account
basket
Challenge Records Int. logo
McGonagall-Lieder
Robert Zuidam

Katrien Baerts / Pianoduo Post & Mulder / Asko|Schönberg / Oliver Knussen

McGonagall-Lieder

Price: € 12.95
Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917260823
Catnr: CC 72608
Release date: 30 April 2013
Buy
1 CD
✓ in stock
€ 12.95
Buy
 
Label
Challenge Classics
UPC
0608917260823
Catalogue number
CC 72608
Release date
30 April 2013

"no quote "

De Volkskrant, 05-11-2013
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
Press
EN
NL
DE

About the album

McGonagall-Lieder is a song cycle composed by Robert Zuidam with lyrics of the legendary William McGonagall. It is conducted by Oliver Knussen and performed by Katrien Baerts, Pianoduo Post&Mulder and Asko|Schönberg. The work highlights the theatrical sound that Zuidam is known for and has a unique composition of instruments: soprano, four celli, double bass, percussion and the special role for two piano's.

The texts of this work are from William McGonagall, a poet from Dundee in Schotland who was a weaver with an unshakeable faith in his poetic genius. The Times Literary Supplement once wrote about this legendary writer: "A real genius, for he is the only memorable bad poet in our language". Robert Zuidam ads: "Bad poetry can be an excellent source of inspiration for a composer. Dante, Virgil, Goethe all evoke reverence and awe, and reluctance to open all portholes in the battleship of the imagination. And not without reason: after all, good poetry is already music in itself, and fares well without support. When Oliver Knussen, composer, conductor, and connaisseur of Scottish paraphernalia, gave me The Complete McGonagall as a Christmas present in 1992, I immediately sensed the musical potential of this remarkable poetry."

Robert Zuidam, studied composition at the Conservatory of Rotterdam. He was awarded the Koussevitzky Composition Prize for Fishbone, a work for wind instruments and piano, and a Leonard Bernstein Scholarship enabled him to return to Tanglewood as a student. In 2010, Zuidam taught and lectured at Harvard University as Erasmus Professor, and was awarded the Kees van Baaren-Prize in The Hague, for his opera Rage d'amours. The core of Zuidam’s compositional activities lies in the field of vocal music, particularly that of the music theatre.
Prachtige uitvoering van een emotioneel gedicht
McGonagall-Lieder is een lied cyclus gecomponeerd door Robert Zuidam met teksten van de legendarische dichter William McGonagall. Het werk benadrukt het theatrale geluid waar Zuidam bekend om staat in een unieke samenstelling van instrumenten: een sopraan, vier celli, een contrabas, percussie en een speciale rol voor twee piano’s.

William McGonagall was een dichter uit Dundee in Schotland. De gedichten gaan over de instorting van de spoorbrug Tay Bridge in Dundee in 1879. Hierbij ging een trein ten onder tijdens een storm en verloren ongeveer 90 mensen hun leven. Het is een van de grootste treinrampen in de geschiedenis van Groot Brittanië. McGonagall zette de tragedie over deze instorting op papier met als titel The Tay Bridge Disaster. Het werd het belangrijkste literaire werk van de Schotse dichter.

Robert Zuidam raakte geïnspireerd door de tekst wat leidde tot het maken van de compositie McGonagall-Lieder. Het wordt gedirigeerd door Oliver Knussen en uitgevoerd door sopraan Katrien Baerts samen met het pianoduo’ Post & Milder en het Asko/Schönberg ensemble. Samen geven ze een prachtige uitvoering van dit emotionele gedicht.
Robert Zuidam mit einer lautmalerischen Vertonung eines Gedichtes von William McGonagall über den Einsturz der Eisenbahnbrücke in Schottlang 1879.

Am 28.Dezember 1879 ereignete sich in Schottland ein Eisenbahnunglück, bei dem die Brücke über den Firth-of-Tay zwischen Edinburgh und Dundee einstürzte. Der Zug, der zum Zeitpunkt des Einsturzes über die Brücke fuhr, stürzte mit über 70 Passagieren in den Fluss. William McGonagall (1825-1902) setzte diese Tragödie in seinem Gedicht „The Tay Bridge Disaster“ um. Es wurde zum wichtigsten literarischen Werk des schottischen Dichters und inspirierte den Niederländer Robert Zuidam zu einer Komposition. Er setzt zur lautmalerischen Gestaltung neben zwei Klavieren und vier Celli auch eine Windmaschine ein sowie 90 Tischtennisbälle, die den Sturz der Passagiere darstellen sollen. Die Sopranistin Katrien Baerts und das AskoISchönberg Ensemble vervollständigen die bildhafte Darstellung.

