Miriam Meyer

Image by Josef-Stefan Kindler, www.kuk-art.com. All rights reserved.
Miriam Meyer
Soprano Vocals

The soprano Miriam Meyer was born in the German city of Osterode am Harz. After graduating from high-school, she started medical school in Hanover. In addition to that, she soon started studying vocal arts at the Hanover University of Music and Drama with W. Reimer. In 1997, she transferred to the University of Music in Lübeck as a student of Ulf Bästlein, where she received her diploma with distinction in spring 2002. She intensified her training by attending master classes by Renata Scotto, Irwin Gage, Charles Spencer, Kai Wessel, and Esther de Bros. Beside performances on the radio and on television Miriam Meyer gave numerous concerts, Lied recitals and oratorio performances throughout Germany and other European countries. At the Handel Festival in Halle in 2003, for example, Miriam Meyer's performance of the soprano solo in the oratorio "Messiah" with the Choeur des Musiciens du Louvre and the Lautten Compagney Berlin, conducted by Wolfgang Katschner, was a great success. At the Herrenchiemsee Festival of 2004, she made her debut as Susanna in "The Marriage of Figaro", conducted by Enoch zu Guttenberg. From 2002 to 2008, Miriam Meyer worked as a soloist at the Komische Oper Berlin with guest performances in Hong Kong, for example. In 2006 the soprano started cooperating very closely with Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra.
Louis Spohr · The Last JudgementLouis Spohr · The Last Judgement
Louis Spohr (1784-1859):
The Last Judgement
The oratorio "Die letzten Dinge"
based on verses from the Holy Scripture
in a complete live recording of the original version from 1826, sung in German,
with Miriam Meyer (Soprano), Ursula Eittinger (Mezzo-Soprano),
Marcus Ullmann (Tenor), Josef Wagner (Bass),
Maulbronn Cantor Choir (Kantorei Maulbronn),
Russian Chamber Philharmonic St. Petersburg
Conductor: Jürgen Budday
A concert recording from the church of the German
UNESCO World Heritage Site Maulbronn Monastery
HD Recording · DDD · c. 81 Minutes
CD
EUR 22,00SpotifyDeezerNapsterYouTube MusicNaxos Music LibraryApple MusicAmazon.com MusicIdagioTidalAmazon.comiTunesQobuz HDeClassical HDPresto Music HDHD TracksReview

5 stars out of 5 stars

Customer Votes on EMusic

Review

Spohr'’s second oratorio concerns both:
the Apocalypse and the Last Judgement

This was Spohr’s second oratorio and was written in Kassel between 1825 and 1826. The libretto, in two parts, was by Johann Friedrich Rochlitz (1769-1842) and concerns both the Apocalypse and the Last Judgement. The overture is a powerful utterance, finely put together, and orchestrated adeptly. The choral entries are often arresting, and the accompanied recitatives show awareness of oratorio antecedents but are sufficiently flexible to convince on their own terms. At its best the work impresses through a felicitous sense of word-setting and layering; the choral responses are indeed sensitively shaped. The fourth movement, with a tenor solo and chorus, calls for a repeated ‘Heilig’ and the chorus’s soft, reverential repetition vests the music with great reflectiveness and elegiac quality. Then too Spohr doesn’t stint the opportunities for some good old-fashioned fugal development. Its employment halts the narrative somewhat but is certainly incisive; that in the seventh section is very definitely reminiscent of Handel. Spohr shows in the Sinfonia introduction to the second part just how well he wrote for orchestral forces and in the Babylonian chorus (No.15) demonstrates a sure instinct for the dramatic crest of a movement. In the concluding fugal Hallelujah section he reprises the kind of Handelian statements he’d earlier established in the first part of the oratorio. There are some Mozartian touches here and there, more stentorian Beethovenian ones too, in addition to the sometimes pervasive Handelian aspect. ...

Jonathan Woolf, Musicweb International - www.musicweb-international.com

Review

Qobuz Hi-Res Audio

Awarded by Qobuz with the "Hi-Res Audio" March 2012.

Qobuz

Review

The listener is engrossed in what is going on from first note to last

This enterprising German label has recently served up some wonderfully crafted chamber and choral performances and this discovery by Spohr is no exception. Apparently 'The Last Judgement' (Die letzten Dinge - 1825/6) was an extremely popular oratorio in its heyday but it unfortunately fell by the wayside and is little heard today. Spohr treats the text with reverence and respect and although the music rarely rises above the mundane, the soloists and Budday ensure that the listener is engrossed in what is going on from first note to last. This is a worthwhile revival from the Spohr canon which deserves much wider currency.

Gerald Fenech on Classical Net

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