Haydn: Die Schöpfung (The Creation) Bavarian Radio Chorus, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra & Sir Simon Rattle

• Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809): Die Schöpfung:
• 1 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - Die Vorstellung des Chaos (Live) 05:30
• 2 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - Im Anfange schuf Gott - Und der Geist Gottes (Live) 02:59
• 3 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - Nun schwanden vor dem heiligen Strahle (Live) 03:50
• 4 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - Und Gott machte das Firmament (Live) 02:01
• 5 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - Mit Staunen sieht das Wunderwerk (Live) 02:04
• 6 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - Und Gott sprach: Es sammle sich das Wasser (Live) 00:42
• 7 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - Rollend in schäumenden Wellen (Live) 04:08
• 8 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - Und Gott sprach: Es bringe die Erde Gras hervor (Live) 00:24
• 9 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - Nun beut die Flur das frische Grün (Live) 04:57
• 10 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - Und die himmlischen Heerscharen (Live) 00:10
• 11 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - Stimmt an die Saiten (Live) 01:55
• 12 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - Und Gott sprach: Es sei’n Lichter (Live) 00:42
• 13 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - In vollen Glanze steiget jetzt (Live) 02:57
• 14 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes (Live) 03:42
• 15 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - Und Gott sprach: Es bringe das Wasser (Live) 00:23
• 16 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - Auf starkem Fittige schwinget sich (Live) 07:34
• 17 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - Und Gott schuf grosse Walfische (Live) 02:30
• 18 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - Und die Engel rührten ihr (Live) 00:23
• 19 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung: In holder Anmut steh’n - Der Herr ist gross in seiner Macht (Live) 06:22
• 20 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - Und Gott sprach: Es bringe die Erde hervor (Live) 00:27
• 21 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - Gleich öffnet sich der Erde Schoss (Live) 03:13
• 22 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - Nun scheint in vollem Glanze der Himmel (Live) 03:14
• 23 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - Und Gott schuf den Menschen (Live) 00:45
• 24 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - Mit Würd’ und Hoheit angetan (Live) 03:47
• 25 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - Und Gott sah jedes Ding (Live) 00:24
• 26 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - Vollendet ist das grosse Werk (Live) 08:23
• 27 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - Aus Rosenwolken bricht (Live) 03:52
• 28 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - Von deiner Güt’, o Herr und Gott (Live) 08:47
• 29 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - Nun ist die erste Pflicht erfüllt (Live) 02:20
• 30 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - Holde Gattin! Dir zur Seite (Live) 07:02
• 31 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - O glücklich Paar (Live) 00:29
• 32 Haydn: Haydn: Die Schöpfung - Singt dem Herren alle Stimmen! (Live) 03:26
• Total Runtime 01:39:22

Info for Haydn: Die Schöpfung (The Creation)

Joseph Haydn: "Die Schöpfung" - ein musikalisches Meisterwerk, das von Beginn an gefeiert wurde. Für Simon Rattle steht außer Frage: "in der 'Schöpfung' steckt alles. Die ganze Welt. Sie ist ein Blick zurück und weit in die Zukunft dessen, was Musik alles sein kann. Sie ist Gleichgewicht und Revolution zur selben Zeit, ein Stück Aufklärung eben." Prachtvolle Chöre, anmutige Melodien, feinste Polyphonie, all das fest verankert in einem optimistischen Menschenbild: "Wer sich nach diesem Stück nicht automatisch besser fühlt, braucht wirklich Hilfe", meint Simon Rattle augenzwinkernd. "Die 'Schöpfung' ist auf so ehrliche Weise gesund." Zur Gesundheit gehört aber auch eine gute Prise Humor, und der kommt bei Haydn selbst in einem so weihevollen Umfeld wie der Schöpfungsgeschichte nicht zu kurz. Zugleich wirft das lichtdurchflutete Werk einige Schatten auf unsere eigene Gegenwart. Was ist geblieben vom Geist der Aufklärung? Und was haben wir gemacht mit der "Welt, so groß, so wunderbar"?