Artist(s)

Katrien Baerts (soprano)

Rising young Belgian soprano Katrien Baerts graduated with great distinction at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels in 2008, where she was awarded several prizes. From there, she joined the Dutch National Opera Academy, where she performed roles as Annio (La clemenza di Tito), Miss Wordsworth (Albert Herring), Despina (Così fan tutte), Amore and Valletto (l’Incoronazione di Poppea). After receiving her Masters degree in opera in 2010, she was invited to make her acclaimed debut at the Concertgebouw in the title role of Suster Bertken with Reinbert de Leeuw (recorded by Attacca), as well as to perform Johanna II (Rage d’amours) with the Residentie Orkest alongside Claron McFadden. At the Queen Elisabeth Competition for Voice in 2011, Katrien achieved a place in...
more
Rising young Belgian soprano Katrien Baerts graduated with great distinction at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels in 2008, where she was awarded several prizes. From there, she joined the Dutch National Opera Academy, where she performed roles as Annio (La clemenza di Tito), Miss Wordsworth (Albert Herring), Despina (Così fan tutte), Amore and Valletto (l’Incoronazione di Poppea).
After receiving her Masters degree in opera in 2010, she was invited to make her acclaimed debut at the Concertgebouw in the title role of Suster Bertken with Reinbert de Leeuw (recorded by Attacca), as well as to perform Johanna II (Rage d’amours) with the Residentie Orkest alongside Claron McFadden. At the Queen Elisabeth Competition for Voice in 2011, Katrien achieved a place in the semi-finals.
As a concert singer, her repertoire includes major oratoria as well as contemporary music. In the summer of 2012, Katrien made her well-received debut at the Festival de Saintes in France in amongst others the Sieben frühe Lieder by Alban Berg with the Belgian chamber music ensemble Het Collectief. Earlier in the same season she performed the world première of Robert Zuidam’s Canciones del Alma at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam as well as his McGonagall-Lieder at the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ. An avid chamber musician, Katrien frequently gives recitals with her regular piano accompanist Bart Verheyen, with whom she became first laureate of the Forte Competition 2011.

less

Pianoduo Post & Mulder

In 1996 Pauline Post and Nora Mulder launched “pianoduo Post&Mulder”. In search of compositions with a difference in musical point of departure and use of two pianos, their repertoire consists of pieces from 1900 until tomorrow. Apart from playing the standard contemporary repertoire, Pauline Post and Nora Mulder have produced theatrical performances and premiered over 35 compositions most of which appeared on their two CD’s on the label BV Haast.
more
In 1996 Pauline Post and Nora Mulder launched “pianoduo Post&Mulder”. In search of compositions with a difference in musical point of departure and use of two pianos, their repertoire consists of pieces from 1900 until tomorrow. Apart from playing the standard contemporary repertoire, Pauline Post and Nora Mulder have produced theatrical performances and premiered over 35 compositions most of which appeared on their two CD’s on the label BV Haast.

less

Asko|Schönberg

Asko|Schönberg, the leading ensemble for new music from Amsterdam, performs music from the 20th and 21st century in instrumental formations ranging from 5 to 50 musicians. Besides performing music by great, established names such as Andriessen, Gubaidulina, Kurtág, Ligeti and Stockhausen, it also champions younger composers such as Van der Aa, Padding, Widmann and Zuidam. However the founders of 20th-century music are also amply represented: from Weill to Schönberg and from Stravinsky to Messiaen. This diverse music-making takes place in series in Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ and in the Concertgebouw both in Amsterdam, during guest appearances in the Holland Festival and De Nederlandse Opera, and in a variety of concert halls throughout the Netherlands and abroad. Asko|Schönberg regularly appears in festivals in Cologne,...
more
Asko|Schönberg, the leading ensemble for new music from Amsterdam, performs music from the 20th and 21st century in instrumental formations ranging from 5 to 50 musicians. Besides performing music by great, established names such as Andriessen, Gubaidulina, Kurtág, Ligeti and Stockhausen, it also champions younger composers such as Van der Aa, Padding, Widmann and Zuidam. However the founders of 20th-century music are also amply represented: from Weill to Schönberg and from Stravinsky to Messiaen. This diverse music-making takes place in series in Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ and in the Concertgebouw both in Amsterdam, during guest appearances in the Holland Festival and De Nederlandse Opera, and in a variety of concert halls throughout the Netherlands and abroad. Asko|Schönberg regularly appears in festivals in Cologne, Kraków, Paris and elsewhere, often but not exclusively under the baton of Reinbert de Leeuw.

