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The Wagner Project
Richard Wagner

Kathrin Zukowski & KammerMusikKöln

The Wagner Project

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: CAvi
UPC: 4260085535309
Catnr: AVI 8553530
Release date: 03 May 2024
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Label
CAvi
UPC
4260085535309
Catalogue number
AVI 8553530
Release date
03 May 2024
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EN
DE

About the album

THE WAGNER PROJECT

The recording of this CD on the occasion of the “10 1” anniversary concert of the KammerMusikKöln ensemble stood entirely under the motto of Richard Wagner, reflecting our desire to put on several of his works in arrangements for chamber music ensemble. Thus, with this Wagner Project, we present several rarities along with a world première. For one, we are thrilled to introduce Engelbert Humperdinck’s almost entirely unknown arrangement of the prelude to Tristan und Isolde.

This recording also features a true world première: Wagner’s extremely rarely performed French Songs in an arrangement we have commissioned from Simone Fontanelli, coupled with the second public performance of Fontanelli’s arrangement of Wagner’s Wesendonck-Lieder, a further commission by KammerMusikKöln.

We also have the particular pleasure of presenting Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll in the composer’s own chamber music arrangement, a particularly gratifying piece for small ensemble. We consider ourselves particularly lucky to celebrate KammerMusikKöln’s anniversary with the largest project we have ever put together, featuring fifteen instrumentalists and a vocal soloist.

And we are fortunate to count on the collaboration of soprano Kathrin Zukowski, a member of the regular ensemble of soloists at Cologne Opera.
THE WAGNER PROJECT

Die Aufnahme dieser CD im Rahmen des „Jubiläumskonzertes 10+1“ der KammerMusikKöln steht ganz im Zeichen Richard Wagners und entsprang dem Wunsch, Bearbeitungen seiner Werke für Kammermusikensemble vorzustellen. So präsentieren wir mit dem Wagner-Projekt besondere Raritäten und eine Uraufführung: zunächst die nahezu unbekannte Bearbeitung des Vorspiels zu Tristan und Isolde durch Engelbert Humperdinck.

Dazu eine Weltpremiere: Wagners sehr selten zu hörende Französische Lieder in einem von uns beauftragten Arrangement von Simone Fontanelli sowie die zweite Aufführung überhaupt der ebenfalls von uns in Auftrag gegebenen Bearbeitung der Wesendonck-Lieder und als weiteres instrumentales Glanzstück das Siegfried-Idyll. Besonders glücklich schätzen wir uns, in unserem Jubiläumsjahr, das größte Projekt, dass die KammerMusikKöln mit 15 Instrumentalisten und Gesangssolistin je umgesetzt hat, zu verwirklichen und hier die Sopranistin Kathrin Zukowski, Mitglied des Ensembles der Oper Köln, gewonnen zu haben. (Monika Hermans-Krüger

Wagner hat die Musikgeschichte durch sein einzigartiges Konzept des Gesamtkunstwerks für immer verändert und geprägt, und seine Musik wirkte auf Generationen von Künstlern und Opernliebhabern wie eine künstlerische Droge.

Viele, die regelmäßig Wagners Musik rezipieren oder selbst spielen, sind wahrscheinlich überrascht, welchen Missverständnissen seine Musik unterliegt. Berühmt für seinen geradezu überwältigenden Orchesterklang werden dennoch seine innigen und zerbrechlichen Seiten oftmals übersehen. Dabei sind die zarten Momente, in denen der Hörer wie in einem Sog reinster Intimität und Liebe gefangen wird, für diesen Komponisten ebenso charakteristisch. (Tom Owen)

Artist(s)

Kathrin Zukowski (soprano)

Born and raised in Paderborn (Germany), Kathrin Zukowski obtained her first musical diploma in classical guitar before she went on to study vocal pedagogy and opera/concert vocal performance at Detmold University of Music. She then obtained her Masters‘ diploma in music theater/voice (opera) under the guidance of Lars Woldt at the August Everding Theater Academy in Munich. During her studies, Kathrin sang one of the leading roles in Johann Adolf Hasse’s opera Artaserse with the Munich Hofkapelle conducted by Michael Hofstetter on the occasion of the re-opening of the Margrave Opera House in Bayreuth. In August 2018, she sang her début at Munich Chamber Opera, covering the role of Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte. Kathrin Zukowski was a Bielefeld Richard Wagner Society scholarship holder, received two succes- sive...
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Born and raised in Paderborn (Germany), Kathrin Zukowski obtained her first musical diploma in classical guitar before she went on to study vocal pedagogy and opera/concert vocal performance at Detmold University of Music. She then obtained her Masters‘ diploma in music theater/voice (opera) under the guidance of Lars Woldt at the August Everding Theater Academy in Munich.
During her studies, Kathrin sang one of the leading roles in Johann Adolf Hasse’s opera Artaserse with the Munich Hofkapelle conducted by Michael Hofstetter on the occasion of the re-opening of the Margrave Opera House in Bayreuth. In August 2018, she sang her début at Munich Chamber Opera, covering the role of Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte.
Kathrin Zukowski was a Bielefeld Richard Wagner Society scholarship holder, received two succes- sive scholarships from the Johann Adolf Hasse Society, and was awarded the Best Singer special prize at the Giangiacomo Guelfi Competition in Bolzano.
From 2018 to 2020, Kathrin Zukowski formed part of the young artists’ ensemble at Cologne Opera (Interna- tional Opera Studio). She was then selected to be integrated into the permanent roster of soloists at Cologne Opera, where she has had a fixed contract since 2021. Roles she has covered include the Niece in Britten’s Peter Grimes, Antonia in Tales of Hoffmann, Marzelline in Fidelio, the Countess in Salieri’s La scuola de’ gelosi, Pamina in The Magic Flute, Konstanze in Mozart’s Entführung aus dem Serail, and Musetta in Puccini’s La Bohème.
Further roles have included the Infantin in Zemlinsky’s Der Zwerg, Cleopatra in Handel’s Giulio Cesare, Adina in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, and, most recently, Ilia in Idomeneo. Kathrin Zukowski also makes frequent concert appearances: for instance, she was recently featured as soloist at the New Year’s Concert of the Tonkünstler Orchester Niederösterreich at the Musikverein in Vienna.
www.kathrinzukowski.de
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KammerMusikKöln