Zum Amtsantritt als Chefdirigent von Chor und Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks hat Sir Simon Rattle Joseph Haydns Oratorium "Die Schöpfung" ausgewählt. Nach zwei Konzerten am 21. und 22. September 2023 im Münchner Herkulessaal kam das Werk am 24. September in der geschichts-trächtigen Basilika im oberschwäbischen Ottobeuren mit den drei herausragenden Solisten Lucy Crowe (Sopran), Benjamin Bruns (Tenor) und Christian Gerhaher (Bariton) zur Aufführung. Die Münchner Aufnahme der Antrittskonzerte wird nun bei BR-KLASSIK auf einem Doppelalbum veröffentlicht. Von 1796 bis 1798 arbeitete Haydn an "Die Schöpfung", mit der er den bedeutendsten Beitrag zur Gattung des Oratoriums seit dem Tod Händels schuf. Das Werk widmet sich der biblischen Schöpfung der Welt und des Menschen mit Optimismus, aufklärerischem Humanismus und bisweilen auch mit humorvollem Augenzwinkern. Bachs Kontrapunkt, Händels Pracht und Mozarts Melodik - all das ist, wenn man so will, hier zu einer grandiosen Synthese verschmolzen, und dennoch ist es unverkennbar die Sprache von Joseph Haydn, die sich in den virtuosen Arien, den glanzvollen Chören und der orchestralen Vielfarbigkeit der "Schöpfung" offenbart. Mit diesem Spätwerk feierte Joseph Haydn seinen größten Triumph: Die Anerkennung, die ihm für das Oratorium "Die Schöpfung" zuteilwurde, stellte all seine früheren Erfolge in den Schatten. Als Symphonien- Komponist war er in aller Munde, für seine Streichquartette liebten ihn unzählige Adelige und Laienmusiker und mit den späten Messen versicherte er sich des Wohlwollens seines Esterházy-Fürsten. Aber die "Schöpfung", 1798 uraufgeführt, traf darüber hinaus den Nerv der Zeit - und tut es bis heute. Sie vereint Haydns orchestrale Finesse mit wirkungsvollen Chören, sie kombiniert die anschauliche Schilderung der Schöpfungsgeschichte mit feiner klanglicher Ausdeutung und ist gleichsam ein musikalisches Manifest der Epoche der Aufklärung. Als solches erlebt die "Schöpfung" eine ununterbrochene Aufführungstradition, an der sich heute jedes Weltklasseensemble messen lassen muss. 1946, ein Jahr nach Kriegsende, wurde Haydns Meisterwerk als erstes Oratorium überhaupt in der Basilika in Ottobeuren aufgeführt, damals noch auf der Orgelempore. Als legendär gilt bis heute die Aufführung von Chor und Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks unter Leonard Bernstein 1986.

Lucy Crowe, Sopran
Benjamin Bruns, Tenor
Christian Gerhaher, Bariton
Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Sir Simon Rattle, Dirigent

Lucy Crowe
Born in Staffordshire, Lucy Crowe studied at the Royal Academy of Music, where she is a Fellow.

With repertoire ranging from Purcell, Handel and Mozart to Donizetti’s Adina and Verdi’s Gilda she has sung with opera companies & orchestras throughout the world, including the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, the Glyndebourne Festival, English National Opera, the Teatro Real Madrid, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Bavarian State Opera, Metropolitan Opera New York, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Haïm, Oramo and Nelsons, The Berlin Philharmonic/Harding and Nelsons, Vienna Philharmonic/Nelsons, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Egarr, Scottish Chamber Orchestra/Nézet-Séguin, the Monteverdi Orchestra/Gardiner, the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia/Pappano and the London Symphony Orchestra/Rattle.

Recent opera appearances include her debut at Dutch National Opera in the title role Rodelinda, Poppea Agrippina at the Royal Opera House, Susanna Le Nozze di Figaro at the Metropolitan Opera and Pamina Die Zauberflöte at the Liceu Barcelona. In the 2022/23 season Lucy returns to the Royal Opera House for Musetta La Boheme.

Highlights in concert this season include a European tour of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, which is also performed at the BBC Proms, Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor with the Dunedin Consort, Haydn’s Die Schöpfung with the Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest and with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks (BRSO), concerts of Haydn and Schubert arias also with the BRSO, Morgana Alcina with the Les Violons du Roy in Quebec and Montreal, and her debut with the Cleveland Orchestra for concerts of selected Mozart arias.

