Danja Lukan - soprano
Marco Ozbic - piano
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The song 'Es sungen drei Engel einen süßen Gesang' is also part of Gustav Mahler's collection 'Des Knaben Wunderhorn'. This particular piece is based on a traditional German folk melody, incorporated into the anthology by Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano. This adaptation of an older folk song means the original poet remains unknown. In Mahler's rendition, the song is transformed into a poignant expression of celestial joy and spiritual redemption. The text, with its imagery of singing angels, conveys a sense of divine forgiveness and bliss, themes often explored in Mahler's work. His unique approach in this song lies in how he intertwines the simplicity and directness of the folk tune with a rich, emotive musical setting, showcasing his mastery in marrying folk elements with the grandeur of symphonic music.


Es sungen drei Engel einen süßen Gesang,
Mit Freuden es selig in dem Himmel klang;
Sie jauchzten fröhlich auch dabei,
Daß Petrus sei von Sünden frei.

Und als der Herr Jesus zu Tische saß,
Mit seinen zwölf Jüngern das Abendmahl aß,
Da sprach der Herr Jesus: Was stehst du denn hier?
Wenn ich dich anseh’, so weinest du mir!

‘Und sollt’ ich nicht weinen, du gütiger Gott?
Ich hab übertreten die zehn Gebot;
Ich gehe und weine ja bitterlich.
Ach komm’ und erbarme dich über mich!’

Hast du denn übertreten die zehn Gebot,
So fall auf die Knie und bete zu Gott!
Liebe nur Gott in alle Zeit!
So wirst du erlangen die himmlische Freud’.

Die himmlische Freud’ ist eine selige Stadt,
Die himmlische Freud’, die kein Ende mehr hat!
Die himmlische Freud’ war Petro bereit’t,
Durch Jesum, und allen zur Seligkeit.

Gustav Mahler - Es sungen drei Engel einen süssen Gesang

Danja Lukan - soprano
Marco Ozbic - piano

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The song 'Rheinlegendchen' from Gustav Mahler's 'Des Knaben Wunderhorn' is based on traditional German folk material collected by Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano. In this piece, Mahler weaves a narrative set along the Rhine, exploring themes of love and loss. The song tells the story of a lost golden ring, symbolizing lost love, and the longing that follows. Mahler's music captures the folklore's whimsical yet melancholic spirit, reflecting the Romantic era's deep connection with nature and emotion. The song is a fine example of how Mahler transformed simple folk tunes into rich, evocative compositions.

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Was hilft mir das Grasen, 
Wenn d’Sichel nicht schneidt,
Was hilft mir ein Schätzel, 
Wenn’s bei mir nicht bleibt.

So soll ich denn grasen
Am Neckar, am Rhein,
So werf ich mein goldenes
Ringlein hinein.

Es fließet im Neckar 
Und fließet im Rhein,
Soll schwimmen hinunter 
Ins Meer tief hinein.

Und schwimmt es das Ringlein, 
So frißt es ein Fisch,
Das Fischlein soll kommen 
Aufs Königs sein Tisch!

Der König tät fragen, 
Wems Ringlein sollt sein?
Da tät mein Schatz sagen,
Das Ringlein g’hört mein.

Mein Schätzlein tät springen,
Berg auf und Berg ein,
Tät mir wiedrum bringen
Das Goldringlein fein.

Kannst grasen am Neckar, 
Kannst grasen am Rhein,
Wirf du mir nur immer 
Dein Ringlein hinein.

Gustav Mahler - Rheinlegendchen

Paul Armin Edelmann - baritone
Marco Ozbic - conductor
Ensemble Salieri - Wien
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The poem 'The Sunset' by Percy Bysshe Shelley, translated into Italian by Roberto Ascoli, speaks of love, loss, and sorrow through rich and imaginative language, echoing profound emotions and a sense of melancholic serenity. Shelley, renowned for his ability to craft vivid and significant imagery, delves into themes such as mortality and eternal love in this poem. These elements are masterfully captured in Ottorino Respighi's musical adaptation, which weaves the lyrical beauty of Shelley's words into a tapestry of haunting melodies, enriching the poem's emotional depth and timeless resonance.
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Già v'ebbe un uomo, nel cui tenue spirto
(qual luce e vento in delicata nube
che ardente ciel di mezzo-giorno stempri)
la morte e il genio contendeano.  Oh! quanta tenera gioia,
che gli fè il respiro venir meno
(così dell'aura estiva l'ansia talvolta)
quando la sua dama, che allor solo conobbe l'abbandono 
pieno e il concorde palpitar di due creature che s'amano,
egli addusse pei sentieri d'un campo,
ad oriente da una foresta biancheggiante ombrato
ed a ponente discoverto al cielo!
Ora è sommerso il sole; ma linee d'oro
pendon sovra le cineree nubi,
sul verde piano sui tremanti fiori
sui grigi globi dell' antico smirnio,
e i neri boschi avvolgono,
del vespro mescolandosi alle ombre. 
Lenta sorge ad oriente
l'infocata luna tra i folti rami delle piante cupe:
brillan sul capo languide le stelle.
E il giovine sussura: "Non è strano?
Io mai non vidi il sorgere del sole,
o Isabella. Domani a contemplarlo verremo insieme."

