Palestrina

Requiring 38 soloists, chorus and large orchestra, Hans Pfitzner’s masterpiece about historical composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, premiered in 1917 by Bruno Walter, is no easy feat to perform. Christian Thielemann, a tireless Palestrina crusader, “leads a stellar cast to triumph” (Die Welt) with this production at the Viennese State Opera, staged by the late Herbert Wernicke: “It goes without saying that Thielemann is a world champion when it comes to German masterpieces, and yet one is amazed at the structure of the grandiose tutti, the subtle phrasing and the spatial effect of the orchestral sound” (Bachtrack). Michael Spyres sings the “saviour of counterpoint” Palestrina with “a radiant tenor voice and sonorous expression” (Theaterkompass) and the other roles are “splendidly cast” (News), including Günther Groissböck as Pope Pius IV and Wolfgang Koch as Cardinal Borromeo. “A piece of music theatre history that demands to be revitalized” (Die Welt)