Die erste Walpurgisnacht op. 60, Die schöne Melusine, Ruy Blas, Meerestille und glückliche Fahrt, Die Hebriden

Thematically suitable to the beginning of May we present a further achievement in our Peter Maag collection: The first Walpurgis-Night (Die erste Walpurgisnacht) from Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. 

Inspired from the poem The first Walpurgis-Night that Mendelssohn persumably got to know during his last visit of Goethe, he transforms this eerie and freaky scene into music using unusual shrill sounds. He solves the inner conflict between pure monotheism and traditional Christian faith that is pictured in Goethes poem in a great manner: with humor. With changes between elementary and loveable moods, hymn-like jubilation and demoniac-funny passages, this The first Walpurgis-Night creates a peak in worldly cantata creations of the 19the century. 

With strong symbolic connotations Peter Maag conducts in two different concerts the Orchestra Sinfonica RAI di Torino and manages to express in a natural manner the qualities of formal balance and instrumental elegance that distinguish all Mendelssohn’s works.  

Also included in the program are Die schöne Melusine (Fair Melusine), Ruy Blas, Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt (Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage) and Die Hebriden (The Hebrides).

Released on remasterd ARTS ARCHIVES format.