Dvořák’s Mass in D major. A dramatic, jubilant masterpiece

8.573558

Listen to an excerpt from
Mass in D major, Op. 86, B. 153

Antonín DVOŘÁK (1841–1904)
Mass in D*
Te Deum
Ewa Biegas, Soprano
Marina Rodríguez-Cusí, Mezzo-soprano*
Javier Tomé, Tenor* • José Antonio López, Baritone
Orfeón Pamplonés • Igor ljurra Fernández, Chorus-master
Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra • Antoni Wit

A native of Bohemia, Antonín Dvořák contributed much to the re-establishment of Czech national musical identity in the 19th century. It was the popularity of his choral music in England, however, that led to the development of the Mass in D from its smaller-scale original into a movingly dramatic and jubilant masterpiece with full orchestra. Dvořák’s celebratory Te Deum is comparable in form to a four-movement symphony. Antoni Wit is considered by ClassicsToday.com to be ‘the best conductor around these day for big choral works’. His acclaimed recording of Dvořák’s Requiem is available on Naxos 8.572874-75.

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Antoni Wit| Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra| Orfeón Pamplonés| Soloists

About Antoni Wit

Polish conductor Antoni Wit has made over 200 records, including an acclaimed release for Naxos of the piano concertos of Prokofiev, awarded the Diapason d’Or and Grand Prix du Disque de la Nouvelle Academie du Disque. In January 2002 his recording of the Turangalîla Symphony by Olivier Messiaen (8.554478-79) was awarded the Cannes Classical Award at MIDEM Classic 2002. He has completed for Naxos a CD series of Szymanowski’s symphonic and large-scale vocal-instrumental works, each rated among ‘discs of the month’ by CD magazines (Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine). He also received the Record Academy Award 2005 of Japanese music magazine Record Geijutsu for Penderecki’s Polish Requiem (Naxos), and four Fryderyk Awards of the Polish Phonographic Academy. In 2012 he received a GRAMMY® Award for Penderecki’s Fonogrammi, Horn Concerto and Partita (8.572482). In 2010 Antoni Wit won the annual award of the Karol Szymanowski Foundation for his promotion of the music of Szymanowski in his Naxos recordings.

About the Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra

Founded in 1879 by Pablo Sarasate, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra (OSN) is the oldest such ensemble active in Spain. In its 140 years of activity the orchestra has performed in major auditoria, with seasons of opera and festivals in Spain and abroad. The works of the composer and violinist Pablo Sarasate have been definitively recorded by Naxos with the violinist Tianwa Yang to critical acclaim. The collaboration with Naxos has also brought recordings with the Polish conductor Antoni Wit, the orchestra’s principal conductor.

www.orquesta-pablo-sarasate.com

About the Orfeón Pamplonés

Orfeón Pamplonés, founded in 1865, is one of Europe’s most prestigious choral institutions. In 2010 it became the first Spanish choir to perform at Carnegie Hall, with the Mariinsky Orchestra and Valery Gergiey. In August 2015 they appeared at the BBC Proms with Juanjo Mena and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra performing Bruckner’s Mass in F minor. In the 2016-2017 season, Orfeón Pamplonés performed Mahler’s Second Symphony and Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, again with Valéry Gergiev, in Bilbao and Pamplona.

www.orfeonpamplones.com

About Ewa Biegas

Soprano Ewa Biegas was prizewinner of many vocal competitions, in her native Poland and internationally. She made her operatic début in 1999 at the Vienna Studiobuhne as Lady Billows in Britten’s Albert Herring. She enjoys an equally successful career in the concert hall, appearing with leading orchestras at major concert venues.

About Marina Rodríguez-Cusí

Mezzo-soprano Marina Rodríguez-Cusí has appeared in leading opera houses throughout Europe, with rôles ranging from Zenobia in Handel’s Radamisto at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Musikverein in Vienna and Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, to Ottavia in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea at the Staatsoper in Hamburg. She has an equally active career in oratorio and in the concert hall, with repertoire ranging from Bach to Mahler, Bruckner and Montsalvatge.

About Javier Tomé

Tenor Javier Tomé appears regularly in leading theatres and concert halls throughout the world, and collaborated with such conductors as Antoni Wit, Gregorio Gutiérrez, Omer Meir Wellber, Alberto Zedda, Miguel Ángel Gómez Martínez, Paolo Arrivabeni, Michele Mariotti, Emilio Sagi, Damiano Michieletto, Pier Luigi Pizzi and Stefano Mazzonis.

About José Antonio López

Baritone José Antonio López has an extensive concert repertoire including the major works of Britten, Mahler and Zemlinsky, as well as Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder. His operatic rôles have included Figaro, Don Giovanni, Malatesta and Escamillo among others. Other performances have included Germont in La traviata, Amonasro in Aida, Iago in Otello and Jokanaan in Strauss’s Salome, as well as his début in the main rôle of The Flying Dutchman in Valencia and in Rodelinda at the Teatro Real in Madrid.