Telemann: Miriways

Gaigg, Michi, Hofbauer, Ulrike, L'Orfeo Barockorchester, Volpert, Markus

CPO 777752

The opera Miriways met with enthusiastic responses when it was rediscovered after 284 years in 2012 at the Bruckner Festival in Linz and in the stage production under Michi Gaigg at the Magdeburg Theater. »That the score of Miriways, the last Telemann opera to be discovered, is such a highly varied delight to hear owes in special measure to the Austrian conductor Michi Gaigg. From her L'Orfeo Baroque Orchestra, which she founded in 1996, […] she obtains finely nuanced as well as rough and dramatic tones. The energetic orchestral interludes are a genuine feast for the ears, especially when the instruments ›allow themselves to be heard in the Persian manner‹ and thus radiate with Oriental color« (J. Gahre in Das Opernglas). Mir Wais was an Afghan tribal prince who as a leader of several revolts after 1700 initiated the liberation of the Afghan province of Kandahar from Persian rule. It was thus a very current political subject that was staged in Hamburg in 1728 and saw the »Persian Cromwell« become involved in all sorts of baroque romantic intrigues. Telemann's music is uncommonly colorful, lavishly instrumented, and displays rich Oriental color.

CD x 2

CPO

1/25/14

761203775224

American Record Guide: 'Critic’s Choice' (2015)