This piece of music lives in an empty space. There's no landscape, nothing natural. It's void, black stage without dimensions. And there are layers of cloth there, and there's wind, and there's an acolyte.
It's paired with Mahler on the disc, and that's what's giving it its smell. No broad style, no grand sweeps. Proportional exhaustion from meekness.
Composer: Hans Henze Work: Sebastian im Traum, I. Recording: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Mariss Jansons
This river is a wide, slow river. It flows in a relaxing manner and if there's an excitement (1'31''), it's a controlled one. Drift along, it's an amazing journey.
Jansons is able to stretch the orchestra out and keep the motion pulsing. Slow, natural, it's not sentimental in strings, yet wonderfully emotional in brasswinds.
Composer: Richard Wagner Work: The Mastersingers of Nuremberg, Prelude to Act I Recording: Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Mariss Jansons
