In The Studio
Decca Music Group Breaks World Speed Record in CD production and puts Classical on Top of Pop
Viktoria Mullova announces busy UK schedule for 2002
While I Dream – Liszt Songs and Schumann Dicterliebe with Barbara Bonney
Michel Legrand plays Michel Legrand
Riccardo Chailly appointed Gewandhauskapellmeister - and continues Mahler cycle with Symphony No. 2
Russell Watson in New Zealand and Australia

In the Studio
Jean Yves Thibaudet is in the studio in Suffolk, UK, completing his recording of works by Erik Satié,  scheduled for release later this year.
back to top

Decca Music Group Breaks World Speed Record in CD production and puts Classical on Top of Pop

" Your mission should you choose to accept it, is to record, produce and sell a live concert recording in under a week."
This was the challenge Decca Music Group set itself when the company signed the contract to record the 43rd Vienna New Years’ Day Concert with Seiji Ozawa and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra on January 1^st this year. However, not only was this achieved in record-breaking time, but the finished album has defied convention by shooting straight into the Pop Charts, an incredible achievement for a classical album.

Following the remarkable concert, it was the people of Austria who were the first to rush out and buy a copy of the Ozawa New Year’s Day Album, putting the disc straight into the No. 1 spot in their pop charts, and beating the tough festive market competition of Robbie Williams, Limp Bizkit, Nelly Furtado and Sting. Several weeks later, the album still dominates these charts, has already gone Platinum and it looks as though Double Platinum status is just days away. Such sales success has caught on throughout the world, with Ozawa’s home country Japan joining in the media frenzy, naming the album the ‘New Year Phenomenon’ when it went straight in at No.9 in the Japanese Pop Album Charts last week. Their shipment figures are already toppling 150,000 units. The album is also storming up the charts in Germany, France, UK, and America with world sales figure exceeding 250,000.

And of course, what is most incredible about the album's meteoric rise is that this is not new or original repertoire, with 100’s of similar recordings already available of this much-loved music.  What is the secret of its overwhelming success? According to Decca Music Group’s President, Costa Pilavachi:
"The Vienna Philharmonic's annual New Year's Day concert is the most prominent classical music event in the world, reaching 1 billion people through its TV broadcast. What makes this year's concert so special is the debut appearance of Seiji Ozawa, a hugely recognisable and beloved musical personality, who in partnership with this great orchestra produced one of the most electrifying New Year's Day concerts ever. This was truly a triumphant start of a new era in Vienna's musical life as Ozawa takes on his new role as Music Director of the Vienna State Opera."

As the last beat to Strauss’s Radetzky March resounded across the jubilant atmosphere of the Musikverein, Decca’s recording engineers immediately started the editing process of putting the magic of the concert onto record. And what magic it was. The press and the public were ecstatic about the concert with remarks such as: "Choosing Seiji Ozawa to conduct the 2002 New Year’s Day concert was the Vienna Philharmonic’s most brilliant idea in years;" "There is not a standing ovation like this every time;" "It is simply fascinating to see the wealth of feeling that Ozawa, a bundle of energy and empathy, possesses for the distinctly Viennese spirit of this splendid music;" "You could see Ozawa originate the rhythm, let it take possession of him, then transmit it from the tips of his fingers;" The three great ones have been Herbert Von Karajan, Carlos Kleiber ­ and now Seiji." Just three days later, the magic could be heard once again as the recording was ready for release on the Philips label. Never before has a CD been turned around so quickly in the history of classical music.

With such accolades from music lovers around the world, it is no wonder that the Ozawa New Year’s Day recording of 2002 will be remembered as the album that put classical on top of pop.
back to top

Viktoria Mullova is internationally acclaimed as a virtuoso whose reputation is for absolute clarity of sound and total control. Playing in the Baroque pitch entails many adjustments, including to sound and vibrato, and has meant learning a whole new technique. "Learning Baroque is like learning jazz - you can’t just pick it up and play," she comments. (Undoubtedly, her venture a few years ago into the realm of ‘new classical’ with Through The Looking Glass, inspired a different approach to her playing. Performing alongside jazz greats such as pianist Julian Joseph and percussionists Paul Clarvis and Colin Currie demanded an element of improvisation on her part and consequently inspired a new sense of freedom and risk which now permeates her whole performance repertoire.) Prompted by her discovery of this new technique of playing in the Baroque repertoire and totally enamoured of her Strad in its new guise, Mullova also admits to an impulse-buy some months ago in Switzerland on the way to a concert – a Nicolai Lambert 1731 French Baroque violin.

The first UK appearance of the year is on 25 February at London’s Royal Festival Hall with the celebrated Chamber Orchestra of Europe under the baton of Frans Brueggen, representing a first time partnership for Mullova and the Dutch pioneer of performance on period instruments. As featured soloist, Mullova will perform the Beethoven Violin Concerto. Returning to the Royal Festival Hall again on 5 May, Mullova plays the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the Philharmonia, conducted by Russian compatriot Yevgeny Svetlanov.

She then teams up with John Eliot Gardiner’s highly acclaimed Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique for a major European tour across France, Germany and Italy, winding up in the UK for performances at St John’s Smith Square, London on 28 May and The Forum, Bath on 30 May, playing the Mendelssohn and Beethoven Violin Concertos. They will also record both concertos for Philips for release in the UK in Spring 2003.