In recital she has appeared at the Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall, Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Mostly Mozart and Salzburg Festivals and the BBC Proms. Lucy has a vast discography. Her debut disc for Linn records featuring Berg, Strauss, and Schoenberg was released in the summer of 2021. Lucy received a Grammy nomination in 2021 for Best Opera Recording for Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen with the London Symphony Orchestra/ Sir Simon Rattle.

Benjamin Bruns/strong>
started his singing career as an alto soloist with the boys’ choir in his hometown of Hanover. After four years of private singing lessons with Prof. Peter Sefcik, he studied at the Academy of Music and Theatre in Hamburg under Kammersängerin Renate Behle. While still a student he was offered a permanent contract by the Theater Bremen, a position which allowed him to build up a broadlybased repertoire at an early stage. This was followed by a similar contract with the opera in Cologne. His professional journey then took him via the Dresden State Opera to the Vienna State Opera, where he continues to hold a seasonal contract.

His musical range encompasses roles such as Belmonte (“Die Entführung aus dem Serail”), Tamino (“Die Zauberflöte”), Don Ottavio (“Don Giovanni”), Ferrando (“Così fan tutte”), Camille, Count de Rosillon (“Die lustige Witwe”), Froh (“Das Rheingold”), Lysander (Britten’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”), Prince Ramiro (“La Cenerentola”), Boris Grigojevič (Janaček’s “Kátja Kabanová”), Steuermann and Erik (“Der fliegende Holländer”) and the Italian tenors in the Strauss operas “Capriccio” and “Der Rosenkavalier”.

In the 2018/2019 season, Benjamin Bruns sings for the first time at the Teatro Muncipal de Santiago (Chile) debuting in the role of Alwa (Berg: “Lulu”), at the Vienna State Opera in the roles Apparition of a Youth (Strauss: “Die Frau ohne Schatten”) and Camille (von Einem: “Dantons Tod”), as well as Hylas in a new production of Berlioz's “Les Troyens”. Further he performs in the roles of Don Ottavio (“Don Giovanni”) and Italian Tenor (“Der Rosenkavalier”) at the Vienna State Opera, as well as Tamino (“Die Zauberflöte”) at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and as Wenzel at the Semperoper Dresden (“Die verkaufte Braut”).

Oratorio and song recitals are an important complement to Benjamin Bruns’ work in opera. At the heart of his extensive concert repertoire are the great sacred works by Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert and Mendelssohn. He has sung with such renowned ensembles as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Saxonian State Orchestra Dresden, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Munich Philharmonic, the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic, the MDR Symphony orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony, the Leipzig Thomanerchor and the RIAS Chamberchoir as well as the Choir and Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome. Interesting projects in the current season include four concert performances of Mozart's “Don Giovanni” with the Kammerorchester Basel under Giovanni Antonini in Hamburg, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Paris and Basel as well as Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, conducted by Kirill Petrenko. Other interesting projects include a cantata concert with works by J.S. Bach with the International Bach Academy Stuttgart under the baton of Hans-Christoph Rademann, Bach's Christmas Oratorio with the Zurich Singing Academy, Beethoven’s “Missa solemnis” with the Bavarian State Orchestra under Kirill Petrenko, Rossini's “Petite messe solenelle” with the NDR Choir under the lead of Klaas Stok and Bach's St. John Passion with the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne under François-Xavier Roth.

Benjamin Bruns is an award recipient of the Bundeswettbewerb Gesang (Federal Singing Competition) in Berlin, the Hamburg Mozart Competition and the international singing competition of the Schloss Rheinsberg Chamber Opera. Other special honours bestowed to him include the 2008 Kurt Hübner Prize awarded by Theater Bremen and the 2009 Young Musicians’ Prize awarded by Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival.

