Walpurgisnacht

Ulrike Schneider - alto | Patrick Grahl - tenor | Daniel Ochoa - baritone
Josep Vila i Casañas - conductor
MDR Radio Choir | MDR Symphony Orchestra

Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Symphony No. 73 in D major "La chasse"
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847)
Die erste Walpurgisnacht op. 60

Josep Vila i Casañas, chief conductor of the MDR Radio Choir, pairs classically poised orchestral writing with Mendelssohn's romantically charged celebration of nature. "Die erste Walpurgisnacht" turns the forest into a soundscape of tension and mystery. Drawing on Goethe's ballad, the work depicts pagan druids defending their spring rites under cover of the night forest - through cunning and sheer vitality, against all opposition. Mendelssohn weaves dramatic choral scenes together with lyrical nature painting, producing music that is at once theatrical, witty, and deeply moving.