Oratorio de Noël
To equate the concept of the “Christmas oratorio” with the work of J. S. Bach distorts our view of the great variety to be found within this genre. Thus, the Oratorio de Noël of Camille Saint-Saëns is an important and enriching part of the repertoire. This ten-movement work is presented by an unusual ensemble: The vocal part, with string quintet and organ accompaniment, is augmented by the special sonorous effect of a harp, which lends a special atmosphere to the piece. This atmosphere – evoked through gentle harmonies, straightforward choral settings and the almost chamber music-like use of the orchestra – is interrupted by only a few dramatic passages. The resulting tensions lead to the engaging charm of this work, which also explains the worldwide success of the oratorio. The Vocalensemble Rastatt, Les Favorites and the organist Romano Giefer under the baton of Holger Speck show, with their distinct interpretation, that the concept of the “Christmas oratorio” encompasses many more impressive facets than is often assumed.
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- Prélude
- Et pastores erant / Gloria in altissimus Deo
- Expectans exspectavi Dominum
- Domine, ego credidi
- Benedictus
- Quare fremuerunt gentes
- Tecum principium
- Alleluia
- Consurge, Filia Sion
- Tollite hostias
- Bénédiction nuptiale
- Ave verum corpus
- Sub tuum praesidium
- O salutaris hostia
- Ave Maria
- Tantum ergo
Practise
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Practice aids
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Practice aids voice part soprano
- Et pastores erant / Gloria in altissimus Deo (Choir Coach)
- Domine, ego credidi (Choir Coach, soprano 1)
- Domine, ego credidi (Choir Coach, soprano 2)
- Quare fremuerunt gentes (Choir Coach)
- Consurge, Filia Sion (Choir Coach)
- Tollite hostias (Choir Coach)
- Et pastores erant / Gloria in altissimus Deo (Choir Coach, Slow mode)
- Domine, ego credidi (Choir Coach, Slow mode, soprano 1)
- Domine, ego credidi (Choir Coach, Slow mode, soprano 2)
- Quare fremuerunt gentes (Choir Coach, Slow mode)
- Consurge, Filia Sion (Choir Coach, Slow mode)
- Tollite hostias (Choir Coach, Slow mode)
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Practice aids voice part alto
- Et pastores erant / Gloria in altissimus Deo (Choir Coach)
- Domine, ego credidi (Choir Coach, Alto 1)
- Domine, ego credidi (Choir Coach, Alto 2)
- Quare fremuerunt gentes (Choir Coach)
- Consurge, Filia Sion (Choir Coach)
- Tollite hostias (Choir Coach)
- Domine, ego credidi (Choir Coach, Slow mode, Alto 1)
- Domine, ego credidi (Choir Coach, Slow mode, Alto 2)
- Quare fremuerunt gentes (Choir Coach, Slow mode)
- Consurge, Filia Sion (Choir Coach, Slow mode)
- Tollite hostias (Choir Coach, Slow mode)
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Practice aids voice part tenore
- Et pastores erant / Gloria in altissimus Deo (Choir Coach)
- Quare fremuerunt gentes (Choir Coach)
- Consurge, Filia Sion (Choir Coach)
- Tollite hostias (Choir Coach)
- Et pastores erant / Gloria in altissimus Deo (Choir Coach, Slow mode)
- Quare fremuerunt gentes (Choir Coach, Slow mode)
- Consurge, Filia Sion (Choir Coach, Slow mode)
- Tollite hostias (Choir Coach, Slow mode)
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Practice aids voice part basso
- Et pastores erant / Gloria in altissimus Deo (Choir Coach)
- Quare fremuerunt gentes (Choir Coach)
- Consurge, Filia Sion (Choir Coach)
- Tollite hostias (Choir Coach)
- Et pastores erant / Gloria in altissimus Deo (Choir Coach, Slow mode)
- Quare fremuerunt gentes (Choir Coach, Slow mode)
- Consurge, Filia Sion (Choir Coach, Slow mode)
- Tollite hostias (Choir Coach, Slow mode)
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Contents
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Composer
Camille Saint-Saëns
| 1835-1921Camille Saint-Saëns was a true multi-talent. He was a pianist, conductor, organist, musicologist, music teacher and composer and became famous above all for the Carnival of the Animals and the opera Samson et Dalila.
