Kleiberg: David and Bathsheba Trondheim Symphony Orchestra

• Ståle Kleiberg (1958- ): Act I:
• 1Introduction03:05
• 2Psalm 806:21
• 3Scene 1 My Lord, your servant Uriah the Hittite01:38
• 4Scene 2a Who is this that looks out like the dawn?05:11
• 5Scene 2b Who is she?02:40
• 6Scene 2c Come to me Bathsheba02:06
• 7Scene 2d It is the Lord who gave you your authority02:29
• 8Scene 3 Uriah! Have you not a young wife?01:42
• 9Scene 4 He would not come, my Lord02:42
• 10Scene 5 O Husband you are lost to me06:26
• 11Scene 6a Eat! Drink!04:41
• 12Scene 6b Down with the poor and honest man!04:19
• Act II:
• 13Scene 1a You are welcome Nathan02:08
• 14Scene 1b There are two men in your city04:40
• 15Scene 1c Psalm 5107:33
• 16Scene 2a You are come to tell me my son is dead02:49
• 17Scene 2b Why has the fruit of my orchard failed?04:29
• 18Scene 3a Where are the robes you have torn?06:28
• 19Scene 3b The breath in our nostrils03:48
• Total Runtime01:15:15

Info for Kleiberg: David and Bathsheba

The Biblical story of David and Bathsheba has a lot of present-day relevance. In this story, individual emotions interact with political actions and their consequences. Fundamental ethical questions are thus being raised, on the macro- as well as the microlevel. And not least, the story illustrates how these two levels may be connected.

This is certainly also the case in Ståle Kleiberg's opera-oratorio 'David and Bathsheba', where form and content embody the multi-layered complexity that makes up a great work of art. Yet the music is highly communicative, speaking to a broad audience in a direct and immediate way.

From the opening bars, Kleiberg's music establishes a very particular orchestral and harmonic colour, one effect of which is to ’place’ the events beyond our reach. It would be trivial to describe this distancing of the action as a mode of exoticism, but there is nonetheless a whiff of the East about the tone of the work, evocative of the time and a distant place. This is anything but a retreat into some oneiric fantasy world, removed from our contemporary reality. Rather the remoteness of the setting, together with Kleiberg's non-naturalistic approach to the drama, gives the work something of the character of myth. This enables it to speak to us as all myths speak to us, of deeper truths.

The present recording is a successor of 2L's Grammy-nominated release from 2009, Treble and Bass: Concertos by Ståle Kleiberg. Like the previous disc, the present one has been made in close cooperation with the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, this time conducted by Estonian maestro Tõnu Kaljuste.

Trondheim Symphony Orchestra
Tõnu Kaljuste, conductor
Anna Einarsson, mezzo soprano
Johannes Weisser, baritone
Nils Harald Sødal, tenor
Fredrik Akselberg, tenor
Lars Johansson Brissman, bass
Trondheim Symphony Vocal Ensemble

Recorded August 2011 at Frikirken, Trondheim, Norway
Recording Engineers: Morten Lindberg, Beatrice Johannessen
Editing Jørn Simenstad
Mix and Mastering Morten Lindberg
Original source: DXD (352.8kHz/24bit)

Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1909, takes its place in the extensive musical heritage of the city of Trondheim. Before the nineteenth century Trondheim was the main focal point for sacred music in Scandinavia. This encouraged many significant musicians of the time to settle there. The growth and expansion of European music culture in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was also mirrored within the city. This period saw the foundation of several music societies. The development of the orchestra gained impetus with the jubilee of St Olav in 1930. In more recent times the orchestra has established a solid position in local musical life and that of Norway as a whole. Recent successful tours in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and China has enhanced the orchestra’s international reputation. From 2009 the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra has continued its development through closer cooperation with the Trondheim Soloists, resulting in an increased complement of ninety musicians.

Booklet for Kleiberg: David and Bathsheba