less

Oliver Knussen (conductor)

The British Oliver Knussen was one of the greatest and most performed composers of his generation and a celebrated conductor who championed modern music. He was born in 1952 in Glasgow, as the son of a London Symphony Orchestra player. He started composing from a young age and conducted his first symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra at the age of fifteen. The performance brought him a great deal of press attention and a commission from Benjamin Britten.  Knussen composed two more symphonies, the last of which has become the most successful. Other well-known works are his horn concerto and violin concerto, which were performed by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra last year, and his children operas Where the Wild Things Are and Higglety...
more
The British Oliver Knussen was one of the greatest and most performed composers of his generation and a celebrated conductor who championed modern music. He was born in 1952 in Glasgow, as the son of a London Symphony Orchestra player. He started composing from a young age and conducted his first symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra at the age of fifteen. The performance brought him a great deal of press attention and a commission from Benjamin Britten. Knussen composed two more symphonies, the last of which has become the most successful. Other well-known works are his horn concerto and violin concerto, which were performed by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra last year, and his children operas Where the Wild Things Are and Higglety Pigglety Pop!, based on the books by Maurice Sendak. The oeuvre of Knussen has remained relatively small, since he was highly critical of his own works.
A combination of persistent ill health and composer’s block caused him to stop composing and start focusing on conducting. Between 1992 and 1996, he was principal guest conductor of The Hague Philharmonic and he was conductor of London Sinfonietta between 1998 and 2002 and Conductor Laureate afterwards. From september 2006, Knussen was Artist-in-Assocation of the Birgmingham Contemporary Music Group. As a conductor, he advocated modern music and he was a mentor to young composers like Mark-Anthony Turnage and Ryan Wigglesworth.
Knussen lived in Snape in Suffolk, in the house of Benjamin Britten.

less

Pieter Smithuijsen (double bass)

Joey Marijs (percussion)

Composer(s)

