Recently in Recordings
Paul Dukas’ Ariane et Barbe-Bleue, first heard in 1907, once seemed important. Arturo Toscanini conducted the Met premiere in 1911 with Farrar and later arranged some of its music for a 1947 recording with his NBC Symphony.
The economics of the recording companies dictate much that is not ideal.
Wagner’s operas were not composed as they were in order to permit the
extraction of bleeding chunks, even on those occasions when strophic song forms
do occur.
Among the recent recordings of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, Valery Gergiev’s release on the LSO Live label is an excellent addition to the discography of this work.
While not unknown, the songs of Alexander von Zemlinsky (1871-1942) deserve to be heard more frequently.
Recorded on 5 and 6 May 2008 and 17 and 18 January 2009 at the Lisztzentrum (Raiding, Austria), this recent Bridge release makes available the piano-vocal versions of three song cycles by Gustav Mahler, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Rückert-Lieder, and Kindertotenlieder performed by mezzo-soprano Hermine Haselböck, accompanied by Russell Ryan.
Contraltos rarely achieve the acclaim and renown of sopranos. Assigned few leading roles in opera, they are condemned to playing the villain or the grandmother, or to stealing the castrati’s trousers in en travesti roles.
Following their 2011 Decca recording of Striggio’s Mass in 40 Parts (1566), I Fagiolini continue their quest to unearth lost treasures of the High Renaissance and early Baroque, with this collection of world-premiere recordings, ‘reconstructions’ and ‘reconstitutions’ of music by Giovanni and Andrea Gabrieli, Monteverdi, Palestrina, and their less well-known compatriots Viadana, Barbarino and Soriano.
Eternal Echoes is an album of khazones [Jewish cantorial music] for cantorial soloist, solo violin and a blended instrumental ensemble comprising a small orchestra and the Klezmer Conservatory Band.
Michael Tilson Thomas’s recording of Mahler’s Third Symphony is an outstanding contribution to the composer’s discography.
Oliver Knussen burst into British music with an unprecedented flourish. In 1967, the London Symphony Orchestra premiered Knussen’s First Symphony, with István Kertész scheduled to conduct.
Based on performances given in Summer 2010 at the Lucerne Festival, this recording of Beethoven’s Fidelio is an admirable recording that captures the vitality of the work as conducted by Claudio Abbado.
Stanisław Moniuszko (1819-1872) was one of the most popular composers of his day in Poland, and of the many works he wrote for the stage, two are performed from time to time, Halka (1848) and Strazny dwór [The Haunted Manor] (1865).
The Polish alto Jadwiga Rappé is a familiar voice in various stage and concert works, and the recent release of a selection of songs by Stanisław Moniuszko (1819-1872) is an opportunity to hear her performing artsongs.
Originally released on multiple discs in 1981 this reissue on two CDs is a comprehensive collection of art songs by Italian and French composers from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
An exciting contribution to the discography of this popular opera, the live performance of Richard Strauss’s Salome from the Festspielhaus at Baden-Baden is a compelling DVD.
Released in late 2011, Deutsche Grammophon’s DVD of the new staging of Berg’s Lulu at the Gran Teatro del Liceu, Barcelona is an excellent contribution to the discography of this fascinating opera.
A recent release by the Metropolitan Opera, this two-disc set makes available on DVD the famous performance of Berg’s Lulu that was broadcast on 20 December 1980 as part of the PBS series “Live from the Met.”
The novels of Sinclair Lewis once shot across the American literary skies like comets, alarming and fascinating readers of that era, but their tails didn’t extend far behind them.
Once the province of only the most dedicated opera fanatics, mid-20th century recordings of privately taped live performances have become more widely available.
Flute players in opera orchestra around the world must look forward to the frequent appearances of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, knowing that while the stage spotlight in the mad scene will be on the soprano, the orchestral spotlight will be on their instrument.
Recordings
24 Apr 2005
BIZET: Les Pêcheurs de Perles
Les Pêcheurs de Perles is not a terribly major opera. Ned Rorem once memorably described it as “harmless” concerning the occasion on which it shared a double bill with the world premiere of Poulenc’s Les Mammeles De Tiresias. But for a competent early work by a promising composer who went on to greater things (well, one greater thing, given his tragically early death), Pecheurs has been given an enormous amount of attention both on stage and in the recording studio. An attractive work of conventional Second Empire French oriental exotica, it’s blessed to contain two beloved numbers that have won the hearts of opera lovers whose loyalty keeps it before the public with some frequency.
