Reinecke: Belsazar, Op. 73 & Sommertagsbilder, Op. 161

Featuring

Bernhard Hansky
Florian Sievers
Nora Steuerwald
Anja Pöche
Gregor Meyer
Camerata Lipsiensis

GewandhausChor
Carl Reinecke

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Composer Biography

Carl Reinecke, the composer, achieved his first public success at age 16 with a choral work, the hour-long cantata Das Erntefest, presented by his Altona Choral Society in 1840.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Reinecke's love for the oratorio was in keeping with the mid-19th century zeitgeist, and he was an adherent of music festivals guided by cultural nationalism.

Composition History

Reinecke's oratorio Belsazar was premiered in Breslau on June 30, 1859, before his move to Leipzig to become the Gewandhaus conductor.

Performer Biography

The GewandhausChor, one of the performing ensembles, has a tradition spanning over 150 years and has worked with famous conductors like Herbert Blomstedt, Riccardo Chailly, and Andris Nelsons.

Composition History

Reinecke's Sommertagsbilder (Summer Day Pictures) was likely conceived as a gift for the 100th anniversary of the Gewandhaus concert institution, to which it is dedicated.

Recording & Production

This recording is a co-production between cpo and Deutschlandfunk Kultur, recorded in the Great Hall of the Gewandhaus in Leipzig in June 2024.

Critical Reception

Contemporaries compared Reinecke's Belsazar to Schumann's Das Paradies und die Peri, and some critics lamented its lack of biblical faithfulness, suspecting Heinrich Heine's ballad as the inspiration.