KammerMusikKöln has established itself as a cultural institution in the music capitals of Cologne and Bonn, an emblem of the extraordinary level of chamber music that has been evolving on the highest level in this region for several years. Multi-awarded soloists of the Gürzenich Orchestra and the WDR Symphony Orchestra, along with music university professors, freelance soloists, and chamber musicians from all over Europe have joined their forces in this venture with the goal of offering unique programmes in compelling musical quality. The main characteristic of KammerMusikKöln is the creation and elaboration of programmes that lie beyond the mainstream, featured in unusual instrumental line-ups. This utterly versatile ensemble devotes itself to a wide array of repertoire, ranging from great masterpieces of chamber music to arrangements of outstanding orchestral works...
more
KammerMusikKöln has established itself as a cultural institution in the music capitals of Cologne and Bonn, an emblem of the extraordinary level of chamber music that has been evolving on the highest level in this region for several years. Multi-awarded soloists of the Gürzenich Orchestra and the WDR Symphony Orchestra, along with music university professors, freelance soloists, and chamber musicians from all over Europe have joined their forces in this venture with the goal of offering unique programmes in compelling musical quality.
The main characteristic of KammerMusikKöln is the creation and elaboration of programmes that lie beyond the mainstream, featured in unusual instrumental line-ups. This utterly versatile ensemble devotes itself to a wide array of repertoire, ranging from great masterpieces of chamber music to arrangements of outstanding orchestral works for chamber ensemble commissioned from prominent composers of our time.
With energy and passion, KammerMusikKöln has made it its mission to do full justice to music in all its different facets; it has achieved that goal in a series of remarkable successes ever since it was founded in 2011. The array of instrumental line-ups and combinations, including piano, winds, and strings (expanded on this recording with the human voice), ranges from two to eighteen musicians.
www.kammermusikkoeln.de NATALIE CHEE Violin I and Artistic Leader JUTA ÕUNAPUU-MOCANITA Violin II ÖYKÜ CANPOLAT Viola JEE-HYE BAE Cello I ANGELA CHANG Cello II JASON WITJAS-EVANS Double Bass ALJA VELKAVERH Flute TOM OWEN Oboe ANDREAS OBERAIGNER Clarinet I GRIGORIS VASILEIADIS Clarinet II ** PIETER NUYTTEN Bassoon EGON HELLRUNG Horn I KU-HSIN CHEN Horn II PIERRE EVANO Trumpet CLAUDIA CHAN Piano
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Composer(s)

Richard Wagner

Richard Wagner was an important innovator of music in his time. He is best known for his operas, which he himself preferred to refer to as musical dramas. He wrote the texts (the libretti) himself and sought to make a Gesamtkunstwerk, the ideal union of text, music and theatre. Over time, this lead to grandiose musical dramas which were performed in a specially built theater for these works in the small town of Bayreuth. Wagner's greatest critic, the philosopher Nietzsche, named his former friend the 'greatest miniaturist of music who in the smallest of space squeezed an endless amount of sense and sweetness'. Nietzsche regarded this as a sympton of decadence, yet it does portray the large variety of treasures which can...
more

Richard Wagner was an important innovator of music in his time. He is best known for his operas, which he himself preferred to refer to as musical dramas. He wrote the texts (the libretti) himself and sought to make a Gesamtkunstwerk, the ideal union of text, music and theatre. Over time, this lead to grandiose musical dramas which were performed in a specially built theater for these works in the small town of Bayreuth.

Wagner's greatest critic, the philosopher Nietzsche, named his former friend the "greatest miniaturist of music who in the smallest of space squeezed an endless amount of sense and sweetness". Nietzsche regarded this as a sympton of decadence, yet it does portray the large variety of treasures which can be found in Wagner's music: the mysterious fantasy stories of the love potion of Tristan & Isolde, Wotan's spear, the sea of flames of Brünhilde, the sword of Siegfried... Still the real main character is the orchestra, which shines its light on all the true intentions and feelings of these heroes with great depth.

Both as a composer and as an individual, Wagner remains a subject of controversy and emotional discussions. By many he is hailed as a hero, and by equally many others completely dismissed. But his influence as a composer and musical innovator is undeniable!


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