Georges Bizet: Les Pecheurs de Perles
Annick Massis, Yasu Nakajima, Luca Grassi, Luigi De Donato
Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro La Fenice, Marcello Viotti, conductor
Dynamic 33459 [DVD]
Les Pecheurs de Perles is not a terribly major opera. Ned Rorem once memorably described it as "harmless" concerning the occasion on which it shared a double bill with the world premiere of Poulenc's Les Mammeles De Tiresias. But for a competent early work by a promising composer who went on to greater things (well, one greater thing, given his tragically early death), Pecheurs has been given an enormous amount of attention both on stage and in the recording studio. An attractive work of conventional Second Empire French oriental exotica, it's blessed to contain two beloved numbers that have won the hearts of opera lovers whose loyalty keeps it before the public with some frequency.
One of those numbers does not appear on this Dynamic video in its familiar form. The Teatro La Fenice production presents the composer's original 1863 score, without the cuts and touch-ups provided by Benjamin Godard who restructured the beloved duet "Au fond du temple saint" into the form known popularly today. He threw out the C section, repeating the A section to create a da capo structure concluding the duet with the most famous music in the opera--generally to thunderous applause. Heard here in Bizet's original form the C section takes Nadir and Zurga into a gentle martial rhythm that prefigures the Carlos-Roderigo duet in Verdi's Don Carlos four years in the future. There are various other differences, particularly in act 3.where the standard Choudens edition truncates the final scene. Nadir has a solo in the opening chorus, followed by a duet with Leila in the original. Zurga is not struck down for treason by Nourabad in this edition either, but lives on to watch the lovers depart, mourning his lost love and friendship with each of them.
The production was designed and directed by Pier Luigi Pizzi in warm earth tones highlighted by saffron and gold. Pizzi frequently has dancers enacting scenes from the past upstage in pools of light as they're being remembered downstage, most aggressively in a semi-aerial ballet by a dancer as Leila during the famed duet. The action takes place on a gently curved platform, whose ends rise at either side, in front of a temple in the form of a gilded stupa at the top of black lacquered steps up center. For some scenes a gilded Hindu stature provides the only backing. Pizzi places his chorus in traditional groupings that allow video director Tiziano Mancini to linger over the beautiful and characterful faces of the Fenice's sopranos and mezzos in particular. Choreographer/chief male dancer Gheorghe Iancu's dances are in the graceful calisthenics style that's relatively common now, creating an occasional grouping with arms and legs in the "now we're going to become a statue of Kali" mode. It's all decorative, unchallenging and, well, "harmless."
The major problem with this performance, one that may bother me more than it will some, is the scarcity of French singing style among the principles. Beyond the estimable Annick Massis, who is in very good form here, there are few head tones to be heard or floating high passages where the score really demands them. . The men all display a certain amount of vocal health combined with the thickened upper middle and top registers of singers who have pushed for power in more dramatic material. Tenor Yasu Nakajima, ideally youthful and handsome for Nadir, tries hard but cannot muster the elegant, finely shaded delivery to make a memorable impression in "Je crois entendre encore." It becomes just another aria competently sung in the prevailing international vocal style. Much the same can be said for Luca Grassi as Zurga. The clarity of vocal production with words far forward and floating on the tone that marks the best French singing is not his to give, although his solid, virile baritone and keen dramatic involvement offer rewards of their own. Young Luigi de Donato's bass is a work in development, although Nourabad is a small enough role that no particular harm is done.
Mme. Massis carries the vocal honors here in a stylish performance that wins the biggest audience response. Not a conventionally beautiful woman, her strikingly angular features and physical grace support a beautifully sung, highly expressive performance. Marcello Viotti takes the score seriously, bringing out its lyricism and supporting his singers. The chorus does well with Bizet's frequent choral episodes, particularly the big anthem that ends act two (here performed without any break into the short final act).
Subtitles are available in six languages including Chinese and Japanese. The sound is clear if just a shade distant at times. On the other hand, microphones aren't stuck down the singers' throats. This is an attractive release of a sweet little opera that will give some real pleasure unless you insist on absolutely authentic French vocal style. Whether the original version is an advantage or not will be up to each purchaser individually.
William Fregosi