Il giovin e la dama giacquer tra il sonno e il dolce amor
congiunti ne la notte: al mattin
gelido e morto ella trovò l'amante.
Oh! nessun creda che, vibrando tal colpo,
fu il Signore misericorde.
Non morì la dama, né folle diventò:
anno per anno visse ancora.
Ma io penso che la queta sua pazienza, e i trepidi sorrisi,
e il non morir... ma vivere a custodia del vecchio padre
(se è follia dal mondo dissimigliare)
fossero follia. Era, null'altro che a vederla,
come leggere un canto da ingegnoso bardo
intessuto a piegar gelidi cuori in un dolor pensoso.
Neri gli occhi ma non fulgidi più;
consunte quasi le ciglia dalle lagrime;
le labbra e le gote parevan cose morte tanto eran bianche;
ed esili le mani e per le erranti vene e le giunture rossa
del giorno trasparia la luce.
La nuda tomba, che il tuo fral racchiude,
cui notte e giorno un'ombra tormentata abita,
è quanto di te resta, o cara creatura perduta!

"Ho tal retaggio, che la terra non dà:
calma e silenzio, senza peccato e senza passione.
Sia che i morti ritrovino (non mai il sonno!) ma il riposo,
imperturbati quali appaion, 
o vivano, o d'amore nel mar profondo scendano;
oh! che il mio epitaffio, che il tuo sia: Pace!"
Questo dalle sue labbra l'unico lamento.

Ottorino Respighi - Il Tramonto

Live:
Pietro de Maria & Andrea Lucchesini - piano
Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro di San Carlo
Marco Ozbič - Conductor
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Paolo Isotta for Corriere della Sera:

"Sicelides Musae", the Sicilian Muses: thus begins the first verse of the Fourth Eclogue, the Eclogues being the collection of the Bucolics. In the ancient world and beyond Sicily, after Campania, was the Earthly Paradise, and Virgil, with a homage to the Greek-Sicilian poets whom he surpasses by embodying them, sets the sublime Poemetti there. Musen Siziliens, a literal translation in German of Sicelides Musae, is the title given by Hans Werner Henze to his masterpiece of 1966. To understand the work, it is useful to translate the title accompanied by the complete subtitle: "MVSE SICVLE, Concerto for choir, two pianos, wind instruments, and timpani on fragments from the Eclogues of Virgil". The text was prepared and illustrated for Henze by one of our most illustrious classical philologists, Franco Serpa who, alongside being a writer on musical matters, leaves a strong mark in our discipline with this second activity. No one could have been a better guide for Henze, inspiring in him the inspiration descending from the classical world that is fundamental to the artist. Serpa selects for Henze fragments, in order, from Eclogues IX, X, and VI, therefore not from IV the first verse of which, as we have seen, gives the Concerto its title: let's remember, in the Middle Ages it was most famous for the announcement of the birth of Christ that was seen in it. The IX contains the terrible verse "Omnia fert aetas, animum quoque" which in this specific case, thus understood in the context "animus", is to be translated into Italian as "Everything is carried away by time, including memory". The fragment of the Ninth Eclogue that constitutes the first movement of the Concerto has singing as its theme: but Henze's work is choral and instrumental, hence it will be appropriate to read the meaning of the term Concerto, the form to which the Author subscribes Musen Siziliens. At first glance, it is obvious and explained by the Author. With work of marvellous marquetry, in a work belonging to the genre of choral lyric, a true, very complex and virtuosic Concerto for two pianos is subjected to singing. The writing for wind instruments is conceived as a thematic bridge between the choral lyric and the Concerto in addition to being the enveloping accompaniment thematically the hard stones of which the pianos are the mine. Here again, we see how contrapuntal the nature of Henze's invention is. The marvellous interpunctions and prosody with which Virgil's verse is scanned refer back, in a way that being in re ipsa is no less explicit, to the Choral Triptych dedicated by Carl Orff to classical poetry and titled Triumphs. The third panel, without wanting to detract from the outburst of genius manifested in the Carmina Burana, is my favourite. It is titled Triumph of Aphrodite ("Scenic Concerto": in Italian) and gives rise, with the accompaniment of pianos and magically employed percussion, to the verse of Sappho and Euripides alternated with that of Catullus. The stronger the celebration of Aphrodite and Eros the more it leads to a high religious sense that the Judeo-Christian world has tried, often succeeding, to eradicate.
Henze has never belonged, as a composer, to the gloomy ranks of the "avant-garde"; but even for someone who is part of himself writing in 1966 a piece in homage to Carl Orff (the specific Concerto of the subtitle is now the explicit declaration) is an act of immense courage. Musen Siziliens was performed by the orchestra and choir of the Teatro San Carlo in Naples (excellent soloists at the piano Andrea Lucchesini and Pietro Di Maria) under the direction of the chorus-master of the Theatre Marco Ozbic.
It is one of the most beautiful concerts I have listened to in recent times.

