VOKALENSEMBLE NOVOCANTO
BRIGITTE FASSBAENDER
WOLFGANG KOSTNER
Analysing the transitory nature of life is at the centre of this collage of choral music and words. A subtle interpreter of texts, Brigitte Fassbaender and the vocal Ensemble NovoCanto, led by Wolfgang Kostner, approach transience with great attitude and modern expression, instantly inspiring the audience to slow down.
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH: Komm, o Tod, du Schlafes Bruder
ROBERT SCHUMANN: Mendelssohns Begräbnis
FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY: Mitten, Herr, in uns’rem Leben
FRIEDRICH HÖLDERLIN: Der Kirchhof
FRANZ BURKHART: Besinnung
MATTHIAS CLAUDIUS: Was ich wohl mag
FRANZ SCHUBERT: Litanei auf Allerseelen
HEINRICH HEINE: Der Tod, das ist die kühle Nacht
JAVIER BUSTO: Salve Regina
HEINRICH VON KLEIST: An seine Schwester am Morgen seines Todes
HEINRICH SCHÜTZ: Die mit Tränen säen
HUGO VON HOFFMANSTHAL: Leben, Traum und Tod
RANDALL Z. STROOPE: The Conversion of Saul
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE: Anakreons Grab
ORLANDO DI LASSO: Miserere
Recording: 04/2012 – ORF Landesstudio Tirol in Innsbruck (Texte / texts) 05/2012
Franziskaner Klosterkirche Telfs (Chorwerke / choral works)
Producer: Andreas Meixner
Recording Producer: Ing. Jürgen Brunner
Recording supervisor: Prof. Dr. Peter Kostner, Dir. Mag. Oliver Felipe-Armas
Editing, Mix, Mastering: Ing. Jürgen Brunner, Mag. Wolfgang Kostner
Layout: Felix Dreher
®+© 2013 SPEKTRAL 15543
Ord. No.: SRL4 – 12111
GTIN (EAN): 4260130381110
All rights reserved.
Intendant and Kammersängerin Brigitte Fassbaender was born in Berlin, and studied singing with her father, Kammersänger Willy Domgraf Fassbaender. When she was 21, she had her debut at the Bavarian State Opera, starting her spectacular international career. She performed at all leading operas of the world (Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco, Chicago, La Scala, Covent Garden, Vienna, Bayreuth, Berlin, Hamburg, Salzburg and many more) and sang all significant parts for her voice. For two generations of audiences she was the Octavian in Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier. Her distinctive timbre has enchanted audiences world-wide. Over 350 recordings bear witness to her great significance as singer of operas and Lieder. Her recording of the three Schubert cycles was a milestone. To this date, she is the only woman to have recorded them all. Her recordings received various prizes, amongst which the Gramophone Award is one of the most prestigious. Brigitte Fassbaender retired from singing in 1995 in order to dedicate herself completely to her work as a director.
She has now directed more than sixty productions at home and abroad. She was managing director of the Tyrolean State Theatre from the 1999/2000 season to 2012. Before that, she was manager of the opera at the Braunschweig State Theatre. Promoting young talents and offering them gentle guidance through the challenges of the music business have been — and still are — very important to Ms Fassbaender. She is sought after as a vocal pedagogue and teaches master classes at home and abroad. Several of her students, such as Juliane Banse and Michelle Breedt, enjoy notable careers today. Since 2002, Ms Fassbaender has been responsible for the Eppaner Liedsommer, which is becoming an internationally important address for singers of the Lied. In 2009, she took over art direction of the Richard Strauss Festival in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
Kammersängerin Brigitte Fassbaender received the Critic’s Choice Award Berlin, in 1985 the Frankfurt Music Award, the Merit Cross on Ribbon and the Merit Cross First Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Bavarian Order of Merit as well as the Maximilian Order for Science and Art. She is a member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts, received the title Kammersängerin from the Bavarian and Austrian State Operas, and was bestowed an Honorary Ph.D. by the University of Manchester. In 2004, she was the recipient of the W.A.-Mozart- Award of the Goethe Foundation, Basel. In 2002, she was honoured with the Tyrolean Grand Order of the Eagle, and in 2005 with Merit Cross and the Decoration for Culture of the City of Innsbruck. In 2006, she received the City of Munich Music Award, and in 2010 the Pour le Mérite for Science and Art. In 2010, the President of France made her a knight in the Legion of Honour. In 2012, she was awarded the Grand Merit Cross with Star of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2013, Brigitte Fassbaender was awarded the Hugo-Wolf Medal.
