Haydn: The Creation

With this late work, Joseph Haydn celebrated his greatest triumph: The acclaim he received for the oratorio "The Creation" overshadowed all his earlier successes. First performed in 1798, the work struck a chord with the spirit of the times – and continues to do so today. It combines Haydn's orchestral finesse with powerful choral passages, blends a vivid depiction of the story of creation with subtle musical elaboration, and is in itself a musical manifesto of the Enlightenment era. As such, "The Creation" has enjoyed an unbroken performance tradition, which today every world-class ensemble must measure itself against. This challenge was taken up in December 2013 by the Symphony Orchestra and Choir of the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation together with the solo singers Camilla Tilling, Mark Padmore and Hanno Müller-Brachmann. The live recording, which was made in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz, was conducted by Bernard Haitink, who had been associated with the orchestra as a guest conductor for over 50 years.