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.
The theme of the third volume of Hyperion’s set of the Complete Songs of Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) is Chanson d’amour, which takes its name from a piece in the composer’s opus 27 set – a compilation devoted to the love song.
While the center piece of the collection is the cycle La bonne chanson, op. 61, a series of nine songs with texts by Paul Verlaine, the CD includes a number of impressive pieces. As with the other volumes in this series, the selections involve songs from various parts of the composer’s career, from pieces that date to his youth, like “Puisque j’ai mis ma lèvre,” a charming effort performed engagingly by John Mark Ainsley. As much as that setting of Victor Hugo is admirable, the next song in this collection, “Tristesse d’Olympie,” reflects a more mature approach by the composer in this more extended setting of a demanding text. Stephen Varcoe offers an ardent performance of “Tristesse d’Olympie,” which fits his voice well. Yet the relatively early three-song cycle Poème d’un jour reflects another aspect of Fauré’s facility at song. The three pieces in that work echo some of the stylistic devices associated with Lieder, with accompaniments that resemble those of Schumann or Brahms in their interaction with the vocal line. From “Rencontre” (“Meeting”) to “Toujours” (“Always”) and “Adieu” (“Farewell”), Fauré concisely portrays the life cycle of relationships, and in doing so avoids anything sardonic or, worse overtly saccharine. Ainsley’s reading is appropriately touching and sensitive, with a delicacy that is almost expected of such a seasoned musician.
It is difficult, though, to discuss Poème d’un jour without invoking the later cycle La bonne chanson, and the latter work stands apart from the other pieces in this recording because of its length and intensity. Performed by the baritone Christopher Maltman, La bonne chanson may be regarded as the epitome of Fauré’s efforts in solo song. It is acknowledged as an intense work, with the harmonic idiom and thematic connections between the various songs much more complex than his other efforts in this genre. While excellent liner notes by Graham Johnson help to establish an historic context for the reception of the work, Maltman’s performance demonstrates the attraction of this work. This is, perhaps, one of the more attractive performances of the cycle because of the sensitive phrasing in each of the pieces, as well as the delicacy that helps to capture the meaning of the texts. This recording shows both the voice and piano at their best, with an excellent balance in tone, as well as a fine give-and-take in tempo that suggests the attraction of the cycle for its arrangement with string quintet in piano – the textures that Fauré used evoke chamber music in the best sense. This is quite evident in the intensity of the second song in the cycle, “Puisque l’aube grandit” (“Since day breaks”).
When Fauré offers a self-conscious comment on the text of “J’allais par des chemins perfides”(“I go along treacherous ways”) with its pointed chromaticism, Maltman and Johnson give a fine reading of the sometimes chain of sustained dissonances that ultimately resolve on the utterance of the final word: “joie.” This text and the others by Verlaine dance around the topic of love in a piece associated with Fauré’s beloved Emma Bardac, who was also its first interpreter. Culminating in the song “L’hiver a cessé” (“Winter is over”), a fittingly complex piece that brings together the various elements of the cycle, this piece is a tour-de-force for any singer, and Maltman offers a convincing reading that is difficult to match for its musicality and effective presentation.
Of the other pieces in this recording, the music of the French playwright Edmond Haraucourt’s Shylock, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice offers a glimpse of the composer’s efforts at writing incidental music. Of the six pieces in the suite from Shylock, only two are vocal, the others being instrumental pieces arranged for piano duet. Not a literal translation of Shakespeare’s play, Haraucourt reworked the Merchant of Venice to create an idiomatic drama, and Fauré’s music suggests the tone of the new work. The pieces are engaging in themselves, and the notes that accompany the recording provide the appropriate cues that create the context for each of them as part of the stage business. While this kind of music is not encountered in recordings of French song, it is quite appropriate here, where the instrumental pieces help to establish the context for “Prélude et Chanson” and the song simply entitled “Madrigal.” Jean-Paul Fouchécourt’s pure, clear tenor voice stands out in this recording for its gentle and effective rendering of the music. Fouchécourt recorded two other pieces found on this CD, and his approach to Fauré’s is convincing.
With “Nell,” Fouchécourt delivers an ardent love song that embodies many characteristics of Fauré’s efforts in the genre. The text itself is a translation of Robert Burns’ familiar poem that begins “My love is like a red, red rose,” and in this French version, some of images differ from the English original to intensify the meaning conveyed. Fauré’s music captures the turns of phrase, which emerge clearly in this sensitive performance.
While many of the pieces in this collection are sung by men, the women offer equally effective performances. Felicity Lott is impressive in her interpretations of “Notre amour” and “Le secret,” two pieces in Fauré’s opus. 23 set. A masterful performer, Lott contributes an intensity that seems natural to both her voice and the music chosen. Likewise, Jennifer Smith has the final word in this recording with a late song, “Le don silencieux” (“The silent gift”). As Graham Johnson observed in the notes about this song, the piece shows Fauré composing in a somewhat different style. It is relatively more declamatory than some of his other songs, but the style chosen serves the text well and that is, perhaps, the key to appreciating Fauré’s songs, especially the ones that have texts which deal with various aspects of love.
Chanson d’amour is another fine volume in the four-CD set issued by Hyperion, and those who do not know this recording should find much in it to admire. It is consistent with the other releases in the set with regard to format and presentation, as well as the quality of performance. With the release of the fourth volume, Dans un parfum de roses, the set will be complete, and it should stand well for years as a standard for French song and the music of Fauré.
James L. Zychowicz
Madison, Wisconsin