Austrian choirmaster and conduct or Wolfgang Kostner graduated from a variety of institutions, from the Pedagogical University Tyrol, the University of Innsbruck, the Mozarteum Salzburg, and the Tyrolean State Conservatory. His most important teachers were Howard Arman and Edgar Seipenbusch. He collected valuable knowledge in courses with Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Lorin Maazel, Franz Welser-Moest, Fabio Luisi, Lászlò Marosi, Robert Reynolds, and Frieder Bernius, amongst others. As a young conduct or he was finalist of the international Windmaker conductors’ contest in Vienna. For years, Mr Kostner has dedicated himself to concert bands, but also to popular music. Since 2002, he has been art direct or of the vocal ensemble NovoCanto and of the Tyrolean Baroque Instrumentalists. He performed at various festivals, such as the Innsbruck Festival, the Residenz concerts in Munich, the Baroque Festival Varazdin, the Schwarzenberg Schubertiade, the Tyrolean Days of Baroque Music, and participated in the concert series cultura sacra. He has cooperated with artists such as Brigitte Fassbaender, Andreas Scholl, Julia Stemberger, Hélène Guilmette, and others and took responsibility for the rehearsal of the choir for ensembles such as the Baroque orchestra Café Zimmermann, the Hilliard Ensemble, the Windkraft ensemble or for conduct ors such as Attilio Cremonesi, Kasper de Roo or Ernst Schlader. As a guest conductor, he performed at concerts in Nuremberg, Mannheim, Saarbrücken, Augsburg, Aschaff enburg, and many other places. Mr Kostner works as a freelance musician, as a music pedagogue in Innsbruck, as a lecturer in the field of conducting, and as a product ion manager. Since 2011, he has also been the art direct or of the Festival Tyrolean Days of Baroque Music. His passion lies in rarely performed literature, not only in the field of Early Music. By producing innovative and stringent programme concepts he promotes artistic networks directed towards a sustainable cultural work.
Critics characterise the vocal ensemble NovoCanto as having an “extraordinary sense of sound, a “highly sophisticated sound”, a “wonderful sound sensuality”, a “well-balanced choral sound”, a “homogenous sound with multi-faceted and transparent interpretations, phrased stylistically appropriate”, “a sense of sound and an ability of interpretation adequate to the genre in question”, and possessing “clean intonation, technically and tonally with astounding versatility”. Th e chamber choir has worked to achieve these qualities by engaging itself in numerous project s. Austrian vocal ensemble NovoCanto was founded in 2000 with the goal to interpret rarely heard literature from the field of Early Music in a stylistically adequate manner. Since then, the ensemble has proven to be competent in interpreting Romanticist and contemporary music as well. Th e members of the choir are from Tyrol, predominantly graduates from the Mozarteum or the Tyrolean State Conservatory. Professionally, they work full-time as music pedagogues. A cornerstone of the project work of the choir is the cooperation with international professionals. In the past, consequently, the choir was conduct ed by specialists such as Frieder Bernius, Attilio Cremonesi, Kasper de Roo or Alois Glaßner. Th e ensemble cooperates with professionals of international renown, such as Brigitte Fassbaender, the Hilliard Ensemble, the French Baroque orchestra Café Zimmermann, the Tyrolean Baroque Instrumentalists, or the Windkraft ensemble. Since its foundation, the choir has not only established itself with its innovative and themed programmes beyond the borders of Tyrol but also proved its stylistic security in live radio and TV broadcasts. Th e ensemble has already been documented on various records. NovoCanto has been invited to several festivals, such as the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, the Baroque Festival Varazdin on multiple occasions. In its strife for coherence, the chamber choir has produced this CD recording, “Transience”, which at the same time gives a current example of the serious, and high-level, work of the ensemble with vocal art of different periods.
