Exclusive: Thomas Hampson - Lingua Angelorum
Sylvie Bodorová (b. 1954): Lingua Angelorum - unpublished first live recording, exclusively on IDAGIO
Read more…Thomas Hampson about the work: "Lingua Angelorum is inspired by Rudolph II of Prague. I’ve always been fascinated by him – he invited all these chemists and scientists and artists to come to Prague and so you had this phenomenal mix of cultures there in the 16th century. There was a large body of philosophers that followed pagan beliefs and I thought there must be poetry and text from this time that are spiritual and reflective in nature but not necessarily god-fearing or devotional. So we started finding texts from many different people and that’s why this piece has seven languages in it. This song cycle, which is about 45 minutes, is a real kaleidoscope of what became the renaissance.
It was great fun to participate in the creation of it and Sylvie is a wonderful composer. There’s something about it that just reaches me somehow – it’s difficult to sing but extremely rewarding."
Hampson commissioned “Lingua Angelorum” by Czech composer Sylvie Bodorová. The world premiere took place July 4, 2012 at the Smetana Opera Festival of Litomysl with the Prague Symphony Orchestra and Christopher Zimmerman.
This featured recording from June 2015 with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Gianandrea Noseda is exclusively available only on IDAGIO - Enjoy!