Schumann: Das Paradies und die Peri London Symphony Orchestra & Sir Simon Rattle

• Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856): Das Paradies und die Peri, Op. 50, Erster Teil:
• 1 No. 1 Vor Edens Tor im Morgenprangen 03:56
• 2 No. 2 Wie glücklich sie wandeln 02:14
• 3 No. 3 Rezitativ - Der hehre Engel, der die Pforte 01:45
• 4 No. 4 Wo find ich sie? 02:22
• 5 No. 5 So sann sie nach 01:03
• 6 No. 6 Doch seine Ströme sind jetzt rot 02:41
• 7 No. 7 Und einsam steht ein Jüngling 02:06
• 8 No. 8 Weh, weh, er fehlte das Ziel 01:52
• 9 No. 9 Die Peri sah das Mal der Wunde 06:16
• Das Paradies und die Peri, Op. 50, Zweiter Teil:
• 10 No. 10 Die Peri tritt mit schüchterner Gebärde 02:46
• 11 No. 11 Ihr erstes Himmelshoffen schwand 03:27
• 12 No. 12 Fort streift von hier das Kind der Lüfte 03:39
• 13 No. 13 Die Peri weint 02:25
• 14 No. 14 Im Waldesgrün am stillen See 02:55
• 15 No. 15 Verlassener Jüngling 03:36
• 16 No. 16 O lass mich von der Luft durchdringen 04:21
• 17 No. 17 Schlaf nun und ruhe in Träumen voll Duft 03:55
• Das Paradies und die Peri, Op. 50, Dritter Teil:
• 18 No. 18 Schmücket die Stufen zu Allahs Thron 02:54
• 19 No. 19 Dem Sang von ferne lauschend 02:54
• 20 No. 20 Verstossen! Verschlossen aufs neu 04:05
• 21 No. 21 Jetzt sank des Abends goldner Schein 04:05
• 22 No. 22 Und wie sie niederwärts sich schwingt 03:14
• 23 No. 23 Hinab zu jenem Sonnentempel 05:40
• 24 No. 24 O heilge Tränen innger Reue 02:25
• 25 No. 25 Es fällt ein Tropfen 05:24
• 26 No. 26 Freud, ewge Freude, mein Werk ist getan 05:50
• Total Runtime 01:27:50

Info for Schumann: Das Paradies und die Peri

In his debut recording on LSO Live, Sir Simon Rattle conducts a stunning performance of Schumann’s rarely recorded Das Paradies und die Peri featuring a superb line-up of soloists.

Rattle is well-known for being a champion of this rarely-heard work, and yet this is the first audio recording he has made of it. Here it is brought to life by the LSO under his baton, and the starry line-up makes the best possible case for Schumann's great oratorio.

Sir Simon says of the piece, 'It's the great masterpiece you've never heard, and there aren't many of those now.... This is just something else, a complete anomaly if you think about it. In Schumann's life it was the most popular piece he ever wrote, it was performed endlessly. Every composer loved it. Wagner wrote how jealous he was that Schumann had done it and he'd stolen this subject that he wanted to do and how extraordinary it was... It was a playground for composers and the piece was extraordinary.'

Based on an episode from Thomas Moore's epic poem Lalla Rookh, itself inspired by exotic, colourful tales taken from Persian mythology, Das Paradies und die Peri reflects the 19th-century craze for all thing Oriental. Completed in 1843, Schumann's 'secular oratorio' tells how the Peri, a legendary creature, was expelled from paradise and follows her quest to redeem herself by giving the gift that is most dear to heaven.

Writing about the work in a letter to a friend, Schumann said, 'at the moment I'm involved in a large project, the largest I've yet undertaken - it's not an opera - I believe it's well-nigh a new genre for the concert hall.' Conceived in three beautifully sequenced parts, it is unlike any oratorio of Schumann's day. Sustained melodic invention is clear throughout, with Peri's high C in the final forming a deftly timed climax.

Soprano Sally Matthews gives a soaring performance as the Peri, showcasing Schumann's imaginative and emotive vocal writing, while there are also superb supporting performances from Mark Padmore, Kate Royal, Andrew Staples and Florian Boesch.

