Orchestre de l’Opéra national de Paris / Philippe Jordan
Wagner / Prokofiev
Description
In his first season as music director of the Orchestre de l’Opéra national de Paris in 2009, Swiss conductor Philippe Jordan put works by Wagner on the programme, among them his famous »Ring of the Nibelung«. A CD was also released featuring excerpts from the production of the »Ring«, with Wagner soprano Nina Stemme among the singers. Accompanied by the Orchestre de l’Opéra national de Paris under Jordan’s baton, Ms Stemme now makes her debut in the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg – with music by Wagner, naturally, and suites from Prokofiev’s »Romeo and Juliet«.
The works on tonight’s programme revolve around the subject of love, described by Wagner himself as »the loveliest of all dreams« – or, as the character of Kurwenal sings in his opera »Tristan und Isolde«, »the finest madness in the world«. The Parisian orchestra opens the concert with the Prelude and Liebestod from »Tristan und Isolde«.
It is followed by Wagner’s »Wesendonck-Lieder«, musical settings of poems by the composer’s muse Mathilde Wesendonck. Wagner described two of these songs as preliminary studies for »Tristan und Isolde«. These works, which were written within a short space of time, reflect the composer’s unfulfilled love for Frau Wesendonck – they were both married to someone else.
Another tale of unconsummated love is one of most famous love stories of all: Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare’s play about the »star-crossed lovers« from rival families who are only united in death has inspired numerous writers and composers, among them Sergei Prokofiev. In the 1940s, the Russian composer compiled several suites from his ballet score, from which the Orchestre de l’Opéra national de Paris performs excerpts.
Performers
Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Paris
Nina Stemme soprano
conductor Philippe Jordan
Programme
Richard Wagner
Vorspiel und Liebestod aus »Tristan und Isolde«
Fünf Lieder nach Gedichten von Mathilde Wesendonck »Wesendonck-Lieder«
– Interval –
Sergej Prokofjew
Suiten aus »Romeo und Julia« op. 64
Encore:
Michail Glinka
Ouvertüre zu »Ruslan und Ljudmila«
Series
Visiting Orchestras
