The present CD is the recorded document of a special performance.

When Simone Young lay down her baton on 15 June 2015 after the performance of Franz Schmidt’s The Book with Seven Seals, it was the 45th programme in the 90th Philharmonic concert that she had conducted within the ten years of her term as Hamburg Artistic Director (August 2005 to July 2015). Thus the Hamburg State Philharmonic Orchestra did not require much persuading to issue this rarely performed work as a CD on the OehmsClassics label.

Oratorio based on the Revelation of St. John for soloists, choir, organ and orchestra (1935–1937).

Klaus Florian Vogt, tenor (Johannes)
Georg Zeppenfeld, bass (Stimme des Herrn)
Inga Kalna, soprano
Bettina Ranch, mezzo soprano
Dovlet Nurgeldiyev, tenor
Volker Krafft, organ
NDR Choir
Latvia State Choir
Hamburg State Philharmonic Orchestra
Simone Young, conductor