"There's no hiding either Rattle's eloquent advocacy of the work or the encouraging signs regarding his rapport with the orchestra, who play superbly for him. Phrases are invariably beautifully turned, and there is evidence of real care having been taken throughout." (Gramophone Magazine)

"You can really tell that Rattle loves this work. His approach is full of affection — listen to the care he lavishes on the stunning ending of Part Two — but also architectural breadth." (MusicWeb International)

"Rattle’s ability to elicit delicate sonorities turns the entire three-part, ninety-minute oratorio into one gently undulating statement. [The soloists] shine as an ensemble, their massed efforts well-blended and musicianly, projecting a real sense that they have entered into the corporate spirit of this remarkable performance." (Opera News)

"it’s the vivid intimacy of the best recitals that Rattle, his players and choice cast achieves here. Matthews is utterly convincing in the taxing role of the Peri, Padmore a forthright, crystalline Narrator, while the quartet of Kate Royal, Bernarda Fink, Andrew Staples and Florian Boesch is luxury casting" (Classical Music)

"The LSO shows its delicate and soulful side… the Chorus is at its best and convinces by its presence… This is a very good recording which, by force, dynamism and sensibility, does entirely justice to this wonderful romantic work." (Pizzicato)

Sally Matthews (Peri)
Mark Padmore, narrator
Kate Royal, soprano
Bernarda Fink, alto
Andrew Staples, tenor
Florian Boesch, bass
Soloists from Guildhall School (Quartet)
London Symphony Orchestra & London Symphony Chorus
Sir Simon Rattle, conductor

Sir Simon Rattle
was born in Liverpool and studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

From 1980 to 1998, Sir Simon was Principal Conductor and Artistic Adviser of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and was appointed Music Director in 1990. He moved to Berlin in 2002 and held the positions of Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker until he stepped down in 2018. Sir Simon became Music Director of the London Symphony Orchestra in September 2017 and spent the 2017-18 season at the helm of both ensembles.

Sir Simon has made over 70 recordings for EMI record label (now Warner Classics) and has received numerous prestigious international awards for his recordings on various labels. Releases on EMI include Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms (which received the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance) Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, Ravel’s L'enfant et les sortileges, Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 and Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. From 2014 Sir Simon continued to build his recording portfolio with the Berliner Philharmoniker’s in-house label, Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings, which led to recordings of the Beethoven, Schumann and Sibelius symphony cycles. Sir Simon’s most recent recordings include Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, Turnage’s Remembering, and Ravel, Dutilleux and Delage on Blue-Ray & DVD with the London Symphony Orchestra’s record label, LSO Live.

Music education is of supreme importance to Sir Simon, and his partnership with the Berliner Philiharmoniker broke new ground with the education programme Zukunft@Bphil, earning him the Comenius Prize, the Schiller Special Prize from the city of Mannheim, the Golden Camera and the Urania Medal. He and the Berliner Philharmoniker were also appointed International UNICEF Ambassadors in 2004 - the first time this honour has been conferred on an artistic ensemble. Sir Simon has also been awarded several prestigious personal honours which include a knighthood in 1994, becoming a member of the Order of Merit from Her Majesty the Queen in 2014 and most recently, was bestowed the Order of Merit in Berlin in 2018. In 2019, Sir Simon was given the Freedom of the City of London.

From 2013, Sir Simon took up residency at Baden-Baden Osterfestspiele performing Die Zauberflöte and a series of concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker in his first season. Since then the partnership led to performances of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, Peter Sellars’s ritualization of Bach’s St. John Passion, Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, Berlioz’s La damnation de Faust,Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde and most recently, Parsifal in 2018. For Salzburg Osterfestspiele, Rattle has conducted staged productions of Fidelio, Così fan tutte, Peter Grimes, Pelléas et Mélisande, Salome and Carmen, a concert performance of Idomeneo and many contrasting concert programmes. He has also conducted Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen with the Berliner Philharmoniker for Festival d'Aix-en-Provence and Salzburg Osterfestspiele and most recently at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and Wiener Staatsoper. Other recent opera productions for Sir Simon include Pelléas et Mélisande and Dialogues des Carmélites for the Royal Opera House; L'Étoile, Aus einem Totenhaus, Káťa Kabanová and La damnation de Faust for the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, and Andrew Norman’s A Trip to the Moon at the Barbican Centre, London.

Sir Simon has longstanding relationships with the leading orchestras in London, Europe and the USA; initially working closely with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Boston Symphony Orchestra, and more recently with The Philadelphia Orchestra. He regularly conducts the Wiener Philharmoniker, with whom he has recorded the complete Beethoven symphonies and piano concertos with Alfred Brendel and is also a Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Founding Patron of Birmingham Contemporary Music Group..

Sir Simon Rattle was knighted in 1994 and in the New Year’s Honours of 2014 he received the Order of Merit from Her Majesty the Queen.

Booklet for Schumann: Das Paradies und die Peri