He composed his Symphony in A major at the age of 15 and was accepted to the University of Paris at the age of 16. Saint-Saëns studied piano, organ and composition at the Paris Conservatoire and became organist of Saint-Séverin in Paris in 1852. In the same year, he also met Franz Liszt, who subsequently exerted an influence on Saint-Saëns' compositional work. A year later, he celebrated his musical debut as a composer. The opera Samson et Dalila, which premiered in Weimar in 1877, brought him lasting success in opera houses to this day. His Christmas oratorio Oratorio de Noël, which is available from Carus-Verlag, is probably the best-known of his sacred works. Personal details
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Preface writer
Herbert Lölkes
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Choir
Vocalensemble Rastatt
Alongside its dedication to a core repertoire of composers such as Monteverdi, Schütz, Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Schumann, and Brahms, the Vocalensemble Rastatt & Les Favorites frequently explore new terrain with premiere performances. On the heels of its successes in national and international choir competitions, the ensemble has taken part in numerous internationally acclaimed CD recordings as well as radio, and television productions for SWR, Radio France, Deutschlandradio Kultur, and Deutschlandfunk. The Vocalensemble Rastatt & Les Favorites have performed in the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Musikfest Bremen, the Kölner Philharmonie, the SWR RheinVokal Festival, the Europäisches Musikfest Stuttgart, the Schwetzinger Festspiele, the Deutschlandradio Kultur Wartburgkonzerte, the Internationale Musiktage im Dom zu Speyer, the Philharmonie in Mulhouse, and the Centre de Musique “Les Dominicains” in Guebwiller, France, among other venues. The flexible choir does not shy away from excursions into the world of opera, having performed Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and Bellini’s Norma with Edita Gruberova, and Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte with Rolando Villazón. Together with Klaus Maria Brandauer and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the choir also performed Mendelssohn’s Sommernachtstraum at the Musikfest Bremen. The ensemble is sponsored by the German state of Baden-Württemberg in co-operation with its “Kunst 2020” program, as well as by its home city of Rastatt. Personal details
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Ensemble
Les Favorites
Alongside its dedication to a core repertoire of composers such as Monteverdi, Schütz, Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Schumann, and Brahms, the Vocalensemble Rastatt & Les Favorites frequently explore new terrain with premiere performances. On the heels of its successes in national and international choir competitions, the ensemble has taken part in numerous internationally acclaimed CD recordings as well as radio, and television productions for SWR, Radio France, Deutschlandradio Kultur, and Deutschlandfunk. The Vocalensemble Rastatt & Les Favorites have performed in the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Musikfest Bremen, the Kölner Philharmonie, the SWR RheinVokal Festival, the Europäisches Musikfest Stuttgart, the Schwetzinger Festspiele, the Deutschlandradio Kultur Wartburgkonzerte, the Internationale Musiktage im Dom zu Speyer, the Philharmonie in Mulhouse, and the Centre de Musique “Les Dominicains” in Guebwiller, France, among other venues. The flexible choir does not shy away from excursions into the world of opera, having performed Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and Bellini’s Norma with Edita Gruberova, and Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte with Rolando Villazón. Together with Klaus Maria Brandauer and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the choir also performed Mendelssohn’s Sommernachtstraum at the Musikfest Bremen. The ensemble is sponsored by the German state of Baden-Württemberg in co-operation with its “Kunst 2020” program, as well as by its home city of Rastatt. Personal details
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Conductor
Holger Speck
Holger Speck enjoys an international reputation as a charismatic conductor who succeeds both in realizing stylistic characteristics in an innovative manner and in conveying emotional content. Fanfare magazine from the USA attests to his “undeniable authority.” With his distinctive sense of sound and compelling, lively and authentic interpretations, he shapes the image of his own ensembles as well as the choirs and orchestras with which he works as a guest conductor. The president of the German Bundestag Dr. Wolfgang Schäuble engaged him and his Vocalensemble Rastatt for a concert during the G20 summit. Speck established the Grammy-nominated Vocalensemble Rastatt and the Baroque orchestra Les Favorites internationally with exciting concert programs and outstanding CD recordings on the Carus label containing music by