Werner Ehrhardt

L’arte del mondo, Werner Ehrhardt – Giuseppe Gazzaniga: L’isola d’Alcina (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 02:11:29 minutes | 1,35 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © deutsche harmonia mundi

One of the trademarks of the early music orchestra l’arte del mondo since 2004 has been sensational rediscoveries also in the field of opera. Now the orchestra and its artistic director Werner Ehrhardt are adding another spectacular operatic rarity to their award-winning discography. It is the opera satire “L’isola d’Alcina”, with which the Italian and Mozart contemporary Giuseppe Gazzaniga verballhorned the countless “Alcina” operas of the Baroque. Gazzaniga’s comic opera premiered in Venice in 1772 and was soon performed throughout Europe. Now the l’arte del mondo orchestra, conducted by Werner Ehrhardt, together with a first-rate ensemble of soloists, presents this opera rediscovery in a live recording from 2022, in co-production with WDR. The role of Alcina, the enchantress who ensnares all men, is played by soprano Francesca Lombardi Mazzulli.

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L’arte del mondo & Werner Ehrhardt – Anton Zimmermann: Symphonies (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 59:50 minutes | 600 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © deutsche harmonia mundi

First world premiere on disc for these three Symphonies from Anton Zimmermann (1741-1781), a contemporary composer of Haydn, who unfortunately passed away at 39—because when listening to those gems, we wonder where he would have stopped had he lived up until, let’s say, 1810 for example… We notice straightaway that Zimmermann thumbs his nose at every standard: in the use of keys (in 1771, a symphony in E-minor was kind of a rarity: Haydn himself, a great experimenter, has only one under his belt), in the architecture—the order and type of movements are somewhat knocked over—and in the instrumentality too. Reckon that the Symphony in B-flat major uses wood instruments as well as as many soloists independent of the string instruments; and that in the splendid Symphony in C minor, beginning with a singular adagissimo, he doesn’t hesitate to include trombones. In 1770! An era when, at best, trombones were used for special effects at the opera, or to increase the solemnity of a piece of sacred music, but never in the symphonic field. Additionally, he doesn’t hesitate to finish two of these symphonies on an appeased pianissimo tone, where usually people end resoundingly. We eagerly await to discover the thirty-six other symphonies from this strange character. Icing on the cake, many of his works were long attributed to Haydn, because we couldn’t imagine so much bravery and genius being issued from a simple Zimmermann… The Arte del mondo performs in an exemplary way, conducted by Werner Ehrhardt.

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