Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 in A Minor "Scottish" & The Hebrides - Jörg Widmann: 180 Beats per Minute & Fantasie Irish Chamber Orchestra & Jörg Widmann

• Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847):
• 1The Hebrides, Op. 26, MWV P 7 "Fingal's Cave"09:39
• Jörg Widmann (1973- ):
• 2180 Beats per Minute05:11
• 3Fantasie07:51
• Felix Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 in A Minor, Op. 56, MWV N 18 "Scottish":
• 4I. Andante con moto - Allegro un poco agitato15:41
• 5II. Vivace non troppo04:09
• 6III. Adagio09:22
• 7IV. Allegro vivacissimo - Allegro maestoso assai10:07
• Total Runtime01:02:00

Info for Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 in A Minor "Scottish" & The Hebrides - Jörg Widmann: 180 Beats per Minute & Fantasie

Seldom has one heard one of the best known works of Mendelssohn, the brilliant Hebrides Overture, so wild, gruff and raw, so fissured even, as in this concluding installment of Mendelssohn symphonies with Jörg Widmann. This is without question a thoroughly contemporary interpretation; we get the now universal sense of hearing anew that comes with period instruments, even though none are being played here. It must have been a real stimulus to the composer at the conductor’s desk – a music analyst in the highest degree – to take this music tamed by over-familiarity and strip it of everything that is pseudo-obvious and safely middle-of-the-road. And it is that principle, faithfully followed in the earlier releases, of quite deliberately comparing and contrasting Mendelssohn’s works with the clarinet-playing conductor’s own that must have been what struck the spark and audibly kindled the music-making spirit of the Irish Chamber Orchestra. A drama otherwise reserved for the concert hall here comes across admirably: the well-known early-19th-century works sound like new, which is a compliment to their interpreters. Widmann’s two early works, now a part of his own history, turn out to be good, even exhilarating, listening; inspired by the young composer’s disco nights, “180 beats” goes well with the fascinating “Fantasie”, played by the composer himself, which effortlessly surmounts the limits seemingly set on the harmonies of a monophonic wind instrument. This is a spine-tinglingly new way to listen to Mendelssohn’s music.

Irish Chamber Orchestra
Jörg Widmann, clarinet

Jörg Widmann
Jörg Widmann is one of the most versatile and intriguing artists of his generation. As clarinetist, Widmann studied with Gerd Starke in Munich and Charles Neidich at the Juilliard School in New York. He performs regularly with leading world orchestras, such as Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Orchestra National de France, National Symphony Orchestra Washington, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He collaborates with conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Valery Gergiev, Kent Nagano, Sylvain Cambreling, Christoph Eschenbach and Christoph von Dohnányi.

Several clarinet concerti have been dedicated to and written for him, including Wolfgang Rihm’s Musik für Klarinette und Orchester (1999) and Aribert Reimann’s Cantus (2006). Widmann gave the world premiere of Mark Andre’s new Clarinet Concerto at the 2015 Donauerschinger Musiktage.

Amongst his regular chamber music partners are renowned soloists and ensembles such as Sir András Schiff, Daniel Barenboim, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Mitsuko Uchida, and the Hagen and Arcanto quartets.

Widmann’s compositions are performed regularly by conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Christian Thielemann, Mariss Jansons, Andris Nelsons and Simon Rattle, and premiered by orchestras such as the Wiener and Berliner Philharmoniker, New York Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris and many others.

Widmann has been Artist in Residence at leading orchestras and festivals such as Lucerne and Heidelberger Frühling, and has been featured in artist portraits at Vienna’s Konzerthaus, Frankfurt’s Alte Oper, Cologne’s Philharmonie and New York’s Carnegie Hall, where his music was featured for an entire season under the motto, “Making Music: Jörg Widmann.”

Booklet for Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 in A Minor "Scottish" & The Hebrides - Jörg Widmann: 180 Beats per Minute & Fantasie