Christian Gerhaher
During his studies under Paul Kuen and Raimund Grumbach, German baritone Christian Gerhaher attended the Opera School of the Academy of Music in Munich where he studied lied interpretation with Friedemann Berger. While completing his medical studies Christian Gerhaher perfected his vocal training in master-classes given by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Inge Borkh. At present Christian Gerhaher, together with Gerold Huber, holds a class in lied interpretation at the Munich Academy of Music and Theatre, and occasionally teaches at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Together with his regular piano accompanist Gerold Huber, Christian Gerhaher has devoted himself to lied interpretation for 30 years now, in concerts and recordings, and over the years they have been awarded several major prizes. The lied duo can be heard regularly on the stages of major international recital centres, for instance in the concert halls of New York, the Concertgebouw and Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, the Cologne, Luxembourg and Berlin Philharmonie, the Cité de la musique in Paris, the Konzerthaus and Musikverein in Vienna, the Teatro della Zarzuela in Madrid and in La Scala Milan; they are particularly frequent guests in the Wigmore Hall in London. Christian Gerhaher und Gerold Huber perform regularly at the festivals in Munich, Aix, Heidelberg, Salzburg, Granada, Berlin, Lucerne, Edinburgh, Rheingau and Schleswig Holstein. The Liedwoche Elmau, devised by Christian Gerhaher and Gerold Huber, takes place for the third time in September 2023.

Christian Gerhaher has worked together with conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Daniel Harding, Herbert Blomstedt, Bernard Haitink, Pierre Boulez, Christian Thielemann, Kirill Petrenko, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Sir Antonio Pappano, Daniel Barenboim, Andris Nelsons and Mariss Jansons, and for 25 years has given concerts in the world’s major concert halls. Orchestras which regularly invite Christian Gerhaher to perform include the London Symphony Orchestra, the Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, and in particular the Berlin Philharmonic, where he was the first ever singer to be artist in residence, as well as the Swedish Radio Symphony and in particular the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Particularly outstanding projects of the past season were tours with a string sextet initiated by Isabelle Faust with a specially created version of Les Nuits d’été by Hector Berlioz, and in addition Othmar Schoeck’s Notturno; concerts with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Harding (works by Dvořák and Brahms); the title role in Berg’s Wozzeck in a new production at the Vienna State Opera, two concert projects with the Berlin Philharmonic (Mahler’s Rückert Lieder conducted by Antonello Manacorda and Zemlinksky’s Lyric Symphonyunder Kirill Petrenko). The season came to an end with an extensive Hugo Wolf project (Italian and Spanish Song Book, Mörike Songs) which Christian Gerhaher performed in ten recitals in London, Heidelberg, Munich, Madrid and Salzburg.

In the current season Christian Gerhaher can be heard together with Gerold Huber in recitals in London, Berlin, Berne, Valencia, Madrid, Vienna and later at the festivals in Munich, Aix and Salzburg. He again gives guest performances with the Berlin Philharmonic, this time in the title role of Mendelssohn’s Elijah conducted by Kirill Petrenko. In addition with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, both conducted by Andris Nelsons (concert performances of Tannhäuser, Mendelssohn’s oratorio Paul and Ein deutsches Requiem by Brahms in Leipzig and Salzburg).

Besides giving concerts and recitals, Christian Gerhaher is also a highly sought-after performer on the opera stage and has received several prizes such as the Laurence Olivier Award and the theatre prize Der Faust. His roles include Posa in Verdi’s Don Carlo, Amfortas (Wagner, Parsifal), Lenau (Holliger, Lunea, world premiere in 2018), Germont (Verdi, La Traviata), Figaro and Count Almaviva (Mozart, Le nozze di Figaro) as well as the title roles in Monteverdi’s Orfeo, in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, in Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra and in Henze’s Der Prinz von Homburg. Wolfram in Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser was and remains a constant role in his calendar in the opera houses in Berlin, Vienna, London and Munich and soon also at the Salzburg Easter Festival with Andris Nelsons conducting the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester. A milestone in Christian Gerhaher’s opera career was his debut in the title role of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck in September 2015 at Zurich Opera House in the celebrated staging by Andreas Homoki. At the beginning of the 2022/23 season Christian Gerhaher performs Don Alfonso for the first time in a new production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte (stage director: Benedict Andrews, conductor: Vladimir Jurowski) at the Bavarian State Opera. In 2023 he appears in two new productions of Wozzeck, first in London at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden (stage director: Deborah Warner, conductor Antonio Pappano) followed directly by performances at the Festival d’Aix en Provence with Simon Rattle conducting the London Symphony Orchestra in an eagerly anticipated production by Simon McBurney which had to be postponed due to the Corona pandemic.

