FRANK MARTIN

 

Le Vin herbe

 

Sandrine Piau (Iseut)

Steve Davislim (Tristan)

Jutta Böhnert (Branghien)

Hildegard Wiedemann (Iseut aux Blanches Mains)

Ulrike Bartsch (La Mère d'Iseult)

Joachim Buhrmann (Kaherdin)

Jonathan E. de la Paz Zaens (King Mark)

Roland Hartmann (Le Duc Hoël & Un Vieillard)

RIAS Kammerchor

 

Scharoun Ensemble / Daniel Reuss

 

Directly based on a modern French adaptation of the legend of Tristan and Iseult, Le Vin Herbé enabled Frank Martin, in the years immediately after World War II, to achieve an international reputation.  What is remarkable in this score is its extraordinary invention yet Martin does not totally avoid serialism.  The acclaimed soprano Sandrine Piau is simply stunning in the very demanding role of Iseult. She has worked with many leading conductors, including Christie, Leonhardt, Herreweghe, Rousset, Minkowski and René Jacobs. Her operatic commitments regularly take her all over the world.Appearances at the Concertgebouw and Salzburg, Covent Garden and Montreux Festivals have earned her the highest praise

from public and press, as have her multi-award-winning CDs.

 

Jutta Böhnert is a permanent member of the Nuremberg City Opera. In addition she is a regular guest at the opera houses of Munich, Hanover, Düsseldorf and Berlin, as well as in Lucerne, where she recently sang Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto and Belinda in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. At the Bayreuth Festival in 2004 and 2005 she was seen as a Flower Maiden in Parsifal, conducted by Pierre Boulez.  The Australian tenor Steve Davislim studied with Gösta Winbergh, Neil Shicoff and Ileana Cotrubas. He has appeared as a guest artist in productions at the Vienna State Opera and many other leading houses. He will shortly make his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

 

The Scharoun Ensemble Berlin was founded in 1983 by members of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.  Their unusual name refers to Hans Scharoun, architect of the Berlin Philharmonie and expresses an artistic commitment to both the inheritance of the past and the challenges of the present.  Daniel Reuss is currently conducting Agrippina at ENO.

Sumptuously packaged with full libretto.

 

Harmonia Mundi 2cds HMC901935-36