Karita Mattila (soprano) & Martin Katz (piano)
Ondine · ODE1100-5 · 76 minutes
There’s something electric about hearing Mattila on home turf, and this Helsinki recital captures exactly that charge — a singer completely unguarded, pushing her voice into corners she doesn’t always explore on the studio-bound discs. Martin Katz deserves real credit too, matching her risk for risk rather than just accompanying from a polite distance, which is probably why the whole thing crackles the way it does. Seventy-six minutes in, you get why the room sounded like that.
Awards:
- BBC Music Magazine — July 2007 — Choral & Song Choice
- Gramophone Magazine — August 2007 — Editor’s Choice
“A frame of applause and ecstatic ovations greet what is one of Karita Mattila’s most exciting discs yet… The repertoire takes Mattila’s voice into thrilling new regions; and Martin Katz’s piano…”
— BBC Music Magazine, July 2007,5 out of 5 stars
Karita Mattila, Thomas Moser, Anne Sofie von Otter, Thomas Quasthoff, Philip LangridgeRundfunkchor Berlin, MDR-Rundfunkchor Leipzig, Ernst Sennf Choir, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Simon Rattle
Warner Classics · 5573032 · 1 hour 49 minutes
There’s something almost absurd about Gurrelieder — a piece so massive it needs five soloists, three choirs, and an orchestra the size of a small army, all to tell a Danish folk tale about doomed love and death. Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic lean into that excess rather than tidying it up, letting the late-Romantic harmony strain and glow right up to the edge of collapse before Schoenberg tips over into something stranger. Mattila and Moser bring real ache to the central love scenes, but it’s Langridge’s unhinged narration in Part Three that reminds you this whole thing is about to break apart into a new century of music.
Awards:
- Gramophone Awards — 2002 — Winner – Choral
- Gramophone Magazine — June 2002 — Editor’s Choice
- Building a Library — March 2017 — First Choice
José van Dam (Hans Sachs), Ben Heppner (Walther von Stolzing), Karita Mattila (Eva), Alan Opie (Beckmesser), Iris Vermillion (Magdalena), Herbert Lippert (David), René Pape (Pogner), Albert Dohmen (Kothner), Kelly Anderson (Nachtwächter)Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti
Decca · 4708002 · 4 hours 14 minutes
Four hours of Wagner in glorious comedy mode, and Solti leads the Chicago Symphony like he’s got something to prove even at this late stage of his career — the orchestral playing has a bite and clarity that cuts through all that counterpoint in the Act III prelude. Van Dam gives us a Sachs who feels genuinely wise rather than just avuncular, and Heppner’s Walther has the ring and stamina this brutal tenor role demands without ever sounding strained. Mattila’s Eva glows, Opie’s Beckmesser is properly funny without becoming a cartoon, and honestly, with this cast singing this well, four hours goes by faster than you’d think.
Awards:
- Grammy Awards — 40th Awards (1997) — Best Opera Recording
“[Van Dam] fulfils expectations with a reading that is finely moulded from start to finish…Heppner seems to have benefited from his longer experience of his role…Throughout this is a portrayal…”
— Gramophone Magazine, March 1997
