Ten years on from his death, this newly released live recording from the 1999 Styriarte festival in Graz is a welcome reminder of Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s revolutionary approach to music. At its heart is a rare – for him – foray into the world of Richard Wagner, provocatively coupled with Mendelssohn and Schumann, two composers whose attitudes towards the Sorcerer of Bayreuth were equivocal, to say the least.
He opens with Mendelssohn’s fairytale overture, Die Schöne Melusine, a bracing ride driven by resolute strings and dramatic interventions from the woodwind. The Tannhäuser Overture is quite a different matter. To a certain extent, Harnoncourt takes a Wagner-lite approach, with gossamer textures rooted in Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture, a comparison that the antisemitic Wagner would surely have loathed. Purists might balk, but it’s one of the silkiest and most detailed of readings, for those curious about the actual notes on the page, it’s illuminating.
The Tristan Prelude is in a similar vein, especially its weightless opening, but while Harnoncourt scrapes the historical barnacles from Wagner’s radical harmonies, he never skimps on the music’s emotional thrust. It’s crowned by Violeta Urmana – yes, a mezzo-soprano – in a breathtaking account of the Liebestod. Not only is her tone luxurious, but every word is sublimely clear.
Schumann’s rarely performed Requiem für Mignon, an 11-minute secular work for soloists, choir and orchestra on themes of grief and solace, rounds the concert off in style. The music is interspersed with Harnoncourt’s erudite commentaries, including a section-by-section take on Mendelssohn’s overture. Thoroughly enlightening, assuming you speak German.
Stream it on Apple Music (above) or on Spotify