While I Dream – Liszt Songs and Schumann Dicterliebe with Barbara Bonney

Barbara Bonney’s new recording of Schumann’s Dichterliebe and Liszt songs is due for international release in March. We’ll have more details about this fantastic album featuring pianist Antonio Pappano in next month’s news. As a taster, here is an excerpt from a recent interview with Barbara, who explains the choice of repertoire

" Dichterliebe is usually the preserve of tenors and baritones — what was your motivation in choosing this cycle? "
Of course, I’m not the first woman to sing Dichterliebe — singers such as Brigitte Fassbaender and Lotte Lehmann have performed it. I’ve always felt very drawn to this particular work — it is one of the central pieces of the literature, its music is so sensational, and the text is so beautiful. I was always very jealous of all those tenors and baritones who sang it, but conversely I was free from past vocal associations in my interpretation, and so could try to do something completely fresh.

Although the poems are told by a specific man about his love for a woman, the human emotions are universal — love, sorrow and disappointment — and delving into these poems gives a woman a chance to explore her male side and to understand what goes on in the thoughts of the other half. I imagined I was the woman to whom the poems were addressed, retelling the story of the man who had loved her, and the torture and pain he went through.

Looking at the text from this new perspective meant that I sang Ich grolle nicht, for example, very differently: the text is “Ich grolle nicht” — “I’m not going to complain” and rather than sing it aggressively as it’s often sung, I approach it like a very sad, introverted and self-deprecating love song, which to my mind is much more the way it was intended.
Why not cross these boundaries? I certainly find it appropriate today when we’re all exploring different avenues and not just doing what people expect of us.

  "The Liszt songs are fascinating, yet not sung that frequently" Dichterliebe and many of the Liszt songs were written within a decade of each other, and yet they represent the two opposing camps of German musical culture, the Wagner–Liszt school and the Schumann–Mendelssohn–Brahms group. Clara Schumann and Liszt, two of the greatest pianists of all time, were of course rivals. There are huge differences in the concept and creation of music of these two composers, which is what this disc is about.

Liszt has had his detractors as a composer — as has Mendelssohn, in different ways — but there’s so much that is exquisite, inspiring and really deep in his music. Certainly Wagner thought so, considering how many ideas he got from Liszt! — just compare the opening of Liszt’s Lorelei to Tristan. I am also amazed at Liszt’s creativity — take O komm im Traum and Oh quand je dors: it’s fascinating to have two different versions of the same poem in two different languages. Like a Van Gogh or Cezanne, Liszt was willing to explore the same subject from many different angles.

Lieder singing can sometimes become very careful, very precious, because one is so aware of the text, but the Liszt songs are hugely dramatic and demand an operatic freedom — the music really sweeps you along. I find going from the careful singing of the Schumann to the expansive singing of the Liszt a very good discipline.
back to top

Michel Legrand plays Michel Legrand

"To be alone on piano is a very strange feeling because we feel naked. No one around you, not one note, not one voice... we are completely naked and also free. If you decide to go in any direction, you are free to do so."

So the three-time Academy Award-winning legend of cinema music Michel Legrand describes the frightening yet exhilarating experience of recording his new album for Decca; MICHEL LEGRAND PLAYS MICHEL LEGRAND. Over his prolific career Legrand has excelled at several roles; those of composer, arranger, conductor, pianist and singer. But it is the virtuoso pianist and composer that this new album celebrates. Recorded in a spontaneous, improvisational fashion, the tracks include all the best-love Legrand compositions but with fresh flourishes, twists and turns. "When I look back at what I've done the day before," explains Legrand, "I want to change it because of what I¹ve since learnt... Its the greatest pleasure in my life, to learn, learn, learn."

Known around the world for their haunting subjects and introspective themes, the songs of Michel Legrand bring together influences from varied musical backgrounds - jazz, pop and classical. For over three decades these songs have held a prominent place on both stage and screen and won their composer some three Academy Awards, ten Academy Award nominations and five Grammys in the process. MICHEL LEGRAND PLAYS MICHEL LEGRAND includes the Oscar-winning 'The Windmills of Your Mind', 'The Summer Knows' from his Oscar-winning score to 'The Summer of '42' and a melody from 'Yentl', his most-recent Academy-Award winning score.
back to top

Riccardo Chailly appointed Gewandhauskapellmeister - and continues Mahler cycle with Symphony No. 2

In the tradition of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Arthur Nikisch, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Kurt Masur and Herbert Blomstedt, Riccardo Chailly will become the 19th Gewandhauskapellmeister. At the same time he will be appointed Generalmusikdirektor of Leipzig Opera, a combination especially aspired to by the General Management of Leipzig Opera.

Next month sees the release of Maestro Chailly's ongoing Mahler ring cycle recordings for Decca. Following the recent success of the monumental Symphony No. 8, the cycle contines with release of Symphony No.2 and 'Totenfeier'. Check back next month for more details.

And watch out for Russell on an upcoming LOTTO show!

Wed 6th Feb
Russell will be performing a concert on the QE2 in Auckland Harbour

Fri 8th Feb
7.00am BREAKFAST TV
9.00am RADIO SPORT
9.20am I98 FM
9.40am CLASSIC HITS
10.00am CONCERT FM
10.30am RADIO PACIFIC