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.
Since his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1971, conductor James Levine has come to represent the house’s commitment to artistic excellence — reliable, professional, and immaculately presented.
Two of Finland’s greatest artistic luminaries—composer Aulis Sallinen (b. 1935) and poet Lassi Nummi (b. 1928)—came together to produce a fine new work, The Barabbas Dialogues (2004), which has been recently recorded and released on CD on the CPO label.
Sallinen is one of Finland’s best-known and most prolific composers today, having been awarded the title Professor of the Arts for Life by the Finnish government in 1981. His prolificity, while attributable in part to this unique honor, which allows him to dedicate all his time to composing, seems to stem also from his firm belief in the power of music to uplift humanity. The same strength of conviction in art’s potential for good is also a theme in the career of poet Lassi Nummi, Sallinen’s countryman and collaborator in the writing of the texts for Sallinen’s opus 84, The Barabbas Dialogues.
The Barabbas Dialogues, composed in 2002 and 2003, was commissioned by the Naantali Music Festival of Finland. It is a mixed-genre work—even Sallinen declines to choose between the labels “song cycle, a chamber oratorio, a cantata, a piece of musical theatre, and or something else” (from the composer’s note on the piece). The performing forces consist of six characters and seven players. The characters include Barabbas (baritone), The Woman (mezzo-soprano), Judas (bass-baritone), The Maiden (soprano), The Youth (tenor), and the Narrator’s part, which is also labeled as “One of the Twelve” (a spoken part for narrator). The instrumental ensemble consists of accordion, violin, violoncello, flute, clarinet, percussion, and piano. In this recording, pianist Ralf Gothoni is also the pianist. The fifty-minute work consists of seven movements—each titled “Dialog.” All the movements are indeed dialogues between two characters, except the fourth and seventh movement, which include four and seven characters, respectively.
The Barabbas Dialogues are based on the Biblical character of Jesus Barabbas, who is, according to tradition, the murderer and insurrectionist freed by Pontius Pilate on Passover Eve at the request of the crowd rather than Jesus Christ. As Sallinen himself points out in the notes to the recording, not much is known about who Barabbas was—his story is described in the Bible only briefly. Scholars have suggested many possibilities regarding the nature of the Barabbas story. Barabbas, which is a conflation of the Hebrew “bar Abbas,” meaning “son of the father,” may have been Jesus Christ’s alter-ego; perhaps the story is parable only, and the events described did not actually ever occur; perhaps Jesus Barabbas and Jesus Christ are the same man, and the tale of two separate men is the result of faulty translation. As it is traditionally interpreted by Christian religions, the Barabbas story represents a nadir in human compassion and morality. “The crowd” as portrayed in the Book of Mark is bloodthirsty and raucous; they choose to free a common criminal rather than the son of God himself. This story is considered by some scholars to be the root of the anti-Semitic myth that the Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus, even though it was the Roman government that ordered and executed the Crucifixion.
While Sallinen and Nummi seem to accept at face value the incidents surrounding Barabbas in the Bible, their text transforms the tale into an optimistic meditation on the human capacity for love. Sallinen and Nummi chose to include another historically maligned character, as well: Judas is represented in the Dialogues, though, like their treatment of Barabbas, they do not portray Judas as he traditionally appears. The words that Sallinen and Nummi’s Judas sings come from the Book of Job, making Judas seem fragile and burdened, rather than traitorous and cunning.
Much of Nummi’s contribution to the libretto consists of excerpts from his long poem Breathing in the Night (1995). The libretto also contains portions of the newest Finnish language translation of the Bible, a project in which Lassi was deeply involved, as well as portions of text by Sallinen himself. Sallinen was also responsible for editing Nummi’s poem in order to make it work as a dialogue between Barabbas and The Woman. The Maiden and the Youth sing beautiful and moving excerpts about their love for one another from the Book of Solomon.
Not only do the selection and juxtaposition of the texts speak to the optimism of Sallinen’s vision, so does his music, which is lyrical and flowing. Sallinen’s vocal composition is designed to showcase the lyrical human voice in all its beauty and dignity. Sallinen achieves balance between the characters in the dialogue, and the music keeps the listener riveted—even if one doesn’t understand the Finnish language. Sallinen informs his listener in the liner notes that the small ensemble and delicate scoring is his reaction to “the overpowering noise of our time.” Indeed, the experience of listening to this music offers a refuge to the listener, but it is not “easy listening” because by its nature The Barabbas Dialogues requires contemplation and concentration. Because of the nature of the text the listener will be drawn to contemplating the nature of the relationships of the characters and by extension, the nature of the human capacity for love, among other questions.
While the names of the performers may not all be familiar to U.S. listeners, these young Finnish musicians’ talent and commitment to the sound of the ensemble is audible in every movement of this fine recording. I thought that Mika Väyrynen’s accordion playing was exceptionally sensitive.
One thing I missed was a clue as to how this work might have been staged. As with so many musical theatre and semi-staged works from early in the twentieth century, including Erwartung and Pierrot Lunaire, the visual elements of The Barabbas Dialogues are nearly completely neglected. Although the enclosed booklet contained a composer’s note and the libretto—both presented in Finnish, German, and English—there were no pictures of the performers, nor any mention about how Sallinen might have wished The Barabbas Dialogues to be performed live. I would have liked to see the costumes as Sallinen envisioned them, or at least haves been able to read how the set might look. In the end, though, it is better to have this piece on CD, even if it is not a complete realization, than to not have it available at all.
Megan Jenkins
The Graduate Center – CUNY