Paolo Isotta

Hans Werner Henze - Musen Siziliens

Wiener Sängerknaben - Mozartchor
Marco Ozbic - Kapellmeister
Tokyo 1996
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The motet "Alma Redemptoris Mater" for four equal voices (SSSA) by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina is a part of his larger body of sacred music works. This particular setting is noted for its voicing for SSSA, showcasing Palestrina's adeptness at creating polyphonic compositions that blend the vocal lines in a harmonious and spiritually uplifting manner. The piece is based on the Marian antiphon that has been traditionally sung at the end of Compline or Vespers during the liturgical season from the First Sunday of Advent until February 2, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord.
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I.
Alma Redemptóris Mater, quæ pérvia cæli
Porta manes, et stella maris, succúrre cadénti,
Súrgere qui curat pópulo:
II.
tu quæ genuísti,
Natúra miránte, tuum sanctum Genitórem
Virgo prius ac postérius, Gabriélis ab ore
Sumens illud Ave, peccatórum miserére.

(Loving Mother of the Redeemer,
who remains the accessible Gateway of Heaven,
and Star of the Sea,
Give aid to a falling people
that strives to rise;
O Thou who begot thy holy Creator,
while all nature marvelled,
Virgin before and after
receiving that "Ave" from the mouth of Gabriel,
have mercy on sinners.)

Pierluigi da Palestrina - Alma redemptoris mater (Paribus Vocibus)

Claudio Monteverdi - Lauda Jerusalem

The poetic style of Miklavž Komelj so enchanted me that in the spring, I set to music three poems from his collection "Liebestod" for soprano and flute. On this occasion, I also got to meet the poet in person, and soon a strong friendship bond was formed between us.

We share many common interests, among which an interest in archaeology and, consequently, in the culture of ancient Egypt stands out. I mentioned to him that I would very much like to set some texts from the Egyptian Book of the Dead to music, and in this regard, I asked him for some advice, especially of a literary-stylistic nature. On this occasion, he casually sent me his Isis's Lullaby. In its beautiful verses, I found the inspiration that encouraged me to abandon my original idea for the moment and immediately dedicate myself to setting Komelj's poem to music.

The piece is intended for performance by a mixed choir and percussion. Among these, crotales and a large wind-gong with various playing techniques stand out. Other percussion instruments are finger cymbals, shaker, mark-tree, gran cassa, tomtoms, and frame-drum.

In the choir, the narrative role is left to female voices, which represent the intimate mother-son binomial (in the poetry, the mother is represented by the goddess Isis, who sings to her son Horus in the first person), while the appearance of male voices or the entire choir reveals the (incomplete) external world, over which Horus will have to reign.
Because of its musical form, the subtitle Madrigal seemed appropriate for the piece, characterized by a close connection between the text and music, executed with the help of (universally understandable) musical-rhetorical figures, especially at key words.

The entire composition is based on a hexatonic scale of D-F-F#-G#-A#-B and its transpositions. An interesting property of this scale is that it becomes mirror symmetrical upon the octave transposition of the first note. If we mirror it again along a fictional axis and connect the notes, a mystic symbol - the Eye of Horus - appears to us in a stylised form.
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Performers:
Slovenian Philharmonic Chorus
Špela Cvikl - Percussions
Marco Ozbič - Conductor

7.2.2020 - Gallus Hall - Ljubljana

Pierluigi da Palestrina - Alma redemptoris mater (Paribus Vocibus)

moz70

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