Buxtehude, Telemann, Handel and Brahms, among others. For Deutsche Grammophon productions, he was responsible for the choral sections of the Mozart operas “Die Entführung aus dem Serail,” “Le nozze di Figaro,” “Così fan tutte,” and “Don Giovanni.” Holger Speck teaches at the University of Music in Karlsruhe; in addition to being the artistic director of Vocalensemble Rastatt & Les Favorites, he works as a guest conductor with the NDR Vokalensemble, the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, and the choir and orchestra of the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra in Ljubljana, among others. The ballet director John Neumeier engaged Speck to conduct his last major creation “Dona nobis pacem” with Bach’s Mass in B minor at the Hamburg State Opera and the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. . Personal details
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Soloist - soprano
Antonia Bourvé
Antonia Bourvé studied opera and lieder singing with Stephan Kohlenberg and Felicitas Strack at the Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe. Her studies continued with master classes with Brigitte Fassbaender and Anna Reynolds, and lieder classes with Mitsuko Shirai and Hartmut Höll. She was awarded a scholarship by the Richard Wagner Association and won first prize in the Kulturfonds Baden opera competition. A much sought-after soprano, Antonia Bourvé’s guest appearances include the title role in Mozart’s Zaide at the Staatstheater Nuremberg. She has also sung on CD recordings of Mozart’s Schauspieldirektor and Beethoven’s Scottish Songs. A further recording, which has been praised as a benchmark recording by the press, is Saint-Saëns’ Oratorio de Noël, conducted by Holger Speck on the Carus label (Carus 83.352) Personal details
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Soloist - alto
Sabine Czinczel
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Soloist - mezzo-soprano
Gundula Schneider
Gundula Schneider, geboren in Dresden, ist Preisträgerin mehrerer internationaler Wettbewerbe, darunter Brahms-Wettbewerb Hamburg, Dvorak-Wettbewerb Karlsbad, 1. Preis bei Pro Musicis in Paris und New York. Die Mezzosopranistin war festes Mitglied am Theater Dortmund und gastierte an den Opernhäusern von Strasbourg, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, an der Komischen Oper Berling, in Innsbruck und Neapel. Als Lied- und Konzertsängerin war Gundula Schneider in Deutschland, dem europäischen Ausland, den USA sowie China und Japan, u.a. an der Pariser Opéra Comique und der Carnegie Hall in New York zu hören. Zudem wirkte sie bei zahlreichen Rundfunkaufnahmen und CD-Einspielungen mit. Personal details
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Soloist - tenor
Marcus Ullmann
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Soloist - baritone
Jens Hamann
Jens Hamann was a member of the Stuttgart Hymnus Boys’ Choir, the Kammerchor Stuttgart and the Gächinger Kantorei. After vocal studies with Rudolf Piernay in Mannheim, the baritone was awarded Saarland Radio’s “Special Early Music Award” in 2006. The world premiere recording of Michael Haydn’s Requiem (Carus 83.353), on which he sang, was honored with the 2007 MIDEM Classical Award. In the oratorio field he works with Helmuth Rilling, Georg Grün and Ralf Otto, and he has appeared as a guest at the Stuttgart European Music Festival and the Opernschlossfestspiele Hallwyl. Personal details
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Soloist - organ
Romano Giefer
Reviews
… das Album überzeugte mit einer Aufnahmequalität, welche die Opulenz wie auch die intimeren Aspekte dieses sträflich vernachlässigten Werks von Camille Saint-Saens offenbaren.
Image hifi, Nov/Dez 2024
... Ein hochromantisches, wunderschönes Werk, das durch die Ausführenden eine klanglich nuancenreiche Wiedergabe erfährt! Aber auch den anderen kleineren kirchenmusikalischen Werken wird durch die Ausführenden die notwendige Aufmerksamkeit entgegengebracht, so dass insgesamt eine rundum gelungene Einspielung vorliegt!
Singende Kirche, 4/2006
Es zählt zu den Paradebeispielen für die genuin französische kleine Oratorienform, Camille Saint-Saëns Weihnachtsoratorium. ... Holger Speck und seine Mitstreiter, das Vocalensemble Rastatt und sein Kammerorchester Les Favorites, setzten in ihrer jüngsten Einspielung, was die Interpretation anbelangt, höchste Maßstäbe. ... Bei allem tonangebend ist ein Interpretationsanspruch, der dem Werk jenseits süßlicher Melodienseligkeit eine ungeahnte Dramatik verleiht. Überaus sensibel lotet Holger Speck Tempi, Dynamik und Phrasierungen aus, scheut er auch nicht die Grenze hin zur Überdehnung, um das Ensemble dann weniger fulminant aufwirbelnd als inhaltlich nur logisch steigernd in Richtung gegensätzlicher Extreme zu führen. Auf diese Weise bescheinigt Speck der inhaltlichen Botschaft und musikalischen Sprache eines Saint Saëns in seinem frühen Werk Tiefe und Intensität.
Christiane Franke, Neue Chorzeit, 12/2006
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