Robert Zuidam

The focal point of Robert Zuidam’s compositional output is targeted at vocal music and particularly that of music theatre. The McGonagall-Lieder (1997-2001) for colorature-soprano and ensemble, Pancho Villa (1988-’90) voor mezzo-soprano and piano, Nella Città Dolente (1998) for vocal octet and particularly Calligramme/il pleut (1991, rev. 2009), for two female voices a cappella, belong to Zuidam’s most frequently performed works. In 2012 his Canciones del Alma was premiered in Amsterdam Concertgebouw, again starring Katrien Baerts. He is currently working on a Requiem, for the Netherlands Chamber Choir and  Asko|Schönberg. It was Hans Werner Henze, who made Zuidam aware of his potential as an opera-composer and -librettist, and commissioned him to create a full-length opera for the Biennale für Neues Musiktheater in...
more
The focal point of Robert Zuidam’s compositional output is targeted at vocal music and particularly that of music theatre. The McGonagall-Lieder (1997-2001) for colorature-soprano and ensemble, Pancho Villa (1988-’90) voor mezzo-soprano and piano, Nella Città Dolente (1998) for vocal octet and particularly Calligramme/il pleut (1991, rev. 2009), for two female voices a cappella, belong to Zuidam’s most frequently performed works. In 2012 his Canciones del Alma was premiered in Amsterdam Concertgebouw, again starring Katrien Baerts. He is currently working on a Requiem, for the Netherlands Chamber Choir and Asko|Schönberg.
It was Hans Werner Henze, who made Zuidam aware of his potential as an opera-composer and -librettist, and commissioned him to create a full-length opera for the Biennale für Neues Musiktheater in Munich, Germany. This resulted in Freeze, an opera based on the story of the Patricia Hearst-kidnap, which was realized in 1994 in a co-production with the Holland Festival and the Staatstheater Braunschweig. Soprano Susan Narucki performed the leading role of the piece, that prompted Klaus Umbach, music-critic of Der Spiegel to label Zuidam as “ein genialischer Hund”.
A second opera, Rage d’amours, was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and was premiered in August 2003 at Tanglewood, with the much acclaimed soprano Lucy Shelton as leading lady. Also on this occasion, the press responded with enthusiasm. The New York Times wrote: “a formidable work... a score that keeps you hooked... with Rage d’amours Mr. Zuidam announces himself as a composer to reckon with”. Rage d’amours, which portrays the turbulent relationship of Johanna the Insane and Philip the Handsome, received its European premiere in June 2005 during the Holland Festival in Amsterdam, in a double-bill with Zuidam’s McGonagall-Lieder, with Claron McFadden, Barbara Hannigan and Young-Hee-Kim performing the leading roles, in a staging by Guy Cassiers, and was revived by Festival in de Branding, The Hague 2010. In 2006 the chamber-opera Der Hund was created, in a production of Muziektheater De Helling, directed by door Aat Ceelen, about the final hour of the Austrian suicidal misanthrope Otto Weininger.
In 2009, Zuidam composed Adam in Ballingschap for De Nederlandse Opera and the Holland Festival, after Joost van den Vondel’s play from 1664, again staged by Guy Cassiers, with Claron McFadden and Thomas Oliemans performing the leading roles. Zuidam’s opera Suster Bertken, about the life and poetry of a 15th-century anchoress from Utrecht, received its first, semi-staged performances in December 2010 with soprano Katrien Baerts in the title role and Asko|Schönberg. A new scenic production directed by Pierre Audi is staged at Holland Festival 2013 in a double bill with his latest work Troparion for Helena Rasker and a small ensemble with acclaimed violinist Liza Ferschtman in the lead.
In addition to this, Robert Zuidam composed a large number of works for orchestra, ensembles and soloists. Besides his work as a composer, Zuidam is also active as an essayist on music, a.o. for the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad. In 2010, Zuidam taught and lectured at Harvard University as Erasmus Professor, and was awarded the Kees van Baaren-Prize in The Hague, for his opera Rage d’amours. Zuidam’s music is published by Deuss Music, The Hague.

less

Press

no quote 
De Volkskrant, 05-11-2013

"The instruments are certainly not limited to accompanists and the result is a fascinating wealth of expressions and colors"
Luister, 03-10-2013

As Knussen's performance with the ensemble Asko Schönberg demonstrates, every detail in the instrumental writing is precisely judged and the piece is assembled with such care that it's totally absorbing, and never remotely frivolous.
The Guardian, 28-6-2013

(...) Ingeniously sense of text an irony.
NRC Handelsblad, 27-6-2013

Play album Play album

Often bought together with..

Gustav Mahler
Mahler Symphony No. 3
Adam Fischer & Düsseldorfer Symphoniker
Antonio Vivaldi
The Four Seasons
Jaap van Zweden
Norbert von Hannenheim
Works for viola & piano
Aida-Carmen Soanea
Michael Gees, Frans Ehlhart, Marion von Tilzer
Secret Key Masters
Michael Gees / Frans Ehlhart / Marion von Tilzer
Various composers
Schöne Welt, wo bist Du?
Julia Kleiter / Michael Gees

You might also like..

Robert Schumann, Oliver Knussen, Franz Liszt
Kirill Gerstein plays Liszt, Schumann and Knussen
Kirill Gerstein
Ástor Piazzolla
Complete Tango!
Isabelle van Keulen Ensemble
Various composers
Perles de Pluie
Café des Chansons feat. Charlotte Haesen
Ástor Piazzolla
Ángeles y Diablos
Isabelle van Keulen Ensemble
Leonard Bernstein, Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Violin Concerto, Op. 35 | Serenade after Plato’s “Symposium”
Liza Ferschtman
Grand Tango!
Isabelle van Keulen Ensemble
Kusskuss, kallike / Weihnachtliches Wiegenlied single
Goeyvaerts String Trio
Stabat Mater / Simeron
Goeyvaerts String Trio
Various composers
Dutch Masters and their inspiration
The Stolz Quartet
Jacob ter Veldhuis
There Must Be Some Way Out Of Here - Three String Quartets
The Netherlands String Quartet
Veni, Veni, Emmanuel - MacMillan series vol. 1
Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic / James MacMillan / Colin Currie / Gordan Nikolic
String Quartets nos. 1-3
Navarra Quartet