Special offer. Mayr: Saffo
Markus Schäfer (Alceo), Andrea Lauren Brown (Saffo), Jaewon Yun (Faone), Marie-Sande Papenmeyer (Amfizione), Katharina Ruckgaber (Laodamia), Daniel Preis (Euricleo) & Franz Hauk (harpsichord and conductor)
Concerto de Bassus, Simon Mayr Choir, Chor der Bayerischen Staatsoper
How fascinating it is to have a first recording, and a very fine one at that, of what must be one of musics most remarkable debut operas...This is an opera which unfolds, where everything is...
Special offer. Mayr: Saffo
Markus Schäfer (Alceo), Andrea Lauren Brown (Saffo), Jaewon Yun (Faone), Marie-Sande Papenmeyer (Amfizione), Katharina Ruckgaber (Laodamia), Daniel Preis (Euricleo) & Franz Hauk (harpsichord and conductor)
Concerto de Bassus, Simon Mayr Choir, Chor der Bayerischen Staatsoper
Purchase product
How fascinating it is to have a first recording, and a very fine one at that, of what must be one of musics most remarkable debut operas...This is an opera which unfolds, where everything is...
About
No one did more to combine in his operas the innovations of the Viennese classical composers, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, with the Italian ideal of bel canto than Johann Simon Mayr, the Bavarian composer who rose to fame in Italy. His opera Saffo, first performed in 1794, dates from his years in Venice. Not only was it his first opera but it was premièred at the Teatro La Fenice where it was enthusiastically received. It is full of surprising and striking elements, with a strong musical realisation of the text, supportive string and woodwind writing and vivid solo and choral effects. Set by the Rock of Leucas, from which unsuccessful lovers leap to their deaths, the opera deals with the poetess Sappho’s unhappy love for Phaon, finally resolved in a happy ending.
Contents and tracklist
- Markus Schäfer, Andrea Lauren Brown, Jaewon Yun, Marie-Sande Papenmeyer
- Simon Mayr Chorus, Chor der Bayerischen Staatsoper, Concerto de Bassus
- Franz Hauk
- Markus Schäfer, Katharina Ruckgaber, Daniel Preis, Jaewon Yun, Andrea Lauren Brown, Marie-Sande Papenmeyer
- Simon Mayr Chorus, Chor der Bayerischen Staatsoper, Concerto de Bassus
- Franz Hauk
Awards and reviews
March 2016
How fascinating it is to have a first recording, and a very fine one at that, of what must be one of musics most remarkable debut operas...This is an opera which unfolds, where everything is germane...To play Saffo effectively, you need singers who can handle text, a test which Naxos's ensemble passes with flying colours.
21st January 2016
It’s a well made, well behaved score, but with occasional touches of genuine originality, especially in the scoring...The title role gets the main share of the opera’s big moments and Andrea Lauren Brown makes the most of them, though the performance under Franz Hauk is sometimes a bit too dutiful.
