmesser into a sympathetic figure, a poet tinged with melancholy, in Wolfgang Wagner’s early 1980s production. This performance is also preserved on film by Unitel. Hermann Prey was never exclusively an opera singer, however. His other specialty was the German song. As a kind of ambassador of the German lied, he filled concert halls all over the world. Prey sang Schubert and Schumann, Brahms and Mahler in a way that always emphasized naturalness and spontaneity over analytical profundity and scholarship. But his inquisitiveness also led him to explore the treasures of the German song from the Middle Ages to the present day. A special fondness for Schubert moved him to set up a Schubert festival in the Austrian town of Hohenems, where he planned to perform all of Schubert’s works. His interpretations of Schubert’s songs have – with those of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau – set standards for lieder singing in the 20th century. Unitel is proud to offer Prey’s recordings of Schubert’s “Die schöne Müllerin”, “Schwanengesang” and “Die Winterreise” on video, as well as lieder by Robert Schumann and Richard Strauss.