Christian Gerhaher’s CDs are issued by Sony Music, with which he has an exclusive partnership. Accompanied by Gerold Huber, the Schubert, Schumann and Mahler cycles have been released on this label. A unique project that has preoccupied Christian Gerhaher and Gerold Huber for years – the complete recording of all Robert Schumann’s songs in a box set – was released by his exclusive label Sony Classical in September 2021. Alle Lieder is a coproduction with Bavarian Radio and the Heidelberg Frühling. Early in 2022 the recording of Othmar Schoeck’s Elegiewith the Basle Chamber Orchestra and Heinz Holliger were released, Holliger’s poet opera Lunea (on ECM) and Rihm’s Stabat Mater together with Tabea Zimmermann, and in addition his Lyrical Diary (a compendium of essays on lied interpretation) was published by the C. H. Beck Verlag.

Sir Simon Rattle
was born in Liverpool and studied at the Royal Academy of Music.

From 1980 to 1998, Simon Rattle was Principal Conductor and Artistic Adviser of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and was appointed Music Director in 1990. In 2002 he took up the position of Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, where he will remain until 2018. From September 2017 he will be Music Director of the London Symphony Orchestra.

Simon Rattle has made over 70 recordings for EMI record label (now Warner Classics), and has received numerous prestigious international awards for his recordings on various labels. Releases on EMI include Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms (which received the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance), Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges, Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, Mahler’s Symphony No 2 and Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. In August 2013 Warner Classics released Rachmaninov’s The Bells and Symphonic Dances, all recorded with the Berlin Philharmonic. Rattle’s most recent releases (the Beethoven and Sibelius symphonies, Bach Passions and Schumann symphonies) have been for Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings—the orchestra’s new in-house label, established in early 2014.

As well as fulfilling a taxing concert schedule in Berlin, Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic regularly tour within Europe, North America and Asia. The partnership has also broken new ground with the education programme Zukunft@Bphil, earning the Comenius Prize in 2004, the Schiller Special Prize from the city of Mannheim in May 2005, the Golden Camera and the Urania Medal in Spring 2007. He and the Berlin Philharmonic were also appointed International UNICEF Ambassadors in the same year—the first time this honour has been conferred on an artistic ensemble.

In 2013, Simon and the Berlin Philharmonic took up a residency at the Baden-Baden Osterfestspiele performing Die Zauberflöte and a series of concerts. Past seasons have included Puccini’s Manon Lescaut and Peter Sellars’s ritualisation of Bach’s St John Passion, Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, Berlioz’s La damnation de Faust, and Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. For the Salzburg Osterfestspiele Rattle conducted staged productions of Fidelio, Così fan tutte, Peter Grimes, Pelléas et Mélisande, Salome, and Carmen, a concert performance of Idomeneo and many contrasting concert programmes, all with the Berlin Philharmonic. He also conducted Wagner's complete 'Ring' cycle with the Berlin Philharmonic for the Aix-en-Provence Festival and Salzburg Osterfestspiele and most recently at the Deutsche Oper, Berlin and the Wiener Staatsoper. Other recent productions include Pelléas et Mélisande and Les Dialogues des Carmélites for the Royal Opera House; L'Étoile, Aus einem Totenhaus and Káťa Kabanová for the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin; and Tristan und Isolde at the Metropolitan Opera, New York.

Simon Rattle has strong, long-standing relationships with the leading orchestras in London, Europe and the US, initially working closely with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and Boston Symphony Orchestras, and more recently with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He regularly conducts the Vienna Philharmonic, with which he has recorded the complete Beethoven symphonies and piano concertos (with Alfred Brendel), and he is also a Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Founding Patron of Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. During 2016/17, Simon Rattle opened the season at the Metropolitan Opera with Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, returned to the Philadelphia Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Staatsoper Berlin, as well as undertaking an extensive tour of the US with the Berlin Philharmonic.

Simon Rattle was knighted in 1994 and in the New Year’s Honours of 2014 he received the Order of Merit from Her Majesty the Queen.